Major policy addresses are as rare in non-presidential campaign years as payphones in Manhattan. But Wednesday, President Obama braved the media obsession with the new royal baby and a childish mayoral candidate to deliver a major speech on economic policy.
Yesterday's speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., was the first in a series of speeches that the president hopes will focus Congress on the economy. You would never know it by listening to what passes for debate in D.C., but Americans are more concerned about the economy and jobs than they are about the budget and the national debt.
Last month, CBS News and the New York Times conducted a national survey and asked Americans what they thought was the most important problem facing the nation. It really wasn't much of a contest, as the survey indicated that concern about the economy and jobs overwhelmed everything else.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the budget and deficit.]
One in three (34 percent) Americans indicated that the economy was the biggest problem facing the United States. Concern about everything else, ?including the national debt (6 percent), religious values (3 percent) and big government (3 percent), was in single digits. But Washington is obsessed with the budget. This is just one of many examples of Washington's indifference to the public's concerns. Unless the president gets his way, we'll hear a lot of talk about the deficit but little discussion of jobs for the next several months.
Hopefully, Americans and members of Congress will hear what the president says and tune out wall-to-wall Weiner media and the coverage of the naming rights to the royal baby.
Wednesday, the president honed in on economic inequality. He pointed out that the economic gains in the last 10 years have mostly benefitted rich people at the expense of the middle class."This growing inequality is not just morally wrong: it's bad economics," he said. "Because when middle-class families have less to spend, guess what? Businesses have fewer consumers."
[Read the U.S. News debate: Is Obama Turning the Economy Around?]
It's unlikely that the president can get the House Republican caucus to pass or even consider his proposals. The GOP majority in the U.S. House of Representatives never took a vote or even debated the merits of the American Jobs Act when President Obama submitted it to Congress in 2012. That legislation would have given tax breaks to companies that hire new employees, put unemployed Americans to work rebuilding our failing bridges and water systems and put thousands of public school teachers, police officers, firefighters and paramedics back to work.????
With his economic speech, the president took his second opportunity in a week to speak from the bully pulpit. His remarks about Trayvon Martin and yesterday's speech on the economy suggest that the president has decided to speak directly to Americans. The president sees the radical Republican majority as a lost cause, but he still has faith in the American people.
So far, we've only had furtive glances of the rumored BlackBerry A10 through basic specs and a short video. However, CrackBerry forum member nereuszeer may have given us much more insight by posting what appears to be a presentation slide with most of the A10's details. If accurate, they suggest that the 5-inch, 720p OLED screen wouldn't be the only standout feature -- there's also a much larger 2,800mAh battery and a slightly faster 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro. The phone wouldn't otherwise represent a big break from the Z10, although the leak hints at both a preloaded instance of BlackBerry 10.2 and a thicker Verizon variant. When the slide reportedly dates back to May, there's a chance the hardware could change before release. Still, don't be surprised if this ultimately represents BlackBerry's fall flagship.
Neptune moon: Astronomer Mark Showalter used over 150 pictures of Neptune to find an almost-invisible moon of Neptune, bringing the total number of Neptune moons to 14.
By Liz Fuller-Wright,?Correspondent / July 16, 2013
All of Neptune's moons were discovered in 1989 by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, with the exception of S/2004 N 1, which was discovered July 1. The outer moon Triton was discovered in 1846, the same year Neptune itself was discovered. Triton's orbit is retrograde, suggesting it is a captured Kuiper Belt Object and therefore a distant cousin of Pluto.
Courtesy of NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)
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Finding moons should be easy, right? Look how bright ours is, glowing away up there.
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Except that our moon is (1) ridiculously close by, which makes it look bright, (2) ridiculously big, and (3) slow. Other moons like this ? big, slow, bright ? are relatively easy to find. Galileo spotted the four biggest moons of Jupiter back in the 17th century, using a telescope that worked about as well as a $50 pair of binoculars.
It's harder to find moons that don't follow this pattern. If they're small, or dark, it's much, much harder. Throw in fast ? ridiculously fast ? and it's no wonder that the most recently discovered moon of Neptune took years to find. This little planet, like a fidgety toddler, "never sits still long enough to have its picture taken," wrote Mark Showalter, the SETI researcher who discovered the tiny moon?on July 1.
In fact, it travels over 350,000 miles in less than one Earth day, giving it a speed of about 15,000 miles per hour. It's not the fastest moon in the solar system ? Metis, zipping around Jupiter three times a day, goes more than twice as fast ? but it's still too fast to photograph easily.
The peppy little moon, currently identified only as S/2004 N 1, appeared in pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2009. ?But that's using "appeared" pretty generously. As Dr. Showalter wrote today, "We estimate that it is no more than 20 km across and as dark as if it were paved with dirty asphalt. Naturally, taking its picture requires long exposures. But there?s the rub. If you expose it for too long, the moon vanishes in a blur..." The size and color are both calculations, not measurements, so it's possible that the moon is brighter than asphalt, but that would mean that it's also smaller. So how do you find something small, dark, and fast?
Well, you don't depend on the human eye's ability to spot things. Our eyes are good at seeing color and motion, but they're terrible at seeing tiny, dark smudges against a black sky. So Showalter, a research scientist working on several NASA missions to the outer planets, wrote a computer program to help him comb through Hubble's 150 or so pictures of Neptune. "The procedure I devised predicts where any given moon ought to move from one image to the next," he writes, "and then combines the images with a 'twist' that compensates for the expected motion." He wasn't looking for a moon ? after all, he didn't know there was a moon to look for ? but developed the technique to examine some arcs in Neptune's rings, which are also nearly invisible.
