NBA vet Jason Collins is first openly gay player in U.S. sports

(Refiling to add additional codes)

* NBA Commissioner praises Collins for breaking barrier

* Free agent Collins says hopes to find a new team

By Julian Linden

April 29 (Reuters) - Jason Collins, a veteran center in the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced on Monday that he was gay, becoming the first active player from any U.S. professional sports league to publicly reveal his homosexuality.

Collins, a free agent who played with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics during the NBA's 2012-13 regular season, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Monday.

"I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation," he said.

"I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."

In the ultra-scrutinized world of U.S. professional sports, there had never been an openly gay player in any of America's major professional sports leagues, although some had revealed their sexual orientation after retiring.

In a country with openly gay politicians, entertainers and even soldiers, professional sports had become a final frontier and questions were being asked why sports, which helped play a key role in changing public opinion on racial discrimination, was out of step with the rest of American society.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, whose daughter Chelsea was a classmate of Collins at Stanford University, applauded Collins for coming out.

"Jason's announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community," Clinton said in a statement.

"It is also the straightforward statement of a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek: to be able to be who we are; to do our work; to build families and to contribute to our communities. For so many members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, these simple goals remain elusive.

"I hope that everyone, particularly Jason's colleagues in the NBA, the media and his many fans extend to him their support and the respect he has earned."

NBA Commissioner David Stern also praised Collins for breaking the barrier.

"Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue," Stern said in a statement.

Collins, 34, has played for six NBA teams since entering the league in 2001 and twice appeared in the playoffs. He said he wants to continue playing and hopes to find a new team.

It had seemed like only matter of time until an active player said he was gay after the issue had become one of the hottest topics in North America, no more so than in the National Football League (NFL), the most macho of America's pro sports.

In the days leading up to this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver told reporters he would not welcome a homosexual teammate into the locker room.

He later retracted his comments but reports have since emerged of NFL teams asking college players about their sexuality at a scouting combine in February.

This prompted the New York State attorney general to send a letter to the NFL, urging the league to take action and adopt a formal policy of sexual discrimination.

Culliver's comments are not typical of the attitude of all professional sportsmen. Indeed, there are several high-profile NFL players, most notably Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo, who have advocated for gay rights.

Both believe it was only a matter of time before a professional player came out publicly. (Reporting by Julian Linden in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nba-collins-comes-first-openly-gay-player-u-154748772.html

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Former AOL's CFO Minson returns to Time Warner Cable

By Liana B. Baker

(Reuters) - Arthur Minson, a former senior officer at online media company AOL, has been named the new finance chief of No. 2 U.S. cable provider Time Warner Cable Inc.

Minson, who had worked as a deputy chief financial officer at Time Warner Cable from 2007-09, will start his new post May 2, replacing Irene Esteves.

Esteves, who joined Time Warner Cable in 2011 to become CFO, will be leaving the company.

Minson had served as CFO and chief operating officer of AOL.

Time Warner Cable announced last week that it had cut 500 jobs in finance, marketing and human resources in the first quarter.

The company, which has 12 million cable television customers, is moving away from the longheld industry standard of pushing landline phone services on customers as part of its "triple play" package, that also include Internet and video.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker, editing by G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-aols-cfo-minson-returns-time-warner-cable-220139885.html

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Colorado State University - Pueblo to induct 36 students into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

Colorado State University - Pueblo to induct 36 students into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society

PUEBLO ? Thirty-six Colorado State University ? Pueblo students will be inducted into the? Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi next week (May 1), according to City of Pueblo Fire Chief Christopher P. Riley, President of the CSU-Pueblo Phi Kappa Phi Chapter.

Founded in 1897 at the University of Maine, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation?s oldest, largest, and most selective all-discipline honor society. The Society?s mission is ?to encourage, recognize, and promote superior scholarship in all fields of higher education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.? Chief Riley will address the inductees as part of the ceremony that begins at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1 in the Hasan School of Business Auditorium.?

The CSU-Pueblo Phi Kappa Phi Charter was approved by the national organization on Oct. 21, 1994, with the first initiation ceremony on April 10, 1995.

The organization is comprised of nearly 300 chapters located in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, which together induct more than 30,000 members each year. Since the organization?s inception in 1897, more than one million scholars have joined the prestigious organization.

The standards for election to Phi Kappa Phi are higher than those of most other honor societies. Phi Kappa Phi elects to membership undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and alumni. Undergraduate students are selected from the upper 10 percent of the senior class and the graduate level, and the upper 7.5 percent of the junior class. To be eligible, students must have completed at least 24 credit hours at CSU-Pueblo. In addition, juniors must be ?last term? juniors, having completed a total of at least 72 credit hours of course work. Election to membership is by invitation only. Each chapter screens juniors, seniors, and graduate students for membership based upon their grade point averages and good character. Those who meet the national requirements are invited.
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The 2013 inductees to CSU-Pueblo Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi are:

COLORADO SPRINGS
Gena Boydstun-Smith, Junior
Raquel Gibson-Ford, Junior
Summer Hogue, Senior
Bercu Johnson, Senior
Meribeth Neary, Junior
Tina Mask, Junior
Joseph Parada, Junior

ELIZABETH
Samantha Tallent, Junior

FOUNTAIN
Suzanne Balkom, Junior
Chelsea Curl, Senior

PUEBLO
Matthew Augerot, Junior
Valerie Clementi, Senior
Gregory Daurio, Senior
Molly Gerry, Senior
William Gonzales, Senior
Jeffrey Gunter, Senior
Stacy Herrera, Senior
Diana Humphries, Junior
Philipp Kreutzmann, Graduate
Kyle Lopez, Senior
Michael Martino, Junior
Kaylene Merrill, Junior
Claudia Pulfrey, Senior
Regina Stevens, Senior
Andrea Werth, Junior
James Whittaker, Junior
Joshlyn Wiley, Senior
Elizabeth Wilson, Senior

PUEBLO WEST
Jessica Crolley, Junior
Sarah Meador, Junior
Kallee Rassau, Junior
Taylor Smith, Junior
Jamie Thompson, Junior

PHI KAPPA PHI/PAGE THREE
THORNTON
Amy Delaney, Senior

FAIRBANKS, AK
Jessica Luoma, Senior

BAD LOBENSTEIN, GERMANY
Stefan Bauer Guimaraes, Graduate

Source: http://www.colostate-pueblo.edu/Communications/Media/PressReleases/2013/Pages/4-25-2013.aspx

