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HavenWorks.com/california/archive/2005 |
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ARCHIVES NEWS California News History Archives California Archives 2004 California Archives 2003 California Archives 2002 California Archives California News |
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Intel
- 
Computer
- Marketing
- 
History
- Consumer
- 
Entertainment- 
CA
- 
NV
- "Intel
Drops Logo After 37 Years; Seeks to Take Image Beyond PCs."
... "Intel Corp., whose marketing made its computer chips a household name,
is changing its logo for the first time in 37 years." ... "The dropped
``e'' in Intel will be shed in favor of a swoop around the company's name
with the tag line ``Leap Ahead.'' The ``Intel Inside'' phrase, a fixture
since 1991, will be dropped, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said yesterday."
... "Intel's image change, to coincide with next week's Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas [Nevada], is part of an effort by new Chief Executive
Officer Paul Otellini to push Intel into home entertainment. The company,
whose processors run more than 80 percent of personal computers, is trying
to gain a foothold in the consumer market to counter slowing growth in
PC chips." -By Ian King
-Bloomberg
US
- 
Mexico
- Migrant
- 
Labor
- 
Family
- Calif.
- 
Iowa
- "Channeling
the Remittance Flood: In 2005, migrant workers in
the U.S. sent $52 billion back to Latin America and the Caribbean." ...
"Alvaro RamÍrez is no stranger to back-breaking work: The 29-year-old
Mexican spent six years picking apples and grapes in Wasco, Calif., earning
less than $4.50 an hour. Four years ago, having heard that meat-packing
plants paid much higher wages, he moved to a small town in Iowa, where
his wife packages pork and he works the graveyard shift maintaining plant
machinery. They each earn $12 an hour, and after income and Social Security
taxes are withheld -- yes, they do pay U.S. taxes -- they clear about $3,500
a month (see BW Online, 7/18/05, "Embracing
Illegals")." ... "That's nearly 10 times what they would earn in Mexico,
and it's enough to buy a used two-bedroom trailer and a 1998 pickup truck
to cart their two preschool daughters around town. Once a month, Ramírez
wires $250 to his 50-year-old mother in Mexico City -- something he has
done almost without fail for the 11 years he has lived in the U.S. as an
illegal alien. "I'll keep sending her money as long as she lives," he vows."
... "Ramírez (not his real name) is one of an estimated 11 million
Mexicans living in the U.S. -- some legally and some illegally -- who are
expected to send a record $20 billion to Mexico in 2005, a 20% increase
over last year. Mexico is the world's largest recipient of "remittances,"
or funds sent home by migrant workers abroad (see BW Online, 10/18/05,
"Immigration:
Is Bush Fenced In?")." -By Geri Smith
-BusinessWeek
Jerry
Lewis - 
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- 
Government
- 
Military
- 
Money
- 
Law
- 
Politics
- California
- "Close
ties make Rep. Lewis, lobbyist Lowery a potent pair."
... "From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California
[Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds
of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest
friends, lobbyist and former [Republican Represenatative from California]
state Congressman Bill Lowery." ... "Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at
his firm [Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White] and their clients
have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action
committee received in the past six years." ... "One of the defense companies
that received federal contracts with [convicted California Republican Representative
Randy "Duke"] Cunningham's support was a Lowery client [Brent Wilkes' ADCS
Inc.]. And some of the money was disbursed when Cunningham was a member
of the defense appropriations subcommittee and Lewis was the committee
chairman." ... "Lowery, his partners and their spouses have contributed
$135,000 to Lewis' campaigns and political action committee over the past
decade, routinely giving the maximum allowed by law. Lowery also organizes
and hosts Lewis fundraisers. And many of Lowery's defense-contractor clients
contribute to Lewis as part of their lobbying strategy." ... "Taken together,
they have contributed $480,000 to Lewis' political action committee since
2000." ... "Last year Lewis used some of that money to wow the Republican
leadership with checks for $650,000 in "excess campaign funds" to help
maintain Republican control of the House." ... "In 1999 Lewis became chairman
of the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees more discretionary
spending than any other congressional body." ... "Despite that early demonstration
of fiscal toughness, earmarks in the defense bills exploded on Lewis' watch."
... "Many of the earmarks went to clients of Lowery's firm, which grew
even more prosperous when Lewis' principal defense-earmarks gatekeeper,
Letitia White, joined the firm in 2003." -By Jerry
Kammer with contributions by Denise Davidson, Erin Hobbs and Peter Uribe
-CopleyNews.com
via -SignOnSanDiego.com
California
- WalMart
- Employees
- Business
- 
Food
- "Wal-Mart
hit with $172.3m lunch bill." ... "A jury in Oakland,
California on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, to pay
$172.3m to current and former employees, after finding that the company
had failed to respect their right to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break." ...
"The verdict is the largest penalty of its kind imposed by a court on the
retailer in a range of lawsuits that have accused it of deliberately allowing
its employees to work unpaid overtime, or to work during legally required
breaks." ... "State law in California requires employers to grant its workers
the 30 minute unpaid break, or to compensate them if they decline to take
the time." -By Jonathan Birchall
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Science
- California
- Los
Angeles - 
Hawaii
- "Man-Made
"Star" Illuminates Milky Way's Mysterious Center."
... "[...] even on the clearest night, the earth's atmosphere obscures
the true brilliance of our galaxy and astronomers have long struggled with
images blurred by its mix of gases and turbulence. Now researchers have
used a new laser-generated star to obtain the clearest pictures yet of
the Milky Way's center. " ... "Astronomer Andrea Ghez of the University
of California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues used the 10-meter Keck 2
telescope in Hawaii, which has a laser attached to it, to observe our galaxy.
The skywatchers employed the 14-watt laser to generate a fake star. By
continuously imaging this false star along with the real ones, they could
correct any fuzziness or other distortions introduced by the earth's atmosphere."
-By David Biello -ScientificAmerican
US
- Mexico
- US
Immigration - Drugs
- Law
- California
- 
New
Mexico - 
Texas
- 
Arizona
- "House
Votes for 698 Miles of Fences on Mexico Border."
... "House Republicans voted on Thursday night to toughen a border security
bill by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to build five fences
along 698 miles of the United States border with Mexico to block the flow
of illegal immigrants and drugs into this country." ... "The amendment
to the bill would require the construction of the fences along stretches
of land in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona that have been deemed
among the most porous corridors of the border." ... "The vote on the amendment
was a victory for conservatives who had long sought to build such a fences
along the Mexican border. But the vote was sharply assailed by Democrats,
who compared the fences to the Berlin Wall in Germany. Twelve Republicans
also voted against the amendment." -By Rachel L. Swarns
-NYTimes
Richard
Pombo
- 
Abramoff
- Money
- Lawmaker
- California
- 
Massachusetts
- US
- Northern
Mariana Islands - "Miller
presses Pombo to investigate Abramoff." ... "Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif. [Democrat-California]) continues to petition House
Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif. [Republican-California])
for an investigation into indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities
on behalf of the Northern Mariana Islands." ... "Resources has sole jurisdiction
over the Marianas, whose government hired Abramoff in the late 1990s to
lobby Washington on its behalf." ... "Pombo has received more than $35,000
in contributions from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented, including
$27,000 from the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, which received federal
recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the committee in 2004." -By
Elana Schor -HillNews.com
Money
- Texas- California
- 
Florida- Opinion
- "Can
Congress police its ethics? Criminal probes are exposing
corrupt practices in Congress, prompting calls for reform of ethics standards."
... "With a flurry of corruption indictments and related plea agreements
threatening to become a storm, Congress is feeling the heat on ethics reform."
... "Criminal investigations in Texas, California, and Florida are shining
a bright light on standards of conduct in Congress, helping sink public
confidence in the institution to its lowest point in more than a decade."
... "Since 1998, lobbyists report spending some $13 billion to influence
Congress, the White House, and federal agencies, according to the Center
for Public Integrity. Over the same period, more than 200 former members
of Congress and 42 former agency heads have registered as federal lobbyists."
