It?s D-Day in Los Angeles today. And, by ?D-Day,? we mean ?Decision Day.? After weeks of speculation, we?ll finally find out if the L.A. Lakers decide to part ways with unrestricted-free-agent-to-be Dwight Howard and get what they can for him now?or wait until the offseason and try to resign him. Although it?s not likely that the Lakers will actually get rid of Howard, it?s a possibility?a possibility that lots and lots of Lakers fans out there will be keeping an eye on today?that he?ll be suiting up for another NBA team when the NBA trade deadline hits at 3 p.m. today. But, should the Lakers get rid of him now? Or, should they stick with him for a few more months and then try to ink him to a long-term contract?
It?s not an easy decision for the Lakers to make. And, here?s why: On the one hand, guys like Dwight Howard don?t come along very often. Take a quick look around the league and you?ll find that there really aren?t any other centers like him out there. He?s a guy who could easily be the face of a franchise for the next 10 years and one of the few guys in the league good enough to take a team to the NBA championship by himself. But, at the same time, Howard has been nothing but one big headache for the Lakers this year. He hasn?t gotten along with Kobe Bryant at times. He?s struggled to make a full return to the game after sitting out most of last season with a back injury. And, he?s been a distraction for the entire organization.
With those things in mind, there?s really no right answer here. If the Lakers can find a team willing to give them some young, solid prospects and a veteran or two, they might want to consider doing a deal. It might actually make them better in the short term. But, if they?re thinking big picture and content with letting the current Lakers roster try to find their way, then they should hang up on anyone who offers them a deal for Howard. Either way, we?re sure they just can?t wait for ?D-Day? to be over. The decision they have to make is going to make a lot of people unhappy regardless of what they decide to do. So, they?ll be more than happy when today is over.
A man, left, leaves the Cecil Hotel with belongings as Michael and Sabina Baugh, both 27, of Plymouth, England, wait for transportation as they leave the hotel in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Early Tuesday, police discovered the body of a Canadian woman at the bottom of the historic hotel's water tank, weeks after she was reported missing. The Baughs, on a 14-day tour package, had been there eight days and had showered in and drank the water. The couple's tour operator was less than cooperative in finding them other accommodations. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
A man, left, leaves the Cecil Hotel with belongings as Michael and Sabina Baugh, both 27, of Plymouth, England, wait for transportation as they leave the hotel in downtown Los Angeles Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Early Tuesday, police discovered the body of a Canadian woman at the bottom of the historic hotel's water tank, weeks after she was reported missing. The Baughs, on a 14-day tour package, had been there eight days and had showered in and drank the water. The couple's tour operator was less than cooperative in finding them other accommodations. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
FILE - This file photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows Elisa Lam of Vancouver, B.C. Los Angeles police say a body has been found on the roof of the Cecil Hotel where Lam, a Canadian tourist, was last seen last month. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department, File)
Water tanks seen on the roof of the hotel Cecil on Wednesday Feb. 20,2013 where police say the body of a woman found wedged in one of the water tanks on the roof was that of a missing Canadian guest. Investigators used body markings to identify 21-year-old Elisa Lam, police spokeswoman Officer Diana Figueroa said late Tuesday. A maintenance worker at the Cecil Hotel found the body earlier in the day after guests complained of low water pressure. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
A visitor arrives at the hotel Cecil on Wednesday Feb. 20,2013 where police say the body of a woman was found wedged in one of the water tanks on the roof was that of a missing Canadian guest. Investigators used body markings to identify 21-year-old Elisa Lam, police spokeswoman Officer Diana Figueroa said late Tuesday. A maintenance worker at the Cecil Hotel found the body earlier in the day after guests complained of low water pressure. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Hotel Cecil in Los Angeles is seen in a Wednesday Feb. 20,2013 photo. Police say the body of a woman found Tuesday wedged in a water tank on the roof of the Hotel Cecill is that of a missing Canadian guest. Investigators used body markings to identify 21-year-old Elisa Lam, police spokeswoman Officer Diana Figueroa said late Tuesday. A maintenance worker at the Cecil Hotel found the body earlier in the day after guests complained of low water pressure. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? British tourist Michael Baugh and his wife said water had only trickled for days as they brushed their teeth, showered and drank from the taps at the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, but they could not have imagined the disturbing reason.
The body of a Canadian woman was later discovered at the bottom of one of four cisterns on the roof of the historic hotel near Skid Row. The tanks provide water for hotel taps and would have been used by guests for washing and drinking.