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NYC Angels Grab Market Share

Looking forward to this week’s Disrupt NY 2013, we used the CrunchBase dataset to surface regional trends in U.S. angel funding. Not surprisingly, we found?relatively few metros with a substantial number of angel funded?companies and?the San Francisco Bay Area continues to be a formidable presence. But take a look at NYC (in red) – they’ve gone from 12 percent of the angel deals in 2008 to 20 percent in 2013. In fact, NYC appears to the only region with growing market share. What’s more surprising about NYC’s angel activity is that it is not reflected in its general share of venture rounds. When we looked at non-angel investments we found NYC’s share of activity to be relatively flat since 2008. It’s not clear to us what’s driving this, but we suspect others will have some good theories and that brings us to the data behind the graphs. To avoid our own?Reinhart and Rogoff debacle, we’re publishing all of the data behind these charts. In fact, we’re publishing a significant portion of the CrunchBase dataset in Excel for everyone to slice and dice. You can?download the file from the CrunchBase blog where you will also find some instructions and caveats. By publishing this data, we hope to continue a trend we started with our?Mining of the Series A Crunch.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/0tjlSmpws1Q/

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Six months after Sandy, thousands homeless in N.Y., N.J.

MANTOLOKING, N.J. (AP) ? The 9-year-old girl who got New Jersey's tough-guy governor to shed a tear as he comforted her after her home was destroyed is bummed because she now lives far from her best friend and has nowhere to hang her One Direction posters.

A New Jersey woman whose home was overtaken by mold still cries when she drives through the area. A New York City man whose home burned can't wait to build a new one.

Six months after Superstorm Sandy devastated the Jersey shore and New York City and pounded coastal areas of New England, the region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless. Housing, business, tourism and coastal protection all remain major issues with the summer vacation ? and hurricane ? seasons almost here again.

"Some families and some lives have come back together quickly and well, and some people are up and running almost as if nothing ever happened, and for them it's been fine," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday. "Some people are still very much in the midst of recovery. You still have people in hotel rooms, you still have people doubled up, you still have people fighting with insurance companies, and for them it's been terrible and horrendous."

Lynda Fricchione's flood-damaged home in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, N.J., is gutted; the roof was fixed just last week. The family is still largely living out of cardboard boxes in an apartment. But waiting for a final decision from federal and state authorities over new flood maps that govern the price of flood insurance is tormenting her and many others.

"The largest problem is, nobody really knows how high we're going to have to elevate the house," she said. "At town hall they told us 5 feet, but then they said it might go down to 3 feet in the summer. Most of us are waiting until the final maps come out. It's wait-and-see."

But more than anything, Fricchione is optimistic, buoyed by a recent trip to New Orleans with her daughter during which they met a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward who was one of the first to move back in after Hurricane Katrina inundated the neighborhood that has become a symbol of flood damage ? and resilience.

"Talking to that man was wonderful!" Fricchione said. "He said it takes time and you just have to have hope and know it will all work out eventually."

By many measures, the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, which struck Oct. 29, has been slow. From Maryland to New Hampshire, the National Hurricane Center attributes 72 deaths directly to Sandy and 87 others indirectly from causes such as hypothermia due to power outages, carbon monoxide poisoning and accidents during cleanup efforts, for a total of 159.

The roller coaster that plunged off a pier in Seaside Heights, N.J., is still in the ocean, although demolition plans are finally moving forward. Scores of homes that were destroyed in nearby Mantoloking still look as they did the day after the storm ? piles of rubble and kindling, with the occasional bathroom fixture or personal possession visible among the detritus.

Throughout the region, many businesses are still shuttered, and an already-tight rental market has become even more so because of the destruction of thousands of units and the crush of displaced storm victims looking to rent the ones that survived.

Homeowners are tortured by uncertainty over ever-changing rules on how high they'll need to rebuild their homes to protect against the next storm; insurance companies have not paid out all that many homeowners expected; and municipalities are borrowing tens of millions of dollars to keep the lights on, the fire trucks running and the police stations staffed, waiting for reimbursement from the federal government for storm expenditures they had to fund out of pocket.

And yet, by other measures, remarkable progress has been made. Boardwalks, the tourism lifeblood of the region, are springing back to life. A handful of homes are going up, and the whine of power saws and the thwack of hammers is everywhere in hard-hit beach towns as contractors fix what can be saved and bulldozers knock down what can't.

Volunteers in Highlands, N.J., are rebuilding the home of Bromlyn Link, the single mother of a 17-year-old boy, both of whom are members of the town's first aid squad and who spent 12 to 14 hours a day helping friends and neighbors forced to live in shelters for weeks after the storm.

Mantoloking, which was cut in half by the storm and saw all 521 of its homes damaged or destroyed, is creeping back to life. The post office recently, reopened, and the first of 50 demolitions will start next week, which is also when Mayor George Nebel will join the 40 other residents who have been able to move back home.

Beaches that were washed away are coming back, due both to nature and bulldozers, and real estate agents say demand for this strangest of upcoming summers appears good, particularly in the large portions of the Jersey shore that were relatively unscathed by Sandy. Beach badges, required for access to most of New Jersey's shoreline, are selling at a near-record pace in Belmar, N.J.

And while towns fortify beaches and dunes and put up sea walls, rock barriers or even sand-filled fabric tubes to guard against future storms, state governments are readying hundreds of millions of dollars to buy out homeowners in flood-prone areas who want to leave.

"We've made a lot of progress in six months; I know we still have a long way to go," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at a recent town hall meeting. "By Memorial Day, every boardwalk that was destroyed at the Jersey shore will be rebuilt. Businesses are reopening. Rentals are picking up again, roads are back open."

Christie estimated 39,000 New Jersey families remain displaced, down from 161,000 the day after the storm. In New York, more than 250 families are still living in hotel rooms across New York paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while others are still shacking up with relatives or living in temporary rentals.

Everyone simply wants to make their homes livable again, said Ray Marten, whose home in the Belle Harbor section of New York City's Queens borough burned down when a fire swept along his street during the storm, and whose family of six is renting a nearby house.

"If you go up my block now, all the houses have been demolished and removed," Marten said. "They're pretty much just holes in the ground. Sand pits."

Separation is the new reality for the Gatti family, a clan of several generations that shared the same three-story home near the ocean on Staten Island until Sandy destroyed it. The flood-soaked place was demolished months ago, and they're waiting for a government buyout. Now the family is scattered across New Jersey, New York and Texas.

