The OFFICAL News Thread

[SATX*APhi]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Stabbed Woman Rescued From College Dorm Fire
Victim Listed In Critical Condition
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- A female student suffering from extensive burns is in critical condition after a dormitory fire at Western Kentucky University early Sunday.

The fire is being investigated as foul play, according to a spokesman for the Kentucky State Fire Marshal's office.

The young woman, whose name was not released, is suffering from stab wounds, and it appears that the fire was set deliberately, the spokesman said.

The student is being treated at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., -- which is about 60 miles south of Bowling Green.

The fire occurred shortly after 4:10 a.m. CDT on the second floor of Hugh Poland Hall. It was extinguished by the dormitory's sprinkler system.

About 50 of the 310 students were in the nine-story building at the time of the fire. The students have either left campus or have moved into other dormitories.

University spokesman Bob Skipper said he was aware that the victim had stab wounds, but did not know the cause of the wounds.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

http://www.clickondetroit.com

This is so awful. I hope she gets better soon.

[Optimist Prime]

This so wrong.

Paris Theater Director Attacked After Staging Play Critical of Bush
The Associated Press
Published: May 4, 2003





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PARIS (AP) - Two men attacked the director of a Paris theater Sunday, punching him and slashing his face, apparently because of a play he is staging that criticizes President Bush, the theater said.
Attilio Maggiulli, director of the Theater of Italian Comedy, was attacked in the building's entrance on Sunday, said Claudine Simon, his assistant. One man held him down, while another cut his face. They also splashed paint on the theater's walls, she said.

It was unclear exactly what motivated the beating, said Simon, who said she found her employer bleeding in the entryway. But she said it may have been over the play the theater has been showing since Wednesday, titled "George W. Bush, or God's Sad Cowboy."

Simon suggested the assailants might have been offended by a poster showing a skull in a cowboy hat to represent Bush, or by a photo of an Afghan man that the theater showed as part of its publicity display.

"They said things like, "Oh, you're defending the Arabs," Simon said. They also insulted President Jacques Chirac, one of the main opponents of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The play is critical of Bush but doesn't directly touch on the Arab world, Simon said.

The assailants fled, and Maggiulli was treated at a Paris hospital, Simon said.

The theater director wants to shut down the play to protect the actors, but a final decision has not yet been made, Simon said. Maggiulli founded the theater in the Montparnasse neighborhood to stage works by Italian playwrights performed in French.

[Optimist Prime]

HARRISONBURG, Va. - A state delegate is calling on James Madison University's president to defend "Sexfest 2003," a one-day campus program that was intended to promote safe sex and other issues.



"This would seem to assume that all college students are sexually active and give the impression that the school condones premarital sexual activity," Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas wrote to President Linwood Rose. He also asked why abstinence wasn't promoted as an alternative.


Marshall said condoms and pamphlets on everything from sexually transmitted diseases to prostate cancer (news - web sites) were distributed at the Saturday conference.


Rose declined comment until the university offers a formal reply.


"It was an event you could attend or not attend," school spokesman Fred Hilton said.



I'm moving as soon as I graduate.

[Optimist Prime]

Israeli troops kill British cameraman
By Saud Abu Ramadan
From the International Desk
Published 5/2/2003 7:18 PM
View printer-friendly version


GAZA, May 3 (UPI) -- Israeli troops stationed on the borders between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt shot and killed a British cameraman late Friday as he filmed Israeli bulldozers razing Palestinian houses, witnesses said.

They said that James Moller, 43, a British citizen and a freelance cameraman who works for Frost Bite, British company for producing documentary films, was shot in the neck by Israeli troops' gunfire. He reportedly had been waving a small white flag in the glare of his camera lighting equipment.

The incident occurred in Rafah, a refugee camp turned town just north of Egypt and one of the tensest areas of the Palestinian territories since the intifada, or uprising, began in September 2000. Israelis often stage incursions there in an effort to stop both militancy and cross-border smuggling operations that they say bring weapons and black-market products into the Palestinian territories.

The witnesses said Palestinian ambulances were not able to reach Moller because of intense Israeli heavy gunfire, but added Israeli troops carried him to an armored personnel carrier.

Saera Shah, a freelance producer for Frost Bite, told United Press International that Moller died later of his wounds at an Israeli hospital.

Israeli soldiers had clearly seen Moller filming near the borders, she said: "What the Israeli soldiers did is a real crime because they killed James in cold blood."

