Obama wants small-business bill this year (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Seeking cooperation in a polarized climate, President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged Congress to act quickly on bipartisan measures that would extend tax breaks for small businesses and help startup companies raise money. He said he would sign the legislation "right away."

Obama plans to include in his 2013 budget proposal later this month a series of business measures that have been percolating in Congress or that already have passed the Republican-controlled House to give entrepreneurs incentives to expand their businesses or start new ones.

Obama made his remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. He noted that for the first time, the head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, was participating as a full member of the Cabinet.

"It is a symbol of how important it is for us to spur entrepreneurship, to help startups, to move aggressively so that we can assure more companies that create the most jobs in our economy are getting a leg up from various programs that we have in our government," Obama said.

The White House legislative agenda for small businesses includes permanently eliminating taxes on capital gains from investments in small businesses and a one-year extension on the ability of all businesses to immediately deduct all of the costs of equipment and software purchases.

The Obama administration also is seeking a new 10 percent tax credit for small businesses that add jobs or increase wages in 2012.

In addition, the president's proposals would make it easier for new startup companies to raise money and to go public, embracing a series of measures that already have passed the House or that have bipartisan support in the Senate. Obama also is proposing expanding a government small business investment program from $3 billion to $4 billion.

"The president has made small businesses and particularly startups a key aspect of his economic growth agenda because he understands how much the newest and fastest-growing small businesses drive job growth in our economy," said Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Obama said the Homeland Security Department also is seeking ways to change the visa process to attract foreign-born entrepreneurs and high-skilled immigrants to invest in the United States or start new businesses. The State Department also plans a change in regulations to provide longer visas for workers whose employers transfer them from overseas to the United States.

The measures are modest by comparison to Obama's 2009 economic stimulus or to last year's jobs bill. But they borrow from past Obama initiatives and from bipartisan legislation that has passed or been proposed in Congress.

Obama's package includes proposals offered in the Senate by Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, and another plan by Republican Jerry Moran of Kansas and Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia.

White House officials would not disclose the total cost of the president's package, but Sperling said it would be more than covered by proposals to reduce tax expenditures and by closed loopholes the administration will call for in its 2013 budget.

With the presidential election set to become the main political preoccupation of 2012, the White House initiative is designed to take advantage of cooperative attempts by Republicans and Democrats to find modest remedies to spur the economy. Most of those efforts have been overshadowed by congressional bickering, the Republican presidential primary and Obama's growing attention to his re-election.

The proposals come a year after the administration launched a consolidated effort to spur new startup businesses with a high-profile White House event featuring scores of entrepreneurs, some of whom offered testimonials to the job creation possibilities that new businesses can bring to the economy.

Besides the tax breaks, a central element of the Obama package is to assist new entrepreneurs by making it easier for them to raise money, reducing taxes on their startup expenses and removing securities barriers for new companies that have gone public.

"Our small business agenda has a specific focus on removing the barriers that have for too long blocked startups and entrepreneurs from getting the financing they need to accelerate their growth and hiring," Sperling said.

One of the Obama provisions would increase the amount of money that can be raised through small public offerings that don't require companies to undergo an extensive Securities and Exchange Commission registration process. The limit for such "mini public offerings" would increase from $5 million a year to $50 million.

The House passed similar legislation last year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_business

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Mexico detects stolen fuel at gas station

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Mexican officials said Monday they have found a new distribution point for thousands of gallons of gasoline stolen from state-owned pipelines: a seemingly normal gas station with official logos.

Thieves in Mexico had long been thought to unload stolen oil products on shadowy black markets. But it now appears the thefts have taken on a new sophistication, using a gas station that until 2010 had a concession from the state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos company, known as Pemex, to legally sell gas.

A Pemex official who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Monday that it was the first time that stolen fuel has been detected being sold through a gas station. In the past, primitive illicit fueling stations with improvised tanks had been discovered in fields, vacant lots and industrial buildings, presumably to supply fuel to private fleets.

But in a raid over the weekend in the northern city of Monterrey, the federal Attorney General's Office said it found about 12,690 gallons (48,000 liters) of stolen gasoline at the station, worth about $77,000. The station came under suspicion because it had not had a legitimate delivery of gas in some time.

Photos of the station showed that it had the normal green, red and white signs borne by all Pemex gas stations throughout Mexico. Pemex licenses the stations to be run by private concessionaires, who must buy fuel from the company. The Attorney General's Office said the Monterrey station's concession had been canceled in 2010.

The company is taking the threat seriously enough that it is starting a nationwide, random audit of stations throughout the country, in part because the volume of oil products being stolen appears to be too large to move through primitive, improvised outlets.

The company says it lost about 2.99 million barrels, or about 125 million gallons, of oil products in the first 11 months of 2011, the latest figures available. That represented about a full day's worth of total production for the company, and marked a 52-percent increase over the 1.96 million barrels stolen in the same period of 2010.

According to a U.S. court case, Mexican gangs trafficked some stolen crude over the border to U.S. refineries, and in June 2011, Pemex filed a lawsuit against nine U.S. companies and two individuals for alleged involvement in buying or processing Mexican oil products stolen by gangs.

Thieves have also sold unrefined fuels to bulk users such as brick kilns and factories, but the amount of gasoline being stolen would be inappropriate for such uses, or even private truck fleets.

Pemex said the task force will use mobile labs to test stations' gasoline to detect whether it was illicitly mixed or transported. It will also review tax and commercial records to detect whether any station is selling more gas than it has ordered.

But the 1,324 illegal taps and break-ins at Pemex pipelines discovered in 2011 are only part of the complex series of attacks on the company.

A Mexican legislator said Monday that an oil spill in early January in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz was intentionally caused to create a pollution emergency, in order to generate income and contracts for clean-up work.

Federal Congressman Antonio Benitez Lucho toured the Pemex plant where the spill originated and said a primitive cut had been made in a valve head, a hole knocked in a containment wall and a thick hose laid to the edge of the Coatzacoalcos river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

In early January, about 63,400 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude spilled from the valve plant, blackening the river's shores and threatening wildlife.

"There was no doubt that it was deliberate," Benitez Lucho said.

"I think they spilled the crude so that the companies that do clean-up and remediation work ... could get quick, fast-track contracts," he said. "They are million-dollar companies that charge huge amounts for clean-up and remediation, and I think that is the motive."

