Chicago school closings are the largest number of school closings in the history of the country, and media reports haven't captured the anguish and dismay of more than 30,000 children and parents as they've lost their educational institutions.
By Hannah Hayes,?Guest Blogger / May 31, 2013
Chicago school closings brought out community activists in protest of the move by the city.
Hannah Hayes
Enlarge Photos
In my neighborhood tonight, chaos will reign. My neighbor, President Obama, will be staying in his part-time home just around the corner from me in Chicago. His occasional visits bring limited parking, random ID checks, and bomb sniffing dogs to our front lawn.
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But on warm summer nights, the street takes on a carnival-like atmosphere. Neighbors come out to chat and I sometimes get to meet people from the next block. The Secret Service agents are friendly enough, and when the barricades go up and traffic halts, people get out of their cars to stretch and enjoy the novelty of the president driving down this normally quiet residential street. More often than not, we recognize someone and invite them to join us for a drink on our stoop.
It can be inconvenient if you happen to be walking your dog without identification. But he was once our neighbor, and it?s all a part of living in this neighborhood.?
But I?m not feeling all that benevolent these days, and I may forego my usual stoop-sitting tonight. The truth is, a much more serious chaos has reigned in too many of Chicago's communities following last week's announcement that 50 Chicago neighborhood schools would be closed.
The closings made national news briefly, just like the murder of Hadiya Pendleton, the sparkly teen wielding a baton in the inaugural parade for President Obama, her Chicago neighbor. She was also a neighbor of mine and lived about a mile from my and the president?s homes.
Since Hadiya was killed in late January, the murders of 26 more teenagers did not make the news. Similarly, the brief blip last week about the largest number of school closings in the history of the country does not recount the anguish and dismay of 30,000-plus children and parents scrambling, wounded, and angry.?
In Chicago, we grew up hearing that Chicago is ?a city of neighborhoods,? a patchwork of tightly knit, culturally distinct, and ethnically proud communities that together make up our city. While this may be an idealized re-definition of segregation, no matter where you live, you belong to a community. This attack on the most important of neighborhood institutions has left us collectively demoralized. We see ourselves on the nightly news, segregated, characterized by crumbling schools and random violence.
Despite our pride at the notion of being a unique ?city of neighborhoods,? people all over the country know about community. It?s sometimes hard to describe as it shifts imperceptibly over the years. But we feel it, and we are bound to protect it.
The divide-and-conquer strategy of closures pits school against school. In this latest round, the initial hit list of 230 schools was pared to 120, then to 61, and eventually 50, while everyone waited anxiously, breathing a sigh of relief if their school was taken off the list.?
Sadly, our neighborhood middle school was not spared, although its closure was postponed for one year so the current class could graduate. Miriam Canter Middle School was named for a local activist who envisioned a racially and economically diverse school dedicated to kids precariously perched between childhood and full-fledged teen madness. Many of the devoted teachers at Canter live in the community. Last month, an article in The Nation recounted the hearings that drew hundreds of weeping teens, angry parents, and concerned community members demanding to know why they would close such a clearly successful school.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, speaks about Social Security and Medicare, Friday, May 31, 2013, at the Treasury Department in Washington. The government says Medicare's giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund is unchanged at 2033. The date for Medicare is two years later than was projected last year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, speaks about Social Security and Medicare, Friday, May 31, 2013, at the Treasury Department in Washington. The government says Medicare's giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund is unchanged at 2033. The date for Medicare is two years later than was projected last year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew listens at left as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speaks about Social Security and Medicare, Friday, May 31, 2013, at the Treasury Department in Washington. The government says Medicare's giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund is unchanged at 2033. The date for Medicare is two years later than was projected last year. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The government said Friday that Medicare's giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, two years later than projected last year, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund remained unchanged at 2033.
The latest projections were included in the annual report of trustees of the trust funds. The new report warned that despite the small improvement in Medicare, both it and Social Security face significant funding challenges as the giant baby boom generation continues to retire. Currently, 58 million Americans are receiving Social Security benefits.
The reasons given for the improved financial outlook for Medicare were an overall slowdown in the rate of increase in health care spending, particularly on skilled nursing care, as well as lower projected costs for popular insurance plans available within the Medicare program.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, the chairman of the trustees, said President Barack Obama is committed to working with Congress to put both programs on a stronger footing.
"Protecting Social Security and Medicare is one of the most significant challenges we face today as a nation. And it is a challenge that we can and must meet," Lew told reporters at a news conference.
With almost 10,000 baby boomers reaching retirement age and qualifying for benefits each day, those dates have been creeping closer, but Washington has been unable to reach consensus on an agreement to strengthen the finances of the government's biggest benefit programs, which together accounted for about 38 percent of federal spending last year.
Depletion of the reserves in the giant trust funds would not end the benefit programs but would trigger sharp reductions in benefits. For Social Security, retirees would continue to receive about 75 percent of benefits once the Social Security trust fund was exhausted in 2033. For the Medicare hospital trust fund, the depletion of that fund in 2026 would mean a cut in benefits to about 87 percent of the full level.
