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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) ? New registered nurses would have to earn bachelor's degrees within 10 years to keep working in New York under a bill lawmakers are considering as part of a national push to raise educational standards for nurses, even as the health care industry faces staffing shortages.
The "BSN in 10" initiative backed by nursing associations and major health policy organizations aims to attack the complex problem of too few nurses trained to care for an aging population that includes hundreds of thousands of nurses expected to retire in the coming years. But some in the health care industry worry that increased education requirements could worsen the problem by discouraging entrants into the field.
Currently, most registered nurses have two-year associate's degrees. No state requires a four-year degree for initial licensing or afterward, though New Jersey and Rhode Island have considered proposals similar to New York's over the past several years. New York's legislation died in committee last session, but it has bipartisan support in both chambers this year and could be debated as early as January.
Demand for more skilled nurses is increasing as the population gets older and has more chronic diseases, and as the new federal health care law promises to help 32 million more Americans gain insurance within a few years.
Federal health officials have recommended upgrading nurse education to BSNs for more than a decade, and the idea got a boost in a 2010 report, "The Future of Nursing," by the National Academy of Sciences nonprofit Institute of Medicine and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As of 2008, about a third of RNs had bachelor's degrees or higher, according to federal statistics. The institute recommended increasing that to 80 percent by 2020.
Advocates say that in addition to improving patient care, a key reason for requiring more education is to put more nurses in position to move on to jobs in administration and in-demand specialties like oncology, and to teach at nursing schools, where the average faculty age is 53.
"More and more hospitals are looking to hire BSNs, but the catch is that not that many schools offer the RN-to-BSN program or have the faculty to teach it," said Sharon Shockness, an adjunct teacher at Mercy College in Westchester County.
The New York bill's main sponsors, Democratic Assemblyman Joseph Morelle of Rochester and Republican Sen. James Alesi of Monroe County, said the bill is needed to further professionalize nursing. Both serve on their respective higher education committees and represent districts that include University of Rochester Medical Center and St. John Fisher College, which have BSN programs.
In addition to helping provide future teachers, the lawmakers say the added education and critical thinking skills are needed as patient care has become more sophisticated and studies show staff with higher levels of education serve patients better.
In a memo supporting the bill, the New York State Nurses Association cites a 2003 University of Pennsylvania study that found every 10 percent increase in staffing by nurses with bachelor's degrees results in a 5 percent decrease in surgical deaths.
Current registered nurses would be exempt from the education requirement to prevent driving more nurses from the field.
"This bill shouldn't discourage anyone at this point because it doesn't involve anyone even applying for licensure right now ... and 10 years is a long time to get a degree that will give you better pay," Alesi said.
Alesi contends the measure will "improve the landscape of nursing" by increasing the pool of RNs who can go on to obtain master's degrees and teach.
Researchers say almost 900,000 of the nation's roughly 3 million licensed RNs are older than 50, and while there's been an uptick in new, younger nurses, shortages are still expected as the health care industry continues to add nursing jobs. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated in 2009 that almost 582,000 new RN jobs would be created by 2018.
Federal projections in 2004, the most recent available, forecast a shortfall of 54,000 RN jobs in New York by 2020; the state currently has about 170,000 working nurses. But the state and national shortage estimates have varied greatly as the overall economy and national health policy have changed. A study published this year in the journal Health Affairs reports a surge among younger RNs entering the workforce, pointing to an easing of a national shortage previously forecast to reach 400,000 by 2020.
That shortage concerns New York's health care providers.
William Van Slyke, spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State, said the organization representing health care networks and hospitals supports having a better educated nursing workforce, but opposes a four-year degree mandate.
One problem, he said, is the lack of nursing faculty ? the same issue advocates say the bill would address.
"If you start the clock and you don't have the educational system, we may find ourselves having to turn away staff and have shortages," Van Slyke said.
The association has proposed legislation that would provide incentives like loan forgiveness to encourage people to become nurse educators, he said, but lawmakers haven't taken up the idea.
Morelle, the Assembly sponsor, said the state's community colleges also have expressed concerns that the requirement will cut into the number of people seeking the 2-year degrees they offer.
"Their classes are overflowing," Morelle said, and there is a "whole host of programs" that allow students to progress from a 2-year to a 4-year program.
A spokesman for the New York nurses association said New York City metropolitan area hospitals are increasingly requiring new RNs to have a bachelor's degree or earn one within five years, creating a disparity in standards between downstate and upstate, where fewer candidates have four-year degrees.
"Even without the legislation in place, hospitals and other medical facilities are making hiring decisions that favor those with BSN degrees over those without them," said Dr. Peggy Tallier, program director and associate professor in nursing school health at Mercy College.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) ? Three miners were trapped by smoke for hours on Wednesday before being brought safely to the surface at the Young zinc mine in Tennessee, authorities said.
Two other miners were taken to a local hospital suffering from minor smoke inhalation after a drill rig caught fire at the mine in New Market, Tennessee, Fire Department Captain Sammy Solomon said.
Fifty-four miners were in the zinc mine when the rig caught fire about 800 feet from the surface, and 51 of them were able to walk out of the mine, Solomon said.
"They are on the surface, they are on the ground. They are officially out," Solomon said just before 4 p.m. local time, adding that they appeared to be fine.