... "Nearly 90 percent of Americans say that political corruption is a
serious problem, according to an AP-Ipsos poll." -By
Gail Russell Chaddock -CSMonitor
California
- Los
Angeles - History
- Politics
- "Stanley
Tookie Williams executed: Crips gang co-founder put
to death for 4 murders." ... "Stanley Tookie Williams -- the cofounder
of the violent Crips street gang who became an anti-gang crusader while
on death-row -- died by lethal injection early Tuesday for the 1979 killings
of four people in two Los Angles [California] robberies." ... "Williams'
case set off intense debates over the death penalty and redemption, with
celebrities, activists and anti-death penalty advocates saying his initiatives
and anti-gang message from behind bars had proven his life was worth saving.
He had even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize
in Literature by an array of college professors, a Swiss lawmaker and others."
... "Before Williams went to the execution chamber, the stepmother of one
of the men Williams was convicted of killing said she felt "justice is
going to be done tonight."" ... "[...] Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic
nun and a prominent death penalty opponent, compared the death penalty
to "gang justice."" ... ""Gang justice is, if you kill a member of our
gang, we kill you -- and don't tell me anything about how you changed your
life or what you're going to do," she said. "You kill, and we kill you.
And that's what the United States of America is doing with this."" -With
contributions by Ted Rowlands, Kareen Wynter, and Bill Mears
-CNN
California
- Los
Angeles - Law
- History
- "Gov.
Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Crips Co-Founder."
... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he would not grant
clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams, whose bid to avoid being put to death
shortly after midnight tonight has gained wide attention." ... "Governor
Schwarzenegger's decision not to halt Mr. Williams' execution by injection
at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday is his third rejection of a petition for a stay of
execution or clemency since he took office in 2003. Clemency has not been
granted to a death row inmate in California since 1967." ... "Mr. Williams,
51, is the co-founder of the Crips gang of Los Angeles and has been on
death row since 1981, following his conviction for murdering four people
in 1979." -By Sarah Kershaw and Shadi Rahimi .NYTimes
Death
Penalty
- Law
- California- 
Illinois
- "Putting
Tookie in Context." ... "While I have opposed the
death penalty as long as I have been aware of it, the media attention generated
by the Tookie Williams case has left me with more ambivalence than outrage,
raising issues for me about the death penalty, the so-called criminal justice
system, gang violence, and the peculiar manner by which Black leaders set
priorities." ... "Stanley Tookie Williams is just one of the 3,415 people
on death row in the United States, just one of nearly 650 on death row
in California. More than 40 percent of those awaiting execution are
African American, even though we are less than 13 percent of the nation's
population." ... "The death penalty isn't fair – too many death row inmates
have been unrepresented or inadequately represented. Too many have been
convicted on faulty circumstantial or eyewitness evidence. Too many
mistakes have been uncovered after conviction, so many that the state of
Illinois has suspended executions indefinitely." -By
Julianne Malveaux -BET.com
California- US
Immigration - "Campbell
Defeats Anti-Immigration Candidate to Win House Seat."
... "California Republican State Senator John Campbell won election to
the U.S. Congress representing the 48th District in Orange County, defeating
Jim Gilchrist, one of the founders of the Minutemen border security group."
... "The campaign in the Republican-dominated district highlights a split
within the party between those, such as Gilchrist, who demand tighter controls
on immigration, and those who would match improved border enforcement with
the creation of a new guest- worker program for immigrants, as President
George W. Bush has endorsed." ... "Campbell backs allowing undocumented
immigrants in the U.S. to apply for temporary-worker status if they first
pay a fine and return for a time to their country of origin." -By
Nicholas Johnston -Bloomberg
California
- Entertainment
- 
Media
- Photos
- 
Privacy
- "Aniston
Sues Over Topless Photos: The actress accuses a paparazzo
of shooting images while she was in the privacy of her home." ... "A suit
filed by actress Jennifer Aniston accuses a paparazzo of invading her privacy
last month by using a powerful telephoto lens to take photos of her topless
or partially undressed in her home." ... "The suit filed Friday in Los
Angeles County Superior Court is the latest counterattack by Hollywood's
top stars against paparazzi, who are accused of becoming increasingly aggressive
as competition for images and the number of celebrity magazines has increased."
... "Aniston, star of the longtime NBC television hit "Friends," alleges
that Peter Brandt used "a high-powered telephoto lens" to capture images
of her partially clothed within her property in violation of California's
privacy laws." -By Richard Winton
-LAtimes
California
- Religion
- 
Library
- Law
- "Bush
administration backs prayer services at library."
... "The Bush administration is siding with a Christian group in its lawsuit
demanding rights to conduct prayer services at public libraries." ... "The
case concerns a [California] Contra Costa County policy allowing the public
to use free meeting rooms at its libraries, but prohibits "religious services
and activities."" -By David Kravets -AP
via -MercuryNews
California- Military
- Business- Politics
- "Bribed
congressman resigns, pleads guilty to charges." ...
"The co-conspirators are not named in the charging documents. Public records
show relationships between [California Republican Randy "Duke"] Cunningham
and two contractors whom he helped get Pentagon work: MZM and ADCS. MZM's
former president, Mitchell Wade, bought Cunningham's former house, allowing
him to buy a more expensive house in Rancho Santa Fe. Brent Wilkes, founder
of ADCS, raised $105,250 in personal, company and employee campaign contributions
for Cunningham during the past decade. Neither Wade nor Wilkes has been
charged with a crime. Their lawyers declined to comment." ... "ADCS landed
more than $90 million in government contracts since 1997, when Cunningham
helped the company get one of its first Pentagon contracts. Wilkes also
provided a corporate jet for Cunningham to use on fundraising trips, campaign-finance
records show." -By Jim Drinkard and Matt Kelley
-USATODAY
California
- Political
- Military
- Business
- "Rep.
Randy 'Duke' Cunningham Pleads Guilty, Resigns."
... "[California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned his
office today after pleading guilty to fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery
and tax evasion in a political corruption case." ... "U.S. District Judge
Larry Burns accepted the pleas from Cunningham, 63, including the congressman's
admission in federal court that he had accepted bribes in exchange for
performance of his official duties." ... "According to court papers, Cunningham
"demanded and received" a bribe from a defense contractor who paid an inflated
price for Cunningham's home in exchange for official favors." -By
Tony Perry -LAtimes
via -Newsday.com
California
- Military
- Politics
- "San
Diego-area Rep. Cunningham pleads guilty to bribery, resigns."
... "[California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham tearfully resigned
Monday after pleading guilty to bribery and admitting he took $2.4 million
to steer defense contracts to conspirators using his leadership position
on a congressional subcommittee." ... "Authorities said Cunningham secured
defense contracts worth tens of millions of dollars for the people who
bribed him. The case grew from an investigation into the sale of his home
in wealthy Del Mar to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash,
vacations and antiques from unidentified conspirators." -By
Elliot Spagat with contributions by Erica Werner
-AP via -MercuryNews
Ohio- Texas
- 
Montana
- California
- Jack
Abramoff
- Tom
DeLay
- Political
- Business
- "Corruption
probe swells in Congress, lawyers say." ... "Justice
Department prosecutors investigating former lobbyist Jack Abramoff are
beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress
and executive-branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said." ...
"Prosecutors have told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, and his former
chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against
them, according to two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity."
... "Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican now facing
separate campaign-finance charges in his home state, is one of the members
under scrutiny, the sources said. Others include Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.
[Montana], Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif. [California], and several other
members of Congress involved with Indian affairs, one of Abramoff's key
areas of interest." -By Susan Schmidt and James V.
Grimaldi -WashingtonPostvia
-SeattleTimes.NWsource
California
- 
Virginia
- Political
- Business
- Law
- Privacy
- Secret
- 
Intelligence
- "Secret
military spending gets little oversight." ... "A
USA TODAY analysis of MZM-related campaign contributions shows how the
company's growth and its political activities became intertwined at key
moments. In more than 30 instances, donations from MZM's political action
committee or company employees went to two members of the House Appropriations
Committee — [California Republican Randy] Cunningham and Rep. Virgil Goode,
R-Va. [Virginia] — in the days surrounding key votes or contract awards
that helped MZM grow." ... "For example, MZM's political action committee
gave Cunningham $5,000 in 2003 the day before his appointment to a congressional
panel negotiating the final version of the defense budget. Ten days later,
the day after the House passed the final Pentagon spending bill, Wade gave
Cunningham $2,000." ... "Both lawmakers sit on the subcommittee overseeing
the Pentagon's spending and have acknowledged putting language in bills
that created or expanded contracts that went to MZM." -By
Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard -USATODAY
California
- Abortion
- Parents
- 
Oregon
- "California
defeats abortion notification proposition." ... "Bucking
a national trend, California voters reaffirmed the state's commitment to
unrestricted abortion access by rejecting a ballot measure that would have
required doctors to alert parents before performing the procedure on minors."