While the combined Social Security trust fund was projected to be depleted in 2033, the trustees warned that the funding threat to one of the component trust funds that makes payments for workers on disability is much more urgent. It was projected that the disability trust fund would deplete its reserves in just three years in 2016. That date is unchanged from last year's report.
Charles Blauhous III, one of two public members of the trustees group, said that while Congress could decide to correct the shortfall in the disability program by moving tax revenue away from Social Security, that would only worsen the funding problems facing the Social Security retirement program.
A solution to the funding problems for Social Security and Medicare has proven allusive because of the political dangers posed by any agreement that would trim benefits for millions of Americans or raise taxes to cover the projected shortfalls.
Obama has already offered to break a pledge he made in his 2008 re-election campaign not to trim Social Security benefits. Twice in negotiations with GOP leaders, he agreed to adopt a new measure of inflation that would result in smaller cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs, for Social Security recipients. He formally put forward that proposal in the budget he sent to Congress in April.
His proposed change in the COLA, once phased in, would mean a cut in Social Security benefits of nearly $1,000 a year for an average 85-year-old recipient of Social Security benefits.
Obama and Republican leaders in Congress have held off-and-on talks about various other possible fixes for the entitlement programs since 2011 as part of their efforts to reduce the government's soaring budget deficits. But both sides remain far apart. Republicans insist any budget agreement must include deep spending cuts, while Obama is seeking what he calls a balanced deal that would include not only cuts in government spending including reductions in entitlement programs but also higher taxes.
Many Democrats in Congress are protective of the entitlement programs, expressing strong opposition to the COLA trim that Obama has put forward.
House Republicans earlier this year passed a budget that would eventually turn Medicare into a voucher-like program for people younger than 55. But Obama and other Democrats reject that approach.
Obama's approach to Medicare savings would trim payments to drug companies, hospitals and other service providers. He has also proposed having a growing share of seniors pay higher premiums over time, based on their incomes. In addition, Obama would have wealthy taxpayers pay a higher Medicare payroll tax.
___
Associated Press reporters Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Alan Fram contributed to this report.
A bad biology grade sticks aroundPublic release date: 31-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Madeline McCurry-Schmidt madelinems@asas.org 217-689-2435 American Society of Animal Science
Study suggests university advisors may want to rethink student schedules
Don't let low grades haunt your students. A new study in the Journal of Animal Science shows that performance in foundational biology courses is a strong predictor of performance in high-level animal science courses.
In a study of 1,516 students over 7 years, researchers from Kansas State University found that students who did well in biology also performed well in a rigorous genetics course. This result was not surprising, but the researchers were struck by the importance of timing. Undergraduate students did best when they waited at least a year to take the genetics course.
"Genetics is a very hard class," said Dr. Jennifer Minick Bormann, co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University. "That is not a good place for a brand-new freshman."
At Kansas State University, biology is a pre-requisite for genetics. Many students try to fulfill that pre-requisite by earning college credits for biology courses during high school. The data show that students who take biology at Kansas State do better in genetics than students that bring that course in from other sources.
Minick Bormann said this study could help advisors and their students plan more realistic class schedules. By taking genetics as sophomores and juniors, students can perform well and prepare themselves for advanced courses in subjects like animal breeding.
"We need to sit down as advisors and talk about it," said Minick Bormann. "I would expect our students to be similar to students at other large land grant universities."
The researchers also found that students did not forget what they learned in biology, even if they waited several years to take genetics. That is good news for animal science students and advisors.
###
The study was titled "Factors affecting student performance in an undergraduate genetics course." It can be read in full at journalofanimalscience.org.
Scientific contact:
Dr. Jennifer Minick Bormann
Kansas State University
785-532-1222 / jbormann@k-state.edu
Media contact:
Madeline McCurry-Schmidt
American Society of Animal Science
217-689-2435 / madelinems@asas.org
[ | 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.
A bad biology grade sticks aroundPublic release date: 31-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Madeline McCurry-Schmidt madelinems@asas.org 217-689-2435 American Society of Animal Science
Study suggests university advisors may want to rethink student schedules
Don't let low grades haunt your students. A new study in the Journal of Animal Science shows that performance in foundational biology courses is a strong predictor of performance in high-level animal science courses.
In a study of 1,516 students over 7 years, researchers from Kansas State University found that students who did well in biology also performed well in a rigorous genetics course. This result was not surprising, but the researchers were struck by the importance of timing. Undergraduate students did best when they waited at least a year to take the genetics course.
"Genetics is a very hard class," said Dr. Jennifer Minick Bormann, co-author of the study and associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University. "That is not a good place for a brand-new freshman."
At Kansas State University, biology is a pre-requisite for genetics. Many students try to fulfill that pre-requisite by earning college credits for biology courses during high school. The data show that students who take biology at Kansas State do better in genetics than students that bring that course in from other sources.
Minick Bormann said this study could help advisors and their students plan more realistic class schedules. By taking genetics as sophomores and juniors, students can perform well and prepare themselves for advanced courses in subjects like animal breeding.
"We need to sit down as advisors and talk about it," said Minick Bormann. "I would expect our students to be similar to students at other large land grant universities."