A Palestinian cameraman was shot dead two weeks ago by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank town of Nablus. He was shot in the neck while filming clashes between Israel and the Palestinians.

In March, an Israeli bulldozer crushed a 23-year-old American peace activist in Rafah who was trying to protect Palestinian homes there -- an incident the Israelis said was an accident. A British activist was wounded in the head by Israeli gunfire two weeks later.

Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International

View printer-friendly version

[Optimist Prime]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A deputy used pepper spray on a 12-year-old girl and wrestled her to the ground when she ignored repeated orders to stop jaywalking, the sheriff's office said Friday.
Broward County sheriff's deputy Michael Roberto was issuing jaywalking tickets to students crossing a busy highway Thursday when he asked the girl to stand next to his motorcycle so he could give her a citation, the deputy's report said.

But the girl, who was not immediately identified, became upset and began to curse, Roberto said in the report. The girl also walked away and ignored four more orders to stop and put her hands behind her back, he said.

The girl, who is 5-foot-1 and 134 pounds, threatened to hit Roberto and rolled her hand in a fist, the report said. The deputy repeatedly warned her that he would use pepper spray if she didn't listen.

"After the last warning and order, it became apparent that I had to choose between a physical fight and using the pepper spray," Roberto wrote. "I sprayed her in the face."

The girl then knocked the spray can out of Roberto's hand, so the deputy wrestled the girl to the ground and handcuffed her, the report said. The girl, who was not injured, was charged with failure to use a crosswalk and resisting arrest without violence, both misdemeanors. She was released to her mother.

The girl likely won't face any jail time on the charges, sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedahl said.

Leljedahl said there is no age policy for the use of pepper spray. The police report and witness accounts suggest Roberto acted within the sheriff's office's rules, Leljedahl said.

"Pepper spray is an appropriate response when we meet with defensive resistance," Leljedahl said Friday. "In this case, she was belligerent and aggressive, even."

The sheriff's office was reviewing the arrest, though most pepper spray incidents are not investigated, Leljedahl said. A formal investigation would be launched if the girl's family files a complaint, he said.

Deputies seeking to stop accidents along busy Federal Highway have been ticketing Olsen Middle School students for the past several weeks.

Roberto, a 22-year veteran of the force, was at work Friday, Leljedahl said.

AP-ES-05-02-03 1817EDT

[The1calledTKE]

Israeli Cop Mistakenly Undressed, Fondled at Party
Mon May 5, 2003 10:27 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli policeman responding to neighbors' complaints about a rowdy hen party received an unexpected welcome at the door when revelers mistook him for a stripper and began to take off his clothes and stroke him.
"The women had ordered a stripper dressed as a police officer," national police spokesman Gil Kleiman said on Monday.

The policeman showed the women his badge but they thought it was part of the act. He was extricated only after his partner came up and vouched for his identity, Kleiman said.

"She took off my shirt and untied my shoelaces," the officer was quoted by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily as saying about one of the partygoers. "She started stroking me and called on her friends to join in."

[The1calledTKE]

English-only Latinos on rise


Many youths carry stigma of not speaking Spanish

Yvonne Wingett and Mel Meléndez
The Arizona Republic
May. 5, 2003 12:00 AM


Rattle off a phrase in Spanish to Andrew Tarango and a look of confusion crosses his face.

The college sophomore is among a growing number of first-, second- and third-generation Latinos who grew up speaking only English. Now he's joining a chorus of teens, young adults and professionals crying "Que lastima!" which means "What a pity."

"Sometimes I'm looked down upon by people who speak Spanish from my neighborhood," said Tarango, 21, who is taking Spanish classes. "It's like I'm less of a Chicano than them because I don't speak the language."

While a majority of Arizona's older Latinos speak Spanish at home, fewer young Latinos living here can say the same.

In an age when Shakira tops the music charts and J.Lo is one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People," there is a growing group hungering to discover or reconnect with their Latin culture. For many, the biggest barrier is language.

Figures from the 2000 census show that of the 629,000 Hispanic adults in Arizona, 78 percent speak a language other than English at home. That figure drops to 64 percent among Latinos 5 to 17 years old.

Those figures, experts say, signal a generational divide between those who speak the language and those who can't.

They attribute much of the problem to discrimination that older Spanish-speaking Latinos felt as children. Before the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, many Latinos felt pressured not to speak Spanish in order to fully assimilate. Latinos were chastised for speaking Spanish in school. As a result, they chose not to teach their children Spanish to protect them from the cultural bias they felt.