"The whole family's separated," said Marge Gatti, the matriarch. "And it's terrible, you know?"

Her son, Anthony, recently drove a U-Haul packed with his meager belongings to Killeen, Texas, where he will start a new life as a car mechanic.

"Mentally, I'm not all that well in the head," said Anthony Gatti, who slept in a tent in front of the ruined home for weeks after the storm. "I know I've got to get some kind of help. I can't seem to shake it out of my life."

Ginjer Doherty was 9 years old when Sandy bubbled up through the floor of her Middletown, N.J., home and ripped the front wall off it. She and her parents went to a firehouse a few days later to see Christie talk about what was being done to recover.

The governor comforted Ginjer, telling her she would be all right, that the grown-ups were on top of things and would take care of her. Ginjer recently had an essay published in Time magazine recalling the encounter and describing her life after Sandy.

"My house was all messed up, and people told us we couldn't stay there anymore," she wrote. "The governor told me not to worry ? that my parents would take care of everything ? and he looked very serious and sad, and he cried.

"Things are going O.K. for my family," she wrote. "We want to go back home, but rebuilding is going to take a long time. But we have a place to live for now. I even rescued a cat that was homeless after Sandy; I wanted him to be safe and loved like I feel."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Ginjer, now 10, said she is sad that her home won't be ready until October; her mom says it has been gutted and needs to be elevated.

Of the delay, Ginjer said simply, "It stinks."

Sandy also damaged interior areas, particularly those along rivers in northern New Jersey. Cities including Hoboken and Jersey City were inundated, and officials continue try seek exemptions for skyscrapers and large apartments from federal rules requiring flood-prone buildings to be elevated. George Stauble, whose Little Ferry house took in four feet of water, said FEMA payouts caused some rifts between neighbors.

"Everybody's house had pretty much the same amount of damage, but people are getting different amounts of money, and that's caused some problems," he said, adding some homeowners received as little as $8,000, while others received as much as $29,000.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Meghan Barr and Deepti Hajela in New York and David Porter in Little Ferry, N.J.

___

Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/6-months-sandy-thousands-homeless-ny-nj-154507020.html

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Home Brew ? Bottling Mead at The Honey House | Easy Vegan ...

?

I spent my evening bottling mead with my father. What is mead you ask? Mead or ?Honey wine? is an alcoholic beverage with many dimensions. Depending on the recipe, or traditions practiced this alcohol maybe anywhere between 8% and 18% and may be still, sparkling , sweet, dry or semi-sweet.

Mead is known as the first type of fermented drink, or ancestor to all alcohol. The vikings and danish drank it heavily,?and it has played an important role in many mythologies,?beliefs?and traditions.

My father has been making this delicious drink for years. I remember bottling my first few bottles when I was a teenager and I split it all over the kitchen floor. I can grown quite fond of the chemistry involved and I think that may be why I am so drawn to food and the harmony and energy between different plants, or ingredients.

I realize that some of you are looking at this post and wondering why, as a vegan, I am posting about something considered not to be vegan. Well truth is.. I am not technically a VEGAN, I am a BEEGAN? a vegan that uses or consumes honey. I am not one for labels, but most of you are so here I am, labeling?myself once again. I?believe?in the power of bees and their honey. I have had many health issues in the past that were healed by it?s natural?occurring?antibiotics and I will continue to use it to keep my body strong. I am open to all opinions, and this just happens to be mine

?

My father is a bee farmer and so I have always loved the science behind the bee and it?s honey. It has been used for years to celebrate and to heal. But using it to create such a delicious drink is one of my favorite uses by far! I love to make my own beer and various liquors ( some are lovely, but they often fail). I hope to make a few different types of homemade beer this summer, then I am able to ensure that I will be drinking beer that I can feel good about!

?

What adventure will you be tackling this summer?

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?

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Source: http://theedgyveg.com/2013/04/27/home-brew-bottling-mead-at-the-honey-house/

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Study finds Galaxy S4 screen to be huge improvement over Galaxy S III

* Lewandowski scored four goals against Real Madrid * Poland international refuses contract extension (adds details, background) BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski have not signed a deal, the newly-crowned champions said on Friday, shooting down widespread speculation of another imminent surprise transfer. "Bayern, as opposed to some reports, has no contract with Robert Lewandowski," the Bavarian Champions League semi-finalists said in a brief statement. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-galaxy-s4-screen-huge-improvement-over-030002672.html

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Robinson surge leads Bulls past Nets in triple OT

Chicago Bulls' Taj Gibson (22) and Nate Robinson (2) celebrate a basket against the Brooklyn Nets during the second overtime in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. The Bulls won 142-134 in three overtimes. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Chicago Bulls' Taj Gibson (22) and Nate Robinson (2) celebrate a basket against the Brooklyn Nets during the second overtime in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. The Bulls won 142-134 in three overtimes. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Chicago Bulls' Nate Robinson (2) celebrates a basket against the Brooklyn Nets during the second overtime in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. The Bulls won 142-134 in three overtimes. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah, left, tries to block the shot of Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez (11) during the second overtime in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. The Bulls won 142-134 in three overtimes. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Brooklyn Nets head coach P.J. Carlesimo, rear left, stands on the court as Nets' Deron Williams (8) walks past the bench in the closing seconds during the third overtime in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. The Bulls won 142-134 in three overtimes. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Referee Eric Lewis (42) and referee Ron Garretson (10) try to break up a scuffle between Chicago Bulls' Nate Robinson and Brooklyn Nets' C.J. Watson during the first half in Game 4 of their first-round NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

CHICAGO (AP) ? The Chicago Bulls were down and just about out in this one. Go figure, Nate Robinson led them back.

Robinson scored 34 points, and Chicago wiped out a 14-point deficit late in regulation and beat the Brooklyn Nets 142-134 in triple overtime Saturday to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

The Bulls were trailing 109-95 in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter when Robinson went on one of his tears, carrying his team to an improbable victory with a stretch that reminded the streaky point guard of a video game.

"I always think I'm on fire, kind of like the old school game NBA Jam," he said. "You make a couple in a row, the rim's on fire. You shoot the ball, the ball's on fire. I feel like that at times ? all the time. Whenever I'm in the game, I just play with a lot of confidence. You kind of have to lie to yourself and feel like you can't miss."

There's the rub with Robinson.