"The moment we found out, we felt a bit sick to the stomach, quite literally," Baugh said.
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials were expected to release the results of tests on the water on Thursday.
When the body was discovered on Tuesday, they issued a do-not-drink order while a lab analyzes the water, said Terrance Powell, a director coordinating the department's response. The disclosure contradicts a previous police statement that the water had been deemed safe.
Powell said the water was also used for cooking in the hotel; a coffee shop in the hotel would remain closed and has been instructed to sanitize its food equipment before reopening.
"Our biggest concern is going to be fecal contamination because of the body in the water," Powell said. He said the likelihood of contamination is "minimal" given the large amount of water the body was found in, but the department is being extra cautious.
Powell said the hotel hired a water treatment specialist after the department required it to do so to disinfect its plumbing lines.
A call to the hotel was not returned.
The remains of Elisa Lam, 21, were found by a maintenance worker at the 600-room hotel that charges $65 a night after guests complained about the low water pressure.
Police detectives were working to determine if her death was the result of foul play or an accident.
LAPD Sgt. Rudy Lopez called it suspicious and said a coroner's investigation will determine Lam's cause of death.
Before she died, hotel surveillance footage showed Lam inside an elevator pushing buttons and sticking her head out the doors, looking in both directions. She was later found in the water tank.
Lam, of Vancouver, British Columbia, traveled alone to Los Angeles on Jan. 26 and was last seen five days later by workers at the hotel.
Lopez said the hotel has four cisterns on its roof that are each about 10 feet tall, 4.5 feet wide and hold at least 1,000 gallons of water pumped up from city pipes.
Lam's body was found Tuesday morning at the bottom of one cistern that was about three-quarters full of water, Lopez said.
The opening at the top of the cistern is too small to accommodate firefighters and equipment, so they had to cut a hole in the storage tank to recover Lam's body.
The cisterns are on a platform at least 10 feet above the roof.
To get to the tanks, someone would have to go to the top floor then take a staircase with a locked door and emergency alarm preventing roof access.
Another ladder would have to be taken to the platform and a person would have to climb the side of the tank.
Lopez said there are no security cameras on the roof.
Lam intended to travel to Santa Cruz, about 350 miles north of Los Angeles. Officials said she tended to use public transportation and had been in touch with her family daily until she disappeared.
The Cecil Hotel was built in the 1920s and refurbished several years ago. The hotel is on Main Street in a part of downtown where efforts at gentrification often conflicts with homelessness and crime. It had once been the occasional home of infamous serial killers such as Richard Ramirez, known as the Night Stalker, and Austrian prison author Jack Unterweger, who was convicted of murdering nine prostitutes in Europe and the U.S., the Los Angeles Times reported.
By noon Wednesday, the Cecil Hotel had relocated 27 rooms used by guests to another hotel, but 11 rooms remained filled, Powell said. Those who chose to remain in the hotel were required to sign a waiver in which they acknowledged being informed of the health risks and were being provided bottled water, Powell said.
Baugh and his wife, who were on their first trip to the U.S., had planned to go to SeaWorld on Wednesday. Instead, they were trying to find a new hotel. Their tour agency placed them in another downtown hotel with a less than sterling reputation, from what they heard.
"We're just going from one dodgy place to another," Baugh said, resigned, "but at least there's water."
___
Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams. Shaya Tayefe Mohajer contributed to this report.
Background checks, permanent records needed for all firearm transfers, not just gun sales by retailersPublic release date: 20-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Carole Gan carole.gan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9047 University of California - Davis Health System
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Gun violence in the United States can be substantially reduced if Congress expands requirements for background checks on retail gun sales to cover firearm transfers between private parties, a new report by the director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program concludes.
The report "Background Checks for Firearm Transfers" by Garen Wintemute, who also serves as a professor of emergency medicine, notes that 40 percent of U.S. gun transactions occur between unlicensed private parties, such as people buying and selling at gun shows. That figure doubles, to more than 80 percent, for firearm sales that involve criminal intent.
Private-party transactions make up an often overlooked, thriving secondary gun market that is exempt from background checks and other controls designed to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and others prohibited from legally purchasing a gun.
By creating a single, equitable structure governing all retail commerce in firearms, Congress could make it harder for criminals to obtain guns, substantially reduce firearm-related violence, and curb the large-volume gun purchases that result in firearm trafficking, Wintemute said.
The report comes on the heels of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Since that December tragedy, President Obama has made gun violence a top priority and is pushing lawmakers to tighten gun laws and take other steps to reduce future violence.