The office of the Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection said the case was still under investigation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-30-LT-Mexico-Oil-Theft/id-fb497627d90747c48c31a8b1ea183dc1

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Santorum's Hypocrisy Highlighted by Daughter's Illness (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum suspended his bid for the GOP nod to run against Barack Obama when his daughter, Bella Santorum, was hospitalized, according to the Associated Press. Bella suffers from Trisomy 18, a rare genetic disorder in which a baby has some or all of an extra chromosome. While it is always tragic for a parent to face losing a child, the situation highlights a political issue: Santorum's hypocrisy on health care, abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

Santorum's campaign website discusses his views on these matters. He is emphatically against a woman's right to control her own body in reproductive matters and is adamantly opposed to embryonic stem cell research. He is against a single-payer national health care system provided to all citizens. He opposes the first two on religious grounds on the third for reasons of political dogma.

As to abortion, Santorum flip-flops on his opposition, according to a Care2.com report. It's easy for him to rail against abortion when such ranting might win him votes.

It's also easier for him to oppose it because he has the best health care in America available to him and his family -- provided at taxpayer expense, no less. He never had to consider whether care for a terminally ill child would destroy his family financially.

Unless the U.S. enacts a national health care plan most families will never be able to afford the care needed for a child with Trisomy 18. Santorum's family will never lack for health care or face crippling medical debt -- but as far as he's concerned it's fine for your family to have those problems.

Santorum's opposition to embryonic stem cell research is ludicrous for two reasons. First, such research involves the collection of cells from a blastocyst, a blob of about 150 cells so small the human eye cannot detect it, according to the National Institute for Health. Second, such research could save the lives of his daughter and countless others suffering from her condition. It's despicable for him to fight against the best possible hope for a cure to the very condition killing his child.

It makes me wonder how Santorum's opinion might change if he was an average American with a household income of less than $50,000 per year and no health insurance. I bet he'd sing a different tune.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/pl_ac/10899655_santorums_hypocrisy_highlighted_by_daughters_illness

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Nancy Doyle Palmer: Smashed and Predisposed -- Sundance Spotlights Addiction

It's an old story that's not often told or told well in Hollywood, but this year's Sundance Film Festival premiered two films --Smashed and Predisposed -- that showcase addiction and all its glorious collateral damage with effective grace and a deft touch, thanks to some outstanding writing and performances. Without delivering too much of a message -- as one of the filmmakers put it, "We're not Fed-Ex."

Smashed -- directed by James Ponsoldt and written by Ponsoldt and Susan Burke, tells the story of Kate and Charlie -- an indie couple living on the outskirts of Los Angeles who really love each other and really love getting really drunk together. Kate (played by the mesmerizing Mary Elizabeth Winstead) teaches elementary school, and is so hung over in the first scene that she vomits in front of a class of second graders. She's married to Charlie (Breaking Bad's intense Aaron Paul) who spends most of his 'freelancer' time hanging out with his buddies in bars until the love of his life comes home from school. Kate decides to join AA and get sober (The Help's Octavia Spencer is her sponsor; the world's funniest real life couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman are her colleagues at school, and Mary Kay Place plays her mother -- all are sublime) and in doing so begins a journey that takes her far away from her husband. All of which hurts.

Predisposed, which premiered just this past Friday, is directed by Phil Dorling and Ron Nyswaner and written by Nyswaner ( who also wrote Philadelphia) and stars Jesse Eisenberg as Eli, a piano prodigy who needs to get his mother Penny -- the glorious Melissa Leo -- into rehab so he can attend a critical audition for a prestigious music school. The problem is that rehab can't take her unless she's recently taken drugs so mother and son set out to score with dealers Tracy Morgan and Isiah Whitlock Jr. They all pile into a broken down vehicle just a little too reminiscent of Little Miss Sunshine and so the journey begins.

Both films conjure up the handful of movies that have become iconic for addiction -- Days of Wine and Roses, The Lost Weekend, Postcards from the Edge and Leaving Los Vegas -- as well as providing a new humanity for today's drinkers and drug- abusers and a fresh approach to the unavoidable plot points -- hitting bottom, tearful confrontations, admitting there's a problem and falling off the wagon.

It's not surprising that both screenwriters are themselves in recovery. Susan Burke is a writer and standup comic who says she stopped drinking when she was 18 for her parents and again at 21 for herself.

"I don't walk around and tell everyone but I'm proud of that... I think people know it means I'll show up," she says, "In society there is still that otherness -- in a lot of films and books they show you the low-bottom alcoholic so you can separate yourself from that, to show they are different, a bad person who is really messed up. I want people to see Kate and say I know that girl, or that girl is me."

Predisposed's Ron Nyswaner points out there are all kinds of addicts, including highly functional ones. "To me this is a disease of the mind and spirit -- this is a disease of self-delusion" he says, "I was at the highest peak of my career a few years ago when there were a lot of awards and things and I was in the depths of my addiction... I can make sure you don't know what you don't need to know."

And both filmmakers say they worked hard not to judge their out-of-control protagonists. "We were very purposeful in creating this story that did not pass judgment on someone's disease or even someone's behavior," says Smashed's Ponsoldt, "We wanted a sense of humor born out of a reality, out of getting the details right but also out of a humanism and charity and love of these characters -- there was no desire to punish them."

Susan Burke adds that having the main drunk be female was also groundbreaking. "We felt we hadn't seen a fully dimensionalized woman in a portrayal like this, we didn't want to depict a shrill woman or a weak woman," she says, "Kate can be raging, she can be cruel to people when she's drunk, she can also be vulnerable, she can also be all of these things that men like this have had the opportunity to be."

Melissa Leo's portrayal of the spacey, hipster painter Penny in Predisposed is equally fresh.

"There are a lot of kinds of addicts in the world and the notion that someone must be dribbling snot and homeless has more to do with maybe who they were before they became an addict," she says, "For my money Penny was a woman who grew up in a certain time with an accepted norm of behavior within a certain socio-economic strata and she had a husband who was an artist living in that kind of world ... I think that like many an addict before her is simply and utterly aware of how her behaviors are affecting her family. She has a house they live in, the little one does get to school, the big boy takes care of the little kid, isn't that what a family is for?"

Both Kate and Penny aren't in this alone, of course , Kate's husband Charlie has lost his best drinking partner and struggles to stay part of her newly sober world, while Penny's son Ira has been holding the family together and wants to escape.

"Sobriety made their whole dynamic completely different," says screenwriter Burke, "I feel for the character Charlie so much -- the most difficult thing to have your best friend go on a completely different road."