The researchers also found that students did not forget what they learned in biology, even if they waited several years to take genetics. That is good news for animal science students and advisors.
###
The study was titled "Factors affecting student performance in an undergraduate genetics course." It can be read in full at journalofanimalscience.org.
Scientific contact:
Dr. Jennifer Minick Bormann
Kansas State University
785-532-1222 / jbormann@k-state.edu
Media contact:
Madeline McCurry-Schmidt
American Society of Animal Science
217-689-2435 / madelinems@asas.org
[ | 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.
Pavlof Volcano has been erupting for over a week, releasing a humongous plume of ash, steam, and smoke visible from the International Space Station. The eruption has quieted down, but seismic data suggests that it's not over.
By Liz Fuller-Wright,?Correspondent / May 24, 2013
Space station astronauts captured this picture of Pavlof Volcano on Saturday.
Courtesy of the ISS Expedition 36 crew / NASA
Enlarge
Astronauts on the International Space Station?captured jaw-dropping pictures of a volcanic eruption last Saturday. Since then, the volcano has been hidden from sight, shrouded in thick clouds.
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Pavlof Volcano has been belching ash and spewing lava since May 13, when tremors and rising surface temperatures gave way to fountains of molten rock bursting from the volcano's north flank.
When that lava hit ice and snow, it created explosive steam clouds that could be seen for dozens of miles ? and photographed from space. The steam, ash, and gas plumes have climbed over 20,000 feet into the sky, and left a grey streak stretching for a hundred miles.
Prior to last week, Pavlof hadn't erupted since 2007.
Is it over?
Pavlof has been playing it cool for the past few days, reports the Alaska Volcano Observatory, which celebrated its 25th?anniversary last month.
Though the ash eruptions have disrupted local air travel, the violence seems to have subsided for now, with a more relaxed release of ash and lava continuing steadily. Even through the clouds hiding Pavlof from sight, satellites can measure high surface temperatures indicating that the lava is still flowing.
After about a week of steady seismic rumbles,?the shaking calmed down on Tuesday morning and hasn't restarted, though a huge seismic blast this morning suggests that Pavlof had another volcanic explosion ? but through the clouds, it's hard to know just what or where.
The scientists at Alaska Volcano Observatory have the volcano threat level set at "Watch," which is one step down from the highest level, "Warning." But they caution that massive explosions ? like the one that created that giant, 20,000-foot plume ? can occur without warning.
The Aleutian Islands are sparsely enough settled that the primary hazard from volcanoes like Pavlof is that airborne ash could endanger planes flying between North America and Asia. In fact, in 1989, a wide-body passenger jet encountered an ash plume from Redoubt, another Alaska volcano, and lost power in all four engines.?Fortunately for the passengers, after the plane plummeted two miles in five minutes, the crew restarted the engines and landed safely in Anchorage, about a hundred miles away.
Why did Pavlof erupt?
Like the rest of the Aleutian Islands (and, for that matter, the Cascades), Pavlof sits on the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American plate. When the dense ocean floor runs into the less-dense continental crust, its weight pulls it down into the mantle, where the heat and pressures make it start to melt.
When rock melts, magma forms ? and when magma reaches the earth's surface, it erupts as lava. The more water or gases were trapped in the magma, the more explosive the eruption will be.
Though scientists know exactly how volcanoes form, volcanologists can't yet predict eruptions. But they've made huge strides, thanks to regular monitoring of hundreds of active volcanoes around the world.
Volcano monitoring became a political punching bag in 2009, after Louisiana's Gov. Bobby Jindal highlighted it as "wasteful spending" in the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address. "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in?Washington, D.C.," said Mr. Jindal. The eruption of Redoubt Volcano a month later ? the same volcano that had nearly crashed a passenger jet in 1989 ? was seen by some as a definitive response, but video monitoring shrunk in recent years due to budget pressures and the sequester.
Alaska's 52 active volcanoes once had 200 working seismic instruments. Now 80 of those instruments have fallen into disrepair and can?t be fixed because of the USGS budget cuts, the Associated Press reported last week. That means that five of Alaska's 52 active volcanoes aren?t monitored electronically at all, and the number could rise if more instruments go without maintenance.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Two threatening letters containing traces of the deadly poison ricin were sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York and his gun-control group in Washington, police said Wednesday.
The anonymous letters were opened in New York on Friday at the city's mail facility in Manhattan and in Washington on Sunday at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nonprofit started by Bloomberg, police said.
Chief New York Police spokesman Paul Browne said preliminary testing indicted the presence of ricin in both letters but that more testing would be done. He said the threats contained references to the debate on gun laws and an oily pinkish-orange substance.
The billionaire mayor has emerged as one of the country's most potent gun-control advocates, able to press his case with both his public position and his private money.
The people who initially came into contact with the letters showed no symptoms of exposure to the poison, but three officers who later examined the New York letter experienced minor symptoms that have since abated, police said.
Browne would not comment on what specific threats were made or where the letters were postmarked. He also wouldn't say whether they were handwritten or typed and whether investigators believe they were sent by the same person.