Brothers Drew and Barry Hertzfeld, of Brooklyn, didn?t need much practice heading into Sunday?s attempt to shatter a world record for most consecutive high-fives.
?That would be pretty embarrassing if we couldn?t do this,? Drew, 17, said.
While the attempt still needs to be verified, there?s a very good chance that 350 people did indeed break the record during the third and final day of Sailfest in New London.
According to recordsetter.com, ?a website that lets you create your own world records,? the record is 290 high fives, set July 10 at Camp Alvernia in Centerport, N.Y.
eople reportedly performed the feat March 5, and sent the results to Guinness World Records, although Guinness doesn?t have a category for high-five chains on its web site. An attempt of 4,699 simultaneous high-fives is recorded.
New London?s attempt came together quickly. Event organizers walked up and down Bank Street, which was closed to traffic, to enlist volunteers in the afternoon.
?The Sailfest committee always looks to do something different on Sunday,? Sailfest 2013 Executive Director Barbara Neff said. ?It?s a nice positive thing that brings out the community.?
Participants stood along the white center line in the road and waited for their turn to take part. First, a participant would receive a high-five from the person in front of him or her. Then, he or she would turn around and high-five the person behind them.
And the whole thing was documented on video for verification purposes.
Dan Kiser, 28, was number 252. The New London man received a high-five from Kara Berglund, of Norwich, who had received hers from her mom, Paula.
?What a great thing to be part of,? Paula Berglund said. Berglund was there to support ser son, who was selling his own line of T-shirts.
?When we saw they were doing this, we had to join in,? she said.
Twins Ted and Kaleigh Allen, 7, of Groton, said they knew about the records and were ready to go.
?It?s going to be fun to break the record,? Ted said.
While the high-five attempt lasted about 15 minutes, it was part of a day of events along the New London waterfront, including live music, food, amusement rides, art and craft vendors, boat rides and a 5K run.
ATLANTA (AP) - Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman has a thumb injury that is preventing him from playing Sunday and leaves his status for the All-Star game in question.
Freeman said Sunday he jammed his left thumb on the first play of Saturday night's 5-2 win over the Reds. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons fielded Chris Heisey's grounder and threw slightly wide of first base, forcing Freeman to catch the ball in Heisey's path. Heisey hit Freeman's glove and was out.
"I guess my thumb was in the wrong place," Freeman said. "It's just one of those freak injuries I seem to run into every year."
Freeman remained in the game and is wearing a soft splint on his hand on Sunday. He said there is "a little bit of tiny swelling" in the thumb.
"I can still bend it and do everything," Freeman said. "It's not too bad, so I'm just going to take a day off and see how it goes."
Freeman made the All-Star roster on the fan vote. He said he didn't know if he would be able to play in the game.
"Obviously, I hope to play but we'll see how it goes," Freeman said. "I've got to look out for the best interests of this team, so I've got to be available to play in the second half. If I can't play in the All-Star game, we're better off if I'm able to play in the second half."
Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Freeman could receive treatment for the injury while in New York for the All-Star game.
"I think he needs to go," Gonzalez said. "If he can participate, participate. Hell, yeah! You never know when that chance will come again."
Evan Gattis, who had been out since June 18 with a right oblique strain, was activated from the 15-day disabled list and is starting at first base.
Gattis came off the DL after playing only two games in his injury rehabilitation stint with Triple-A Gwinnett. The original plan had been for Gattis to remain with Gwinnett through Sunday.
"It was good," Gattis said of his rehab stint. "I felt good to square up the ball last night. That tells me I'm ready."
Gattis, whose primary position is catcher, has started 11 games in left field and only three games at first base.
B.J. Upton, who left Friday night's game with a right adductor muscle strain, was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Saturday.
"We've got a break coming up and I just need a little more time to get healthy," Upton said, adding his recovery "is not a thing that's going to happen immediately."
Justin Upton also left Friday night's game with what was announced as a left calf strain. On Sunday, Gonzalez said team doctors have concluded the injury was just a severe cramp.
Gonzalez said Justin Upton would be available in an emergency situation on Sunday.
The Braves expect a third injured starting outfielder, Jason Heyward, to recover from his strained right hamstring without being placed on the disabled list.
The Braves' patchwork outfield of Jose Constanza, Reed Johnson and rookie Joey Terdoslavich combined for seven hits Saturday night and is starting again Sunday.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Mr. power hitter
CSN: Chris Davis now has a major league-leading 37 home runs, joining Reggie Jackson in a tie for the AL record for homers before the All-Star break. Jackson had that many in 1969.
A demonstrator wears a hoodie during a protest the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A demonstrator wears a hoodie during a protest the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Demonstrators cross Marietta Street as they march in protest the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
In this image from video, George Zimmerman smiles after a not guilty verdict was handed down in his trial at the Seminole County Courthouse, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Sanford, Fla. Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman was cleared of all charges Saturday in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager whose killing unleashed furious debate across the U.S. over racial profiling, self-defense and equal justice. (AP Photo/TV Pool)
Jebiah Jones, 3, holds a sign as her mother Keiota Jones, stands behind her during a protest the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Lisa Archer, 24, of Atlanta, chants during a protest the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in the 2012 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, Sunday, July 14, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? Jurors who acquitted George Zimmerman of all charges were guided in their deliberations by 27 pages of jury instructions that included two sections giving them an option to find him not guilty: justifiable use of deadly force and reasonable doubt.