He'll rush shots. He'll miss. He'll make his coach cringe and every Bulls fan groan, but then, he'll do something like this.

Robinson scored all but five of his points after the third quarter, including the first 12 in a 14-0 run that wiped out Brooklyn's late lead. Then, with 2 seconds left in the first overtime, he banked in a go-ahead jumper over Deron Williams.

Joe Johnson answered with one of his own to send it to another overtime, tied at 121. The Bulls had a chance to win in the closing seconds of the second extra session, but Joakim Noah was blocked, and the game went to a third OT.

The Bulls finally pulled away after Williams (32 points) drove for a layup to pull Brooklyn to 133-130 with 3 minutes left. The basket accounted for Williams' only points after regulation.

Luol Deng then scored to make it a five-point game, and Nazr Mohammed hit two shots in the final 32 seconds to help preserve the win.

He converted a jump hook, then grabbed the rebound and scored with 19 seconds left after Carlos Boozer made a free throw and missed the second, making it 140-134.

The Bulls will try to wrap up the best-of-seven series at Brooklyn on Monday. The Nets are going to have to dig deep to win three in a row after they wasted a prime chance to draw even and steal back home-court advantage.

Brooklyn was leading by 14 after a dunk by Gerald Wallace with 3:45 left in the fourth. C.J. Watson then stole the ball and was all alone for a breakaway dunk, but he missed.

Robinson nailed a 3 with 2:53 remaining, and that got the tying run started. Boozer finished it with a layup with about 55 seconds left.

Brook Lopez then hit two free throws, but the Bulls tied it again when Noah put back his own miss with 23 seconds left. Williams missed a jumper and Wallace had his layup blocked by Jimmy Butler with a second left, sending the game into overtime.

"We made a lot of mistakes up 14," Williams said. "It was so long ago, I can't remember what all went on. We had the missed dunk. Missed free throws. I fouled Nate on the 3. We made a lot of mistakes in the fourth quarter."

It looked as if the Bulls would win when Robinson banked in a runner off one foot over Williams with two seconds left in the first OT. But after a 20-second timeout, Johnson caught a pass at the top of the key and nailed a floater at the buzzer, sending it to double overtime.

The Bulls were leading 127-123 after Deng fed Noah for a dunk with 1:18 left in the second overtime, but Johnson quickly quieted the crowd with a three-point play.

Robinson then fouled out when he charged into Williams with just over a minute left. Lopez got fouled with 48.7 seconds left and made the first free throw to tie it at 127 before missing the second. Boozer got the rebound, but Deng missed a jumper with 30 seconds left.

Johnson then missed one for Brooklyn with about six seconds left. Noah was blocked by Lopez, the ball bouncing out of bounds, and the game went to a third overtime after the inbounds pass deflected off the Bulls center and hit the rim.

Robinson came close to missing the second half and overtimes altogether.

He and Watson got tangled up in the second quarter and went crashing into the scorers' table in the second quarter. They exchanged shoves, but the referees decided not to eject them.

Instead, they each got technicals and Robinson ? who was guarding Watson ? picked up a personal foul. But later, he perked up just as the Nets were ready to put this one away.

"I tease Coach (Tom Thibodeau) a lot because it seems like every shot I shoot he's mad," Robinson said, laughing. "At the same time, it's basketball. He does a great job of putting us in position to be successful."

When this is the result, Thibodeau will take it.

"He hit big shot after big shot," he said. "That's what makes him so valuable. We got him going and he had a great run. He just played a great game."

The Bulls also got a big performance from Kirk Hinrich, who finished with 18 points and 14 assists. Boozer scored 21, Jimmy Butler added 16, and Noah chipped in with 15 points and 13 rebounds. He also played more than 38 minutes even though Thibodeau had said he would be limited to about 25 to 30 because of the plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Williams hit the 30-point mark in a playoff game for the seventh time in his career and had 10 assists. Lopez added 26 points and 11 rebounds, and Johnson scored 22 despite being bothered lately by plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

"Honestly, this is definitely a game we let get away," Johnson said. "It's disappointing, but the series isn't over."

NOTES: Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo said before the game that he talked to Wallace about his role after the veteran forward wondered where he fit with the team. Wallace wasn't thrilled after sitting out the entire fourth quarter in Game 3. "Hopefully, we've done a better job of letting Gerald know the things that are important for him to do to help us be successful," Carlesimo said. ... Robinson's 34 points were the most ever in a playoff game by a Bulls reserve, and his 23 in the fourth were one shy of the club postseason record for any quarter. Michael Jordan scored 24 in the fourth at Philadelphia in Game 3 of the conference semifinals in 1990. ... The Bulls set franchise playoff records for points and made field goals (58).

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-27-BKN-Nets-Bulls/id-88bb3bbc53ab44758e7d5da788ee4504

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Sequester cuts hitting cancer patients

>>> hitting home in many other ways. among them, some cancer patients on medicare are being turned away from doctors officers. lisa myers has that story.

>> 68-year-old caroline davis is being treated for breast cancer in south carolina . but she recently had to start getting her infusions of a costly chemo drug at a nearby hospital out patient facility.

>> it's waiting when i get there, it's just not like here at the cancer center.

>> caroline says all the waitinging at the hospital adds to her level of exhaustion. dr. holiday says his center had no choice when medicare cut reimbursements to doctors who administer those drugs by 2%. some private clinics are finding that harder to absorb than hospitals.

>> approximately 75% of her most commonly used therapeutics cost us more to administer. we can't continue to function that way.

>> and a new york onkole ji clinic decided it could no longer see one-third of its patients.

>> they have to shift their care somewhere is unconscionable and we just need people to fix this.

>> but officials say they don't have the power to roll back the 2% cut and argue the system has been highly profitable for many clinics. in fact, the president's new budget proposes an even bigger adjustment coupled with rebates on drug prices for smaller clinics. a spokesman says this will ensure access and reduce overpayments, but many cancer doctors disagree.

>> the cost of the drug will be the same. the problem is the reimbursement to the physician will be less and the physician potentially will go out of practice.

