Matador: News: 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

We've Moved

New Web Design!
For the latest news throughout the day, log onto www.TheMatadorOnline.com.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Supreme Court

Justice David Souter to retire
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Flu Update

WHO: Global outbreak pandemic imminent; threat level raised to 5 of 6

Suffolk Flu

Paterson: possible swine flu in Suffolk
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US Flu Death

23-month-old Texas child first U.S. swine flu death.
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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

LI Swine Flu

1 case of Swine Flu in Nassau. Patient related w\ St. Francis in Queens.

Arlen Specter

Penn Sen Arlen Specter switch from Republican to Democratic Party, CNN reports
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Monday, April 27, 2009

Swine Flu

28 cases swine flu confirmed in NYC, 17 probable cases.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Swine Flu

CDC confirms swine flu infected students @ Queens high school.
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CDC confirms swine flu infected

CDC confirms swine flu infected students @ Queens high school.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Smithtown Students Garner Essay Honors

Eileen Rowe (Science Chairperson), Ilana Selli, Samantha Mellone, Maria Trinkle (East Research Coordinator)

Smithtown East research program is pleased to announce that Samantha Mellone has placed first in Bodies…The Exhibition Essay Contest. Students from the tri-state area were challenged to write an essay where an analogy was made of a human body system to a mechanical system. Students had to succinctly describe the functions of the body system, the invention of the mechanical system, and then compare the necessity of the mechanical system with that of the body system. An added difficulty was accomplishing the task within a 600 word limit.

Bodies…The Exhibition awarded one First Place and two Honorable Mentions. In addition to Samantha, Ilana Selli also in the research program, placed Honorable Mention garnering two of the top three spots for Smithtown East. The prize is a trip for Samantha and her classmates to Bodies…The Exhibition complete with audio guides, a staff docent, as well as lunch courtesy of South Street Seaport. According to Ms. Trinkle, High School East research program coordinator, “both Samantha and Ilana produced excellent essays. The essays involved multiple steps and they each stayed diligent and truthful to the writing process. Scientific literacy is an important goal for all students, and it continues to be a focal point in our classroom.” Richard Hinojoso, education coordinator for Bodies …The Exhibition, commented that “the essays were creative in addition to being well-written, which was exactly what they were looking for.”

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day

Earth Day, first held April 22, 1970, is now celebrated every year by more than a billion people in 180 nations around the world. All work together for the common goal of preserving the Earth and leaving it a better place for the future. This photo of Earth is from 2002. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of the planet. (NASA/MCT)

What are your thoughts on Earth Day and the environment? Click below to leave us a comment!

College Board wants to help immigrants find path to citizenship

By Ben Meyerson
Tribune Washington Bureau
(MCT)

WASHINGTON — A prominent group of more than 5,000 colleges and universities is supporting legislation that would offer some undocumented youths a path to citizenship through college or the military.

The College Board, best known for the SAT and advanced placement tests it administers, is stepping into the contentious issue for the first time just as President Barack Obama is signaling he may encourage lawmakers to overhaul immigration laws later in the year.

The bill the College Board is supporting, known as the Dream Act, would allow students who illegally entered the U.S. when they were 15 or younger to apply for conditional legal status if they have lived in the country for five or more years and graduated from high school or earned a GED. If they then attended college or served in the military for two or more years, they could be granted full citizenship.

Conditional legal status could make the immigrants eligible for in-state college tuition, depending on local laws, and would allow them to compete for some forms of federal financial assistance. A 2007 UCLA report estimated that 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year.

The College Board's trustees have voted unanimously to support the Dream Act, said James Montoya, a vice president of the College Board.

"These are students who have gone through our K-12 system and have achieved in a very high manner," Montoya said.

But Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the Dream Act allows illegal immigrants to take scholarship opportunities away from native U.S. residents. It's unfair to reward those who violated the law to get here, he said.

"If you ask any illegal alien why they came to America, the answer, invariably is 'Well, I wanted to do better for my family,' and this gives them precisely what they broke the law to achieve," Mehlman said.

The Senate voted on the Dream Act in 2007, winning a majority but lacking the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. The measure was then folded into more comprehensive immigration legislation, which died. It was reintroduced in the House and Senate last month.

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(c) 2009, Tribune Co.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Weak economy threatens prepaid tuition program

By Stephen C. Fehr

Stateline.org

(MCT)

WASHINGTON — The future of a popular program in 18 states that allows parents to prepay college tuition at public schools is shaky because of recent stock market losses and a wave of tuition increases. The Wall Street collapse shrank the value of many investment funds, out of which the prepaid tuition plans disburse tuition and fees. At the same time, states are raising tuition to help balance their budgets in response to declining tax revenue caused by the recession.

"Just about all these programs are going through similar turmoil," said Joseph Hurley, founder of savingforcollege.com, a Web site devoted to financing a college education. "It's the same dynamic: investments are not keeping up with tuition increases. The irony is, it makes demand for these programs even stronger for families but that popularity translates into more financial stress for these programs."

The Obama administration has made college affordability a priority, through its Middle Class Task Force. Vice President Joe Biden went to St. Louis last Friday to draw attention to the problem.

"The challenges of paying for college in America is well understood," he said. "The growth of college tuition is far outpacing that of family income. No matter what else we do to get our economy moving, it all leads back to education."

Prepaid tuition plans vary, but most are set up so parents or grandparents pay today's prices for tuition and fees instead of the higher costs in the year their child goes to a state school. Those discounted costs are paid as a lump sum or over time through monthly payments that are deposited into a state-managed investment fund. When the child is ready to attend a state college, the tuition and fees are paid from the fund.

The states that have offered prepaid tuition plans, according to www.finaid.org, a student financial aid Web site, are: Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. None of the states has failed to pay tuition for plan participants in the current school year, but a few states are moving to bail out their programs.

Alabama's prepaid tuition fund has less than half of the money it needs to pay future tuition commitments and has suspended new enrollment as lawmakers try to save the program. West Virginia lawmakers are considering pumping $8 million into the prepaid tuition program to cover investment losses. The program is closed to new enrollees but still has 7,200 participants.

The instability of the programs comes as some states are reporting record participation by parents seeking a hedge against future tuition increases.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord, who has ordered a review of the state's prepaid tuition plan after its assets dropped more than 23 percent, says enrollment in the program rose 26 percent last year. Oregon lawmakers and Ohio education officials, reacting to the demand, are weighing creating new prepaid tuition programs but tying them less to the ups and downs of the stock market.

Another college savings program, available in 33 states, is not linked to future tuition costs. Under these plans, which like the prepaid programs are called 529 plans after the section of the federal tax code that created them, are simple savings plans that allow parents their choice of a variety of tax-advantaged stock and bond funds. Parents draw from their account when the student goes off to school.

Those savings plans also have been hit by the Wall Street meltdown. Between Sept. 30 and Feb. 28, the average loss was 21 percent for the 529 plan portfolios in Morningstar's database, an investment research firm.

The tension over these losses reached a point in Oregon where on April 13, state Treasurer Ben Westlund and Attorney General John Kroger filed a lawsuit against Oppenheimer Funds alleging Oregon parents lost at least $36.2 million in account value because of Oppenheimer's alleged negligence for investing in a hedge fund.

Attorneys general in Illinois, Maine, Texas and New Mexico have launched separate investigations into Oppenheimer, which has denied wrongdoing and has said it disclosed details about the fund's performance to Oregon officials throughout the financial crisis.

In St. Louis, Biden said he would ask the treasury and education officials to study ways of making 529 accounts "more effective and reliable. Their analysis will examine how people save in the 529s, whether they are taking appropriate approaches to risk, and try to identify options and best practices for helping these funds be there for families when they need them."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

In most of the states with the prepaid tuition programs, officials say, the plans have enough money to cover their tuition obligations — for now. But in some states, the market losses were so severe that officials may have to consider dipping into state general funds, freezing enrollment or raising fees. Only Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, Virginia and Washington guarantee that the state will bail out the tuition program if there isn't enough money.

Florida and Alabama illustrate the challenges facing the programs. In Alabama, as in most states with the programs, the idea is that the state will manage the investments so earnings will grow faster than future tuition costs. That usually works well over time, but the severity of the 2008 Wall Street collapse hurt some state plans more than others. At the same time the funds' value is dwindling, the cost of tuition is rising.