The acquittal of the former neighborhood watch leader left many Americans wondering Sunday how the justice system could allow him to walk away from the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager whose death provoked a long national debate over racial profiling and self-defense.
But the essential criteria for deciding the case came from the court itself, which told jurors that Zimmerman was allowed to use deadly force when he shot the teen not only if he actually faced death or bodily harm, but also if he merely thought he did.
And jurors heard plenty of conflicting evidence and testimony that could have created reasonable doubt.
Some Martin family supporters may never understand the gap between the legal basis for the acquittal and what they perceived as the proper outcome: Zimmerman's conviction for either second-degree murder or manslaughter.
"There is a difference between the law and what people think is fundamentally justice," said Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a Washington-based civil rights group.
One of those Martin supporters who had a hard time accepting the decision was Tara Banks, a 46-year-old black woman from Gainesville, Fla., who said the verdict was causing her to lose faith in the courts.
"He killed a human being and he walked away from that courthouse scot free. It's just terrible," Banks said at a small rally near the courthouse where Zimmerman was tried.
Under Florida law, jurors were told to decide whether Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force by the circumstances he was under when he fired his gun. The instructions they were given said they should take into account the physical capabilities of both Zimmerman, 29, and Martin, 17. And if they had any reasonable doubt on whether Zimmerman was justified in using deadly force, they should find him not guilty.
"Beyond a reasonable doubt" is the highest standard of proof prosecutors face in American criminal courts. It means the jurors believe there is no other logical explanation for what happened than the defendant is guilty. If faced with two plausible explanations for what happened, jurors are supposed to acquit.
"The danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person ... would have believed the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force," the instruction read.
Jurors refused to talk to reporters after the verdict about how they reached their decision Saturday night. Their names are being kept secret until Judge Debra Nelson lifts an order protecting their identities.
After the verdict, Jacksonville State Attorney Angela Corey said the use of deadly force is often one of the toughest areas of the law for prosecutors. Gov. Rick Scott appointed her office to the case a few weeks after the shooting when local prosecutors didn't press charges.
She said that when a victim shoots a robber or rapist, the use of deadly force is clearly justifiable. In cases such as Zimmerman's, the lines get blurry.
"That's why this case was unique, in a sense, and that's why this case was difficult," she said.
Even defense attorneys, who use the law to their advantage, say the instruction for the justifiable use of deadly force can be confusing to jurors since there are so many elements to it. It's one of the longest instructions given jurors.
"The more complex the instruction, the more it benefits the defense," said Blaine McChesney, an Orlando defense attorney and former prosecutor with no connection to the Zimmerman case. "It's a very convoluted instruction, but it's the best they have."
Jurors were also told that reasonable doubt about Zimmerman's guilt could come from conflicting evidence or the lack of evidence.
Over three weeks of testimony, they received mounds of conflicting evidence and testimony of what happened on that rainy February 2012 night after Zimmerman spotted Martin walking in his townhouse complex after the teen bought Skittles candy and iced tea from a nearby 7-Eleven. He didn't recognize Martin, who lived in the Miami area and was visiting the home of his father's fiancee. The neighborhood had experienced burglaries and some people had reported the suspects seen fleeing were young black males, like Martin.
After calling police dispatchers, Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and followed Martin. He says Martin attacked him. Prosecutors disputed that. The evidence was unclear.
None of Zimmerman's neighbors saw or heard the entire fight, and eyewitnesses gave differing accounts of whether Zimmerman or Martin was on top. Martin's parents testified it was their son screaming for help on 911 calls made by Zimmerman's neighbors. Zimmerman's parents testified that no, it was their son. The fight ended seconds after the screams when Zimmerman fired one shot from his handgun into Martin's heart.
Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. His mother was born in Peru and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. His father is a white American.
After the verdict, civil rights leader Al Sharpton asked the U.S. Justice Department to bring charges against Zimmerman for civil rights violations as it did against the Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King police beating case two decades ago.
NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous concurred and started a petition calling for federal charges.
"The most fundamental of civil rights ? the right to life ? was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin," Jealous wrote in the petition, posted on the website MoveOn.org and addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder.
Holder may address the matter when he talks to NAACP members Tuesday at their national convention in Orlando.
But federal law probably doesn't apply, said David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami. Unlike the police officers in the King case, Zimmerman wasn't acting "under color of law."
There also is little basis to charge Zimmerman with a federal hate crime, Weinstein said, since prosecutors would have to show that he shot and killed Martin primarily because of the teen's race. Nothing in the state trial suggested it was a racially motivated crime, he said.
"Under the law, there is no basis for them to file any charges," Weinstein said about the Department of Justice.
Under public pressure, he added, the Justice Department may send lawyers to Florida to investigate the case so they can write a report that says "there was nothing there."
"That may satisfy people," Weinstein said.
___
Associated Press writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this story.
___
Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP .
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi has urged foreign oil traders and investors not to lose the opportunity of making investments in Iran's lucrative oil and gas industry.
