Fitch says spending cuts would not prompt ratings action

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said implementation of automatic U.S. government spending cuts due March 1, along with a government shutdown, would not prompt a negative rating action.

Implementation of the spending cuts, known as the "sequester," and a government shutdown, would however "further erode confidence that timely agreement will be reached on additional deficit reduction measures necessary to secure the 'AAA' rating," Fitch said in a statement.

Fitch said the suspension of the debt limit to May 19 has reduced pressure on the U.S. 'AAA' rating, and said it does not expect a repeat of the U.S. debt ceiling crisis of August 2011.

Failure to raise the debt ceiling in a timely fashion however would prompt a review and likely downgrade of the U.S. sovereign rating, Fitch said.

(Reporting By Chris Reese; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fitch-says-spending-cuts-not-prompt-ratings-action-140323638--business.html

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Suspect in Vegas murder brags about fast life

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Las Vegas triple murder suspect Ammar Harris has a smirk on his face in a 90-second YouTube video that shows him flashing a thick stack of $100 bills.

The video is just one of many online displays of bravado being examined by police in which Harris boasts of a high-rolling lifestyle of luxury cars, prostitutes and boat trips with scantily clad women. The 26-year-old is the subject of a multi-state manhunt after a Maserati driver was shot dead on the Las Vegas Strip last Thursday and a taxi driver and passenger died in the fiery chain reaction crash that followed.

Wearing a red baseball cap and crisp white shirt with flashy sunglasses tucked in the collar, Harris asks nonchalantly whether viewers will "help me count something," and then fans out a stack of bills.

The video he took of himself in a bathroom cuts away to a pile of cash on the counter; Harris drops a bill and says "50."

"I could keep going, I could keep going ... but like, I don't feel like countin' anymore," he says. "I got another bag. But I think I proved my (expletive) point."

Las Vegas Police Officer Bill Cassell declined to comment on the video, saying it was open to the interpretation of individual viewers. But he said detectives are getting plenty of leads on Harris, whose face is splashed across billboards along Las Vegas freeways.

"I'm sure the widespread publicity, as well as the blatant, heinous nature of the crime, is motivating people to contact us," Cassell said.

LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers investigate the site of what is being described as a gun battle between shooters in vehicles along the Las Vegas Strip ... more? LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 21: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers investigate the site of what is being described as a gun battle between shooters in vehicles along the Las Vegas Strip on February 21, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to reports gunshots were fired between a black SUV and a Maserati, causing the Maserati to crash into a taxi that burst into flames. Five vehicles were involved in the subsequent crash with the Maserati driver and two people in the taxi being killed. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images) less? Authorities believe Harris shot from a Range Rover he was riding in along with Tineesha Lashun Howard, a 22-year-old from Miami who has been arrested multiple times on charges including prostitution, trespassing, possession of a stolen vehicle and grand larceny. Police have named Howard, who also goes by the name Yenesis "Yeni" Alfonzo, a person of interest in the case.

Harris was arrested last year in Las Vegas in a 2010 prostitution case using the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris. He was charged with robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping and coercion with a weapon, and police sought charges of pandering by force and felon in possession of concealed weapon. Court records show that case was dismissed last June.

But while the courts haven't convicted him of pimping, his bold social media persona suggests otherwise.

In Twitter postings attributed to Harris and reviewed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/ZzEO2i ) before the feed was apparently disabled Tuesday, Harris brags that his house is full of women, and they're all paying him. In one August post quoted by the newspaper, he writes, "there's nothing wrong with paying for (sex)...as long as you paying one of my (women)."

Harris posts pictures of a Bentley and an Aston Martin, and mug shots from his own arrests. Harris was convicted in South Carolina in 2004 of felony possession with intent to sell a stolen pistol and convicted in Atlanta of a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.

Harris also discusses plans for his own birthday party aboard a boat on the Atlantic Ocean, complete with a $1,000 bikini contest.

The fast life Harris boasts of is not unlike the online persona projected by 27-year-old shooting victim Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr.

Cherry, who went by the stage name "Kenny Clutch," is seen in a YouTube video driving his luxury car down the Strip and rapping about a "Maserati, paid 120 for it."

Police say the two argued in the valet area of the Aria casino before dawn Thursday. The dispute took a deadly turn in the tourist corridor when shots were fired from a Range Rover and into Cherry's Maserati, which sped forward through a red light and slammed into a taxi.

The taxi exploded, killing 62-year-old driver Michael Boldon and 48-year-old passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, a businesswoman visiting from Maple Valley, Wash. Four other cars crashed, injuring several other people and closing the intersection in the heart of Las Vegas for an entire day.

Police found the Range Rover two days later parked at the gated Las Vegas apartment complex where Harris lived, but there was no sign of Harris.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vegas-murder-suspect-brags-online-fast-life-204307885.html

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Ex-coal exec implicates ex-CEO in W.Va. mine case

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) -- A former president of a Massey Energy subsidiary implicated the company's chief executive officer for the first time in safety violations as he pleaded guilty Thursday to charges resulting from an investigation into the 2010 explosion at a Massey mine that killed 29 men.

David Hughart, 54, entered the plea to two federal conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court. He was accused of working with others to ensure miners at White Buck Coal Co. and other Massey-owned operations got advance warning about surprise federal inspections between 2000 and March 2010.

The judge asked Hughart if there was a policy to give advanced warnings and, if so, what company officials ordered the policy.

"What officers are you talking about?" Judge Irene Berger asked.

"The chief executive officer," he replied.

The CEO at the time, Don Blankenship, was not mentioned by name. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby declined comment about Blankenship after the hearing because the investigation remains ongoing.

Blankenship did not immediately respond to messages Thursday. Nor did an attorney who represents him in a civil lawsuit related to the Upper Big Branch disaster.

While Hughart did not name the CEO in court, his wife of 36 years, Karen, told reporters outside the courthouse it was Blankenship.

"I answered the phone (from Blankenship) on several occasions," Karen Hughart said. "Don called the office and at home."

Blankenship retired about eight months after the explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine and is the man who many families of those killed have said they'd like to see prosecuted. Massey has since been bought out by Virginia-based Alpha Natural Resources.

Hughart was cooperating with investigators, a sign that authorities may be gathering evidence to target other Massey officials in their ongoing investigation. Prosecutors have declined to say who else could face charges in the wide-ranging and continuing probe of the worst U.S. coal mine disaster in four decades.

Gary Quarles, whose son Gary Wayne died in the 2010 blast, said Hughart's information gave him hope that Blankenship would eventually be indicted.

"It's just a matter of time," he told The Associated Press by phone. "I really do want this, and I hope it happens ... I want him to know he can be had. His money can't get him out of everything."

Blankenship has been re-emerging as a public figure over the past year, launching a website where he shares his thoughts and reviving a long-dormant Twitter account.

His downfall began April 5, 2010, when Massey's Upper Big Branch mine exploded and killed 29 men in southern West Virginia. On a website updated recently, Blankenship calls it one of the worst days of his life.

Many people in West Virginia's coalfields hold Blankenship personally responsible for the blast, accusing him of putting profits before people throughout his long career as an operator. Multiple investigations found the explosion at Montcoal was caused by blatant disregard of federal safety laws, and Blankenship had a well-documented record of micromanaging his mines.

Blankenship had long been a public figure and household name in West Virginia, lavishing millions on conservative political candidates including state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin, and accusing the former head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration of lying to Congress.

But the Upper Big Branch disaster made him known outside the state, and a week before his retirement, a national magazine profile labeled him "the dark lord of coal country." The retirement came abruptly on a Friday night, and for a while, he virtually vanished from public view.

