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All articles drawn from the Associated Press unless otherwise noted. Commentary is created in house.

Saturday, November 17, 2012


Monkey dies from blow to head after zoo break-in

By KEITH RIDLER | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A break-in at Zoo Boise early Saturday left aPatas monkey dead from blunt force trauma to the head and neck and police were analyzing blood found at the scene to determine if it came from the monkey or one of two human intruders.
Two males wearing dark clothing were spotted by a security guard at 4:30 a.m. outside the fence near the primate exhibit, police said. Both fled, one of them heading into the interior of the zoo. Boise police used a thermal imager in searching the 11-acre zoo grounds but didn't find the person.
"I've been here for 15 years and we haven't had anything like this happen," Zoo Boise Director Steve Burns said. "It's unfortunate that we have to let kids know that something like this happens. Monkeys are always among the most favorite animals here."
Patas monkeys, often called the military monkey, have reddish-brown fur with grey chin whiskers and distinctive white moustaches. They are widely distributed across central Africa south of the Sahara Desert and can live more than 20 years in captivity.
During a search of the zoo before dawn, Burns heard a groan that at first he thought sounded human. It turned out to be an injured Patas monkey barely moving near the perimeter fence.
The zoo's veterinarian was called, but the monkey died just before 6 a.m. as it was being examined. A necropsy later determined that blunt force trauma was the cause of death, police said.
An inventory done by zoo staff found no other animals missing or injured. The zoo has one remaining Patas monkey — another male — but it's unclear if it will remain at the zoo or will be sent to another zoo where it can socialize with other Patas monkeys, Burns said.
"They're not endangered in the wild, but there are not many in zoos in the United States," he said. "Monkeys are social animals. We only have one."
The two Patas monkeys came to Zoo Boise about three years ago from Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo in Florida. They had an outdoor enclosure during the summer in Boise but were moved indoors to the primate building when colder weather arrived.
Burns said the monkeys hadn't been given names, and he didn't know their ages. The monkey that was killed was about 2 ½ feet tall and weighed about 30 pounds, Burns said.
Burns declined to discuss details of the police investigation, including how the intruder entered the primate building, if the monkeys might have been specifically targeted, or how the monkey ended up near the perimeter fence. The zoo doesn't have surveillance cameras, he said.
"It's very disturbing that someone would intentionally break into the zoo and harm an animal," said Sgt. Ted Snyder of the Boise Police Department in a statement. "We're doing all we can to find who did this."
Amy Stahl of Boise Parks & Recreation said the death shocked zoo workers.
"They're hit hard," Stahl said. "They care for the animals on a daily basis and they care about them deeply."
The zoo was supposed to open at 10 a.m. but remained closed while police gathered evidence, opening about 2:30 p.m.
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Dolphins found shot, slashed, stabbed with tool

Associated Press – 5 hrs ago
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — Authorities are investigating several attacks on dolphins in the northern Gulf of Mexico after some were found with gunshot wounds, cuts and missing jaws.
The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/QN0xUt ) that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a "heads up" directive. That puts officials on alert for an increase in human interaction with dolphins in the waters across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Authorities say cases of gunshot wounds, mutilations and other injuries have been detected in recent months.
Scientists from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport have responded to four dolphin strandings. And on Friday, a team went to Deer Island and found a second dolphin dead with a portion of his jaw missing.
A dolphin found dead earlier near Gautier had a 9mm bullet wound.
"It went through the abdomen, into the kidneys and killed it," said Moby Solangi, IMMS executive director.
He said recovering the dolphins and performing a necropsy to determine the cause of death is heartbreaking for his staff.
"We think there's someone or some group on a rampage," he said. "They not only kill them but also mutilate them."
The public can help by reporting any information they may know about the mutilations, he said. He also asked recreational and commercial fishermen to be on the watch for anyone killing the dolphins.
Attacks on the dolphins carry fines and jail sentences.
Solangi said he doesn't know why anyone would want to kill the dolphins. "They already are under a lot of stress from the oil spill, the dead zone," he said. However, in the past fishermen and charter boat captains have been convicted of harming dolphins they thought were taking bait or fish.
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Information from: The Sun Herald, http://www.sunherald.com
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Thousands protest in Ireland to liberalize abortion laws

The recent death of a woman reportedly denied an abortion has sparked outrage. In Dublin, thousands of marchers demanded liberalization of Ireland's tough – and, some say, unclear – anti-abortion laws.