... "The proposed constitutional amendment was the first abortion-related
measure ever to qualify for the California ballot. If Proposition 73 had
passed - it lost 53 percent to 47 percent - California would have become
the 35th state requiring either parental notification or consent before
minors could terminate their pregnancies." ... "Voters in only one other
state have rebuffed so called "parental involvement" measures. A parental
consent law was defeated in Oregon in 1990, according to Physicians for
Reproductive Choice." -By Lisa Leff
-AP via -MercuryNews
US
- 
UK
- 
Global
- Business
- 
Climate
- CA
- "Charles
in US climate change plea: Prince Charles has made
an impassioned plea to US business leaders to take action on the "environmental
crisis" threatening the world." ... "Focusing on climate change during
a 35-minute speech in San Francisco [California], he told a 300-strong
audience: "We simply cannot go on as we are."" ... "He said the US had
the chance to use its power and influence for the "greater good of the
global community"." ... "He told the audience, drawn from the business,
public and academic sectors: "Throughout my lifetime, your country has
been willing to take responsible action for the greater good of the global
community, even when it had no direct need to do so." ... ""The environmental
crisis we face is another situation in which I believe the United States
could use its power and its influence to help create a sense of unity in
a common cause among disparate peoples and sectors of society.""-BBC
/News
CA
- Autos
- Transportation
- 
People
- "Man
fined for using a dummy to poach on commuter lane."
... "A 28-year-old Petaluma [California] man was pulled over Wednesday
and slapped with a $351 fine for using a kickboxing dummy dressed in a
Miami Dolphins windbreaker and baseball cap to poach on the commuter lane."
-By Suzanne Herel -SFGate.com
California
- 
Maryland
- Business
- "Largest
Knight Ridder shareholder wants sale of newspaper publisher:
Private Capital Management contends San Jose company is underperforming."
... "The biggest shareholder of Knight Ridder, the nation's second-largest
newspaper publisher and owner of the Mercury News, urged the San Jose-based
company to put itself up for sale Tuesday." ... "PCM is a subsidiary of
Legg Mason, a large [Maryland] Baltimore-based investment firm. PCM has
added substantially to its newspaper holdings since 2000. It holds large
stakes in companies like the New York Times and Gannett, the nation's largest
newspaper publisher by circulation." ... "Knight Ridder publishes 32 daily
newspapers in 29 U.S. markets, with 8.5 million readers daily and 11.0
million on Sunday." -By Matt Marshall
-MercuryNews
California
- Market
- "California
officials say tax plan would hurt state homeowners."
... "A proposal by a presidential tax panel Tuesday would make higher home
mortgages ineligible for tax breaks. It ran into strong criticism from
California officials who said it would hurt people who live in the state's
hot housing markets." ... "The recommendation by the President's Advisory
Panel on Federal Tax Reform would convert the home mortgage interest deduction
into a credit equal to 15 percent of mortgage interest paid. The $1 million
limit on mortgages eligible for the tax break would shrink to the average
regional price of housing, with an upper limit of $412,000." -By
Erica Werner -AP
via -MercuryNews
Halloween
- Business
- Florida
- Los
Angeles - California
- "Halloween
turning into monthlong holiday: Theme parks putting
on a show for fall visitors." ... "Not so long ago, Halloween was merely
a one-day holiday, observed primarily by kids dressed in fake blood, plastic
teeth, ballerina tutus or superhero costumes, who traipsed from door-to-neighborhood
door dragging pillowcases full of candy." ... "Not anymore. Over the past
five years or so, the nation's $11 billion amusement park industry has
appropriated the holiday as its own, helping transform Halloween into a
monthlong celebration." ... "Halloween gave the regional parks an extra
incentive to extend the season longer and offered the year-round destination
parks in Orlando [Florida] and Los Angeles [California] a marketing tool
to get people through their gates during what traditionally was a slow
period." -AP
via -CNN
California
- Los
Angeles - "Wildfire
near L.A. 65 percent contained: Blaze expected to
be fully under control Monday." ... "Firefighters battling a wildfire that
has charred more than 24,000 acres northwest of Los Angeles [California]
have contained about two-thirds of the blaze and expect to have it fully
under control Monday, according to fire officials." ... "The "Topanga"
blaze, which once included Chatsworth in its name, has destroyed 13 buildings,
three of them residences, and damaged 10 others, including one home. Forty
vehicles were consumed by the fire." -With contributions
by Irving Last -CNN
Missouri
- Illinois
- California- Texas
- Tom
DeLay
- "Blunt
Will Seek to Continue Indicted DeLay's Political Agenda."
... "U.S. House Republicans chose continuity over change in selecting [Missouri
Republican] Roy Blunt, a long-time lieutenant to Majority Leader Tom DeLay,
to step into Delay's role after a Texas indictment forced him out of his
post." ... "Blunt, 55, the No.3 House Republican, won the support of the
party's 231-member caucus after social-conservative groups rebelled over
[Illinois Republican] House Speaker Dennis Hastert's initial plan to replace
DeLay with Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier [California Republican],
who has a less conservative voting record." ... "Blunt also has had his
ethics called into question. The Washington Post reported in 2003 that
Blunt tried to insert into a homeland security measure a provision benefiting
Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris unit. At the time, Blunt was dating a
lobbyist with the company. A top aide to Hastert stripped the provision
out, the Post reported." -By Laura Litvan
-Bloomberg
Tom
DeLay - Texas
- Business- Politics
- 2002
Election - CA
- "House
Majority Leader DeLay Indicted for Conspiracy (Update2)."
... "U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, the No. 2 Republican in the House,
was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of criminal conspiracy in
connection with illegal corporate political donations." ... "DeLay, 58,
who faces up to two years in prison, will temporarily step aside as House
majority leader, he said in a statement. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said
he will recommend that Representative David Dreier of California replace
the Texas Republican as leader, the Associated Press reported." ... "The
charge stems from an investigation into alleged use of illegal corporate
contributions by DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican
Majority, in the 2002 races for the [Texas] state House of Representatives."
-By Darrell Preston and Laura Litvan
-Bloomberg
CA
- Gay
- "Gay
Issue Divides American Baptist Leaders." ... "American
Baptist leaders of 300 local churches in Southern California and other
Western states said today they intend break with their national denomination
because of its failure to declare that homosexual practice is incompatible
with Christian Scripture." ... "American Baptists are a smaller denomination
than the better known Southern Baptists." -By Larry
B. Stammer -LAtimes
CA
- Sacramento
- Religion
- "Pledge
Unconstitutional at Public Schools, Judge Says (Update2)."
... "A federal judge in California said the recitation of the Pledge of
Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional, in a ruling that will
rekindle a debate over the use of the phrase ``under God.''" ... "Judge
Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento, California, today said that a school district's
policy requiring the pledge with the phrase ``under God'' is unconstitutional.
The case was brought by Michael Newdow, an atheist who had previously sued
to challenge the use of the phrase." ... "The case is Newdow v. Congress
of the United States of America, No. S-05-17, in U.S. District Court in
Sacramento." -By Joel Rosenblatt
-Bloomberg
CA
- Los
Angeles - "Los
Angeles Power Restored After Line Overload Causes Blackout."
... "A power failure in Los Angeles, the second-largest U.S. city, darkened
downtown and several nearby cities, trapping people in elevators, disrupting
refineries and snarling traffic." ... "The blackout started around 12:35
p.m. local time, and almost all who lost power had it restored by 2 p.m.,
said Kim Hughes, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Department of Water
and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility." ... "Power was lost
in an area with about 2 million people after a worker with the utility
accidentally overloaded a transmission line, tripping circuit protectors,
Hughes said. Overloading the line caused an automatic shutdown of other
lines to prevent damage to equipment." -By Greg Chang
with contributions by Sonja Franklin, Ian McKinnon, Bruce Blythe, Christopher
Martin, Alex Armitage, Greg Baumann, Daniel Taub, Richard Schwartz and
Jim Polson -Bloomberg
CA
- Los
Angeles - 
- "UPDATE
2-Major power outage hits Los Angeles." ... "A major
power outage hit Los Angeles area on Monday, knocking out electricity to
thousands of customers as officials scrambled to determine the cause and
police declared a state of emergency." ... ""The city is on a tactical
alert and obviously traffic is going to be impacted," Los Angeles Police
spokesman Kevin Maiberger said." ... "Maiberger described a tactical alert
as "what happens when the city goes into a state of emergency. Police officers
will only be responding to calls where there is a threat to life.""