Hughart became the highest ranking of three former mine workers convicted since the investigation began into the explosion at Upper Big Branch mine. He faces up to six years and a $350,000 fine when he's sentenced on June 25. Hughart and his attorney, Michael Whitt, were not immediately available for comment after the hearing.

Four investigations into the Upper Big Branch explosion have concluded that Massey concealed problems at the mine through an elaborate scheme that included sanitized safety-inspection books and an advance-warning system. The mine has since been sealed.

Prosecutors also have negotiated a $210 million agreement with the company that bought Massey, Alpha Natural Resources, to settle past violations at Upper Big Branch and other Massey mines. That protects the company from criminal prosecution but leaves individuals open to it.

Gary May, a former superintendent at the Upper Big Branch mine where the blast occurred, was sentenced last month to 21 months in prison for his guilty plea to charges he defrauded the government through his actions at the mine. That included manipulating the mine ventilation system during inspections to fool safety officials and disabling a methane monitor on a cutting machine a few months before the explosion.

May had testified at the February 2012 sentencing of former Massey security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, who was sent to prison for three years for lying to investigators and ordering a subordinate to destroy documents. It was one of the stiffest punishments ever handed down in a mine safety case. In December, a federal appeals court upheld Stover's conviction.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin has said his office is sifting through a large amount of information on Upper Big Branch, and the investigation that has moved up the management ladder will continue until all avenues are exhausted. After May was sentenced, Goodwin didn't mention Blankenship when asked about him, noting instead that Hughart supervised a group of mines and had a long career at Massey.

___

Associated Press writer Vicki Smith contributed to this report from Morgantown.

___

Online: http://www.donblankenship.com/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-coal-exec-implicates-ex-164752932.html

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Iran runs altered images of Michelle Obama gown

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian state media has run altered images of first lady Michelle Obama's Oscars appearance, making her gown look less revealing.

The first lady wore a sleeveless, scoop neck gown. The semi-official Fars news agency ran an altered photo that covered her shoulders and neckline with added material. State TV showed images that blurred the parts of her body that were exposed.

Under Iran's Islamic dress code, women are required to cover their bodies in public. Films showing foreign women without a headscarf are considered acceptable, but revealing clothes are forbidden.

For the Oscars ceremony, Michelle Obama at the White House joined Jack Nicholson via video link to help present the best picture prize for "Argo," a film based on the escape of six American hostages from the besieged U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Fars said the first lady's announcement suggested that the film was made with U.S. government support. Iranian officials have dismissed "Argo" as a CIA commercial.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-runs-altered-images-michelle-obama-gown-184706876.html

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Clackamas County January Real Estate | OregonLive.com

BOUGHT & SOLD: Selected home sales of more than $200,000 during January, the most recent data available. The information is provided by First American Real Estate Solutions. ?

Canby, 97013

820 N Birch St; 2,249 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $205,000
1472 SE 8th Ave; 1,506 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $241,500
1218 S Redwood St; 2,174 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $258,000
13649 S Union Hall Rd; 2,118 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $335,000
13605 S Union Hall Rd; 1,918 square feet; on 1/2/2013 for $460,000

Clackamas, 97015

12221 SE Easthampton St; 1,828 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $201,400
14983 SE 130th Dr; 2,236 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $215,850
13663 SE 152nd Dr; 1,676 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $225,000
13054 SE 119th Dr; 2,275 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $229,723
15023 SE Gilesford St; 1,756 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $250,000
11596 SE Idyllwild Ct; 2,179 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $254,000
13428 SE Warren Ct; 1,942 square feet; on 1/2/2013 for $256,000
14651 SE Berkshire Ave; 2,297 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $259,000
14818 SE Megan Way; 2,255 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $265,000
14984 SE 119th Ave; 2,571 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $266,500
13433 SE Scenic Ridge Dr; 2,700 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $299,000
14780 SE 117th Ave; 3,563 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $374,900

Colton, 97017

23021 S Schieffer Rd; 2,092 square feet; on 1/9/2013 for $266,000

Damascus, 97089

15638 SE Eckert Ln; 1,849 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $247,992
14675 SE Barkley Ct; 2,468 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $275,000
19440 SE Debora Dr; 3,676 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $342,500
15131 SE Ondo Rivera Dr; 2,298 square feet; on 1/8/2013 for $350,000

Eagle Creek, 97022

27217 SE Highway 224; 1,380 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $393,095

Estacada, 97023

34734 SE Divers Rd; 1,284 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $222,000

Gladstone, 97027

295 W Clarendon St; 2,302 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $202,000
160 E Clarendon St; 2,516 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $213,900

Happy Valley, 97086

14101 SE Summerfield Loop; 1,546 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $226,000
9944 SE Nancy Ct; 2,345 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $258,000
13236 Multnomah Ct; 1,906 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $268,000
12555 SE Crest Way; 3,770 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $268,155
10249 SE Bristol Park Ter; 2,378 square feet; on 1/9/2013 for $270,000
11585 SE 172nd Ave; 2,190 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $292,000
9945 SE Gia Ct; 2,824 square feet; on 1/7/2013 for $312,500
10956 SE Lenore St; 3,696 square feet; on 1/14/2013 for $347,000
10826 SE 93rd Ct; 4,025 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $362,000
11303 SE Hilltop Ct; 3,534 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $362,000
9516 SE Wyndham Way; 3,087 square feet; on 1/7/2013 for $365,000
12316 SE Cedar Ct; 2,669 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $375,000
10872 SE Alexander Dr; 3,249 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $382,000
9722 SE Nicholas Dr; 3,444 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $428,580
14348 SE Mountain Ridge Ave; 3,590 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $489,900
15749 SE Palermo Ave; 3,877 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $495,000
9583 SE Denali Dr; 4,345 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $529,900
10387 SE Crescent Ridge Dr; 6,140 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $602,500

Lake Oswego, 97034

1237 Hallinan Cir; 1,284 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $258,000
1610 Ash St; 2,181 square feet; on 1/14/2013 for $365,400
17121 Wall St; 2,137 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $416,000
530 Boca Ratan Dr; 3,368 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $419,900
17970 Saint Clair Dr; 2,372 square feet; on 1/8/2013 for $460,000
3838 Rivers Edge Dr; 2,543 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $498,900
17590 Blue Heron Dr; 3,030 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $500,000
444 10th St; 1,876 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $520,000
84 Berwick Rd; 3,088 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $525,000
2420 Palisades Crest Dr; 3,482 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $545,000
290 Iron Mountain Blvd; 1,432 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $565,000
1455 Timberline Dr; 3,588 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $630,000
837 6th St; 2,420 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $700,000
1 Dover Way; 3,472 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $775,000
454 9th St; 2,988 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $845,000
17170 Wall St; 3,455 square feet; on 1/7/2013 for $874,100
1560 Country Commons; 4,444 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $914,000
8 Dover Way; 6,093 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $950,000
720 6th St; 4,318 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $975,000
18137 Meadowlark Ln; 5,026 square feet; on 1/14/2013 for $1,150,000
13083 Knaus Rd; 3,255 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $1,900,000
1800 Northshore Rd; 7,646 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $3,145,000