A team from state-run Tennessee Mine Rescue led the trapped miners safely to the surface. The miners had been talking with authorities at the surface by phone after the fire broke out. The fire call came in about 1 p.m.
Solomon, who has been a captain of the volunteer fire and rescue unit for more than 20 years, said a mine fire was almost unheard of in New Market, a town about 15 miles north of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee.
"This is the first time it's ever happened that I could ever remember," Solomon said.
The mine is located in Jefferson County, one of four counties in Tennessee with active zinc mining and milling operations that make it the nation's second-largest zinc producer, according to state data.
(Additional reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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Source: www.sterlingpayment.com --- Friday, December 30, 2011
Motorists filling up at Chevron-owned gasoline stations will soon have a new, faster way to pay for fuel. ...
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A pair of NASA spacecraft is getting set to orbit the moon this weekend, a move that will kick off the probes' effort to study Earth's nearest neighbor from crust to core.
NASA's twin Grail spacecraft are slated to start circling the moon one day apart, with Grail-A arriving on Saturday (Dec. 31) and Grail-B following on Sunday (Jan. 1). The two probes will then fly around the moon in tandem, mapping the lunar gravity field in unprecedented detail and helping scientists better understand how the moon formed and evolved.
"This mission will rewrite the textbooks on the evolution of the moon," Grail principal investigator Maria Zuber, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a statement.
Precision flying
The $496 million Grail mission (short for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) launched on Sept. 10 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The two washing-machine-size probes have taken their sweet time since, charting circuitous, energy-efficient courses that will get them to the moon after more than three months of flying. Contrast that with NASA's manned Apollo 11 mission, which prioritized speed and got there in three days back in 1969.
Grail-A and Grail-B won't be ready to start their science campaign immediately upon arriving at the moon. Rather, they'll spend another two months circling lower and lower, eventually settling into orbits just 34 miles (55 kilometers) above the lunar surface, researchers said.
The twin probes will begin taking measurements in March. They'll chase each other around the moon for 82 days, staying 75 to 225 miles (121 to 362 km) apart. [Video: Grail's Mission to Map Moon Gravity]
Regional differences in the moon's gravitational field will cause the two spacecraft to speed up or slow down slightly, changing the distance between them as they fly. Using microwave signals that they bounce back and forth to each other, Grail-A and Grail-B will gauge these distance variations constantly.
And they'll do so with incredible precision. The Grail probes will be able to determine how far apart they are from each other to within a few microns ? less than the width of a human red blood cell, researchers have said.
Mapping the moon's interior
The Grail team will use the twin probes' measurements to construct highly detailed maps of the lunar gravity field. These maps should help scientists plan out future lunar landings, of both robotic and manned spacecraft, officials have said.
And the mission's observations should yield other benefits as well.
Specifically, Grail's data should reveal the moon's structure in great detail, allowing scientists to draw insights about how the rocky body formed and how it has changed over time.
"Grail is a journey to the center of the moon," Zuber told reporters Wednesday (Dec. 28). The two probes' measurements, along with data collected by other spacecraft, she added, "will enable us to reconstruct the moon's early evolution."
This information, in turn, could shed light on how other large objects in the inner solar system came to be, researchers have said.
An extended mission?
Grail's primary science work should wrap up in June. But the Grail team hopes NASA grants the two spacecraft a mission extension through next December, Zuber said. She and her colleagues want to take Grail even lower, to just 15 miles (25 km) or so above the lunar surface.
"I call it flying over the treetops of the moon," Zuber said of the proposed extended mission. "We will take the spacecraft down as low as we can, to map, have a sensitivity to the shallowest, shallowest structures of the lunar crust."
Researchers also want Grail to raise public awareness about the moon, and to help engage kids in math and science. To this end, special cameras aboard the probes will be used to encourage middle school students to participate in lunar research and follow along with Grail, during both its nominal mission and any extended campaign.
The so-called MoonKam project, which will snap photos of the lunar surface for students on Earth, is led by former NASA astronaut Sally Ride and her educational company Sally Ride Science.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45795502#45795502
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When the US PlayStation Blog descended upon Japan for the Vita's recent launch, the site found out that Tokashi Sogabe, a 27-year employee of Sony, was heading up the company's "corporate design center." That same team lead development of the Vita, which apparently went through a variety of different forms before the team decided on the current unit. "The team went through various designs, including one with a sliding back like PSPgo and a clamshell, before settling on the final model after discussion with developers," the post explains. Even weirder? Apparently, one of the prototype models had touch pads in place of the dual analog sticks like an Xperia Play -- we're pretty glad that Sogabe's team ended up cutting that bizarre choice.
Regardless, given Sogabe's past with Sony, we've got high hopes that the Sport and Mini versions of the Vita aren't far off.
[Image credit: 'rockheim']
Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/playstation-vita-design-rooted-in-the-sony-walkman/
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By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 8:10 PM EST, Mon December 26, 2011
Authorities arrive at the scene of a helicopter crash in Clay County, Florida, on Monday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- Three people -- a surgeon, a medical technician and a pilot -- were killed Monday when a medical helicopter crashed in Florida, the Mayo Clinic said.
The helicopter crashed at about 5:23 a.m. ET about 12 miles northeast of Palatka, Florida, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
The clinic said the helicopter was carrying two employees to the University of Florida in Gainesville to harvest organs when the crash occurred. It identified those employees Monday as cardiac surgeon Dr. Luis Bonilla and procurement technician David Hines.
