October 2009 Archives

November is National Novel Writing Month, and for the first time, students at the University of Minnesota are forming an official group of participants in the challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, according to The Minnesota Daily.

That breaks down to about 1,666 words per day. Many students suspend normal studying habits for the month in order to complete the NaNo challenge. President of the group Eric Dolski told the Daily that he finished a fantasy novel in last year's challenge, often spending class lectures working on his story.

Dolski started the group to create a place for NaNo participants to share ideas and stick together.

"There aren't necessarily a lot of writing groups around...NaNo is such a rigorous idea you need people to help you along," Dolski told the Daily.

National Novel Writing Month was started by graduated students with writer's block in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1999, and is seen as more of a unifying activity than a competition, one that has grown to international participation.

Many cities, such as Chicago, sponsor events throughout the month to help writers work through obstacles and create a manuscript that is often edited and revised after the fact.

According to the Minneapolis Examiner, participants register for free on the NaNoWriMo (as it's known nationally) website by November 1, and submit a manuscript of 50,000 words by November 30th.

A South Minneapolis pediatrician broke up an assault near 34th Street and 17th Ave. S around 6:40 a.m. Thursday, The Star Tribune reported.

Dr. Mani Mokalla told the Tribune that he was walking his son to a bus stop when he saw a man laying on the ground helplessly, being kicked by a group of teenagers.

The teenagers told Mokalla to mind his own business. When Mokalla told them to leave the man alone, he took a few punches to the face from a teenage girl.

Upon being challenged by another one of the teens, Mokalla and his son started heading for home. The teens then ran south on 17th Ave.

Police said they are now searching for the teenagers and the man they were assaulting, who fled after the teenagers left. Mokalla said he was unable to provide a great description of the teens because his glasses were knocked off in the confrontation.

A Minneapolis police spokesman urged people to call 911 as soon as they notice a problem.

Mokalla said he had only been expecting to be outside briefly, as he walks his son to the bus stop every weekday morning. He was still in his slippers and didn't have his cell phone.

The French branch of the Church of Scientology came under scrutiny Tuesday when it was convicted of fraud by a Paris court and fined $900,000, The New York Times reported.

Two former members of Scientology filed a lawsuit alleging that Church members had pushed them to spend extravagant sums of money, up to $30,000 in one case, on "purification courses," electronic tests that measured spiritual progress, pharmaceuticals and other things, according to the Times.

The court didn't ban the Church entirely, since a law recently passed in France disallows a ban as a penalty for fraud, but the Church of Scientology does not enjoy the same religious protection in France as it does in the United States, the Times said.

The same day news of the fine broke, movie director Paul Haggis officially quit the Church of Scientology over gay rights with a letter he wrote to the church's spokesman Tommy Davis. The letter stated, "I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated," according to CNN.

Haggis also criticized the Church for some of its other practices, including "disconnection," a mandatory severing of family ties as ordered by church fathers, according to The Guardian.

The two pilots who overshot Minneapolis by 150 miles last week have admitted to being distracted by their laptops in the cockpit, according to The New York Times.

Timothy B. Cheney, 53, and Richard I. Cole, 54, violated Delta Air Lines company policy against personal computer use during flights while on route to Minneapolis from San Diego because one was trying to teach the other a new scheduling system put in place last fall when Delta acquired Northwest Airlines, the Times said.

The two pilots lost track of time, ignoring ground-to-air radio attempts for 90 minutes, eventually overshooting Minneapolis by 150 miles, at which point a flight attendant inquired about the plane's landing time, according to CNN.

The latest in a string of unusual news events, the incident attracted national attention. Interest in the episode was exacerbated by the fact that neither pilot would explain exactly what distracted them from landing the plane they were flying in its intended destination.

In an interview after the incident, Cole insisted that the pilots were not asleep or fighting, then added, "I would tell you more, but I've already told you too much," the Times reported.

