Texas a finalist to host 2014 ESPN X Games

Circuit of The Americas is one of the sites under consideration for the ESPN X Games.

Circuit of The Americas confirmed on Monday that Austin is among four sites now in contention to host the ESPN X Games for a three-year period beginning in 2014.

The new motorsport development is one of the proposed locations where some of the competition would be staged should the Capital City land the summer event.

San Antonio entrepreneur Red McCombs is lead investor in Circuit of The Americas, which hosted its inaugural race event late last year.

?This is fantastic news for Austin and Circuit of The Americas,? says Paul Thornton, who led the effort to bring the X Games to Austin. ?Bringing the X Games to Austin would mean a significant economic impact for our community ... once again putting Austin in the international spotlight.?

ESPN will schedule site visits to the four finalist cities. The four-letter network is expected to visit Austin during the first week of June.

Subscribe to the new San Antonio Business Journal Morning Edition at this link.

W. Scott Bailey covers health care, tourism, sports business, economic development; he also plans and edits some special reports.

Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/bizj_sanantonio/~3/vunOOEv4g1A/texas-a-finalist-to-host-2014-espn-x.html

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Rozanne Gold: The Gaza Kitchen

It was with an open mind and a touch of sadness that I read the riveting, and sometimes provocative, new cookbook, The Gaza Kitchen, written by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. El-Haddad at her book party launch last month in New York at the sublime restaurant ilili - whose Lebanese cuisine is a distant cousin to the flavors, aromas, and politics found in the Gazan kitchen. Ms. El-Haddad, who is a social activist, blogger and author of Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything In Between, felt like an old friend. After all, there was a time, long ago, when it was possible for Jews to have Palestinian friendships in the Old City of Jerusalem and share meals, and the culinary history, which has existed between us for thousands of years. Now there is a wall, both literal and metaphoric, that shields us from the realities of everyday existence in Gaza, where home kitchens are prey to the exigencies of conflict and deprivation: sporadic electricity, unaffordable ingredients that were once kitchen staples, and the rationing of food and fuel.

While I know the food of Israel well, having served as the unofficial spokesperson for Israel's food and wine industry for years, and also as one of a delegation of "Four Women Chefs for Peace" on a culinary mission to Israel in 1996, I was fascinated to learn about the cuisine of Gaza, a tiny strip of land (25 miles long and 2-1/2 to 5 miles wide) sandwiched between the desert and the sea. What immediately jumped out was the presence of fresh dill and dried dill seed, the use of fiery hot chilies, and a totally new ingredient to me "red tahina."

Red tahina, made from roasted sesame seeds, is to Gaza what pesto is to Genoa. It is virtually impossible to get it anywhere and I have asked a friend from Israel to try to find some and bring it to me when she comes to New York at the end of the month. How to use it if you can't find it? The authors suggest adding a bit of dark sesame oil to the more familiar blond tahina to approximate the taste in several of the book's recipes.

The cuisine of Gaza is Palestinian (home to 2 million people) "with its own sense of regional diversity," according to author and historian, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, who wrote the forward to the book. In Gaza, she points out, stuffed grape leaves are uniquely flavored with allspice, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper, and that chopped chilies, both red and green, and verdant fresh dill make Gazan falafel both personal and unusual.

Food there, no less than here, is a passionate subject. The cooks at home are always women while the cooks in restaurants and outdoor stalls are always men. But it is the zibdiya that unites them in the preparation of their lusty cuisine. According to the authors, "a zibdiya is the most precious kitchen item in every household in Gaza, rich or poor." It is simply a heavy unglazed clay bowl accompanied by a lemonwood pestle used for mashing, crushing, pounding and grinding. Made from the rich red clay of Gaza, in larger forms they are also used as cooking vessels.

Their cuisine may lie at the intersection of history, geography and economy, but in The Gaza Kitchen, one is made acutely aware of how geo-political struggles find themselves revealed in a single dish. It's hard not to swoon over the description of the "signature" dish of Gaza called sumagiyya, a sumac-enhanced meat stew cooked with green chard, chickpeas, dill, chilies, and red tahina, or not to be curious about fattit ajir, a spicy roasted watermelon salad tossed with tomatoes, torn bits of tasted Arab bread, and a lashing of hot chilies and yes, fresh dill. It is a repertoire of dishes feel like a secret...but no longer.

Readers may have to sift through a fair amount of historical and political bitterness that laces the text between the recipes, but the food speaks fragrantly for itself.

Rozanne Gold is a four-time James Beard award-winning chef and author of Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs, Healthy 1-2-3, and Radically Simple: Brilliant Flavors with Breathtaking Ease.

Rozanne can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RozanneGold.

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Follow Rozanne Gold on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RozanneGold

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Celts top Knicks 97-90 in OT, avoid playoff sweep

BOSTON (AP) ? Jason Terry scored Boston's last nine points as the Celtics weathered a strong comeback by the New York Knicks and avoided being swept with a 97-90 overtime win on Sunday.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 29 points as they forced a fifth game in the series, but it was Terry who provided the finishing touches.

In Game 3, he had been elbowed by J.R. Smith, and the NBA suspended the Knicks guard for Sunday's game.

New York had tied the game 84-84 after trailing by 20 points early in the third quarter. It was 88-all before the Celtics regained control and took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Terry. Carmelo Anthony, who led the Knicks with 32 points, hit a short jumper, but Terry connected on a 15-footer with 50 seconds remaining for a 93-90 lead.

After Anthony missed a 3-pointer with 21 seconds to go, Terry was fouled and sank both free throws. He added a layup to close out the game.

But the Celtics still have a huge deficit in trying to become the first team to win after trailing a series 3-0.

Game 5 is Wednesday night in New York, where the Knicks can win their first playoff series in 13 years.

Jeff Green scored 26 points for the Celtics and Terry finished with 18.

The Celtics showed renewed energy early after being held below 80 points in each of the first three games. They led 54-35 at halftime and 59-39 three minutes into the third quarter before their recent second-half woes returned. In previous first halves, they scored just 25 points in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2. On Sunday, they were outscored 30-14 in the third quarter and led just 68-65 heading into the fourth.

Boston held a 65-51 lead when Anthony went to the bench with 3:35 remaining. The Knicks outscored the Celtics 14-3 the rest of the way behind 11 points from Felton and a 3-pointer from Iman Shumpert. Felton finished with 16 points in the quarter and 27 in the game.