"I used to come home crying to my mother because I would get in trouble for speaking Spanish (in school)," said Phoenix College student Clorinda Lozano, 52, of Peoria. "They made us feel embarrassed of our language."

Today, Lozano's children are not fluent in Spanish because she didn't want them discriminated against. "I deeply regret that now because people see it as a rejection of your culture when you can't speak Spanish."

Many Latinos said the price they pay for not speaking Spanish is high. They have fewer job opportunities; broken ties with their culture; an inability to speak with grandparents; and feelings of shame and embarrassment when taking Spanish 101.

"It kind of set me back. I want to be in the FBI and you have to be fluent in two languages," said Tarango, of west Phoenix. "And even now in Arizona . . . it almost seems that you need to know Spanish to get around. I've been called the White guy because of it. I'm not Caucasian, I'm Hispanic. I just don't know the language. It's not my fault, don't hold it against me. I'm trying to learn it now."

"Language is always an issue in a community because it's one of the things that unites you as a people," said Amalia Villegas, a Phoenix College counselor and co-adviser to the Latino student organization A.L.E. (Associación Latina Estudiantil). "But identity isn't solely based on language. I think we do a real disservice to ourselves when we think that, because you can be fluent in a language and not be culturally aware."

Many of those who don't speak Spanish wish they could to avoid being left out of the cultural loop, said Cordelia Chávez Candelaria, a Chicano studies professor at Arizona State University.

"If you really don't have an automatic fluency, then you kind of get blocked out," she said. "You're going to miss out on some things in the Hispanic experience."

Just ask Will McEntee and his best friend, Juan Vidal. One is from Omaha, Neb., and the other Chihuahua, Mexico. They come from different worlds, from opposite sides of the border. Their friendship personifies that growing cultural divide: McEntee doesn't speak Spanish and sometimes feels like he doesn't fit in the Latino world.

"I'm half Latino and all of my friends are Latino, so people expect you to speak it," McEntee said. "I wish I could, too, because people look at you like you're less Latino if you don't speak Spanish. It's crazy."

"A lot of Latinos expect you to speak Spanish and if you don't it offends them," said Jesus Chaidez, a 21-year-old justice studies major at Arizona State University. "They look at you like you're a sellout because you can't communicate in your people's native tongue."

However, language is the primary tool Latinos use to discover their roots, Chávez Candelaria said.

For example, many student organizations such as MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) and A.L.E. often hold meetings in Spanish, encouraging a bilingual experience. Hundreds of students travel to Mexico, Latin America and abroad for foreign-exchange programs to immerse themselves in the culture and language. And hundreds, like Tarango, have joined Latino-founded fraternities and sororities, putting them in daily contact with others who look like them and have similar life experiences.

"Realistically, not speaking Spanish doesn't mean you're not Latino," said Chaidez, who is bilingual.

"We need to acknowledge that and be more understanding. It's what's in your heart that counts."

[bsp-mich24]

This came up on our board maybe you got it too (However I did NOT go to the link this person posted).

By net5354 "newsgonewild.com has Yale naked party info"
http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=33234

Note:net5354 is not associated w/BSP.

[AlphaGamDiva]

on the news last night here, it said that the young woman who was stabbed and burned at western ky univ passed away yesterday....i haven't checked for a full-info link, but i will. just letting you know.

this is really, really sad.........

[moe.ron]

Is that nudist flight still available?

[docetboy]

More Than 120 Sucked Out of Cargo Plane

Door of Cargo Plane Flying Across Congo Opens Mid-Flight, Sucking Out More Than 120 Passengers

The Associated Press

KINSHASA, Congo May 9 —
The rear door of a cargo plane burst open over Congo, hurling more than 120 soldiers, their wives and children to their deaths while others survived by clinging to the aircraft as it returned to the airport, officials said Friday.

The plane, a Russian-built Ilyushin 76, lost its door at 33,000 feet about 45 minutes after takeoff Thursday night from Kinshasa, the capital of the central African nation, said government spokesman, Kikaya Bin Karubi.

Seven people were confirmed dead and military helicopters were searching the region for more casualties, the spokesman said. Karubi did not provide details but confirmed that those who died had been "ejected from the plane."