The New Yorker Cartoon Lounge ran a fictional conversation taken from the cockpit voice recorder of the plane titled "What Really Happened on Northwest Flight 188." On Monday, the Huffington Post's Andy Borowitz wrote a blog column titled "Northwest Pilots Not in Cockpit; Found at Home Hiding in Box," referencing the "balloon boy" incident from the week before.

According to The New York Times, both pilots are still suspended pending investigation of the matter, and will likely lose their jobs as a consequence of violating flight deck procedures. 

Two trains collided in Giza, just outside of Cairo on Saturday night, resulting in the death of at least 20 people and injuring another 40 to 50, CNN reported.

Egypt's Health Ministry told CNN they expect the death toll to rise as emergency personnel used tree branches to recover bodies and access survivors from the crash site, which was problematically located near a canal.

One train was stopped on a track when the other crashed into it on the same track on its way to Aswan, a city in the south of Egypt, according to Voice of America.

CNN said people were still trapped under wreckage late Saturday, and eighty ambulances had been dispatched to transport injured people to local hospitals. Egypt's Transportation Ministry has ordered an investigation into the crash and are looking for the train's recorders.

According to CNN, Egyptian train disasters have killed hundreds of people in the past 12 years.

Voice of America and CNN also reported that the same area of Giza was the site of a passenger train fire in February of 2002, killing 360, 44 of whom leapt from the burning cars, and 57 died and 128 were injured when two trains collided and caught fire in Qalyoubiya Province just north of Cairo.

Census volunteers provided free chili and sandwiches in a tent in Blaine's Northtown Mall parking lot in an attempt to count Minnesota's homeless Thursday, The Star Tribune reported.

Heather Ries, executive director of Stepping Stone Emergency Housing, which worked together with Minnesota census volunteers, said this is the first time tactics like this have been used on such a big scale to estimate the homeless population, according to the Star Tribune.

Those who came to be counted sat in cars with volunteers and answered questions from a 32-page survey created by the Wilder Research Center, an organization that conducts a census of Minnesota's homeless every three years, according to the Tribune.

The homeless population is difficult to count because many homeless are "hidden," meaning they don't come to shelters or soup kitchens and are more likely to be living with family or friends, Ries said to the Tribune.

"We know we have more than 1,000 homeless people in Anoka County, but they are more hidden than in the cities. That's why we had a mini event," Ries told the Tribune.

Meanwhile, County Board Chairman Mike Opat is seeking an investigation into the spending habits of Hennepin County's Street Case Management Project, who treated 50 people from a chemical dependency program to $60 seats at the Vikings-Packers game earlier this month, according to another Star Tribune article.

"I can understand, for a group of clients living on the edge, where you might have a pot of money for group outings. But I think it's a little extravagant to take folks to a Vikings game at $60 bucks a ticket," Opat said to the Star Tribune.

The Street Case Management Program was created in 1996 to help people with chemical dependency issues cut back on detox runs and use of emergency rooms. It received a $400,000 grant last year from the Minnesota Human Services Department.

"Even if it complies with the letter of the grant," Opat said to the Star Tribune of the football game spending, "I don't think it complies with the spirit."

According to the article and the county website, the program has helped cut back on participants' detox stays by 60 to 80 percent, and emergency room visits by 50 percent, saving the county millions of dollars. 

Minneapolis Park Nicollet Health Services announced it has a limited supply of H1N1 vaccines as President Obama declared the H1N1 a national emergency Saturday, signing paperwork allowing hospitals and doctor's offices nationwide to better handle a possible surge in patients, according to The Star Tribune and The New York Times.

White House administration officials explained that Mr. Obama's move was mostly a bureaucratic one that was not made in anticipation of heightened vaccine shortages or any kind of outbreak, according to the New York Times. Officials added that the measure could hypothetically help overwhelmed hospitals handle very sick patients.

In Minneapolis, the supply of vaccinations is limited to pregnant women, children six months to 18 years old, and public safety officials, The Star Tribune reported.

The H1N1 vaccine has become available more slowly than expected, according to federal health officials interviewed by the Tribune. And though it isn't a national problem, seasonal flu shots have also been lacking in the Metro area, causing several walk-in shot clinics to be canceled.

