Obama makes case for taking time to get economy out of deep hole

By Kevin Diaz

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ President Obama, in his 51st day on the job, acknowledged that he has yet to reassure a nervous public about his game plan for stabilizing the financial system that has pulled the rug out from under the economy."We can always do a better job," he said Wednesday during a roundtable discussion with 15 regional newspapers, including the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

"I recognize the degree of concern that people have. We've been in office all of seven weeks so far. This is a crisis that was eight years in the making, maybe longer, in certain aspects. The buck stops with me and we're responsible, but it's going to take some time."

The meeting was Obama's second with regional reporters who cover Washington, part of an aggressive media strategy that has seen the new president reach out to bloggers and columnists across the political spectrum.

"This is my monthly occasion to break out of the Washington bubble," Obama said in the West Wing's Roosevelt Room. "I enjoy the keen insights of people outside of Washington."

The president walked into the room with a casual "Hey, how you guys doing?" He spent the next hour holding forth on topics ranging from Mexican border violence to 57 extra police officers in Minneapolis, citing the latter as evidence of the benefits of his recently passed $787 billion economic stimulus package.

"Obviously, our overarching focus right now is the economy," Obama said. "I'm very mindful of the hardships that are taking place all throughout the country."

Speaking slowly and deliberately, like the college professor he was, Obama made clear that his administration is in its infancy and that he still has the public on his side.

"The truth of the matter is the American people I think understand that it's going to take some time," he said. "If you look at the public polling, they recognize that it's going to take a while to dig ourselves out of the hole."

Obama noted that it's been only two weeks since he laid out his plans in a joint session of Congress. "The reviews were pretty good," he said.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

He noted that one aspect of the stimulus package _ extra money to preserve police officer jobs _ was highlighted by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, a co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign in Minnesota. "People are getting the message that slowly, surely, we are making progress on these fronts," Obama said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)

As for the unanimous opposition to his stimulus plan from House Republicans, including the three from Minnesota, Obama said "Saying 'no' is easy. ... I'm not impressed by just being able to say no."

For early signs of hope, Obama pointed to his new housing plan to provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure. "You're already starting to see an uptick in refinancings that are providing families with relief," he said. "And in certain pockets of the country, you're starting to see housing prices stabilize after a long drop."

The president acknowledged, however, that there's "significant uncertainty" in the markets about the banking sector, which has been decimated by bad loans and mortgages. "That's obviously a particular concern to Wall Street," he said.

One problem is that the administration is still in the process of "stress-testing" or evaluating the financial strength of banks. "What we don't want to do is to prejudge those tests, or make a lot of statements that cause a lot of nervousness around banks that are already having difficulties," Obama said. "On that particular issue we've got to explain to people _ and as I said, we can always do better _ why it is so important to get lending going again, to get credit flowing to businesses and consumers.

"I'll be making statements about this tomorrow and the next day and in my radio addresses next week. And the main message I'm going to be delivering is that it's going to take some time to get out of this deep hole we're in. But we're going to get out."

By the time Obama took his last question, his water glass was still more than half full.

___

© 2009, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Visit the Star Tribune Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.startribune.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Obama: No U.S. troops to Mexico border

By Todd J. Gillman

The Dallas Morning News

(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ President Barack Obama is keeping close watch on the violence from Mexico's drug war, but he said Wednesday so far it hasn't spilled into this country enough to justify sending troops to the border.

"We've got a very big border with Mexico," he said. "I'm not interested in militarizing the border."

Last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry visited El Paso, Texas _ whose neighbor, Ciudad Juarez, has taken the brunt of drug violence that has claimed more than 7,000 lives in Mexico in 14 months _ and called on Washington to send a thousand troops or border agents.

"We're going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense," Obama told The Dallas Morning News in an hour-long talk with 14 regional newspapers. "I don't have a particular tipping point in mind."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a war on drug cartels nearly two years ago, setting off waves of violence as rival gangs fight for turf and resist the government crackdown. Obama emphasized he will continue working closely with Mexico and said within "a few months" he will offer a comprehensive policy to curtail U.S. demand for drugs and curb the southbound flow of cash and guns that give the cartels "extraordinary power."