-Reuters
CA
- Sacramento
- Gay
-
- "A
day after Assembly's OK, Schwarzenegger pledges to kill same-sex marriage
bill." ... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, under growing
pressure from his conservative supporters, promised Wednesday to veto the
gay-marriage bill passed less than a day earlier by the Democrat-led Legislature."
... "While Schwarzenegger had hinted he would veto the bill, Wednesday's
abrupt early evening announcement came as a surprise. "I'm not going to
talk about that at all today,'' the governor said when he was asked about
a possible veto at a morning meeting with Salvation Army volunteers in
Sacramento." ... "At the same Sacramento stop, [Governor Schwarzenegger's
press secretary Margita] Thompson told reporters there was no hurry to
make a decision on the bill. It would be handled the same as any other
bill sent to the governor, she added." -By John Wildermuth
and Lynda Gledhill -SFGate.com
CA
- Gay-
- "Schwarzenegger
Vows Gay Marriage Bill Veto." ... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
announced Wednesday he will veto a bill that would have made California
the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through its elected lawmakers."
... "Schwarzenegger said the legislation, approved Tuesday by lawmakers,
would conflict with the intent of voters when they approved an initiative
five years ago. Proposition 22 was placed on the ballot to prevent California
from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries."
-By Steve Lawrence with contributions by Don Thompson,
Kathleen Hennessey and Lisa Leff -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Hurricane
Katrina - CA
- Nevada
- "Democrats
spurn Republican-backed Katrina probe." ... "House
of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, called
the House-Senate investigation announced by Republican leaders on Wednesday
a "sham" and said it would not produce an objective assessment of what
went wrong in the hours and days following the storm." ... "Senate Democratic
leader Harry Reid of Nevada also said he would not participate in the Republican-led
inquiry." ... "Both Pelosi and Reid have called for an independent commission
similar to the one that investigated intelligence failures before the September
11, 2001, attacks." -By Donna Smith with contributions
by Vicki Allen -Reuters
via-WashingtonPost
CA
- Gay
-
- "California
backs gay marriage law: The California Assembly has
become the first state legislature in the US to pass a bill endorsing gay
marriages." ... "The 41-35 vote in favour by the Assembly follows a similar
ruling by the state Senate last week. It comes after bitter debate over
gay marriage." ... "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger must now decide whether
to make the bill law." ... "Its supporters have compared it to previous
civil rights campaigns such as ending slavery and giving women the right
to vote." -BBC
/News
CA
- Sacramento
- Gay
-
- "Same-Sex
Marriage Approved In California ... For Now: Governor
Schwarzenegger may veto the bill." ... "A week after the State Senate voted
in favor of a same-sex marriage bill, the State Assembly approved the measure
on Tuesday, making California the first state in the nation to pass a bill
allowing gay marriage." ... "Though gay-rights supporters were loudly celebrating
the victory in the gallery of the Assembly house in Sacramento, the party
could be a brief one." ... "Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger — who
has said he accepts the idea of gay marriage — could veto the bill,
according to The Associated Press, because of his belief that it
is an issue that voters or the state courts should decide." -By
Gil Kaufman -MTV.com/News
- 
- CA
- Sacramento
- 
-
-
- Religion
- "Four
indicted in alleged terrorist plot against LA-area targets."
... "The head of a militant Islamic prison gang and three others were indicted
Wednesday on federal charges of planning terrorist attacks against National
Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and other Los Angeles-area targets."
... "Prosecutors contend the plot was orchestrated by [Levar Haley] Washington,
[Gregory Vernon] Patterson and [Hammad Riaz] Samana at the behest of [Kevin]
James, a California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate who founded the radical
group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS. Washington converted to Islam
while serving three years in the prison for a previous robbery conviction."
-By Jeremiah Marquez -AP
via -MercuryNews
- CA
- 
-
- "Terrorism
charges expected in California probe: Sources: One
state prisoner involved in alleged plot." ... "Federal prosecutors are
expected to seek terrorism-related charges Wednesday against four men in
connection with an alleged plot in the Los Angeles, California, area, three
sources told CNN." ... "The charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism are
expected to be announced Wednesday after a federal grand jury returns an
indictment." ... "Three of the four men are in custody on separate charges.
One of the men is Hammad Samana, a Pakistan native who was taken into custody
earlier this month on charges that remain under seal." -By
Kelli Arena and Dree DeClamecy -CNN
- 
- TX
- CA
- Cindy
Sheehan
-
- "Sheehan,
war protesters leave Texas camp." ... "After a 26-day
vigil that ignited the anti-war movement, Cindy Sheehan took her protest
on the road Wednesday, while a handful of veterans pledged to continue
camping off the road leading to President Bush's ranch until the war in
Iraq ends." ... "Rather than heading home to California, the mother of
a 24-year-old soldier who died in Iraq boarded one of three buses heading
out on tour to spread her message." ... "The group plans to stop in 25
states during the next three weeks, then take Sheehan's "Bring Them Home
Now Tour" to the nation's capital for a Sept. 24 anti-war march." -By
Angela K. Brown -AP
via -BostonGlobe
- "Firefighters
struggle with 3 big wildfires." ... "Hundreds of
firefighters battled to contain Sunday at least three major blazes across
California that had burned through thousands of acres and destroyed more
than two dozen buildings." -By Stacy Finz
-SFGate.com
- 
- CA
-
- 
- "Graduation
Day, Six Decades Late: Now in their 70s and 80s,
Japanese Americans interned during WWII don caps and gowns for high school
ceremony." ... "A [California] state law that took effect in January allows
high schools to issue retroactive diplomas to Japanese Americans who were
unable to complete their education because of their incarceration during
World War II." ... "Nisei, the American-born children of first-generation
Japanese immigrants to the United States, make up the largest number of
those affected by the law." -By Lisa Richardson
-LAtimes
CA
-
- Archives
- John
Roberts
-
- Secrets
-
- "Roberts
Showed Conservative Stripes Early." ... ""While some
of the tales of woe emanating from the Court are enough to bring tears
to the eyes, it is true that only Supreme Court justices and schoolchildren
are expected to and do take the entire summer off," Roberts wrote on April
19, 1983, in a memo to Fielding, his boss at the time." ... "He went on
to say: "The generally accepted notion that the Court can only hear roughly
150 cases a year gives the same sense of reassurance as the adjournment
of the court in July, when we know the Constitution is safe for the summer.""
... "The memo and other materials made public Thursday by the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., and the National Archives
completed the disclosure of more than 50,000 pages that cover Roberts'
tenure as a lawyer in the White House counsel's office from 1982-86." ...
"Nearly 2,000 more pages from the same period have been withheld on national
security or privacy grounds." (1, 2)
-By Jesse J. Holland with contributions by Jesse J.
Holland and Andrew Taylor -AP
via -WashingtonPost
-
- CA
- TX
-
- "Soldier's
Mother Inspires Protests Across U.S.." ... "Antiwar
demonstrators staged candlelight vigils around the country Wednesday evening,
freshly energized by the tenacity of Cindy Sheehan, the California mother
of a fallen soldier, who has camped out for almost two weeks near President
Bush's central Texas ranch, demanding a face-to-face meeting with him."
... "In all, MoveOn.org, a liberal group that helped promote the vigils,
said that about 100,000 supporters of Sheehan would gather at more than
1,400 sites nationwide, though by Wednesday afternoon about 60,000 had
signed up on the organization's website." ... ""My experience is that the
number of people who attend is significantly higher than those who RSVP,"
said Tom Matzzie, MoveOn.org's Washington director. The vigils were not
even planned until four days ago, he said. Matzzie credited Sheehan with
helping to "personalize the cost of war."" ... "He said that until now,
the majority of the American people had been desensitized to the conflict."