Meanwhile, hundreds stood in the cold in Papillion, Nebraska, waiting to be vaccinated for free or turned away when supplies ran out, according to Omaha's NBC affiliate, WOWT-TV.

The scene was similar across the country. Officials at six locations in Chicago were forced to turn away droves of people just a few hours after vaccination sites opened, according to the Times article.

Agricultural officials discovered potential swine flu virus in three Minnesota State Fair pigs Friday, which could make them the first U.S. cases of the virus in actual swine, according to The Associated Press. Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said the results do not infer a food safety issue.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Two pilots who overshot the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport by over 150 miles Wednesday may have their licenses revoked, according to The New York Times.

The Northwest Airlines pilots insist that falling asleep or arguing did not cause them to fly into Wisconsin, but Capt. Timothy B. Cheney and first officer Richard I. Cole have so far refused to disclose any more details as to why they seemingly forgot to land at MSP, and why they did not respond to air traffic controllers' attempts to contact them for almost 90 minutes, The New York Times reported.

Cheney, 53, of Gig Harbor, Wash. and Cole, 54, of Salem, Ore., told authorities meeting them on the ground after landing that they had been having a heated conversation about airline policy that distracted them from their position in the air.

"We were not asleep, we were not having an argument or fighting," said Mr. Cole to The Oregonian, according to the New York Times article. "I would tell you more, but I've already told you way too much," he added.

Mr. Cole also said that it was not a serious safety issue, adding that when the investigation is finished, the results will be "innocuous," The New York Times reported.

Laura J. Brown, a spokesperson for the FAA, said letters had been sent to both pilots, informing them that their actions could result in emergency revocation or suspension of both of their licenses in the next few days, the New York Times said.

A White House spokesperson told the Associated Press that they had been monitoring the incident. They didn't mention whether President Obama had been notified.

"Even if they were arguing and got into a heated debate, that's still a serious breach of navigation. This was a gross error," said Jim Higgons, former pilot and aviation professor at the University of North Dakota, to The Star Tribune.

Colorado police and Federal Aviation Administration officials are investigating last week's balloon boy incident, an episode they now believe was orchestrated by the boy's parents, Richard and Miyumi Heene, in an effort to gain national publicity, the Associated Press reports.

 

Richard and Miyumi called news stations and 911 Thursday, demanding news helicopters search the skies for their son, claiming he had floated away inside of a helium balloon craft. Flights at Denver International Airport had to be diverted for 20 minutes until the plane landed nearby.

 

Doubts that the incident was a publicity stunt became solidified when the boy, Falcon Heene, said on a live TV interview "you guys said we did this for the show" in response to a question asking why he had been hiding in his parent's attic for several hours, according to a NBC video.

The video also showed FAA investigators seizing computers and other materials from the Heene home.

 

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden admitted that the police didn't think it was a hoax at first, but are now convinced that Richard and Miyumi Heene staged the fake accident to attract attention to the family because they are trying to start a reality TV show, according to AP.

 

Alderden said charges include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities, and attempting to influence a public servent. He also said authorities will seek reimbursement for the costs of the balloon chase, according to AP.

 

AP also reported that Robert Thomas, an acquaintance of Heene's, came forward on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday, saying that he recorded ideas for Heene's reality TV show, including a hoax involving a balloon that looked like a UFO.

This week, Minnesota schools reported the biggest jump yet in the amount of people infected with H1N1.

According to Fox News, at least 685 Minnesotas have the virus, with 215 schools reporting H1N1 outbreaks, compared to 125 the previous week.

Meanwhile, an Elk River man continues to struggle with complications of the virus, which have left him with a difficulty to walk and do everyday activities, KARE 11 reports.

Denny Sack, 63, came down with a fever labor day weekend that sent him into urgent care. Within a few days, Sack had been diagnosed with pneumonia, rushed by helicopter to Fairview Northland Medical Center, and put on life support, according to KARE.