Lake Oswego, 97035

6207 Harrington Ave; 960 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $211,000
5099 Galen St; 2,246 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $240,000
18444 Tualata Ave; 1,192 square feet; on 1/7/2013 for $252,000
4231 Woodside Cir; 1,943 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $267,500
4270 Oakridge Rd; 978 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $272,500
18892 Indian Springs Cir; 1,611 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $278,250
4150 Upper Dr; 1,738 square feet; on 1/22/2013 for $285,000
16747 Bonaire Ave; 1,658 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $328,000
13224 Vermeer Dr; 2,142 square feet; on 1/2/2013 for $353,560
39 Tanglewood Dr; 3,124 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $417,000
15225 Candlewood Ct; 2,804 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $430,000
4601 Upper Dr; 2,286 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $500,000
5682 Charles Cir; 3,052 square feet; on 1/3/2013 for $529,000
18175 Pilkington Rd; 3,411 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $602,500
5193 Denton Dr; 3,076 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $604,000
13517 Snowberry Ct; 3,048 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $630,000
3136 Douglas Cir; 4,132 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $900,000

Milwaukie, 97222

8930 SE 42nd Ave; 2,187 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $210,000
6902 SE Daphne Ct; 1,530 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $210,000
5717 SE Harlow St; 2,158 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $212,582
4926 SE Fieldcrest Dr; 2,192 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $224,000
10608 SE 74th Ave; 1,928 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $228,500
5502 SE Woodhaven St; 1,596 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $259,000
3521 SE Sellwood St; 4,073 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $265,000
13033 SE Capistrano Ct; 2,539 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $298,000
5929 SE Eastbrook Dr; 2,616 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $331,500

Molalla, 97038

831 June Dr; 2,278 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $214,000
1006 Julie Ln; 2,268 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $215,000

?Oregon City, 97045

19328 Friars Ln; 1,897 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $202,000
20079 Torrey Pines Dr; 1,237 square feet; on 1/22/2013 for $210,000
14915 S Greentree Dr; 1,334 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $219,900
1112 Harrison St; 2,384 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $223,000
12615 Joseph Way; 1,649 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $225,000
1902 14th St; 2,888 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $230,000
18049 Newell Ridge Dr; 1,904 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $230,000
15664 S Bradley Rd; 3,178 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $231,000
19316 Cokeron Dr; 1,498 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $235,000
14412 Talawa Dr; 1,980 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $237,900
19374 Sunset Springs Dr; 1,706 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $238,000
14310 Russ Wilcox Way; 2,023 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $245,000
22221 S Kamrath Rd; 1,264 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $249,000
10927 Beutel Rd; 1,516 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $249,900
18403 S Henrici Rd; 1,492 square feet; on 1/8/2013 for $254,500
630 Logus St; 2,208 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $259,000
19452 Prairie View Ter; 1,964 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $259,000
1020 Laurel Ln; 2,482 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $265,000
13956 Conway Dr; 1,997 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $267,200
13834 Holcomb Blvd; 3,740 square feet; on 1/3/2013 for $271,000
16429 Oak Valley Dr; 2,650 square feet; on 1/29/2013 for $275,000
11257 Maywood Ct; 2,314 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $280,000
15012 Smithfield Dr; 3,018 square feet; on 1/17/2013 for $310,000
1610 12th St; 2,699 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $313,000
13174 S Spangler Rd; 2,332 square feet; on 1/14/2013 for $320,000
19029 S End Rd; 1,942 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $340,000
16345 S Brockway Rd; 1,613 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $370,000
Sandy, 97055
40264 SE Trubel Rd; 1,909 square feet; on 1/22/2013 for $254,500
36640 Yocum Loop; 1,994 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $255,000
17180 Fir Dr; 3,337 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $349,000
42460 SE Erickson Rd; 4,007 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $400,000

West Linn, 97068

2071 Sunray Cir; 1,423 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $202,000
2578 Wisteria Ct; 1,188 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $242,702
2663 Cambridge St; 1,668 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $262,000
1741 8th Ave; 1,636 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $270,000
4224 Imperial Dr; 1,949 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $280,500
3212 Wild Rose Loop; 2,019 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $289,000
1822 5th Ave; 1,675 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $295,000
2946 Hunter Way; 2,564 square feet; on 1/4/2013 for $299,900
1177 Marylhurst Dr; 2,632 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $305,000
19428 Wilderness Dr; 3,010 square feet; on 1/25/2013 for $325,000
1925 Arena Ct; 2,110 square feet; on 1/15/2013 for $332,500
2490 Michael Dr; 2,539 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $360,000
2440 Michael Dr; 2,713 square feet; on 1/29/2013 for $365,000
3133 Cottonwood Ct; 3,939 square feet; on 1/23/2013 for $370,000
2394 Taylor Dr; 3,217 square feet; on 1/9/2013 for $375,000
19720 Suncrest Dr; 2,390 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $385,000
5095 Territorial Dr; 1,900 square feet; on 1/22/2013 for $385,000
22740 Kobuk Ct; 4,092 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $410,000
1900 Hall St; 4,734 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $410,000
19835 S Hazelhurst Ln; 1,752 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $415,000
2720 Surrey Ln; 2,787 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $425,000
31616 SW Isle Way Ln; 2,269 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $430,000
3284 Nomie Way; 3,955 square feet; on 1/29/2013 for $435,000
23043 Bland Cir; 3,375 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $446,000
2275 Tannler Dr; 3,875 square feet; on 1/16/2013 for $446,250
3086 Roxbury Dr; 3,179 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $514,900
4991 Ireland Ln; 3,550 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $672,900

Wilsonville, 97070

30820 SW Fir Ave; 1,941 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $225,000
7785 SW Fairway Dr; 1,990 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $250,000
10254 SW Evergreen Ct; 1,802 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $276,000
7540 SW Downs Post Rd; 1,730 square feet; on 1/10/2013 for $300,000
32050 SW Willamette Way E; 2,598 square feet; on 1/18/2013 for $310,250
7100 SW Arbor Lake Dr; 2,140 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $335,000
7148 SW Fallen Leaf St; 2,658 square feet; on 1/29/2013 for $355,000
10866 SW Parkwood Ln; 2,632 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $369,000
27650 SW Canyon Creek Rd; 1,902 square feet; on 1/28/2013 for $379,000
28501 SW Meadows Loop; 2,812 square feet; on 1/11/2013 for $379,000
8121 SW Edgewater W; 3,363 square feet; on 1/24/2013 for $450,000
26381 SW 45th Dr; 2,332 square feet; on 1/30/2013 for $526,000
31286 SW Willamette Way W; 4,238 square feet; on 1/31/2013 for $608,000

-- Vickie Kavanagh; 503-294-5913

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/02/clackamas_county_january_real.html

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Kim Clijsters Expecting Second Child

Kim Clijsters and her husband Brian Lynch are expecting their second child in September, she announced on Twitter Monday.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/996I3HMU1YE/

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Cell scaffolding protein fascin-1 is hijacked by cancer

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

A protein involved in the internal cell scaffold is associated with increased risk of metastasis and mortality in a range of common cancers finds a meta-analysis published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine.

The protein, fascin-1, is involved in bundling together the actin filaments which form the internal scaffolding of a cell and are involved in cell movement. Though it is absent, or only present at a low level in normal epithelial cells, several small studies have shown fascin-1 to be increased in many carcinomas, but its role in metastasis and mortality risk has been uncertain.

Researchers from the University of Bristol combined and reanalysed data from 26 studies looking at five different types of carcinomas. The meta-analysis showed that increased fascin-1 was associated with increased risk of mortality in breast, colorectal and oesophageal carcinomas but not in gastric or lung carcinoma. It was also associated with disease progression in breast and colorectal carcinoma, but not lung carcinoma. It was associated with local and distant metastasis in colorectal and gastric carcinomas but there was no involvement of fascin-1 in metastasis of oesophageal carcinomas.