By Jason Walsh | Christian Science Monitor – 4 hrs ago
Thousands gathered on the streets of Irish capital Dublin today to demand liberalization of Ireland's stringent anti-abortion laws.
The street protest, the second the city has seen in three days, was called in response to the Oct. 28 death in a Galway hospital ofSavita Halappanavar, who was pregnant and reported to the hospital complaining of severe pain. She was reportedly refused anabortion, and died after complications during a miscarriage. Her widower, Praveen, says they was told this was because Ireland was "a Catholic country."
The death has sparked outrage across Ireland — and the world. One headline in an Indian newspaper's online edition accused Ireland of murdering Ms. Halappanavar.
March organizers claim a turnout of 20,000, but Irish police gave a figure of 6,000. Either way, the march was unusually large by Irish standards, wending its war from the Garden of Remembrance, a national independence memorial, to Ireland's parliament, DáIl Éireann, just over a mile away.
"The mood was somber and angry and determined," says Wendy Lyon, a feminist activist and trainee attorney who attended the demonstration. "The sense was there has to be a turning point. That things can't be allowed to go on without change. Enough is enough, basically."
Ms. Lyon says Halappanavar's death has resulted in a sea-change in Irish opinion, politicizing the previously apolitical: "I think the people really have shifted on it. I've spoken to people who were hesitant before but said something had to be done."
Two inquiries are ongoing into Halappanavar's death, one by the hospital and one by Ireland's Health Service Executive, the arm's-length body that administers Ireland's health system.
Coming as it did as the government ponders the recommendations of an "expert group" on abortion, Halappanavar's death has reignited an already simmering war of words about the morality – and legality — of abortion.
Ireland outlaws abortion under an 1861 statute, but a 1992 Supreme Court judgment demanded the country legislate to allow for abortions when a woman's life is threatened by pregnancy. Successive governments have not brought any legislation forward, but a 2010 European Court of Human Rightsjudgment demanded Ireland clarify the status of abortion in Irish law.
Currently, terminations are permitted only if the intention is to save the life of the pregnant woman rather than end the pregnancy. Doctors have complained there is a lack of clarity over when they can or cannot perform terminations, either by induced labor or by dilation and evacuation, a method used to deal with miscarriages but also a form of surgical abortion.
Speaking on Friday, Prime Minister Enda Kenny rejected the idea there was a connection between Halappanavar's death and the country's stance on abortion, calling it a "tragic coincidence."
Mr. Kenny is on the record as an opponent of abortion, and his conservative Fine Gael party is virtually uniformly anti-abortion, but his coalition partners in the Labor party are predominantly in favor of at least limited access to abortion.
Smaller events were held across Ireland today, including in Galway, where 60 members of the Indian community gathered outside Galway University Hospital. Candlelight vigils were also held in other towns and cities, including an assembly of 1,000 people in Galway
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Wal-Mart files U.S. labor charge against union