At an international conference, hosted by the Munich Security Conference Foundation, he met with Iranian and German oil managers and economic activists to outline the potential for investors in the Islamic Republic's oil, gas and energy sectors.
"Although sanctions have created some problems for Iran, they have failed to stop the development of the nation's oil industry," he said.
Qasemi told the conference: "Despite the West's unjust sanctions, Iran's oil industry has followed its development trend well, and we are going to achieve complete self-sufficiency in various upstream, midstream and downstream industries by seizing the opportunities that the West's sanctions have created for us."
He called on foreign economic enterprises to seize the opportunity to become involved in various sectors of Iran's oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed fresh sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors aimed at preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.
The sanctions came into force in early summer 2012.
The sanctions were imposed based on accusations that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
Iran has rejected the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Catch a summer movie and play with a hot new Android device
NVIDIA is offering a way for you to find out first-hand about their upcoming Shield handheld, provided you're in New York of San Francisco. At select theaters, they will have their Shield Movie Theater Experience Centers set up where you can have a little one-on-one time with the portable powerhouse on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through the month of August.
The four locations are:
New York
Garden State 16 – 1 Garden State Plaza, Paramus, New Jersey
New Roc Stadium 18 – 33 Lecount Place, New Rochelle, New York
San Francisco
Cupertino 16 – 10123 North Wolfe Road, Cupertino, California
Mercado 20 – 3111 Mission College Boulevard., Santa Clara, California
if any of these are in your neck of the woods, take a few minutes and have a look. you'll be impressed with what NVIDIA has put together. The Tegra 4 powered mini-console absolutely chews through Android games, delivering an experience that has to be seen to be believed.
Authorities in a southern Chinese city on Saturday scrapped a plan to build a uranium-processing plant, one day after hundreds of local residents protested against it because of safety concerns.
The city government of Heshan in Guangdong province said in an online statement that it would halt the 37 billion yuan ($6 billion) project by China National Nuclear Corp., which would have built facilities for uranium conversion and enrichment, and the manufacturing of nuclear fuel equipment.
"The people's government of the city of Heshan has decided to respect the public opinion and will not consider CNNC's Longwan industrial park project," read the one-line announcement.
CNNC could not be immediately reached for comment, but its plans are part of national efforts to reduce China's reliance on coal and to boost the use of clean energy.
In March, the corporation signed agreements with the Heshan government regarding both land use and investment for the industrial park, according to state media.
Saturday's announcement by the Heshan government came after hundreds of protesters paraded through the streets of Jiangmen on Friday, holding banners and wearing T-shirts with phrases opposing the project while chanting slogans. "Give us back our rural homes. We are against nuclear radiation," they shouted in scenes seen in television video.
Heshan is part of the greater Jiangmen area. The protest was in response to a risk evaluation report of the planned project, which was released July 4 with a 10-day public comment period. Critics say those reports usually are a formality designed to facilitate approval.
Local officials initially responded by extending the consultation period by another 10 days, but by Saturday morning they said the plan was scrapped.
Increasingly aware of environmental safety, members of the Chinese public have been taking to the streets to oppose environmentally risky projects, and local governments have yielded under public pressure in some cases - by scrapping the projects, postponing them or relocating them.
Those unsanctioned protests - which can turn violent - have become a major source of social unrest in China and pose a challenge to local governments that must balance between maintaining social order and boosting economic growth.
The Jiangshan incident also shows that environmental disputes usually get solved in streets instead of town halls. Environmentalists have long called on local governments to take steps allowing for greater transparency and better public involvement when introducing projects that may be environmentally risky.
c. 2013 St. Louis Post-Dispatch ST. LOUIS (RNS) Sarah Decareaux was lying on the cold, concrete floor of a barn.
She closed her eyes, curled her knees into her chest, and told herself that what was happening wasn?t real.
She felt claustrophobic. She was having trouble breathing. Her vision tunneled, the same way it had when she?d been in labor. She could see only a few feet in front of her.
Show Caption |
Sarah Decareaux feeds her children Elise, 2, and Finn, 4, at their home in Millstadt, Ill., on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Sarah lost her husband David Decareaux and her other two boys, Dominic, 10, and Grant, 8, after they died from the cold during a hiking trip on the Ozark Trail. Credit: Photo by Erik M. Lunsford/St. Louis Post-Dispatch
When she found oxygen for a moment, she screamed at God.
?You can?t do this!? she remembers yelling. ?Warm them up, God. You do miracles. Do one! Right now!?
It was a Sunday morning in January. Sarah, her husband, David, and their five children were spending the weekend at Brushy Creek Lodge on the Ozark Trail, near Black, Mo. The day before, David, 36, had taken two of the children ? Dominic, 10, and Grant, 8 ? on a hike. They never returned.
The weather had worsened, with temperatures plummeting and rain pounding down as they walked. They would eventually freeze to death.
After officials found David and the boys, Brushy Creek employees took Sarah to a nearby barn, to get her away from the police radio chatter. She collapsed there, and begged God for help.
And then, she says, God answered her: They?re not coming home with you. They?re with me now. Get off the floor.
In that moment, curled into a fetal position, Sarah made a deal with God.
?If I accept this, then you?d better be with me,? she said.
And then she got up.
? ? ?
Many Evangelical Christians have a story of conversion they tell others, a ?testimony? or ?giving witness,? which sometimes involves hardship, grief or trauma. At Bible studies, Sarah was always embarrassed that her story was boring.
