[h=1]'Century Chest' Time Capsule Opened In Oklahoma After 100 Years [/h] After a century-long wait, a treasure trove of goodies from the 1910s was discovered this week when a time capsule was dug up and opened in an Oklahoma church. According to Fox 25 News, the aptly-named "Century Chest" has been sitting, entombed under 12 inches of concrete, in the basement of Oklahoma City's First Lutheran Church for the past 100 years. The vintage copper chest was painstakingly buried by the church's Ladies Aide Society in 1913, the Oklahoman reports. It was finally unveiled to the public on Monday after being removed from the ground. It reportedly took a construction company a whopping 11 hours to unearth the container. When the "Century Chest" was cracked open, the crowd that had gathered oohed and aahed as a collection of incredibly well-preserved artifacts was pulled from the time capsule, the Oklahoma Gazette reports. Among the vintage goodies were an April 22, 1913 issue of The Daily Oklahoman, a map, a number of Native American artifacts, a pair of women's shoes, a pen used by President William McKinley to sign the 1900 Free Homes Act for Oklahoma, and a phonograph record featuring voices of people from that era. “This is more than we could have hoped for,” Oklahoma History Center research director Chad Williams told the Oklahoman of the incredible collection. “I was expecting some things to be damaged, but everything looks in excellent condition.” A book of family pictures and poems apparently belonging to Virginia Sohlberg, who, according to the Oklahoma Gazette, had been the mastermind behind the "Century Chest" project, was also discovered. Sohlberg's great-granddaughter, Virginia Eason Weinmann, said that she'd been "waiting her whole life to read what her forefathers wrote," Fox 25 News reports. “When I was 50 I'd say I wonder if I'll live that long...then at 60, I'd wonder if I'll live that long...so I'm happy I've made it," she said, adding that her late great-grandmother and the women of the Ladies Aide Society who had organized the chest and its contents were likely "turning cartwheels" after the day's success. All the artifacts from the "Century Chest" will be preserved by the Oklahoma History Center and will be publicly exhibited later this year.
[h=1] Mohammed Sohel Rana, Bangladesh Factory Owner, Arrested As Death Toll Climbs [/h] * Owner of collapsed building arrested fleeing to India-police * More than 900 missing, police say * Four pulled from rubble alive, four days after disaster Mohammed Sohel Rana, a leader of the ruling Awami League's youth front, was arrested by the elite Rapid Action Battalion in the Bangladesh border town of Benapole, Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman told Reuters. Speaking near the site of the wreckage of Rana Plaza, which housed several factories making low-cost garments for Western retailers, junior minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak told reporters that Rana would be brought to Dhaka by helicopter. Authorities put the latest death toll at 372, four days after the country's worst-ever industrial accident. Four people were pulled out alive on Sunday and rescuers were working frantically to save several others trapped under the mound of broken concrete and metal, fire services deputy director Mizanur Rahman said. "The chances of finding people alive are dimming, so we have to step up our rescue operation to save any valuable life we can," said Major General Chowdhury Hassan Sohrawardi, coordinator of the operation at the site. About 2,500 people have been rescued from the wrecked building in the commercial suburb of Savar, about 30 km (20 miles) from the capital, Dhaka. Officials said the eight-storey complex had been built on spongy ground without the correct permits, and more than 3,000 workers - mainly young women - entered the building on Wednesday morning despite warnings that it was structurally unsafe. Police said one factory owner gave himself up following the detention of two plant bosses and two engineers the day before. Local news reports said the mother of building owner Rana, who was not being held, died of a heart attack on Saturday evening. Anger over the disaster has sparked days of protests and clashes, with police using tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to quell demonstrators who set cars ablaze. On Sunday, however, the roads were quiet. The main opposition, joining forces with an alliance of leftist parties which is part of the ruling coalition, called for a national strike on May 2 in protest over the incident. BUILT ON A FILLED-IN POND Wednesday's collapse was the third major industrial incident in five months in Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter of garments in the world behind China. In November, a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory in a suburb of Dhaka killed 112 people. Such incidents have raised serious questions about worker safety and low wages, and could taint the reputation of the poor South Asian country, which relies on garments for 80 percent of its exports. The industry employs about 3.6 million people, most of them women, some of whom earn as little as $38 a month. Emdadul Islam, chief engineer of the state-run Capital Development Authority (CDA), said on Friday that the owner of the building had not received the proper construction consent, obtaining a permit for a five-storey building from the local municipality, which did not have the authority to grant it. Furthermore, another three storeys had been added illegally, he said. "Savar is not an industrial zone, and for that reason no factory can be housed in Rana Plaza," Islam told Reuters. Islam said the building had been erected on the site of a pond filled in with sand and earth, weakening the foundations. Since the disaster, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has asked factory owners to produce building designs by July in a bid to improve safety.