>> what's more, doctors argue that any savings from cutting their payments may be a mirage because it will push more treatment to hospitals, which studies show usually leads to higher costs for the patient and taxpayers. for caroline davis and thousands like her, this budget battle has already cost too much. lisa myers , nbc news, washington.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b40e62a/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51689112/story01.htm

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Sprint sets tentative date for investor vote for SoftBank deal

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Arsenal will keep with tradition and form a guard of honour for new Premier League champions Manchester United when the sides meet at The Emirates on Sunday. "That is part of the tradition of English football and I want that, of course, to be respected," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told a news conference on Friday. "I'm French, I work in England and the English tradition should be respected. When you work somewhere abroad you have to respect the culture of the country," he added. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sprint-sets-tentative-date-investor-vote-softbank-deal-190250732.html

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Obama addresses Planned Parenthood

President Barack Obama on Friday defended Planned Parenthood, the largest source of reproductive health care which also provides abortions, against its opponents and warned critics that the organization remains steadfast.

"Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere," Obama said at the organization's annual national conference in Washington, D.C. "It?s not going anywhere today. It?s not going anywhere tomorrow."

The organization has long been a target of abortion opponents, who in recent years have fought to cut off federal funding to the organization even though that funding by law cannot be spent on abortions, which make up an estimated 3 percent of the organization's budget.

The president on Friday lauded the organization's work ?providing quality healthcare to women all across America." "We are truly grateful to you.?

He noted that 1 in 5 women in America have sought services from Planned Parenthood, which is the primary source for health care for many women. When politicians attempt to turn Planned Parenthood into "a punching bag," Obama said, they are shutting out women who need health care and communities who may need health care services the most.

"When it comes to a women's health, no politician should get to decide what's best for you," Obama said. "The only person who should get to make decisions about your health is you."

Obama used his appearance to champion his health care law, which he said promotes many of the same principles as Planned Parenthood. Obama said his law supports health care for women including by allowing young women to be covered by their parents' health care insurance plans and preventing women with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage.

The president did not say the word "abortion" during his remarks, but did reference a woman's "right to choose."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus recently targeted the organization with a scathing op-ed for conservative news site Red State accusing Planned Parenthood and Democrats of supporting infanticide. Priebus wrote that testimony from a Planned Parenthood lobbyist in Florida indicated the organization supports the killing of infants.

Planned Parenthood later released a statement on the lobbyist's testimony, saying, "As a trusted health care provider, Planned Parenthood strongly condemns any physician who does not follow the law or endangers a woman's or child's health. And while HB 1129 addresses a situation that is extremely unlikely and highly unusual, if the scenario presented by the legislation should happen, of course a Planned Parenthood doctor would provide appropriate care to both the woman and the infant."

The president's appearance at the conference comes at a time when infanticide has been in the national news due to the murder trial of former abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. Gosnell, of Philadelphia, is charged with murder in the death of a woman in 2009 during an abortion procedure and in the deaths of four babies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-address-planned-parenthood-145150867.html

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NIH study offers clues to making vaccine for infant respiratory illness

Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Anne A. Oplinger
aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Scientists see vulnerable spot on respiratory syncytial virus protein

WHAT:
An atomic-level snapshot of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) protein bound to a human antibody represents a leap toward developing a vaccine for a commonand sometimes very seriouschildhood disease. The findings, by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, define the vulnerable shape of a critical RSV component called the fusion glycoprotein.

The NIAID scientists determined the fusion glycoprotein's shape as it appears before its interaction with human cells. It is this pre-fusion shape that is most vulnerable to neutralizing antibodies. Progress toward an RSV vaccine has been stalled in part because researchers did not previously know about a highly vulnerable site at the tip of the pre-fusion form of the fusion glycoprotein. Now that the structure has been solved and the site of antibody vulnerability revealed, scientists can use the new structural information to design vaccines capable of eliciting potent antibodies aimed at the target on top of the pre-fusion state of the glycoprotein.

Almost everyone is infected with RSV before turning three years of age. Most children recover quickly from such symptoms as sneezing, runny nose and cough, but the virus is a leading cause of hospitalization in children under age one. In the United States each year between 75,000 and 125,000 children in this age group are hospitalized with RSV infection. Globally, RSV infection accounts for nearly 7percent of deaths among children between the age of one month and one year. The only drug available to prevent severe RSV illness is a monoclonal antibody, palivizumab, which binds to the RSV fusion glycoprotein. In their study, the NIAID researchers showed how three antibodies that potently neutralize RSV all bind to the newly revealed site on the fusion glycoprotein of RSV. Thus, in addition to new clues for vaccine developers, the NIAID findings also provide a structural basis for how these antibodies neutralize RSV. This insight could accelerate development of these antibodies into therapies to treat or prevent severe RSV disease in very young infants, who are the most vulnerable to serious illness.

ARTICLE:
JS McLellan et al. Structure of RSV fusion glycoprotein trimer bound to a prefusion-specific neutralizing antibody. Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1234914 (2013).

WHO:
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is available for comment. NIAID researchers Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D, and Peter D. Kwong, Ph.D., NIAID Vaccine Research Center, are also available to comment on their paper.

CONTACT:
To schedule interviews, please contact Anne A. Oplinger, (301) 402-1663, aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov.

###

NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 25-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Anne A. Oplinger
aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Scientists see vulnerable spot on respiratory syncytial virus protein

WHAT:
An atomic-level snapshot of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) protein bound to a human antibody represents a leap toward developing a vaccine for a commonand sometimes very seriouschildhood disease. The findings, by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, define the vulnerable shape of a critical RSV component called the fusion glycoprotein.

The NIAID scientists determined the fusion glycoprotein's shape as it appears before its interaction with human cells. It is this pre-fusion shape that is most vulnerable to neutralizing antibodies. Progress toward an RSV vaccine has been stalled in part because researchers did not previously know about a highly vulnerable site at the tip of the pre-fusion form of the fusion glycoprotein. Now that the structure has been solved and the site of antibody vulnerability revealed, scientists can use the new structural information to design vaccines capable of eliciting potent antibodies aimed at the target on top of the pre-fusion state of the glycoprotein.

Almost everyone is infected with RSV before turning three years of age. Most children recover quickly from such symptoms as sneezing, runny nose and cough, but the virus is a leading cause of hospitalization in children under age one. In the United States each year between 75,000 and 125,000 children in this age group are hospitalized with RSV infection. Globally, RSV infection accounts for nearly 7percent of deaths among children between the age of one month and one year. The only drug available to prevent severe RSV illness is a monoclonal antibody, palivizumab, which binds to the RSV fusion glycoprotein. In their study, the NIAID researchers showed how three antibodies that potently neutralize RSV all bind to the newly revealed site on the fusion glycoprotein of RSV. Thus, in addition to new clues for vaccine developers, the NIAID findings also provide a structural basis for how these antibodies neutralize RSV. This insight could accelerate development of these antibodies into therapies to treat or prevent severe RSV disease in very young infants, who are the most vulnerable to serious illness.