These results show that the picture is not simple and that different types of cancer are affected in different ways. The story of fascin-1 not only provides a biomarker and potential avenue for research into anti-cancer therapy but also demonstrates the complexity of cancer.

Josephine Adams and Richard Martin who led this study said, "Our results show that fascin-1 is associated with several types of human carcinomas. The results will help focus further research into fascin-1 as a marker and potential target for cancer therapy to the most relevant types of carcinomas."

###

BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com

Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127022/Cell_scaffolding_protein_fascin___is_hijacked_by_cancer

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Pregnant mother's blood pressure may affect future health of children

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Up to 10% of all women experience some form of elevated blood pressure during pregnancy. Researchers from the Centre for Social Evolution at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen show that mild maternal hypertension early in pregnancy actually benefits the fetus, but that late-pregnancy hypertension has negative health consequences for the child. The study is based on more than 750,000 births in Denmark, with follow-up data on children's hospital diagnoses for up to 27 years.

'It has been known for some time now that pregnancy-induced hypertension can lead to more serious toxic conditions (preeclampsia), but it has puzzled biologists why such a medical condition that can be quite dangerous for both mother and child has not previously been removed by natural selection in our stoneage ancestors. However, evolutionary theory also emphasizes that paradoxes of this kind can be due to genetic parent-offspring conflicts, so we set out to test whether we could find statistical evidence for that type of explanation', says Professor Jacobus Boomsma, Director of the Centre for Social Evolution and coordinator of the study.

Minor increases in blood pressure gives better health

The results clearly indicate that mothers with minor increases in blood pressure in the first trimester of pregnancy have babies that enjoy generally better health than children of mothers who never get a hypertension diagnosis during pregnancy. The difference was between 10 and 40% fewer diagnoses across all disease categories during the 27 years of available follow-up data, a result that has never been documented before. However, when hypertension continues or starts later in pregnancy, this advantage shifts to a ca. 10% disadvantage in terms of an increased risk of acquiring a diagnosis in the Danish public health data bases. Child mortality during the first year of life showed the same trend. In spite of this risk being very low in Denmark, no children of mothers with early pregnancy-induced hypertension died, whereas the mortality risk of children born to mothers with hypertension late in pregnancy was above average.

Fathers genes enhances blood pressure

Parent-offspring-conflict theory maintains that father-genes in the placenta will have a tendency to 'demand' a somewhat higher level of nutrition for the fetus than serves the interests of mother-genes. It argues that father genes that somehow manage to enhance maternal blood pressure will likely be met by maternal genes compensating this challenge. Both types of genes are 50/50 represented and thus likely to find a 'negotiated' balance while creating an optimally functioning placenta. However, when the pull of paternal genes cannot quite be managed by maternal counterbalances, there is a risk of elevated blood pressure to develop and persist, leading to late occurring pregnancy complications and compromised offspring health. The results obtained are consistent with the idea that some deep fundamental conflicts lay buried in our genes right from the moment of conception. Imprinted genes are prime suspects for mediating such conflicts as they 'remember' which parent they come from.

'Molecular biologists have recently found many such genes in mice and man, and they are particularly expressed in the placenta as the theory predicts. Our study therefore suggests that further research to test whether different patterns of pregnancy-induced hypertension are indeed related to paternal or maternal imprints would be highly worthwhile', says PhD student Birgitte Hollegaard, who did the analyses together with EU Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow Sean Byars.

The authors of the study hope these results will help build bridges between their evolutionary inspired public health analyses and established clinical praxis.

'Ultimately we are not only interested in the fundamental science aspects of genome level reproductive conflicts, but also in seeing some of these findings being made more directly useful, for example by adjusting pregnancy monitoring schemes to take long term risks for offspring health into account', concludes Jacobus Boomsma.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

1. Birgitte Hollegaard, Sean G. Byars, Jacob Lykke, Jacobus J. Boomsma. Parent-Offspring Conflict and the Persistence of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension in Modern Humans. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (2): e56821 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056821

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/tmVYAfINulI/130225201930.htm

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Putting malaria on the SHELPH

Monday, February 25, 2013

Experts have disabled a unique member of the signalling proteins which are essential for the development of the malaria parasite. They have produced a mutant lacking the ancient bacterial Shewanella-like protein phosphatase known as SHLP1 (pronounced shelph). This mutant is unable to complete its complex life cycle and is arrested in its development in the mosquito. The discovery could help in the design of new drugs to arrest the spread of this killer disease.

SHLP1is critical to the cellular development of the malaria parasite. It can be found at every stage in the lifecycle of the malaria parasite and for the first time experts led by The University of Nottingham have analysed their biological function.

Dr Rita Tewari and her team in the Centre for Genetics and Genomics in the School of Biology have spent three years studying the phosphatase proteins that are important building blocks in the life cycle of the malaria parasite. The findings of their latest study are published today, 21 February 2013, in the academic journal Cell Reports.

Dr Tewari said: "SHLP1 is absent in humans and can be explored as an excellent target for malaria transmission control. Prevention of malaria transmission to and from the mosquito is vital in order to stop the devastating spread of malaria. Targeting SHLP1 could be an important step to achieve this goal."

Although great strides have been made in reducing the number of deaths from malaria, half the world's population remains at risk from the disease. In 2010 90 per cent of all malaria deaths occurred in Africa ? mostly among children under the age of five.

Dr Tewari's latest research has focused on the ancient bacterial Shewanella-like protein phosphatase (SHLP1) which is found only in bacteria, fungi, protists (organisms which paved the way for the evolution of early plants, animals and fungi) and plants.

The researchers, funded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, have discovered how SHLP1 controls development of the parasite at an essential stage of its life cycle. The parasite must move between human and mosquito in its quest to spread the disease. It does this every time the mosquito bites. Removing this enzyme causes defects in structures vital for invading the mosquito gut ? effectively stopping the mosquito from passing the disease on to another victim.

###

University of Nottingham: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Nottingham for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 31 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127005/Putting_malaria_on_the_SHELPH

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'Network' analysis of the brain may explain features of autism

Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Meghan Weber
Meghan.Weber@childrens.harvard.edu
617-919-3110
Boston Children's Hospital

EEGs show structural differences in brain connections

A look at how the brain processes information finds a distinct pattern in children with autism spectrum disorders. Using EEGs to track the brain's electrical cross-talk, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital have found a structural difference in brain connections. Compared with neurotypical children, those with autism have multiple redundant connections between neighboring brain areas at the expense of long-distance links.

The study, using a "network analysis" like that used to study airlines or electrical grids, may help in understanding some classic behaviors in autism. It was published February 27 in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine, accompanied by a commentary.

"We examined brain networks as a whole in terms of their capacity to transfer and process information," says Jurriaan Peters, MD, of the Department of Neurology at Boston Children's Hospital, who is co-first author of the paper with Maxime Taquet, a PhD student in Boston Children's Computational Radiology Laboratory. "What we found may well change the way we look at the brains of autistic children."

Peters, Taquet and senior authors Simon Warfield, PhD, of the Computational Radiology Laboratory and Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD, of Neurology, analyzed EEG recordings from two groups of autistic children: 16 children with classic autism, and 14 children whose autism is part of a genetic syndrome known as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). They compared these readings with EEGs from two control groups46 healthy neurotypical children and 29 children with TSC but not autism.

In both groups with autism, there were more short-range connections within different brain region, but fewer connections linking far-flung areas.