[h=1]Boston Bomb Reportedly Contained Traces Of Female DNA, Authorities Say [/h] Female DNA was found on at least one of the explosive devices used in April 15's Boston Marathon bombing, sources have told the Wall Street Journal and CBS News. Citing "officials familiar with the case," the Journal emphasizes that "there could be multiple explanations for why the DNA of someone other than the two bombing suspects" was uncovered that would not necessarily indicate complicity in the attack. For example, CBS notes, the DNA might conceivably have come from "a marathon spectator or a clerk who sold" materials that were ultimately used in the making of the bomb. The only current suspects in the bombing, which killed three people and injured 260, are Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tamerlan was killed during a shootout with police on April 19. Dzkhokhar was arrested later that day. Investigators last week found no evidence of additional accomplices in the bombing, based on a "preliminary examination of the cellphones and computers" belonging to the brothers. However, police have not ruled out the possibility of an accomplice, and have not yet determined whether or not the DNA discovery indicates a woman's involvement in the attack. Authorities have visited Tamerlan's widow, Katherine Russell, an FBI spokesman confirmed Monday, and did collect a DNA sample. However, Russell has not been charged with involvement in the bombing, and is not a suspect at this time.
[h=1] Massive Storm Spied On Saturn By NASA Spacecraft [/h] CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured stunning views of a monster hurricane at Saturn's North Pole. The eye of the cyclone is an enormous 1,250 miles across. That's 20 times larger than the typical eye of a hurricane here on Earth. And it's spinning super-fast. Clouds at the outer edge of the storm are whipping around at 330 mph. The hurricane is parked at Saturn's North Pole and relies on water vapor to keep it churning. It's believed to have been there for years. Cassini only recently had a chance to observe the vortex in visible light. Scientists hope to learn more about Earth's hurricanes by studying this whopper at Saturn. Cassini was launched from Cape Canaveral in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004.
[h=1]Pine Eagle Charter School Shooting Drill Terrifies Teachers [/h] A teacher's meeting at an Oregon elementary school was interrupted Friday by two masked men with handguns who began firing at random. Here's what the teachers didn't know: It was a drill and the men were firing blanks. Over the past few weeks, Pine Eagle Charter School staff had been trained on how to handle situations involving an active shooter, The Oregonian reported. Administration then scheduled the surprise drill for a day when school was not in session. No children were present, but teachers were in the building for a meeting. "I'll tell you, the whole situation was horrible," teacher Morgan Gover told The Oregonian. The stunt has sparked criticism from community members and outrage from the Internet. Oregonian reader Tommy Phillips commented: "What happens when the unannounced drill meets a concealed carrier and blows one of these people running the drill away? How many men carry pocket knives and would jump up and stab you in the throat? Not a smart way to run drills, in fact that's just plain stupid!" Other readers noted that the surprise drill could have been fatal for a teacher with a heart condition. "It was very stupid and irresponsible not to let the teachers know that it was just a drill," Cheryl Fusselman Ruggles wrote on a Facebook post about the incident. "Now what's going to happen if it happens for real?" Nevertheless, Principal Cammie DeCastro told the paper that she believes it was a beneficial exercise because it demonstrated just how ill-prepared teachers would be for such an event. If that had the situation been real, she said, only two out of the 15 teachers present would have survived. A high school in El Paso, Texas pulled a similar stunt in May 2012 -- though this one involved both teachers and students. One freshman told KFox TV that he nearly experienced a full-blown asthma attack during the experience Last January, a Chicago high school also conducted a school shooting drill, but with one key difference: All students and teachers were informed about the event in advance.
[h=1]Dzhokhar And Tamerlan Tsarnaev Planned July 4th And Suicide Attacks, Opted For Pressure Cooker Bomb: Officials [/h] The surviving brother of the Boston bombing suspects told interrogators that the pair considered suicide attacks and an assault on July 4th, a law enforcement official told The New York Times. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who is currently in custody and has been interrogated by the FBI, reportedly said he and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan, opted for pressure cooker bombs that they eventually used in the twin Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, the official said. NBC News reports that the bombs were built inside Tamerlan's house in Cambridge, Mass., and that since they were finished faster than anticipated, the brothers decided to move up the attack date. Dzhokhar reportedly admitted to the newly revealed plots on April 21, two days after he was captured in Watertown. He also told interrogators that he and Tamerlan had watched sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki online. The Times reports that there's no indication the two had been in contact with Awlaki. The body of Tamerlan, who was killed several days after the bombing during a shootout with police, was claimed by his family on Thursday.
[h=1]Spain Plane Crash Video: Vintage Aircraft Crashes In A Fireball At Madrid Air Show [/h] [video=youtube;xa4CNK_r_Ac]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xa4CNK_r_Ac[/video] MADRID -- A historic jet plane crashed into a hangar and exploded in a fireball at an airshow southwest of the capital Sunday, severely injuring its pilot who later died in the hospital, officials said. A spokesman for Spain's Defense Ministry said the pilot, Ladislao Tejedor Romero, 35, an experienced jet pilot and assistant to Defense Minister Pedro Morenes, died of his injuries in the serious burns unit of Getafe hospital. Some 3,000 people were at Cuatro Vientos airfield watching a showcase of aerial acrobatics and vintage aircraft when the plane, one of the first jet-propelled planes to be manufactured in Spain, crashed, sending a fireball and thick black smoke into the air. The plane, a HA-200 Saeta, was a built in the 1950s as an advanced jet trainer by Hispano Aviacion, ministry spokesman Alfredo Florenza said. It was later given an attack capability. Florenza said the cause of the crash was not known. State broadcaster RTVE showed images of a large plume of smoke rising above hangars Sunday and interviewed witnesses who described the plane diving and crashing into buildings. Spain's airport authority AENA said no one else other than the pilot was injured. Europa Press news agency, however, reported quoting emergency services that two people, a rescue worker suffering from burns and a 57-year-old man suffering from an anxiety attack, believed to be the pilot's father, were transferred to hospital. A third rescue worker suffering from smoke inhalation received first aid at the scene, the agency said.