"It's really a two-way situation," he said, promising a combination of border security, law enforcement, prevention and treatment.

"We're fighting with one hand tied behind our back because our effort to lower demand is grossly underfunded," Obama said. "The average person who's seeking serious substance abuse treatment in a big city like Dallas or Chicago typically has a three-, four- or six-month waiting list to get enrolled."

Obama has said little until now about the horrific violence in Mexico, which has included beheadings, assassinations of top anti-drug officials and police, running gun battles in border cities and the resignations of law enforcement officials who flee into the U.S. for safety.

Obama lauded Calderon for "taking some extraordinary risks under extraordinary pressure to deal with the drug cartels."

In 2007, then-President George W. Bush hammered out a deal with Calderon, called the Merida Initiative, to provide equipment and training to help Mexico take on the traffickers and weed out corruption.

Obama noted recent high-level contacts between U.S. and Mexican officials as a sign of the ongoing partnership.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Last Friday, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with counterparts in Mexico and offered more intelligence and surveillance, as well as training based on lessons learned against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder have already met with top Mexican officials, too.

On Wednesday, Obama named a national drug czar, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. Bush had given the post Cabinet rank. Obama removed that designation but said that's not a reflection on how seriously he takes the effort to curtail drug use.

"We do have to treat this as a public health problem, and we do have to have significant law enforcement,' he said. "If we can reduce demand, obviously that allows us to focus more effectively where interdiction is needed."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

As a candidate, Obama called the "war on drugs ... an utter failure." He also said he was open to legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.

Asked Wednesday if he believes this country is still engaged in a war on drugs, he avoided the phrase but promised not to weaken drug laws and to pursue border security and law enforcement while putting fresh emphasis on prevention and treatment.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

President George W. Bush's drug czar, John Walters, agreed on the need for a multifaceted approach.

"It's not an endless battle, and it's not a war like the Vietnam War," said Walters in a separate interview. "The issue of the 'war' has become a kind of metaphor for using inappropriate means, or focusing on force, or focusing on the supply side rather than the demand side. We have learned that we need balance."

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Obama also offered assurance Americans won't be put at risk when he closes the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfers some detainees to U.S. facilities. Texas Republicans in Congress are among those who have denounced his plan, insisting he send terror suspects elsewhere.

"We already have experience with terrorists who are in federal prisons," Obama said. "And there's been no indication that the safety or security of prison guards or of surrounding communities have been compromised."

On food safety, Obama said he has ordered the Agriculture Department and the Health and Human Services Department to work more closely and develop better procedures, after a salmonella outbreak traced to peanut processors in Texas and Georgia. The nation needs "better warning signals" from food producers and an ability to track contamination more quickly, he said.

___

© 2009, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Obama says NASA's next leader must end agency's 'drift'

By Mark K. Matthews

The Orlando Sentinel

(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ President Barack Obama said Wednesday that NASA is an agency afflicted by "a sense of drift" and that it needs "a new mission that is appropriate for the 21at century."

Obama said the first priority of a new agency administrator _ whom he promised to appoint "soon" _ would be "to think through what NASA's core mission is and what the next great adventures and discoveries are under the NASA banner."

Until that happens, he said during a session with reporters from the Orlando Sentinel and other regional newspapers, the White House would delay any major policy decisions about the agency.

That would likely ensure the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 _ as Obama called for in the budget proposal he gave Congress last month _ and pave the way for massive job losses at Kennedy Space Center and the surrounding Space Coast in Florida.

Obama took only one question about NASA. He said nothing about whether he wants to continue the Bush administration's Constellation program, intended to send astronauts to the moon by 2020. The program's Ares I rocket is behind schedule and over budget, leading to speculation that it will miss its targeted 2015 launch date and further reduce the skilled work force at KSC.

He was also silent about the fate of the $100 billion international space station. Once the shuttle is retired, NASA will depend on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for access to the station.

Obama made clear that the agency, which has been without an administrator since his Jan. 20 inauguration, could not continue on its current course.

"Shaping a mission for NASA that is appropriate for the 21st century is going to be one of the biggest tasks of my new NASA director," he said. "What I don't want NASA to do is just limp along. And I don't think that's good for the economy in the region, either."

