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May , 2013

Page One Daily News - May , 2013

* USA


Jackson board member resigns amid accusations of ethics violations
Stephen Nuell, a member Jackson Health System board, resigned Tuesday following a months-long ethics investigation.


Jackson employees allegated that Nuell was abusive to them as he tried to negotiate settlements for unpaid bills owed by his law firm’s clients. Nuell submitted a letter of resignation, effective on June 1, stating that he felt it was time for the board that runs the public hospital system to receive some “fresh perspective.”. “I believe it is vital to balance continuity with change,”' Nuell stated in the letter addressed to Marcos Lapciuc, chairman of the Financial Recovery Board appointed to help turn around the financially troubled hospital system. “We must constantly be developing a new class of leaders who can preserve its legacy and chart a course to its best future.” he wrote. The accusations against Nuell, a personal injury attorney, are detailed in complaints filed with the county’s ethics commission.
May-21-2013 03:05pm


Authorities revise death toll downward to 24 in Oklahoma tornado
At least 237 people were injured and 24 dead , including nine children. This is the last balance left on Monday by the tornado and storm that devastated central Oklahoma, the state's Office of Emergency Management said Tuesday.


The tornado was on the ground for about 17 miles, the National Weather Service says – starting 4.4 miles west of Newcastle, Oklahoma, and ending 4.8 miles east of Moore, Oklahoma. The tornado, preliminarily rated as an EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale(winds between 166 and 200 mph)carved a trail as much as 2 miles wide and 22 miles long, officials said. The storm struck near Newcastle, Oklahoma, at 2:56 p.m. Monday, 16 minutes after the first warnings went out, according to the National Weather Service. Moore residents had another 30 to 40 minutes before the massive storm entered the western part of the city according to CNN meteorologist Sean Morris.
May-21-2013 02:05pm


New claims for unemployment benefits climbed last week at the fastest pace in six months
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped by 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 360,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.


That was the biggest jump since November and confounded analysts' expectations for a more modest increase.Claims for the prior week were revised to show 5,000 more applications received than previously reported. The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid dropped 4,000 to about 3 million in the week ended May 4.
May-16-2013 11:05am


Sergeant investigated for sexual assault allegations
For the second time this month, a U.S. service member who worked in a military sexual assault prevention program has been accused of a sexual crime.


Charges had not been filed as of Wednesday morning a Defense Department official says "initial indications" show that are at least one person may have been forced into prostitution activity, but the matter remains under investigation. The sergeant has not been named. In a statement that does not use pronouns that would identify the gender of the service member, the Defense Department said that the person has been suspended from all duties. The allegations come as the military is under intense scrutiny for sexual assaults within its ranks. The number of service members anonymously reporting a sexual assault grew by more than 30% in the past two years, according to a Pentagon report released last week. More than 26,000 troops experienced "unwanted sexual contact," a significant jump from 19,300 troops, a figure reported in a 2010 report on the topic. "This is so contrary to everything upon which the Army was built," McHugh, the Army secretary, has said during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee defense subcommittee. "To see this kind of activity happening in our ranks is really heart-wrenching and sickening."
May-15-2013 01:05pm


Eastern Pacific hurricane season has arrived, Atlantic season begins June 1st
Forecasters of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says the first tropical depression of the Pacific Hurricane season formed off the coast of Mexico this Wednesday.


It had maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph (56 kph) and was moving west at 12 mph (19 kph). It was centered about 650 miles (1046 kilometers) southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. It is not currently a threat to land. The National Hurricane Center says there is typically an average of 15 named storms each season, with four of those considered major hurricanes reaching at least Category 3 strength with top sustained winds of 111 mph (179 kph).
May-15-2013 12:05pm


Guantánamo hunger strikers subject to harsh method of force feeding
A U.S. military spokesman said on Wednesday that Guantánamo prison staff members were tube-feeding 30 of the 100 hunger-striking captives.


On Monday the Navy sent forty medics as reinforcements to the prison that guards a hundred and sixty-six captives, watching them in their cells and pulling them into rooms where they are strapped to chairs and have rubber tubes stuck into their noses and snaked down to their stomachs, then pumping in a liquid nutritional supplement.These acts have congregated a consortium of human rights activists, pressure groups and law bodies to issue a direct plea to US defense secretary Chuck Hagel to end the practice of force feeding at Guantanamo Bay. Signed by 20 organisations including the American Civil Liberties Union, NYU School of Law's Global Justice Clinic, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights the letter to Hagel says the force-feeding of competent prisoners constitutes "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment".The most widespread known hunger strike took place in 2005 when, according to records House consulted last month, “we had a detainee population of 575 detainees with 142 detainees choosing to hunger strike in July.”
May-15-2013 12:05pm


National Transportation Safety Board advocates for a nationwide 0.05 of blood- alcohol content level
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended on Tuesday that all 50 states adopt a blood-alcohol content (BAC) cutoff of 0.05 compared to the 0.08 standard used by law enforcement and the courts to prosecute drunk driving.