A brain network that favors short-range over long-range connections seems to be consistent with autism's classic cognitive profilea child who excels at specific, focused tasks like memorizing streets, but who cannot integrate information across different brain areas into higher-order concepts.

"For example, a child with autism may not understand why a face looks really angry, because his visual brain centers and emotional brain centers have less cross-talk," Peters says. "The brain cannot integrate these areas. It's doing a lot with the information locally, but it's not sending it out to the rest of the brain."

Network analysisa hot emerging branch of cognitive neuroscienceshowed a quality called "resilience" in the children with autismthe ability to find multiple ways to get from point A to point B through redundant pathways.

"Much like you can still travel from Boston to Brussels even if London Heathrow is shut down, by going through New York's JFK airport for example, information can continue to be transferred between two regions of the brain of children with autism," says Taquet. "In such a network, no hub plays a specific role, and traffic may flow along many redundant routes."

This quality of redundancy is consistent with cellular and molecular evidence for decreased "pruning" of brain connections in autism. While it may be good for an airline, it may indicate a brain that responds in the same way to many different kinds of situations and is less able to focus on the stimuli that are most important.

"It's a simpler, less specialized network that's more rigid, less able to respond to stimulation from the environment," says Peters.

The study showed that both groups of children with tuberous sclerosis complex had reduced connectivity overall, but only those who also had autism had the pattern of increased short-range versus long-range connections (See image).

Under a recently announced NIH Autism Center of Excellence Grant, Peters and his colleagues will repeat the analysis as part of a multicenter study, taking EEG recordings prospectively under uniform conditions.

The current study builds on recent work by Peters, Sahin and colleagues, which imaged nerve fibers in autistic patients and showed structural abnormalities in brain connectivity. Other recent work at Boston Children's, led by Frank Duffy, PhD, of Neurology, looked at "coherence," or the degree of synchrony between any two given EEG signals, and found altered connectivity between brain regions in children with autism.

Yet another recent study, led by Boston Children's informatics researcher William Bosl, PhD, and Charles A. Nelson, PhD, research director of the Developmental Medicine Center, looked at the degree of randomness in EEG signals, an indirect indicator of connectivity, and found patterns that distinguished infants at increased risk for autism from controls.

###

The current study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant #s R01 RR021885, R01 LM010033, R03 EB008680, UL1 RR025758 to Warfield; P20 RFA-NS-12-006, 1U01NS082320-01 to Sahin and Peters); the National Institute of Mental Health (grant #K23MH094517 to coauthor Shafali Jeste); the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grant #DC 10290 to Charles Nelson, PhD) and the Department of Defense (grant #W81XWH-11-1-0365 to Nelson).

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's also is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org/.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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: 27-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Meghan Weber
Meghan.Weber@childrens.harvard.edu
617-919-3110
Boston Children's Hospital

EEGs show structural differences in brain connections

A look at how the brain processes information finds a distinct pattern in children with autism spectrum disorders. Using EEGs to track the brain's electrical cross-talk, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital have found a structural difference in brain connections. Compared with neurotypical children, those with autism have multiple redundant connections between neighboring brain areas at the expense of long-distance links.

The study, using a "network analysis" like that used to study airlines or electrical grids, may help in understanding some classic behaviors in autism. It was published February 27 in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine, accompanied by a commentary.

"We examined brain networks as a whole in terms of their capacity to transfer and process information," says Jurriaan Peters, MD, of the Department of Neurology at Boston Children's Hospital, who is co-first author of the paper with Maxime Taquet, a PhD student in Boston Children's Computational Radiology Laboratory. "What we found may well change the way we look at the brains of autistic children."

Peters, Taquet and senior authors Simon Warfield, PhD, of the Computational Radiology Laboratory and Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD, of Neurology, analyzed EEG recordings from two groups of autistic children: 16 children with classic autism, and 14 children whose autism is part of a genetic syndrome known as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). They compared these readings with EEGs from two control groups46 healthy neurotypical children and 29 children with TSC but not autism.

In both groups with autism, there were more short-range connections within different brain region, but fewer connections linking far-flung areas.

A brain network that favors short-range over long-range connections seems to be consistent with autism's classic cognitive profilea child who excels at specific, focused tasks like memorizing streets, but who cannot integrate information across different brain areas into higher-order concepts.

"For example, a child with autism may not understand why a face looks really angry, because his visual brain centers and emotional brain centers have less cross-talk," Peters says. "The brain cannot integrate these areas. It's doing a lot with the information locally, but it's not sending it out to the rest of the brain."

Network analysisa hot emerging branch of cognitive neuroscienceshowed a quality called "resilience" in the children with autismthe ability to find multiple ways to get from point A to point B through redundant pathways.

"Much like you can still travel from Boston to Brussels even if London Heathrow is shut down, by going through New York's JFK airport for example, information can continue to be transferred between two regions of the brain of children with autism," says Taquet. "In such a network, no hub plays a specific role, and traffic may flow along many redundant routes."

This quality of redundancy is consistent with cellular and molecular evidence for decreased "pruning" of brain connections in autism. While it may be good for an airline, it may indicate a brain that responds in the same way to many different kinds of situations and is less able to focus on the stimuli that are most important.

"It's a simpler, less specialized network that's more rigid, less able to respond to stimulation from the environment," says Peters.

The study showed that both groups of children with tuberous sclerosis complex had reduced connectivity overall, but only those who also had autism had the pattern of increased short-range versus long-range connections (See image).

Under a recently announced NIH Autism Center of Excellence Grant, Peters and his colleagues will repeat the analysis as part of a multicenter study, taking EEG recordings prospectively under uniform conditions.

The current study builds on recent work by Peters, Sahin and colleagues, which imaged nerve fibers in autistic patients and showed structural abnormalities in brain connectivity. Other recent work at Boston Children's, led by Frank Duffy, PhD, of Neurology, looked at "coherence," or the degree of synchrony between any two given EEG signals, and found altered connectivity between brain regions in children with autism.

Yet another recent study, led by Boston Children's informatics researcher William Bosl, PhD, and Charles A. Nelson, PhD, research director of the Developmental Medicine Center, looked at the degree of randomness in EEG signals, an indirect indicator of connectivity, and found patterns that distinguished infants at increased risk for autism from controls.

###

The current study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant #s R01 RR021885, R01 LM010033, R03 EB008680, UL1 RR025758 to Warfield; P20 RFA-NS-12-006, 1U01NS082320-01 to Sahin and Peters); the National Institute of Mental Health (grant #K23MH094517 to coauthor Shafali Jeste); the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grant #DC 10290 to Charles Nelson, PhD) and the Department of Defense (grant #W81XWH-11-1-0365 to Nelson).

Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including nine members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 12 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 395-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence in patient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children and families. Boston Children's also is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information about research and clinical innovation at Boston Children's, visit: http://vectorblog.org/.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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/2013-02/bch-ao022213.php

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Griner, No. 1 Baylor women rout Oklahoma 86-64

Baylor guard Alexis Prince drives down the court against Oklahoma during the first half of a NCAA Women's basketball game in Norman, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Baylor guard Alexis Prince drives down the court against Oklahoma during the first half of a NCAA Women's basketball game in Norman, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Oklahoma's Joanna McFarland (53) and Nicole Griffin (4) defend as Baylor forward Brittney Griner (42) looks to pass during the first half of a NCAA Women's basketball game in Norman, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Baylor guard Alexis Prince (12) drives to the basket around Oklahoma guard Morgan Hook (10) during the first half of a NCAA Women's basketball game in Norman, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Baylor forward Brittney Griner, back, shoots over Oklahoma forward Joana McFarland and Aaryn Ellenberg during the first half of a NCAA Women's basketball game in Norman, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) ? Brittney Griner scored 15 points, tied her season-high with 15 rebounds and blocked seven shots to lead top-ranked Baylor to its 25th straight victory, 86-64 Monday night against Oklahoma.