Several names have been floated as possible replacements for former agency chief Michael Griffin. Congressional and space-industry sources said the current front-runner appears to be Steve Isakowitz, a former NASA official now with the Department of Energy who is said to have the strong support of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.

Other candidates include former NASA astronaut Charles Bolden, a favorite of Florida's Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and two retired Air Force generals, Lester L. Lyles and J. Scott Gration.

Since taking office, Obama has said little about NASA. The only clues to his policy aims were included in his proposed 2010 budget, which called for the shuttle's retirement next year but added one additional launch if it can be done "safely and affordably."

But with eight missions needed after Discovery to finish construction of the space station, it could be difficult to cram another launch into the schedule before the 2010 deadline. The bonus mission Obama touted would ferry a physics experiment to the space station.

The end of the shuttle era is expected to devastate Kennedy Space Center and the Space Coast. KSC's main function is to launch shuttles and other NASA rockets. With nothing to fly, there would be little work.

NASA estimates that at least 3,500 KSC jobs would be lost, while shuttle contractors put the estimate at 10,000. With each NASA job credited with creating 2.8 others in the community, an additional 9,870 to 28,200 jobs would be at risk.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

During his hourlong press briefing, Obama touched on several other topics:

_High-speed rail: He said he wishes he could have shoehorned more than $8 billion in his economic-stimulus package for high-speed rail. Florida officials are interested in a high-speed-rail project that would connect Tampa, Orlando and Miami.

One advocate, U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, said he couldn't be "more enthusiastic" about Obama's support. "I have to be careful how much I praise him," Mica joked. "It's one of the most exciting things I have ever been involved in."

_Voting Rights Act: The president voiced his continued support for Department of Justice reviews of states, primarily Southern, that wish to implement changes that could affect minorities' voting rights. "That's not such a huge hurdle to jump through," he said. Several Florida counties are affected by the law.

_Mexican drug violence: Obama said he has not yet decided whether to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to combat growing drug-related violence. "We are going to examine whether, and if, National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense . . .," he said. But he noted: "We have a very big border with Mexico, so I'm not interested in militarizing the border."

___ WHO'S IN MIX?

President Obama says a new NASA chief will be named "soon." Top candidates:

_Steve Isakowitz: Insiders say ex-NASA official is in lead.

_Charles Bolden: Ex-astronaut has Florida Sen. Bill Nelson's support.

_Lester L. Lyles, J. Scott Gration: Retired Air Force generals.

___

© 2009, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

'Contained engine failure' of plane departing LaGuardia Airport rains metal pieces on businesses below

By Keith Herbert

Newsday

(MCT)

NEW YORK _ In what the Federal Aviation Administration called a "contained engine failure," dozens of pieces of metal believed to be from an American Airlines flight that had taken off from LaGuardia Airport near New York City rained down Wednesday on an area of College Point, N.Y., that includes businesses and large stores.

No one was injured by the debris, which fell just after the 8:15 a.m. departure of American Flight 309, bound for Chicago's O'Hare Airport. None of the 88 passengers or five crew members on the MD-80 jet was injured, officials said, and the plane made an emergency landing at nearby Kennedy Airport.

Many pieces of metal, some the size of a quarter and others much larger, were embedded in the tar of a warehouse roof and found across several acres off 123rd Street, across Flushing Bay east of the airport.

The pilot declared an emergency after losing the right engine at 1,800 feet and stated he wanted to land at Kennedy Airport, according to the FAA.

Air traffic controllers called Kennedy to report that a plane with one engine and 23,000 pounds of fuel on board was making an emergency landing. The jet was on the ground there by 8:36 a.m., according to the FAA.

Flight 309's passengers were put on buses, taken back to LaGuardia and offered seats on other flights. Some passengers canceled their travel plans and went home, American Airlines spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said.

The FAA's designation of the event as a "contained engine failure" referred to the breakup of the engine's internal parts, which were expelled out of the rear of the engine.