Shortly after arriving at Fairview, doctors found life-threatening blood clots in his legs and lungs and gave him a 10 percent chance of survival, Sack's daughter Stephanie Roper told KARE in an interview.

The Elk River School District reports 800 of 12,000 students out sick, some of whom have symptoms of H1N1 but no confirmed cases, according to Fox.

A woman walking across a sidewalk driveway in south Minneapolis was struck by a Metro Transit bus Friday, the Star Tribune reported.

Rebecca Cruzen, 43, of Minneapolis, was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center after being hit a bus turning left into the 46th Street station, according to the Star Tribune.

The driver of the bus has been with Metro Transit for over 7 years, and was being tested for drugs and alcohol, which is standard procedure in such situations, according to Metro Transit spokesperson Bob Gibbons.

According to Minnesota Public Radio, there have been four incidents this year involving Metro Transit, including an incident in February where a victim died after being hit by a bus.

Gibbons also said there were video cameras on the bus, but authorities are not yet certain whether the incident was successfully recorded, according to MPR.

In an obvious violation of constitutional rights, Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell refused a marriage license to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black, both of Hammond, Louisiana on October 6, according to CNN.

Bardwell, who said in an interview with CNN that he frequently allows black people to use his bathroom, said that his refusal was out of concern that the couple's children would not be accepted by society.

In an interview with CBS affilliate WAFB of Baton Rouge, Bardwell said, "I stand by my decision, and it is my right not to marry an interracial couple." Except that Louisiana's Judicial Code of Ethics states that officials are to "perform judicial duties without bias or prejudice."

The Christian Science Monitor said that behavior like this from Southerners only fuels criticism from those who live in other regions, criticism that, they agree, is sometimes "more than warranted."

On CBS's Early Show Saturday Edition, legal analyst Lisa Bloom said that Bardwell's actions are a "blatant violation of Louisiana and federal law, and I agree with all of those who have criticized him and said he should be fired," later asking, "has he had any kind of basic awareness of who our president is?"

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal agreed that the judge should be dismissed, according to CNN.

CBS News said that another justice of the peace later married them.

Fort Collins, CO backyard scientist Richard Heene phoned local news stations Thursday to announce that his son, a  6-year-old boy named Falcon, had drifted up into the sky in a helium balloon created in the image of a flying saucer, according to the New York Times.

Heene hadn't yet called police, but wanted the news station to send news helicopters out looking for his son. KUSA-TV news director Patti Dennis refused the request until being contacted by a police officer, the New York Times said.

Ratings for both CNN and Fox News Channel doubled during the spectacle. Meanwhile, viewers became increasingly skeptical that the incident was staged or a hoax, and many bloggers, such as the Huffington Post's Judith Ellis, believed that the incident "proves the irrelevancy of network news" as stations repeatedly broke away from discussions about Afghanistan and Barack Obama's visit to New Orleans to watch the helium balloon, which was later found to be empty, floating across the Colorado sky.

Such doubts became stronger when the boy was found in his parent's attic and, upon being questioned as to why he was hiding by CNN, the boy responded, "You said that, um, we did this for the show."

Upon being further questioned about the meaning of this statement by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Heene interrupted the interview, saying he did not appreciate the media's prying.

The boy later unexplainable vomited In two later interviews on Good Morning America and the Today show, with no visible reaction of surprise or worry from his parents, according to the CNN video.

According to CNN and the New York Times, skeptics across the country have been demanding that the parents be charged with false reporting, or at least billed for the emergency rescue expenses. 

Heene and his wife have twice appeared on ABC's Wife Swap and, according to the CNN video, tried to launch other family-related reality shows.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said that the police didn't think they had been tricked by the Heenes, but that the investigation is continuing with further interviewing, according to the New York Times.

At least 186 people are dead and another 93 injured following Typhoon Parma, CNN reported.

BBC News reports a higher number of those perished, 225, as the nation copes with its 337 already dead from Tropical Storm Ketsana earlier this month.

People made phone calls and sent text messages from rooftops, waiting for rescue trucks and boats to surmount flood waters as high as single-story houses, while the bodies of the less fortunate were pulled out of the mud by rescue teams through the night, according to BBC News.