ARTICLE:
JS McLellan et al. Structure of RSV fusion glycoprotein trimer bound to a prefusion-specific neutralizing antibody. Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1234914 (2013).

WHO:
NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is available for comment. NIAID researchers Barney S. Graham, M.D., Ph.D, and Peter D. Kwong, Ph.D., NIAID Vaccine Research Center, are also available to comment on their paper.

CONTACT:
To schedule interviews, please contact Anne A. Oplinger, (301) 402-1663, aoplinger@niaid.nih.gov.

###

NIAID conducts and supports researchat NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwideto study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/nioa-nso042513.php

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Big brands rejected Bangladesh factory safety plan

A Bangladeshi woman weeps as she holds a picture of her and her missing husband as she waits at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Bangladeshi woman weeps as she holds a picture of her and her missing husband as she waits at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Bangladeshi woman weeps as she holds a picture of her and her missing husband as she waits at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Bangladeshi woman weeps as she waits at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, April 26, 2013. The death toll reached hundreds of people as rescuers continued to search for injured and missing, after a huge section of an eight-story building that housed several garment factories splintered into a pile of concrete.(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? As Bangladesh reels from the deaths of hundreds of garment workers in a building collapse, the refusal of global retailers to pay for strict nationwide factory inspections is bringing renewed scrutiny to an industry that has profited from a country notorious for its hazardous workplaces and subsistence level wages.

After a factory fire killed 112 garment workers in November, clothing brands and retailers continued to reject a union-sponsored proposal to improve safety throughout Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry. Instead, companies expanded a patchwork system of private audits and training that labor groups say improves very little in a country where official inspections are lax and factory owners have close relations with the government.

In the meantime, the number of deaths and injuries has mounted. In the five months since last year's deadly blaze at Tazreen Fashions Ltd., there were 40 other fires in Bangladeshi factories, killing nine workers and injuring more than 660, according to a labor organization tied to the AFL-CIO umbrella group of American unions.

Wednesday's collapse of the Rana Plaza building that killed more than 300 people is the worst disaster to hit Bangladesh's fast-growing and politically powerful garment industry. For those working to overhaul conditions for workers who are paid as little as $38 a month, it is a grim reminder that corporate social responsibility programs are failing to deliver on lofty promises.

More than 48 hours after the eight-story building collapsed, some garment workers were still trapped alive Friday, pinned beneath tons of mangled metal and concrete. Rescue crews struggled to save them, knowing they probably had just a few hours left to live, as desperate relatives clashed with police.

"Improvement is not happening," said Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation in Bangladesh, who said a total of 600 workers have died in factory accidents in the last decade. "The multinational companies claim a lot of things. They claim they have very good policies, they have their own code of conduct, they have their auditing and monitoring system," Amin said. "But yet these things keep happening."

What role retailers should play in making working conditions safer at the factories that manufacture their apparel has become a central issue for the $1-trillion global clothing industry.

The clothing brands say they are working to improve safety, but the size of the garment industry ? some 4,000 factories in Bangladesh alone ?means such efforts skim the surface. That opaqueness is further muddied by subcontracting. Retailers can be unwittingly involved with problematic factories when their main suppliers farm out work to others to ensure orders are filled on time.

"We remain committed to promoting stronger safety measures in factories and that work continues," Wal-Mart said in a statement after the Rana Plaza collapse. The world's largest retailer says there was no authorized Wal-Mart production in the building.

Labor groups argue the best way to clean up Bangladesh's garment factories already is outlined in a nine-page safety proposal drawn up by Bangladeshi and international unions.

The plan would ditch government inspections, which are infrequent and easily subverted by corruption, and establish an independent inspectorate to oversee all factories in Bangladesh, with powers to shut down unsafe facilities as part of a legally binding contract signed by suppliers, customers and unions. The inspections would be funded by contributions from the companies of up to $500,000 per year.

The proposal was presented at a 2011 meeting in Dhaka attended by more than a dozen of the world's largest clothing brands and retailers ? including Wal-Mart, Gap and Swedish clothing giant H&M ? but was rejected by the companies because it would be legally binding and costly.

At the time, Wal-Mart's representative told the meeting it was "not financially feasible ... to make such investments," according to minutes of the meeting obtained by The Associated Press.

After last year's Tazreen blaze, Bangladeshi union president Amin said he and international labor activists renewed a push for the independent inspectorate plan, but none of the factories or big brands would agree.

This week, none of the large clothing brands or retailers would comment about the proposal.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner did not directly answer questions about the unions' safety plans in replies to questions emailed by The Associated Press. H&M responded to questions with emailed links to corporate social responsibility websites.

In December, however, a spokesperson for the Gap ? which owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains ? said the company turned down the proposal because it did not want to be vulnerable to lawsuits and did not want to pay factories more money to help with safety upgrades.

H&M also did not sign on to the proposal because it believes factories and local government in Bangladesh should be taking on the responsibility, Pierre B?rjesson, manager of sustainability and social issues, told AP in December.

H&M, which places the most apparel orders in Bangladesh and works with more than 200 factories there, is one of about 20 retailers and brands that have banded together to develop training films for garment manufacturers.

Wal-Mart last year began requiring regular audits of factories, fire drills and mandated fire safety training for all levels of factory management. It also announced in January it would immediately cut ties with any factory that failed an inspection, instead of giving warnings first as before.

And the Gap has hired its own chief fire inspector to oversee factories that produce its clothing in Bangladesh.

But many insist such measures are not enough to overhaul the industry that employs 3 million workers.

"No matter how much training you have, you can't walk through flames or escape a collapsed building," said Ineke Zeldenrust of the Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign, which lobbies for garment workers' rights.

Private audits also have their failings, she said. Because audits are confidential, even if one company pulls its business from a supplier over safety issues, it won't tell its competitors, who will continue to place orders ? allowing the unsafe factory to stay open.

The Tazreen factory that burned last year had passed inspections, and two of the factories in the Rana Plaza building had passed the standards of a major European group that does factory inspections in developing countries. The Business Social Compliance Initiative, which represents hundreds of companies, said the factories of Phantom Apparels and New Wave Style had been audited against its code of conduct which it said focuses on labor issues not building standards.