While shootings such as the Newtown episode intensify public concern, statistics show gun violence is an everyday, serious threat to the nation's health and safety. In 2012, there were an estimated 467,321 firearm-related violent crimes in the U.S., a 26 percent increase since 2008. There were 11,101 firearm homicides that year, and an estimated 55,544 injuries resulting from gun-related assaults requiring treatment in hospital emergency departments.
Wintemute's study provides an in-depth look at procedures governing gun purchases and the double standard that distinguishes rules for retail sales from those covering private-party transactions.
A buyer at a retail establishment, for example, must complete a lengthy Firearms Transaction Record and certify that he is buying the gun for himself and is not a member of any of the prohibited groups as defined by federal statute. The retailer must then submit the buyer's identifying information to the FBI to check for a criminal history and verify the buyer's eligibility to purchase firearms, a process typically completed in minutes.
"These procedural safeguards are intended to ensure that the buyer is who he says he is, that he and not someone else will be the actual owner of the firearm, and that he is not prohibited from owning it," Wintemute said. "They help prevent the large-volume purchasing that otherwise might fuel trafficking operations. They establish a chain of ownership that will help law enforcement authorities link the firearm to the buyer if it is used in a crime later."
A private party, by contrast, is permitted to sell guns with none of these federal safeguards in place. There are no forms to fill out, no records to be kept, and no requirement that a buyer show identification or submit to a background check.
In addition to background checks to identify prohibited persons and deter those with criminal intent, Wintemute recommends establishing a permanent record for each firearm transferred between private parties, thus creating a chain of ownership. Such records have proven to be of great help to law enforcement agencies as they investigate individual crimes and seek to disrupt firearm trafficking networks.
To maximize the potential of the current background check system, he also recommends greater efforts to improve the three FBI databases the Interstate Identification Index, National Crime Information Center and the National Interstate Criminal Background Check System on which background checks rely. Improved reporting of criminal convictions, domestic violence restraining orders and prohibiting mental health events is most important.
"The widespread unavailability of records seriously compromises the effectiveness of our current background-check process," Wintemute said. "I am actually very optimistic that the nation will adopt a comprehensive background check policy in this Congress, where there has been a bipartisan expression of support for such a proposal. Six states have adopted such policies, and we know they work."
He cited two pitfalls to avoid: adopting a limited, "gun show loophole" approach and creating an exemption for holders of unexpired concealed weapon permits.
"These more limited approaches are unnecessary and would still allow prohibited persons to purchase firearms from private parties," he said.
Wintemute added that a public opinion survey conducted last month found that 88.8 percent of the population overall, 84.3 percent of firearm owners and 73.7 percent of National Rifle Association members supported "requiring a background check system for all gun sales to make sure a purchaser is not legally prohibited from having a gun."
###
UC Davis Health System is improving lives and transforming health care by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education, and creating dynamic, productive partnerships with the community. The academic health system includes one of the country's best medical schools, a 619-bed acute-care teaching hospital, a 1000-member physician's practice group and the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. It is home to a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, an international neurodevelopmental institute, a stem cell institute and a comprehensive children's hospital. Other nationally prominent centers focus on advancing telemedicine, improving vascular care, eliminating health disparities and translating research findings into new treatments for patients. Together, they make UC Davis a hub of innovation that is transforming health for all. For more information, visit healthsystem.ucdavis.edu.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Background checks, permanent records needed for all firearm transfers, not just gun sales by retailersPublic release date: 20-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Carole Gan carole.gan@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9047 University of California - Davis Health System
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Gun violence in the United States can be substantially reduced if Congress expands requirements for background checks on retail gun sales to cover firearm transfers between private parties, a new report by the director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program concludes.
The report "Background Checks for Firearm Transfers" by Garen Wintemute, who also serves as a professor of emergency medicine, notes that 40 percent of U.S. gun transactions occur between unlicensed private parties, such as people buying and selling at gun shows. That figure doubles, to more than 80 percent, for firearm sales that involve criminal intent.
Private-party transactions make up an often overlooked, thriving secondary gun market that is exempt from background checks and other controls designed to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and others prohibited from legally purchasing a gun.
By creating a single, equitable structure governing all retail commerce in firearms, Congress could make it harder for criminals to obtain guns, substantially reduce firearm-related violence, and curb the large-volume gun purchases that result in firearm trafficking, Wintemute said.
The report comes on the heels of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, in which 20 children and six adults were shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Since that December tragedy, President Obama has made gun violence a top priority and is pushing lawmakers to tighten gun laws and take other steps to reduce future violence.