Two officials at the airport in Kinshasa separately told The Associated Press that at least 129 people were feared dead. Survivors described being battered by swirling baggage and cargo as the cabin lost pressure.

"They were traumatized," said Kabamba Mbwebwe, a doctor who treated victims. "The door opened and the plane depressurized. Many were sucked out."

The flight crew managed to fly the plane back to the capital, where it could be seen the next day on the tarmac, missing a door.

Nine survivors were treated for minor injuries and psychological trauma at Kinshasa General Hospital.

It was not known how many people were on the plane or whether they had seats or seatbelts. People in Africa often travel on modified cargo planes that have few seats, leaving most passengers to cram in among their belongings in the rear of the aircraft.

The privately owned plane apparently had been chartered to transport Congolese soldiers and their families from Kinshasa to the southeastern city of Lubumbashi, a diamond center. Soldiers regularly provide security in Congo cities, often traveling as a group between assignments.

It was not immediately known why the door came open. The weather was clear. There were no suggestion of sabotage.

The plane's owner was not immediately identified. The logo says "Ukrainian Cargo Airlines."

The Ilyushin 76 is a medium- to long-range transport jet. The model was first flown in 1971. It is widely used around the world, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as a civilian carrier.

The plane has had a checkered safety record, including 47 accidents that resulted in 668 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network Web site, an air safety data base.

On Feb. 19, an Ilyushin 76 crashed in bad weather in Iran, killing 275 people, including more that 200 elite Iranian soldiers. A month earlier, another of the jets crashed while landing in thick fog in East Timor, killing all six people on board.

Kinshasa residents still have painful memories of a plane disaster on Jan. 6, 1996 that left as many as 1,000 people killed when a Russian-built Antonov crashed into a crowded market at the end of a runway near a Kinshasa airport.

Congo is in the fifth year of a civil war that has led to more than 2.5 million deaths, aid groups estimate, mostly from strife-related hunger or illness. Despite a series of peace deals, fighting persists in the northeast.



Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030509_1209.html

[AXJules]

Pardoned Death Row Inmate Bails Buddy Out Of Jail

POSTED: 8:04 a.m. CDT May 11, 2003


CHICAGO -- A former death row inmate has bailed out of jail a friend who was awaiting a new trial after his murder conviction was overturned.

Former inmate Aaron Patterson handed over a check for $100,000 Saturday to get former El Rukn street gang leader Nathson Fields out of jail.

Patterson was pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan, and he and Fields had spent time together on death row.


It was Fields' first taste of freedom in nearly 20 years. He has been held at the Cook County Jail since 1998 when his conviction in two 1984 murders were overturned.

The convictions of him and another man were overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court after the judge in the case was himself convicted in 1993 of racketeering for fixing murder cases.

[Optimist Prime]

I don't have the story link to this but a kid was killed playing baseball. He was at bat and a wild pitch hit him in the chest, causing his heart to into defibulation. He died after being in the hospital.

That is really sad, just playing ball and then..gone.

The pitch wasn't intentional. But how do you feel if you're that kid who was pitching and you found out you killed some one. I would never play ball again. At least not for a long while.

[lifesaver]

50 of our state legislators have walked out of the legislature in an effort to stop all legislation. They have fled the state, as the speaker of the house has ordered arrest warrents drawn up. They actually have 800 numbers to call in sightings of the missing house members. (DPS number for information on missing lawmakers: 1-800-525-5555) THey hare reportedly fled to Oklahoma, where, as far as I am concerned, they can stay. This is such bullshit. What is going on in my state????


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/apw...b=1&xlc=995441

Missing lawmakers whereabouts discovered

By CONNIE MABIN (Associated Press Writer)
The Associated Press

Web Posted : 05/12/2003 10:11 PM

Democrats angry with the new Republican leadership of the Texas House brought the chamber to a standstill by failing to show up Monday. The GOP leader responded by ordering state troopers and the elite Texas Rangers to find and arrest the missing lawmakers.

After hours of waiting for word, not knowing where the 58 Democrats were or how long they would be gone, the whereabouts of most of the lawmakers' were discovered late Monday in Ardmore, Okla., a lawmaker said.

Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick said Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were en route to a Holiday Inn in the city to tell 40-plus members to return to Austin.

The troopers have no legal authority to arrest the lawmakers, but Craddick said he made a plane available to Democrats who choose to come back "so we can go on with the business of the state."

Earlier, a missing representative told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity where the lawmakers were.