-By Edwin Chen with contributions by Cynthia H. Cho,
Warren Vieth, and Veronica Torrejon
-LAtimes
Florida
- CA
- TX
- Tom
DeLay -
- "Figure
in DeLay investigation appears in LA federal court."
... "Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a major figure in investigations involving
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, appeared in [Los Angeles, California]
federal court Friday and was released to return to Florida to face an indictment
alleging fraud in the purchase of casino boats from a businessman who was
later shot to death." ... "Abramoff is also under investigation for his
lobbying activities on behalf of Indian tribes and for his role in paying
for overseas trips for DeLay. The Texas Republican has denied knowing Abramoff
paid the expenses." -By Jeremiah Marquez -Knight
Ridder via -MercuryNews
CA
- TX
- Tom
DeLay -
- "Lobbyist
Tied to DeLay Indicted: Jack Abramoff and an associate
are accused of using a counterfeit wire transfer to get financing. He surrenders
to the FBI in L.A. [Los Angeles, California] and is jailed." ... "Washington
lobbyist Jack Abramoff was indicted Thursday on federal fraud charges accusing
him and an associate of using a counterfeit $23-million wire transfer to
get financing to buy a fleet of casino boats five years ago." ... "Abramoff,
formerly a powerful and highly paid lobbyist who boasted of his ties to
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and others, also is under investigation
by a separate federal grand jury in Washington for his dealings with Indian
tribes. DeLay once described Abramoff as a close friend." -By
John-Thor Dahlburg with contributions by Chuck Neubauer and David Rosenzweig-LAtimes
- 
-
- CA
- "Scientists
find errors in global warming data." ... "After examining
the satellite data, collected since 1979 by National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration weather satellites, Carl Mears and Frank Wentz of Remote
Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, Calif. [California], found that the satellites
had drifted in orbit, throwing off the timing of temperature measures.
Essentially, the satellites were increasingly reporting nighttime temperatures
as daytime ones, leading to a false cooling trend. The team also found
a math error in the calculations." -By Dan Vergano
-USATODAY
John
G. Roberts Jr.
- CA
- Abortion
-
-
- "Boxer
demands Roberts support abortion, privacy." ... "[California]
Sen. Barbara Boxer said she would vote against John Roberts' nomination
to the U.S. Supreme Court, if she remains convinced he doesn't support
abortion rights." ... "Boxer, fearing a more conservative court could lead
"to the days of back alley illegal abortions," said pointedly of President
Bush's pick to succeed Justice Sandra Day o'Connor: "Judge Roberts cannot
duck this issue."" -By David Kravets
-AP via -MercuryNews
CA- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
-
- "U.S.
space shuttle Discovery lands safely." ... "The space
shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts returned to Earth safely on
Tuesday, bringing a successful end to NASA's troubled return to human space
flight 2 1/2 years after the Columbia disaster." ... "NASA accomplished
its main goal for the mission -- safely launching and landing the aging
shuttle. But when chunks of insulation flew off Discovery's fuel tank during
launch, the U.S. space agency learned it had failed to fix the problem
that doomed Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003." -By Nichola
Groom -Reuters
-
- CA
- TX
- 
- "Bush
Aides Meet Angry Mother of Fallen Soldier: The California
woman, unassuaged, says she'll wait in Texas to discuss Iraq with the president."
... "After her [Cindy Sheehan] conversation with national security advisor
Stephen Hadley and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, Sheehan
said in an interview that she would remain in Crawford and continue to
seek a meeting with Bush. "I didn't change my mind at all," she said. "They
said the president really believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass
destruction," Sheehan said. "And I told them: 'I might be a grieving
mom, but you men are very intelligent, and I know you don't believe what
you're telling me.'"" ... "She told reporters here that she not only opposed
the war but objected to Bush's assertions that U.S. soldiers had died "for
a noble cause." "I don't want him to use my son's name, or my name, to
justify any more killings. And I want to tell the president that, and I
want to ask the president why my son died," Sheehan said, contending that
the war was "based on horrendous lies and deceptions."" -By
Edwin Chen -LAtimes
-
- CA
- TX
-
- "Anti-war
protesters go after Bush at home: Group, which included
mothers of soldiers killed in Iraq, is halted 5 miles from ranch." ...
"Some U.S. veterans of the Iraq war and mothers of men who died in combat
there joined an anti-war protest near President Bush's [Texas] ranch Saturday
and predictably were stopped from delivering to Bush their demand to bring
American troops home." ... "The demonstration by about 50 people was led
by Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, Calif., who said her son Casey was killed
in Baghdad in April 2004. She said she was motivated to protest by Bush's
remark last week in Dallas that those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan
sacrificed their lives for a noble cause." ... ""I want to ask George Bush
what noble cause my son died for," she said. "I don't want him to use my
son's name or my family's name to justify more killing."" -By
Michael Hedges -HoustonChronicle.com
-
- CA
- TX
-
- "Mom
Protesting Iraq War Meets Bush Aides." ... "Supported
by more than 50 demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan
told reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son?
What did my son die for?'" Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush, but did
talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve Hadley and deputy
White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went out to hear her concerns."
... "Appreciative of their attention, yet undaunted, Sheehan said she planned
to continue her roadside vigil, except for a few breaks, until she gets
to talk to Bush. Her son, Casey, 24, was killed in Sadr City, Iraq, on
April 4, 2004. He was an Army specialist, a Humvee mechanic." -By
Deb Riechmann -AP
via-WashingtonPost
-
- "Borehole
reaches fault's active zone: San Andreas probe could
reveal how to predict quakes." ... "Scientists drilling into the San Andreas
fault to catch earthquakes right in the act of starting reported Wednesday
they have finally penetrated the fault's active zone, a region two miles
deep where clusters of tiny quakes continually rattle the earth underground."
... "The successful borehole marks a major milestone in an effort to understand
how quakes originate, how they grow into violent temblors that can rupture
the surface for miles, and whether scientists might learn to predict them,
said William Ellsworth, chief of the Earthquake Hazards Team at the U.S.
Geological Survey in Menlo Park." -David Perlman
-SFGate.com
-
- Phoenix
- "Seven
possible heat-related deaths in Arizona: Temperatures
even higher than usual." ... "Temperatures have been above average every
day since June 29 in Phoenix, where the normal high in the middle of July
is a sizzling 107." ... "The city hit 116 degrees on Sunday, 2 degrees
above the old record for the date, set in 1936. Phoenix was almost mild
compared with the Colorado River Valley, where Bullhead City reached 124
on Sunday and Needles, California, hit 125."
-AP via -CNN
- Wyoming
- Colorado
- 
- "Denver-Based
Co. Sells Stake in Gas Field." ... "A group of California
utilities has purchased part of a key Wyoming natural gas field from the
Anschutz Pinedale Corp. for $300 million." ... "Anschutz Pinedale will
continue to produce natural gas from its remaining undeveloped 8,000 acres
in the Pinedale Anticline of southwestern Wyoming, Anschutz spokesman Jim
Monaghan said Tuesday. The company is part of the holdings of Denver [Colorado]
billionaire Philip Anschutz." -Newsday.com
Gordon
Smith - Corporate
- Politics
- 
Sports
- 
Vacations
- 
Jets
- 
Accounting
- 
Telecommunications
- Energy
- Lawmakers
- 
Ore
- Nev
- 
Ind
- Fla
- 
Mich
- 
Ky
- Va
-
- 
- 
- 
- "Amid
much scrutiny, mixing pleasure and politics goes on."
... "Even if lawmakers are more sensitive these days about teeing up [golfing]
with lobbyists at posh resorts, one would never know it by witnessing a
scene at Dulles International Airport on Sunday night when lobbyists returned
from the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, a high-end course in southwestern Oregon.
