Friday February 5, 2010

Official Headlines from yesterday
How did yours compare?
1. Lover loses bid for businesswoman’s billions
2. John Mayer weighs in on Tiger’s texts
3. China launches sweep for tainted milk
4. Kobe passes West as Lakers’ scoring leader
5. Taxi tips for travelers

TIME FOR A NEW ARTICLE. TO GET YOU IN THE SPIRIT, PLEASE read the following five eclectic articles. As well as gathering current news information, list for each the lead qualities:
Who
What
When
Where
Why
How

Post your responses.

On Monday, let me know your topic, again which you'll post. The article is due Thursday February 11.
Article 1: Blizzard Conditions Headed Towards Mid Atlantic Region.

Residents in the mid-Atlantic states have rushed to stores for shovels, ice-melting chemicals and other emergency supplies ahead of a storm that is expected to wallop the region with as much as 24 inches of snow Friday.

A blizzard is expected to hit New Jersey and Delaware starting Friday afternoon, while near-blizzard conditions are expected to hit Washington and Baltimore, Maryland, the National Weather Service said.

Baltimore-area residents rushed for supplies late Thursday, CNN affiliate WUSA reported.

Shannon Whitehead of College Park said her hardware store had sold out of snow shovels.

Whitehead had little time to find supplies, the weather service predicted.

A storm warning was issued for Baltimore and Washington from 10 a.m. Friday till 10 p.m. Saturday. The storm will make travel very hazardous or nearly impossible Friday night, the agency said.

A blizzard warning was issued for parts of New Jersey and Delaware from 4 p.m. Friday till 7 p.m. Saturday.

"Snowfall totals of 12 to 18 inches are expected near the Delaware and central New Jersey coast, with up to 24 inches expected expected over southern New Jersey," the weather service said.

The blizzard will make travel extremely dangerous in New Jersey, the agency said. Snow, strong winds and poor visibility are likely, leading to whiteout conditions.

Southwest Airlines canceled most flights to Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington for Friday afternoon and evening. And the storm could affect more flights Saturday and Sunday, the airline said.

Amtrak has canceled most Friday service from Washington southward, it said in a statement.

Baltimore, Washington and northern Virginia could receive 16 to 24 inches of snow. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, could get 8 to 12 inches.

Storm warnings also covered parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and South Carolina.

Article 2
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) --
Missionaries Case Riddled With Lies

Ten Americans detained last week while trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association, a government official said.

Information Minister Marie Laurence Lassegue's announcement came shortly after the five men and five women left a hearing at the prosecutor's office.

Under Haitian law, anyone accused of kidnapping a child is not eligible for bail, the attorney general's office said.

Conviction on the kidnapping charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; the criminal association charge carries a penalty of three to nine years, according to a former justice minister.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN's "Larry King Live" on Thursday night that the judge in the case has three months to decide whether to prosecute.

"We hope that he will decide long before those three months," he said. "He can release them, he can ask to prosecute them."

If a decision is made to prosecute, the case would be heard before a jury, he said.

Told that the families of the detained Americans had pleaded for him to intervene, Bellerive said he could not.

"Those people are not in the hands of the government; they are in the hands of justice," he said. "We have to respect the law. It is clear that the people violated the law. What we have to understand is if they did it in good faith."

Bellerive said the Haitian government was open to the possibility of the case being transferred to a U.S. court but said the request would have to come from the United States. "Until now, I was not asked," he said.

He expressed gratitude for the work of the vast majority of Americans who have helped in the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake that he said killed at least 212,000 people.

The Americans were turned back Friday as they tried to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic without proper documentation. They said they were going to house them in a converted hotel in that country and later move them to an orphanage they were building there.

"We can confirm that the 10 American citizens remain in custody in Haiti," said State Department deputy spokesman Gordon Duguid. "We continue to provide appropriate consular assistance and to monitor developments in the legal case."

The Americans have said they were just trying to help the children leave the earthquake-stricken country.

Some of the detained Americans have said they thought they were helping orphans, but their interpreters said Wednesday that they were present when group members spoke with the children's parents. Some parents in a village outside Port-au-Prince said they had willingly given their children over to the Americans, who promised them a better life and who said they could see their children whenever they wanted to.

Government approval is needed for any Haitian child to leave the country, and the group acknowledged that the children had no passports.