"In terms of why they've done it, I don't know," Bloomberg said at an event Wednesday night.
One of the letters "obviously referred to our anti-gun efforts, but there's 12,000 people that are going to get killed this year with guns and 19,000 that are going to commit suicide with guns, and we're not going to walk away from those efforts," said Bloomberg, adding that he didn't "feel threatened."
The letters were the latest in a string of toxin-laced missives. In Washington state, a 37-year-old was charged last week with threatening to kill a federal judge in a letter that contained ricin. About a month earlier, letters containing the substance were addressed to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. A Mississippi man was arrested in that case.
Federal officials and NYPD were investigating. Browne would not say whether the letters were believed to be linked to any other recent ricin cases.
Police said the letter in Washington, D.C., was opened by Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He was working out of the offices of The Raben Group, a Washington lobbying firm where he keeps an office. Glaze happened to open the letter while sitting outside over the Memorial Day weekend, said the firm's founder, Robert Raben.
"I'm very concerned about our employees and co-workers and clients. I'm sorry that we live in a world in which people do such awful things. Thank God, right now, everybody's physically fine," Raben said by phone Wednesday, adding that the firm would do whatever needed to ensure safety.
A mayor's spokesman also speaking for the nonprofit said he had no comment.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans. Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, vomiting and redness on the skin depending on how the affected person comes into contact with the poison.
Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which now counts more than 700 mayors nationwide as members. It lobbies federal and state lawmakers, and it aired a spate of television ads this year urging Congress to expand background checks and pass other gun-control measures after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The background check proposal failed in a Senate vote in April, and other measures gun-control advocates wanted ? including a ban on sales of military-style assault weapons ? have stalled.
Separately, Bloomberg also has made political donations to candidates who share his desire for tougher gun restrictions. His super PAC, Independence USA, put $2.2 million into a Democratic primary this winter for a congressional seat in Illinois, for example. Bloomberg's choice, former state lawmaker Robin Kelly, won the primary and the seat.
___
Associated Press Writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
Without Google Maps and Street View, I'd be utterly lost in New York, or anywhere in the world for that matter. And for all its usefulness, we've always had a few good laughs, too. Today's update to three distinct areas of New York might make you laugh, cry or sit back in astonishment. Street View has now overtaken Central Park, allows those who can't visit the 9/11 memorial to read the victim's names from anywhere in the world and see how the neighborhoods impacted by Hurricane Sandy are doing months later.
Now every little nook and cranny of Manhattan's 843 acre public park can be seen thanks to a partnership with the Central Park Conservancy.
Both the North and South pools of the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center can be perused through Street View.
And lastly, Google is now collaborating with Historypin to bring its community photo and video album called Hurricane Sandy: Record, Remember, Rebuild to life. The album lets anyone share old and new photos of areas hit by Sandy.
For those of us who live here, it can be hard enough just getting out of our own neighborhoods but this is a subtle reminder of just how big New York City and let's even more people see just how great it is.
How can you make the HTC One better than it already is? Give it stock Android. Google just announced that they will be selling the HTC One starting in late June for those who want the true Android experience, without the bloat that can come with one from the manufacturer. It will be available from [...]
Outdoor advertising is at least 5,000 years old (the ancient Egyptians used to hang papyrus notices advertising rewards for runaway slaves), and fears about how invasive it could be have been around nearly as long. For every glitzy video billboard you curse at today, know that your forbearers dreamed up much, much worse.
Reforming the corporate income tax with a VAT would allow for economic growth and lower unemployment in the United States.
Economic growth remains slow in the United States due to our high unemployment, alarming debt, and the more recent student loan debt crisis. Amidst these economic woes, our government remains divided on many policy issues that could help to get our economy back on the road to recovery. However, there is one area where there seems to be a growing consensus between members of Congress and the Obama administration ? corporate income tax reform.
Author Michael Graetz explains in his book, 100 Million Unnecessary Returns, that the corporate income tax system is very flawed. Not only does it create incentives for corporations to invest in non-corporate businesses and housing instead of corporations, but it also induces many distortions in corporate finance. Furthermore, the internationalization of businesses and the overall globalization of world economies has made is difficult to collect corporate income taxes, (100 Million Unnecessary Returns, p. 110).
These flaws can be remedied if the United States adopted the value-added tax (VAT). As the image below shows, the number of countries that use a value-added tax (shown in red) is overwhelming.
(Image by the Coalition for a Prosperous America)
A VAT is a tax on consumption, as opposed to our current tax system, which taxes income, wealth, property or wages. Essentially, it is s a tax only on the ?value added? to a product, material or service at every stage of its manufacture or distribution. It would not be applied to items such as food, housing and a number of other essential items. Additionally, a VAT would dramatically lower the U.S. income tax.
Furthermore, reforming the corporate income tax with a VAT would allow the U.S. tax rate to realign with international tax norms, which would be a huge benefit to us considering the fact that, without a VAT, the U.S. has highest statutory tax rate in the world.
In addition, adopting a VAT would increase federal revenue that could be used to pay down the current national debt and would encourage businesses to remain in the U.S. instead of off-shoring, assuring that more tax revenue is kept in the country.