[h=1] Ammonium Nitrate Was Explosive In West Fertilizer Plant Blast [/h] AUSTIN, Texas -- A store of ammonium nitrate is what exploded April 17 at a Central Texas plant, killing 14 people, injuring hundreds and devastating an adjoining town. The finding was expected, and officials had said they were focusing their investigation on the explosive chemical used in many fertilizers, said Rachel Moreno, spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office. A spot where the ammonium nitrate was stored is now a 90-foot-wide crater, Moreno said Monday. However, the ignition source for the explosive chemical remained undetermined Monday. Findings on the cause of the blast on the outskirts of the small town of West initially had been expected Friday. However, the investigation will take one to two extra weeks to complete, with dozens of investigators combing through plant wreckage and the adjoining wrecked neighborhood, Moreno said. Also, federal emergency officials have begun offering shelter for West residents whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged. About 70 homes were damaged or destroyed. A statement from the Federal Emergency Management Administration said the transitional sheltering assistance was requested by Texas state officials. It would allow those whose homes were left uninhabitable by the blast to stay for a limited time in a hotel or motel at government expense. Meals, telephone calls and other incidental charges are not covered, and applicants are responsible for any lodging costs above the authorized lodging costs, according to the statement. Eligible applicants are being notified.
[h=1] Ariel Castro's Neighbors Reported Naked Woman On Lawn, Bags Over Windows To Police [/h] CLEVELAND — One neighbor says a naked woman was seen crawling on her hands and knees in the backyard of the house a few years ago. Another heard pounding on the home's doors and noticed plastic bags over the windows. Both times, police showed up but never went inside, neighbors say. Police also paid a visit to the house in 2004, but no one answered the door. Now, after three women who vanished a decade ago were found captive Monday at the run-down house, Cleveland police are facing questions for the second time in four years about their handling of missing-person cases and are conducting an internal review to see if they overlooked anything. City Safety Director Martin Flask said Tuesday that investigators had no record of anyone calling about criminal activity at the house but were still checking police, fire and emergency databases. The three women were rescued after one of them kicked out the bottom portion of a locked screen door and used a neighbor's telephone to call 911. "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she breathlessly told a dispatcher in a call that exhilarated and astonished much of the city. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now." Berry, 27, Michelle Knight, 32, and Gina DeJesus, about 23, had apparently been held captive in the house since their teens or early 20s, police Chief Michael McGrath said. Three brothers, ages 50 to 54, were arrested. One of them, former school bus driver Ariel Castro, owned the home, situated in a poor neighborhood dotted with boarded-up houses just south of downtown. No charges were filed. A relative of the three brothers said their family was "totally shocked" after hearing about the missing women being found at the home. Juan Alicea said the arrests of his wife's brothers had left relatives "as blindsided as anyone else" in their community. He said he hadn't been to the home of his brother-in-law Ariel Castro since the early 1990s but had eaten dinner with Castro at a different brother's house shortly before the arrests were made Monday. A 6-year-old girl believed to be Berry's daughter also was found in the home, police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said. He would not say who the father was. The women were reported by police to be in good health and were reunited with joyous family members but remained in seclusion. In eastern Tennessee, Berry's father, Johnny Berry, told WJHL-TV that he spoke to her for the first time Monday night by phone at his home in Elizabethton. "She said, `Hi, Daddy, I'm alive,'" Johnny Berry said. "She said, `I love you, I love you, I love you,' and then we both started crying." Although Amanda Berry was born and raised in Cleveland, her father, grandparents and cousins live in Elizabethton. Before she disappeared, she often visited Tennessee during the summers. Family members said they visited her in Cleveland about three weeks before she went missing. The head of the FBI in Cleveland, Stephen Anthony, said the families' prayers for the missing women had been answered. "The nightmare is over," he said. "These three young ladies have provided us with the ultimate definition of survival and perseverance. The healing can now begin." He added: "Words can't describe the emotions being felt by all. Yes, law enforcement professionals do cry." Police would not say how the women were taken captive or how they were hidden in the neighborhood where they had vanished. Investigators also would not say whether they were kept in restraints inside the house or sexually assaulted. Four years ago, in another poverty-stricken part of town, police were heavily criticized following the discovery of 11 women's bodies in the home and backyard of Anthony Sowell, who was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The families of Sowell's victims accused police of failing to properly investigate the disappearances because most of the women were