"We heard an explosion and then 20 to 30 seconds of shrapnel pelting the building," said Robert J. Bellini, 45, of Lake Grove, N.Y.,who owns Varsity Plumbing and Heating on 123rd Street. He estimated 200 pieces of metal were scattered over a 6-acre area.

"We knew it was a problem with a plane," Bellini said. "We just didn't know how bad."

Investigators were working under the assumption that debris came from Flight 309's malfunctioning right engine, said Jim Peters, an FAA spokesman in New York.

The FAA, the Port Authority and New York City police investigated reports of the debris. The FAA collected pieces of the metal in cardboard boxes and took them to the FAA's Garden City office for examination.

The plane was a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, manufactured in 1999. Wells Fargo Bank in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the registered owner, according to FAA records.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

Pratt & Whitney of East Hartford, Conn., manufactured the turbofan engines that powered the jet.

Huguely said engine failure, not a bird strike, was the likely cause of the emergency landing.

On Jan. 15, US Airways Flight 1549 made a controlled glide landing in the Hudson River after striking Canada geese and losing power in both engines just moments after takeoff from LaGuardia. All 155 passengers and crew on board survived.

___

(Pervaiz Shallwani, Daniel Edward Rosen and staff writer Rocco Parascandola contributed to this report.)

___

© 2009, Newsday.

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

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Company hopes Guitar Hero strummers will want a real guitar

By Thomas Lee

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

(MCT)

MINNEAPOLIS _ Sure, they're just video games, but anyone who has played the hugely popular Guitar Hero or Rock Band has probably channeled a little bit of Led Zeppelin, Guns N' Roses, or Aerosmith in their performance.

But can someone truly rock out by hitting a bunch of colorful buttons on a plastic guitar controller?

Zivix LLC is betting some players will want to upgrade to the real thing. The Minneapolis-based start-up is developing an electric guitar with fingertip sensors that allow users to play and control the game wirelessly. The company hopes players will want to feel and look the part.

But the Headliner digital guitar is not meant to be just another tricked-out controller. By holding and feeling out a real guitar, players may actually want to learn how to play the instrument and write music, said Zivix president and founder Dan Sullivan.

"There is a certain group that aspires to go beyond the game," said Sullivan, who started Zivix in 2006. "They had a taste of what it's like to be a real guitar player because that's the illusion. Why not take the next step and being able to play?"

Zivix is also developing software called JamSession that it could package with Headliner. The software allows multiple users to mix prerecorded song loops from different instruments and genres.

But some venture capitalists wonder if Zivix is making too big of a leap. Users may love to play Guitar Hero, but will they pay $249.99 for the Headliner guitar when they can get a beefed-up PlayStation 2 guitar controller for $39.99? That depends on whether a video game player really does want to be a musician instead of pretending to be one. (First-time players might spend $500 for a quality electric guitar.)

"The question that comes to mind is ... why would anyone want to buy this?" said Peter Birkeland, chief financial officer of Rain Source Capital, a St. Paul-based network of angel investors. "Guitar Hero and Rock Band is not about playing music. It's about playing a game."

Birkeland also questions the cost of making real guitars vs. traditional game controllers.

Sales of video game accessories like controllers jumped 14 percent last year to $2.6 billion, according to NPD Group Inc., a market research firm based in Port Washington, N.Y.

Much of those sales are due to the phenomenal success of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Star. Activision Blizzard Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., which released Guitar Hero III in 2007, has sold 10 million units in the United States, making Guitar Hero the all-time bestselling video game.

"The game-play is fun whether or not you have an interest in music or being a musician, and I think that is key to the success of both Rock Band and Guitar Hero," said Anita Frazier, a NPD analyst. "They're also quite accessible _ video game enthusiasts and newcomers to gaming as a form of entertainment can both enjoy these games."

The popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band has led some industry officials to speculate whether the games can boost sales of real instruments. So far, the numbers don't bear that out.

U.S. guitar sales totaled $1.1 billion in 2007, about flat compared with the previous year, according to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). Unit sales fell 4.1 percent to 2.86 million.

However, some data suggest there might be a correlation between game and guitar. About 67 percent of people who play rhythm games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band said they were likely to pick up a real instrument, according to survey by Guitar Center, a guitar retailer that reported a nearly 27 percent jump in first-time sales last year. Another 81 percent said the video games motivated them to ask for a real instrument for the holiday season.