After sitting out the last 11? minutes of the first half with two fouls, Griner returned and hit the first two baskets in a 10-0 run that pushed the Lady Bears' lead out to 47-30. Baylor (27-1, 16-0 Big 12) led by at least 12 the rest of the way,

Griner moved past Connecticut's Maya Moore into fourth in career scoring in women's basketball. Only Jackie Stiles of Missouri State, Patricia Hoskins of Mississippi Valley State and Lorri Bauman of Drake have more than Griner's 3,045 points.

Aaryn Ellenberg had 19 points to lead Oklahoma (19-9, 9-7). Morgan Hook had 15 points and nine turnovers. The Sooners' two post players, Nicole Griffin and Joanna McFarland, combined to go 4 for 23 from the field.

After watching her team's lead shrink from 16 to four while she was out, Griner quickly put the Lady Bears back in control as the national player of the year is accustomed to doing.

Campbell had a pair of baskets during a string of eight straight Oklahoma points that got the deficit down to 57-45 midway through the second half, but Griner stopped the surge with a turnaround jumper in the lane. She also had a layup to start an 8-0 response by the Bears that restored the lead to 69-48.

Destiny Williams chipped in 16 points and Odyssey Sims had 13 points and six assists.

The Lady Bears stumbled with six turnovers in the first 5 minutes, then cleaned up their act to put together a 13-0 run that included a 3-pointer, a fast-break layup and a jumper from the left block by Jordan Madden for a 19-4 edge with 13:25 to go in the first half. But Griner picked up her second foul about 2 minutes later, and coach Kim Mulkey put her on the bench for the rest of the half.

Griner fouled out for just the second time in her college career in the first meeting between the teams this season, even though the Bears were already firmly in control by then, and Mulkey took no chances putting her back in.

About 30 seconds after Griner's second foul, frontcourt partner Brooklyn Pope was called for charging for the second time and also came out.

Baylor didn't make a basket for the first 5 minutes after Griner exited, and Oklahoma took advantage of seldom-used substitutes Kristina Higgins and Sune Agbuke to go on a 14-2 run to get the deficit down to 24-20. Even then, Mulkey didn't make a move to bring Griner back in, and instead it was freshman Alexis Prince that scored eight points over the final 4 minutes of the half to keep the Bears in front 37-30 at halftime.

Oklahoma fell to 0-16 against No. 1 teams.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-25-BKW-T25-Baylor-Oklahoma/id-ca9c49bec56c4dcb8c515ce402651b01

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Union pension adviser says will oppose two HP directors

(Reuters) - A union pension adviser said it will oppose two Hewlett-Packard Co directors and the company's auditor over governance issues, after HP leaders assuaged few of their concerns at a meeting on Monday.

The declaration by pension adviser CtW Investment Group sets up a potentially distracting battle in the weeks before the California computer maker's annual shareholder meeting on March 20.

Despite a good run lately HP stock has been held back by a string of troubled acquisitions. Michael Pryce-Jones, CtW senior governance policy analyst, said after Monday's meeting that the adviser will not campaign against board chairman Raymond Lane's nomination for re-election.

Pryce-Jones cited the risk of possible disruption to the giant California computer maker were Lane to lose re-election. But he said two other HP directors, G. Kennedy Thompson and John Hammergren, should be held responsible for HP missteps, like its purchase of UK software company Autonomy, tainted in the fall by accusations of accounting improprieties.

The two directors "have overseen so many missteps, so much destruction of value, that it's hard to believe this effort to turn around the company can proceed with them on the board," Pryce-Jones said in a telephone interview.

Thompson was formerly chairman and CEO of Wachovia Corp, the North Carolina bank bought by Wells Fargo & Co in 2008. Hammergren is chairman and CEO of U.S. drug wholesaler McKesson Corp.

Thompson chairs the HP board's audit committee, while Hammergren chairs the board's finance and investment committee, according to HP's proxy.

Pryce-Jones also said the adviser will urge investors to vote against the renewal of HP's auditing firm Ernst & Young.

Since last month, CtW has been raising questions about HP's governance and the role of auditor Ernst & Young, which has performed non-auditing work for HP as well.

Shares in HP have performed well so far in 2013, helped by better-than-expected quarterly results last week under cost-cutting by CEO Meg Whitman. The stock fell 0.7 percent to $19.07 in trading on Monday.

But the shares have failed to recover to their value above $54 in 2010 as it cycled through CEOs. In addition to the Autonomy deal, CtW has criticized HP for write-downs following acquisitions of Electronic Data Systems Corp and Palm.

Monday's meeting, held at the Washington, D.C., office of the Council of Institutional Investors, was attended by HP's Lane and by about 20 other investors, both in person and via conference call, said Pryce-Jones.

Asked about the meeting before it ended, HP sent a statement that read: "HP regularly meets with our investors, particularly in advance of our annual shareholder meeting. These meetings often include members of our Board of Directors. We look forward to discussing any concerns this particular group of investors may have."

An Ernst & Young spokeswoman declined to comment.

Pryce-Jones declined to give many specifics about what Lane and others from HP said at the meeting. He said Lane "came across as credible. He turned up and he's laid his reputation" on the company's turnaround, Pryce-Jones said.

CtW, affiliated with the labor group Change to Win, advises union pension funds with roughly $200 billion in assets.

Change to Win is a federation of U.S. unions with 5.5 million members pushing to organize and represent workers in sectors like health care, hotels and ports.

HP's annual meeting is scheduled for March 20 in Mountain View, California.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; additional reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Nick Zieminski and M.D. Golan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/union-pension-group-meet-hp-officials-seeks-auditor-160101204--sector.html

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South Dakota legislator calls MMA ?Child porn of sports,? while governor says it?s too violent

A bill to create an athletic commission in South Dakota is going nowhere fast, largely thanks to the ignorance of Gov. Dennis Daugaard and state house Rep. Steve Hickey.

Their primary objective is to ban sanctioned mixed martial arts in the state. In a blog post, Hickey writes that, "MMA Cage Fighting is the child porn of sports."

The lack of knowledge and the lack of research both Daugaard and Hickey showed about MMA has to be frightening for persons who live in South Dakota. If they can't be bothered to do the minimal research required to learn that MMA is far safer than other "mainstream" sports, including football, it's scary to think about the laws they'll pass in the state regarding education, health care and budgets.

The UFC is the largest MMA promoter in the world. No fighter has ever suffered traumatic brain injury, let alone died, in the UFC's 20-year history. A 2006 study done by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and which appeared in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine found MMA has far less traumatic brain injury than other sports.

Mixed Martial Arts competitions have changed dramatically since the first Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993. The overall injury rate in MMA competitions is now similar to other combat sports, including boxing. Knockout rates are lower in MMA competitions than in boxing. This suggests a reduced risk of TBI [traumatic brain injury] in MMA competitions when compared to other events involving striking.

MMA events must continue to be properly supervised by trained referees and ringside physicians, and the rules implemented by state sanctioning?including weight classes, limited rounds per match, proper safety gear, and banning of the most devastating attacks? must be strictly enforced. Further research is necessary to continue to improve safety in this developing new sport.