addicted to drugs and poor. For months, the stench of death hung over the house, but it was blamed on a sausage factory next door. In the wake of public outrage over the killings, a panel formed by the mayor recommended an overhaul of the city's handling of missing-person and sex crime investigations. This time, two neighbors said they called police to the Castro house on separate occasions. Elsie Cintron, who lives three houses away, said her daughter saw a naked woman crawling in the backyard several years ago and called police. "But they didn't take it seriously," she said. Another neighbor, Israel Lugo, said he heard pounding on some of the doors of the house in November 2011. Lugo said officers knocked on the front door, but no one answered. "They walked to side of the house and then left," he said. "Everyone in the neighborhood did what they had to do," said Lupe Collins, who is close to relatives of the women. "The police didn't do their job." Police did go to the house twice in the past 15 years, but not in connection with the women's disappearance, officials said. In 2000, before the women vanished, Castro reported a fight in the street, but no arrests were made, Flask said. In 2004, officers went to the home after child welfare officials alerted them that Castro had apparently left a child unattended on a bus, Flask said. No one answered the door, according to Flask. Ultimately, police determined there was no criminal intent on his part, he said. Castro was arrested two days after Christmas in 1993 on a domestic-violence charge and spent three days in jail before he was released on bond. The case was presented to a grand jury, but no indictment was returned, according to court documents, which don't detail the allegations. It's unclear who brought the charge against Castro, who was living at the home from which the women escaped Monday. Castro, 52, was well known in the mainly Puerto Rican neighborhood. He played bass guitar in salsa and merengue bands. He gave children rides on his motorcycle and joined others at a candlelight vigil to remember two of the missing girls, neighbors said. They also said they would sometimes see him walking a little girl to a neighborhood playground. Tito DeJesus, an uncle of Gina DeJesus, played in bands with Castro over the last 20 years. He recalled visiting Castro's house but never noticed anything out of the ordinary, saying it had very little furniture and was filled with musical instruments. "I had no clue, no clue whatsoever that this happened," he said. Also arrested were Castro's brothers Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50. Calls to the jail went unanswered, and there was no response to interview requests sent to police, the jail and city officials. Ariel Castro's son, Anthony Castro, said in an interview with London's Daily Mail newspaper that he now speaks with his father just a few times a year and seldom visited his house. He said on his last visit, two weeks ago, his father wouldn't let him inside. "The house was always locked," he said. "There were places we could never go. There were locks on the basement. Locks on the attic. Locks on the garage." Anthony Castro, who lives in Columbus, also wrote an article for a community newspaper in Cleveland about the disappearance of Gina DeJesus just weeks after she went missing, when he was a college journalism student. "That I wrote about this nearly 10 years ago – to find out that it is now so close to my family – it's unspeakable," he told The Plain Dealer newspaper. On Tuesday, a sign hung on a fence decorated with dozens of balloons outside the home of DeJesus' parents read "Welcome Home Gina." Her aunt Sandra Ruiz said her niece had an emotional reunion with family members. "Those girls, those women are so strong," Ruiz said. "What we've done in 10 years is nothing compared to what those women have done in 10 years to survive." Many of the women's loved ones and friends had held out hope of seeing them again, For years, Berry's mother kept her room exactly as it was, said Tina Miller, a cousin. When magazines addressed to Berry arrived, they were piled in the room alongside presents for birthdays and Christmases she missed. Berry's mother died in 2006. Just over a month ago, Miller attended a vigil marking the 10th anniversary of Berry's disappearance. Over the past decade or so, investigators twice dug up backyards looking for Berry and continued to receive tips about her and DeJesus every few months, even in recent years. The disappearance of the two girls was profiled on TV's "America's Most Wanted" in 2005. Few leads ever came in about Knight. Knight vanished at age 20 in 2002. Berry disappeared at 16 in 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. About a year later, DeJesus vanished at 14 on her way home from school. Jessica Aponce said she walked home with DeJesus the day the teenager disappeared. "She called her mom and told her mom she was on her way home and that's the last time I seen her," Aponce said. "I just can't wait to see her. I'm just so happy she's alive. It's been so many years that everybody thinking she was dead." Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard, who were held captive by abductors at a young age, said they were elated by the women's rescue. "We need to have constant vigilance, constantly keep our eyes open and ears open because miracles do happen," Smart said on ABC's "Good Morning America." The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CEO, John Ryan, said Berry, DeJesus and Knight likely would be honored by his group. "I think they're going to be at the top of the list," he said.