"A helicopter pilot who was not employed by Mayo also died in the accident," the clinic said in a statement. The helicopter was owned and operated by an outside company, and the clinic did not release the name of the pilot. No patients were on board, the clinic said.
"Mayo is working internally to support the family and employees of those lost in this unfortunate tragedy," the clinic said.
Palatka is about 45 miles east of Gainesville.
The helicopter was owned by SK Jets, according to the FAA. The company has not commented on the crash.
"As we mourn this tragic event, we will remember the selfless and intense dedication they brought to making a difference in the lives of our patients," said John Noseworthy, Mayo Clinic's president and CEO, in the statement. "We recognize the commitment our transplant teams make every day in helping patients at Mayo Clinic and beyond. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families."
CNN's Antoinette Campbell, Sara Pratley and Devon Sayers contributed to this report
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_mostpopular/~3/2J5Si7CZaGk/index.html
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NEW YORK ? Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation's second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.
The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them ? Zogenix of San Diego ? plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.
If approved, it would mark the first time patients could legally buy pure hydrocodone. Existing products combine the drug with nonaddictive painkillers such as acetaminophen.
Critics say they are especially worried about Zohydro, a timed-release drug meant for managing moderate to severe pain, because abusers could crush it to release an intense, immediate high.
"I have a big concern that this could be the next OxyContin," said April Rovero, president of the National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse. "We just don't need this on the market."
OxyContin, introduced in 1995 by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., was designed to manage pain with a formula that dribbled one dose of oxycodone over many hours.
Abusers quickly discovered they could defeat the timed-release feature by crushing the pills. Purdue Pharma changed the formula to make OxyContin more tamper-resistant, but addicts have moved onto generic oxycodone and other drugs that do not have a timed-release feature.
Oxycodone is now the most-abused medicine in the United States, with hydrocodone second, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual count of drug seizures sent to police drug labs for analysis.
The latest drug tests come as more pharmaceutical companies are getting into the $10 billion-a-year legal market for powerful ? and addictive ? opiate narcotics.
"It's like the wild west," said Peter Jackson, co-founder of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids. "The whole supply-side system is set up to perpetuate this massive unloading of opioid narcotics on the American public."
The pharmaceutical firms say the new hydrocodone drugs give doctors another tool to try on patients in legitimate pain, part of a constant search for better painkillers to treat the aging U.S. population.
"Sometimes you circulate a patient between various opioids, and some may have a better effect than others," said Karsten Lindhardt, chief executive of Denmark-based Egalet, which is testing its own pure hydrocodone product.
The companies say a pure hydrocodone pill would avoid liver problems linked to high doses of acetaminophen, an ingredient in products like Vicodin. They also say patients will be more closely supervised because, by law, they will have to return to their doctors each time they need more pills. Prescriptions for the weaker, hydrocodone-acetaminophen products now on the market can be refilled up to five times.
Zogenix has completed three rounds of patient testing, and last week it announced it had held a final meeting with Food and Drug Administration officials to talk about its upcoming drug application. It plans to file the application in early 2012 and have Zohydro on the market by early 2013.
Purdue Pharma and Cephalon, a Frazer, Pa.-based unit of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, are conducting late-stage trials of their own hydrocodone drugs, according to documents filed with federal regulators. In May, Purdue Pharma received a patent applying extended-release technology to hydrocodone. Neither company would comment on its plans.
Meanwhile, Egalet has finished the most preliminary stages of testing aimed at determining the basic safety of a drug. The firm could have a product on the market as early as 2015 but wants to see how the other companies fare with the FDA before deciding whether to move forward, Lindhardt said.
Critics say they are troubled because of the dark side that has accompanied the boom in sales of narcotic painkillers: Murders, pharmacy robberies and millions of dollars lost by hospitals that must treat overdose victims.
Thousands of legitimate pain patients are becoming addicted to powerful prescription painkillers, they say, in addition to the thousands more who abuse the drugs.
Prescription painkillers led to the deaths of almost 15,000 people in 2008, more than triple the 4,000 deaths in 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month.
Emergency room visits related to hydrocodone abuse have shot from 19,221 in 2000 to 86,258 in 2009, according to data compiled by the Drug Enforcement Administration. In Florida alone, hydrocodone caused 910 deaths and contributed to 1,803 others between 2003 and 2007.
Hydrocodone belongs to family of drugs known as opiates or opioids because they are chemically similar to opium. They include morphine, heroin, oxycodone, codeine, methadone and hydromorphone.
Opiates block pain but also unleash intense feelings of well-being and can create physical dependence. The withdrawal symptoms are also intense, with users complaining of cramps, diarrhea, muddled thinking, nausea and vomiting.
After a while, opiates stop working, forcing users to take stronger doses or to try slightly different chemicals.
"You've got a person on your product for life, and a doctor's got a patient who's never going to miss an appointment, because if they did and they didn't get their prescription, they would feel very sick," said Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing. "It's a terrific business model, and that's what these companies want to get in on."
Under pressure from the government, Purdue Pharma last year debuted a new OxyContin pill formula that "squishes" instead of crumbling when someone tries to crush it.
But Zogenix, whose drug is time-released but crushable, says there is not enough evidence to show that such tamper-resistant reformulations thwart abuse.