Just two years ago, Alabama's prepaid plan had almost $900 million in assets, which would cover nearly all of its future tuition obligations to families. By Feb. 28, the assets fell to $431 million, less than half of what would be needed to pay future obligations to its 48,000 participants.

State Treasurer Kay Ivey has reassured anxious parents that the state can pay summer school tuition, but the fall semester is more uncertain. Lawmakers and Ivey are working on several ideas to prop up the plan, including limiting tuition increases and raising up to $30 million a year from other state funds.

With an open governor's race next year — incumbent Republican Bob Riley is term-limited — several announced and probable candidates are trying to capitalize on the trouble in the prepaid tuition program to win votes. Typical is U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, a Democratic candidate for governor, who said the losses in the tuition program are "an example of our state government's failing to manage our citizens' money wisely." Ivey, a Republican who also may run, accuses her critics of "petty politics."

Florida has a different problem. Its $9 billion tuition fund is relatively healthy because it is financed through bonds instead of stocks. But the state budget has a $6 billion gap that will require deep cuts to Florida's 11 colleges and universities. To improve its state college and university system, many of Florida's business, political and education leaders have been pushing increases of up to 15 percent in tuition, which is second-lowest in the country.

If that happens, monthly payments in the prepaid college tuition program could swell to $265 a month or more a child, up from $170 now. "The program will end," predicted Stanley Tate, founder of Florida's prepaid tuition program and a Miami real estate developer.

Tate has been fighting an often lonely battle against the tuition increases, waged with $500,000 for newspaper advertisements and a Web campaign. Lawmakers and others who support the tuition increases say Tate is concerned only about holding college costs down. The issue is quality, they say. "Florida has the worst student-faculty ratios in the country," says Republican Rep. Will Weatherford.

Prepaid tuition programs have been threatened before. Ohio suspended its program in 2003 as tuition was increasing. Pennsylvania imposed a temporary surcharge on its payment plan in 2003 because of a decline in the value of its investments. Texas, Colorado and West Virginia also suspended enrollment in its initial prepaid tuition programs.

But this time, there is more discussion in some states of whether the prepaid programs should be scrapped or retooled to avoid the fluctuations in the stock market. "I hope they do survive and find a model that works to keep them going because they do serve a great need," Hurley said.

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(c) 2009, Stateline.org

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Google's e-mail add-ons are fun

By Anne Krishnan

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

The fun folks at Google have been busy developing neat e-mail features within Gmail Labs, the company's experimental testing ground.

Three of the new additions can keep you from sending an e-mail you regret. The two more practical ones are the "Forgotten Attachment Detector," which scans your e-mail to determine when you probably forgot to include a file, and "Undo Send," which gives you up to a 10-second grace period to cancel a sent e-mail. A third, called "Mail Goggles," tries to prevent poorly conceived late-night e-mails by requiring the sender to solve a few math problems before the message sends.

Other features allow you to use Gmail offline, add a to-do list, show link previews within the body of e-mails and expand the flagging icons beyond the yellow star.

To see these and other options, log into your Gmail account. (You can set up one at gmail.com.) Go to "Settings" at the top right of the page, then choose the link for "Labs." You can also click on the little green test tube next to the settings link. Once you have enabled a feature, you also may be able to tweak it under the "General" settings tab.

Clif Dudley of Raleigh, N.C., was one of several readers who responded to the recent column about BIOS errors. His letter was so good, I wanted to reprint it here.

To Stump The Geeks,

The answer to the last question in today's article ... was partially correct, that Windows XP Service Pack 3 was indeed installed. But there are two indicators in the body of the question that point to a very basic solution to the underlying BIOS problem. A person admitting to using a dial-up connection implies a Mennonite type mindset to use a contraption far beyond its intended life cycle. Most of us, in our throw-away society, never enjoy what this resourceful miser has just experienced — a dead battery.

The clues to the problem are the repeated BIOS errors and 12:00 a.m. clock time upon start up. The main board battery can last beyond five years before giving up without warning or a sensible diagnostic error code such as "Battery Dead, Replace To Continue." Merely coincidence that a laborious download occurred at the same time a voltage back up gave up the last of its three volts.

So advising the questioner (who might currently be in the futile effort of updating the BIOS, which if done improperly or with the wrong load, can permanently corrupt the poor unsuspecting chip) to replace the silvery thin disk contained within a black plastic holder somewhere towards the left rear of the main board with a CR2025 battery found at most department stores as soon as possible would be the best option.

How do I know? I have no particular computer skills to note and am often software challenged. But I am one of those Mennonites who has difficulty in containing my glee and adrenaline release when I happen upon a residence with an unwanted computer on temporary display before the sanitation technician crew rolls by.

Regards,

Clifton Dudley

(Think you can stump the geeks? Send your high-tech question to stumpthegeeks@newsobserver.com. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Individual replies are not given.)

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(c) 2009, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.).

Visit The News & Observer online at http://www.newsobserver.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Capture everything your computer sees and hears

By Craig Crossman

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

(MCT)

Something is playing on your computer yet you can't save it to disc so you can play it again anytime you like. It's a frustrating experience when you see something playing on your computer and yet you can't truly own it. When you have something saved to your hard drive, you don't have to worry about the streaming video becoming unavailable later on. The ability to capture media to disc insures you will always have it available to you. But unfortunately too many online resources that offer up streaming video and audio such as YouTube and Hulu offer no way to save their content to your hard drive. As long as these sites offer their content, you can watch it. But when they're gone, they're gone. It would really be nice to have the ability to save these media streams to disc and fortunately Applian Technologies offers a product that lets you do exactly that.

Replay Media Capture is a streaming video and audio downloader that lets you capture an exact digital copy of what you are seeing and hearing to your computer's hard disk drive. This is not to be confused with similar products that screen capture what is being displayed on your computer's monitor. In fact, Applian actually does offer a media screen capture product called Replay Video Capture that copies the digital information within your computer's video memory. But Replay Media Capture works in a totally different way.

When you watch a YouTube video for example, a server at the other end begins to deliver the digital information to your computer. According to Applian, their Replay Media Catcher is able to access those servers and intercept the live stream directly. This process allows you to make an exact digital copy of the streaming media unlike screen capture products that usually yield a capture result that's inferior in quality to the original stream.

According to Applian, Replay Media Capture supports more streaming protocols than any other media capture programs and they continue to expand the number of supported websites that deliver various types of streaming media. Applian's website maintains a listing of hundreds of currently supported media streaming website locations. Check it out to see if what you want to capture is on a supported website service.

Once captured, Replay Media Capture stores the media data as an FLV file that can be watched on the included media player. If you want to convert these files into other formats, Replay Media Capture offers conversion to most of the popular media formats such as WMV, MPEG, MP3, MP4 and 3GP. A special included converter lets you modify these files so that they can be played on an iPod and iPhone. If there's embedded naming information within the streaming data, Replay Media Capture will automatically name and tag the files for you.

Recording takes place in real time so plan to spend some time when using Replay Media Capture. If you know in advance what you wish to record, you can begin the viewing process and work on something else or just go away until the download is complete. Replay Media Capture has the ability to capture several media streams simultaneously making the unattended capture process even easier.

So if you've ever watched something on your computer and have it disappear from the website on which you viewed it, now you can capture what you see and hear to your hard disk to be played whenever you like, even without an Internet connection. Replay Media Capture sells for $39.95 and is available only for Windows.

www.applian.com

(Craig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the No. 1 daily national computer radio talk show, Computer America, heard on the Business TalkRadio Network and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network — Monday through Friday, 10 p.m.-midnight ET. For more information, visit his web site at www.computeramerica.com.)

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(c) 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

How 2... Insert images in Gmail messages

By Etan Horowitz

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

Instead of having to attach an image in a message for someone to open, you can now insert images directly into a Gmail message so they are visible in the body of the message.

1. Log into your account at Gmail.com. Click on "Settings" in the upper right corner of the page.

2. Click on the "Labs" tab under Settings. (If you don't see the "Labs" tab, make sure you have the latest version of your Web browser.) Scroll down and click on "Enable" next to "Inserting images." Click on "Save Changes."

3. Open up a new message and you should see a little picture icon in the toolbar. If you don't see it, make sure your e-mail message is not in plain text formatting.

