November 2010 Archives

An Icy rain the early morning Sunday, turned Twin City area roads into skating rinks, as one person died and several more were injured, after a rapid accumulation of crashes.

According to a staff writer from Kare-11 TV: the Minnesota State Patrol says 44-year-old Kimberly Mead died in a crash on Highway 22 south of Litchfield when the car she was riding in driven by Ronda L. Malvin, 43, lost control on the ice and slid sideways into oncoming traffic where it was struck by another car.

Lt. Eric Roeske of the Minnesota State Patrol said, to Kare -11 TV, as of 8 a.m. Sunday, 373 accidents were reported in the metro and they involved more than 60 injuries.

This demonstrated that Minnesotans fail to realize the danger's of winter driving on a yearly basis. Despite many being veteran's of winter driving, they do not understand the need to slow during slippery conditions

However not only the operators of vehicles were injured during the ice storm, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.Between 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, 42 pedestrian arrived at the Hennepin County Medical Center emergency room with slip-and-fall injuries, William Larson, the hospital's clinical care supervisor said.


Furthermore when it is icy in Minnesota, if one doesn't stay inside they put themselves at a huge risk for slippage no matter their mode of transportation.

A recently gutted aging fuel fabrication center in North Korea,has been transformed into an uranium drilling facility, filled with hundreds of centrifuges.

David Sanger of the New York Times reports: North Korea unveiled to American Nuclear scientist a brand new facility they secretly built to enrich uranium, which confronts the Obama administration with the notion that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear technology.

"They claimed 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running," Siegfried S. Hecker, the Stanford professor said to the New York Times . " Stunningly the centrifuges were operated from an ultra-modern control room."

In addition the Scientist's, spotted a light-water reactor being built on the site of a facility the country had earlier dismantled, as part of an agreement with the international community to end its nuclear weapons program, Sanger went on to say.

This piece of evidence is so frighting, because nobody knows what type of carnage, the regime of North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-il, is capable of. Although claim that the operation in is part of creating alternative fuels, since they have all-ready tested two nuclear missiles in the past two years, I believe its part of their plan to become an elite militaristic power in the world.

Since the historical focus of communist regimes have been to become strongest militaristic power in the World, if North Korea has indeed gain nuclear power, a possible World War three could occur in the future. It's quite scary to imagine the possible devastation a nuclear war would have on the future landscape of the world.

University of Illinois halfback Mikel Lourshoure ran 330 yards in one direction at Wrigley Field Saturday, straight into the school's record books as Illinois edged Northwestern by 21 points.
According to ESPN's Melissa Isaacson, the initial hype of the game plummeted after the Big Ten Conference ruled Friday that the game was going to be played in one direction towards the west, due to a safety hazard caused from an overhang in the wall of the east end zone.

However the fans in east end zone fans got there wish for excitement when Northwestern safety Brian Peters intercepted a pass by Illinois receiver Eddie McGee and sprinted 59 yards in their direction to close the gap to 14-7.
Although other than that play, the Northwestern defenders spent most of game with face masks grounded into the turf, after numerous failed attempts to bring down Mikel Lourshoure. Lourshoure racked up four touchdown carries of 30 yards or more, and 330 yards of the 519 total yards rushing that the Illini had on the day.
Since the campus of Northwestern is located only miles way from Wrigley Field, the stands were mainly packed with purple, however despite the result on the field, the atmosphere remained exuberant throughout, according to Issacson.
The reason why is because, the purpose of this game was to produce four hours of drunken fun for local Chicagoans, and that it did.
"I loved the atmosphere," Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase said to ESPN. "It was a great setting, a great everything and obviously getting a win always helps the situation."
This football game at Wrigley Field demonstrates that college football should play thier games in baseball venues more often, because no matter the outcome the atmosphere is amped tremendously regardless, and the event itself becomes a spectacle.