"Provided sufficient effort, all formulations currently available can be overcome," Zogenix said in a written response to questions by The Associated Press.
At a conference for investors New York on Nov. 29, Zogenix chief executive Roger Hawley said the FDA was not pressuring Zogenix to put an abuse deterrent in Zohydro.
"We would certainly consider later launching an abuse-deterrent form, but right now we believe the priority of safer hydrocodone ? that is, without acetaminophen ? is a key priority for the FDA," Hawley said.
FDA spokeswoman Erica Jefferson said the agency would not comment on its discussions with drug companies, citing the need to protect trade secrets.
Drug control advocates say they're worried the U.S. government is too lax about controlling addictive pain medications. The United States consumes 99 percent of the world's hydrocodone and 83 percent of its oxycodone, according to a 2008 study by the International Narcotics Control Board.
One 41-year-old loophole in particular has fed the current problem with hydrocodone abuse, critics say. The federal Controlled Substances Act, passed in 1970, puts fewer controls on combination pills containing hydrocodone and another painkiller than it does on the equivalent oxycodone products.
A Vicodin prescription can be refilled five times, for example, while a Percocet prescription can only be filled once.
The Drug Enforcement Administration and Food and Drug Administration have been studying whether to close this loophole since 1999 but have made no decision. Congress is now considering a bill that would force the agencies to tighten the controls.
"This is a problem that is fundamentally an oversupply problem," said Jackson, the drug-control advocate. "The FDA has kind of opened the floodgates, and they refuse to recognize the mistakes made in the past."
Pure hydrocodone falls into the stricter drug-control category than hydrocodone-acetaminophen medications, meaning patients would have to go to their doctors for a new prescription each time they needed more pills. But Jackson said that's no guarantee against abuse, noting that dozens of unscrupulous doctors have been caught churning out prescriptions in so-called "pill mills."
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which enforces controls on medicines along with the FDA, said it could not comment on drugs that have not yet been approved for sale.
However, Zogenix has acknowledged the abuse issue could become a liability.
"Illicit use and abuse of hydrocodone is well documented," it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September. "Thus, the regulatory approval process and the marketing of Zohydro may generate public controversy that may adversely affect regulatory approval and market acceptance of Zohydro."
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Source: http://twitter.com/V1ktor/statuses/150681165437734912
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Posted Saturday, December 24, 2011 --- 7:40 a.m.
Here is the latest Wisconsin sports news from The Associated Press:
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Jordan Taylor scored 17 points to lead No. 13 Wisconsin to a 79-45 victory over Mississippi Valley State yesterday in the Badgers' final game before Big Ten play begins. Jared Berggren scored 15 points and Josh Gasser added 11 for Wisconsin, which was 31 of 44 from the line.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Senior Julie Wojta scored a career-high 29 points to help No.18 Wisconsin-Green Bay defeat Wisconsin 65-49 last night. Taylor Wurtz led the Badgers (4-8) with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Morgan Paige added 12 points for Wisconsin, which made only five second-half buckets.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) ? Tom Lang won't be at Lambeau Field on Christmas night to watch his son play against the Chicago Bears. In his weakened condition, he won't miss the crowds or the cold. T.J. Lang, Green Bay's third-year offensive lineman, is just glad his family is going to be together for the holidays given his 55-year-old father's diagnosis with a life-threatening illness in mid-November.
MILWAUKEE (AP) ? A broadcaster who did the postgame show for the Los Angeles Dodgers this year will be Bob Uecker's new partner behind the microphone for Milwaukee Brewers' games beginning next season. WTMJ radio says 33-year-old Joe Block will partner with Uecker.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
Source: http://www.nbc15.com/sports/headlines/Saturday_Morning_Wisconsin_Sports_Report_136180873.html
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? A guide known for taking clients to the wildest reaches of Alaska has been charged with helping a man smuggle a 10,000-year-old mammoth fossil out of the state.
Karen Jettmar, director of Equinox Wilderness Expeditions and the author of "The Alaska River Guide," was indicted Dec. 16 on charges of conspiracy and removing paleontological resource from federal land.
The charges came after a Bureau of Land Management investigation showed a mammoth tusk estimated to be worth $4,000 was removed from public lands near the Kokolik River in Northwest Alaska during a June 2007 guided trip.
Jettmar's client, who is described in the indictment as a co-conspirator but not named, took the mammoth fossil to Pennsylvania, investigators say.
Jettmar did not immediately return messages left Friday by The Associated Press at her company.
Alaska is a desirable destination for paleontologists, archaeologists and other prehistoric artifact sleuths. The state has more than 15,000 archaeological sites.
During the past 50 years, more than 30 sites have been found statewide that date back more than 10,000 years, the BLM said.
It is illegal to collect or sell mammoth fossils found on federal or state land in Alaska without a permit.
The indictment says Jettmar posted a description of the Kokolik River trip on the company's website and included a link to a photo of the client holding the mammoth tusk.
After the 2007 trip, Jettmar sent an email to the client that said she knew about a river in Alaska that contained many "bones, ivory, teeth, etc." and "could be really amazing, as long as we have a pilot who is willing to haul some booty back," the indictment says, adding that she suggested a summer 2009 trip.
Early that year, the client emailed Jettmar asking about returning to Alaska and advising her to leave room on the return flight for mammoth tusks and other fossils, the indictment states.
In one email, it says, the client talked about constructing a room big enough to hold a mammoth skeleton, if he should find one.