One lobbyist from Accenture, an accounting firm, even disembarked sporting
a long-sleeve Bandon Dunes polo shirt." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator]
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.[Republican-Oregon]) held the fundraiser, an annual
event for his political action committee Impact America. A score of telecommunications,
financial-services and energy lobbyists paid $3,000 to $5,000 apiece to
join him for the promise of unfettered access for a weekend with the second-term
Oregonian and member of the Finance and Commerce, Science and Transportation
committees." ... "Smith paid Bandon Dunes $14,472 last year to reserve
the resort for his guests, according to disclosure reports filed with the
Federal Election Commission (FEC). Bandon Dunes charges $175 per person
for a round of golf and at least $300 for rooms during the peak season,
from May to October." ... "Smith, the heir of a frozen-foods fortune, seems
to have no qualms about his close ties to the business community. He readily
admitted that he flew to the event on FedEx’s corporate jet and returned
via Union Pacific’s plane." ... "[Nevada] Republican [Senator] Sen. John
Ensign (R-Nev.[Republican-Nevada]) also flew out for the event, as did
[Indiana Republican Representative] Reps. Chris Chocola (Ind.[Indiana]),
[Florida Republican Representative] Ander Crenshaw (Fla.[Florida]) and
[Indiana Republican Representative] Steve Buyer (Ind.[Indiana])." ... "[Michigan
Republican Representative] Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.[Republican-Michigan])
is hosting a golf tournament in July at the Oakland Hills Country Club
[in Michigan], the home of the 2004 Ryder Cup matches and the 2008 PGA
Championship. [Kentucky Republican Representative] Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.[Republican-Kentucky]),
a cardinal on the Appropriations Committee, will hold an event in August
at Pebble Beach, the world-famous coastal golf course in California." ...
"In the winter, several lawmakers including [Virginia Republican Representative]
Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.[Republican-Virginia]), hosted trips
to exclusive skiing resorts in Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming." ... "“You
wonder how long Republicans can bifurcate their message to mainstream America
with this gross display of wealth,” the lobbyist said." -By
Jonathan E. Kaplan -TheHill.com
-
-
-
-
-
- "Advanced
Micro Sues Intel Over Customer `Coercion' (Update8)."
... "Advanced Micro Devices Inc. sued Intel Corp., claiming Intel cemented
its dominance of the computer-chip market by coercing and threatening dozens
of customers." ... "Intel used ``old-fashioned threats, intimidations and
`knee- capping''' to persuade 38 companies including Dell Inc., Sony Corp.
and Toshiba Corp. to exclude Advance Micro chips from their computers,
Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro said in the lawsuit filed in
Delaware court yesterday." ... "Advanced Micro said the tactics cost it
billions of dollars and kept its share of the market to less than 16 percent,
while Intel claims more than 80 percent. Intel's sales practices raised
concern in Japan, where the Fair Trade Commission ruled that Intel broke
the law by offering discounts to PC makers if they agreed to limit their
business with rivals." -By Angus Whitley-Bloomberg
Mitchell
Wade - Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- 
Virgil
H Goode Jr
- Money
- Government
- Politics
- MZM
- Workers
- Secret
- Military
- Intelligence
- California
- Nevada
- Va
- Fla
- "Workers
say MZM founder pressed them to give to PAC." ...
"Mitchell Wade, founder of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc., pressured
employees to donate to a political fund that benefited [California Republican
Representative] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and other members of Congress,
according to three former employees of the company." ... "Wade, who took
a $700,000 loss on the purchase of Cunningham's Del Mar home and allows
the congressman to stay on his yacht while in Washington, demanded employees
make donations to the company's political action committee, MZM PAC, they
said." ... "Many companies have PACs, but campaign finance laws prohibit
employers from pressuring workers to contribute to the PAC. They may encourage
contributions, but not compel them." ... "In the past week, Wade resigned
the posts of president and chief executive officer of the company, turning
over those duties to Chief Operating Officer Frank Bragg, company sources
said. Wade remains the primary shareholder of the privately held, Nevada-licensed
company, sources added." ... "The resignations came after the Union-Tribune
reported that Wade had purchased and then sold Cunningham's Del Mar house
at a loss of $700,000 and has allowed the Rancho Santa Fe Republican to
stay aboard his yacht, called the Duke-Stir, while in the nation's capital.
The FBI and a federal grand jury are investigating the matter." ... "Little
public information exists on what MZM – a name based on the first names
of Wade's children Matthew, Zachary and Morgan – does for the government.
Former employees, however, say much of its work is with three defense intelligence
operations:" ... "Counter Intelligence Field Activity, a highly secretive
program created in 2002 by a Pentagon directive that focuses on gathering
intelligence to avert attacks like the ones on Sept. 11, 2001." ... "The
Army National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, [Virginia]
Va., whose mission is to provide soldiers with battlefield intelligence."
... "The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Ft. Belvoir, [Virginia]
Va., just outside Washington, which also provides battlefield intelligence."
... "MZM has been seeking to increase its contracts with the Central Command,
which oversees military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Special
Operations Command, both based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, [Florida]
Fla., according to former employees." ... "They and other former MZM employees
questioned the way Wade solicited contracts from Defense Department intelligence
agencies during the time they worked for the company." ... "They also expressed
concerns about Wade's dealings with three House members who received a
large portion of the money disbursed by MZM's PAC. The three – all Republicans
– are Cunningham and Reps. Virgil Goode of Virginia and Katherine Harris
of Florida." ... "One of the former MZM employees quoted Wade as describing
his congressional strategy this way: "The only people I want to work with
are people I give checks to. I own them."" -By Marcus
Stern with contributions by Jerry Kammer -SignOnSanDiego.com
-
- 
-
- "Alamo
[California] man rescued by Iraqis, troops." ...
"Iraqi and U.S. troops rescued an Alamo [California] man who had been held
by insurgents in Iraq for more than six weeks, authorities said today."
... "Australian Prime Minister John Howard said 63-year-old Douglas Wood,
an Australian native, had been rescued during a military raid in Baghdad
and that he was doing well. Wood's release followed weeks of negotiations
by Australian officials and that country's highest-ranking Muslim cleric."
... ""I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in
Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood, is safe from his captors," Howard said to cheers
in the Australian parliament." -By Chuck Squatriglia
and Steve Rubenstein -SFGate.com
- 
-
- "7.0
quake shakes up [California's] North Coast: Crescent
City residents flee after tsunami warning." ... "A 7.0 magnitude earthquake
rocked the ocean floor Tuesday night about 90 miles southwest of Crescent
City, sparking a short-lived tsunami warning across Northern California's
coast and prompting a partial evacuation of the coastal town." ... "It
had been 18 years since Crescent City had activated the municipal alarm.
They have one especially for tsunamis because 11 people were killed there
in 1964 when the Alaska tsunami hit. It was the only fatal tidal wave in
California's history." -By Stacy Finz, Leslie Fulbright,
and Jaxon Van Derbeken with contributions by Demian Bulwa
-SFGate.com
-
-
-
-
- "FBI:
Al Qaeda plot possibly uncovered." ... "Papers filed
in federal court said Hamid Hayat eventually admitted to interrogators
that he attended a terror training camp funded and operated by al Qaeda
near Rawalpindi, Pakistan, for six months in 2003 and 2004." ... "Terror
expert Peter Bergen cast doubt on that detail." ... ""I'm a little skeptical
of that, after all, the Pakistani government has been on a pretty massive
campaign against al Qaeda in Pakistan and the affidavit in this case is
suggesting that the training camp was near Rawalpindi," Bergen said. "Well,
Rawalpindi happens to be the Pakistani Army headquarters, right next to
Pakistan's capital. To me, its seems extremely improbable that an al Qaeda
training camp with hundreds of people would be in that location."" ...
"Instead, Bergen suggested, the camp might have been aimed at training
Pakistanis for action in the disputed Kashmir region." -Contributed
to by Nic Robertson and Kelli Arena -CNN
-
-
-
-
- "California
Father and Son Face Charges in Terrorism Case." ...
"An American man of Pakistani descent has been arrested along with his
father, a naturalized American citizen, as part of an investigation by
federal law enforcement officials into possible terrorist connections with
Al Qaeda." ... "According to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in Federal District
Court in Sacramento, about 40 miles north of this agricultural town, Hamid
Hayat, 22, told investigators last weekend that he had been trained "on
how to kill Americans" at a camp in Pakistan affiliated with Al Qaeda.
The affidavit said that during Mr. Hayat's weapons training, "photos of
various high-ranking United States political figures, including President
Bush, would be pasted on their targets."" ... "Mr. Hayat, who was born
in California, returned to the United States on May 29 after spending more
than two years in Pakistan." ... "The affidavit said Mr. Hayat's father,
Umer Hayat, 47, who drives an ice cream truck in Lodi, provided financial
support for his son's training." ... "They have been charged with lying
to federal investigators about the training camp and are scheduled to appear
in court on June 21, said Johnny L. Griffin III, a lawyer for the father."