The benefits linked to adopting a value-added tax are simply too great to ignore. Now is the time for action. Let your congressional representative know that now is the time to adopt a VAT. Send this article to five of your friends and ask them to do the same!
So -- is Kim Kardashian having a boy, or a girl? "Keeping Up With the Kardashians'" Khloe Kardashian is not telling, though she seemed sorely tempted to when she sat down with TODAY's Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday.
"I will say this Sunday we are going to reveal it," she said. "We find out the sex of the baby on the show."
And she offered up a tease to go along with that: The invitation to Kim's baby shower. Lauer held up the small white container that was the invite, then opened it to reveal a music box with a spinning ballerina inside; the lullaby playing, said Khloe, was written by baby's father, Kanye West.
But don't get all worked up that this confirms the couple is having a little girl. "Kim loves ballerinas," said Khloe. "Kim likes what she likes."
"Keeping Up With the Kardashians" begins its eighth season this Sunday, June 2, on E!
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - What sounded like a small explosion on Tuesday in a trash can at Disneyland in California appears to have come from dry ice in a plastic bottle and may have been a prank, police said.
Walt Disney Co evacuated a section of the theme park called Mickey's Toontown but allowed visitors to return within hours, Anaheim police spokesman Sergeant Bob Dunn said.
"What we found was indicative of dry ice," Dunn said. He added that a plastic bottle believed to have contained the material was located.
"This afternoon, a small bang was heard in a trash can at Mickey's Toontown," a spokeswoman for Disney said. "In an abundance of caution, we evacuated Toontown to allow local authorities the opportunity to investigate."
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Stacey Joyce)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida |
Tue May 28, 2013 5:17pm EDT
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a rookie Italian astronaut and an American mother on her second flight blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday for a six-hour ride to the International Space Station.
The Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off at 4:31 p.m. EDT, streaking through clear, pre-dawn skies in Kazakhstan as it headed into orbit, a NASA TV broadcast showed.
In command of the Soyuz capsule was cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, 54, who already has made two long-duration flights aboard the space station and one aboard NASA's now-retired space shuttle.
He was joined by Luca Parmitano, 36, a major in the Italian Air Force. Parmitano, who initially studied political science and international law at the University of Naples, and will be the first Italian to live aboard the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations.
"This is very momentous," Parmitano said in a preflight NASA interview.
NASA allotted the crew slot to the Italian Space Agency as part of a barter agreement for cargo carriers that were taken to the station aboard the shuttles. One module was converted into a storage closet and left aboard the station.
Rounding out the crew is NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, a 43-year-old mechanical engineer who has one previous spaceflight on her resume, a two-week shuttle mission. She leaves behind her astronaut husband, Doug Hurley, and their 3-year-old son, Jack.
"Time for me to 'unplug!' Thanks everyone for well wishes and great interest in what our nations do in space," Nyberg wrote on Twitter seven hours before liftoff.
The crew is expected to reach the space station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth about six hours after launch, an expedited trip that has been made by only one other previous crew.
Awaiting their arrival are station commander Pavel Vinogradov and flight engineers Alexander Misurkin and Chris Cassidy. The men are two months into a planned six-month mission.
The combined crews will oversee more than 100 research experiments and technology tests currently under way aboard the station. Nyberg, an avid quilter, said she also was bringing along sewing supplies, a sketch book and pencils.
"I'm really hoping to spend some of my free time drawing," Nyberg said in a preflight interview.
"I used to mostly draw portraits, and gave them to friends, but I haven't done it in a long time. I am hoping I can get back to some of that while I am in space," she said.
Maybe Netflix's original content isn't quite ready yet, after all. Today, a spate of bad news for the streaming service: its "Arrested Development" reboot failed to impress TV critics, and shares fell 5 percent as a result this morning. Meanwhile, angry parents are giving Netflix hell for its decision to drop popular kids' shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" from its network - a result of the company's decision to end its licensing deal with Viacom, as previously announced.
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) -Mario Balotelli has back pain and will sit out Italy's friendly with San Marino on Friday, joining striker partner Stephan El Shaarawy on the injured list.
Italy physician Enrico Castellacci says the plan is for Balotelli to return for next week's World Cup qualifier at the Czech Republic.
After hosting San Marino in Bologna, Italy visits the Czechs in Prague on June 7.
Balotelli trained apart from the rest of the squad on Wednesday.
El Shaarawy will also miss the friendly with a bruised right ankle. Another forward, Pablo Osvaldo, was kicked off the squad on Monday for insulting his club coach at Roma.
The remaining Azzurri forwards are Alessandro Diamanti and Alberto Gilardino of Bologna, Sebastian Giovinco of Juventus and Marco Sau of Cagliari.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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??DPS: Robbie Rogers joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss his decision to come out, retire, then come back with the LA Galaxy, and what lays ahead.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama intends to nominate Jason Furman, a veteran White House economic official, as chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The council is one of two conduits of economic advice to the president. The other is the National Economic Council, where Furman currently serves as principal deputy director. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the nomination has not been announced.