The Knicks played the first half as if they had taken shooting lessons from the Celtics. New York hit just 28.9 percent of its shots (11 for 38) after Boston made only 39.5 percent of its attempts in the first three games.

The Celtics found their range from the start and connected on 51.3 percent (20 for 39).

Notes: The Knicks were 19-2 in their previous 21 games. The Celtics were 5-14 in their previous 19. ... For the Celtics, Garnett, Green and Brandon Bass each had four fouls five minutes into the third quarter. Bass committed his fifth with 5:10 left in the period and fouled out with 4:27 to go in the games. ... Anthony committed his fourth with 4:08 remaining in the third.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/celts-top-knicks-97-90-ot-avoid-playoff-202225961.html

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IMF flags risks of asset bubbles, middle income trap in Asia

By Kevin Lim

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asia needs to guard against asset bubbles and its emerging economies must improve government institutions and liberalize rigid labor and product markets if they wish to reach the level of developed countries, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.

"Emerging Asia is potentially susceptible to the 'middle-income trap,' a phenomenon whereby economies risk stagnation at middle-income levels and fail to graduate into the ranks of advanced economies," the IMF said in its latest Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific.

"MIEs (middle-income economies) in Asia are less exposed to the risk of a sustained growth slowdown than MIEs in other regions. However, their relative performance is weaker on institutions," the international funding agency said.

IMF's warning about the emerging risks faced by Asian countries come at time when the region looks set to lead a global economic recovery as risks from a meltdown in Europe recede.

"While the external risk of severe economic fallout from an acute euro area crisis has diminished, regional risks are coming into clearer focus. These include some ongoing buildup of financial imbalances and rising asset prices," the IMF said.

IMF was monitoring credit ratios and output levels in Asia closely as conditions can worsen very quickly, the fund's director for Asia and Pacific region, Anoop Singh, told reporters at a briefing in Singapore.

He said regional authorities needed to respond early and decisively to potential overheating.

IMF, which recently cut its 2013 and 2014 growth forecasts for Greater China, India, South Korea and Singapore but raised its outlook for Malaysia and the Philippines, nevertheless sounded generally positive about near-term prospects.

"Growth in Asia is likely pick up gradually in the course of 2013, to about 5.75 percent, on strengthening external demand and continued robust domestic demand," it said.

ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS, JAPAN

The IMF said India, the Philippines, China and Indonesia needed to improve their economic institutions while India, the Philippines and Thailand were also exposed to a larger risk of growth slowdown stemming from sub-par infrastructure.

Malaysia and China were the highest-ranked developing Asian countries in an IMF chart measuring institutional strength while Indonesia, India and the Philippines were at the bottom.

IMF defined institutional strength as demonstrating higher political stability, better bureaucratic capability, fewer conflicts and less corruption.

For many developing Asian economies, there remains ample room for easing stringent regulations in product and, in some cases, labor markets, the fund added.

The IMF also said various statistical approaches indicate that trend growth rates have slowed in both China and India

For China, trend growth appears to have peaked at around 11 percent in 2006-07, while India's trend growth is now around 6-7 percent compared with about 8 percent prior to the financial crisis.

"By contrast, trend growth for most ASEAN countries seems to have remained stable or to have increased somewhat, with the notable exception of Vietnam," the fund said.

ASEAN is the acronym for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations whose members include Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Turning to Japan, Singh said the IMF "welcomed" Japanese efforts to stimulate its economy, and said quantitative easing was just part of a package of measures that included cutting debt and embarking of structural reforms such as increasing female participation in the workforce.

"In Japan, we have welcomed the measures taken. It's because they are focused on addressing the deflation that has affected Japan for the last 10-15 years."

"As Japan moves back to sustainable positive growth, it's going to help the region and the global economy and that is the most important," he said.

(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-flags-risk-middle-income-trap-emerging-asia-031000704.html

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Rolling Stones to play small LA club ahead of tour

FILE - This Dec. 15, 2012 file photo shows lead singer Mick Jagger, left, and Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones during a performance at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The band is expected to release information on their upcoming tour on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

FILE - This Dec. 15, 2012 file photo shows lead singer Mick Jagger, left, and Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones during a performance at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The band is expected to release information on their upcoming tour on Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Surprise!

Before they kick off their "50 and Counting" tour, the Rolling Stones are playing a warm-up date at a small Los Angeles club.

The band is set to perform Saturday night at the Echoplex before a sold-out crowd that will be miniscule compared to the thousands who are set to see them launch their tour May 3 at the Staples Center.

Tickets were sold for $20 each ? a fraction of what tickets to the tour will cost.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside the El Rey Theatre earlier Saturday for a chance at the tickets. They were dispensed through a confusing lottery system that led to much of the crowd departing even though show tickets were made available to lottery ticket holders.

Buyers were limited to one ticket, and were required to show a government-issued ID, pay with cash, wear a wristband with their name on it and be photographed. Their names will be verified at the venue, which has a capacity of about 700. Cameras and smartphones will not be allowed inside.

Rumors of the spontaneous show spread across social networks this week after the band teased the appearance on their Twitter accounts. The dance-pop band New Build, which was originally scheduled to play the Echoplex on Saturday, was first to leak details about the show.

"Our gig got shifted b/c the Rolling Stones are playing Echoplex," the band posted Friday on Twitter. They joked that they're looking forward to "having it out" with the Rolling Stones.

The Rolling Stones performed a few dates together in London, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Newark, N.J., last winter, but didn't announce a tour until earlier this month. They will play 17 dates in the United States but said they may add more down the line.

The lowest price for tickets to the show at the Staples Center, which has a capacity of about 20,000, is $250.

___

Online:

http://www.rollingstones.com

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-27-US-Music-Rolling-Stones/id-e8573c96642b44b3b54b7a65183203a3

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How To Reach Millions of People with Your Product or Services ...

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Source: http://haminarahman258.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-reach-millions-of-people-with.html

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? Welcome to the Real-Resumes Series. The Real-Resumes Series is a series of books
which have been developed based on the experiences of real job hunters and which
target specialized fields or types of resumes. As the editor of the series, I have carefully
selected resumes and cover letters (with names and other key data disguised, of course)
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Resumes.? What you see in this book are real resumes and cover letters which helped
real people get ahead in their careers.