"The audits and inspections are too much focused on checklists," said Saif Khan, who worked for Phillips Van Heusen, the owner of brands Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, in Bangladesh until 2011 as a factory compliance supervisor.

"They touch on broader areas but do not consider the realities on the ground," he said.

___

Johnson reported from Mumbai, India. AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York and AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-26-Bangladesh-Building%20Collapse-Inaction/id-8b75d4e25df8487b8e9adc577a90bae9

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Hagel: Syria used chemical weapons

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? U.S. intelligence has concluded "with some degree of varying confidence," that the Syrian government has used sarin gas as a weapon in its 2-year-old civil war, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday.

Hagel, speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi, said the White House has informed two senators by letter that, within the past day, "our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin."

"It violates every convention of warfare," Hagel said.

No information was made public on what quantity of chemical weapons might have been used, or when or what casualties might have resulted.

President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons would be a "game-changer" in the U.S. position on intervening in the Syrian civil war, and the letter to Congress reiterates that the use or transfer of chemical weapons in Syria is a "red line for the United States." However, the letter also hints that a broad U.S. response is not imminent.

White House legislative director Miguel Rodriguez, who signed the letter, wrote that "because the president takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria."

The letters went to Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich.

The assessment, Rodriguez says, is based in part on "physiological samples."

He also said the U.S. believes that the use of chemical weapons "originated with the Assad regime." That is consistent with the Obama administration's assertion that the Syrian rebels do not have access to the country's stockpiles.

In Washington, McCain quoted from the letter the White House sent to several senators who had pressed the administration about Syria's possible use of chemical weapons.

"We just received a letter from the president in response to our question about whether Assad had used chemical weapons," McCain told reporters following a closed briefing with Secretary of State John Kerry on Syria and North Korea.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace and AP writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hagel-says-syria-used-chemical-weapons-155008837--politics.html

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Ex-Catholic has no right to Church job: German court

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Germany's top labor court ruled on Thursday the country's Catholic charity network had the right to fire an employee who quit the Church in protest against the sexual abuse crisis and disputed decisions by ex-Pope Benedict.

The 60-year-old teacher, challenging his 2011 dismissal, had claimed his constitutional right to freedom of opinion trumped the Church's right to employ only Catholics who agreed with the religious mission of their jobs.

He said that his work at Caritas Germany tutoring grade-school children did not deal with religion and that pupils of all faiths were welcome there.

The decision was a victory for the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches, which together are Germany's largest employer after the public sector, against some lay employees and unions challenging the churches' special status in German labor law.

"The defendant's freedom of religion and conscience is certainly very important," the Erfurt-based court said in a statement. But it added that judges could not order the Church to employ someone who had officially given up his membership.

Pope Francis has stressed the religious aspect of Church work, saying soon after his election last month that the Church "may become a charitable NGO" (non-governmental organization) if it does social work and forgets to spread the Gospel.

Church membership is clearly defined in Germany because members must pay a "church tax" that is collected by the state.

A record number of more than 180,000 Catholics left the Church in protest in 2010 after a wave of revelations about the sexual abuse of children by priests over recent decades.

The defendant, who was not named but who was identified in media as Thomas Hellhake from Mannheim, said his decision to leave the Church was also influenced by Benedict's decisions to lift excommunication bans from four ultra-traditionalist bishops, including one notorious Holocaust denier.

He also objected to a Good Friday prayer in Latin that he approved for the use that Jews decried as anti-Semitic because it asks God to "remove the veil from their hearts."

The court decision was based on the loyalty requirement in the defendant's contract and not on the views that led him to leave the Church.

"Anyone who leaves the Church violates the precept of minimal loyalty," Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the Catholic bishops conference, told the Church-run Domradio in Cologne.

(Reporting By Tom Heneghan; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-catholic-no-church-job-german-court-165824875.html

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Bush's Legacy: Squandered Opportunity

I was standing in the driveway, shooting jumpshots, when the world forever changed. One of my roommates called to me though an open window, "Get in here! We're under attack!" The date was September 11, 2001.

I had just graduated from a Wisconsin college a few months earlier and lived nearby. Like many, I thought George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" meant he and Al Gore were eerily similar. Because of this, I skipped the long drive to Columbus, Ohio to vote in the 2000 election. Bush narrowly won Ohio.

In the aftermath of the attacks, people of all backgrounds came together, united as Americans. We collectively rallied together, turned to the newly elected Bush, eager for strong leadership.

Strong leadership we got. In 2002, when discussing the possibility of enemies using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, Bush offered, " we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." The enemy he referred to was not those responsible for the 2001 attacks; rather, he spoke of Iraq. With almost limitless political capital, the United States invaded Iraq in March of 2003.

Ultimately, Iraq did not have any nuclear weapons and posed little threat. The invasion and occupation of Iraq cost billions of dollars, but there was a far more significant price: the needless loss of thousands of lives.

Bush continued to misspend his political capital. The tax cuts he ushered through disproportionately favored the wealthiest Americans. The resulting lowered tax receipts are a large part of the reason for our enormous deficit and the current sequester. Likewise, the deregulation of Wall Street factored into the near economic collapse of 2008.

I learned my lesson. I've been certain to vote in every election ever since.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bushs-legacy-squandered-opportunity-211900540.html

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White House backs Reid?s sequester plan

With deep federal spending cuts known as the sequester beginning to affect air travel and forcing some public-sector layoffs, the White House on Wednesday seemed to offer public support for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposal to temporarily pay down the sequester without generating new tax revenue.

White House officials previously stated the president would not support any measure to replace the sequester that did not include some new tax revenue?what they called a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction.

Reid's plan suggests using some of the $650 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operation fund for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to pay down the sequester for about five months on the presumption the U.S. will not spend all the funds allocated given that the Iraq War has ended and U.S. combat troops are on track to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

"We believe that Sen. Reid's proposal is a good one," White House press secretary Jay Carney said at Wednesday's press briefing. It would "temporarily delay the sequester and all the negative effects that we're talking about down to air travelers, families, seniors, as well as the job loss and the drag on our economy in order to allow for the discussions that the president has made in trying to find common ground with Republicans to bear fruit."

When asked to explain the White House's seeming about-turn on tax revenue, Carney repeated that the White House is supportive of Reid's plan in order to "allow time" for congressional leaders and the White House to find "common ground."