While shootings such as the Newtown episode intensify public concern, statistics show gun violence is an everyday, serious threat to the nation's health and safety. In 2012, there were an estimated 467,321 firearm-related violent crimes in the U.S., a 26 percent increase since 2008. There were 11,101 firearm homicides that year, and an estimated 55,544 injuries resulting from gun-related assaults requiring treatment in hospital emergency departments.
Wintemute's study provides an in-depth look at procedures governing gun purchases and the double standard that distinguishes rules for retail sales from those covering private-party transactions.
A buyer at a retail establishment, for example, must complete a lengthy Firearms Transaction Record and certify that he is buying the gun for himself and is not a member of any of the prohibited groups as defined by federal statute. The retailer must then submit the buyer's identifying information to the FBI to check for a criminal history and verify the buyer's eligibility to purchase firearms, a process typically completed in minutes.
"These procedural safeguards are intended to ensure that the buyer is who he says he is, that he and not someone else will be the actual owner of the firearm, and that he is not prohibited from owning it," Wintemute said. "They help prevent the large-volume purchasing that otherwise might fuel trafficking operations. They establish a chain of ownership that will help law enforcement authorities link the firearm to the buyer if it is used in a crime later."
A private party, by contrast, is permitted to sell guns with none of these federal safeguards in place. There are no forms to fill out, no records to be kept, and no requirement that a buyer show identification or submit to a background check.
In addition to background checks to identify prohibited persons and deter those with criminal intent, Wintemute recommends establishing a permanent record for each firearm transferred between private parties, thus creating a chain of ownership. Such records have proven to be of great help to law enforcement agencies as they investigate individual crimes and seek to disrupt firearm trafficking networks.
To maximize the potential of the current background check system, he also recommends greater efforts to improve the three FBI databases the Interstate Identification Index, National Crime Information Center and the National Interstate Criminal Background Check System on which background checks rely. Improved reporting of criminal convictions, domestic violence restraining orders and prohibiting mental health events is most important.
"The widespread unavailability of records seriously compromises the effectiveness of our current background-check process," Wintemute said. "I am actually very optimistic that the nation will adopt a comprehensive background check policy in this Congress, where there has been a bipartisan expression of support for such a proposal. Six states have adopted such policies, and we know they work."
He cited two pitfalls to avoid: adopting a limited, "gun show loophole" approach and creating an exemption for holders of unexpired concealed weapon permits.
"These more limited approaches are unnecessary and would still allow prohibited persons to purchase firearms from private parties," he said.
Wintemute added that a public opinion survey conducted last month found that 88.8 percent of the population overall, 84.3 percent of firearm owners and 73.7 percent of National Rifle Association members supported "requiring a background check system for all gun sales to make sure a purchaser is not legally prohibited from having a gun."
###
UC Davis Health System is improving lives and transforming health care by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education, and creating dynamic, productive partnerships with the community. The academic health system includes one of the country's best medical schools, a 619-bed acute-care teaching hospital, a 1000-member physician's practice group and the new Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. It is home to a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, an international neurodevelopmental institute, a stem cell institute and a comprehensive children's hospital. Other nationally prominent centers focus on advancing telemedicine, improving vascular care, eliminating health disparities and translating research findings into new treatments for patients. Together, they make UC Davis a hub of innovation that is transforming health for all. For more information, visit healthsystem.ucdavis.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
TUSTIN, California (Reuters) - A part-time college student armed with a shotgun went on a shooting rampage in southern California on Tuesday, killing a woman at his home and slaying two others during a series of carjackings before taking his own life, police said.
Authorities identified the gunman as Ali Syed, 20, and said he took the gun from a home he shared with his family in the normally quiet community of Ladera Ranch, 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The motive for the shootings was unclear.
The rolling spate of violence, which included at least one execution-style killing, spanned several miles across a number of communities in suburban Orange County, including the cities of Tustin and Santa Ana.
The violence occurred just a week after a massive manhunt for a fugitive former Los Angeles policeman wanted in a series of shootings targeting officers and their families ended in a fiery stand-off in the mountains above Los Angeles.
In Orange County, authorities first received a call on a shooting before dawn at Syed's home in Ladera Ranch, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. Officers arrived to find a woman in her 20s shot to death.
Police were still seeking to determine the relationship between her and Syed, who fled the scene in his family's sport utility vehicle and headed to the city of Tustin, about 15 miles away, Amormino said. Syed had been a student at Saddleback College, a community college in Orange County.