Meanwhile, authorities were thankful that the flooding hadn't breached dams, as the damage would have been far worse.

BBC News correspondents report that over half a million people have been displaced as a result of these two storms, and local authorities say that there is nowhere for them to go. Thousands of families have made the riverbanks of Marakina City in Manila their temporary home.

Parma hit land on October 3, flooding already-flooded areas and triggering massive landslides that took more lives and blocked traffic along many highways and roads, according to CNN.com.



 

A 45 year old man from Cedar, Minnesota was the third to die as a result of auto accident in Minnesota, according to the Star Tribune.

The man had just gotten out of a car after being involved in a minor accident on Interstate 35 in Forest Lake, and was struck by another car, according to Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Matt Langer.

The case is still being investigated, and his name is not being released until family members are notified.

On Friday night, a man driving a Dodge Stratus the wrong way on Highway 280 died after being struck by a Cadillac, according to police. Authorities are also awaiting notification of relatives before releasing his identity.

The driver of the Cadillac, Lloyd A. Dahline, 60, of St. Paul, suffered a broken ankle.  His passenger, James H. Wordlow, 60, of New Brighton, escaped injury, according to police.

Earlier Friday afternoon, a northern Minnesota woman and two others were struck in Coleraine, Minn. by a school bus carrying the Ely High School football team to a homecoming game.

According to police, the car carrying Emerald R. Foss, 18, of Bovey, Minn. and two friends pulled out in front of the bus when crossing Highway 169, resulting in a collision that killed Foss and critically injured the driver, Hailey Salo, 18, of Grand Rapids, Minn. and a passenger, Paige Anderson, 16, of Bovey, who were both lifted to St. Mary's.

WASHINGTON--President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for having "created a new international climate," according to The New York Times.

The President said to The New York Times that he was "surprised and deeply humbled" upon receiving the award, accepting it as a "call to action."

"To be honest," Mr. Obama said, "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."

Of course, nothing comes without political scrutiny for the President, and the announcement has gotten mixed reviews around the globe, including from the Arab world.

Paul Salem, head of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, told The Los Angeles Times
that, from the Arab perspective, Obama has perhaps been awarded for his charisma and his vision, that he has "caved in to Israeli pressure...People feel let down. They like Obama, they want him to succeed, but in their view he caved at the very first step."

Meanwhile, back on the home front, The Huffington Post quipped that the award, when held up to a light, actually "Commends Obama for not being George W. Bush."

BEXAR COUNTY, Tx-- A man and his wife riding a tandem bike were killed last Thursday when a pickup truck veered off the road and hit them, according to the San Antonio Express.

Gregory Bruehler and his wife Alexandra leave behind a 7-year-old daughter, for whom they had purchased a new bike the day before, according to a video on the website of local TV and radio station WOAI.

Gregory Bruehler was taken to a hospital where he later died. His wife died at the scene.

A picture of their daughter Kylie on urbanvelo.com depicts a young blonde girl in a pale pink antique-looking dress, matching purse in hand, gazing somberly at something off in the distance. A seemingly endless row of bikers watches on from the background, silently supporting their fallen comrades and their newly orphaned daughter at the memorial service for her parents Tuesday.

According to The Associated Press, it seems likely that the driver of the pickup truck, Gilbert John Sullaway Jr. of Helotes, Texas, will not face any charges as a result of the accident.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed legislation in June that would have required vehicle drivers to give bicyclists at least 3 feet of clearance when passing, legislation which Texas bicyclists worked towards for eight years, according to Flores' blog. 

Local columnist Veronica Flores documented the outrage of the local (and national) bike enthusiast community, stating that "bicyclists on the road are treated no better than deer."

The outrage of the bicyclist community is compounded by the fact that many bicyclists often feel they are constantly fighting in a very difficult battle against drivers who don't respect them and authorities who don't care enough about the interests and safety of riders, or the environment.