4. Click on the picture icon to choose the image you want to upload. You can use an image from your computer, or an image that exists online by pasting in the URL where that photo is located. Click "Add image."

5. Your image should now appear in the body of your e-mail message. You can click one of the links below it to resize it before sending.

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(c) 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

For prom, think pretty not pricey

Prom fashion is all about choice this year, whether it is strapless, halter or one-shoulder style, long, short or in-between, black, white or bright. But for many girls this prom season, the big question is not about style. It's about cost. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)

By Jean Patteson
The Orlando Sentinel
(MCT)

Prom fashion is all about choice this year.

Strapless, halter or one-shoulder style? Long, short or in-between? Black, white or bright? Solid color or jazzy print? Plain or embellished with sequins, crystals, rhinestones?

And that's just the dress.

Shoes: heels or flats? Accessories: handbag or clutch? Necklace, bangles, earrings — or all three?

But for many girls this prom season, the big question is not about style. It's about cost.

In many households, budgets are tighter than they've been in years. There is no money for splurging on high-priced prom outfits. But that doesn't mean you have to step out on prom night looking less than lovely.

Here are ways to cut back on costs — but not glamour.

Shop around. Most stores, anticipating the economic downturn, stocked up on moderately priced prom dresses.

At the Forever 21 chain at the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, Fla., for example, dressy designs can be found for about $25. At Macy's and Dillard's, short prom dresses start at $79 — and some are already on sale for even less. Dillard's also is offering $45 worth of gift certificates with the purchase of a regularly priced prom dress on April 17-19.

Shop thrift and consignment stores. This is an especially good year to find prom bargains, says Cheryl Wood, owner of Classic Consignments in Altamonte Springs and Winter Park, Fla., where prices start at $19.99. "Lots of stores are closing, and we're getting their inventory," she says.

Shop at school. A number of high schools have collections of donated prom attire and accessories, which are free to students from all area high schools.

Shop online. But remember, there's no guarantee the dress will fit properly when it arrives, and shipment may be delayed — so allow time for dealing with such problems.

Shop short. Short dresses often cost less than long gowns and are very much in fashion this year. They're also more useful than long gowns after the prom is a mere memory.

Shop simple. Unadorned, clean-cut designs are generally less expensive than elaborate styles. Dress up plain dresses with glitzy accessories or sew on your own trimmings — beads, sequins, flowers, feathers, etc.

Beg, borrow or trade. Friends and relatives are sure to have jewelry, evening bags, even shoes you can use.

Buy flats. They often cost less than heels, are more comfortable for dancing and come in really cute styles. Besides, under a long dress, on a dark and crowded dance floor, shoes are virtually invisible.

Skip the fancy, high-priced hairdo. Keep your hair simple and natural (guys prefer it that way), but dress it up with a decorated headband. They cost just a few dollars, or are easy to make by gluing craft-store silk flowers onto drug-store headbands.

Get a cut-rate hairdo. Ask if your salon is offering special prom rates. Or check with hairstyling colleges, where the cost of services is far lower than at salons.

Skip the costly makeover. You can do your own nails and makeup. Just don't leave your nails to the last minute. And remember that practice makes perfect.

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(c) 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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National Hurricane Center posts best-ever storm prediction accuracy

By Ken Kaye

Sun Sentinel

(MCT)

The National Hurricane Center again broke accuracy records while predicting the tracks of 16 tropical systems in 2008, according to a report released Thursday.

The center reduced the mean track error to 55 miles when storms are 24 hours from landfall compared with a long-term error of 67 miles.

In the past 15 years, the center has improved track predictions by about 50 percent largely because models continue to be more sophisticated, said James Franklin, author of the report and team leader over the center's hurricane specialists.

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(c) 2009, Sun Sentinel.

Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.SunSentinel.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Small School Store Fire Causes Evacuation

By James Brierton
ST. JAMES (TheMatadorOnline.com) - A small fire in the Smithtown High School East school store caused a brief evacuation of the school Monday.

Around noon, smoke began pouring out of the microwave in the school store. As a precaution, the fire alarm was activated and students and staff evacuated the building.

Despite a cool breeze and some light rain, students and staff stood in staging areas around the building for much of seventh period as the situation was brought under control. The St. James Fire Department could be seen arriving on the north side of the building around 12:30 p.m.

No damage was reported to the school store and no one was injured in the incident.

Live: Fire Alarm Activation

Live Posts:
During Monday's brief evacauation, TheMatadorOnline.com's James Brierton sent updates from his wireless device to the Web.

12:20 pm : students and staff remain outside high school east much of seventh period after an activation of the fire alarm shortly after noon. The cause of the activation remains unknown. No fire department personnel can be seen from my vantage point on the north side of the building. Updates on thematadoronline.com as we get them.- james brierton reporting

12:30 pm : one fire truck and a chief's vehicle have arrived on the north side of the building. No visible signs of a fire.

Apx. 12:40 pm : All students and staff have returned to the building

During breaking news events such as on Monday, TheMatadorOnline.com uses remote access to our newsroom to post updates through what is called 'Live Blogging.' Short segments of information, rather than complete articles, are sent from our reporters in the field to the Web. At the conclusion of the incident, the newsroom compiles all the reports and puts together a finished publication.

Cost of college, economic woes have high school seniors weighing options

From left, Alden Mitchell, 16, Rachel Brown, 17, and Sheri Park, 18, critique paintings during an advanced placement art class at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, on April 15, 2009. Brown is a senior who is currently deciding on colleges for the next school year. This is the time of year that students and parents must finally commit to the school of their choice. (Gary Reyes/San Jose Mercury News/MCT)

By Dana Hull
San Jose Mercury News
(MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. _ Mike Maietta was eating lunch when he got a text message from his mom.

"Notre Dame," it said. "Big envelope!"

Mike, a senior in high school, whooped for joy. The big envelope meant the storied Catholic university in South Bend, Ind., had offered him a coveted slot in its Class of 2013. But the $51,300 annual price tag is a formidable obstacle. So Mike and his parents are considering offers from several other colleges and calculating the costs _ tuition, housing, holiday trips home.

This year, money is the driving factor for a growing number of high school seniors, who are spreading out the acceptance letters and crunching the numbers to decide what colleges to attend this fall. Layoffs, plunging home values and decimated college savings accounts have vastly changed family finances.

"We're ecstatic that Mike got into so many great schools," said Michael Maietta, his father, an engineer at Microsoft. "But if you consider going to school out of state, you've got to think about all of the other costs: moving, flying back and forth for the holidays. You're looking at about $3,000 a year just for travel."

More than 7.6 million students have filled out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a 19.9 percent increase over last year.

The federal Department of Education this month urged college financial aid officers to give more help to families suffering from the recession. And a record 30,428 students applied for 2,300 slots at Stanford, in part because the university boosted financial aid for families earning below $100,000.

Students have until May 1 to decide on a school, and many campuses require "matriculation deposits" up to $400 to secure their slots for the fall. As families weigh their options, some are going back to financial aid offices in hopes that packages can be boosted.

"The most heartbreaking appeals at this point are from families where parents are just being told about layoffs in the last few weeks," said Karen Cooper, director of financial aid at Stanford. "Even those who thought they had a plan in place are scrambling to come up with new options."

Mary Nucciarone, an assistant director of financial aid at Notre Dame, said several families of admitted students are asking the university to consider new information.

"Loss of bonus income, loss of home equity, decrease in assets, mortgages underwater," she said. "People are coming back to us and saying, 'Did you consider this?'"

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Santa Clara University, where tuition, room and board top $46,000 a year, is concerned accepted students may choose more affordable alternatives instead. So nearly 400 alumni volunteers are now telephoning every admitted student; the most highly valued prospective students receive calls from President Michael Engh or Provost Lucia Albino Gilbert.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

Mike Maietta got into eight colleges, and narrowed his top choices to a final five: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga and the University of San Diego.

As the Maiettas turn the options over in their minds, numerous factors come into play. Loyola Marymount and Gonzaga offered Mike partial scholarships, but Notre Dame and Vanderbilt did not. Loyola, in Los Angeles, is within driving distance. But the cost of housing at Gonzaga, in Spokane, Wash., is slightly cheaper.