"The mood is good," the lawmaker said. "To even attempt something that expresses your conviction of this magnitude requires you to be very committed and have a lot of trust for each other."

The lawmaker told the AP that the members were not concerned about being arrested and continued to believe they were doing the right thing.

"If you look at the egregiousness of the power grab and just the greed from a political perspective that takes away the people's voice," the representative said. "The tool available was to say this is so wrong."

Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick said the move was disgraceful. He told the chamber that Texas authorities were working with federal authorities to try to get permission to arrest the Democrats.

The rebel Democrats were planning a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Oklahoma.

The quorum-busting boycott capped months of tension between Democrats and the newly-in-control Republicans, and occurred as the chamber was scheduled to debate a congressional redistricting plan opposed by Democrats.

The parties also have clashed over a bill to limit lawsuits and a GOP budget that would avoid new taxes but make deep spending cuts.

Another member told the AP Monday night that the group has pledged not to break ranks and not return voluntarily.

"It's totally up to Speaker Craddick and he's been so advised," the member said. "If he will get redistricting off the calendar, we'll be right back there bright and early."

Craddick had locked down the House chamber so lawmakers who did show up Monday morning could not leave.

The House had ordered the missing lawmakers arrested and brought back to the chamber.

"It is a disgrace to run and hide," Craddick said.

Some of the missing lawmakers had said they planned to leave the state to avoid arrest. Ardmore is on Interstate 35, about 30 miles north of the Texas-Oklahoma border.

The Texas House cannot convene without at least 100 of the 150 members present, and 58 of the 62 Democrats were absent. There are 88 Republicans. The three Democrats who remained are Craddick allies. Another _ Rep. Sylvester Turner of Houston _ returned to the House about 5:40 p.m., and was applauded by fellow lawmakers.

House rules allow for the arrest of members who intentionally thwart a quorum.

House Democrats said they were taking a stand for fair treatment of the minority party. They blamed U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for pushing the Texas House to take up redistricting.

Fifty-three Democrats told the House leadership in letters that they would be absent.

The House doorkeeper kept watch over the chamber's front door, its historic brass lock turned shut. Inside, Republicans lobbed toy balls, whistled the "Star Spangled Banner" and dined on white-linen covered tables.

As the daylight diminished, Republican Gov. Rick Perry made an appearance in the chamber, where he posed for pictures with Republicans and again denounced Democrats who fled.

With a midnight Monday deadline approaching for House bills in committees that were unable to meet, more than 200 pieces of legislation would die, Perry said.

"If 53 people can decide to leave on any given issue, we might as well shut this building down and let it become a museum because the work of the people is through," Perry said.

Earlier, more than 100 people gathered in the rain outside the Capitol to rally in support of the Democratic walkout. They carried signs that read: "Tom DeLay, Go Away," "Don't tread on Travis" and "Sieg heil, Tom DeLay."

Bad feelings had been simmering since Craddick took the reins from Democrat Pete Laney in January. Laney, a close friend of President Bush from Bush's six years as governor, was among the missing.

The lawmakers were preparing for the trip Sunday night and were packing clothes to allow them to stay away for four days, a legislative source told the AP on condition of anonymity.

If they stay away through Thursday _ the deadline for preliminary passage of House bills _ Democrats could derail major pending bills that have been termed a priority by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Perry, including a budget-balancing government reorganization proposal.

There are three weeks left in the legislative session.

Perry said he would strongly consider calling a special session that could include redistricting after the regular session ends June 2.

Rep. Joe Nixon, R-Houston, said Texans ought to be incensed by the walkout because work is not getting done.

"This is a political process. Everybody knows that. It is wrong for one group to take the ball and go home," Nixon said.

Rep. Ron Wilson of Houston, one of the three House Democrats who showed up Monday, said, "My whole philosophy is if you're going to impact on this process, you've got to be here."

The walkout came 24 years to the month since a group of 12 Texas state senators defied then-Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby by refusing to show up at the Capitol.

Some of the "Killer Bees," as the 12 Democrats came to be known, hid out in a west Austin garage apartment while troopers, Texas Rangers and legislative sergeants-at-arms unsuccessfully combed the state for them.

Craddick dubbed Monday's rebels "Chicken Ds."

In 2001, Democrats in the Oregon House boycotted the Legislature over a GOP redistricting plan.

___

DPS number for information on missing lawmakers: 1-800-525-5555

[Optimist Prime]

Redistricting is not good i think.