Jettmar is accused of removing a fossil bone valued at less than $500 from public lands in June 2009 and placing it in a canoe that she and the client shared during a trip to the Utukok River in Northwest Alaska, according to the indictment.
BLM investigators said Jettmar had completed law enforcement training with the National Park Service in May of 1984. Her guide book outlines federal regulations for collecting archaeological, paleontological and cultural resources.
Her company website describes her as a former park ranger and assistant regional director for The Wilderness Society. The website says she has guided expeditions to remote areas of Alaska and Canada for more than 30 years. The site also offers 10-day trips to the Kokolik and Utukok rivers for $2,300 and $2,200, plus airfare.
Tim Woody, a spokesman for The Wilderness Society in Anchorage, confirmed Friday that she was assistant regional director for about three years, ending in 1991.
The National Park Service in Anchorage did not immediately return a call for comment.
___
Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
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COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Newt Gingrich came here Friday to get an early Christmas present: a big crowd of supporters who haven?t been barraged by negative ads against him and ready to cheer his every word.
South Carolina has long been Gingrich?s stronghold. His poll numbers are high here, and he?s got the biggest local operation of any early state.
Continue ReadingIt?s also a state with a history of picking candidates who go on to the GOP nomination ? a point very much on Gingrich?s mind as he looked ahead to the Jan. 21 primary.
?We need to win the argument about the nature of America and the nature of solutions for the world,? Gingrich told the applauding crowd. ?If I win South Carolina, I will be the nominee.?
But Gingrich wasn?t done whipping up the people who?d poured into a restaurant here for a lunch of Southern soul food staples to see the former speaker at his toe-touch campaign stop Friday.
In a departure, Gingrich made a few jabs of his own on Friday, calling Mitt Romney a ?Massachusetts moderate,? which he said afterward was not an attack, just a description.
He also tore into Ron Paul?s foreign policy position, calling him the only candidate with a weaker foreign policy than Barack Obama.
The South Carolina town hall delved more into the topic of race relations than campaign stops elsewhere.
When one woman asked if he thinks the state should be permitted to fly the Confederate flag on the state capitol building, she was booed by the crowd. When Gingrich responded that it was the state?s decision, he received some of the loudest cheers of the day. (He added, in response to the question, that he opposed slavery and segregation.)
Another woman asked him about a ?report? in an ?overseas newspaper? that Obama strategists have said that he is unconcerned with ?white working class? people.
Gingrich responded by saying that he plans to campaign to all ethnic groups. He then said that the ?class warfare? being waged by Obama is unacceptable.
?Using racism as an excuse for thought is totally unacceptable for the American people,? Gingrich concluded. Asked after the event if he thinks Obama is being racist, Gingrich said that is often the ?excuse? of the left.
Gingrich was one of the few candidates working the trail the day before Christmas Eve, with just Michele Bachmann in Iowa and Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. Like the rest of his rivals, he?ll be taking the next few days off from campaigning, spending the time with him family in Virginia and Wisconsin.
He?ll take off to Iowa on Tuesday, where he will launch a 44-city bus tour in the run-up to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses.
Jack and Sue McGlumphy of Gilbert, S.C., remain undecided about whom they?ll support in the GOP primary and attended the lunch to size up Gingrich in person. Thy have narrowed the choices to Gingrich or Mitt Romney.
For the couple, Gingrich?s authenticity is the last remaining issue.
The pair said they?ve heard about some of the attacks being leveled in Iowa, and they both think a person can change. But Sue McGlumphy acknowledged it?s hard to prove.
?That?s up for question for me, whether it?s deep down inside him,? she said. ?Is this just a sales pitch? Or is he really reformed??
Betty and Jim Miles, of Westminster, S.C., have already decided that they?ll back Gingrich when the primary hits their state. And they?re unconcerned about him slipping in Iowa or New Hampshire before South Carolina.
Jim Miles said he expects Ron Paul to win the Iowa caucus, but said he thinks Paul won?t cull much support in South Carolina. That?s good news for Gingirch, Miles said.
?I think he?ll win here,? Jim Miles said. ?No question about it.?
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the voting eligibility rules in South Carolina.
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According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals?agreed Thursday to a two-year, $26 million contract with free agent outfielder Carlos Beltran. The deal includes a no-trade clause.
Beltran batted .300 with a .910 OPS, 22 home runs and 84 RBI in 142 games this past year between the Mets and Giants, and should help St. Louis cope somewhat with the loss of slugger Albert Pujols.
The 34-year-old Beltran will open the 2012 campaign as the Cardinals? starting right fielder, but could slide over to center once postseason hero Allen Craig recovers from his November knee surgery. It?s a nice get for the Redbirds, who should have a plenty productive lineup if health is on their side in 2012. Here?s how the batting order might shake out on Opening Day:
SS Rafael Furcal
RF Carlos Beltran
1B Lance Berkman
LF Matt Holliday
3B David Freese
C Yadier Molina
2B Daniel Descalso
CF Jon Jay
With Adam Wainwright returning and Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Kyle Lohse and Jake Westbrook rounding out the rotation, the Cards should have no trouble staying competitive in year one without Albert.
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COMMENTARY | As a U.S. citizen, I have the right to voice my opinion in opposition or support of the government. That is one of the great aspects of being an American. Other countries are not as fortunate. Iraq was not as fortunate. Now Libya.