"Fifty thousand dollars a year is a lot of money," said Mike, who wants to study mechanical engineering. "I'd like to go to Notre Dame or Vanderbilt, but I can see myself at LMU."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Rachel Brown was ecstatic when she got a thick envelope from New York University; she's always wanted to live in Manhattan. But given tuition and the cost of living in New York, she's seriously considering the University of California-San Diego.

"The tuition for NYU is like twice as much as UCSD," said Rachel, 17, who is struggling to decide. "My mom doesn't want me to have a big debt when I graduate, and I don't want that either. I'd have to take out a loan for like $15,000 ... I'm going to check and see if there's any way that NYU can offer me any financial aid."

Jonathan Kaslow got into nine colleges, including Occidental, George Washington University and Lewis & Clark. But he's pretty much decided on UCSD.

"The cost of the private schools just isn't worth it," said Jonathan, who plans to study political science. "My mom got laid off from Sun Microsystems and is completely flipping out about money. I can see myself at UCSD, and sometimes Southwest has $40 fares so it won't cost too much to fly home."

___

© 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).

Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

_____

PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): COLLEGECOSTS

School strip-search case reaches Supreme Court this week

By David G. Savage

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

SAFFORD, Ariz. _ When Savana Redding, now 19, talks of what happened to her in 8th grade, it is clear the painful memories linger.

She speaks of being embarrassed and of fearing and distrusting a nurse, and of staying away from school for two months. And she recalls whispers and stares from others in the small eastern Arizona mining town of Safford after she was strip-searched in the nurse's office because a vice principal suspected she might be hiding an extra-strength ibuprofen in her underwear.

This week, the Supreme Court will hear her case. Its decision, the first to address the issue of strip-searches in schools, will set the legal limits, if any, on the authority of school officials to search for drugs or weapons on campus. And while Savana's story provokes outrage from many who hear it, the school district warns that its ability to keep all drugs out of its schools must be preserved.

Matthew Wright, the school district's lawyer, said the vice principal was concerned because one student had gotten seriously ill from taking unidentified pills.

"That was the driving force for him. If nothing had been done, and this happened to another kid, parents would have been outraged," Wright said. "If there are drugs and weapons at school, how much do we want to tie the hands of the administrators?"

Only once has the high court ruled on a school-search case, and it sounds quaint now. It arose in 1980 when a New Jersey girl was caught smoking in the bathroom, and the principal searched her purse for cigarettes.

The justices upheld this search because the principal had a specific reason for looking in her purse. However, they did not say how far officials can go _ and how much of a student's privacy can be sacrificed _ to maintain safety at school. That's the issue in Safford Unified School District v. Redding.

Savana was an honors student, shy and "nerdy" when the 8th grade began in the fall of 2003, she said.

She first learned she was in trouble when Kerry Wilson, the vice principal, came into a math class one morning and told her to come with him to the office.

He was in search of white pills. "District policy J-3050 strictly prohibits the non-medical use or possession of any drug on campus," he said later in a sworn statement.

Wilson knew a boy had gotten sick from pills he obtained at school. And that morning, another 8th-grader, Marissa Glines, was found with what turned out to be several 400 mg ibuprofen pills tucked into a folded school planner. A few days before, Savana had lent Marissa the folder. The vice principal also found a small knife, a cigarette and a lighter in the folder. When asked where she got the pills, Marissa named Savana Redding.

These "could only be obtained with a prescription," Wilson reported. Marketed over the counter as Advil and Motrin with recommended doses of 200 to 400 mg, they are commonly used for headaches or to relieve pain from menstrual cramps.

Savana, however, said she knew nothing of the pills in Marissa's folder.

"He asked if he could search my backpack. I said, 'Sure,' " she recalled. When nothing was found, Wilson sent Savana to the nurse's office, where the nurse and an office assistant were told to "search her clothes" for the missing pills.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Savana said she kept her head down, embarrassed and afraid she would cry. After removing her pink T-shirt and black stretch pants, she stood in her bra and panties. She was told to pull her underwear to the side and to shake to see if any pills could be dislodged.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

It was "the most humiliating experience" of her life, she said.

"We did not find any pills during our search of Savana," Wilson reported.

Upset and angry, Savana's mother, April Redding, complained to the principal's office, then to the superintendent's office nearby. Both denied at first knowing that a student had been strip-searched.

"It was wrong. I didn't think anything like that could happen to my daughter at school," she said. "Why didn't they call me? I couldn't get them to explain it."

Contacted at the school last week, Wilson declined to discuss the case, as did other school officials.

When no one apologized, April Redding sued the school district. Her lawyers say the strip-search goes far beyond the bounds of reasonableness, especially when there was no imminent danger.

April Redding says she had a simple goal. "I wanted a judge to say what they did was wrong," she said.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

After the strip-search, Savana refused to return to the middle school. She did not want to be in the presence of the nurse or the office assistant who humiliated her. She went to an alternative high school in Safford, but dropped out before graduating. She is taking psychology classes at nearby East Arizona College.

___

© 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

EPA declaration sets stage for more regulation

By Jim Tankersley

Tribune Washington Bureau

(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ The federal government's declaration Friday that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health marked a first step toward likely regulation of the tailpipe emissions of cars, power plants and factories that scientists blame for global warming.

The decision by the Environmental Protection Agency was a clear break with the Bush administration, which downplayed concerns about global warming, and set the stage for a possible national standard for vehicle emissions and other federal efforts to curb such pollution.

The Obama administration already is developing a plan to make the U.S. auto fleet cleaner by regulating carbon dioxide emissions from tailpipes. But the move Friday also gives it the capacity to either regulate larger emissions producers like power plants or prod Congress to set limits, which the administration would prefer.

Lawmakers have begun debating legislation that would crack down on power plant emissions, which generate twice as much greenhouse gas as cars and trucks. But the prospect of the White House taking action could push Congress to come to an agreement.

"The Obama administration now has the legal equivalent of a .44 magnum" to fight global warming, said Frank O'Donnell, president of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. "The bullets aren't loaded yet, but they could be."

Environmentalists celebrated the EPA's action as the clearest signal yet that the Obama administration is prepared to act boldly to combat global warming. O'Donnell called the move "a landmark moment in environmental history."

But critics say the EPA decision, and the regulations that could accompany it, could chill an already recessionary economy.

"An endangerment finding would lead to destructive regulatory schemes that Congress never authorized," a group of eight leading conservative and free-market activists warned the EPA in a letter this week. They added that "the administration will bear responsibility for any increase in consumer energy costs, unemployment and GDP losses" that result.

In its ruling, the EPA declared that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases endanger public health. "In both magnitude and probability, climate change is an enormous problem," the agency declared. "The greenhouse gases that are responsible for it endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the Clean Air Act."

The ruling includes a lengthy summation of scientific warnings about human contributions to climate change, and of the potentially devastating impacts that could result.

But in finding that greenhouse gases endangered public health "within the meaning of the Clean Air Act," the EPA also moved beyond what most Americans think of as air pollution, said Bill Farland, a former top EPA scientist who is now senior vice president for research and engagement at Colorado State University.

The EPA is equating otherwise benign gases that are leading to rising temperatures with traditional pollutants such as smog and lead, he said.

"Clearly, you can expose animals and humans to (carbon dioxide) without a harmful effect," Farland said. "On the other hand, in today's society there's mounting information that if you continue to release CO2, it's going to be problematic from a climate change perspective."

Friday's decision said that automobiles, which produce about 20 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, contribute directly to climate change. The administration is expected to develop vehicle emissions limits along the lines of strict regulations that California and other states are attempting to adopt.

Some industry groups said the text of the decision appeared to give the administration an "off ramp" to avoid widespread regulation.

William Kovacs, a vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the finding allows the EPA to delay emissions limits until technology improves and compliance costs fall, a move he said would avoid "disastrous" regulations that would all but put the EPA in control of the entire economy.

Obama often links carbon emissions limits _ and the price increases they would assuredly impose on fossil fuel energy _ with the creation of millions of jobs through renewable energy development. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a press release Friday that global warming "has a solution _ one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country's dependence on foreign oil."

The next move belongs to Congress. The House will reconvene Monday after a two-week break, with a major climate bill on its agenda. One of that bill's drafters, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., on Friday called the EPA decision a "game-changer" that will force representatives to assume that if they don't limit emissions, the administration will.