A 2008 study released by the British Journal of Sports Medicine reached the same conclusions. After a five-year study, its authors wrote:

Injury rates in regulated professional MMA competition are similar to other combat sports; the overall risk of critical sports-related injury appears low. Additional study is warranted to achieve a better understanding of injury trends and ways to further lower injury risk in MMA.

The simple fact is that a random NFL player is at far greater risk of a serious brain injury than is a random MMA fighter. Sadly, neither Gov. Daugaard nor Rep. Hickey bothered to do much investigation or educate themselves before speaking out.

South Dakota state house Rep. Mark Johnston introduced a bill to create an athletic commission in the state for the express purpose of making the sport safer. According to the Argus Leader, Johnston said his goal is to prevent unregulated events where tragedies could possibly occur.

A state athletic commission's job is, at the core, to protect the fighters. It makes sure the proposed matches are fair and that promoters have doctors and an ambulance at all events. The commissions also require qualified referees, who stop fights when one fighter is in danger. It also requires fighters to undergo extensive medical examinations before fighting to make certain they are fit to compete. States such as Nevada, California and New York, with strong commissions, have discovered injuries fighters didn't know they had and prevented them from competing. That wouldn't be the case in South Dakota, with no commission to require those tests.

A fear of many states with strong commissions is that promoters will travel across state lines to put on shows in states such as South Dakota, where there is no regulation and where, as a result, costs are less. But the result is that it is far less safe for the competitors.

Sadly, neither Daugaard nor Hickey recognize that. Hickey told the Argus Leader he was angered by the thought of his state sanctioning MMA.

I'm offended that the state would legitimize cage-fighting and the bloody violence that those kinds of spectacles create. I think it's interesting that we declare that it is a crime for one human being to strike another, and yet the state now proceeds to legitimize, and label a sport, cage-fighting.

With all due respect, Gov. Daugaard, a few points:

? It is a crime for one human to strike another outside of the bounds of athletic competition. But it is no crime to strike another in the context of sport and when doctors and referees are available to protect the athletes and where the athletes have signed a contract to compete against each other.

? MMA fights sometimes get bloody. But no fighter to my knowledge has ever suffered anything worse than scarring as a result of being cut. It is important to note that a lot of the cuts are on the forehead above the eyes, where they mix with sweat and make them seem far worse than they are.

? States that have athletic commissions ban fighters who have sustained head injuries from competing again for several months. And before even being allowed to practice in a gym, the fighter needs to be cleared by a doctor.

? MMA is a combination of sports, many of which are already legal in South Dakota, including boxing, wrestling, karate, jiu-jitsu and judo.

'These cuts are wrong. They?re not smart.'

As the country inched closer to the March 1 sequester deadline, President Barack Obama on Tuesday traveled to Newport News, Va., to make a local case for what he and the administration believe will be the devastating economic impacts of the budget cuts.

Obama spoke at Newport News Shipbuilding, which supplies materials to all 50 states and receives Defense Department funding that's being threatened by the across-the-board cuts set to occur in the absence of a budget. He issued specific warnings, noting that tens of thousands of Virginia jobs may be lost; 18,000 fewer Virginians will get the skills and training they need to find jobs; 2,000 Virginia college students will lose financial aid; and early education programs will be eliminated for 1,000 children.

"These cuts are wrong. They?re not smart. They?re not fair. They?re a self-inflicted wound that doesn?t have to happen," Obama told the crowd.

The president called on voters to contact their members of Congress to urge them to compromise and pass a budget to avoid the sequester before the March 1 deadline.

"If you agree with me, I need you to make sure your voices are heard," Obama said. "Let your leaders know what you expect of them. Let them know what you believe."

Newport News is a place "where workers will sit idle when they should be repairing ships, and a carrier sits idle when it should be deploying to the Persian Gulf," Obama told governors gathered at the White House on Monday for the National Governors Association annual meeting.

Tuesday's trip is the latest effort by the White House to argue against sequester. Some Republicans have indicated they would allow it to go into effect should Congress fail to agree on a federal budget that they feel adequately reduces spending and the deficit.

In addition to Obama's speech on Monday to the nation's governors?during which he implored them to urge their congressional delegations to find a budget compromise?the sequester was addressed by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano during Monday's White House briefing. There, she warned that lines for customs and border crossings will significantly increase, and trade will slow down due to spending cuts necessitated by the sequester.

The administration has also warned that food safety inspections and wildfire containment will be in jeopardy, cancer screenings will not be as widely available, air travel will be disrupted, and federal prosecutors won't be able to try all their cases, among other negative consequences.

But the administration has been questioned by the media, Republicans and others for identifying these specific consequences when agencies will be able to decide within limitations how to cut their spending.

"They have plenty of flexibility in terms of discretion on how they spend money. There are easy ways to cut this money that the American people will never feel," Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said on Fox News Sunday.

Obama has placed the onus on House Republicans to compromise and support tax increases for the wealthiest Americans and some corporations as part of a budget deal.

House Republican Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday directed responsibility for budget legislation at the Democratic-controlled Senate, saying during a Capitol Hill press conference, "We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something. It's time for the Senate to act."

The House passed budget legislation in the former Congress but it has since expired.

Boehner said Tuesday he's prepared to keep the House in session this week to work with the Senate on a sequester alternative.

Chris Moody contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-address-sequester-newport-news-va-151526997--politics.html

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Trial by Jury, Gay Adoption, Legal Awards Season ? The Human ...

Welcome back to the UK Human Rights Roundup, your regular booster shot of human rights news. The full list of links can be found?here. You can also find our table of human rights cases?here?and previous roundups?here.

Unsurprisingly, Theresa May?s views on the role of immigration judges sparked much debate this week ? yet haven?t stopped the judges making findings that Immigration Rules are unlawful.? The consequences of the dismissal of the Pryce jury are still playing out, while the Strasbourg Court has made an important ruling on discrimination based on sexual orientation.? Keep an eye out on some new events advertised this week, and various updates in the legal blogging world.

In the news

Blogs and Awards

Sad news for the world of online legal journalism with the?announcement?that?Guardian Law?is to abolish it?s position of editor and become ?semi-automated?.? The pill, however, is sweetened with the news that our very own UKHRB has been?nominated?for the Legal Journalism Award at this year?s Halsbury Legal Awards.? Nominations are also open for the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year, for which information can be found?here.

Theresa May v Immigration Judges & Other Immigration News

Following Adam?s UKHRB post last week, the key news item has been the fallout from Theresa May?s public attack on immigration judges in last week?s Mail on Sunday.? T

ObiterJ notes?the ?major inaccuracies? in Mrs May?s article, particularly that in fact no immigration judge actually considers Article 8 (right to respect for family life) to be an absolute and unqualified right.? The blogger also makes very clear that the Immigration Rules, although voted upon by one chamber in Parliament, do not constitute primary legislation, and accordingly will not be treated by judges as such.

The Free Movement blog raises the possibility that Parliament may, in light of this incident, modify the Human Rights Act, and questions with caution that if foreign criminals become a first exception, who might follow?? The Spectator also nods in the direction of repealing or amending the Human Rights Act, though sets Mrs May?s comments in the current political context of the Eastleigh by-election, ?where immigration may play as an issue?.

The Upper Tribunal was, however, seemingly not put off by Theresa May?s views, as displayed by a two-part post on the Ogundimu case relating to the new rules pertaining to Nigeria.? The first?points to the UT?s finding that the First Tier Tribunal made a ?serious error of law? by finding that ?Article 8 was not even engaged.?? The second?goes on to explain the Tribunal?s finding that deportation was not a proportionate response to the legitimate aim of preventing crime, given the appellant?s family circumstances.? The Court of Appeal has also found?the country guidance for Burma to be flawed, a finding which has essentially reopened all Burmese asylum cases.