Neda Armian produced Predisposed as well as Rachel Getting Married, and says addicts can create addicts, too. "Ira (Jesse Eisenberg) has an addiction to wanting to escape his life and that's through music, where he can get away from everything," she says, "For me, that audition is about a better life for him -- it's his way out."

(Worth noting here -- Eisenberg learned to play the piano for this role and was so good that there was no need for a double for the audition scene -- "The boy is a genius!" says Melissa Leo)

Both filmmakers insist that addiction is just one aspect of their movies.

"The story is about forgiveness, love, hope and change," says Smashed's Ponsoldt, "It's just about a relationship, a love story where one person makes a life change and the other doesn't -- without judgment."

Predisposed's Nyswaner echoes this disclaimer. "Really this movie is about art" he says, " Penny is an artist, in the first scene she is painting, later in the film she spontaneously makes a sock puppet from the art supplies in her car for her daughter and she has said to her son "Honey, you are a great artist , it's just like your father' and she's right. Art, like drugs, allows you to escape something, but while art actually allows you to escape and elevate you, drugs allows you to escape and then kill you."

And both films use a blessedly light touch.

"We didn't want this film to look like these people were having this rough, raw time," says Ponsoldt, "We wanted you to see people in this nice town, not this dark world of drug dens and needles. It's people you see in your everyday life who are going through this. These are people with families and friends and they need help."

Adds Melissa Leo "Think of The Kids Are Alright and the many subjects they were tackling lightly...it's shot bright, it's not dark and gritty, there's a way to share these stories by lightening it somehow so you can get audiences in the seats watching the thing and then learning the lesson."

And the lesson?

"'Sometimes when I start I can't stop'", says Leo, "that's the closest Penny gets to understanding this problem that her son Eli, who is pretty fucking smart, has pointed out to her.

?

Follow Nancy Doyle Palmer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NancyDPalmer

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-doyle-palmer-/smashed-predisposed-sundance_b_1240666.html

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Congress tries to police itself on insider trading (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Aware that most Americans would like to dump them all, members of Congress hope to regain some sense of trust by subjecting themselves to tougher penalties for insider trading and requiring they disclose stock transactions within 30 days.

A procedural vote Monday would allow the Senate later this week to pass a bill prohibiting members of Congress from using nonpublic information for their own personal benefit or "tipping" others to inside information that they could trade on.

Insider trading laws apply to all Americans, but CBS' "60 Minutes" in November said members of Congress get a pass, citing investment transactions by party leaders and a committee chairman in businesses about to be affected by pending legislation.

The broadcast report raised questions about trades of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio; the husband of Democratic leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California; and Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

All three denied using any insider information to make stock trades, but the broadcast set off a flurry of efforts in Washington to deal with the public perception.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of registered voters found 56 percent of them favor replacing the entire 535-member Congress. Other polls this year have given Congress an approval rating between 11 percent and 13 percent, while disapproval percentages have ranged from 79 percent to 86 percent.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said he's working on an expanded bill that would go beyond stock transactions and ban lawmakers from making land deals and other investments based on what they learned as members of Congress.

The Senate version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act would subject any member of Congress who violates the ban on insider trading to investigation and prosecution by regulatory agencies and the Justice Department. It also directs the House and Senate ethics committees to write rules that would make violators subject to additional congressional penalties.

"We can start restoring some of the faith that's been lost in our government by taking this common sense step of making members of Congress play by the exact same rules as everyone else," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who with Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., wrote the bill "We must make it unambiguous that this kind of behavior is illegal."

President Barack Obama endorsed the bill in in State of the Union speech last week, saying he would "sign it tomorrow." Brown used that opening to briefly speak with the president as he was exiting the House chamber after Tuesday's address.

"The insider trading bill's on Harry's desk right now," Brown told Obama, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Tell him to get it out, it's already there."

"I'm gonna tell him," answered Obama. "I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna tell him to get it done."

Obama raised the issue again in his radio and Internet address on Saturday.

"The House and Senate should send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress, and I will sign it immediately. They should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they impact," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_bi_ge/us_congress_insider_trading

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Peter, Paul and Mary bassist Dick Kniss dies at 74 (AP)

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. ? Dick Kniss, a bassist who performed for five decades with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary and co-wrote the John Denver hit "Sunshine on My Shoulders," has died. He was 74.

Kniss died Wednesday of pulmonary disease at a hospital near his home in the Hudson Valley town of Saugerties, his wife, Diane Kniss said.

Kniss was born in Portland, Ore., and was an original member of Denver's 1970s band. He also played with jazz greats including Herbie Hancock and Woody Herman.

Active in the 1960s civil rights movement, Kniss performed at benefits for a range of causes and played during the first celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday.

Peter, Paul and Mary's Peter Yarrow said in a statement that Kniss was "our intrepid bass player for almost as long as we performed together.

"He was a dear and beloved part of our closest family circle and his bass playing was always a great fourth voice in our music as well as, conceptually, an original and delightfully surprising new statement added to our vocal arrangements," Yarrow said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_mu/us_obit_kniss

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Obama to target rising college tuition costs (AP)

ROMULUS, Mich. ? President Barack Obama wants to shift some federal dollars away from colleges and universities that aren't controlling tuition costs to those that are. He's also proposing competitions among higher education institutions to encourage them to run more efficiently.

Obama will spell out his plans Friday during a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor focused on college affordability.

On Tuesday during his State of the Union address, Obama put colleges and universities on notice to control soaring tuition costs or face losing federal dollars.

The money Obama is targeting is what's known as "campus based" aid given to colleges to distribute in areas such as Perkins loans or in work study programs. Of the $142 billion in federal grants and loans distributed in the last school year, about $3 billion went to these programs.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

President Barack Obama has put colleges and universities on notice to control tuition costs or face losing federal dollars. Now, schools are waiting to hear how big a stick he plans to wield to enforce his message.

Obama was expected to spell out his plan in a speech Friday at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor focused on college affordability. His plan could set a new precedent in the federal government's role in controlling the rising costs of college ? a move making people in higher education nervous. Obama's speech will cap a three-day post-State of the Union trip by the president to promote different components of his economic agenda in politically important states.

The president hinted at what's ahead in education during his State of the Union address Tuesday night, which coincided with the release of a White House "blueprint" that said he wants to shift federal aid away from colleges that don't keep net tuition down and provide a good value. But it's unclear exactly what pot of federal dollars Obama plans to target and how his plan would work.