The resumes and cover letters in this book are designed to be of most value to people
already in a job hunt or contemplating a career change. If we could give you one word of
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stumble from job to job in an incoherent pattern. Try to find work that interests you,
and then identify prosperous industries which need work performed of the type you
want to do. Learn early in your working life that a great resume and cover letter can
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Source: http://www.99980.net/business/free-books-online-anne-mckinney-real-resumes-for-real-estate-property-management-jobs/

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Make CMYK Shadow Puppets with This LED Lamp

It's taken a while for the humble LED to gain a foothold in the broader consumer market—blame artisanal culture or simple force of habit, people love their cream-colored incandescent bulbs. But as the New York Times devoted 1600 words to explaining yesterday, more and more designers are jumping on the LED bandwagon. Case in point: the CMYK Bulb by the Dutch lighting designer Dennis Parren. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/BQ1VGeVTARc/make-cmyk-shadow-puppets-with-this-led-lamp

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10 Tips for Using Credit Cards Responsibly When You Have ADHD ...

The very nature of ADHD makes it difficult for adults with the disorder to use credit cards responsibly. ?Impulsivity, for one thing, means an adult with ADHD will see something they want and without thinking it through, will pull out their credit card and make a purchase,? according to Terry Matlen, ACSW, a psychotherapist and author of Survival Tips for Women with AD/HD.

It also doesn?t help that credit cards are so easy to use. ?Credit cards are rather intangible. They?re plastic, easy to store and don?t look like money. It?s much easier handing a card to a clerk than reaching for cash that generally has more meaning and is more concrete.?

Psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D, agreed. ?Credit cards can give the illusion that one is not really spending ?real? money.?

Plus, you get instant gratification, and the negative consequences are delayed, since your bills don?t arrive for weeks, Matlen added.

But while using credit cards is more challenging when you have ADHD, you can learn to use them responsibly. Below, Matlen and Sarkis shared their practical and realistic suggestions.

1. Use cash.

?It?s much easier to hand over a little plastic card than a wad of bills that the person worked very hard to earn,? Matlen said. Cash is tangible. ?[U]sing cash is a giant cue that there is only so much money available once some or much of it is spent.?

2. Use one credit card.

If you can?t use cash all the time, have one card for all your purchases, Matlen said. And make sure it has the lowest finance fees you can find, she said.

3. Get a credit card with full payment requirements.

Some people have a remaining balance on their credit cards each month, which leads to finance charges, said Sarkis, author of several books on adult ADHD, including 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD.

She compared having an unpaid balance to ?taking out a high-interest loan. An item that seemed like a deal at 50 percent off may actually cost you 200 percent for the original cost if you don?t pay off your balance.? That?s why she suggested having a card like an American Express that requires paying off the full balance every month.

4. Set up automatic withdrawals.

It?s common for adults with ADHD to rack up late fees, because they forget to pay their bills. This is why having money automatically taken out of your account every month is helpful. But, as Sarkis said, you have to make sure there?s enough money in your account.

5. Set up online payments.

Another option is to pay your bill online, Matlen said. Set up reminders to help you pay on time, she said. For instance, you can create reminders in an online calendar and with alarms on your phone.

6. Create a system for bills.

If online payments aren?t possible, Matlen also suggested keeping a box or manila folder for your bills: When each bill arrives, open it, and look at the due date. Write that date on the envelope, and put the bill in your box or folder. Keep the bills in the order in which they?re due. Then, pick two days each month to pay your bills. Note those days in your calendar.

7. Have a pre-paid card.

Both experts suggested having a pre-paid card that fits your budget. ?This helps to prevent over-spending on credit cards,? Matlen said.

8. Take drastic measures.

Some readers might need to take more drastic measures. For instance, for clients whose over-spending is particularly bad, Matlen suggests ?they take their credit cards and put them in the freezer so that they aren?t so easily accessible.?

9. Give yourself a day to reconsider purchases. ?

According to Matlen, when it seems like you?re making an impulsive buy, stop and take a picture of the item instead. (Most cell phones have cameras.) Then give yourself one day to decide if you really want it.

10. Shop with a person who can keep you accountable.

?Shop with someone who can help you curb your impulsive buying,? Matlen said.

It?s common for adults with ADHD to overspend and forget to pay their bills. But while these problems are prevalent, they?re also surmountable. The key is to find a system that works for you and stick with it.

Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. is an Associate Editor at Psych Central and blogs regularly about eating and self-image issues on her own blog, Weightless.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Apr 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Tartakovsky, M. (2013). 10 Tips for Using Credit Cards Responsibly When You Have ADHD. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 27, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/04/26/10-tips-for-using-credit-cards-responsibly-when-you-have-adhd/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/04/26/10-tips-for-using-credit-cards-responsibly-when-you-have-adhd/

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HP Slate 7 now available online for $170

You could spend $170 on a HP Slate 7, but you shouldn't

You can officially not buy the HP Slate 7 today, as the tablet nobody would ever want is now available at HP's website. Your $170 does get you a nice design and quality materials (and Beats audio!), but the lackluster internals and low resolution 1024 x 600 display means you should give this one a pass. For $30 more you can get a Nexus 7 from Google or your local brick and mortar retailer.

But, if you insist, click the link below to order. 

Source: HP

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/7XZYCcECmrs/story01.htm

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YouTube's first Comedy Week kicks off May 19th, features big-name lineup

Whether it's politics or flamboyant music videos, YouTube certainly has a little something for (mostly) everyone on the interwebs. But, if you're a fan of comedy, things are about to get a tad bit better: on May 19th, YouTube's set to launch its own Comedy Week, a first for the Google-owned video giant. As part of the various live streams, online viewers will be able to enjoy "a mix" of stand-up sets, sketches and music shows -- which includes performances by a slew of well-known productions and comedians, such as Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, Improv Everywhere, Ed Helms, Seth Rogen, George-Michael Michael Cera and many, many more.

According to YouTube, the goal for Comedy Week is to "create a one of a kind experience" for those who love the genre, with VP of Marketing Danielle Tiedt adding that the site is indeed "the home of comedy for the next generation." Chances are it'll be a week filled with plenty of LOLs, so perhaps you should take this time to bookmark the corresponding channel -- link for that can be found in the PR after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD, Google

Comments

Source: YouTube

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qrq3dKh48m0/

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As people live longer and reproduce less, natural selection keeps up

Friday, April 26, 2013

In many places around the world, people are living longer and are having fewer children. But that's not all. A study of people living in rural Gambia, published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 25, shows that this modern-day "demographic transition" may lead women to be taller and slimmer, too.