The gunman committed his first carjacking in Tustin, where he took a car at a gas station after shooting and wounding another motorist in a Cadillac who drove away, police said.
He then drove onto the 55 Freeway and got out of his car on a transition road where he opened fire on passing drivers, said Tustin police Chief Scott Jordan. The ensuing mayhem left one person wounded and two cars damaged, police said.
Later, at an off-ramp for the 55 Freeway, on the border between Tustin and Santa Ana, he targeted a 69-year-old man with a BMW vehicle in a second carjacking, police said.
"He orders him out of the vehicle, walks him to the side of the curb and then executes our victim," Santa Ana police spokesman Corporal Anthony Bertagna said.
Behind the wheel of the BMW, the gunman drove back into Tustin where he killed a plumber at a work site and wounded another person before driving off in a utility truck, police said.
The gunman killed himself with a shotgun after officers pulled him over in the stolen truck in the nearby city of Villa Park, police said.
"We're still investigating how many victims we might have," Tustin police spokesman Lieutenant Paul Garaven said. He added that some more people or cars may have been hit when the gunman opened fire on the 55 Freeway.
Paris Joseph, 50, who works at a Tustin gas station where Syed took a car from a motorist but did not open fire on that person, said it was fortunate no one was killed there.
"We've never had anything like this," Joseph said.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bob Burgdorfer)
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The device, which is currently being tested under the name Project Glass, employs embedded computers to create an augmented reality environment for the user. For instance, your Google glasses would allow you to turn your eyes toward a nearby store, and scroll through a listing of reviews on your heads-up display; alternatively, you might scroll through your emails without once reaching down to dig your smartphone out of your pocket.?
Until recently, Google was confining its tests of Project Glass to a select group of developers and employees, including Sergey Brin, who took his glasses on a ride through the New York City subway. But now the Mountain View company is opening up the field to the rest of us ordinary Joes.?
"We?re looking for bold, creative individuals who want to join us and be a part of shaping the future of Glass," Google reps wrote this week on the new Project Glass Website. "We?d love to make everyone an Explorer, but we?re starting off a bit smaller. We?re still in the early stages, and while we can?t promise everything will be perfect, we can promise it will be exciting."?
Until February 27, Google is allowing folks to apply via Twitter or Google+ for a chance to wear the glasses (short videos and up to five photos welcome, and don't forget the #ifihadglass hashtag). But here's the catch: If you are selected, you'll have to fork over $1,500, plus tax, in order to pick up your test device and attend "a special pick-up experience" in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.?
And if you don't live in one of those cities, you'll have to pay to travel, too.?
Yes, the Google glasses are pretty cool. But are that cool? Let us know in the comments section. And for?more tech news, follow us on?Twitter:?@CSMHorizonsBlog
The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) has announced the release of a portion of the remaining temporary preventative fever tick quarantine area (TPQA) in South Texas (Starr County), effective Feb. 15, 2013.
The TAHC established a TPQA for portions of Starr County on July 3, 2007 following findings of cattle fever tick infestations on multiple premises. Cattle fever ticks are capable of carrying and transmitting Babesia parasites, which are deadly to cattle. Horse owners are worried because this tick species can also spread the?Babesia?parasites that can cause equine piroplasmosis in horses. (There are Babesia parasites that affect horses, cattle, dogs, cats, mice, humans, and other mammals.) The fever ticks are common in Mexico, but are not normally found in Texas. (Editor's Note: See 'Fever Ticks' Spreading Across Texas Could Have Equine Impact on TheHorse.com for additional background information.)
The size of the area currently being released in Starr County consists of 23,478.5 acres. Previously released areas from the TPQA in this part of Starr County consisted of 42,111 acres released on Nov. 2, 2011, followed by 45,969 acres released on Dec. 21, 2011.
The release of this portion of the Starr County TPQA rescinds all movement restrictions placed on the livestock and wildlife within the 23,478.5 acres. With the release of this area the TPQA for Starr County is reduced to one remaining small area consisting of 33,024 acres. The area released is located west of FM 649 in the northwestern part of the county. A full description of the remaining Starr County TPQA ?and a map which shows the area released can be found at www.tahc.texas.gov.
"Releasing another area in the TPQA continues to confirm that the cooperative efforts between the USDA-Veterinary Services Tick Force, TAHC, the Texas cattle industry and local land owners, are working successfully," said Dee Ellis, DVM, TAHC executive director and state veterinarian. "The TAHC and USDA will continue to work closely with local land owners to maintain an effective surveillance program so that fever ticks do not reoccur in the area."
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Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
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