The Obama administration already has taken a series of steps to expand the availability of grants and loans and to make loans easier to pay back, and Obama spelled out Tuesday other proposals to make college more affordable such as extending tuition tax breaks and asking Congress to keep loan interest rates from doubling on July. His administration has also targeted career college programs ? primarily at for-profit institutions ? with high loan default rates among graduates over multiple years by taking away their ability to participate in such programs.

But until now, it has done little to turn its attention to the rising cost of tuition at traditional colleges and universities. The average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges last fall rose 8.3 percent and with room and board now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board. Rising tuition costs have been blamed on a variety of factors, including a decline in state dollars, an over-reliance on federal student loan dollars and competition for the best facilities and professors.

During Tuesday's speech, the president said he'd met with university presidents who described to him ways some universities through technology and redesigning courses were able to help students finish more quickly ? efforts that helped curtail costs.

"The point is, it's possible. So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury_ it's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford," Obama said.

Barry Toiv, spokesman for the Association of American Universities, said some of its members participated in the meeting Obama referred to and agree that there are good examples of things that can be done to make colleges more efficient. But he said universities are concerned that any proposal by the president "doesn't hurt students" because anything that does is "obviously counterproductive."

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, said the autonomy of U.S. higher education is what makes it the best of the world, and he questioned whether Obama could enforce any such plan without hurting students. Potentially, billions of dollars are at stake. In the 2010-2011 school year, the federal government awarded $142 billion in federal student aid ? most of it directly to students in the form of grants and loans, according to the Education Department.

"It's hard to do without hurting students and it's not appropriate to do," Alexander said. "The federal government has no business doing this."

Some public institutions worry about being unfairly blamed for state cuts that led to an increase in tuition prices. Neal McCluskey, an education analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said it's difficult for the federal government to dictate what is a reasonable increase because some colleges and universities might have legitimate reasons to raise tuition some years, such as the need to replace buildings in disrepair.

Obama's plan reflects that in the race between subsidizing tuition with student aid and rising tuition, student aid is going to lose, said Andrew P. Kelly, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Instead of redesigning their business model or using more online programs to save money, many colleges and universities have made small changes hoping to wait out the nation's fiscal crisis that don't solve the problem long term, Kelly said.

"This signals I think a sense of how acute that problem is and the fact that it can't just be about pouring money into federal student aid programs and hoping that affordability is maintained, that there has to be some kind of way, or at least a signal sent, to the institutions that benefit, and the states, frankly ... that they just can't continue to ratchet up prices and use federal aid to fill in the gaps," Kelly said.

Even though it's not politically popular, McCluskey said a good way to control rising tuition costs would be to cut federal aid to students, which would force colleges and universities to keep tuition low.

This isn't the first time a politician has sought to control tuition costs. In 2003, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., proposed a plan to hold back aid to colleges and universities that raised tuition much faster than inflation. It met resistance from higher education and wasn't passed.

Come Friday, "we'll be watching and listening carefully," said Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education.

___

Hefling reported from Washington.

___

Online:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Education Department: http://www.ed.gov/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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Group calls for U.S. to break up Bank of America (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A group of consumer advocates, academics and economists want to end "too-big-to-fail" banks, starting with Bank of America Corp.

The group, led by consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, plans to file a petition with the Federal Reserve Board and other regulators on Wednesday asking them to carve the bank into simpler, safer pieces.

The Fed and the coalition of regulators known as the Financial Stability Oversight Council have the authority to take such action under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passed in 2010, the group said.

Nearly two dozen professors and groups have joined the effort.

It's not clear how much effect the petition will have, and some community groups have declined to sign on.

However, the petition is a dramatic criticism of regulators who have so far done little to shrink giant banks after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

"Bank of America currently poses a grave threat to U.S. financial stability by any reasonable definition of that phrase," the 24-page petition said.

It said Bank of America, the nation's second-largest bank, is too large and complex, and that its financial condition could deteriorate rapidly at any moment, potentially causing the market to lose confidence in the bank.

"An ensuing run on the bank could cause a devastating financial crisis," the petition said.

David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division, said a lot of the group's concerns apply to other large banks, but that Bank of America is the institution most exposed to the housing crisis.

"Regulators need to get ahead of this and act proactively to reform Bank of America," Arkush said.

Bank of America has had a tough time emerging from the financial crisis, particularly because of mortgage losses tied to its 2008 Countrywide Financial purchase.

The bank's stock slid 58 percent last year as investors expressed disappointment with the speed of a turnaround and fear about the bank's ability to comply with new capital rules.

Bank of America has fared better this year. It reported improved capital levels in its fourth-quarter earnings report last week, and its stock has risen 31 percent since the start of the year.

Arkush said he doesn't expect regulators to immediately act on the group's petition.

Dodd-Frank includes mechanisms for regulators to break up large financial firms, but it includes high hurdles for such action.

Bank of America, the Fed and the Treasury declined to comment on the planned petition.

Some community groups decided to pass on signing the entreaty. Janis Bowdler, an official with the National Council of La Raza, said the letter was distributed on a list-serve for a coalition called Americans for Financial Reform, but her group decided not to join up.

"I don't want to downplay the concerns that were raised," said Bowdler, "but for now, a strong housing market and cleaning up Countrywide is the priority for us."

NCLR is a national Hispanic civil rights organization. It receives financial support from Bank of America.

The Center for Responsible Lending, which has been critical of banks for mortgage lending practices, has also declined to participate. CRL president Mike Calhoun declined comment.

Bank of America was one of the large banks that received a government bailout during the financial crisis. It paid back the $45 billion in 2009, but analysts say it still needs more capital to absorb mortgage-related losses and to meet new international standards.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker; Additional reporting by Dave Clarke in Washington and David Henry in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/bs_nm/us_bankofamerica_breakup

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Greek debt hopes shore up markets despite delay

LONDON (AP) ? Hopes that Greece will eventually reach a deal with private creditors on lowering its debt supported markets on Monday, as investors looked past delays in reaching an agreement that would further ease Europe's debt crisis.

The country's private creditors are being asked to accept longer maturities and lower interest rates on new bonds swapped for their existing ones.

Greece, which is negotiating alongside fellow eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund ? its bailout rescuers ? wants interest rates as low as 3 percent on the new bonds. But the private creditors believe that is too low and are aiming for about 4.5 percent.

Both sides say a deal is nevertheless very close, heartening investors. The euro was the main beneficiary, climbing a further 0.9 percent to $1.2995.

Greek officials say negotiations on the private debt writedown are continuing over the phone, while no appointment has been set yet for new face-to-face talks this week.