[h=1]Jodi Arias: 'Death Is The Ultimate Freedom' [/h] PHOENIX (AP) -- Jodi Arias said in a post-conviction interview with a TV station that she prefers the death penalty over life in prison. Arias talked to Fox affiliate KSAZ in the courthouse minutes after she was convicted of first-degree murder. With tears in her eyes, she said she feels overwhelmed and that she was surprised because she didn't believe she committed first-degree murder. She said in the interview that she would "prefer to die sooner than later" and that "death is the ultimate freedom." Arias previously said she considered suicide after killing her lover Travis Alexander. The county said Arias was placed under suicide watch. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder Wednesday in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend in Arizona after a four-month trial that captured headlines with lurid tales of sex, lies, religion and a salacious relationship that ended in a blood bath. Arias fought back tears, and family members of the victim wept and hugged each other as the verdict was announced in the hushed, packed courtroom. Outside, a huge crowd that had gathered on the courthouse steps screamed, whistled and cheered the news in a case that has attracted fans from across the country who traveled to Phoenix to be close to the proceedings. Some chanted, "USA, USA, USA!" The jury of eight men and four women took about 15 hours to reach its verdict after four months of testimony, including 18 days on the witness stand by the 32-year-old Arias. The jury will return to the courtroom Thursday to begin the next phase of the trial that could set the stage for her being sentenced to death. Arias was charged with first-degree murder in the June 2008 death of Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home. Authorities said she planned the attack in a jealous rage after being rejected by the victim while he pursued other women. Arias initially denied involvement then later blamed the killing on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense. Testimony began in early January, with Arias eventually spending 18 days on the witness stand. The trial quickly snowballed into a made-for-the-tabloids drama, garnering daily coverage from cable news networks and spawning a virtual cottage industry for talk shows, legal experts and even Arias, who used her notoriety to sell artwork she made in jail. Jurors got the case Friday afternoon. They deliberated for two full days this week before reaching a decision late Wednesday morning. The verdict was announced at about 2 p.m. local time. The trial will move into a phase during which prosecutors will argue the killing was committed in an especially cruel, heinous and depraved manner, called the "aggravation" phase. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence during a mini trial of sorts. If the jury determines the killing was cruel, heinous and depraved, then another phase will begin to determine whether she should get the death penalty. A mob of spectators gathered outside the courthouse to learn the verdict, while TV crews, media trucks and reporters lined nearby streets. Family and friends of Alexander wore blue ribbons and wristbands with the words "Justice For Travis." Alexander suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, was shot in the forehead and had his throat slit before Ariasdragged his body into his shower. He was found by friends about five days later. Authorities said Alexander fought for his life as Arias attacked him in a blitz, but he soon grew too weak to defend himself. "Mr. Alexander did not die calmly," prosecutor Juan Martinez told jurors in opening statements. Arias said she recalled Alexander attacking her in a fury after a day of sex. She said Alexander came at her "like a linebacker," body-slamming her to the tile floor. She managed to wriggle free and ran into his closet to retrieve a gun he kept on a shelf. She said she fired in self-defense but had no memory of stabbing him. She acknowledged trying to clean the scene of the killing, dumping the gun in the desert and working on an alibi to avoid suspicion. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth. However, none of Arias' allegations that Alexander had physically abused her in the months before his death, that he owned a gun and had sexual desires for young boys, were corroborated by witnesses or evidence during the trial. She acknowledged lying repeatedly before and after her arrest but insisted she was telling the truth in court. Arias spent 18 days on the witness stand describing an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, a shocking sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically abusive.
Air Force Crisis: Sex, Nukes And Leadership WASHINGTON: The Air Force faces a crisis of leadership, a crisis of confidence, a crisis that must be addressed by whomever is nominated as the next secretary. The service is being battered by news story after news story. Today we learned of the suspension of 17 nuclear launch officers. The Associated Press broke the story. And they got their hands on an email from the Minot missile commander. “We are, in fact, in a crisis right now,” the commander, Lt. Col. Jay Folds, wrote in an internal email obtained by The Associated Press and confirmed by the Air Force. Add to that the Sunday arrest for sexual misconduct of the Air Force officer charged with preventing sexual assault and the service’s widely perceived institutional weakness when it comes to defining its mission and the service clearly faces a major crisis. President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made statements that clearly indicated just how angry and frustrated they are by the sexual assault news. Senior lawmakers expressed their anguish and concern today about the nuclear force problems. When outgoing Air Force Secretary Mike Donley told Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, that, “one thing we have to remember is these are lieutenants…,” the senator’s reaction left little doubt as to what he thought of this explanation. “It is cold comfort to hear these are lieutenants who may be new to the job,” the new chairman of the defense subcommittee replied. Durbin told the blue suiters that, “this news report could not be more troubling.” It, he said, “strikes at the core of our chain of command.” Later in the hearing, Durbin noted that, one officer acted in a manner that “could have compromised the secret codes of missiles.” No codes were compromised, he made clear. But you get the idea. Donley, in a message meant as much for our allies, Russia, China and North Korea as anyone else, told the subcommittee that the US is “able to maintain a safe and credible nuclear deterrent.” He also said that the Air Force has, “made substantial progress, I think, in restoring the confidence in the nuclear enterprise.” A former senior Air Force officer agreed with Donley’s assessment and said the service has, in fact, greatly improved the security and robustness of the Air Force nuclear enterprise since the 2007 Bent Spear incident when the service lost track of six nuclear warheads mounted on cruise missiles. I reached out to a range of former Air Force officers and close observers of the force to see what they had to say. “The bad — and slightly good — news is that this is not the first Air Force crisis of the past several years. A worrisome trend is that each crisis sinks