"This is a reminder that declines in mortality rates do not necessarily mean that evolution stops, but that it changes," says Ian Rickard of Durham University in the United Kingdom.

Rickard and Alexandre Courtiol of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany show that changes in mortality and fertility rates in Gambia, likely related to improvements in medical care since a clinic opened there in 1974, have changed the way that natural selection acts on body size.

For their studies, Rickard, Courtiol, and their colleagues used data collected over a 55-year period (1956) by the UK Medical Research Council on thousands of women from two rural villages in the West Kiang district of Gambia. Over the time period in question, those communities experienced significant demographic shifts?from high mortality and fertility rates to rapidly declining ones. The researchers also had thorough data on the height and weight of the women.

Their analysis shows that the demographic transition influenced directional selection on women's height and body mass index (BMI). Selection initially favored short women with high BMI values but shifted over time to favor tall women with low BMI values.

The researchers say it's not entirely clear why selection has shifted from shorter and stouter women to taller and thinner ones. It's partly because selection began acting less on mortality and more on fertility over time. But other environmental changes were shown to play an important role, too.

"Although we cannot tell directly, it may be due to health care improvements changing which women were more or less likely to reproduce," Courtiol says.

The findings in Gambia may have relevance around the globe. "Our results are important because the majority of human populations have either recently undergone, or are currently undergoing, a demographic transition from high to low fertility and mortality rates," the researchers write. "Thus the temporal dynamics of the evolutionary processes revealed here may reflect the shifts in evolutionary pressures being experienced by human societies generally."

And how we humans respond to these pressures might tell us something about how we'll continue to evolve in this ever-changing world we live in.

###

Cell Press: http://www.cellpress.com

Thanks to Cell Press for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 33 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127942/As_people_live_longer_and_reproduce_less__natural_selection_keeps_up

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NFL draft: Chiefs pick Central Michigan's Eric Fisher No. 1

NEW YORK (AP) ? Short on glam, slim on glitter, the NFL draft was still nothing less than a rock solid B-plus.

As in Big, as in Brawn, as in Bulk, as in Beefy.

We're talking a scale-busting 600 pounds at the outset Thursday night with offensive tackles Eric Fisher of Central Michigan and Luke Joeckel of Texas A&M.

The first seven picks were all linemen: four on offense, three on defense.

"That's a lot of love for the big boys up front, which we usually don't get," Fisher said.

Unlike the last few years when bumper crops of quarterbacks reigned, this was pure muscle, and lots of it.

Actually, not a single QB was selected until Florida State's EJ Manuel went to Buffalo at No. 16 ? the lowest since 2000, when Chad Pennington went 18th to the Jets.

Fisher became the first Mid-American Conference player selected at the top when Kansas City's new regime led by coach Andy Reid chose the 6-foot-7, 306-pound offensive tackle.

"This is so surreal," Fisher said. "I'm ready to get to work right now. I'm ready to start playing some football. I can't process what's going on right now."

Fisher was followed by All-American Joeckel going to Jacksonville, defensive end Dion Jordan of Oregon to Miami, which traded up with Oakland, and Oklahoma tackle Lane Johnson to Philadelphia. Not a skill position player yet in sight ? a stark change from the last four drafts, when quarterbacks went first.

The procession of linemen continued with BYU defensive end Ziggy Ansah, born in Ghana, going to Detroit; LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo to Cleveland; and North Carolina guard Jonathan Cooper to Arizona.

That made for a ton of beef after the first seven picks.

And they wore it well, with their designer suits that barely were ruffled when they each engulfed Roger Goodell in the now traditional bear hugs between draftee and commissioner.

"It's called a three-piece, right?" asked Joeckel, who sported blue checks with the vested suit, along with a striped tie.

Fisher was only the third offensive tackle picked No. 1, joining Orlando Pace (1997) and Jake Long (2008) since the 1970 merger of the NFL and AFL. It's also the first time since '70 that offensive tackles went 1-2.

Even without a high-profile passer, runner or tackler going at the outset, the fans in the home of the Rockettes were pumped. They chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" when Goodell paid tribute to the first responders at the Boston Marathon bombings and to the victims of the West, Texas explosion. They roared when Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath began the countdown to the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold-weather site by taking the podium and screaming: "New York; Super Bowl 48."

The crowd didn't seem to care that early on the picks were all heifers, not hoofers. No Andrew Lucks or RG3s at the top of this crop.

"What you're getting is a very athletic player, a great kid, smart kid, engineering major," Reid said of Fisher, who really began to draw attention with a strong Senior Bowl, showing he could handle the highest level of competition. "He can play any position along the line, and loves to play the game."

Joeckel didn't seem any less thrilled to go No. 2.

"I don't have words for all the emotions I feel," he said. "It's the best feeling of my entire life."

Miami, envisioning Jordan as the next Jason Taylor, sent its first-rounder (12th overall) and this year's second-rounder to Oakland. Then new Eagles coach Chip Kelly got a road-grader for his uptempo offense in Johnson.

"Tackle is not a very sexy position," Johnson said. "But it's a position of dire need."

The next big trade saw the Rams move up eight spots ? and send four picks to Buffalo to do so. St. Louis ended the pursuit of heft by grabbing West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin, who at 5-8, 174 pounds, could probably fit in the hip pocket of any of the guys picked ahead of him.

The New York Jets may have found a replacement for star cornerback Darrelle Revis ? traded to Tampa Bay ? when they picked Alabama All-American Dee Milliner. That was the first of three straight selections from two-time national champion Alabama: Tennessee took guard Chance Warmack and San Diego got offensive tackle D.J. Fluker.

Roll Tide, indeed.

Oakland used the pick it got from the Dolphins for Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden, who nearly died last November after a collision in practice tore a blood vessel off the back of his heart. He was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery.

Unlike with their choice of Milliner, which was met raucous cheers, the Jets next selection, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson of Missouri, drew scattered boos and even a few "Who?" comments.

"I'm here to bring a championship back to New York," Richardson said.

Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei, who also had a heart scare at the NFL combine but then checked out fine, went 14th to Carolina, followed by Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro to New Orleans.

Then came Manuel, although many analysts pegged West Virginia's Geno Smith as the top quarterback.