Republicans dismissed Reid's plan as?at best?a budget gimmick.

"So, whether OCO is the mother of all gimmicks, or just a glaring one?everybody other than the majority leader evidently agrees on one thing: It?s the height of fiscal irresponsibility," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

McConnell later cast Reid's plan as a significant and potentially positive development: "There?s now bipartisan agreement that tax hikes won?t be a replacement to the sequester," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-announces-support-reid-plan-temporarily-offset-183545468--politics.html

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Blood Test May Catch Deadly Fungal Infection Quickly - Health ...

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) ? An experimental test could help doctors catch a deadly type of fungal infection in the blood within a few hours, rather than the few days it currently takes, a new study suggests.

The test, which is not yet on the market, looks for Candida infection in the blood. The fungus is best known for causing common vaginal yeast infections, but when it gets into the bloodstream it can cause serious infections of organs and tissue throughout the body.

Candida blood infections ? known as candidemia ? are very rare in healthy people, but they are the fourth most common type of blood infection among U.S. hospital patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The infection is typically transmitted through contaminated catheters, and seen in seriously ill patients ? such as those in the intensive care unit, or with weakened immune systems.

The symptoms of candidemia are vague, and include fever and chills, so doctors use blood cultures to diagnose it. That means putting a blood sample in a special broth that feeds the yeast organism until it grows enough to be detected.

But Candida ?is a slow grower,? and it takes a few days to get blood culture results back, said Thomas Lowery of T2 Biosystems, the Lexington, Mass.-based company developing the new test.

By that time, it may be too late for the patient. About 40 percent of people with Candida blood infections die, and delayed diagnosis bears part of the blame, Lowery and his colleagues write in the April 24 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Getting a precise diagnosis is vital, Lowery said, both to confirm that it?s Candida, and to pinpoint which type it is. ?You need to know the specific Candida so you can use the right antifungal drug,? he said.

In the new study, Lowery?s team found that the test they?ve developed can reliably detect the five most common species of Candida within about three hours.

The researchers used blood samples from healthy people and ?spiked? them with Candida yeast. They then analyzed the samples with the new test and with standard blood cultures. The two tests were in agreement on ?positives? 98 percent of the time.

An expert not involved in the research said the test?s sensitivity is ?very, very good.?

?This is preliminary, but the technology looks extremely promising,? said Christine Ginocchio, chief of infectious disease diagnostics at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Lake Success, N.Y.

What?s particularly ?exciting? is that the technology could potentially be used to test for other pathogens that cause serious bloodstream infections, according to Ginocchio, who is also a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America?s Diagnostics Task Force.

Ideally, Ginocchio explained, when doctors suspect a patient has a bloodstream infection, they would be able to take a blood sample, directly test it, then have a result in a few hours. The problem right now is that a blood sample would normally not contain enough of the culprit bug ? be it a fungus or bacterium ? to detect.

Plus, Ginocchio noted, the blood contains a lot of other genetic material that gets in the way of spotting that bit of foreign-invader DNA. That?s why blood cultures are done.

The new test, which is based on so-called magnetic resonance technology, essentially removes the ?noise? coming from other material in the blood sample, allowing it to zero in on the pathogen.

There is still more work to be done. ?Now you?d like to see this tested in a larger, multicenter trial,? Ginocchio said.

The process would also need to be automated, she noted, to be feasible for smaller community hospitals. T2 Biosystems? Lowery said the researchers are working on making the method ?fully automated.?

Exactly what it would all cost is not known. But both Ginocchio and Lowery said that if the test gets more patients on the right drug quickly, the cost would likely be worth it.

According to Lowery?s team, research suggests that with Candida infections, starting the right antifungal drug within 12 hours can cut the death rate from 40 percent to 11 percent.

More information

Learn more about Candida blood infections from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/04/24/blood-test-may-catch-deadly-fungal-infection-quickly/

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AI Gaming Startup Storybricks Collaborating With Sony Online For ...

We?d been hearing for a while that Storybricks, the AI gaming startup co-founded by serial entrepreneur Rodolfo Rosini, had picked up a major client win since pivoting to license its technology to games studios. We just didn?t say who, in case it hadn?t closed, except to describe the potential partnership as of ?jaw-dropping magnitude?.

Today, the cat is out of the bag. In its latest newsletter, Storybricks confirms that it is collaborating with Sony Online for EverQuest Next, the latest sequel to the highly successful EverQuest franchise. Jaw-dropping indeed for a six-person company.

Late last year we reported that, after a failed Kickstarter campaign, Storybricks was pivoting. Gone was the company?s super-ambitious mission to create a new browser-based MMO that would let users turn stories into games. Instead, harnessing much of its core tech, the startup was aiming to build the best artificial intelligence (AI) engine for online games by giving characters emotions ? and licensing this engine to third-parties. And now it seems that Sony Online ? specifically EverQuest Next ? will be the first title to benefit from Storybricks? AI boosting technology.

The announcement, via the company?s newsletter, is very short on details. Instead it teases: ?After several months of working together with Sony Online, we can finally reveal that we are collaborating on EverQuest Next. EQN is ?the biggest sandbox ever designed? and we are extremely happy to be working on the most innovative MMORPG under development.?

It goes on to state that the company ?can?t give any specifics about what we are doing on EQN yet?, except to say that it is ?doing remarkable things?.

Curiosity never killed this cat, so I tracked down Rosini over email to push for more information about the startup?s partnership with Sony Online. ?Sorry we can?t talk about it yet,? he wrote with uncharacteristic reserve. When pressed, however, he did reveal that the collaboration is generating significant revenue for Storybricks and isn?t royalty-based.

It wasn?t the only deal on the table, either. Rosini says that lots of games studios were interested in working with the startup, but they could only embark on one project of this size. ?EQN could be the most important game of the next 10 years,? he said. ?We could not let this opportunity pass.?

Finally, returning to form, Rosini signed off with the following: ?Also there are [a] few VCs who are hardcore Warcraft players and certainly I enjoy being able to have access to the new new MMO before them.?

Well, they do say that money can?t buy you everything.

Storybricks is a platform that lets gamer developers add emotions and complex behaviors to game characters. It works alongside game studios to integrate a toolset into online games like MMORPGs. This is what developers are saying: ?Storybricks is important ? perhaps the most important new technology in MMORPG development in many years ? because it provides the technological foundation for creating characters with emotional depth in computer-mediated gameworlds.?

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Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/24/everquest-next/

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