the perception of the Air Force further around Washington and makes it harder and longer to rebuild no matter who is at the top. It is a service that can recover but only with fresh, invigorated and empowered leadership,” Mackenzie Eaglen, defense analyst at the American enterprise Institute and member of the Breaking Media Board of Contributors, said. “Clearly, fixes in the recent past are not enough or have not been working. Air Force leaders will need to be seen as taking bold, unprecedented steps to regain confidence both within and outside of the service.” Eaglen bets that “the new Secretary of Defense is watching closely to see if he will need to make an example out of Air Force leadership yet again. So its leaders, both sitting and incoming, should be on full notice. They have very little time to show tangible change and progress across a variety of areas.” What was the reaction of the service’s senior uniformed leader, Gen. Mark Welsh, to the sex assault scandal, in particular: “I’ve been doing this for 37 years and no one is more frustrated than I am, Chairman (of the full committee Barbara) Mikulski.” We don’t know many details about the nuclear inspection. Most details about anything that involves nuclear operational details usually are highly classified. The Minot Air Force Base does appear to shed a little light on the issue with an announcement that a March inspection was “a success,” the same term Donley used before the the SASC subcommittee as he tried to explain that the problem might not be as bad as it sounded. Here’s what the Minot base website says: “From March 1-13, various Team Minot organizations were reviewed by the Air Force Global Strike Command Inspector General during the Consolidated Unit Inspection. The CUI is designed to test units on their policies and procedures regarding daily operations, record keeping and a variety of other operational facets. After the smoke cleared, the 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing were left standing with overall ratings of ‘Excellent’ and ‘Satisfactory’ respectively.” As anyone who has spent much time with the military knows, getting a rating of satisfactory — especially for something as sensitive as a mission dealing with nuclear weapons — is not something to write home about. The commander said his airmen were accepting violations of weapons safety rules and security protocols. While they did receive that satisfactory rating overall, they received the equivalent of a D on one of the 22 tasks involving launch operations. They were rated marginal. That sparked the commander’s email and the suspension of the 17. Loren Thompson, defense consultant and an analyst at the Lexington Institute, pointed to the suspension of the 17 officers as “a perverse sign of progress. It shows the Air Force is testing personnel rigorously and insisting on accountability.” Thompson believes that the senior Air Force leadership is poor at communicating with the outside world. “Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh is exceptionally capable, perhaps the best service chief currently serving, but he has inherited an institution with uneven standards when it comes to leadership. Some of the recent political appointees have been weak, and the quality of general officers varies immensely,” said Thompson, a member of the Breaking Defense Board of Contributors. “This is the most accomplished Air Force in the world when it comes to waging war, but its political skills are not strong and its acquisition community seems accident prone. Such deficiencies bulk larger when threats recede, as seems to be the case today.” We broke the story that a female with strong experience working with Congress and in industry is the leading candidate for nomination as Donely’s replacement. Debbie Lee James, executive vice president for communications and government affairs at defense and intelligence giant SAIC, could improve the service’s standing on sexual assault issues just by being there — at first. Someone with her experience might just be the right move for a service in need of some.
[h=1]Mother's Day Parade Shooting: At Least 17 Wounded During New Orleans Festivities [/h] At least 17 people were reportedly wounded during a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday. Among the victims was reportedly a 10-year-old girl who was grazed by one of the bullets. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayne: While [New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ron] Serpas said there were about 300 to 400 people in the Mother's Day [parade], there were about 200 people in the area of the shooting. He said that about 10 NOPD officers were spread out throughout the second line and that three people were seen running from the shooting scene. Serpas said that the three suspects likely worked together and that at least two different weapons were used. One of the suspects is described as a man between 18 years old and 22 years old with short hair and a white shirt with blue jeans, Serpas said. Nine people were taken to the area's University Hospital, eight of them having sustained gunshot wounds, according to WWLTV. Three are said to be in critical condition, while no fatalities have been reported in the shooting's immediate aftermath, per the Times-Picayune. UPDATE: The FBI does not believe the shooting was linked to terrorism, but was simply an act of "street violence," according to the Associated Press.
[h=1]Akein Scott Identified By Police As Suspect In New Orleans Mother's Day Parade Shooting [/h] NEW ORLEANS — Police late Monday identified a 19-year-old man as a suspect in the shooting of about 20 people during a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans, saying several people had identified him as the gunman captured by surveillance camera videos. Superintendent Ronal Serpas said officers were looking for Akein Scott of New Orleans. He said it was too early to say whether he was the only shooter. "We would like to remind the community and Akein Scott that the time has come for him to turn himself in," Serpas said at a news conference outside of police headquarters. A photo of Scott hung from a podium in front of the police chief. "We know more about you than you think we know," he said. The mass shooting showed again how far the city has to go to shake a persistent culture of violence that belies the city's festive image. Earlier, police announced a $10,000 reward and released blurry surveillance camera images, which led to several tips from the community. "The people today chose to be on the side of the young innocent children who were shot and not on the side of a coward who shot into the crowd," Serpas said. The superintendent said SWAT team members and U.S. marshals served a searched warrant at one location looking for Scott, and also visited two other blocks of interest. He vowed that police would be "looking for Akein Scott for the rest of the night and tomorrow... and I would strongly recommend that Akeim turn himself in." Angry residents said gun violence – which has flared at two other city celebrations this year – goes hand-in-hand with the city's other deeply rooted problems such as poverty and urban blight. The investigators tasked with solving Sunday's shooting work within an agency that's had its own troubles rebounding from years of corruption while trying to halt violent crime. "The old people are scared to walk the streets. The children can't