-By Dean E. Murphy and David Johnston with contributions
by Carolyn Marshall -NYTimes
-
-
- Homes
- "Landslide
destroys 17 homes: 1,000 flee California neighborhood."
... "Houses cracked, telephone poles snapped and streets buckled as a landslide
sent homes sliding down a hill in Laguna Beach [California] before dawn
Wednesday, leaving large homes dangling in the air." ... "The landslide
destroyed 17 homes in a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar dwellings.
Another 11 were damaged, authorities said." ... "Streets had buckled onto
themselves, manholes had risen into the shape of volcanoes and telephone
poles were toppled." ... "Geologists say the Bluebird Canyon landslide
was made more likely by last winter's near-record rains that have taken
months to saturate deeper into the soil and bedrock." -By
Mai Tran, William Lobdell and Christine Hanley with contributions by John
Spano, Daryl Strickland and Don Kelsen
-LAtimes via-ChicagoTribune
-
- Memorial
Day
-
- Florida
- Nevada
- New
York
- "Holiday
Exodus In Full Stride." ... "Anyone who took an early
flight for a Memorial Day getaway has already gotten a taste of what summer
air travel will be like: full planes, crowded airports and weather delays."
... "Airlines said they carried more passengers than usual Thursday, the
kickoff of the summer season." ... "Despite rising prices, the travel industry
predicts Americans will be traveling in record numbers this summer with
Florida, California, Nevada and New York the top preferred destinations."
(1, 2)
-AP /
-CBSNews
-
- "Military
Bill Backtracks on Women." ... "A House Republican
leader pulled members back from contentious debate over women in combat
on Wednesday by eliminating a proposal requiring the Pentagon to ask Congress
to vote each time the military wanted to open new battlefield support jobs
to women." ... "Instead, the substitute language offered by Representative
Duncan Hunter of California, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee,
requires the defense secretary to give Congress notification - and 60 working
days for consideration and debate - before opening or closing jobs in the
combat zone to women." ... "Currently, the Pentagon must give Congress
30 days' notification of plans to change its policy on women in combat."
-By Thom Shanker -NYTimes
CA
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- New
York
- Homes
- "Million
dollar homes double since 2000: California leads
states with the most million-dollar homes and highest median home value."
... "Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts and New York
followed California as the places with the largest percentages of seven-figure
homes." -CNN
- New
York -
- "Bill
aims to bar women from direct ground combat." ...
"The language would put into law a Pentagon policy from 1994 that prohibits
female troops in all four service branches from serving in units below
brigade level whose primary mission is direct ground combat." ... ""Many
Americans feel that women in combat or combat support positions is not
a bridge we want to cross at this point," said Rep. John McHugh, R-New
York, who sponsored the amendment." ... "The issue arose last week, when
Republicans, at the behest of Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-California,
added a provision that would have banned women from being assigned to "forward
support companies."" -AP
via -CNN
-
- "Los
Angeles Mayor Candidate Villaraigosa Claims Win (Update1)."
... "Los Angeles candidate for mayor Antonio Villaraigosa claimed victory
against incumbent James Hahn, giving the city its first Hispanic mayor
since 1872." ... "Villaraigosa had 59 percent of the votes compared with
Hahn's 41 percent at 11:48 p.m., after 70 percent of Los Angeles precincts
had reported results, according to the Los Angeles City Clerk's Web site."
-By Joyzelle Davis -Bloomberg
- 
-
- Transportation
- "City
transit systems struggle to stay on track: Chicago
[Illinois] is latest to consider route cuts, but from Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]
to San Francisco [California], fares may rise." ... "Under the "doomsday"
scenario approved by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) board last month,
the agency will attempt to crawl out of a $55 million budget hole by eliminating
dozens of bus and train routes, reducing service on all remaining lines
to a Sunday schedule, and raising fares for those customers not using an
automated card from $1.75 to $2.00." ... "But while Chicago is looking
at a particularly dire situation right now, nearly all large public transit
agencies are in tough fiscal straits." ... "The 2005 Urban Mobility Report,
released last week by the Texas Transportation Institute, indicated that
traffic delays would be nearly 30 percent worse - or cost an additional
1.1 billion hours - without public transit." -By Amanda
Paulson
-CSMonitor
-
- Connecticut
- Georgia
-
-
-
- "U.S.
Military Seeks to Close 193 Bases to Cut Costs (Update3)."
... "The U.S. military proposed closing 193 military bases, including a
submarine base in Groton, Connecticut, and an Army base at Fort McPherson
near Atlanta [Georgia], in the first round of base closings and realignments
in a decade." ... "Thirty-three major bases would be among those closed,
and about 70,000 overseas personnel would be returned to domestic bases,
according to a list released by the Pentagon today. California, the state
with the most military facilities, would lose 12, including four finance
and accounting centers." ... "The Pentagon is proposing the base closings
as part of a broad restructuring of the U.S. military to bring greater
unification of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and meet the 21st-century
challenges of global terrorism and an unsettled international environment."
-By Tony Capaccio and Bill Arthur -Bloomberg
- Gay
- "Calif.
Panels Reject Gay Marriage Ban: Constitutional Amendment
Banning Gay Marriage Rejected by California Legislative Committees." ...
"Conservative groups in California say they will try to gather enough signatures
to put an initiative banning gay marriage on the ballot in 2006." ... "The
announcement came Tuesday after committees of state lawmakers rejected
a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages and strip away
a long list of rights granted to domestic partners in recent years." ...
"Other laws already bar same-sex marriages from taking place in California."
(1, 2)
-By Steve Lawrence with contributions by Gary D. Robertson
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- Autos
- "Investors
Betting on Kerkorian's General Motors Bid." ... "Investors
were betting Wednesday that 87-year-old Los Angeles [California] billionaire
Kirk Kerkorian's surprise proposal to acquire a large stake in struggling
General Motors Corp. could be a catalyst for a turnaround at the world's
largest automaker. Kerkorian, who shook up Chrysler Corp. with a hostile
takeover bid a decade ago, said Wednesday that his Tracinda Corp. plans
to spend $868 million to double its previously undisclosed GM stake to
8.8 percent. The announcement drove up GM's stock 18 percent, its biggest
one-day gain in decades." ... "Kerkorian's involvement comes as GM Chief
Executive Rick Wagoner is trying to end a prolonged slump that led to the
company's smallest U.S. market share in almost 80 years. GM, which last
month reported a $1.1 billion first-quarter loss, is trying to shore up
its finances in part by winning large health-care concessions from union
workers." -By John O'Dell and Tom Petruno with contributions
by Thomas S. Mulligan-LAtimes
Mother's-Day
- Homes
- Florida
- Georgia
- Austin
- TX
- IL
- Des-Moines
- IA
- Connecticut
- Oklahoma
- 
WA
- Nebraska
- Phoenix- AZ
- Virginia
- CA
- Utah
- North
Carolina - "Women
helping build homes." ... "Women Build is a partnership
of Habitat for Humanity and the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores.
It is an annual event that gives women a chance to help needy families.
Female crews have built 650 Habitat houses in the United States." ... "[Along
with Pensacola, Florida] Other cities with Mother's Day Women Build projects
are Atlanta [Georgia]; Austin, Texas; Chicago [Illinois]; Des Moines, Iowa;
Hartford, Conn. [Connecticut]; Oklahoma City [Oklahoma]; Olympia, Wash.
[Washington]; Omaha, Neb. [Nebraska]; Phoenix [Arizona]; Richmond, Va [Virginia].;
San Francisco [California]; Salt Lake City [Utah]; Tacoma, Wash. [Washington];
and Winston-Salem, N.C. [North Carolina]" -By Bill
Kaczor -APvia
-NJ.com
-
-
-
-
- "Australian
man living in California purportedly held by Iraqi militants."
... "Australia formed a team of diplomats, defense staff and police on
Monday who will attempt to free an Australian engineer who resides in California
seized by Iraqi insurgents. But the government had a blunt message for
the kidnappers: It will not remove its troops from Iraq or pay any ransom."