I remember during the 2008 campaign how this tall, eloquent speaking man told me that no president had "power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize military action that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation" mesmerized me. This man is now our president. At the time, I was pro-anything but Bush or any of his knockoffs. Not to mention, anti-Iraq.
Fast forward to today, Sen. Barack Obama is now President Barack Obama; thanks to my vote and millions others like me. What a difference a suit and a title make. It is time to agree with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and call "a spade a spade" three weeks before the no-fly zone. A no-fly zone will always equal attacks, fighting, and an upgrade from peacekeepers to ground support.
Obama told the world the United States "cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy." Is this an "actual or imminent threat" to the United States national security? Or just a repeat of Oil War III? Since we only import approximately 1 percent from Libya, the umbilical cord should be severed.
Changing the terms of "support" from ground support to humanitarian peacekeepers does not change the contradiction from campaign Obama to President Obama. Foreign policy does not dictate intervening at every humanitarian crisis. If this were the case, we would still be in Somalia, and Bosnia. Our troops would be spread across the globe, like ants on a picnic blanket, seeking out every brutally repressive government.
The U.S. military's role is to protect against all enemies, both domestic and foreign. At least that is what I remember raising my hand and attesting to at the MEPS.
Libya has become the Obama war doctrine that is not a war. Yet it has become the nonthreat to national security with bipartisan approval for military attack with the term, "humanitarian" attached. To quote Shakespeare, "A rose by any other name would smell so sweet." War is war, no matter the name used to reason it.
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Mitt Romney is still second in many polls, but he looks like he's pretty confident that the Republican presidential nomination is his as Republicans work to make the general election a little more easy for him. Romney was magnanimous at Thursday's primary debate, avoiding saying mean things to Newt Gingrich's face. "Romney thinks Gingrich is already fading," The Washington Post's Aaron Blake writes. He's "back in front-runner mode,"?Reuters' John Whitesides says.?And why shouldn't he be confident? It looks like everyone else thinks he's going to be the nominee. Conservatives are falling in line behind Romney:?National Review begged voters not to pick Gingrich Thursday. And wonky Republican dreamboat Paul Ryan got Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden to sign onto a compromise version of his previously unpopular Medicare overhaul plan. It just so happens to be Romney's Medicare plan.
Related: GOP Voters Think Gingrich Has a Better Shot at Beating Obama
"This is a potentially gigantic move," NBC News' First Read writes. "We know some Democrats think they can STILL run against the Romney-Ryan plan, but the bipartisan stamp of approval in push-backs from someone that isn?t viewed as someone who is simply a centrist Democrat trying to survive in a red state, is a pretty good response."?The beauty of the compromise,?New York's?Jonathan Chait?writes, is that Ryan "has found a way to protect Mitt Romney." Ryan's initial plan was unpopular -- which is probably why Gingrich initially called it "right-wing social engineering" to the shock and horror of many conservatives -- ?but Romney said he supports it last week. That made it easier to attack Gingrich in the primary, Chait writes, but it could hurt Romney in the general election. Chait?continues:
"Wyden?s support gives Romney an out. He can now thread the needle between supporting Ryan, who has unassailable prestige within the Party, without endorsing the details of his plan. All he has to do is simply say he supports the plan Ryan and Democrat Ron Wyden came up with. Now the Ryan plan is no longer an albatross around the neck of the Republican presidential candidate."
Romney was pretty obvious in looking ahead to the general election in Thursday's debate,?Politico's Mike Allen writes. Check out how he preempted attacks from President Obama on his business record:
?"I think the president is going to... go after me and say, 'You know, in businesses that you've invested in, they didn't all succeed. Some failed. Some laid people off. And he'll be absolutely right.' But if you look at all the businesses we invested in, over a hundred different businesses, they added tens of thousands of jobs...
In the real world, some things don't make it, and I believe I've learned from my successes and my failures. The president, I'll look at and say: 'Mr. President, how did you do when you were running General Motors as the president, took it over? Gee, you closed down factories. You closed down dealerships. And he'll say: 'Well, I did that to save the business.' Same thing with us, Mr. President. We did our very best to make those businesses succeed. I'm pleased that they did, and I've learned the lessons of how the economy works. This president doesn't know how the economy works. I believe to create jobs, it helps to have created jobs."
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Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are on the move again ? and settling down Brad Pitt-style!
The talk show host and her gal have purchased the Malibu home of Brad and Angelina Jolie for a paltry $12 million.
RELATED: Buy Ellen DeGeneres' $49 Million Beverly Hills Estate!
The four-bedroom, four-bath, 4,000 square foot beachfront abode is a snug "downsize" from their $49 million 15,000 square foot home that's been featured in Architectural Digest.
Pitt, who purchased the house after his split with Hollywood's hottest woman Jennifer Aniston, originally listed the house for $13.5 million.
Ellen and Portia's new pad overlooks the ocean, complete with private beach access, a pool and tennis court ? can't complain about that!
CHECK OUT: The Big Picture: Today's Hot Pics!
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Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45715758/ns/today-entertainment/
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NEW YORK (AP) ? Fans of Christopher Hitchens are doing more than mourning his death: They're buying his books.
"Arguably," an essay collection released in September, and "God is Not Great," his 2007 best-seller, were both in the top 100 on Amazon.com as of Friday afternoon. Three of his books, including the memoir "Hitch-22," were in the top 6 on Amazon's list of "Movers and Shakers," the fastest sellers.