An agreement is necessary if Greece is to get the next batch of bailout cash that would prevent a devastating debt default ? Greece does not have enough money to cover a euro14.5 billion ($18.7 billion) bond repayment in March. A deal would allow the country to receive a second bailout package from other European governments and the IMF, and cut Greece's debt from an estimated 160 percent of its annual economic output to 120 percent by 2020.

Greece will likely be the main topic of discussion at a meeting later of the 17 eurozone finance ministers in Brussels.

"Hopes are high that today's meeting in Brussels will produce some positive plans to tackle the ongoing debt issues and balance out some of the frustration felt by the inability of Greece to come to an agreement with its lenders," said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

Those hopes have helped shore up markets at the start of a week, which will also feature the annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland and the U.S. Federal Reserve's first rate-setting meeting of the year.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent at 5,759 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 6.414. The CAC-40 in France was 0.3 percent higher at 3,332.

Wall Street was poised for a steady, if unspectacular, opening with little economic news on the calendar ? Dow futures were unchanged at 12,658 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 0.1 percent at 1,310.

Optimism that Greece will clinch a deal as well as a run of successful European bond auctions and solid economic and corporate news, not least from the U.S. and China, have brightened market sentiment this year. Many stock indexes have risen to five-month highs, while the euro has clambered off 17-month dollar lows to head back towards the $1.30 mark.

Later in the week, investors will be monitoring the meeting at the Fed.

Though the Fed is expected to keep its super-loose monetary policy unchanged, there will be great interest in the outcome of the meeting. It will be the first time the Fed will be publishing its interest rate forecasts out to 2016, part of a strategy to enchance communication with financial markets.

Investors will be particularly interested to see how long it expects interest rates to remain low ? previously the Fed said it expected to keep them low until the middle of 2013.

"Most, ourselves included, expect the projections to suggest the Fed sees rates on hold well into 2014," said Adam Cole, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

In the oil markets, traders are watching developments in the Persian Gulf, too. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. and other countries impose more sanctions on it because of its nuclear program. Many analysts doubt that Iran could set up a blockade for long, but any supply shortages would cause supplies to tighten.

As a result, prices have remained well-supported ? benchmark crude was up 30 cents at $98.63 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-23-World-Markets/id-27209bc98dc04361a09cd8b503485883

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Make your own laundry detergent

Store-bought laundry detergents can cost up to 30 cents per load. Here's how to make your own, cheaper version.

I?m often stunned at the high price of laundry detergent. If you?re buying Tide, for example, even if you buy the jumbo pack in multiples, you?re still paying over $0.30 per load. Even generic detergents rarely cost much below $0.15 per load.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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That?s why I prefer to make my own detergent. I can easily get the cost down to $0.05 per load, meaning I?m saving at least a dime with every load of laundry I make.

All I do is take a bar of ordinary soap and a box grater, then grate that bar of soap down into a fine powder, about a cup of it. To that, I add one cup of washing soda, half a cup of borax, and half a cup of an oxygen cleaner, such as OxiClean, which serves as the surfactant in the detergent. I mix this thoroughly in a Ziploc container, then toss in a tablespoon for measuring. Some people like to also add half a cup of baking soda, but I?ve never felt it necessary to get my clothes clean.

When I do a load of laundry, I just scoop two tablespoons of my mix into the washing machine and I?m good to go. This stuff works great ? it gets my clothes clean and fresh every time.

So, what does this cost? A single batch of this detergent is enough for 24 loads. To make it, I need one bar of soap, which I can get for $0.30; a cup of washing soda, which I can get for $0.32; a half cup of borax, which I can get for $0.24; and half a cup of OxiClean, which I can get for $0.41. That adds up to a cost of $0.05 per load.

I?ve been extremely happy with this detergent. I?ve used it on all types of clothes ? whites, reds, coloreds ? and all levels of dirtiness without any problems. I haven?t noticed any significant dinginess over a large number of loads, either.

Making a batch of this powdered detergent doesn?t take a whole lot of time, either. Most of the time is spent grating the soap, which is something you can easily do while watching a television program or something like that. After that, you just put the ingredients in a container, shake it thoroughly, and you?re ready to go.

We?ll often make this in quadruple batches. We?ll just grate four bars of soap at once, add four cups of washing soda, two cups of borax, and two cups of OxiClean to the container, and shake it thoroughly. I?ll usually just add a little bit of each ingredient, shake it, and then add a little bit more of each ingredient, repeating the cycle, in order to make sure it?s well-mixed.

How much does this really save? In our house, we do an average of a load of laundry a day ? that?s the end result of having two adults and three messy young children at home. If we?re comparing to generics, then I?m saving approximately $0.10 per load. Over the course of a year, that?s $36.50.

If we?re comparing to, say, Tide, we?re saving about $0.27 per load. Over the course of a year, that?s $98.55.

Simply put, we?re saving a hundred dollar bill a year by doing this. To me, that?s well worth the effort of mixing up some powder for about five minutes once every three months or so.

Give it a shot. Make yourself a batch of this at home using the ingredients described above and see if it works for you. If you like it, you?re going to save some significant money over time. Even if you don?t, the ingredients (borax, washing soda, OxiClean) can easily be used for other cleaning projects around your home.

This post is part of a yearlong series called ?365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),? in which I?m revisiting the entries from my book ?365 Ways to Live Cheap,? which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/lpP1_ONbbeg/Make-your-own-laundry-detergent

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France returns 20 Maori heads to New Zealand

PARIS (AP) ? France has handed over to New Zealand authorities 20 tattooed heads of Maori ethnic people once held in several French museums as a cultural curiosity.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand presided over a handover ceremony Monday at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. New Zealand's embassy said it involved the single largest group of Maori heads to be repatriated.

Since 2003, New Zealand has led an ambitious program of collecting Maori heads and skeletal remains from museums around the world so they could be properly mourned and buried according to tradition.

France long resisted handing over such cultural artifacts, but a law passed in 2010 eventually paved the way for the return of the heads.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-23-EU-France-Maori-Heads/id-8b13799ffe214099a51111b36bc2c7c9

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HelloGiggles ? Hello Giggles Pets of the Week!

Confession time, Gigglers: I really love when animals do human things. I even started a Tumblr called ?Animals Doing Human Things?. No, that?s not meant to be self promotion ? it?s just me trying to prove to you how much I love when animals act like people (especially classy business people).