even play outside," Ronald Lewis, 61, said Monday as he sat on the front stoop of his house, about a half block from the shooting site. His window sill has a hole from a bullet that hit it last year. Across the street sits a house marked by bullets that he said were fired two weeks ago. "The youngsters are doing all this," said Jones, who was away from home when the latest shooting broke out. Video released early Monday shows a crowd gathered for a boisterous second-line parade suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man in a white T-shirt and dark pants who turns and runs out of the picture. Police were working to determine whether there was more than one gunman, though they initially said three people were spotted fleeing from the scene. Whoever was responsible escaped despite the presence of officers who were interspersed through the crowd as part of routine precautions for such an event. Serpas said Scott has previously been arrested for resisting arrest, possession of a firearm and narcotics charges, with a recent arrest in March. It was not immediately clear whether he had been convicted on any of those charges. "Akeim is no stranger to the criminal justice system," Serpas said. Serpas said that ballistic evidence gathered at the scene was giving them "very good leads to work on." Witness Jarrat Pytell said he was walking with friends near the parade route when the crowd suddenly began to break up. "I saw the guy on the corner, his arm extended, firing into the crowd," said Pytell, a medical student. "He was obviously pointing in a specific direction; he wasn't swinging the gun wildly," Pytell said. Pytell said he tended to one woman with a severe arm fracture – he wasn't sure if it was from a bullet or a fall – and to others including an apparent shooting victim who was bleeding badly. Three gunshot victims remained in critical condition Monday, though their wounds didn't appear to be life-threatening. Most of the wounded had been released from the hospital. It's not the first time gunfire has shattered a festive mood in the city this year. Five people were wounded in a drive-by shooting in January after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, and four were wounded in a shooting after an argument in the French Quarter in the days leading up to Mardi Gras. Two teens were arrested in connection with the MLK Day shootings; three men were arrested and charged in the Mardi Gras shootings. The shootings are bloody reminders of the persistence of violence in the city, despite some recent progress. Last week, law enforcement officials touted the indictment of 15 people in gang-related crimes, including the death of a 5-year-old girl killed by stray gunfire at a birthday party a year ago. The city's 193 homicides in 2012 are seven fewer than the previous year, while the first three months of 2013 represented an even slower pace of killing. On Monday night, 100 to 150 people gathered for a unity rally and peace vigil in the wake of Sunday's shootings. Some residents stood in their doorways or on their steps. At one point, trumpeter Kenneth Terry played, "O For a Closer Walk With Thee." Robin Bevins, president of the ladies group of the Original Four Social Aid and Pleasure Club, said she and members of her organization came to the rally to show solidarity. "This code of silence has to end," said Bevins, who's also a member of the city's Social Aid Task Force. "If we stand up and speak out, maybe this kind of thing will stop." Amy Storper, who lives in a neighborhood near where the shooting happened, brought her 7-year-old son William to the rally. "I felt the need to come out and show my support, to let people in this neighborhood know that people care," she said. "Perhaps if the whole city showed up, all 300,000, then maybe we can make a difference." Mayor Mitch Landrieu walked into the area, greeting people, shaking hands and stopping to talk with some residents before addressing the crowd. "We came back out here as a community to stand on what we call sacred ground," Landrieu said. "We came here to reclaim this spot. This shooting doesn't reflect who we are as a community or what we're about." Leading efforts to lower the homicide rate is a police force that's faced its own internal problems and staffing issues. At about 1,200 members, the department is 300 short of its peak level. Serpas, the chief since 2010, has been working to overcome the effects of decades of scandal and community mistrust arising from what the U.S. Justice Department says has been questionable use of force and biased policing. Landrieu and Serpas have instituted numerous reforms, but the city is at odds with the Justice Department over the cost and scope of more extensive changes. Landrieu's administration initially agreed to a reform plan expected to cost tens of millions over the next several years. But Landrieu says he wants out now because Justice lawyers entered a separate agreement with Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman over the violent and unsanitary New Orleans jail – funded by the city but operated by Gusman. The site of the Sunday shooting – about 1.5 miles from the heart of the French Quarter – showcases other problems facing the city. Stubborn poverty and blight are evident in the area of middle-class and low-income homes. Like other areas hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the area has been slower to repopulate than wealthier areas. And Landrieu's stepped up efforts to demolish or renovate blighted properties – a pre-Katrina problem made worse by the storm – remain too slow for some. Frank Jones, 71, whose house is a few doors down from the shooting site, said the house across from him has been abandoned since Katrina. Squatters and drug dealers sometimes take shelter there, he said. A city code inspector, who declined to be interviewed, was there Monday "It's too late," Jones said. "Should have fixed it from the very beginning. A lot of people are getting fed up with the system."
[h=1]Justin Bieber Booed At Billboard Music Awards, Claims He's An Artist :bounce::bounce:[/h] Justin Bieber was booed at the Billboard Music Awards, despite winning two awards and performing twice. The "Beauty and the Beat" singer was accepting the Milestone Award when the crowd seemed to erupt in boos. Looking a bit confused, Bieber went on to assert that he thinks only the "craft" and his music should be considered, arguing that "none of the other bull" mattered. While it's unclear what Bieber was referencing, he has had a number of bad public relations moments as of late, having lost his temper with the paparazzi in London and being caught smoking marijuana. "This is not a gimmick," Bieber said. "I’m an artist and I should be taken seriously.” Bieber beat out a number of other artists, including Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift for the award. The Milestone Award was actually Bieber’s second trophy of the night. He also took home “Top Male Artist.” It's unfortunately not the first time Bieber has been booed. He's previously encountered a similar reaction at a Canadian Football Game, a New York Knicks basketball game and at one of his own concerts, where he arrived hours late. Other wild moments from the evening included Miguel coming up short on a jump move and landing on an audience member's neck, Nicki Minaj giving Lil Wayne a lapdance and Prince closing out the show with a killer performance.