Former Patriots guard Joe Andruzzi, who carried an injured female runner to safety after the Boston Marathon explosions, displayed a jersey with the city's 617 area code and "Boston Strong" written on the front. He was supposed to announce New England's pick, but the Patriots dealt it to Minnesota.

Andruzzi, a native New Yorker, said, "There's a new saying in Boston: Boston Strong" before unveiling the jersey as "Sweet Caroline" was played on the loudspeakers.

Pittsburgh, which always seems to find standout linebackers, took the highest-rated one in Georgia's Jarvis Jones. His fellow All-American, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was still on the board.

But another member of the Fighting Irish, tight end Tyler Eifert, was chosen 21st overall by Cincinnati.

Atlanta's choice of Washington cornerback Desmond Trufant gave that family three brothers in the league. His older siblings Marcus and Isaiah preceded him.

One major surprise was the New York Giants' selection of Justin Pugh ? yet another tackle, but one who wasn't projected to go in the opening round by many draft analysts.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bring-beef-draft-starting-ot-fisher-010459443--nfl.html

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Israel: OK to check emails of foreigners at border

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's attorney general on Wednesday upheld a practice to allow security personnel to read people's email accounts when they arrive at the airport, arguing it prevents militants from entering the country.

The ruling followed an outcry last year when some people trying to enter Israel were ordered to open their emails after hours of interrogation at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport. In one instance, three Palestinian-American women were forbidden from entering after email checks were conducted.

Critics say it primarily targets Muslims and Arabs and appears to be aimed at keeping out visitors who have histories of pro-Palestinian activism, citing a history of such people being turned away from Israel's border crossings.

Security personnel may ask visitors to open their email accounts for inspection if they are perceived as being suspicious, wrote Nadim Aboud of Israel's attorney general office. In a response to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, he said potential entrants may refuse to allow their emails to be checked, but that would be a factor in deciding whether a person would be allowed to enter the country.

Aboud said the checks were justified because there was an increasing risk of foreigners being involved in militant activity. He said security services could not properly investigate the backgrounds of some potential entrants without the additional check.

A Justice Ministry official said the search was conducted only in "extraordinary cases." He spoke anonymously in line with ministry policy.

The attorney general's office wrote the letter in response to a request for clarification by ACRI after incidents were reported last year, said attorney Lila Margalit of the organization. She said Aboud's response effectively legalized the checks, which could now be challenged only in court.

"It was a concern because of the level of invasion inherent in (checking) a personal email account," Margalit said. "It constitutes a violation of privacy."

She said inside Israel, police could search a person's computer data only with court approval, even if there was a criminal investigation underway.

Israeli officials tend to conduct exhaustive checks on foreigners entering the country, or passing through border crossings they control, if they are deemed suspicious.

It particularly affects people who hope to travel to Palestinian areas of the West Bank. The Palestinians a measure of self-government in the West Bank, a territory east of the Jewish state; but Israel controls entry into those areas.

Such visitors frequently complain that they risk not being allowed into the country if they announce they will visit areas under Palestinian Authority control; but risk being accused of lying if they omit that information to security investigators.

There are no statistics on how many people are refused entry into Israel or through border crossings that Israel controls.

One aspect of the issue is that most people entering Israel obtain visas at the airport or other border crossings. Unlike many countries, Israel does not require people to obtain visas from their embassies in advance of their trips, eliminating possible screening before visitors arrive in Israel.

In contrast, Israelis themselves are required to obtain visas far in advance before visiting many countries. Even the U.S. requires an exhaustive interview process at its embassy in Tel Aviv, and it does not grant visas to all who apply. Iranian-born Israelis, for example, are often refused visas.

The practice of email checks appears to be a step beyond what some Western countries allow, while others permit similar measures.

Germany does not allow such searches. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has seized computers and other electronic devices from people arriving in the United States to search them.

In a narrow ruling last month, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while Customs and Border Protection officers can do "a quick look" at a laptop computer or other equipment, reasonable suspicion is required for a more in-depth forensic exam of electronics. It was not immediately clear if that included email.

___

AP writers Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington and Robert Reid in Berlin contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-ok-check-emails-foreigners-border-170015531.html

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Fuel barges explode, causing large fire in Ala.

A massive explosion at 3 a.m. EDT on one of the two barges still ablaze in the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Three people were injured in the blast. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo John David Mercer) Three people were hospitalized with burns. Information on their conditions was not immediately available.

A massive explosion at 3 a.m. EDT on one of the two barges still ablaze in the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Three people were injured in the blast. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo John David Mercer) Three people were hospitalized with burns. Information on their conditions was not immediately available.

A massive explosion at 3a.m. EDT on one of the two barges still ablaze in the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Three people were injured in the blast. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo John David Mercer) Three people were hospitalized with burns. Information on their conditions was not immediately available.

Fire burns aboard two fuel barges along Mobile River after explosions sent three workers to the hospital. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo/Press Register, Glenn Baeske)

A massive explosion at 3 a.m. EDT on one of the two barges still ablaze in the Mobile River in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Three people were injured in the blast. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo John David Mercer) Three people were hospitalized with burns. Information on their conditions was not immediately available.

Fire burns aboard two fuel barges along the Mobile River after explosions sent three workers to the hospital Wednesday April 24, 2013. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (AP Photo John David Mercer)

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) ? A large fire that began with explosions aboard two fuel barges in Mobile, Ala., was rocked by a seventh explosion early Thursday and fire officials said they planned to let the fire, which has injured three, burn overnight.

Firefighters from Mobile and U.S. Coast Guard officials responded after 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday to a pair of explosions involving the gas barges in an area of the Mobile River east of downtown, authorities said.

As they were responding, a third explosion occurred around 9:30 p.m., Mobile Fire and Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman wrote in an email to The Associated Press. Additional explosions followed over the next few hours.

The Coast Guard said early Thursday that a one-nautical-mile safety zone had been established around one barge, which it said was "at the dock for cleaning."

Authorities said three people were transported to University of South Alabama Medical Center after suffering burn-related injuries. Huffman identified them as workers with Oil Recovery Co. The three were in critical condition early Thursday, according to hospital nursing administrator Danny Whatley.

Across the river, the Carnival Triumph, the cruise ship that became disabled in the Gulf of Mexico last February before it was towed to Mobile's port, was evacuated, said Alan Waugh, who lives at the Fort Conde Inn in downtown Mobile, across the river from the scene of the explosions. Waugh saw the blasts and said throngs of Carnival employees and others were clustered on streets leading toward the river as authorities evacuated the shipyard.