If confirmed by the Senate, Furman would replace Alan Krueger, who is returning to Princeton University.
Krueger, a labor economist, has been the face of the White House every first Friday of the month to respond to the government's monthly jobs report.
Furman's research has been focused on fiscal and tax policy, Social Security and monetary policy.
BRUSSELS (AP) ? Fears grew of a foreign-fed arms race in Syria on Tuesday as European Union countries decided they could provide weapons to the rebels and Russia disclosed that it has signed a contract to provide Syria with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles.
Either development would significantly raise the firepower in the two-year civil war has already killed more than 70,000 people and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing the country, just as the key countries prepare for a major peace conference in Geneva that had been described as the best chance yet to end the bloodshed.
Russian officials criticized the EU decision Monday night to allow their arms embargo against Syria to expire, freeing its member countries to provide weapons for the outgunned rebels. Russia, which has been a strong supporter of the Syrian government, said the British- and French-driven decision undermined peace efforts.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday that Russia has signed a contract with the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad to provide it with state-of-the-art S-300 air defense missiles, which he said were important to prevent foreign intervention in the country. Ryabkov would not say whether Russia has shipped any of the missiles to Syria yet.
Ryabkov said Russia understands the concerns about providing such weapons to Syria, but believes that may "help restrain some hot-heads considering a scenario to give an international dimension to this conflict."
EU diplomats have said Britain and France are considering providing equipment to the rebels, and Syrian neighbors Turkey and Lebanon risk being drawn into the conflict.
Ryabkov called the EU move to end its arms embargo "a manifestation of double standards" that will hurt the prospects for the Geneva talks, which are expected to happen in June.
In Damascus, a Syrian lawmaker on Tuesday also criticized the EU decision, saying that efforts to arm the rebels will discourage the opposition from seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict. The comments by Essam Khalil, a member of the parliament for the ruling Baath Party, were the first by a Syrian official.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, made an unannounced visit to rebel forces in Syria, putting more pressure on Assad to seek a negotiated settlement.
Remember those rumors about the Start Button making its triumphant return in Windows 8.1? Well, seeing is believing, and thanks to Paul Thurrott, we've got a sneak peak at that little guy in all its glory. We missed you.
Over on the Windows SuperSite, Thurott has dumped a few, choice screenshots from the upcoming, free update to the operating system. And chief among them is that one featuring everybody's favorite Start Button. It should go without saying that this button launches you to the Metro Modern UI Start Screen, and not into some sort of Start Menu, but the button's back. Interestingly, there seems to be no way to turn it off either. Not that you'd really want to.
Along with the start button, Thurrott's reporting that 8.1 also comes with a Boot To Desktop option (disabled by default) and the ability to use the desktop wallpaper of your choice as the background on the Start Screen.
And, of course, while this seems like a pretty credible leak, it's still a leak. So we can't be absolutely sure this is how the button's going to manifest. But it's seeming more than ever like the real deal. And just when were all getting used to the charms, too. [Windows SuperSite]
BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? EU regulators are likely to demand fresh concessions from Google once they have received feedback from rivals on the Internet search giant?s proposals to settle anti-competitive complaints, the EU?s antitrust chief said on Tuesday.
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 28 (Reuters) - Madrid 2020 bid officials played up the city's ready sports facilities while Istanbul highlighted the strength of the Turkish economy on Tuesday as the cities prepared for this week's pitch to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo will be presenting their cases to the IOC and international sports federations at a meeting in Russia with the winner elected at the IOC session in September.
"We know about the difficult news coming out (of Spain)," Madrid mayor Ana Botella told a small group of reporters in reference to the country's financial woes. "But Madrid is a safe choice. We are improving and we are on the right track."
Spain has been suffering from a long-running recession with unemployment at 27 percent and the country's economy contracting for the seventh consecutive quarter.
"The money for the next seven years (of preparation if Madrid are awarded the Games) is affordable. All of us have signed the guarantees and we are improving in the big (economic) numbers," she said.
Madrid hopes to win over IOC members as a safe choice given it already has the majority of the venues in place.
"It is not just about presenting a project or planning it but it is about realising this project," bid chief Alejandro Blanco said. "We have already 80 percent (of venues) ready."
Istanbul bid chief Hasan Arat, on the other hand, held up his country's economic growth as the Turkish city's asset in its fifth Olympic bid in the last six votes.
"We have ensured that our bid is risk-free," Arat said. "It is also the greatest opportunity Turkey has had given we have bid four times in the past."
NATIONAL PRIORITY
Government debt has fallen to 30 percent of gross domestic product from more than 100 percent in the crisis years early last decade while inflation and the budget deficit are also falling.
"It is a national priority and part of the 2023 plan for the 100 year celebrations of the Turkish state," he said.
So far, instability in Syria, Iraq and between Iran and Western powers has barely affected Turkey's fast rising prosperity, even if it has undermined the government's declared policy of "zero problems with the neighbours".
A double car bombing on its southern frontier earlier this month highlighted the risk of Syria's civil war spilling across the border, with the Turks harbouring more than 100,000 Syrian refugees, including military defectors and rear bases for rebels fighting former Turkish ally President Bashar al-Assad.