[h=1]Dozens Killed in Oklahoma Tornado; Death Toll to Rise [/h] MOORE, Okla. (AP) - A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, including at least 20 children, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise. The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of the city. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside. The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children. Search-and-rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night. Tiffany Thronesberry said she heard from her mother, Barbara Jarrell, shortly after the tornado. "I got a phone call from her screaming, 'Help! Help! I can't breathe. My house is on top of me!'" Thronesberry said. Thronesberry hurried to her mother's house, where first responders had already pulled her out. Her mother was hospitalized for treatment of cuts and bruises. Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage center. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers. Fallin also spoke with President Barack Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Many land lines to stricken areas were down, and cellphone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said. In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, awnings and glass all over the streets. The tornado also destroyed the community hospital and some retail stores. Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis watched it pass through from his jewelry shop. "All of my employees were in the vault," Lewis said. Chris Calvert saw the menacing cloud approaching from about a mile away. "I was close enough to hear it," he said. "It was just a low roar, and you could see the debris, like pieces of shingles and insulation and stuff like that, rotating around it." Even though his subdivision is a mile from the tornado's path, it was still covered with debris. He found a picture of a small girl on Santa Claus' lap in his yard. Volunteers and first responders raced to search the debris for survivors. At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal. Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage center in the parking lot. James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching twister and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there. "About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart," he said. The students were sent into the restroom. A man with a megaphone stood Monday evening near St. Andrews United Methodist Church and called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby, hoping to hear their sons' and daughters' names. Don Denton hadn't heard from his two sons since the tornado hit the town, but the man who has endured six back surgeries and walks with a severe limp said he walked about two miles as he searched for them. As reports of the storm came in, Denton's 16-year-old texted him, telling him to call. "I was trying to call him, and I couldn't get through," Denton said. Eventually, Denton said, his sons spotted him in the crowd. They were fine, but upset to hear that their grandparents' home was destroyed. As dusk began to fall, heavy equipment was rolled up to the school, and emergency workers wearing yellow crawled among the ruins, searching for survivors. Because the ground was muddy, bulldozers and front-end loaders were getting stuck. Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug. Douglas Sherman drove two blocks from his home to help. "Just having those kids trapped in that school, that really turns the table on a lot of things," he said. A map provided by the National Weather Service showed that the storm began west of Newcastle and crossed the Canadian River into Oklahoma City's rural far southwestern side about 3 p.m. When it reached Moore, the twister cut a path through the center of town before lifting back into the sky at Lake Stanley Draper. Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system. Monday's powerful tornado loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. The weather service estimated that Monday's tornado was at least a half-mile wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph. Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it's unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path. It was the fourth tornado to hit Moore since 1998. A twister also struck in 2003. Lewis, who was also mayor during the 1999 storm, said the city was already at work on the recovery. "We've already started printing the street signs. It took 61 days to clean up after the 1999 tornado. We had a lot of help then. We've got a lot of help now." Monday's devastation in Oklahoma came almost exactly two years after an enormous twister ripped through the city of Joplin, Mo., killing 158 people and injuring hundreds more. That May 22, 2011, tornado was the deadliest in the United States since modern tornado record keeping began in 1950, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Before Joplin, the deadliest modern tornado was June 1953 in Flint, Mich., when 116 people died.
[h=1]Secret Room, Possibly From World War II, Found In Home In Norway[/h] One of the coolest features a home can have is a secret room, even if it's empty. But if you're lucky enough to find one that has some goodies in it, like Reddit user mYNDIG, then you are in for a real treat. The redditor discovered a secret passageway in the attic of his home in Norway. Inside the space the user found a lamp alarm, a map of West Europe, a lonely doll shoe and a note in Norwegian that roughly translates to: "If you have a weak stomach, you don't have access." (We confirmed with a native speaker). According to user norwigga, the space could have been used as a radio room during World War II. "Norwegians would listen to English BBC radio and then make underground newspapers to spread news of how the war was truly going (the Germans only spread propaganda)." Vxx said it was most likely used to hide those in danger from the Nazis. "Rooms this size were often used to hide a lot more people than you would expect. It was probably used by a whole family." Although it may have had a serious past, mYNDIG was excited nonetheless to find this secret hideout. Click through the slideshow to see photos, and head over to Reddit for more information.
[h=1]Mars Rat? Blogger Spots 'Creature' In NASA Curiosity Rover Image (PHOTO)[/h] Yes, according to a theory from one determined man in Japan who recently scoured dozens of NASA photos taken by the space agency's Mars Curiosity rover. A post on UFO Sightings Daily shows the "Mars rat," which appears to be a creature with legs and a tail among rocks on the planet. As the blog notes, the figure "seems to resemble a rodent but also may be a lizard." The alleged Mars rat should not be confused with a similar sighting first pointed out in December: An image taken by the Curiosity rover at the "Rocknest" site in September shows a rodent-like figure that most closely resembles a squirrel. However, as UFO Sightings Daily notes, that observation may have been staged by NASA as part of an experiment. While this most recent rodent sighting may be yet another NASA test (or the result of a few perfectly placed rocks), it's most likely not a living creature. After all, this is something NASA would make an announcement about, right? Earlier this year, the agency revealed that the Curiosity rover uncovered signs that life may have once existed on Mars. NASA scientists cited a rock sample the rover analyzed in February that contained elements necessary for supporting life. "We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new 'gray Mars' where conditions once were favorable for life," John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement at the time. "Curiosity is on a mission of discovery and exploration, and as a team we feel there are many more exciting discoveries ahead of us in the months and years to come." Check out the original NASA photo and the UFO Sightings Daily version that points to the "Mars rat" below, and let us know what you think.