?I was raised a Christian,? she said. ?That?s all I?ve known. I needed nothing else besides raising my kids and being a grandma one day. I had to learn that was OK. I had to learn that it was OK to be happy.?
Sarah met David, who was from a Catholic family in Louisiana, in 2000. She was a student teacher in Columbia, Ill., and he was working at Scott Air Force Base as an information technology specialist.
Just five weeks later, they married. By March 2001, they were stationed in Portugal. It would be the first of many moves for the couple as David continued in his IT career with the Air Force and, later, as a civilian contractor.
Faith was a strong bond in their marriage, and on their third anniversary, David was rebaptized, born again into the evangelical tradition.
As she watched her husband?s enthusiasm grow for the gospel message she?d embraced as a little girl, Sarah?s own faith was invigorated.
? ? ?
David, Dominic and Grant left the cabin at Brushy Creek about 11 a.m., on Saturday, Jan. 12. David had on a light jacket, one of the boys wore a fleece pullover and the other a sweater. It was a sunny morning, and temperatures hovered around 60.
Show Caption |
David Decareaux is shown with his sons Grant Decareaux, left, and Dominic Decareaux, right. Credit: Photo courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch
They reached Sutton?s Bluff, eight miles away, about 2 p.m. Rain began falling, and they started heading back to the cabin along the trail, a two-foot-wide, hilly path covered with a carpet of leaves. The drops became a deluge, and creeks began to flood. As darkness fell, temperatures dropped into the 20s.
David?s cellphone and flashlight eventually lost power. As he and the boys walked, David built rock mounds and left orange peels to mark their route.
Officials suspect that, based on where their trekking poles were ditched, David carried the boys at some point, up to a mile, including across a raging creek. Dominic weighed 70 pounds and Grant weighed 30.
By the end, maybe because he thought the boys were already dead or maybe they were unconscious and he thought the best move was to proceed for help, David laid his sons next to each other on the trail. He covered them with his jacket, and then Army-crawled 20 more feet ? mud was caked on his forearms and in his belt-line ? until he could go no farther.
In the dark and cold and rain, they had missed the turn in the trail that led back to the lodge ? but not by much. Had they caught it, they would have been just 20 minutes from their cabin.
? ? ?
After years of criss-crossing the globe, David and Sarah and their five kids moved in 2012 to Millstadt, Ill.,where David got a job as a civilian at Scott Air Force Base. In January, to celebrate their 12th anniversary, he surprised Sarah with a family trip to Brushy Creek Lodge.
Among her children, Dominic was ?an old man in a little boy?s body,? Sarah recalled. He was fascinated with history, especially war and battlefields.
Grant was small for his age and still very much a mama?s boy. His fascination was animals, and whenever the family went for a walk, Grant would put on his zookeeper?s vest and pull out a notebook to document all the animals, real and imaginary, that he came across.
Dominic and Grant were both also Cub Scouts. Their dad was a Scout leader.
? ? ?
The search for the missing hikers proved difficult. When David and the boys didn?t return to Brushy Creek by 6 p.m. Saturday, the Reynolds County sheriff formed a search party. But darkness and rain impeded their efforts. They called off the search after midnight and resumed at dawn.
Sarah was in the Brushy Creek office at 10 a.m. Sunday when word came in from the search party: ?We found them.?
?Oh, thank God,? said a woman in the office.
Sarah began crying. A burden that she hadn?t allowed herself to acknowledge, but that she?d been carrying since the previous evening, fell from her shoulders. They were alive.
Then the woman picked up the receiver. ?OK,? she said. Her face hardened with each repetition of the word. ?OK. OK. OK.?
?Oh, God,? Sarah said. ?What?s not OK? Which one? Who is not OK??
The woman handed the receiver off, and grabbed Sarah?s hand.
?Baby,? she said, ?it?s not OK.?
Sarah?s mind went immediately to the unimaginable. If she asked about the worst, she figured, an answer confirming anything else would be better.
?Is my family dead??
The woman?s face told her everything.
?They?re not OK,? the woman said.
? ? ?
When officials found the bodies that Sunday morning, they pronounced David dead.
They contemplated doing the same for the boys, Sarah said, but decided it was worth attempting CPR. The boys were taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead there.
About 2 p.m., Sarah was led into a room where her sons were. She lay down next to them and said goodbye. Then she was taken to the coroner?s office to say goodbye to her husband.
?I don?t think a human being was designed to withstand this kind of trauma,? Sarah said. ?How did I do that? How did I lie there with those little-boy bodies? How did I see my husband, this vibrant, handsome man, lying there dead??
Three of the first responders who found David and the boys later called Sarah separately. They confirmed for her details about how the bodies were found, and in doing so constructed a story of heroism and hell.
?Your husband was a determined man,? one told her.
As much as some those details comforted Sarah, her imagination at times took her to those final hours. She envisioned David?s anger that God had stranded his sons.
And too often she imagined their physical pain.
For a few weeks afterward, when the temperatures would dip into the 30s and rain would fall, Sarah sometimes went out onto her porch in a T-shirt.
?I stood in the rain for as long as I could take it,? she said. ?I wanted to feel what they felt.?
? ? ?
Christians believe Jesus? death on the cross redeemed humanity, liberating it from sin and evil.