"It literally sounded like bombs going off around. The sky just lit up in orange and red," he said, "We could smell something in the air, we didn't know if it was gas or smoke." Waugh said he could feel the heat from the explosion and when he came back inside, his partner noticed he had what appeared to be black soot on his face.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Carlos Vega said the initial blast took place in a ship channel near the George C. Wallace Tunnel ? which carries traffic from Interstate 10 under the Mobile River. The river runs south past Mobile and into Mobile Bay, which in turn flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

Video from WALA-TV (http://bit.ly/15NEYJl) showed flames engulfing a large section of the barge, and a video that a bystander sent to AL.com (http://bit.ly/13vWz4G) showed the fiery explosions and billowing smoke over the river.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, Huffman and Vega said.

"Once (the fire) is out and safe, a full investigation will take place," Huffman wrote.

Mobile Fire Chief Steve Dean told AL.com he was confident the fire wouldn't spread to nearby industrial properties, including the shipyard where the Carnival cruise ship is docked.

Huffman said the ship is directly across the river from the incident ? about two football fields in length.

The barges are owned by Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine, company spokesman Greg Beuerman said. He said the barges were empty and being cleaned at the Oil Recovery Co. facility when the incident began. He said the barges had been carrying a liquid called natural gasoline ? which he said is neither liquefied natural gas or natural gas. He said the company has dispatched a team to work with investigators to determine what caused the fire.

The explosion comes two months after the 900-foot-long Carnival Triumph was towed to Mobile after becoming disabled on the Gulf during a cruise by an engine room fire, leaving thousands of passengers to endure cold food, unsanitary conditions and power outages for several days. The ship is still undergoing repairs there, with many workers living on board.

Carnival didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment late Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the cruise ship was dislodged from its mooring by a windstorm that also caused, in a separate incident, two shipyard workers to fall into Mobile Bay. While one worker was rescued, the other's body was pulled from the water more than a week later.

___

Associated Press writer Phillip Lucas in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-04-25-Fuel%20Barge%20Explosion/id-bf82fcba3c8140cba71e2adeabb912ba

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Suspect in Canada terror plot denies charges

In this courtroom sketch, Raed Jaser appears in court in Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Jaser, 35, and Chehib Esseghaier, 30, were arrested and charged Monday in what the RCMP said was the first known al-Qaida terror plot in Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Mantha)

In this courtroom sketch, Raed Jaser appears in court in Toronto on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Jaser, 35, and Chehib Esseghaier, 30, were arrested and charged Monday in what the RCMP said was the first known al-Qaida terror plot in Canada. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Mantha)

Security officials check a man at a courthouse in Montreal on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Reed Jaser, one of two men accused of plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, made a brief court appearance Tuesday but did not enter a plea. Canadian investigators say Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received ?directions and guidance? from members of al-Qaida. The case prompted an immediate response from Iran, which denied any involvement and said groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran?s ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

Security officials check a man at a courthouse in Montreal on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Reed Jaser, one of two men accused of plotting a terrorist attack against a Canadian passenger train with support from al-Qaida elements in Iran, made a brief court appearance Tuesday but did not enter a plea. Canadian investigators say Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received ?directions and guidance? from members of al-Qaida. The case prompted an immediate response from Iran, which denied any involvement and said groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran?s ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

A man walks his dog past a mosque where Chiheb Esseghaier, one of the two accused in an alleged plot to bomb a Via passenger train, used to attend Tuesday, April 23, 2013 in Montreal. Canadian investigators say Raed Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received "directions and guidance" from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iran said it had nothing to do with the plot, and groups such as al-Qaida do not share Iran's ideology. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

TORONTO (AP) ? A man accused of plotting with al-Qaida members in Iran to derail a train in Canada was due to appear in a Toronto court Wednesday after declaring at his initial court appearance that the charges against him are unfair. Law enforcement officials in the U.S. said the target was a train that runs between New York City and Canada.

Canadian investigators say Raed Jaser, 35, and his suspected accomplice Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, received guidance ? but no money ? from members of al-Qaida in Iran. Iran released a statement saying it had nothing to do with the plot, even though there were no claims in Canada that the attacks were sponsored directly by Iran.

In a brief court appearance in Montreal, a bearded Esseghaier declined to be represented by a court-appointed lawyer. He made a brief statement in French in which he rejected the allegations against him.

"The conclusions were made based on facts and words which are only appearances," he said in a calm voice after asking permission to speak.

Esseghaier, who was arrested Monday afternoon at a McDonald's restaurant in the train station, was later flown to Toronto for a court appearance Wednesday in the city where his trial will take place.

Jaser appeared in court earlier Tuesday in Toronto and also did not enter a plea. He was given a new court date of May 23. He had a long beard, wore a black shirt with no tie, and was accompanied by his parents and brother. The court granted a request by his lawyer, John Norris, for a publication ban on future evidence and testimony.

The case has raised questions about the extent of Shiite-led Iran's relationship with al-Qaida, a predominantly Sunni Arab terrorist network. It also renewed attention on Iran's complicated history with the terror group, which ranges from outright hostility to alliances of convenience and even overtures by Tehran to assist Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"We oppose any terrorist and violent action that would jeopardize lives of innocent people," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday.

Charges against the two men in Canada include conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group. Police ? tipped off by an imam worried by the behavior of one of the suspects ? said it was the first known attack planned by al-Qaida in Canada. The two could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

Law officials in New York with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press the attack was to take place on the Canadian side of the border. They are not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Amtrak and Via Rail Canada jointly operate routes between the United States and Canada, including the Maple Leaf from New York City to Toronto.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Canada has kept New York posted on the investigation.

"I can just tell you that you are probably safer in New York City than you are in any other big city," Bloomberg told reporters Tuesday without discussing details.

Jaser's lawyer said his client questioned the timing of the arrests, pointing to ongoing debates in the Canadian Parliament over a new anti-terrorism law that would expand the powers of police and intelligence agencies.

Norris speaking outside the court said his client is "in a state of shock and disbelief."

He said his client would "defend himself vigorously" against the accusations, and noted Jaser was a permanent resident of Canada who has lived there for 20 years. Norris refused to say where Jaser was from, saying that revealing his nationality in the current climate amounted to demonizing him.

Canadian police also declined to release the men's nationalities, saying only they had been in Canada a "significant amount of time."