"Most Americans think that we've solved the problem of impaired driving, but in fact, it's still a national epidemic," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. Hersman said progress has been made over the years to reduce drunk driving, including a range of federal and state policies, tougher law enforcement, and stronger advocacy. But she said too many people are still dying on America's roads. The idea for a lower standard is part of a safety board initiative outlined in a staff report and approved by the panel to eventually eliminate drunk driving, which accounts for about a third of all road deaths in the United States. The board also recommended on Tuesday that states vastly expand laws allowing police to swiftly confiscate licenses from drivers who exceed the blood alcohol limits. The number of alcohol-related highway fatalities dropped from 20,000 in 1980 to 9,878 in 2011. According to the NTSB, in recent years, about 31 percent of all fatal highway accidents were attributed to alcohol impairment.
May-14-2013 11:05pm


Minnesota approves a same-sex marriage bill
Minnesota is set to become the 12th U.S. state, the first in the Midwest where gay couples can get married starting in August


The State Senate, controlled by Democrats, voted 37 to 30 on Monday to allow same-sex marriages, after approval by the State House last week. “In my heart of hearts, I know that today love wins,” State Senator Tony Lourey, a Democrat, said Monday during a tense, often personal debate before the vote. Hundreds of people on both sides of the issue packed the halls of the Capitol here, chanting, cheering and waving signs with contradictory messages — “Marriage Equality, You Betcha.” and “Don’t Erase Moms and Dads”. Critics of the Minnesota measure, meanwhile, predicted that the vote on Monday would carry a lasting political price for the state’s Democrats in coming elections. Republican opponents said the bill alters a centuries-old understanding of marriage as a societal building block that benefits children.
May-14-2013 11:05pm


Eight hackers charged in $45M cybercrime scheme
Individuals employed around the world by a sophisticated cyber crime ring stole $45 million from thousands of bank automated teller machines within a matter of hours, using hacked debit-card data, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.


The individuals formed the New York-based cell of a global cyber criminal organization that stole Mastercard Inc debit card data from two Middle Eastern banks the Justice Department said. The information was used to make more than 40,500 withdrawals at automated teller machines in 27 countries, during two separate coordinated incidents in December 2012 and February 2013prosecutors said. The government charged eight individuals in New York with participating in the larger scheme by withdrawing $2.8 million in thousands of ATM transactions, in what U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynchsaid was the second-biggest bank robbery in the history of New York City. Lynch said it was likely that the headquarters of the global scheme was located outside the United States and that the current charges focused only on the New York-based cell. Investigators were examining whether other cells were operating elsewhere in the United States, she said. After the cards were shut down, cashers laundered the proceeds, often by purchasing luxury goods, and sent a portion of the money back to the organization's leaders, prosecutors said. "In the place of guns and masks, this cyber crime organization used laptops and the Internet. Moving as swiftly as data over the Internet, the organization worked its way from the computer systems of international corporations to the streets of New York City, with the defendants fanning out across Manhattan to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of ATMs in a matter of hours" said Lynch. The case reflects the major threat that cyber crime poses to banks around the world. Security experts frequently identify electronic fraud as one of the main challenges facing banks today.
May-09-2013 03:05pm


3 missing woman found 9 years later in Ohio
Three women who went missing in separate cases have been found together Monday in Cleveland, Ohio, police said.


The three women appeared to be in good health, police said. A 52-year-old man has been arrested according to a the Cleveland police website. Amanda Berrry who had been missing for 10 years called 911 after breaking out of the house where she had been living. "Help me, I am Amanda Berry," she said, her voice agitated and quick, according to an audio recording of the call released Monday night. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years. And I'm here and I'm free now." "I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight have been found alive," Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said. "We have many unanswered questions regarding this case and the investigation will be ongoing. Again, I am thankful that these three young ladies are found and alive." Berry and DeJesus were in their teens when they disappeared in 2003 and 2004. Knight went missing in 2002, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The women and two young children came out of the house across the street, according to one of the neighbours. "We never saw the girls there and we were always outside," she said. "We only saw the guy."
May-06-2013 09:05pm