Markey was echoed by the Senate's lead climate bill drafter, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who said that if Congress fails to pass a climate bill, "then I will call on EPA to take all steps authorized by law to protect our families."

The EPA will accept public comments on its finding for two months, and it has scheduled public hearings in suburban Washington and in Seattle. Industry groups will ramp up their economic warnings. The Sierra Club on Friday launched a campaign to generate a half-million comments in support of the finding and other parts of Obama's climate agenda.

___

© 2009, Tribune Co.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Motorcyclist Killed in Saint James Motor Vehicle Crash

***UPDATE***
Serkan Senal, 30, of 19 Orchid Drive, Port Jefferson Station, has been identified as the motorcyclist who was killed in a motor vehicle crash in Saint James on April 19. Valerie Campbell, 19, of 26 Cambon Place, Nesconset, has been identified as the driver of the 2004 Jeep. The investigation is continuing.

ST. JAMES (Suffolk County Police Department) - Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed a motorcyclist in Saint James today.

The motorcyclist whose identity has not been released pending notification of his family was riding a 2005 Suzuki motorcycle eastbound on Route 25 in Saint James at approximately 1:55 p.m. At the intersection of Route 25 and Cambon Place, the motorcycle struck a 2004 Jeep that was proceeding northbound on Cambon Place.

The motorcyclist and the driver of the Jeep were transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center where the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m. The driver of the Jeep was treated and released.

Both vehicles were impounded for safety checks. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.

Friday, April 17, 2009

'One Tree Hill' actor arrested for selling Social Security numbers

By John Riley
Newsday
(MCT)

NEW YORK _ Antwon Tanner, a successful actor and regular on the popular teen drama "One Tree Hill," was charged Thursday with trafficking in Social Security cards and numbers in federal court in Brooklyn.

Tanner, 35, plays a character named Antwon "Skills" Taylor on the CW Network show, set in a town in North Carolina. He has a long list of acting credits, including a role in the movie "Coach Carter" and TV appearances on "Boston Public," "CSI" and "NYPD Blue," according to imdb.com, an entertainment Web site.

He was caught in a sting run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. An undercover agent, through an informant, ended up buying 16 Social Security numbers and three fake cards from Tanner over the phone for more than $1,000, according to a law enforcement official.

Social Security numbers _ unassigned, from real people or from dead people _ can be used for identity theft, credit card fraud, or to get false passports or other identification documents. The charges didn't specify where Tanner got the numbers and cards or how he thought they would be used.

Wearing a baggy green jacket and white tennis shoes, Tanner pleaded not guilty Thursday. A Californian, he was released on a $250,000 bond. He could face five years or more in prison on each of two counts, prosecutors said.

Tanner and his lawyer both declined to comment as they rushed out of the courthouse. On the street outside he was immediately recognized by one young man who identified Tanner as the point guard from "Coach Carter," a basketball movie starring Samuel L. Jackson.

___

© 2009, Newsday.
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Obama: No prosecution for CIA operatives in interrogations

By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ President Obama said Thursday that the United States will not prosecute CIA officials who participated in controversial terrorism interrogation techniques _ including waterboarding and slapping and sleep deprivation _ that were secretly authorized under President Bush and have since been rescinded.

"This is a time for reflection, not retribution," Obama said in a written statement issued as the Justice Department prepared to turn over by a court deadline Bush-era memos that authorized various legally questionable techniques.

"In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution," the president said.

The memos were issued between 2002 and 2005 by the Bush Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The Obama administration was being compelled to release them to the American Civil Liberties Union under a federal court-imposed deadline in an open records lawsuit being brought by the group.

CIA director Leon Panetta told employees in a memo Thursday that despite Obama's assurances, "This is not the end of the road on these issues" to expect more pressure from the Congress, the public and the courts to release more information.

At the same time, he said, it was important to understand the "context" of the memos, coming soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He said: "The fact remains that CIA's detention and interrogation effort was authorized and approved by our government. For that reason, as I have continued to make clear, I will strongly oppose any effort to investigate or punish those who followed the guidance of the Department of Justice."

Panetta also said the CIA would provide legal representation to any staff investigated for their actions.

The memos are being released late Thursday afternoon.

The administration was redacting at least some information, at the request of intelligence officials.

In his statement, the president said of intelligence operatives, "we must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs."

Obama also said: "The exceptional circumstances surrounding these memos should not be viewed as an erosion of the strong legal basis for maintaining the classified nature of secret activities."

The four memos are said to detail the type of "enhanced" interrogation techniques that were condoned by the Justice Department for use by the CIA.

For years, the Bush administration has refused to release memos that provided the legal underpinning for harsh interrogations, eavesdropping and secret prisons, citing national security, attorney-client privilege and the need to protect the government's deliberative process.

Shortly after Obama took office, Attorney General Eric Holder pledged to release as many of the still-secret Office of Legal Counsel memos and opinions as possible while protecting national security information.

Critics of the prior administration see the release of the documents as necessary to determine whether former administration officials should be held accountable for legal opinions that justified various antiterrorism measures, including the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

Two previous Justice Department memos in 2002 and 2003 had approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh methods so long as they did not cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure.

But those memos were widely condemned and later withdrawn because of questions about whether they were encouraging torture. The disclosure of them also forced President Bush to declare, "We do not torture," a phrase he would come to repeat often when defending the administration's anti-terrorism policies.

___

© 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the World Wide Web at www.mcclatchydc.com.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Accolades and Updates 4-14-09

Edward Ehmann, Superintendent of Schools of the Smithtown School District, made the following announcements at the April 14th Board of Education meeting at the Joseph M. Barton Administration Building.

SHS East student Valentine Esposito and SHS West student Kelly Prudente have been selected as Semi-Finalists in the prestigious Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition. The YES Competition awards college scholarships each year to high school juniors and seniors who conduct outstanding research projects that apply epidemiological methods of analysis to a health-related issue.

John Nolan was recently named the Model Schools Administrator of the Year for his commitment to promoting the growth instructional technology in 2008/2009.

Dogwood Elementary librarian Shelia Cavooris is an award winner of a grant titled, We the People “Picturing America” Bookshelf.

Branch Brook Elementary teacher Victor Collaco is the winner of a Western Suffolk BOCES Model Schools Teacher Integration Award.

For the third time in five years, the Nesaquake Middle School Trivia Team took first place in the Middle School Division of the Suffolk County United Cerebral Palsy Trivia Contest.

Members of the Smithtown High School East’s Honor Society recently visited after school with the patients at the Smithtown Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care. The residents were treated to a fantastic concert by Brian Harte, Caitlin Marsh, Jennifer Cohen, Emily Hittner, Mitchell Feinberg and Diane Cho.

Two SHS East ninth graders, Alissa Cutrone and Taylor Trentadue were awarded Honorable Mention at an Italian Poetry Contest at Stony Brook University.

The Great Hollow Middle School Mock Trial team recently competed in the 26th Annual Mock Trial Tournament at Dowling College under the direction of advisor Richard Restifo.

Accompsett Elementary School hosted its Annual Fairy Tale Ball. The Ball is a culminating event for the Fairy Tale unit of study. The second grade students read fairy tales, composed their own fairy-tales, retold Jack and the Beanstalk from the Giant’s point-of-view. The children also enjoyed a Cinderella Rap and a Fairy Tale Jingle.

Great Hollow and Nesaquake Middle Schools recently placed at Regional Science Olympiad Competition. Both schools earned medals for their achievements and have been invited to compete at the NYS competition.

The Mills Pond Civics Club has received a grant from Newsday’s Future Corps for the fifth year in a row. The grant will be used to purchase flats of flowers for their annual St. James Healthcare Facility Spring Planting Day. The students assist the seniors in beautifying their courtyard.

Mills Pond Elementary teacher Tara McCluskey’s fifth grade class has been chosen by Newsday’s Kidsday to develop a week-long series for the month of July. This opportunity will include celebrity interviews, taste tests, testing age appropriate toys and video games, restaurant reviews, school wide polls, and articles of interest, to name a few. The Kidsday editor, Patrick Mulooly, will be visiting the class several times and working closely with each student on developing their pieces.