By Jessica Wohl | Reuters – 8 hrs ago
(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions.
Wal-Mart filed an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, or UFCW, asking the National Labor Relations Board to halt what the retailer says are unlawful attempts to disrupt its business.
The move comes just a week before what is expected to be the largest organized action against the world's largest retailer, as a small group of Walmart workers prepare to strike on Black Friday, typically the busiest shopping day of the year.
"We are taking this action now because we cannot allow the UFCW to continue to intentionally seek to create an environment that could directly and adversely impact our customers and associates,"Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said on Friday. "If they do, they will be held accountable."
The union is undeterred. "Walmart is grasping at straws," said UFCW Communications Director Jill Cashen. "There's nothing in the law that gives an employer the right to silence workers and citizens."
Protests and rallies outside Walmart stores around the country and other actions such as flash mobs have been orchestrated by groups including OUR Walmart, a coalition of thousands of current and former Walmart workers that wants to collectively push for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
"Wal-Mart is in effect firing a shot across the bow of the UFCW, essentially saying 'Look, you can expect this and more unless you desist,'" said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in labor issues.
Filing with the NLRB suggests that the protests have caught the attention of Wal-Mart, which has no union-represented workers in the United States.
OUR Walmart and another group, Making Change at Walmart, are affiliated with the UFCW, which represents more than 1 million workers including many at retailers that compete with Walmart. According to a filing with the Labor Department, OUR Walmart was a subsidiary of the UFCW as of 2011.
Walmart worker and OUR Walmart member Mary Pat Tifft told Reuters that OUR Walmart is an independent organization that gets technical support from the union but that the UFCW has no stake or controlling interest in the group.
"The fact that Wal-Mart is responding in such a public way is itself both unusual and indicative that they truly don't want to see this spread," Shaiken said.
The NLRB typically receives a charge and investigates. At times, it resolves issues without issuing a complaint, spokesman Tony Wagner said. While most investigations take about six weeks, they can be expedited under certain criteria, he said.
Activities over the past year or longer "have caused disruptions to Walmart's business, resulted in misinformation being shared publicly about our company, and created an uncomfortable environment and undue stress on Walmart's customers, including families with children," Walmartoutside counsel Steven Wheeless said in a letter sent on Friday to Deborah Gaydos, assistant general counsel of the UFCW.
PICKETING PROHIBITED
The National Labor Relations Act prohibits such picketing for more than 30 days without the filing of a representation petition. The NLRA also requires the NLRB to seek a federal court injunction against such activity, the letter states.
The OUR Walmart group of current and former Walmart employees has been organizing 1,000 protests including strikes and what it called online actions that began this week and will culminate on Black Friday.
For example, workers walked off the job in Seattle on Thursday and in Dallas on Friday, OURWalmart said.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said that anyone who is not an employee is prohibited from coming onto its owned or controlled parking lots or other facilities to solicit, hand out literature or otherwise engage in any demonstration.
Wal-Mart said that it intends for the UFCW to be held accountable for any injury or property damage that may occur as a result of the actions led by the union, OUR Walmart or any of its other affiliates.
Past attempts to unionize Walmart U.S. workers have failed. In 2005, Tire and Lube Express department workers at stores in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and Loveland, Colorado, voted against representation by the UFCW.
OUR Walmart is not a union, though the thousands of Walmart employees it says are members do pay $5 monthly dues.
Wal-Mart has 1.4 million U.S. workers. Of 5 million job applications Walmart U.S. received in 2011, 20 percent of the workers it hired were coming back to the company. The turnover rate amongWalmart U.S. employees, 37.26 percent in 2011, was below the industry average of 43.6 percent, it says.
"We just don't think what the unions have to offer is a better deal for our associates," said Wal-Mart's Tovar.
Wal-Mart filed its charge against the UFCW late on Thursday with the NLRB regional office in Little Rock, Arkansas. The case number is 26-CB-093342.
For copies of Wal-Mart's letter to the UFCW and the NLRB charge document click http://bit.ly/Qj5c0t and http://bit.ly/RZoNkD
For copies of Wal-Mart's letter to the UFCW and the NLRB charge document click http://bit.ly/Qj5c0t and http://bit.ly/RZoNkD
(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago. Additional writing by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Leslie Gevirtz)
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Man with strange watch arrested at Oakland airport

Associated Press – 3 hrs ago
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man was arrested at Oakland International Airportafter security officers found him wearing an unusual watch they said could be used to make a timing device for a bomb, authorities said Friday.
Geoffrey McGann, 49, of Rancho Palos Verdes was taken into custody Thursday night after he tried to pass through airport security with an ornate watch that had switches, wires and fuses, according to Sgt. J.D. Nelson, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.
A bomb squad arrived within five minutes and determined there were no explosive materials in the watch, Nelson said. The checkpoint was closed while officers secured the area.
McGann was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was charged with possessing materials to make an explosive device, sheriff's officials said. He was still in custody Friday night and could not be reached for comment.
McGann told Transportation Security Administration officers that he's an artist and the watch is art, Nelson said.
While no actual explosives were found, McGann was carrying potentially dangerous materials and appeared to have made alterations to his boots, which were unusually large and stuffed with layers of insoles, Nelson said.
A profile for a person named Geoffrey McGann on the website LinkedIn.com lists him as the owner and creative director of a media production company called Generator Content. He attended the Art College Center of Design in Pasadena from 1984 to 1987, according to the website.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012