Which is why my favorite female dog CEO pet of the week has to be Aubie. That dog looks better in those?pearls?than I do in mine! But this week?s whole gallery is pretty much full of the cutest pets I?ve ever seen.

Want to try and make next week?s gallery even cuter with the inclusion of your pet? E-mail us your pictures and be sure to include your pet?s name. Until next week, fellow animal lovers!

Morgan is an NYU student who wishes she could graduate and be a grown-up producer and/or blogger already. She also loves all things Disney and hot pink, which she realizes may contradict her desire to be an adult. You can follow her on Twitter @Morgan_L_Nelson or Tumblr at mln2118.tumblr.com.
See more posts from Morgan

Source: http://hellogiggles.com/hello-giggles-pets-of-the-week-3

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At PSU, tension over ouster, then grief for JoePa

Candles on the steps of Old Main on the Penn State University campus spell out "Joe" in remembrance of former football coach Joe Paterno during a memorial service on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85 after battling lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Candles on the steps of Old Main on the Penn State University campus spell out "Joe" in remembrance of former football coach Joe Paterno during a memorial service on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85 after battling lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A candle light gathering honoring legendary football coach Joe Paterno, who died Sunday morning, Jan. 22, 2012, is held on the lawn in front of Old Main the Penn State campus Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 in State College,Pa.. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

A crowd gathers for a candle light vigil honoring late football coach Joe Paterno outside Old Main on the Penn State campus in State College, Pa., Sunday, January 22, 2012. Paterno State College (AP Photo/The Citizens' Voice, Kristen Mullen)

Penn State students hold a sign as they gather in remembrance around a statue of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State campus Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012, in State College,Pa.. Paterno died in a State College hospital Sunday morning after battling lung cancer.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Anguished by an unthinkable scandal that shook a university and tarnished the proud football program, many in the Penn State community rallied around a common cause.

They mourned coach Joe Paterno's dismissal and questioned the motives and tactics of school leaders who pushed out the Hall of Famer in November in the wake of child sex abuse charges against a retired assistant coach.

Alumni, fans and students already racked by emotions were jolted by a much greater loss when Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer at age 85 ? and the grieving process again could be complicated following two tense months that often had the Paterno family and the school at odds.

"I feel like from the inside looking out that most people forget that he donated his whole life to the program. ... And everything that he donated to that school, people tend to look over that," defensive end Jack Crawford, who just completed his senior season with the Nittany Lions, said Sunday from Senior Bowl practice in Mobile, Ala.

"It was tough to swallow. It was harder to swallow when he first got fired. It was a sad moment for the whole Penn State family."

A family seemingly torn Nov. 5 after retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was charged with the first of dozens of counts of abuse allegations. Sandusky has maintained his innocence and is awaiting trial. Paterno testified before a state grand jury investigating Sandusky, and authorities said he wasn't a target of the probe.

It ended up being his undoing anyway.

Paterno fulfilled his legal obligation by reporting a 2002 allegation relayed by a graduate assistant to his university superior. But the state's top cop chastised Paterno, among other school leaders, for failing to fulfill a moral duty to do more and take the allegation to police.

Paterno himself said he "wished he could have done more" when he announced his retirement plans the morning of Nov. 9 before getting ousted by the university Board of Trustees that evening.

"I am saddened to hear the news of Joe Paterno's passing. Joe was a genuinely good person," longtime Nebraska coach and current athletic director Tom Osborne said. "Anybody who knew Joe feels badly about the circumstances. I suspect the emotional turmoil of the last few weeks might have played into it."

That turmoil stretched to Paterno's final days.

Diagnosed with lung cancer days after getting fired, Paterno entered the hospital Jan. 13 for what his family then said was a minor complication from treatments that included radiation and chemotherapy. Mount Nittany Medical Center was barely a half-mile from Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions' home field that Paterno helped make into one of college football's shrines during his 46 seasons as Penn State head coach.

While in the hospital, trustees just a couple miles away at a campus hotel on Thursday told of why they fired Paterno and cited in part a failure to fulfill his moral responsibility in connection with the 2002 allegation. His lawyer, Wick Sollers, called the allegations self-serving and reiterated that Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations.

"I think his legacy should be everything wonderful he did here for Penn State and for the community. That's what I hope," Karen Long, 70, of State College, said at the women's basketball game Sunday afternoon between Iowa and Penn State. "I don't think he was treated fairly, though. Just the way they handled firing him was awful."

Against that backdrop, school leaders, the Paterno family and the university community fractured by the scandal appear to be slowly mending relationships.

In recent weeks, university leaders have indicated they intend to honor Paterno's contributions on and off the field ? a sharp contrast to tones sounded in the frantic first week of the scandal. Back then, for instance, school President Rodney Erickson said Paterno was welcome to football games just like any other member of the public.

Paterno won two national championships and a Division I record 409 victories to turn Penn State into a name-brand program. Off the field, Paterno and his wife, Sue, donated millions back to the university, including the library.

"His and Sue's contributions are as much about ensuring student success as the many endowments and the library bearing the Paterno name," said Barbara Dewey, Penn State's dean of University Libraries.

Memorial service and funeral plans weren't ready yet Sunday night, though it appeared the family and the school were coordinating efforts.

Perhaps one last chance to say goodbye for a Penn State community that often took its cues on fall weekends from JoePa.

"No matter what people say, you can't take away what he did for Penn State and college football," former cornerback D'Anton Lynn said. "I don't think there will ever be a college coach that will ever have that impact again."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-Paterno-The%20Final%20Goodbye/id-769de8769fc9412b9ea860faefbe2240

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South Carolina Primary: Five Things To Watch

Another Mitt Romney win could provide hard-to-stop momentum going into Florida.
By Gil Kaufman

Mitt Romney
Photo: Getty Images

With the field of candidates cut down by half from just one month ago, the Republican presidential nomination could very well hinge on the results tomorrow in the South Carolina primary.

Leading nominee Mitt Romney went into the first contest in the South with a historic double win in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. But on Thursday, Romney's razor-thin eight-vote victory over former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was essentially vacated when the final tally put Santorum up by 34 votes. The reversal didn't have any real impact on Romney's status — delegates from Iowa won't be decided until a later date — but it robbed him of bragging rights.

With former House Speaker and Newt Gingrich surging in the polls leading up to the South Carolina vote and Texas Governor Rick Perry dropping out Thursday (while throwing his support behind Gingrich), suddenly Romney's path to the nomination has a few more roadblocks.