Some members of the group belong to the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. One of the church's ministers asked for privacy and would not discuss the matter.

"I know you have many questions but we don't have answers right now," Drew Ham, assistant pastor, said in a note to reporters.

P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, has said that U.S. officials have been given unlimited consular access to the Americans and that U.S. and Haitian authorities are "working to try to ascertain what happened [and] the motive behind these people.

"Clearly, there are questions about procedure as to whether they had the appropriate paperwork to move the children," he said Wednesday.

Article 3: (PEOPLE.com) --
Ashton Kutcher hates V-Day

Demi Moore, who once said that falling in love with Ashton Kutcher "caught us both by surprise," might also be shocked to learn that her husband dislikes the year's most romantic day.

"I hate Valentine's Day," Kutcher told Parade magazine. But he doesn't hate the lovey-dovey sentiment that is celebrated every Feb. 14: In fact, he feels quite the opposite.

"I think every day should be a day of romance," he said. "Then, on Valentine's Day, you should get to tell whoever you hate that you cannot stand them. There would be one day of hating, and 364 days of love."

Kutcher, who plays a florist who unexpectedly finds love in the upcoming movie "Valentine's Day," may have developed his disdain for the holiday as early as the third grade.

"There was this girl who sat in front of me who had the prettiest super-long hair," he said. "I was absolutely infatuated with her." But he experienced rejection when he gave the girl a very direct Valentine's Day, which read "Kiss Me."

"The tragedy was that she didn't get the point and I never got kissed," said Kutcher of his early disappointment.

Still the star's romantic streak has survived.

"I think the most romantic thing that I've done is travel a long way to another country for like an hour to see someone I loved and then turn around and go back because I had a commitment I couldn't cancel," he told Parade. "So it was literally not sleeping for two days, going through hell, just to see somebody for an hour."

Awwwww!




Article 4:
Concussions Extra Dangerous to Teen Brains

(CNN) -- Max Conradt was used to defensive linemen hurtling their 300-pound frames at him week after week. He was a high school quarterback, the team leader who took his licks and got back up.

That is, until the wrenching hit that changed everything.

"It was a vicious hit," said Ralph Conradt, Max's father. "A really bad hit."

Afterward, the 17-year-old got up slowly, staggered for a few seconds, and continued to play. When the game ended, he limped toward the sideline.

"He looked at me and said 'My chin hurts,' " said Joy Conradt, Max's stepmother. "I started to respond and he collapsed. I was absolutely nauseatedly sick with fear."

It was a concussion -- in fact, a handful of concussions over the course of two weeks -- that his doctors believe caused Conradt to sink to the ground, blood pooling dangerously in his brain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 4 million sports and recreation-related concussions occur each year. Experts say the vast majority are suffered at the high school level, but few schools have rules governing how concussion is treated -- and few coaches are trained to identify it.

"It's the group we need to worry about most," said Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, chairman of the American Academy of Neurology Sports Neurology Section, adding that fewer than half of high schools have access to athletic trainers.

"If there is any suggestion of a concussion, we need to take kids out of the game," said Dr. Stan Herring, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks. "The consequences [of not doing so] can be devastating or even fatal."



What is a concussion? The devastating consequences would dawn on Conradt's family members as they sat, breathless, in a closed-off waiting room at the hospital.

"They told us he was going to die," said Ralph Conradt. "He was just a 17-year-old kid playing football. Up until then, I never heard of anyone ever dying in a football game."

In 2008, 16-year-old Ryne Dougherty, a junior linebacker in New Jersey, died after two concussions suffered within a few weeks. The same year, across the country in Washington, 14-year-old David Bosse complained about headache after playing a junior high school game, but returned to play the following week. He died the next morning.

Without a medical expert on the field, coaches and parents are making -- and in some cases not making -- decisions about concussion for which they are ill-equipped, said Herring. That means that post-concussive symptoms like nausea, dizziness, headache, confusion and memory problems are going unchecked.

"We need coaches and parents to understand this phrase: When in doubt, come out," said Herring. "It's better to miss a game than to miss a season ... better to miss a game than to miss the rest of your life."

A study released by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital last year revealed that between 2005 and 2008, about 40 percent of athletes with concussion were allowed to return to play too soon.

The data bore even grimmer testimony about lack of education: During the 2007-2008 season, one in six concussed football players who also lost consciousness returned to play the same day.