Police: Alleged car thief made food deliveries
( shades of attack the gas station, apparently delivery drivers, like almost everybody else who works for a living do not have enough money to make mere robbery a viable option, people are literally stealing jobs. Held up at gun point and having their jobs taken over! Like some sort of bizarre reverse outsourcing. And while I’m at this, there needs to be a better word for shipping jobs out of the country to slave labor overseas, outsource is way too corporate speak and frankly sounds waaaay too nice.)
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Police in Connecticut say a man stole a car used to deliver Chinese food and continued dropping off orders so he could keep the customers' money.
Keith Hinds was charged on Friday with larceny, possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and other drug charges.
It was not known Monday morning if the 45-year-old Hinds is represented by a lawyer.
West Hartford police received a call from a Chinese food delivery driver reporting that his car had been stolen after he left it idling to run into a school.
The driver also called his boss so customers could be notified that their orders were stolen with the car. Police say one of the orders was delivered after the car was taken.
Hinds was held on $5,000 bond.
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NC judge rules against New Year's Eve possum drop
( what madness is this? The government barging in when innocent folk wish to drop marsupials in peace? What’s next? Dwarf tossing?  The size of our soft drinks? Smoking? Oh wait, those have already been barged never mind.)
By MARTHA WAGGONER, APRALEIGH, N.C. — A possum drop that attracts thousands of people to a tiny town in western North Carolina each New Year's Eve may have had its last hurrah after a judge ruled Tuesday that a state agency didn't have the authority to issue a permit for the event.
"Citizens are prohibited from capturing and using wild animals for pets or amusement," Judge Fred Morrison wrote in his ruling. "Hunters must afford wild animals the same right Patrick Henry yearned for: `Give me liberty, or give me death!"
The ruling would end a 19-year tradition of suspending a possum in see-through box covered with holiday tinsel and lowering it to the ground at midnight. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had sued the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which issues the permit for the event, saying it's illegal and cruel.
The commission has 30 days to appeal Morrison's decision to Superior Court. A spokesman said the agency will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the 18-page ruling.
Clay Logan, who owns Logan Corner store, manages the event, which attracts 2,000 to 3,000 people annually to the tiny hamlet. The commission "had no authority to issue any permit to Logan for the unlawful public display of a native wild animal" at the drop, Morrison wrote.
Logan said the possum drop will continue in some form, although he won't break the law. This challenge by PETA marks at least the third time that someone has challenged the drop, he said.
"I figured sooner or later they'd get somebody to rule on their side," he said. "It's like a football game. If you play somebody long enough, you're going to beat them eventually."
He started the drop 21 years ago, but only family and friends from the store attended the first two events. He said he got the idea after someone suggested that since the possum is Brasstown's mascot of sorts, the town should have a live animal drop similar to the dropping of the ball in Times Square.
"This thing is more of an opinion than anything," he said. "If's harming the possum in any way, it's just an opinion. Evidently, they got a judge that had the same opinion they did."
Logan didn't meet the requirements for a captivity license or permit so the commission circumvented its duty and invented a new permit called a "temporary possession and release permit," the judge said.
Morrison wrote that although the commission claims to have issued such permits in the past, it produced no evidence to prove that it had. The temporary permit allowed Logan to keep the possum for several weeks and to exhibit the animal before it was release.
Logan's sportsman license only allowed him to take the animal, not possess and exhibit it, Morrison wrote. He was in possession of a wild-captured animal from at least Dec. 15, 2011, through Jan. 1, 2012, Morrison said.
PETA was pleased with the ruling. "Compassionate citizens can now look forward to a kinder celebration at Clay's Corner this New Year's Eve," PETA spokesman David Perle said in an email.
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