In a race that has seen more twists and turns than anyone could have predicted, here are five things to look for in Saturday's primary:

Margin of Victory
If former Massachusetts Governor Romney posts a decisive, double-digit victory, it could provide the sense of momentum he's been lacking so far. And after (almost) winning Iowa and decisively taking New Hampshire, a solid win in a Southern state with a large Evangelical voting bloc might signal that the GOP's traditional base is finally coalescing around Romney. However, if Gingrich can pull off a win — he went from being in a double-digit hole to leading in some polls as of Friday — the race could turn into a two-man duel that lasts well past the next contest in Florida on January 31.

Post-Primary Polling
In addition to being the first Southern contest, South Carolina is the first state with a serious jobs problem on the primary slate. With an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent (versus the steadily falling 8.5 national rate), exit polls could provide a snapshot of what issues are on the minds of South Carolinians and whether they think Romney is the man who can lead the nation out of its economic downturn.

His continuing stumbles on the release of his tax returns and a quip about how the $374,000 he earned in speaking fees last year was "not very much" might eat into his leader status. Exit polls could also give Romney a sharper picture of how much of the Evangelical vote he is drawing and whether he has a chance of siphoning those ballots away from Gingrich.

Where Gingrich Lands
No modern GOP candidate has won his party's nomination without a win in South Carolina. And though Gingrich was left for dead just last summer, he has risen to the top of the contender heap, currently representing the strongest challenge to Romney. The politically savvy Washington veteran has been merciless in his criticism of his more moderate opponent, while finishing just high enough to stay in it as his potential rivals fall by the wayside. If Gingrich pulls off an upset victory or comes within a few percentage points on Saturday, he could drive Santorum off the map and survive to battle Romney through the next several contests.

Exit polls could also reveal whether the interview aired by ABC News on Thursday night with Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, had a strong impact on his appeal to female voters. In it, Marianne Gingrich, whom he divorced in 2000 after he'd already begun living with his current wife, alleged that the former congressman had proposed they have an open marriage so he could continue his affair with his now-third wife. Gingrich, who proposed to Marianne before his divorce from his first wife was finalized in 1981, has faced questions during his entire run about whether conservative voters might show distaste for Gingrich's two divorces and admitted infidelity.

The Colbert factor
Viewers of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" have gotten a good laugh out of the mockery Stephen Colbert has been making of the influence of Super PAC money on this year's election. And though his request to run for the presidency of the United States in South Carolina was turned down by election officials, the "Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert Super PAC" has been running mock attack ads in the state and has put up some poll numbers that would make former candidate Perry blush. Could his savage satire of big money resonate with some voters and help swing the primary just enough to make Super PACs a talking point?

The Tea Party
The leaderless upstart political movement's unofficial ground zero is South Carolina, home to the state's junior Senator Jim DeMint, who is considered the ideological forefather of the Tea Party among elected officials. While the TP has faded somewhat in profile since it stormed the 2010 midterm elections, a recent New York Times magazine story noted that the defiantly unorganized organization has "had a hard time settling on any obvious alternative to Romney." If the TP were to assert itself and get out the vote against Romney, it could signal a problem for him in other unabashedly red states.

Check back for up-to-the-minute coverage on the primary races and stick with PowerOf12.org throughout the 2012 presidential election season.

Related Videos

• New Hampshire Primary Sparks Youth Conversation

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677657/south-carolina-primary-preview.jhtml

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Gingrich, Romney Ham house standoff fizzles (AP)

GREENVILLE, S.C. ? So just where was the beef?

It turns out that the great ham house standoff had no sizzle, no matter how you sliced it.

GOP presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were expected to cross paths at a campaign stop in Greenville as they rallied voters on primary day. But the much-hyped Republican run-in failed to materialize after Romney showed up at Tommy's Ham House earlier than originally planned.

A sea of "Newt 2012" and "Romney" signs jostled in the packed restaurant.

Romney departed about 20 minutes before Gingrich arrived. When Gingrich walked in he said, "where's Mitt?"

Earlier, Gingrich urged voters to support him if they want to stop Romney from winning the nomination.

Gingrich stopped by The Grapevine restaurant in Boiling Springs not long after the polls opened g. He told diners who were enjoying plates of eggs and grits that he's the "the only practical conservative vote" if Republicans want to slow Romney, described by Gingrich as a Massachusetts moderate.

Gingrich said he would put a stop to federal actions against South Carolina's voter ID and immigration laws.

The former House speaker, who has seen his support rise in the days before the primary, said "polls are good, votes are better."

After disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former House speaker hit his stride as the nation's first Southern primary neared, rallying conservatives behind him as the most viable alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.

Fueled by fiery debate performances and assisted in part by his Southern roots, Gingrich counted on a strong performance Saturday in South Carolina's GOP primary to catapult him back into the top tier of White House hopefuls.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

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4 dead in Calif. murder-suicide; 5th person hurt (AP)

FRESNO, Calif. ? Two adults and two children were killed in an apparent murder-suicide Sunday at an apartment building in California's Central Valley, while a fifth person was hospitalized in critical condition, police said.

Police were called to investigate a disturbance at the Fresno home shortly before 7 a.m. They found a man outside the apartment suffering from a stab wound, Fresno Police Lt. Mark Salazar said.

The man told officers his "wife" was inside and causing a disturbance; authorities later determined the woman was his live-in girlfriend, Salazar said.

Police then heard a gunshot and rushed inside. They found a woman believed to be in her 20s with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a man in his 20s or 30s dead of a gunshot wound, he said.

Two children ? an 18-month-old and a 3-year-old ? also died from gunshot wounds. The children were the dead woman's children, and all five people involved were Hispanic, Salazar said. No names were released.

"We have not done an autopsy yet and we're continuing the investigation, but we believe it was a murder-suicide," Salazar said. "We cannot confirm the order of events, and we don't know what led up to the shooting."

Police also were still investigating the circumstances around the man suffering from a stab wound, Capt. Dennis Bridges told The Fresno Bee. Bridges did not know if there was a history of domestic violence calls or other disturbances at the apartment.

The man suffering from the stab wound was taken to a local hospital, where he was reported to be in critical condition.

A neighbor, Eric Gonzalez, described the residents of the apartment as a "normal" family.

"I never saw them fighting. They would come out with the baby carriage, and the man was taking care of his children," he told an Associated Press reporter outside the apartment complex.