Two Smithtown Juniors Named Semi-finalists in the Young Epidemiology Scholars Competition

East junior Valentine Esposito

(Smithtown Central School District) - Valentine Esposito and Kelly Prudente have been named semi-finalists in the Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition administered by the College Board. Valentine Esposito, a student in Ms. Trinkle’s science research program at High School East, conducted a study titled “The Influence of Fear on Teenage Drug Use.” She employed extensive research to investigate a current issue plaguing teens today. She was mentored by Ms. Trinkle who says that her work involved meticulously organizing data. Her effort was outstanding and this recognition is well deserved. Kelly Prudente is a member of the research program at High School West. Dr. Figueiredo, research coordinator at West, stated that Kelly’s strong work ethic was a key component in the success of Kelly’s project entitled: “The Effect of Select Non-Academic Activities on Self Esteem.” Kelly’s sister Katie Prudente was one of our two Semifinalists last year!

”According to Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, “The YES Competition was developed to help students hone their skills in using research methods and critical thinking to identify new ideas that may help address some of the major public health issues we face today.” The College Board further explains that, “The YES Competition is designed to spur students’ interest in the field of public health, specifically epidemiology which explores disease, illness, and injury within populations with the goal of developing methods for prevention, control, and treatment to improve health.” Valentine and Kelly will each receive a $1000 scholarship.

Motorcyclist Seriously Injured in Motor Vehicle Crash

*Updated
ST. JAMES (Suffolk County Police Department) - Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that killed a motorcyclist this morning in St. James.

Timothy Otis was driving his 2004 Kawasaki motorcycle west on Route 25 at 8:27 a.m. when his motorcycle collided with a 2006 Range Rover, driven by Gina Caliguri, that was making a left turn onto Route 25 from Hillside Avenue.

Otis, 37, of Centereach, was pronouced dead at 4:06 p.m. at Stony Brook University Medical Center. Otis had been admitted in critical condition following the accident.

Caliguri, 29, of Smithtown, was treated and released from Stony Brook University Medical Center.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information on this crash is asked to call the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Dog Rescued from Well on Kings Park Lawn

KINGS PARK (Suffolk County Police Department) - Suffolk County Police, assisted by the Kings Park and Commack Fire Departments, rescued a black lab from a well in Kings Park this evening.

Fourth Precinct police officers responded to a 911 call regarding a dog that fell into a well at 1135 St. Johnland Road in Kings Park at 9:16 p.m. Mindy, a 14-year-old black lab, was out in the yard on a dog-run when she fell into an old well, approximately 8-feet-deep.

The Suffolk County Police Emergency Services Section, the Commack Fire Department Technical Rescue, and the Kings Park Fire Department Heavy Rescue responded and with a combined effort, the dog was pulled out at 10:55 p.m.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Capt Freed

Bulletin: US captain held by pirates off Somalia has been freed. 3 of 4 pirates killed.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Small Plane Crashes Off Smith's Point

Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating a single-engine plane crash in Mastic Beach that claimed the life of the pilot this afternoon.

Suffolk County Police received several 911 calls at approximately 1:25 p.m. today reporting that a small plane crashed into the water off Smith Point County Park. The Suffolk County Marine Bureau, Seventh Precinct police officers, Suffolk County Park Police, the United States Coast Guard and the New York Air National Guard 106th Rescue Wing conducted search and rescue efforts. The plane has not been recovered.

Robert Baranaskas, 61, of Northport, has been identified as the pilot of the World War II-era plane.

The Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the crash.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Italian Poetry Contest Awards

Two Smithtown High School East students were awarded Honorable Mention at an Italian Poetry Contest at Stony Brook University on March 27th. Alissa Cutrone and Taylor Trentadue are ninth grade students in Ms. Yarcak’s Italian 2 class.

Gunman in Binghamton, N.Y., shooting felt 'looked down upon'

By Matthew Chayes and Andrew Strickler

Newsday

(MCT)

NEW YORK _ The gunman behind the deadliest shooting rampage in modern New York history was apparently disgruntled because he'd been recently fired and felt "looked down upon" because of his broken English, Binghamton, N.Y.'s city police chief said Saturday.

Wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with two handguns and a satchel of ammunition, Jiverly Wong, 41, stormed an upstate center for immigrants _ where he had himself been a student until last month _ fatally shot 13 people on Friday and wounded four others before turning a gun on himself, officials said.

Police said the body armor and the extra ammunition suggested the attack was well-planned and that Wong anticipated a firefight with police, although he killed himself just before police arrived.

"He was upset about losing his job and felt disrespected and looked down upon because of his not being able to speak English," Joseph Zikuski of the Binghamton Police Bureau said Saturday.

Zikuski said people close to Wong, who had changed his last name to Voong and lived with his mother, father and sister in nearby Johnson City, told police that Wong's violent spree was "no surprise" to them.

But, Zikuski said, "We may never know the true motive."

The chief said the shooter had been laid off from his job as a per diem employee at Shop-Vac.

The bloodbath began Friday when the shooter arrived at the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants settle in the United States, in Binghamton shortly before 10:30 a.m. He blocked a rear exit with a Toyota Camry borrowed from his father, police said, before entering the front door.

"He never spoke a word," Zikuski said Saturday at a news conference.

He quickly shot two receptionists before turning to an adjacent classroom and firing repeatedly at people there. One wounded receptionist, who police said pretended to be dead, called 911 and hid under a desk.

The suspected gunman's body was found in the classroom where the shooting happened. Two handguns, for which Wong had permits, were recovered.

A total of 37 people _ including more than two dozen people who heard the initial shots and barricaded themselves in a boiler room _ escaped unhurt.

Most of those killed did not speak English and were at the center for language and citizenship classes. Andrew Block, a Binghamton city spokesman, said officials have begun to reach out to friends and relatives of victims. Zikuski said authorities would try to begin releasing names of victims late Saturday.

The two handguns were registered to Jiverly Wong, he said; fingerprints on the gun permit matched fingerprints taken from the shooter's body.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Among the wounded was a visiting chemistry scholar from Binghamton University, according to school spokesman Ryan Yarosh. The position is supported by the Chinese government, although he could not confirm the scholar's nationality.

As SWAT teams spent hours securing the building, relatives of many still inside waited for word at a nearby relief center.

Among them was Omri Yigal, 53, whose wife, Dolores, was at the center Friday morning. A recent immigrant from the Philippines, she takes English classes in the hope of attaining American citizenship, Yigal said.

"I need to know where she is, how she's doing and if she's OK," Omri said as he stood in a drizzle.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

New York Gov. David A. Paterson expressed his "profound outrage at a senseless act of violence in which innocent people were killed, injured and probably traumatized."

The shooting follows several other bloody incidents in recent months and years. In March alone, gunmen in North Carolina, California and Alabama shot and killed a total of 23 people in separate incidents. Last year, a man opened fire in an Illinois university lecture hall, fatally shooting five students before committing suicide. In April 2007, Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 people at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg.

Vice President Joe Biden, who was in Manhattan to deliver a speech Friday, asked for prayers for the Binghamton community. "We got to figure out a way to deal with this senseless, senseless violence," he said.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Among the community and government organizations offering assistance is the American Red Cross Southern Tier Chapter, whose executive director said victims and their families might continue to reach out for help well after the shooting.

"They may not need us today, they may need us next week," she said. "It's like when there's a death in the family, and you spend the first few days planning the funeral, it's very busy. You don't really process. The processing comes after all that initial activity and you realize what's happened," executive director Cynthia Gordineer said.

___

(Evan Drellich in Binghamton, N.Y., contributed to this report.)

___

© 2009, Newsday.

Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

___ _ _

GRAPHIC (from MCT Graphics, 202-383-6064): NY SHOOTINGS

North Korea Rocket Launch

Bulletin: North Korea fires 'test' rocket over ocean. The rocket was believed launch over Japanese ocean. No threat. The fear on behalf of countries such as China, South Korea and the U.S. is the apparent available of such technology in North Korea, a feared nuclear country.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Developing: Dozen Killed in Binghamton Shooting

Developing Story...
(Updated 3:30 p.m. et Friday)

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (TheMatadorOnline.com) - Details are still coming into TheMatadorOnline.com newsroom regarding today's shooting in a Binghamton building.

Reports indicate a a gunmen killed at least 12 - possibly 13 - today during a hostage situation at the American Civic Association.

Local media reports the gunman used his vehicle to block a back door to the building before entering the building around 10:30 a.m. et. Once inside, it appears the gunman began to fire at victims randomly.