Sexual Orientation and Reform at the ECtHR

Paul Johnson briefly summarises the decision of the ECtHR in X and Others v Austria on the ECHRSO blog, before turning his eye to deeper analysis on the ECHR blog.? The Court found that Austrian domestic law did discriminate against same-sex couples when it comes to ?second parent [step-parent] adoptions?, breaching Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the ECHR.? Johnson?s view is that the Court?s conclusion and method are consistent with an established line of case law, but he criticises the continued view of the Court that gives states a wide ?margin of appreciation? under Article 12 to maintain a ?heteronormative? view of marriage.

In a busy week for the ECHR Blog, it also points to?the Council of Europe?s new webpage that brings together all the relevant material associated with reform of the ECtHR.? For a digestible background piece, see the Council of Europe?s page?on the history of the reforms.? The blog also provides a useful collation of commentary of the Court?s earlier decision in El-Masri.

The Pryce of Trial by Jury

Expect some more on this next week, but the fallout from the dismissal of the jury in the Vicki Pryce case is starting to animate the pens of legal commentators.? Mark Elliott provides?some useful background to many of the relevant issues at play, including his own suggestion that perhaps juries ought to be expected to give reasons for their decisions.? Richard Moorhead, however, suggests?that we are asking the wrong questions: it is not a matter of whether trial by jury is an appropriate method of dispensing justice, but rather we should focus on how judges direct said jurors. Meanwhile, Joshua Rozenberg and David Allen Green discuss the issue in a joint piece in today?s Observer.

Also in the News

Just a quick blitz through some other items making this week?s headlines, starting with a couple of pieces on children and the law.? David Burrows questions?whether those who provide information on alleged abuse ought to be entitled to public interest immunity, with the Supreme Court finding that the right to a fair trial overrides the concomitant right to privacy.? Meanwhile, Family Lore outlines?the recent judgments of the Supreme Court in L and B and in J, with links to case summaries.

Finally, some interesting takes on matters of public law: Brodies LLP have undertaken research?into judicial review in Scotland, noting in particular the low success rate of applications and relatively steady rate of applications.? Andrew Le Sueur on the UK Constitutional Law Blog observes?that the Wikipedia article on the UK constitution is broadly written by non-experts, and invites fellow experts to make contributions as a method of public education.? The UKSC blog provides a useful outline of a speech given by Lord Reed on an ?insider?s? view of the Supreme Court, with some fascinating insights into the mechanisms of the Court.? Finally, in light of the government?s decision not to implement aspects of the Equality Act, and to repeal others, Sir Bob Hepple QC indicates?the vital role to be played by the Equality and Human Rights Commission with its remaining resources.

In the Courts

X and Others v Austria?(Application no. 19010/07) Austrian domestic law preventing same-sex couples carrying out ?second parent? adoptions breaches Articles 14 and 8.

Durani v Secretary of State for Home Department [2013] EWHC 284 (Admin)?21 day immigration detention of minor unlawful due to obviously flawed local authority age assessment, rules High Court

Horncastle and Others v United Kingdom (Application no. 4184/10)?Horncastle case returns to the ECtHR for questions to parties

Upcoming Events

To add events to this list,?email Adam Wagner. Please only send events which (i) have their own webpage which can be linked to, and (ii) are relevant to topics covered by the blog.

• Human Rights Law in Practice: Policy, Politics and Potential Saturday 9th March, 09:30 ? 17:00,?Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
• The Economics of Killing Tuesday 5th March 2013, 18:00 ? 20:00, Warwick University
• Public Law Project Wales Conference 2013 Thursday 11th April 2013, 09:30 ? 17.30. Venue: Cardiff University
• International Graduate Legal Research Conference King?s College London, April 8-9, 2013 (including 2 human rights panels and one on environmental law).
• Justice and Security Bill ? Closed hearings in civil cases ? ALBA 05 March 2013, Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP and Shami Chakrabarti, chaired by Lord Justice Lloyd Jones ? ALBA members only, booking required
• The Power of Literature and Human Rights Saturday 2 March 2013, 11am-12.30pm Venue: LSE Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building

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Source: http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2013/02/24/trial-by-jury-gay-adoption-legal-awards-season-the-human-rights-roundup/

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Video: Scientists find genes linked to human neurological disorders in sea lamprey genome

Video: Scientists find genes linked to human neurological disorders in sea lamprey genome

Monday, February 25, 2013

Scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have identified several genes linked to human neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury, in the sea lamprey, a vertebrate fish whose whole-genome sequence is reported this week in the journal Nature Genetics.

"This means that we can use the sea lamprey as a powerful model to drive forward our molecular understanding of human neurodegenerative disease and neurological disorders," says Jennifer Morgan of the MBL's Eugene Bell Center for Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering. The ultimate goals are to determine what goes wrong with neurons after injury and during disease, and to determine how to correct these deficits in order to restore normal nervous system functions.

Unlike humans, the lamprey has an extraordinary capacity to regenerate its nervous system. If a lamprey's spinal cord is severed, it can regenerate the damaged nerve cells and be swimming again in 10-12 weeks.

Morgan and her collaborators at MBL, Ona Bloom and Joseph Buxbaum, have been studying the lamprey's recovery from spinal cord injury since 2009. The lamprey has large, identified neurons in its brain and spinal cord, making it an excellent model to study regeneration at the single cell-level. Now, the lamprey's genomic information gives them a whole new "toolkit" for understanding its regenerative mechanisms, and for comparing aspects of its physiology, such as inflammation response, to that of humans.

The lamprey genome project was accomplished by a consortium of 59 researchers led by Weiming Li of Michigan State University and Jeramiah Smith of the University of Kentucky. The MBL scientists' contribution focused on neural aspects of the genome, including one of the project's most intriguing findings.

Lampreys, in contrast to humans, don't have myelin, an insulating sheath around neurons that allows faster conduction of nerve impulses. Yet the consortium found genes expressed in the lamprey that are normally expressed in myelin. In humans, myelin-associated molecules inhibit nerves from regenerating if damaged. "A lot of the focus of the spinal cord injury field is on neutralizing those inhibitory molecules," Morgan says.

Jennifer Morgan and Ona Bloom are using an ugly fish with a beautiful spinal cord, the sea lamprey, to study mechanisms of recovery from spinal cord injury at the MBL in Woods Hole, Mass. Credit: Diana Kenney/MBL

"So there is an interesting conundrum," Morgan says. "What are these myelin-associated genes doing in an animal that doesn't have myelin, and yet is good at regeneration? It opens up a new and interesting set of questions, " she says. Addressing them could bring insight to why humans lost the capacity for neural regeneration long ago, and how this might be restored.

At present, Morgan and her collaborators are focused on analyzing which genes are expressed and when, after spinal cord injury and regeneration. The whole-genome sequence gives them an invaluable reference for their work.

Morgan, Bloom, and Buxbaum collaborate at the MBL through funding by the Charles Evans Foundation. Bloom is based at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research/Hofstra North Shore-Long Island Jewish in New York. Buxbaum is from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

###

Smith JJ et al (2013) Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insight into vertebrate evolution. Nature Genetics: DOI: 10.1038/ng.2568

Marine Biological Laboratory: http://www.mbl.edu

Thanks to Marine Biological Laboratory for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127000/Video__Scientists_find_genes_linked_to_human_neurological_disorders_in_sea_lamprey_genome

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