Gonzalez said he did not hear any fighting or gunshots before the incident.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_re_us/us_fresno_four_dead

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New NIDA resource helps families navigate addiction treatment options

Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: NIDA Press Team
media@nida.nih.gov
301-443-6245
NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Consumer-friendly publication will guide those struggling with addiction

A new resource, Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask, will help individuals and families struggling with addiction ask the right questions before choosing a drug treatment program. It was developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and is available to the public free online or in hard copy through NIDA's DrugPubs service (see information below).

"Treatment options can vary considerably, and families often don't know where to begin," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "This booklet highlights the treatment components that research has shown are critical for success, to help people make an informed choice during a very stressful time."

The new publication is based on a NIDA resource describing the principles of drug addiction treatment from a research-based perspective. It recommends five helpful questions people should ask and explains what the research has found to be most effective. Specifically, the booklet explores these themes:

• Is the program's treatment plan backed by scientific evidence?
• Is it tailored to the individual needs of each patient?
• Does the program assess and adapt treatment as the patient's needs change?
• How long should the treatment take?
• ow do 12 step programs fit into drug addiction treatment?

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2010 an estimated 22.1 million persons aged 12 years or older were classified with substance dependence or abuse in the past year (8.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older). The goal of drug abuse treatment is to stop drug use and help people return to productive functioning in the family, workplace, and community. However, keeping patients in treatment long enough to achieve that goal can be difficult. Finding the right treatment for an individual's specific needs is critical. This booklet describes available medications and evidence-based behavioral therapies; the need for comprehensive, tailored, and sustained treatment; as well as the reality of relapse and the role of community-level support.

Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask can be found online at www.drugabuse.gov/publications/seeking-drug-abuse-treatment. Hard copies can be ordered by calling 1-877-NIDA-NIH (1-877-643-2644) or by going online at http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov/.

Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research Based Guide, which is the basis of this new publication, can be found at www.drugabuse.gov/PODAT/PODATIndex.html.

###

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDA's DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or fax or email requests to 240-645-0227 or drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDA's media guide can be found at http://drugabuse.gov/mediaguide/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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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.

Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: NIDA Press Team
media@nida.nih.gov
301-443-6245
NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Consumer-friendly publication will guide those struggling with addiction

A new resource, Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask, will help individuals and families struggling with addiction ask the right questions before choosing a drug treatment program. It was developed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and is available to the public free online or in hard copy through NIDA's DrugPubs service (see information below).

"Treatment options can vary considerably, and families often don't know where to begin," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "This booklet highlights the treatment components that research has shown are critical for success, to help people make an informed choice during a very stressful time."

The new publication is based on a NIDA resource describing the principles of drug addiction treatment from a research-based perspective. It recommends five helpful questions people should ask and explains what the research has found to be most effective. Specifically, the booklet explores these themes:

• Is the program's treatment plan backed by scientific evidence?
• Is it tailored to the individual needs of each patient?
• Does the program assess and adapt treatment as the patient's needs change?
• How long should the treatment take?
• ow do 12 step programs fit into drug addiction treatment?

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2010 an estimated 22.1 million persons aged 12 years or older were classified with substance dependence or abuse in the past year (8.7 percent of the population aged 12 or older). The goal of drug abuse treatment is to stop drug use and help people return to productive functioning in the family, workplace, and community. However, keeping patients in treatment long enough to achieve that goal can be difficult. Finding the right treatment for an individual's specific needs is critical. This booklet describes available medications and evidence-based behavioral therapies; the need for comprehensive, tailored, and sustained treatment; as well as the reality of relapse and the role of community-level support.

Seeking Drug Abuse Treatment: Know What to Ask can be found online at www.drugabuse.gov/publications/seeking-drug-abuse-treatment. Hard copies can be ordered by calling 1-877-NIDA-NIH (1-877-643-2644) or by going online at http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov/.

Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research Based Guide, which is the basis of this new publication, can be found at www.drugabuse.gov/PODAT/PODATIndex.html.

###

The National Institute on Drug Abuse is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found on the NIDA home page at www.drugabuse.gov. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDA's DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or fax or email requests to 240-645-0227 or drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at http://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDA's media guide can be found at http://drugabuse.gov/mediaguide/.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/niod-nnr011712.php

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Video: Al, Savannah recap Golden Globes fun

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46025168#46025168

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Gaming Everything ? Blog Archive ? THQ staffer comments on ...

January 15th, 2012 Posted in General Gaming News, News Posted By: Valay

Update 3: THQ just sent out a lengthy statement, which can be found below:

?THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO. As part of the ongoing review of our business, we have made decisions to ensure that the company is strategically addressing the most attractive markets. As we have previously announced, we have dramatically reduced our commitment to the kids? boxed games sector which leads to a significantly more focused release schedule moving forward. Our slate for calendar 2012 and beyond is focused on high-quality core games and continues to build our digital platform and business. We are excited for our pipeline of original and high-quality content along with our relationships with some of the best talent in the industry.

?Additionally, we are thrilled with the great performance of Saints Row: The Third, which on a like for like period in North America has tripled in sell-through from Saints Row 2. In addition, WWE ?12?s worldwide sell-through sales are up almost 40% year-over-year for the same sales period with fewer platforms. According to NPD, for the month of December and the 2011 year, THQ was the #5 publisher overall, #4 third party, with reported sell through growing over 18% in a market that was down almost 6%. And coming up next, we have two great titles for the first half of the year including UFC Undisputed 3 and Darksiders 2.?

Update 2: Another THQ comment via Gamasutra?s Twitter:

?THQ has not cancelled its 2014 lineup and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO.?

Update: Mathew Everett has confirmed to Gaming Everything that the image below is fake and the conversation never happened. Officially, THQ PR said ?no comment?, but have also noted that they aren?t aware of any title cancellations.

In other news, GamesIndustry.biz sources say (registration required) that Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online is being offered for sale to other companies.

Earlier today, gaming industry insider Kevin Dent tweeted that THQ will cancel all projects scheduled for 2014. Dent also claimed that the company was looking for a buyer.

Community manager Mathew Everett, under the Steam alias THQSledgehammer, has commented on the speculation. Everett has been involved with the Space Marine franchise, Devil?s Third, Darksiders, and more.

If he?s to be believed, THQ is still up and running. Everett said that the rumors aren?t true, adding that a contract was just signed with more coming this week.

He said:

?Something this big would have to have been told to us weeks ago and we just signed another contract. I doubt that we would sign more contracts this week if we are selling.?

Everett?s full response can be found in the image above.

THQ has yet to offer an official comment on the rumors.

Via

Source: http://gamingeverything.com/13920/thq-staffer-comments-on-shutdown-rumors/

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