?Christ?s own suffering drives Christian life,? said Mark Ryan, a professor of religion and culture at Covenant Seminary in Creve Coeur, Mo. ?If we believe that story, it enables us to make a limited sense of evil and suffering.?
For Sarah, an explanation for how she moves forward comes not only from God?s love but also from a deep belief in God?s mysterious plan.
?He wants to use us for a purpose,? she said. ?I don?t know why he would do that to us, to serve some purpose, but I know there is one.?
At least a dozen times in the last four months, she has written in her journal: ?Profound loss has to have a profound purpose.?
In the wake of the accident, some critics questioned whether David had checked the weather forecast or why he had taken the boys on such a long hike.
But Sarah places her trust in God, praying for a sense of peace. ?A dozen things could have saved their lives, and not one of them did,? she said. ?It was their time.?
For now, Sarah knows her top responsibility is to raise her three children. Kate is 11, Finn is 4 and Elise is 2. Pictures of their father and brothers are strewn around the house. Sarah reads to the children, mostly books about heaven.
The family was so new to the area that they hadn?t yet chosen a church. But support has come in waves, especially from the Scott Air Force Base community. The home-school group Sarah belongs to collected enough money to cover the family?s first three house payments.
They bought Sarah a new dishwasher when hers broke. They came to help with laundry, to mow the lawn, to bring groceries, to sit and talk. Cards, checks and pieces of Scripture came in the mail, much of it from strangers.
?In the first three months,? Sarah said, ?I literally did not have to ask for anything.?
Becky Lowe, who has known Sarah since they were 10, has watched, amazed, as her friend copes with the unthinkable.
?She?d be the first to tell you that without God she couldn?t do this,? Lowe said. ?But she?s so good at recognizing God in the turmoil.?
There have, of course, been low moments ? times when Sarah doesn?t want to get off the couch for hours or days. In those moments, she asks God: ?Was that really you? Were you really there with me in the barn??
The answer, she believes, is yes. God has spoken to her about her husband and sons: This was not the end of them; they?re very much alive; they?re with me now.
Whenever the Decareaux family went out on weekend excursions Sarah and David had a system.
They?d see each other from a distance and hold up the number of fingers corresponding to the number of squirmy children each had their eyes on. If Sarah held up two fingers ? ?I?ve got two? ? and David held up three, they knew they had the full set accounted for.
She believes God is holding up his end of the deal.
?Just like Dave and I used to hold up our fingers to tell each other how many we had, I really feel he?s got those two and I?ve got these three,? she said. ?We?re very much a family of seven. And we always will be.?
(Tim Townsend writes for The Post-Dispatch in St. Louis)
Not intending to rest on its laurels, Twitter has unveiled another update to the Android version of Vine despite having updated it less than a month ago. Many have complained of the Android version being inferior to the one on iOS, and Twitter is working on fixing that with each new update.
This current update brings many features found on the iOS version such as the ability to browse and post videos to 15 new channels as well revining (sharing posts) to your own stream. The app is also sporting an improved interface and has a feature that iOS users won't experience - a widget that lets users being recording right away. The updated version is available on Google Play as we speak.?
SEATTLE (AP) ? Boston's David Ortiz has passed Harold Baines to become Major League Baseball's career leader in hits by a designated hitter.
Ortiz collected his 1,689th hit as a DH when he doubled to left-center field leading off the second inning Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners. Ortiz received a loud ovation from the fans at Safeco Field when the milestone was shown on the video board and tipped his cap in appreciation.
Ortiz already holds marks for the most runs scored, doubles, home runs, extra-base hits and RBIs by a designated hitter. Ortiz entered Wednesday night on a roll, hitting .403 at the plate over his previous 20 games. He had four hits on Tuesday night to tie Baines' mark, including two doubles and a home run.
Montgomery County authorities are looking for a suspect whom they believe is responsible for last weekend?s theft of thousands of dollars worth of wedding gifts from the William Penn Inn in Lower Gwynedd.
Authorities on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Joseph P. Franzone Jr., 35, of the 300 block of Cherry Alley, Bridgeport, in connection with the theft.
During the July 7 wedding reception at the William Penn Inn, a family member and two others were helping out the newly married couple by transferring wedding gifts from a table in the vestibule area and taking the items to their cars.
One of the items was a large white box in the shape of a wedding cake that contained cash, checks and cards from some of the 86 guests attending the reception.
Leaving the car unlocked, the family member went back for additional gifts. On her return, she discovered the box containing the envelopes was missing.
Police place the value of the missing gifts and envelopes at $3,000 to $5,000.
The groom, reviewing surveillance video with the family member, told police that he observed a man in a green shirt walk into the banquet area, look around and leave. Neither the groom nor the family member could identify the man, who was not an invited guest to the wedding reception.
Surveillance video also showed the man sitting in a gray vehicle parked near the banquet hall.
The theft was reported and broadcast in the local media Tuesday. These reports contained surveillance photographs taken at the William Penn Inn.
Police immediately began receiving tips from the public including 19 tips that identified the man in the surveillance video as Joseph Franzone, who lived with his girlfriend in Bridgeport, according to the criminal complaint.
The girlfriend met with police officers on Wednesday, giving them the OK to search her gray Mazda. During the search, police found a wedding card under the front passenger seat of the car, the complaint said. The card was addressed to the newlyweds and signed by a couple who had attended the wedding reception.