"The tension in Syria is 1,200 kilometres away," Arat said. "This problem is the world's problem. We hope it will be solved in a very short time."
The third candidate city, Tokyo, is also trumping its own bid as a "safe choice" and a chance to recover following a deadly earthquake and nuclear disaster two years ago.
It has kept a lower profile than its competitors in St Petersburg, especially after Tokyo governor Naoki Inose had to apologise last month after what he called "inappropriate" comments he made about Istanbul and Islamic countries.
"Islamic countries, the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other, and they have classes," Inose said in an interview with the New York Times in April.
"For the athletes, where will be the best place to be? Well, compare the two countries where they have yet to build infrastructure, very sophisticated facilities."
His remarks sparked concern in Tokyo that it might affect the Japanese capital's bid for the Games as IOC rules ban candidates from making comments on fellow competitors.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Sonia Oxley)
Swollen blood vessels in anal canal tissues is what hemorrhoids really is. They make the patient feel pain, itchiness and might witness blood it his/her stool. Hereunder are some of the best cures for hemorrhoids to help you cure hemorrhoid fast and permanently.
Some hemorrhoids projects from the anal canal and this often results in itchiness and irritation of surrounding tissues.
Blood could result from injuring the area around an external hemorrhoid. This make it tough to clean the affected region, especially with the pain involved in the process.
Fresh blood is time and again the earliest sign of hemorrhoids. There are two types of hemorrhoids: internal hemorrhoids and external hemorrhoids. An internal hemorrhoid is what we name a hemorrhoid with no visible part extending outside the anal canal. However, an internal hemorrhoid can extend from the anus.
Hemorrhoids are likely to develop for persons who expose themselves to some risk factors. Irregular bowel movement is the first risk factor. An unstable stomach caused by eating some foods, can lead your rectal tissue to swell. Hemorrhoids can be caused by constipation which makes you stress your anal area by pushing hard.
Higher than normal pressure on the pelvic region can cause a person with no hemorrhoids history to develop the condition. Pregnant women after their 12th week of pregnancy could get the condition suddenly due to the pressure caused by the growth of the fetus. Internal and external hemorrhoids are likely.
The strain experienced during normal delivery can worsen the hemorrhoids in pregnant women.
Do not postpone a visit to your doctor if you notice blood or mucus on your stool. Earlier intervention delivers best results. If you suspect you have hemorrhoids, pay a doctor a visit.
There are many cures for this condition. The doctor may give you a drug that will help strengthen the blood vessels if the hemorrhoid is not severe at all. For more serious conditions that affects the quality of life of the patient, the doctor might suggest a minor surgery.
Prevention is considered the best route, you can forbid the recurrence of hemorrhoids. Some helpful tips to consider:
1.Increase your intake of fiber rich foods. Brown rice, quinoa and other whole grains are very good sources. More fruits and green vegetables are also very helpful.
2. Prolonged sitting period is a risk factor for hemorrhoids. 90 minutes of weekly exercise can help in reducing the risk. Do not be lazy.
3. Lose weight if you are obese. Research has shown that overweight individuals are more likely to develop hemorrhoids than people who have normal weight.
4. Google ?natural hemorrhoids cure? Or ?home cure for hemorrhoids? (quotes included) and read about it more.
To learn more about the condition, click here. Stop by Natural Hemorrhoids Cure?s website where you can find out all about natural remedies to cure hemorrhoids in less than a week.
Contact: Masatoshi Suzuki msuzuki@vetmed.wisc.edu University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON, Wis. Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is sometimes called "Lou Gehrig's disease." According to the ALS Association, the condition strikes about 5,600 Americans each year. Only about half of patients are alive three years after diagnosis.
In work recently completed at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, Masatoshi Suzuki, an assistant professor of comparative biosciences, and his colleagues used adult stem cells from human bone marrow and genetically engineered the cells to produce compounds called growth factors that can support damaged nerve cells.
The researchers then implanted the cells directly into the muscles of rats that were genetically modified to have symptoms and nerve damage resembling ALS.
In people, the motor neurons that trigger contraction of leg muscles are up to three feet long. These nerve cells are often the first to suffer damage in ALS, but it's unclear where the deterioration begins. Many scientists have focused on the closer end of the neuron, at the spinal cord, but Suzuki observes that the distant end, where the nerve touches and activates the muscle, is often damaged early in the disease.
The connection between the neuron and the muscle, called the neuro-muscular junction, is where Suzuki focuses his attention. "This is one of our primary differences," Suzuki says. "We know that the neuro-muscular junction is a site of early deterioration, and we suspected that it might be the villain in causing the nerve cell to die. It might not be an innocent victim of damage that starts elsewhere."
Previously, Suzuki found that injecting glial cell line-derived neurotropic factor (GDNF) at the junction helped the neurons survive. The new study, published in the journal Molecular Therapy on May 28, expands the research to show a similar effect from a second compound, called vascular endothelial growth factor.
In the study, Suzuki found that using stem cells to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor alone improved survival and delayed the onset of disease and the decline in muscle function. That result mirrored his earlier study with GDNF.