The American Civic Association provides services to immigrants. Vice President Joe Biden told an audience at the National Action Network that a vast number of immigrants were inside the building taking a citizenship test when the shooter entered.

A total of 41 people are believed to have been taken hostage.

The gunmen killed himself a short time later. He is reported to be a 42-year-old man from upstate New York/

The Binghamton mayor is expected to speak around 4:30 p.m. et.

TheMatadorOnline.com will have more ont his developing story as details become avaiabile.

Map locates Binghamton, N.Y.; more than 10 people killed by gunman at immigration services center. MCT 2009

Binghampton shooter kills self

Bulletin : 14 dead, shooter killed self
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Hostage Situtation

Bulletin: Dozens held hostage in Binghampton, NY; shooter still inside

Hybrid showdown: 2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight

By Steven Cole Smith

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

Hmm, Prius, Insight. Prius, Insight ...

Among the handful of people who might actually enjoy seeing gasoline return to $4 a gallon, let's include marketing managers for the 2010 Honda Insight and 2010 Toyota Prius, a pair of all-new hybrids set to do battle this spring.

They'll be successful with gas at $2 a gallon, but they'd likely be smash hits if gasoline prices go back up.

Though both names are familiar, these are two new cars. The Honda Insight introduced gasoline-electric hybrids to the U.S. market in 1999, but that car was a little hot dog-shaped two-seater that never sold in big volume.

Toyota was a little later to the hybrid party with the Prius, but it was a four-door with a usable rear seat, and it became a far bigger hit than the Insight. It still sells well _ the Prius accounts for more than half the hybrid cars sold in America.

For 2010, the Insight is back, but it's an entirely different car _ in fact, the resemblance to the Prius is undeniable. It's a four-door hatchback with room for five, powered by a 1.3-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine, aided by an electric motor.

The 2010 Prius is slightly larger than the 2009 model it replaces, and is classified as a midsize car, while the Insight is a compact. Really, the difference in interior space is not that noticeable. The Prius' 1.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine is now 1.8 liters, and while the basic hybrid battery pack is essentially the same as in 2009, the rest of the drive system is, Toyota says, 90 percent new.

Here are the dueling hybrids in a nutshell.

2010 HONDA INSIGHT

While Honda still makes the Civic Hybrid, the new Insight is the first hybrid-only Honda since that original two-seat Insight. It's a handsome car, with room for two adults in the rear, three in a squeeze.

The base-model Insight lists for just less than $20,000, but don't expect to see many at that price on dealer lots. The test Insight had the navigation system with voice activation, and listed for $23,770. Fuel mileage is EPA-rated at 40 mpg in the city, 43 mpg on the highway. I averaged just more than 43 mpg.

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS

Knowing in advance that the Insight was coming, Toyota stepped up the makeover for the 2010 Prius, and it's impressive: There will be a base model likely priced above the current starting price of around $22,000, but add options, and it seems certain the Prius can top $30,000.

Options include a sunroof with a solar panel that doesn't generate electricity for running the car, but for running fans inside the car that can keep the interior cooler while the Prius is parked in the sun. There's also a feature that can actually parallel-park the Prius on its own, with the driver's hands literally off the steering wheel.

Add those two features to leather upholstery and a navigation system, and the Prius becomes almost a luxury hybrid.

Toyota won't release prices of the new Prius for a month or so, closer to its arrival at dealers. But it has released mileage figures: It's EPA-rated at 51 mpg in the city, 48 mpg on the highway.

Why is the city mileage better than the highway mileage? Because the Prius can run on electric-only power at speeds up to 25 miles per hour, and depending on the charge level for the battery, for a distance of almost a mile, using no gasoline at all. I averaged 51.8 mpg in the Prius.

WHICH IS BETTER?

So the biggest question from customers cross-shopping the Insight and the Prius is likely to be this: If the Insight has a smaller gasoline engine, why does it get worse mileage than the Prius?

The answer is because the Prius is a "full" hybrid, meaning it can move along on electric power alone. The Insight is considered a "mild" hybrid, meaning the gasoline engine is always turning. With both cars, the gas engine stops at a red light. With the Insight, it restarts when you take your foot off the brake. With the Prius, it can accelerate _ slowly _ on electric power alone before the gas engine starts up.

Actually, though, it isn't quite that simple, due to Honda's new "integrated assist" feature: While all the internal components of the gas engine are always rotating as the car drives down the road, under certain, limited conditions _ rolling downhill, for instance _ the onboard computer can actually cut the gasoline supply to the engine, while the electric motor does the work.

In essence, the car is operating on battery power alone, but since the engine is always turning, you don't get the stealthy, silent-running experience you do in a Prius.

That said, for pure driving experience, I slightly prefer the Honda. The new Prius steers and handles much better than the current model, but the Honda has a sportier feel, and I'd submit that it's the better-looking car.

If I lived in a big city, though, and was constantly caught in heavy stop-and-go traffic, the Prius would be the better buy in the long run.

Both cars are aimed carefully at their target markets, and both score direct hits. One of these is likely to be the 2010 car of the year.

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2010 HONDA INSIGHT

Base price: $20,470

Engine size: 1.3-liter four-cylinder with 88 horsepower

EPA overall fuel mileage rating: 41 mpg

EPA classification: Compact car

2010 TOYOTA PRIUS

Base price: $22,750 (estimate)

Engine size: 1.8-liter four-cylinder with 98 horsepower

EPA overall fuel mileage rating: 50 mpg

EPA classification: Midsize car

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Steven Cole Smith is automotive editor of the Orlando Sentinel. He can be reached at scsmith@orlandosentinel.com.

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© 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Sheriff deputy sentenced after offering surveillance for fake drug delivery

By Vanessa Blum

Sun Sentinel

(MCT)

A former Broward, Fla., sheriff's deputy was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday for agreeing to guard a shipment of 50 kilograms of cocaine.

Kevin Frankel, 39, was busted last year in an FBI corruption sting after receiving $3,000 to provide surveillance for what he thought was a drug delivery at the Pompano Beach Air Park in Pompano Beach, Fla.

In reality, the "smugglers" were undercover FBI agents posing as mobsters and a drug distributor.

Along with Frankel, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra in West Palm Beach sentenced Robert Baccari to seven years and Christopher Provenzano to six years for their roles in the attempted drug smuggling operation.

All three pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute 50 kilograms or more of cocaine.

Richard Tauber, a veteran Broward sheriff's deputy and the group's apparent ringleader, is set to be sentenced May 15.

Tauber, a former Marine who went by "Wingnut", and Frankel, a law enforcement recruit with the nickname "Tattoo," worked for the Broward Sheriff's Office in Deerfield Beach.

Authorities arrested the men last year following a 16-month investigation. According to court records, Tauber was paid $25,000 to help smuggle cocaine, diamonds and Krugerrand gold coins.

Tauber recruited friends Baccari and Provenzano, who together received roughly $23,000. Frankel was brought into the circle to act as a lookout during a supposed cocaine delivery.

After his arrest, Tauber turned on Frankel and wore a wire to record incriminating conversations.

In court papers, Frankel's attorneys asked for leniency, describing the deputy as a minor participant in the crime led astray by his desire to provide financially for his wife and two daughters.

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© 2009, Sun Sentinel.

Visit the Sun-Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.SunSentinel.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Smithtown Woman Killed in Crash, Man Arrested for DWI

Suffolk County Police today arrested a Smithtown man for Driving While Intoxicated after he was involved in a motor vehicle crash that killed a Smithtown woman early this morning.

At approximately 3:30 a.m., Karen Naclerio-Negrin was driving her 1992 Volvo southbound on Route 25A in Smithtown and John Harnage was traveling northbound in a 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck. The two vehicles collided near the intersection of Summerset Drive.

Naclerio-Negrin, 43, of 4 Thide Court, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office. Harnage, 43 of 83 Oakside Road, was not injured.

Harnage was arrested by Fourth Precinct officers and charged with Driving While Intoxicated. He will be arraigned today at First District Court in Central Islip.

Fourth Squad detectives are continuing their investigation and ask anyone with information regarding the incident to call 631-854-8452 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Obama, allies aren't on same page as G20 opens

By Steven Thomma and Kevin G. Hall

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

LONDON _ With economic peril spreading around the globe, President Barack Obama and other world leaders will convene Wednesday in London, desperate to avoid the mistakes that plunged the planet into the Depression in the 1930s and seeking common approaches to jolt their economies back to life.