Hitchens died Thursday at age 62 after an 18-month battle with cancer of the esophagus. He was known for his fiery and eloquent rhetoric, for his militant atheism and defiance of political category.
Publisher Twelve Books announced Friday that a memoir about his illness he had been working on, "Mortality," would come out next year.
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FORT MEADE, Maryland?? The 23-year-old soldier accused of slipping a trove of national security secrets to the WikiLeaks website sat quietly at the defense table in the opening session of his pretrial hearing Friday as government and defense lawyers tangled over whether the presiding officer can be impartial.
David Coombs, the civilian attorney for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been in military detention since his arrest in Iraq in May 2010, pushed for the presiding officer, Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, to step aside.
Almanza's civilian occupation as a Justice Department prosecutor was the chief reason defense lawyer David Coombs gave in asking him to recuse himself. The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation targeting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
A member of the prosecution team, Capt. Ashden Fein, said the government opposes recusal.
"The United States does not believe you've exhibited any bias in any form and that you can render a fair and impartial decision," Fein said.
Almanza said he believed he was unbiased but did not make an immediate decision on the matter.
Manning, 23, is charged with aiding the enemy by leaking hundreds of thousands of secret documents that ended up on the website. At the time, he was a low-level intelligence analyst in Baghdad.
The case has spawned an international movement in support of Manning, who is seen by anti-war activists as a hero who helped expose American mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. To others he is a villain, even a traitor, who betrayed his oath of loyalty by deliberately spilling his government's secrets.
Friday's hearing is to determine whether Manning will face a court-martial. If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, Manning could face life in prison. The government has said it would not seek the death penalty.
Coombs also argued that Almanza had wrongly denied a defense request to call as witnesses the "original classification authorities" who first decided to classify as secret the material WikiLeaks published.
"Let's put witnesses on the stand," he said. "Why is this stuff classified? Why is it going to cause harm?"
Classified documents
Dressed in his camouflage Army fatigues, Manning sat at the defense table showing little expression. He occasionally twirled a pen between his thumb and finger.
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The hearing is open to the public, but with limited seating. A small number of reporters were present but not allowed to record or photograph the proceedings.
A U.S. military legal expert told reporters shortly before the proceedings began that the presiding officer is likely to make his recommendation on whether to court-martial Manning within eight days after the hearing ends. The hearing is expected to last over the weekend and possibly well into next week.
The legal expert, who could not be identified under Army ground rules, said Manning is to be present for all proceedings, including sessions closed to the public for consideration of classified material.
The site of the hearing, Fort Meade, is home to U.S. Cyber Command, the organization whose mission includes protecting computer networks like the one Manning allegedly breached by illegally downloading huge numbers of classified documents in Iraq.
Manning's lawyer asserts that the documents' release did little actual harm.
Last month, 54 members of the European Parliament signed a letter to the U.S. government raising concerns about Manning's 18-month pretrial confinement.
Plans for vigil
Manning's supporters planned to maintain a vigil during the hearing and were organizing a rally for Saturday.
Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, commander of the Military District of Washington, could choose other courses aside from court-martial, including applying an administrative punishment or dismissing some or all of the 22 counts against Manning.
The Manning case has led to a debate over the broader issue of whether the government's system for classifying and shielding information has grown so unwieldy that it is increasingly vulnerable to intrusions.
Rape allegations
Absent from the Meade proceedings will be Assange, who runs WikiLeaks from England. He is fighting in British courts to block a Swedish request that he be extradited to face trial over rape allegations.
A U.S. grand jury is weighing whether to indict Assange on espionage charges, and WikiLeaks is straining under an American financial embargo.
The materials Manning is accused of leaking include hundreds of thousands of sensitive items: Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a classified military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.
Manning, who turns 24 on Saturday, was detained in Iraq in May 2010 and moved to a Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va., in July. Nine months later, the Army sent him to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., after a series of claims by Manning of unlawful pretrial punishment.
When it filed formal charges against Manning in March 2011, the Army accused him of using unauthorized software on government computers to extract classified information, illegally download it and transmit the data for public release by what the Army termed "the enemy."
Global headlines
The first large publication of the documents by WikiLeaks in July 2010, some 77,000 military records on the war in Afghanistan, made global headlines. But the material provided only limited revelations, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures.
In October 2010, WikiLeaks published a batch of nearly 400,000 documents that dated from early 2004 to Jan. 1, 2010. They were written mostly by low-ranking officers in the field cataloging thousands of battles with insurgents and roadside bomb attacks, plus equipment failures and shootings by civilian contractors. The documents did not alter the basic outlines of how the war was fought.
A month later, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of State Department documents that revealed a hidden world of backstage diplomacy, including candid comments from world leaders.
It took months for the Army to reach the conclusion that Manning was competent to stand trial. In the meantime Manning's civilian lawyer, Coombs, has sought to build a case that appears to rest in part on an assertion that the government's own reviews of the leaks concluded that little damage was done.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45696903/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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ISLAMABAD ? Pakistan's president will be discharged from hospital in Dubai on Thursday, his office said, adding that all tests carried out on him returned results "within normal range."
The Wednesday statement did not specify the cause of the president's weeklong illness, but a close associate has said he suffered a "mini-stroke."