But the real advance, Suzuki says, was finding an even better result from using stem cells that create both of these two growth factors. "In terms of disease-free time, overall survival, and sustaining muscle function, we found that delivering the combination was more powerful than either growth factor alone. The results would provide a new hope for people with this terrible disease."
The new research was supported by the ALS Association, the National Institutes of Health, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and other groups.
The injected stem cells survived for at least nine weeks, but did not become neurons. Instead, their contribution was to secrete one or both growth factors.
Originally, much of the enthusiasm for stem cells focused on the hope of replacing damaged cells, but Suzuki's approach is different. "These motor nerve cells have extremely long connections, and replacing these cells is still challenging. But we aim to keep the neurons alive and healthy using the same growth factors that the body creates, and that's what we have shown here."
For the test, Suzuki used ALS model rats with a mutation that is found in a small percentage of ALS patients who have a genetic form of the disease. "This model has been accepted as the best test bed for ALS experiments," says Suzuki.
By using adult mesenchymal stem cells, the technique avoided the danger of tumor that can arise with the transplant of embryonic stem cells and related "do-anything" cells. Importantly, mesenchymal stem cells have been already used in clinical trials for various human diseases.
In the future, Suzuki hopes to apply his approach by using clinical grade stem cells. "Because this is a fatal and untreatable disease, we hope this could enter a clinical trial relatively soon."
###
David Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu
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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.
Contact: Masatoshi Suzuki msuzuki@vetmed.wisc.edu University of Wisconsin-Madison
MADISON, Wis. Transplantation of human stem cells in an experiment conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison improved survival and muscle function in rats used to model ALS, a nerve disease that destroys nerve control of muscles, causing death by respiratory failure.
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is sometimes called "Lou Gehrig's disease." According to the ALS Association, the condition strikes about 5,600 Americans each year. Only about half of patients are alive three years after diagnosis.
In work recently completed at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, Masatoshi Suzuki, an assistant professor of comparative biosciences, and his colleagues used adult stem cells from human bone marrow and genetically engineered the cells to produce compounds called growth factors that can support damaged nerve cells.
The researchers then implanted the cells directly into the muscles of rats that were genetically modified to have symptoms and nerve damage resembling ALS.
In people, the motor neurons that trigger contraction of leg muscles are up to three feet long. These nerve cells are often the first to suffer damage in ALS, but it's unclear where the deterioration begins. Many scientists have focused on the closer end of the neuron, at the spinal cord, but Suzuki observes that the distant end, where the nerve touches and activates the muscle, is often damaged early in the disease.
The connection between the neuron and the muscle, called the neuro-muscular junction, is where Suzuki focuses his attention. "This is one of our primary differences," Suzuki says. "We know that the neuro-muscular junction is a site of early deterioration, and we suspected that it might be the villain in causing the nerve cell to die. It might not be an innocent victim of damage that starts elsewhere."
Previously, Suzuki found that injecting glial cell line-derived neurotropic factor (GDNF) at the junction helped the neurons survive. The new study, published in the journal Molecular Therapy on May 28, expands the research to show a similar effect from a second compound, called vascular endothelial growth factor.
In the study, Suzuki found that using stem cells to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor alone improved survival and delayed the onset of disease and the decline in muscle function. That result mirrored his earlier study with GDNF.
But the real advance, Suzuki says, was finding an even better result from using stem cells that create both of these two growth factors. "In terms of disease-free time, overall survival, and sustaining muscle function, we found that delivering the combination was more powerful than either growth factor alone. The results would provide a new hope for people with this terrible disease."
The new research was supported by the ALS Association, the National Institutes of Health, the University of Wisconsin Foundation, and other groups.
The injected stem cells survived for at least nine weeks, but did not become neurons. Instead, their contribution was to secrete one or both growth factors.
Originally, much of the enthusiasm for stem cells focused on the hope of replacing damaged cells, but Suzuki's approach is different. "These motor nerve cells have extremely long connections, and replacing these cells is still challenging. But we aim to keep the neurons alive and healthy using the same growth factors that the body creates, and that's what we have shown here."
For the test, Suzuki used ALS model rats with a mutation that is found in a small percentage of ALS patients who have a genetic form of the disease. "This model has been accepted as the best test bed for ALS experiments," says Suzuki.
By using adult mesenchymal stem cells, the technique avoided the danger of tumor that can arise with the transplant of embryonic stem cells and related "do-anything" cells. Importantly, mesenchymal stem cells have been already used in clinical trials for various human diseases.
In the future, Suzuki hopes to apply his approach by using clinical grade stem cells. "Because this is a fatal and untreatable disease, we hope this could enter a clinical trial relatively soon."
###
David Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu
[ | 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.
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Public release date: 31-May-2013
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Maybe Netflix's original content isn't quite ready yet, after all. Today, a spate of bad news for the streaming service: its "Arrested Development" reboot failed to impress TV critics, and shares fell 5 percent as a result this morning. Meanwhile, angry parents are giving Netflix hell for its decision to drop popular kids' shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants" from its network - a result of the company's decision to end its licensing deal with Viacom, as 