NAMM is funding a study by Drexel University that seeks to determine whether Guitar Hero and Rock Band will encourage middle school and high school students to pursue formal music education and whether playing the game results in real musical skills.

Zivix hopes to release the JamSession software in June and the Headline guitar by late fall. The company is discussing partnerships with retailers, video game makers, and even real-life musicians to create song loops for JamSession. Sullivan envisions people creating their own loops and sharing the music with other JamSession users over the Internet.

"The idea is to use technology to make it easier for beginners that don't know anything about music to sound like they are playing music," Sullivan said. "It's a technology boost to music creation."

___

© 2009, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Visit the Star Tribune Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.startribune.com

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

NY Plane Makes Emergency Landing

An American Airlines flight bound for Chicago made an emergency landing Wednesday morning.

American Airlines flight 304 took off from LaGuardia Airport bound for O'Hare International Airport at 8:18 am.

Shortly into the flight, the MD 80 aircraft apparently had mechanical failure in engine two.

The flight landed safely at Kennedy Airport. None of the 81 passengers or 5 crew members on board were injured.

Mechanical pieces found in College Point, Queens, are believed to have fallen from the broken engine as the aircraft flew over. No one on the ground appears to have been injured.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Accolades and Updates: 3/10

Edward Ehmann, Superintendent of Schools of the Smithtown School District, made the following announcements at the March 10th Board of Education meeting at the Joseph M. Barton Administration Building.

One thousand parents filled the seats of Nesaquake Middle School’s Auditorium at the District’s third Parent University. The topic, Drugs in our Town: What’s a Parent to Do? featured an outstanding panel that explored the problem of drugs from the school, community, parent, law enforcement, medical and counseling perspectives. Those who wish further information are encouraged to visit either high school websites, which both link to a Drug Resource Blog: http://hstaskforce.blogspot.com/ or to e-mail questions and concerns to pipeline@smithtown.k12.ny.us.

Members of the community are invited to attend upcoming budget development meetings. There will be a Business Affairs Committee meeting on March 18th at 7 p.m. at the Joseph M. Barton Administration Building and a Citizens’ Advisory meeting will take place on March 11th at 7 p.m.

The Civics Club of St. James Elementary School was accepted to the O’Ambassador program to support the children in Ecuador. In addition to hosting several other programs that directly impact the children of Ecuador, the Civics Club created a “Quarters for Books” event. Gently used books as well as quarters were collected for a “book swap.” Left over books were donated to Larry Hohler, a retired Smithtown teacher. He is sending a container of books to an orphanage and school in Africa.

Tackan Elementary students with the help of Mr. Keith Sheppard, Director of Science Education at Stony Brook University, had a few lessons in science. Tackan holds special Science Days throughout the school year to promote science and discovery.
The “Peanut Butter Gang” Community Service Club at Dogwood Elementary recently visited the Smithtown Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care. Fifth graders assisted residents in making a picture frame craft.

Fourteen Smithtown students won in several categories at Sprachfest. Sprachfest is an annual event organized by the American Association of Teachers of German, Long Island Chapter.
Smithtown High School West seniors Ross Whalen and Molly Cook recently completed a community service project with the Suffolk County Police Department. The seniors painted a mural of the American flag at the offices of the Emergency Service Section in Ronkonkoma. The project was coordinated with HS West Art teacher Steve Halem and Emergency Service Police Officer Peter Knudsen.

SHS East students earned All County Honors this winter track season. Cara Hallahan was the Large School Champion in the high jump and Ashley Beck placed 2nd at the State Qualifier also in the high jump. Ashley will represent Suffolk County at the State Track Meet at Cornell University on March 7

High School students and the fifth grade enrichment groups from all of the elementary schools are working together on a project entitled C.L.A.S.S. (children learning about social studies). The topic is the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World combined with the wonders of Canada, the United States and Mexico. Students work in groups and choose a wonder to research. Each group has a HS student as a mentor who assists the fifth graders by showing them how to navigate a web quest. The final product for the fifth grade students will be a newspaper on the wonders.