Muslim community leaders who were briefed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ahead of Monday's announcement of the arrest said they were told one of the suspects is Tunisian and the other from the United Arab Emirates.

But the United Arab Emirates embassy in Ottawa said in a statement Tuesday that neither of the two men were UAE nationals.

The London-based newspaper Al Arab reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources in the Gulf, that Jaser is a Jordanian passport holder with full name Raed Jaser Ibrahim Amouri, who had visited the UAE several times and most recently in September 2011. The newspaper reported that the suspect also visited other Gulf countries including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

It was not possible to independently confirm the report.

Esseghaier's LinkedIn profile lists him as having studied in Tunisia before moving to Canada, where he was pursuing a Ph.D. in nanotechnology at the National Institute of Scientific Research, a spokeswoman at the training university confirmed.

The investigation surrounding the planned attack was part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Canadian police said the men never got close to carrying out the attack.

The warning first came from an imam in Toronto, who in turn was tipped off by suspicious behavior on the part of one of the suspect.

"I was involved in alerting police about the suspect. I made some calls on behalf of the imam over a year ago," Toronto lawyer Naseer Syed said. He would not say what, exactly made the imam suspicious.

"The Muslim community has been cooperating with authorities for a number of years and people do the right thing when there is reason to alert authorities," Syed said, adding that he was speaking for the imam, who wished to remain anonymous.

___

Associated Press writers Charmaine Noronha in Ontario, Shingler in Montreal, Tom Hays and Jennifer Peltz in New York, Kimberly Dozier in Washington and Brian Murphy in the United Arab Emirates contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-24-CN-Canada-Terror-Plot/id-2996e6515d96468b8c110900dd9f062f

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Lloyds' sale of bank branches to Co-op collapses

(Reuters) - The planned sale of 630 UK bank branches by Lloyds Banking Group to the Co-Operative Group has fallen through, leaving state-backed Lloyds to pursue a flotation of the business.

The Co-Op said on Wednesday it had pulled out of the deal due to tough regulatory requirements and the worsening outlook for UK economic growth.

Lloyds said it now intended to sell the network, known as "Verde", through an initial public offering.

The deal has been in danger of collapse for some time, sources have said, due to concerns at Britain's regulator over the Co-op's capital strength.

There have also been worries about the complexities of breaking out the business and merging it with Co-op's platform.

A flotation is unlikely to be possible until the second half of 2014, however, sources have said. That would require Lloyds and the UK government to ask Brussels to extend its end-2013 deadline for the sale.

European regulators have demanded Lloyds sell the branches as the cost of taking a state bailout.

Co-Op agreed in 2012 to buy the branches, which would have created Britain's seventh-biggest bank with about 5 percent of personal current accounts and mortgage market and about 10 percent of the branch network.

Added to Co-op's existing business, it would have made it a viable competitor to the country's "Big Four" lenders - Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Lloyds said last month that it was preparing for a stock market listing of the branches as a fall-back in case the deal with the Co-op fell through.

(Reporting by Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham in London and Richa Naidu in Bangalore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lloyds-sale-bank-branches-co-op-collapses-report-005223714--sector.html

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Big ecosystem changes viewed through the lens of tiny carnivorous plants

Apr. 23, 2013 ? What do a pond or a lake and a carnivorous pitcher plant have in common?

The water-filled pool within a pitcher plant, it turns out, is a tiny ecosystem whose inner workings are similar to those of a full-scale water body.

Whether small carnivorous plant or huge lake, both are subject to the same ecological "tipping points," of concern on Earth Day--and every day, say scientists.

The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the paper, ecologists affiliated with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site in Massachusetts offer new insights about how such tipping points happen.

"Human societies, financial markets and ecosystems all may shift abruptly and unpredictably from one, often favored, state to another less desirable one," says Saran Twombly, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

"These researchers have looked at the minute ecosystems that thrive in pitcher plant leaves to determine early warning signals and to find ways of predicting and possibly forestalling such 'tipping points.'"

Life in lakes and ponds of all sizes can be disrupted when too many nutrients--such as in fertilizers and pollution--overload the system.

When that happens, these aquatic ecosystems can cross "tipping points" and change drastically. Excess nutrients cause algae to bloom. Bacteria eating the algae use up oxygen in the water. The result is a murky green lake.

"The first step to preventing tipping points is understanding what causes them," says Aaron Ellison, an ecologist at Harvard Forest and co-author of the paper. "For that, you need an experiment where you can demonstrate cause-and-effect."

Ellison and other scientists demonstrated how to reliably trigger a tipping point.

They continually added a set amount of organic matter--comparable to decomposing algae in a lake--to a small aquatic ecosystem: the tiny confines of a pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant native to eastern North America.

Each pitcher-shaped leaf holds about a quarter of an ounce of rainwater. Inside is a complex, multi-level food web of fly larvae and bacteria.

"The pitcher plant is its own little ecosystem," says Jennie Sirota, a researcher at North Dakota State University and lead author of the paper.

Similar to lake ecosystems, oxygen levels inside the water of a pitcher plant are controlled by photosynthesis and the behavior of resident organisms--in this case, mostly bacteria.

Ellison says that conducting an experiment with bacteria is like fast-forwarding through a video.

"A bacterial generation is 20 minutes, maybe an hour," he says. "In contrast, fish in a lake have generation times of a year or more.

"We would need to study a lake for 100 years to get the same information we can get from a pitcher plant in less than a week."

The same mathematical models, Ellison and colleagues discovered, can be used to describe a pitcher plant or a lake ecosystem.

To approximate an overload of nutrients in pitcher-plant water, the team fed set amounts of ground-up wasps to the plants.

"That's equivalent to a 200-pound person eating one or two McDonald's quarter-pounders every day for four days," says Ellison.

In pitcher plants with enough added wasps, an ecosystem tipping point reliably occurred about 45 hours after the start of feeding.

The scientists now have a way of creating tipping points. Their next step will be to identify the early warning signs.

"Tipping points may be easy to prevent," says Ellison, "if we know what to look for."

Other authors of the paper are Benjamin Baiser of Harvard Forest and Nicholas Gotelli of the University of Vermont.

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AP IMPACT: Congress slows military efforts to save

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Parked around the airstrip at Lackland Air Force Base are more than a dozen massive C-5A Galaxy transport planes. There is no money to fly them, repair them or put pilots in the cockpits, but Congress rejected the Air Force's bid to retire them.