... "The kidnapping the first of an Australian since January, when journalist
John Martinkus was captured and briefly held by insurgents who later released
him unharmed came as Australia is boosting its troop presence in southern
Iraq." -By Mike Corder with contributions by
David Kravets -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Faith
'War' Rages in U.S., Judge Says: A Bush nominee central
to the Senate's judicial controversy criticizes secular humanists." ...
"Just days after a bitterly divided Senate committee voted along party
lines to approve her nomination as a federal appellate court judge, California
Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown told an audience Sunday that
people of faith were embroiled in a "war" against secular humanists who
threatened to divorce America from its religious roots, according to a
newspaper account of the speech." ... "Brown's remarks come as a partisan
battle over judges has evolved into a national debate over the proper mix
of God and government and as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)
ponders changing the chamber's rules to prevent Democrats from using procedural
moves to block confirmation of conservative jurists such as Brown." -By
Peter Wallsten -LAtimes
- Robots
- New
York -
- "Mingling
With Metal Men." ... "Francisco "Chico" MacMurtrie
may have every geek's dream job -- he tools around in his Brooklyn [New
York] workshop, making robot sculptures that are displayed around the world.
But as is evident from his work and philosophy, blending art and technology
isn't always a walk in the park." ... "MacMurtrie, an artist, has spent
roughly the past 15 years making robot installations. He started in California,
where he worked as an artist in residence at the Exploratorium museum in
San Francisco, and founded his long-standing group, Amorphic
Robot Works." -By Rachel Metz
-Wired
-
-
- Maine
- "Welcome
Stop for Warriors: Locals in Bangor, Maine, are on
a mission to greet every military plane, at any time, in any weather. Their
tally so far: 200,000 troops." ... "Tired and bleary-eyed, Marines of the
1st Battalion, 7th Regiment, based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. [California],
were finally back on U.S. soil after seven months on the front lines in
Iraq." ... "But they were still many miles and hours from their families
and the homecoming they longed for. Their officers told them they would
be on the ground for 60 to 90 minutes while their chartered plane was refueled."
... "So they disembarked and began walking through the airport terminal
corridor to a small waiting room." ... "That's when they heard the applause."
... "Lining the hall and clapping were dozens of Bangor residents who have
set a daunting task for themselves: They want every Marine, soldier, sailor
and airman returning through the tiny international airport here to get
a hero's welcome." -By Tony Perry -LAtimes
via -KTLA
-
- 
- Microsoft
- "Update:
Adobe to buy Macromedia for $3.4B: The move puts
Adobe squarely in the path of rival Microsoft Corp., analysts say."...
"The deal would combine the companies' document management, Web publishing
and online video delivery tools, putting Adobe squarely in the path of
rival Microsoft Corp., analysts said." ... "[California] San Jose-based
Adobe and San Francisco-based Macromedia have some of the most widely distributed
software in the world. Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) and Acrobat
Reader software is common on most [computer] desktops, and Macromedia's
Flash products are widely used to create and view animation, video and
other content." -By Scarlet Pruitt and Martyn Williams
-Computerworld
-
- 
-
-
- "Noted
activist for war victims killed in car bomb attack:
Californian Marla Ruzicka championed humanitarian aid in Iraq." ... "A
car bomb attack near Baghdad has killed a well-known activist from Northern
California who entered war zones to record civilian deaths in Iraq and
Afghanistan and secure aid for those caught in the cross fire." ... "Marla
Ruzicka, 28, of Lakeport (Lake County), founder of CIVIC -- Campaign for
Innocent Victims of Conflict -- died with her driver on the Baghdad Airport
road Saturday when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of security contractors
that was passing next to her vehicle, according to her family and news
reports quoting U.S. Embassy officials in Iraq." ... "Given the U.S. military's
policy of not accounting for civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq,
Ruzicka's work played a key role in drawing attention to the human tragedy
of the war and giving the world a well-researched accounting of the cost
in innocent lives." -By Charles Burress, Tanya Schevitz
with contributions by Matthew B. Stannard and Cecilia Vega
-SFGate.com
- Tom
DeLay
- "GOP
Kills House Ethics Changes." ... "House Republicans
brushed aside the Democrats' latest attempt to rewrite ethics rules on
Thursday, one day after a closed-door discussion that touched on the perils
of political arrogance." ... "The vote was 218-195, along party lines,
to kill the proposal by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader."
... "The California Democrat swiftly issued a statement accusing Republicans
of showing "allegiance to the ethics standards of Tom DeLay." DeLay, the
majority leader, is battling charges of misconduct." (1, 2)
-AP with
-CBSNews
- 
-
-
- Archives
- "The Archivist:
Brewster Kahle made a copy of the Internet. Now, he wants your files."
... "I'm a few minutes late for lunch at the Internet
Archive, but they know what kept me. The view of San Francisco Bay
[California] outside the archive's digs at the Presidio
is captivating even if you already live here." ... "Search-engine wiz and
dot-com multimillionaire Brewster
Kahle founded the archive here in 1996 with a dream as big as the bridge:
He wanted to back up the Internet. There were only 50 million or so URLs
back then, so the idea only seemed half-crazy. As the Web ballooned to
more than 10 billion pages, the archive's main server farm—hidden across
town in a data
center beneath the city's other big bridge—grew to hold a half-million
gigabytes of compressed and indexed pages." ... "Kahle is less the Internet's
crazy aunt—the tycoon who can't stand to throw anything away—than its evangelical
librarian." -By Paul Boutin
-Slate
-
-
-
- "Thief
steals UC-Berkeley laptop." ... "University of California-Berkeley
police are investigating the theft of a campus laptop computer containing
information on 98,000 individuals." -CNN
-
-
- "US-Mexican
border as a terror risk: Recent intelligence gives
the most evidence yet of terrorist plans. Lawmakers push for tighter security."
... "Concern is growing at the top levels of government about the US-Mexican
border becoming a back door for terrorists entering the United States.
While Al Qaeda infiltration across the nation's southern border has been
a constant concern since 9/11, US officials cite recent intelligence giving
the most definitive evidence yet that terrorists are planning to use it
as an entry point - if they haven't already." ... "As a result, a number
of Republican and Democratic lawmakers -mainly from border states - are
pushing to tighten checkpoints and other ways of monitoring the porous
1,400-mile boundary." -By Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
- 
-
- Utah
-
- "Underwater
bike ride to launch students' eight-week crime spree."
... "Starting in the liberal state of California, they hope to evade the
attention of local police officers when they ride a bike in a swimming
pool and curse on a crazy-golf course." ... "In the far more conservative
- and landlocked - state of Utah, they will risk the penitentiary when
they hire a boat and attempt to go whale-hunting." ... ""There are thousands
of stupid laws in the United States, but we are limiting ourselves to breaking
about 45 of them," said Richard Smith, from Portreath, Cornwall." -By
Gerard Seenan -Guardian.co.uk
- "Deadly
S. California storm rages into its 5th day." ...
"A killer Pacific storm is pounding Southern California with a fifth straight
day of heavy rain Tuesday, but forecasters say the end is in sight." ...
"Six people have died in the storm, the latest outbreak in a spate of rough
weather that has soaked the region since Dec. 26."" ... "The storm has
spawned hail, thunder and tornadoes since it moved in Thursday night. It
has sent mud and boulders down rain-weakened hillsides, flooded highways
and railroads and cut power to as many as 170,000 customers." -By
Martin Kasindorf -USATODAY
-
- -
- WalMart
- "Feds
Investigating Wal-Mart Settlement." ... "Federal
investigators will review a $135,540 settlement the government reached
with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, over accusations
that the company violated child labor laws." ... "The investigation was
sought by Rep. George Miller. The California Democrat had criticized the
deal made public Feb. 12 because it provided that Wal-Mart would receive
15 days notice in most cases before the Labor Department investigated employee
complaints of wage and hour violations." ... "Miller, the top Democrat
on the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the two-week window
could give Wal-Mart a chance to sweep violations under the rug." -By
Erica Werner -AP
via -Wired
California
- Consumer
- Company
- Computer
- Database
- Net
- Hackers
- "Big
ID Theft in California." ... "A company that collects
consumer data warned thousands of Californians that hackers penetrated
the company's computer network and may have stolen credit reports, Social
Security numbers and other sensitive information." ... "ChoicePoint Inc.,
which sells such data to government agencies and a variety of companies,
acknowledged Tuesday that several hackers broke into its computer database
and purloined data from as many as 35,000 Californians."
-Wired