Just a minute and 10 seconds into round two, a left hook from Sergio Martinez landed flush into the chin of Paul "the punisher" Williams, forcing his face to plummet onto the canvas of the ring.
According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, this fight for the middleweight in Atlantic City, Saturday night, was the rematch to a bout that went the distance last December, where Williams won the bout in a controversial split-decision.Martinez looked far quicker than Williams, he landed several flush punches in the opening round, then played possum in the second to lure Williams into throwing a lunging punch.

I didn't want the judges to rob me this time," the 35-year old Martinez said, to Rafael after the bout. "I knew I was going to knock him out and the fight was not going past seven rounds."
One thing Martinez proved last night, is that boxing promoters are killing the sport. Instead of pushing for the most entertaining fights that could help save the sport, promoters continue to assemble one-sided fights like this one, and one that occurred last weekend between Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao.
Due to Floyd Mayweather's several on-going legal problems, the highly speculated fight proposal between him and Paquiao is probably off for good. However as Martinez demonstrated last night, a fight between him and Pacquiao could be just as entertaining.
Like Paquiao, Martinez has lethal combination of speed and power, making the two an intriguing set of ingredients to produce a slug fest. However since many casual boxing fans have not heard of Martinez, someone less deserving will probably get the money bout.
"If you're Pacquiao, would you go near him?" Lou DiBella, Martinez's promoter said. "We're going to have a problem making the next fight because that's how good he is."

Hundreds of car's cluttered the spaces of Twin City area impound lots this weekend, after many residents failed to cooperate, with snow the emergency alerts posted on Saturday.
According to the Star Tribune's BIll McAuliffe, only about 5 percent of snow emergency violators actually get towed for their first offense, however certain neighborhoods such as Dinkytown, and Uptown, aggressively enforce zero tolerance towing policies.
Ismail Noor, who lives on Park Avenue, told the Star Tribune that the absence of a phone call caused his vehicle to get towed from the same spot for third time in the last three years.

According KSTP TV's Josh Simeone, St. Paul city officials reported that they towed nearly 600 cars, and issued out more than 2,700 tickets over the weekend. In addition, Minneapolis city officials, reported that more than one thousand cars were towed in their city.

The main difference between the two articles was that the angle of the story from KSTP TV, focused on the total amount of car towed in Minneapolis, and ST.Paul. On the other hand, the the angle of the story from the Star Tribune Also the story from KSTP TV reported that more cars were towed in the Twin Cities than one from the Star Tribune did.

Despite trailing 24-10 with less than four minutes to go, the Vikings scored 14 points in the remaining time of regulation, and then were victorious 27-24 in overtime after a 35-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell.
Espn's Kevin Seifert reports: I'm not sure if Childress' job was resting on the outcome of this game, but if it were, you would assume there will be no coaching change this week.
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Unlike Seifert, I don't believe Childress' was relying on the outcome of the game, because presumably the Vikings are eliminated from playoff contention if they lose another two games. With a loss they would have fallen to 2-6 yesterday, but since the Vikings have only eight games left no coaching change probably would have come until the end of the season anyway.
It makes no sense to promote an intern coach since they just extended Childress' contract at the end of last season. Why would Zyge Wilf pay two guys head coach money for a football team, that is not making playoffs? Also promoting an intern coach means that a team still keeps the internal problem, which is almost always runs through the entire coaching staff.
Firing a a head coach midway through the season has no value, because the season is already lost before the change is made anyway. Look at the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones fired Wade Phillips Monday after the Cowboys fell 1-7 yesterday.
NFL News reports Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that team's move to replace Phillips is not an admission of defeat, something he stressed to players as "creating a new culture" during a brief meeting Monday morning. a b
Of course the decision to fire him was a given, but what value does the Cowboys get of promoting the Offensive Coordinator Jason Garret midway through the season. The Dallas Cowboy have struggled mainly do to a total lack of accountably, apparently Jason Garret has not been able to hold players as offensive coordinator, how will he be able to do so, as head coach.