One reader of Flores' column, whose moniker is listed as "bikeboy," commented that Mr. Sullaway should have at least been cited for breaking the law by veering off the shoulder, then went on to say, "Where was the 'accident?' Oh I forgot they were bicyclists, just one notch above squirrels, deer and other vermin on the road."

However, and perhaps surprisingly, many of the others who commented on Flores' blog were not sympathetic to the dead couple, stating that the couple were breaking the law by riding on the shoulder, that biking on the road is dangerous, and even "it goes with the territory" when car drivers hit bicyclists.

Other readers shamed local law enforcement and government authorities, asking in anger why the pickup driver wasn't cited for anything whatsoever, and when those in charge will finally come around to realize the gravity of the general bicyclists' situation.

HEREFORD, Md-- Tim Wheatley, former sports editor for the Star Tribune, and his daughter were struck by a UPS truck Tuesday morning while driving near their home in Baltimore County, the Star Tribune reports.

Wheatley died at the scene. His daughter, Sarah, was taken to a hospital for treatment for serious injuries.

The traffic light controlling the intersection of the accident seems to be working. Police are investigating whether or not to press charges on the driver of the truck, Kevin P. Callahan, 28, of Owings Mills, Maryland.

Wheatley, who left the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2000, had served as editor for many publications, including The Indianapolis Star, The Florida Times-Union and the Spartanburg Times-Herald, and was well-respected by former colleagues, according to the Star Tribune.

Wheatley was also a member of the Associated Press Sports Editors. "He had a wonderful sense of humor and a hell of a work ethic," said Gary Howard, president of APSE, to The Indianapolis Star. of "All of us at APSE are saddened by this horrific news."

Sarah Wheatley is in critical but stable condition at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Her two brothers were not in the car at the time of the accident.

On his Thursday night show, David Letterman's candor was palpable as he revealed to television audiences everywhere that he had been the victim of an attempted extortion plot and that he did, in fact, have sex with some of his female staffers, the New York Times reports.

Upon first hearing the news, his television audience first gasped and endured a brief awkward silence before Letterman turned on the charm, saying, "yes, it would be embarrassing if it got out...especially for the women," which induced a hearty laugh.

Before admitting to the accusations, Letterman explained finding a package in his backseat from a person claiming to have knowledge about the relationships with a demand for $2 million to keep his secret safe, the New York Times reports.

A New York Times blog identifies the extortioner as 51 year old David Haldeman, an Emmy-winning producer for CBS's "48 Hours."

According to the New York Times article, a letter in the package said, "I know that you do some terrible, terrible things," which only fueled Letterman's fire, and he responded by saying that, sure enough, "in the package was evidence that I do do terrible things."

Six months ago, Letterman married his girlfriend of twenty years, with whom he has a 6-year-old son.

Letterman finished by saying, "This whole thing has been quite scary. I don't plan to say much more on this particular topic," the New York Times reports.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been quietly taking steps towards a campaign for presidency without much media buzz until this week, when he launched a new website and created a Political Action Committee (a private group formed with the purpose of electing or defeating a political candidate) with the mission of putting "freedom before government," according to the Boston Herald.

According to The Wall Street Journal (via Pawlenty's website), Pawlenty "continues to lay the groundwork for a presidential bid in 2012," which seems evident from by the new website, www.timpawlenty.com, and the new nickname, "TPaw," which he adopted for himself on a web video demonstrating his values and beliefs.

The website depicts Pawlenty in front of a sunny, blue sky over a prairie field, and contains a form for guests to answer the question, "What does freedom mean to you?"

Locally, people seem skeptical of Pawlenty's campaign, questioning his priorities while he serves his term as Minnesota's governor through 2010.

A Minnesota Daily blog entry, entitled "Pawlenty for President? He'd Have a Lot of Work To Do," reported that a poll indicated that local voters would elect Obama over Pawlenty with a 51 percent to 40 percent ratio.

Another poll taken by CNN indicates that 30 percent of Minnesotans want Pawlenty to run for president, while 55 percent don't want him to. When asked if they would consider voting for him if he won the bid, 43 percent said they would not consider voting for him.