Obama landed in London on Tuesday evening, ready to plunge into meetings Wednesday and Thursday. Topping his agenda is affirming national government plans already under way to spend $2.5 trillion to stimulate economies and working out a new global framework to regulate financial markets. This could include extending the regulatory net over hedge funds and offshore tax havens, as well as identifying gaps in regulation between countries.

Another crucial goal: making sure that developed countries avoid protectionism, or shutting themselves off from international trade, a key mistake that helped worsen the worldwide depression more than seven decades ago.

Obama and European allies also seek to empower the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to boost economies great and small and to discourage the erection of trade barriers.

That may be difficult given growing political pressures in many nations. Thousands of protesters are expected to flood London's streets, underscoring how the loss of jobs and pensions in Europe magnifies social stresses and political tensions.

The American president is the fresh face among world leaders, many of whom already were in office when the global financial system went into cardiac arrest last fall. Starting with a dinner Wednesday evening, Obama and colleagues then will work through the day Thursday on what originally had been billed as rewriting the global rules for finance.

The meeting involves the so-called G20, a group of 19 countries with major economies plus the European Union. Together they represent 85 percent of the world's economy, from old European powers to emerging powerhouses such as China and Brazil. Others beyond the 19 are attending as well, including Spain and the Netherlands.

"The stakes for this summit are very high," Michael Froman, the White House's deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said in a London briefing Monday. "They are magnified by the fact that much has happened since the last G20 summit in November."

The global financial crisis has deepened since then and countries now are focused on halting the bleeding and restoring growth.

Yet in the weeks leading up to this summit, trans-Atlantic tensions mounted. The Obama administration criticized European allies as not doing enough to stimulate their economies, and they retorted that the United States is moving too slowly to put new rules in place to rein in large financial institutions.

Both have backed off since, but the Obama team suggested that success will be measured in tone, not detail.

"What's important is that there is agreement to do whatever is necessary until growth is restored, there's agreement to take sustained effort until growth is restored and there's agreement to ask the IMF to monitor both what's necessary and what's being done by the G20, and to report back on a regular basis," Froman said. "Every country has adopted stimulus. They're in the process of implementing it."

France and Germany have warned against a summit that seeks a consensus so general that it lacks relevance.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

French newspapers reported this week that President Nicolas Sarkozy would insist on benchmarks for gauging progress on the imposition of new regulations over finance. He threatened in mid-March to walk out of the G20 summit if serious progress isn't being made.

In an interview with London's Financial Times published Friday, German leader Angela Merkel hadn't backed off from her emphasis on regulation instead of spending.

"The crisis did not take place because we were spending too little but because we were spending too much to create growth that was not sustainable. It isn't just that the banks took over too many risks. Governments allowed them to do so by neglecting to set the necessary (financial market) rules and, for instance in the U.S., by increasing the money supply too much," she said.

The United States and England, however, are unlikely to support hasty moves to new regulation.

"Self-interest wins in the end always, and the United States and the U.K. get more out of financial services than anyone else. We have the two world financial capitals. It's not in our interest to have other people write the regulations or have regulations that try to average across many nations," said Vincent Reinhart, a former top economist at the Federal Reserve.

Likewise, he cautioned, big nations such as China and Russia, and the smaller but important European powers, see it in their interest to impose new rules on London and New York.

"I don't see how you reconcile that difference in national interests," said Reinhart, who's a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research center. "I think it's going to be very hard for the U.S. to make this summit a success."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Obama did steal some of the European thunder last week, outlining his own vision for a tougher new regulatory environment that included new oversight for hedge funds, which control vast pools of global capital. It included a call for new rules that would force banks to keep more cash on hand and prevent them from investing so heavily with borrowed money. That's amplified the global financial crisis.

Even if not resolved in London, pressure for new global rules will remain.

"We're still trying to fragment regulation in a global financial market, and we're discovering it doesn't work," said David Wyss, the chief economist for rating agency Standard & Poor's in New York. He expects little more than a framework to be accomplished this week. "I think there will be some attempt to smooth the feathers."

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© 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau on the World Wide Web at www.mcclatchydc.com.

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Blockbuster's DVD sales and rental charts

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

MCT

RENTALS

These are the Top 10 renting DVD titles at U.S. BLOCKBUSTER stores for the week that ended March 29.

1. QUANTUM OF SOLACE

2. TWILIGHT

3. ROLE MODELS

4. TRANSPORTER 3

5. BOLT

6. THE PUNISHER 2: WAR ZONE

7. AUSTRALIA

8. IN THE ELECTRIC MIST

9. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

10. BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA

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SALES

These are the Top 10 selling DVD titles at U.S. BLOCKBUSTER stores for the week that ended March 29.

1. TWILIGHT

2. QUANTUM OF SOLACE

3. BOLT

4. ROLE MODELS

5. MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA

6. BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA

7. TRANSPORTER 3

8. PINOCCHIO

9. THE PUNISHER 2: WAR ZONE

10. FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS

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ONLINE

These are the Top 10 DVD titles at U.S. BLOCKBUSTER Online for the week that ended March 29.

1. QUANTUM OF SOLACE

2. TWILIGHT

3. BOLT

4. ROLE MODELS

5. CHANGELING

6. MILK

7. AUSTRALIA

8. TRANSPORTER 3

9. RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

10. NIGHTS IN RODANTHE

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© 2009, Blockbuster Inc.

Visit the World Wide Web site of Blockbuster at http://www.blockbuster.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Radio offers 1,000 songs for $100, but it has limitations

By Eric Benderoff

Chicago Tribune

(MCT)

In a product category dominated by Apple Inc., the portable music players by memory card-maker SanDisk Corp. are often overlooked.

On Tuesday, SanDisk, which has delivered affordable and useful players under its Sansa brand, released a digital music player with a new twist: It does not need a computer to work. That means there will be no song downloads to worry about and no playlists to manage.

Called the Sansa slotRadio, the $100 gadget is easy to use and instantly likable.

SanDisk's approach will not appeal to everyone _ it has some obvious limitations. But for casual music fans or those who are not particular about the music they hear for a workout, it might be ideal.

Here's how the slotRadio will work: Sansa will ship the player with a "mix" card pre-loaded with 1,000 songs. The songs are culled from the Billboard music charts and include country, contemporary, alternative, hip hop and rock.

Additional cards will be available for $40 _ that's 4 cents a song _ including genre-specific playlists: alternative, '80s, classic rock, country, etc. It's unclear as of this writing what the selection will be at launch.

The first mix card offers familiar names, including Trace Adkins, Mary J. Blige, Kenny Chesney, Coldplay, Ne-Yo, No Doubt and U2.

Unfortunately, you can't navigate to a particular artist or song when you want. In fact, the slotRadio has no navigation controls other than volume keys and forward/back buttons. You can skip ahead, but you cannot scroll through a playlist to select songs.

There isn't even a pause button _ if you need to stop the music, you have to turn it off. The music will start where you stopped, however, a good feature.

This lack of control is similar to what Apple offers with its Shuffle line of iPods. That model constantly "shuffles" your music and you have little choice of what you will hear. Apple has added more control to navigate playlists in its newest Shuffle, however.

Another nice feature: The slotRadio includes an FM radio.

You can use a computer to download songs to the slotRadio. The music cards are microSDHC cards from SanDisk and they have some room on each card _ about an album's worth _ to download your music in the MP3 file format.

But with a fresh microSDHC card, you can download as much music as it will fit. I put hundreds of songs on a 16-gigabyte microSDHC card _ a sweet product in its own right _ and the slotRadio works fine. Again, I cannot control what songs will play besides being able to skip ahead and move back.

Will the slotRadio be a hit? I doubt it will shift much of the market share toward SanDisk, but it's a nice niche player for folks who want an easy solution to portable music.

The new player went on sale Tuesday at slotRadio.org and will be offered nationwide at Radio Shack stores closer to Father's Day.

(Eric Benderoff writes about technology for the Chicago Tribune. Contact him at ebenderoff@tribune.com or at the Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. To read past reviews of other gadgets, go to chicagotribune.com/eric.)

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.