Zardari's illness and his sudden trip abroad has triggered speculation that the 56-year-old could be losing his grip on power. This is denied by officials.
The statement said Asif Ali Zardari was to rest at home, but didn't say whether this would be in Pakistan or in Dubai, where Zardari's family is known to have property.
The presidency also faxed a statement bearing the letterhead of the American Hospital in Dubai, giving details of the president's health. Signed by a doctor at the hospital, it said on admission the president was complaining of numbness in the left arm, twitching and had suffered a "loss of consciousness that lasted for a few seconds."
It did not give a diagnosis, but said Zardari was to continue taking his regular heart medications.
It said doctors performed procedures including an MRI scan of his brain and a lumbar puncture taking fluid from his spine, and that results "were within normal range."
On Wednesday, a close associate of Zardari said the leader had suffered a "mini-stroke"
A "mini-stroke" is medically known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted, causing symptoms similar to a stroke but not as long-lasting, because with a TIA, the blood supply is restored.
Zardari was admitted to hospital on Dec. 6.
His absence coincided with domestic political attacks against him over a memo delivered to U.S. officials, asking for Washington's help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military.
Zardari had been scheduled to present a statement to the Supreme Court this week explaining his role, if any, in the affair.
The president's illness also came a week after NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border, causing a spike in tensions with the United States.
Zardari had been expected to address a joint session of parliament about the raid, which has triggered a wave of anger in the country at his government's alliance with Washington.
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In this Dec. 12, 2011 photo, people wait to talk with potential employers at a job fair sponsored by National Career Fairs, in New York. The number of people seeking unemployment aid dropped to its lowest level since May 2008 last week, a hopeful sign that layoffs are declining and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In this Dec. 12, 2011 photo, people wait to talk with potential employers at a job fair sponsored by National Career Fairs, in New York. The number of people seeking unemployment aid dropped to its lowest level since May 2008 last week, a hopeful sign that layoffs are declining and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In this Dec. 12, 2011 photo, Stephen Rutkowski, a chiropractor from Greenwich, Conn., waits in line to attend a job fair sponsored by National Career Fairs, in New York. The number of people seeking unemployment aid dropped to its lowest level since May 2008 last week, a hopeful sign that layoffs are declining and hiring may pick up. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The outlook for the job market is looking brighter.
Far fewer people are seeking unemployment benefits than just three months ago ? a sign that layoffs are falling sharply.
The number of people applying for benefits fell last week to 366,000, the fewest since May 2008. If the number stayed that low consistently, it would likely signal that hiring is strong enough to lower unemployment.
The unemployment rate is now 8.6 percent. The last time applications were this low, the rate was 5.4 percent.
The big question is whether fewer layoffs will translate into robust hiring. It hasn't happened yet, even though job growth has increased in recent months.
The four-week average of weekly unemployment applications, which smooths out fluctuations, dropped last week to 387,750. That's the lowest four-week since July 2008. The four-week average has declined in 10 of the past 12 weeks.
"Labor market conditions have taken a turn for the better in recent weeks," Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital, said in a note to clients. "Payroll growth should improve in the coming months."
Separately, the prices companies pay for factory and farm goods rose 0.3 percent last month. The figure was pushed up by higher food and pharmaceutical prices. But energy prices barely rose, keeping inflation in check.
In the 12 months ending in November, wholesale prices have increased 5.7 percent, the Labor Department said Thursday. It's the smallest year-over-year increase since March.
The department's producer price index measures price changes before they reach consumers.
A mixed picture of manufacturing emerged from other reports Thursday. Factory output fell in November for the first time in seven months, according to the Federal Reserve. Manufacturers made fewer cars, electronics and appliances.
But some economists noted that auto sales rose in November, suggesting that production will rebound.
And the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and New York said manufacturing expanded in their regions. Manufacturing has been a key source of growth this year.
Still, the U.S. manufacturing sector could weaken in 2012. Growth is slowing in Asia. Europe is likely already in recession. And U.S. companies are reducing their investment in machinery and other large equipment.
The downward trend in applications suggests that companies are cutting fewer workers as the economy picks up. It also comes as Congress is wrangling over whether to extend emergency unemployment benefits, which are set to expire at the end of this year.
Growth may top 3 percent in the final three months of this year, according to many economists. That would be up from 2 percent in the July-September quarter.
Other recent reports suggest the job market is improving a bit. In the past three months, net job gains have averaged 143,000 a month. That compares with an average of 84,000 in the previous three months.
In November, employers added 120,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent from 9 percent. That was the lowest unemployment rate in 2? years. But about half that decline occurred because many of the unemployed gave up looking for work. When people stop looking for a job, they're no longer counted as unemployed.
Employers posted fewer jobs in October than in the previous month, the government said Tuesday, though the decline was modest.
Job openings have risen by about 35 percent since the recession officially ended in June 2009. But they're still about 25 percent below pre-recession levels.
More than 7.4 million people are receiving unemployment benefits, according to Thursday's report. About 2 million will lose their benefits by mid-February if the emergency program expires.
Lawmakers differ over how long benefits should last. The House passed a Republican bill Tuesday that would renew emergency aid but reduce the maximum duration to 59 weeks from the current 99 weeks.
Democrats want to keep the full 99 weeks. The measure is part of broader legislation in the Democratic-led Senate that would also extend a Social Security tax cut.
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