So every now and then, crews will tow the planes around the Texas tarmac a bit to make sure the tires don't rot, then send them back into exile until they can finally get permission to commit the aging aircraft to the boneyard.

It's not an unfamiliar story.

Idle aircraft and pricey ship deployments underscore the contradictions and conflicts as Congress orders the Pentagon to slash $487 billion in spending over the next 10 years and another $41 billion in the next six months. Yet, at the same time, lawmakers are forcing the services to keep ships, aircraft, military bases, retiree benefits and other programs that defense leaders insist they don't want, can't afford or simply won't be able to use. The Associated Press interviewed senior military leaders involved in the ongoing analysis of the budget and its impact on the services and compiled data on the costs and programs from Defense Department documents.

The Pentagon long has battled with Congress over politically sensitive spending cuts. But this year, military officials say Congress' refusal to retire ships and aircraft means the Navy and Air Force are spending roughly $5 billion more than they would if they were allowed to make the cuts. In some cases Congress restored funds to compensate for the changes, but the result overall was lost savings.

In other cases, frustrated military leaders quietly complained that they were being forced to furlough civilians, ground Air Force training flights and delay or cancel ship deployments to the Middle East and South America, while Congress refuses to accept savings in other places that could ease those pains.

Along the eastern seaboard, two Navy cruisers ? the USS Anzio in Norfolk, Va., and the USS Vicksburg in Mayport, Fla. ? were scheduled for retirement this year but both are now sitting pierside. Navy leaders will soon schedule the ships for significant repairs and begin readying their crews so they can go back into service.

Altogether, Congress is requiring the Navy to keep seven cruisers and two amphibious warships in service, eliminating the $4.3 billion the retirements would have saved over the next two years.

"A lot of it comes down to parochial political interests," said Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "No member of Congress wants to have a base closed in their district or to have a fighter squadron relocated out of their district."

Members of Congress argue that they believe the Pentagon sometimes makes bad decisions and other times may purposely target programs that have broad support.

"Certainly that has been a pattern, they've cut Guard and Reserves in areas where it's clearly unwise and Congress steps in to put the money in," said Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee.

While the Navy sought to retire the seven ships, the Air Force wanted to save more than $600 million by retiring C-130 and C-5A cargo aircraft, three B-1 bombers and 18 high-altitude Global Hawk surveillance drones.

Congress disagreed, adding various requirements that the Navy and Air Force maintain the ships and aircraft, and in some cases added money to the budget to cover them. Fifteen of the C-5A Galaxy aircraft no longer set to retire are at Lackland, while 11 are at Martinsburg, W.Va., and are flown by the Air National Guard there.

A senior Air Force official said the service determined that it didn't need all of the aging aircraft. And it pushed to cut the Global Hawks because defense officials determined that the U-2 spy plane, first produced more than 50 years ago, was better suited for the high-altitude surveillance job and would cost less money.

The official also noted that while lawmakers rejected plans to retire the Galaxy aircraft, congressional appropriators did not add back money to pay for the fuel or the manpower to fly them. Similarly, the three B-1 bombers will move into backup status and likely will be used infrequently. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the budget, so requested anonymity.

The decision to block retirement of some C-130s, however, reveals how narrow, yet critical, the political interests can be. Pennsylvania lawmakers declared victory last month when they reversed the decision to retire eight C-130s and shut down the 911th Airlift Wing near Pittsburgh. Local officials and business owners argued that the base, which uses space at Pittsburgh International Airport, provides an economic boost to the entire community.

Sens. Pat Toomey, a Republican, and Bob Casey, a Democrat, lobbied Pentagon leaders and fellow lawmakers to keep the wing. They argued in a letter to then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that "the 911th is a very efficient and cost effective installation" and that closing it could be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Pentagon officials have also been thwarted in their broader efforts to shut down costly and underused military facilities around the country. Congress rejected the department's request last year for two more rounds of base closings, as lawmakers objected not only to the prospect of taking jobs and dollars out of a region's economy, but also questioned whether closing the facilities actually achieves the promised savings.

Pentagon budget chief Robert Hale acknowledged earlier this month that the department spent $35 billion on the base closure round in 2005, and while it saves $4 billion a year, officials won't break even until 2018. The expense is largely because a number of new facilities were built even as some were merged and closed.

"Would a (base closings) round be effective in providing rapid savings? Unfortunately, history has emphatically told us, no," Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said during a recent hearing on the Base Realignment and Closures program. "I believe that aggressively moving forward with the BRAC round could significantly harm our military power and their ability to project power."

Currently, the department saves about $8 billion a year on the four rounds that were carried out before 2005. The Pentagon has proposed another round in 2014 that Hale said would save $1 billion to $2 billion a year. Pentagon leaders insist that the military still has nearly 20 percent too many bases and facilities.

"There is still excess infrastructure," Assistant Army Secretary Katherine Hammack told the House Armed Services Committee last month. "I was just on one (base) that had 800 buildings and we were utilizing 300 of them."

Perhaps the most significant cost savings historically opposed by Congress are Pentagon efforts to scale back military retirement benefits, including proposals to increase premiums or co-pays for retirees.

"I think there's a misunderstanding in Congress about what it is that would change," Harrison said. "They tend to associate changes in retirement benefits with changes to veterans benefits."

But changes to retiree health care would only affect the approximately 17 percent of the service members who stay in the military long enough to qualify for retirement, and those are usually more senior officers who already have a higher income. Veterans' benefits more often help those with lower incomes, and they are included in the Veterans Affairs Department budget, not the Pentagon's.

Turner faulted department leaders for some of the problems with those broader issues.

"I think on policy shifts you need a more holistic approach, and the Pentagon usually doesn't engage Congress in discussions of finding cuts or program changes. They send them up as missiles for Congress to deal with, instead of using a deliberative approach."

Harrison said the Pentagon needs to do a better job explaining and selling its arguments for such politically unpalatable spending cuts.

"If you actually try to do smart targeted reductions, like closing bases, like actually reducing the size of the workforce, targeted cuts have winners and losers," Harrison said. "And Congress has not been willing to make those tough decisions."

As a result, he said, lawmakers resort to broader, across-the-board cuts, such as the furloughs.

"It spreads pain across evenly," he said. "So everyone can wash their hands of it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-23-Military-Unwanted%20Gear/id-208843fda38e45eebd02ddb6bc0434f2

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