The girlfriend went to the police station to give police a statement. While she was there, she identified the suspect in the surveillance photograph as Franzone, her boyfriend, according to the complaint. Franzone borrowed her car Sunday to go to the Valley Forge Resort Casino, leaving at about noon and not returning until about 11 p.m.
The girlfriend explained to police that Franzone was let go from his job some three weeks earlier and had to return the company truck, the complaint said.
Discussing a possible motive for the crime, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said, ?Theft crimes are generally motivated by a need or greed for money. This case seems to be no different.?
Witnesses told police that Franzone, who allegedly had had an addiction to prescription painkillers, had relapsed several months ago, according to complaint. Franzone also may have had a gambling problem, the complaint said witnesses told police.
Anyone with knowledge of Franzone?s whereabouts should contact Lower Gwynedd police at 215-646-5303.
Take command of the road in the 2006 Ford F-150. This 2 door, 3 passenger truck has not yet reached the hundred thousand mile mark! It features an automatic transmission, 4-wheel drive, and a powerful 8 cylinder engine. All of the premium features expected of a Ford are offered, including: variably intermittent wipers, a rear step bumper, a front bench seat, tilt steering wheel, and more. Audio features include an AM/FM radio, and 4 speakers, providing excellent sound throughout the cabin. Ford ensures the safety and security of its passengers with equipment such as: dual front impact airbags, ignition disabling, and 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS. It also arrives with a Carfax history report, providing you peace of mind with detailed information. We pride ourselves in the quality that we offer on all of our vehicles. Stop by our dealership or give us a call for more information.
Any chance Mike Miller will also be getting his own ?2 Time Champion? sneakers from Nike? Probably not, but for what it?s worth he did get some special sneakers leading up to his acquisition of that second championship. The model Miller Time was outfitted with for the finals was this, the Nike Air Max Ambassdor V, a take down shoe from the LeBron line. Continue reading to see his trio of player exclusive pairs worn during this year?s post-season and then see how much the whole group went for from textmassage on eBay.
Filed under: Just Released // Tags: Mike Miller, Nike Air Max Ambassador V, Nike LeBron Ambassador V
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Chemists are making the process of synthesizing quantum dots much more systematic. They are detailing an effective new method for purifying CdSe nanocrystals with well-defined surface properties.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washignton, Monday, July 8, 2013. The overthrow of Egypt's Islamist president, and National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, were among the topics Carney discussed. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washignton, Monday, July 8, 2013. The overthrow of Egypt's Islamist president, and National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, were among the topics Carney discussed. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Egyptian army stand guard around the Republican Guard building in Nasr City in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 8, 2013. Egyptian soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi early Monday in violence that left dozens of people killed, including one officer, outside the military building in Cairo where demonstrators had been holding a sit-in, government officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Supporters of the ousted President Mohammed Morsi shout slogans in Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, Monday, July 8, 2013. Egyptian soldiers and police opened fire on supporters of the ousted president early Monday in violence that left dozens of people killed, including one officer, outside a military building in Cairo where demonstrators had been holding a sit-in, government officials and witnesses said. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration signaled Monday that U.S. national security interests will trump its promotion of Egypt's budding democracy, stressing the importance of continued aid to the Egyptian military, which overthrew the elected president last week.
As violence blazed between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, the White House and State Department both urged the military to exercise "maximum restraint." They also said the military would not be punished with a cutoff of its $1.3 billion in annual U.S. aid for toppling Morsi.
But if the American government makes a legal determination that the removal was done through a coup d'etat, U.S. law would require ending all non-humanitarian aid to Egypt, the vast majority of which goes to the military.
Administration officials said lawyers were still reviewing developments to make that ruling. However, the absence of a coup determination, coupled with the administration's refusal to condemn Morsi's ouster, sent an implicit message of U.S. approval to the military.
And officials said the White House had made clear in U.S. inter-agency discussions ? as recently as a Monday morning conference call ? that continued aid to Egypt's military was a priority for America's national security, Israel's safety and broader stability in the turbulent Middle East that should not be jeopardized.
"It would not be in the best interests of the United States to immediately change our assistance program to Egypt," White House press secretary Jay Carney said. He stressed that more elements ? notably what the United States deems best for itself, its Mideast allies and the larger region ? than just the physical removal from office of a democratically elected leader would be considered in the legal review.
"We are going to take the time necessary to review what has taken place and to monitor efforts by Egyptian authorities to forge an inclusive and democratic way forward," Carney told reporters. "And as we do, we will review our requirements under the law, and we will do so consistent with our policy objectives. And we will also, of course, consult with Congress on that."
Some members of Congress appeared divided on the question.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., criticized Morsi's performance as president but stressed that he had been elected by a majority of Egyptians in 2012.
"It is difficult for me to conclude that what happened was anything other than a coup in which the military played a decisive role," he said. "I do not want to suspend our critical assistance to Egypt, but I believe that is the right thing to do at this time."
But some others voiced caution. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he had accompanied five Republican senators on a trip to the Middle East last week and that close U.S. allies in the region strongly advised against halting funding for Egypt.
"It's important that we not just shoot from the hip on that," he told reporters
Focusing on U.S. spending, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tweeted: "In Egypt, governments come and go. The only thing certain is that American taxpayers will continue to be stuck with the $1.5 billion bill."