Early Friday Morning two armed robbers wearing black masks, hopped into the car of a young Anoka bank teller, drove her to an Anoka branch of U.S Bank, and made her open the bank's vault
John Brewer of the Pioneer Press reports:the strong-arm abduction and robbery could be an escalation in a series of early-morning bank heists by the two robbers this year across the Twin Cities.
Anoka Police Chief Phil Johanson told the Pioneer Press, that the men involved in Friday's robbery appeared to have watched the teller's residence and the bank ahead of the crime.
The FBI said the two men are also believed to be responsible for robbing the Wells Fargo Bank in Champlin on the morning of Aug. 4 and a U.S. Bank in Plymouth early Sept. 13.
5 Eye Witness news reports: that the FBI said, In the Plymouth incident, the two men also allegedly wore masks, and used a semi-automatic handgun and a knife to force employees into the vault just as the bank was opening.

The main difference between the two stories is that the Pioneer Press story went gave far more specific details on the recent robbery, and the 5 Eyewitness news gave more basic details on the recent robbery, but went more into depth on linking this one to the previous two.

Although Republican Tom Emmer still trails Democrat Mark Dayton by 8,750 votes in Minnesota Governors race, he still wants to go through with the recount, Emmer's attorney said Monday.
Kare-11 News reports: Unless Dayton's lead grows to over a half of one percentage point -- roughly 10,500 votes -- the re-count will proceed at public expense. Also schedule calls for the re-count of 2.1 million ballots to conclude by mid-December, however if further lawsuits are needed to decide the race, Tim Pawlenty could remain in office longer than the expiration date of his term.
The Star Tribune reports: that the statement from Emmer's attorney came after Hennepin County certified its vote total Monday, which accounts for 1/5 of the States total votes.
The two stories were really similar in content, the Kare-11 story was longer because it talked about a meeting conducted Monday, between Emmer and Pawlenty, where Ben Golnik was named the Republican strategist that will head the re-count.

In the last three days, 69 children prostitutes have been removed and 99 adult pimps have been arrested in the the United States.
The Associated Press reported Monday: that FBI spokesman Jason Pack said, 69 children were removed from prostitution and 99 suspected pimps were arrested in 40 cities across 30 states and the District of Columbia. The children were found during Operation Cross Country V, a three-day police crackdown targeting child traffickers and pimps.
FBI Executive Assistant Director Henry told the Associated Press child prostitutes are often recruited by loose knit groups seeking out misguided kids looking for a "responsible adult" to help them
JACK CLOHERTY and PIERRE THOMAS of ABC News reported: that sixteen juveniles were taken off the streets during the sweep in Seattle alone. Arrests were made through the stings, that were set up, with undercover officers or FBI agents acting as potential customers.
The two articles differed because the ABC news focused on more specifics of the story, and the Associated Press just delivered the basic facts

November 8, 2010 10:33 a.m. EST
At least 115 Iraqis have claimed that they suffered abuse from British troops, and are filing lawsuit against the British government this week.
CNN's Richard Allen Greene reported: At least 125 Iraqis claim mistreatment such as sleep deprivation, hooding, being forced to stand or kneel in stress positions, or being exposed to "loud pornography.
Phil Shriner, the lawyer for the Iraqis told CNN,"Allegations indicate systematic abuse of detainees which reflect policies of the Armed Forces or at least tolerated and widespread practices, Phil Shriner, the lawyer for the Iraqis said.
Defence Minister Liam Fox, told CNN he is "very concerned" by allegations of abuse and is determined to "get to the bottom" of all such allegations.
Aljazeera reported, A group of 142 Iraqi civilians pushed for the public inquiry into the treatment of detainees. Also one claim of mistreatment involved a 16-year-old boy, who said he was raped by two British soldiers while in custody in 2003.
The article from Aljazeera included graphic examples of mistreatment and the article from CNN, summarized the mistreatment in general terms