March 2, 2012

Authorities: 'Extreme' tornado damage in Indiana

Source: ap

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Authorities say tornadoes have left widespread damage in southern Indiana and a sheriff's official says at least one town is "completely gone."

National Weather Service coordinator Bill Whitlock says the agency is tracking "extreme damage" in the Henryville area, about 20 miles north of Louisville, Ky.


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEVERE_STORMS_INDIANA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-02-16-06-37

March 2, 2012

Senator Franken: Privacy and Civil Liberties in the Digital Age

Last year, a researcher discovered that iPhones — among the world’s most popular electronic devices — were storing detailed, unencrypted information on their owners’ locations and uploading it to any computer they were connected to. Subsequent research revealed that both Apple iPhones and Google Android devices were sending detailed location information back to Apple and Google — and that in some cases, users didn’t know about it and even if they did, they had no way of stopping it.

Just a few months ago, another researcher discovered that software made by a company called Carrier IQ had been secretly installed on millions of smartphones and was tracking consumers’ locations and other private information. In both cases, millions of consumers who were carrying smartphones in their pockets had no idea that their personal information was being collected — and no way of stopping it.

When people talked about protecting their privacy when I was growing up, they were talking about protecting it from the government. They talked about unreasonable searches and seizures, about keeping the government out of their bedrooms. They talked about whether the government was trying to keep tabs on the books they read or the rallies they attended. Over the last 40 or 50 years, we’ve seen a fundamental shift in who has our information and what they’re doing with it. That’s not to say that we still shouldn’t be worried about protecting ourselves from government abuses. But now, we also have relationships with large corporations that are obtaining, storing — and in many cases, sharing (and selling) — enormous amounts of our personal information.

When the Constitution was written, the founders had no way of anticipating the new technologies that would evolve in the coming centuries. They had no way of anticipating the telephone, and so the Supreme Court ruled over 40 years ago, in Katz v. United States, that a wiretap constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The founders had no idea that one day the police would be able to remotely track your movements through a GPS device, and so the Supreme Court ruled in January, in United States v. Jones, that this was also a search that required court approval.

Read more here:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/03/opinion-franken-privacyliberties/

March 2, 2012

Twitter Outs Occupy User After Judges Demand

Just over a month after taking criticism for changing its censorship policies, Twitter is handing over the information of a user associated with the occupy movement.

A Massachusetts court ordered the San Francisco-based social-networking site to name the Twitter user behind the account @p0isan0n to the Boston Police Department.

The ACLU had challenged an initial administrative subpoena in court but its motion was denied by a judge and it cannot be challenged further.

A Twitter representative would not confirm whether information beyond the one account subpoenaed was given to authorities.

More here:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Twitter-Outs-Occupy-User-After-Judges-Demand-141207753.html

March 2, 2012

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Squaw Valley CA - 8-25-91

February 29, 2012

Man drinks gasoline from jar, lights up, dies

HAVELOCK, N.C. -- Police say a North Carolina man is dead after he accidentally drank from a jar of gasoline and then smoked a cigarette.

Havelock police received a 911 call about 9:55 p.m. Monday after 43-year-old Gary Allen Banning set himself on fire. Banning was transported to UNC Burn Center in Chapel Hill, where he died early Tuesday morning.

City spokeswoman Diane Miller said investigators believe Banning was at a friend's apartment when he apparently mistook a jar of gasoline sitting by the kitchen sink for a beverage. After taking a gulp, he spit the gas out and got some on his clothes.

More here:

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8562737

February 27, 2012

Teacher assistant with cancer fired for missing work

Raleigh, N.C. — A teacher assistant at River Bend Elementary School in Raleigh says she was fired for missing too many days of work due to her cancer treatments.

Donna Sotomayor was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in January 2010 and says she took leave from the school so she could have several surgeries, six chemotherapy treatments and 33 radiation treatments.

She returned to the classroom in October 2010, but continued to struggle with infections and illnesses that cost her work time over the next year. She received another blow last November when a routine test showed new trouble – the cancer had spread to her spine. Doctors said she had a tumor on her third lumbar.

“I have a family. I have a lot to live for,” Sotomayor said. “And when my doctor tells me, ‘You have to go out and go through treatment immediately,’ then yeah, I'm going to do that.”

Read more here:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/story/10785726/

February 23, 2012

From Talking Cats to Bill Maher, Online Comedy Goes Pro

At 7:30 Pacific Time tonight, Bill Maher takes the stage live—and online. Yahoo! (YHOO) will stream his stand-up performance, CrazyStupidPolitics: Live From Silicon Valley, live and for free to drum up interest in its new comedy Web channel, which will feature original, professionally produced content to lure the Internet’s slap-happy audiences.

“t’s free. Because let’s face it, you’d just figure out a way to download it illegally,” Maher writes on his website.

The sold-out performance, which takes place at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts before an audience of 2,400, will also be available on Yahoo after the show. Since announcing the comedy channel in December, Yahoo has promoted Maher’s show with online ads and social media, including a Facebook page.

“We are focusing on fresh, original voices like Bill and our other original programs with the Yahoo! Comedy Channel to continue to provide our consumers and advertisers with the best premium content on the Web,” says Erin McPherson, vice president and head of video at Yahoo.

Read more:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/from-talking-cats-to-bill-maher-online-comedy-goes-pro-02232012.html

February 23, 2012

Arpaio Tough

From HuffingtonPost:

While Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney attempts to distance himself from the scandalous fallout over the hijinks of his former Arizona co-chair Sheriff Paul Babeau, the tireless Citizens for a Better Arizona group plans to remind TV viewers of the Republican debate in Mesa tonight of another disgraced law enforcement titan that needs to resign: Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The ad, scheduled for various TV outlets, pulls no punches:"He's not tough. He's terrible. He needs to resign."

While Arpaio's campaign stomp for Gov. Rick Perry's disastrous campaign in New Hampshire brought more headlines than votes, Republican candidates like Rick Santorum still made courtesy calls this week, despite the mounting calls for the increasingly reckless Sheriff to hand in his badge.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/sheriff-arpaio_b_1294218.html

February 23, 2012

FBI: 3rd suspect in videotaped gay beating hiding in Pennsylvania

Federal authorities have identified the third Atlanta gang member who they say was videotaped beating a 20-year-old gay man earlier this month.

Dareal Damare Williams is wanted for his part in the Feb. 4 robbery and attack on Brandon White outside a neighborhood market in Atlanta’s Pittsburgh community, authorities said.

FBI agents in Pittsburgh, Pa., said they believe that Williams, 17, is hiding out in the Erie, Pa., area and issued the alert Wednesday for that part of western Pennsylvania.

Authorities believe Williams is one of three males who punched and kicked Brandon and bludgeoned him with an abandoned car tire before robbing him – all while shouting anti-gay slurs in front of a rolling video camera.

More here:

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/fbi-3rd-suspect-in-1359245.html

February 23, 2012

NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert: Black Dub

Chris Whitley's daughter has one powerful voice. Daniel Lanois is the brainchild behind this band they call, "Black Dub".