At the State Department, spokeswoman Jen Psaki used similar, if not identical, language to Carney's to describe the current take on developments, pointing out that the U.S. has long provided significant assistance to Egypt even when it had serious concerns about the actions of its government. She appeared to refer to the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. aid sent to the government and military of authoritarian former leader Hosni Mubarak who ruled Egypt for decades without free and fair elections and under emergency decrees that gave him vast powers.
"The reason we have provided this aid in the past doesn't mean we have supported, even prior to this, every action taken by the government of Egypt," she said. "But there are security interests in the region; there are security interests for the United States."
Psaki demurred when asked if deposing an elected leader, placing him under house arrest and appointing a new head of state ? as the Egyptian military has done over the course of the past five days ? was not a clear example of a military coup. She pointed out that millions of Egyptians opposed Morsi, who had become increasingly autocratic, and did not believe his ouster was a coup.
Some officials, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to describe internal administration discussions in public, said that a "no-coup" finding may become increasingly difficult to justify given the rising violence among Morsi supporters, his opponents and security forces that has led to fears of a civil war.
Meanwhile, Egyptian soldiers and police clashed with Islamists protesting the military's ouster last week of the president. The bloodshed left at least 51 protesters and three members of the security forces dead, officials and witnesses said, and the Muslim Brotherhood's political party called for all-out rebellion against the army.
The violence outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo ? where Morsi was first held last week ? marked the biggest death count since the beginning of massive protests that led to the fall of Morsi's government. The U.S. has condemned the violence and is appealing for restraint from all sides as well as a speedy return to elected civilian governance.
In the latest high-level contact between Washington and Cairo, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke again with Egypt's defense minister, Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, on Sunday ? the fourth conversation in three days, according to Pentagon press secretary George Little.
Little would not disclose details of those conversations, but other officials said they had centered on U.S. concerns that the actions of the Egyptian military might force a suspension in American assistance, something the army relies on. They say that Hagel, and other senior administration officials, have told the Egyptian army brass to appoint a transitional civilian leadership and call for new elections and the drafting of a new constitution so as to give Washington some leeway in its legal review of the situation.
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Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Bradley Klapper and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
JOHANNESBURG: Moody's rating agency on Monday warned South African banks and other lenders which issue loans without collateral face a bumpy time ahead as the economy wobbles and labour unrest continues.
Moody's warned that unsecured lenders -- which are dominant in mining communities -- would be particularly badly hit over the next 12-18 months.
"We expect higher delinquencies from employees in the gold and platinum mining sector, and the agricultural sector, which have been hardest hit by labour unrest and strikes," Moody's said in a statement.
The mining sector in particular faces the prospect of large scale layoffs which could cripple workers' ability to repay loans.
Unsecured finance to workers in these sectors account for as much as seven percent of all loans in the country.
The role of payday and other unsecured lenders was recently exposed amid recent violent mining unrest, with miners' demands for massive pay increases in part fuelled by the need to repay exorbitant loan interest.
The government had vowed to clamp down on such lenders, after a boom fuelled by low interest rates and a rise in nominal wages.
According to official March statistics 16.6 percent of unsecured loans are non-performing, versus 14.2 percent in the same month a year before.
With the wildfire season upon the USA and the recent high temperatures and tragic loss of life, the question of how meterology might help arises. Enter the Incident Meteorologist, or IMET.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) trains meteorologists to work closely with fire control specialists from the Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and other state and local fire agencies.
IMETs use computers to access information from local and national NWS offices. Surface observations, upper air observations, Doppler Radar, and weather satellite pictures are used to make specialized forecasts. Daily coordination calls are used to discuss forecasts with local NWS offices and other IMETs that may be working other fires in the area.
There are less than a hundred IMETs employed by NWS and during the fire season they are sent to remote locations to support wildfire operations. They receive specialist training in microscale forecasting, fire behaviour and fire suppression, making them key members of fire fighting teams.
FireRAWS are portable weather stations that continuously measure temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction. These units also include observations of fuel temperature, fuel moisture, solar radiation and precipitation. In addition, the upgraded units include GOES satellite communication capability so the data reports can be accessed via the Internet. The FireRAWS are placed in a safe location near the fire to provide the IMETS with reliable and continuous weather information. Field observers also take weather readings on the fire line. This helps in understanding how topography influences the weather.
The IMETs are invaluable when it comes to preparing the critical forecasts needed for fire suppression and planned burning projects. Sometimes, as with the Smoke Jumpers of Washington State, fires are started deliberately in order to manage forests, or create breaks. One of the most important tools of an IMET is the All-hazard Meteorological Response System (AMRS), which enables forecasters to stay at the command post and provide immediate support to the firefighters.
IMETs will receive training in mesoscale?(large-scale) and?microscale?(the smallest) weather systems. Mesoscale phenomena include thunderstorms and squall lines, while microscale events could include air turbulence and dust storms.
IMETs live in fire camp just like the rest of the firefighters. ?Smoke can be seen billowing from the fire in the background.
Another part of the training for IMETs includes rapid deployment with portable forecast equipment. Forecasters set up their units near fire lines and can help provide the information that enables fire managers to decide where to move fire crews, how to plan tactics and ensure the safety of the public and the firefighters
IMETs will normally provide weather forecasts at the morning and evening fire crew briefings and also the strategy meetings for each shift.
With about 100,000 wildfires every year, their role in supporting the fire crews is vital.
Images and Information Courtesy of the US National Weather Service