"Do you think knowing what I know today that I would have let my son play?" said Ralph Conradt. "Not a chance. Not a chance."

Months after his third brain surgery, Max Conradt was bent over his hospital bed, his back forming the shape of the letter "C." His head lolled precariously -- his eyes trained on what seemed like a far-off place. His lips were moving, but no sound escaped. The tube that helped him breathe hissed and gurgled against his throat.

Conradt survived his brain injuries, but the relief for his family was tinged with grief. Doctors said Max would live, but with the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.

"It's a whole different thing losing your child to a brain injury," said Joy Conradt. "The kid you knew is dead. Somebody completely different is in the body of the child you knew."

Still, experts stress that Conradt's situation is not typical.

"There's a lot of description of possible bad outcomes with concussion and a lot of worry about it. That's appropriate," said Kutcher, director of the NeuroSport Program at the University of Michigan. "The truth of the matter is we have millions and millions of kids who have played contact sports and we haven't seen that link."

Leadership has to come from the coaches, the captains to quit attributing bravery to these injuries. Concussion can be tragic.

--Dr. Stan Herring, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks
Fueled by rage about his son's brain injury, Ralph Conradt lobbied legislators to pass "Max's Law," imposing strong restrictions for returning players to games after they suffer concussion, and requiring rigorous training for coaches.

According to Herring, about two dozen other states also have legislation pending. This week Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced an initiative designed to reduce sports-related concussions in every U.S. state.

In addition to laws and education, experts say a cultural shift among coaches, players and parents is necessary.

"This whole suck it up and play through it mentality needs to go," said Herring. "Leadership has to come from the coaches, the captains to quit attributing bravery to these injuries. Concussion can be tragic."

It is almost eight years to the day since Max Conradt was released from the hospital. He lives in an assisted living facility and his thoughts often flit back to his "glory days" on the football field. His memories about the concussions that sent his life on its current spiral are scant. But he does know the most chilling details.

"I was sat on by a 280-pound lineman ... he sat on my head," said Conradt, now 25. "When I was walking off of the field, blood was gushing through my brain. I don't remember, but that's what happened."

With the strapping 17-year-old football player he once was a distant memory, today Conradt struggles with basic motor skills, memory and containing occasional fits of rage and depression.

"He gets really, really down when he thinks about what could have been," said Ralph Conradt.

Still, concussion has not dimmed his dreams. Max still craves a challenge. He would like to go back to school. He would like to have some semblance of a normal life.


Article 5.
3 headless bodies found in 'narco-grave,' Mexican military /
Victims, suspects thought to be linked to opposing cartels, Mexican government says


(CNN) -- The Mexican military arrested 10 people associated with the Sinaloa drug cartel after three decapitated bodies were found near Juarez, Mexico, a Mexican military operations spokesman told CNN late Wednesday.

The 10 men are facing homicide charges, Juarez police spokesman Jacinto Seguro told CNN.

Enrique Torres, military spokesman for the state of Chihuahua, which includes Juarez, said troops were deployed to a rural area after receiving a tip, and the three bodies were found in a "narco-grave" -- a type of shallow grave used by drug traffickers to hide bodies of their victims.

The suspects were arrested near the U.S. border in a rural part of Juarez called San Isidro, Torres said.

"In their possession we also confiscated seven firearms -- six large and one small -- 19 magazine clips, three vehicles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition," he said.

A news release from the Mexican government said one of the suspects told authorities the victims were killed because of their suspected ties to "La Linea," more commonly known as the Juarez cartel.

An already-violent turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels was escalated recently by street gangs that the cartels use to fight for power and territory.

Based on a confession from one suspect and testimony from residents in the area, investigators determined that the three victims were assassinated by someone who has close ties to the Sinaloa cartel, the press release said.

The suspect also told the military that he earned up to 10,000 pesos a week, or roughly $772, to act as a lookout in San Isidro for cartel members operating in the area, the news release said. Children recruited as lookouts were being paid between 500 and 1,000 pesos a week, or roughly $40 to $80, to work for the cartel, the press release said.

As of Monday, 230 killings had been recorded in Juarez this year, state attorney general's office spokesman Arturo Sandoval told CNN.

Sixteen people -- including 10 teenagers -- were killed in a weekend shooting in Juarez. Authorities said Wednesday that they knew of no link between the arrests of the 10 suspects and that weekend shooting.