KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ? The wife of a former North Texas justice of the peace implicated her husband in the shooting deaths of a local district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor, according to court records filed Wednesday.
An arrest affidavit revealed Kim Lene Williams told investigators Tuesday that her husband, Eric Lyle Williams, was the triggerman in the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, and assistant prosecutor Mark Hasse. McLelland and Hasse prosecuted Eric Williams last year for theft of three computer monitors.
Kim Williams was arrested early Wednesday and charged with capital murder. Eric Williams has been in custody, charged with making terroristic threats. He has not been charged in the slayings.
The affidavit says Kim Williams "described in detail her role along with that of her husband." However, the document does not outline what Kim Williams' alleged role was.
After Eric Williams was convicted of theft, he lost his elected position as justice of the peace ? a judge who handles mostly administrative duties ? and his law license. He was sentenced to probation.
The McLellands were found dead March 30, two months after Hasse was slain.
The officer who signed the affidavit, Kaufman County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Woodall, said he had learned from other officers and county employees that Hasse and Mike McLelland both believed Williams blamed them for the loss of his job and carried handguns because they thought he was "a threat to their personal safety."
Kim Williams was being held on $10 million bond at the Kaufman County Jail, sheriff's spokesman Lt. Justin Lewis said. He declined to answer questions Wednesday about the investigation but said families of the victims would be briefed on the case.
Her husband is being held on $3 million bond.
A probable cause affidavit says the former justice of the peace sent an email one day after the McLellands' bodies were discovered implying there would be another attack if authorities didn't respond to various demands.
A law enforcement official said ballistics experts were testing at least 20 weapons found in a storage locker under Eric Williams' name at a facility near Dallas. A Ford Crown Victoria similar to one spotted in the McLellands' neighborhood around the time the couple was killed was parked at the storage facility, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation.
Jail records did not list an attorney for Kim Williams. A message left with an attorney who had been representing her husband was not returned Wednesday.
Williams has said that after the McLellands' deaths and after Hasse was gunned down Jan. 31 near the county courthouse, he submitted to gunshot residue tests and turned over his cellphone.
Williams has appealed his theft conviction, and a day before the McLellands' bodies were found, a state appeals court in Dallas agreed to hear oral arguments in the case.
During closing arguments at Williams' trial, the prosecutors presented testimony indicating he had made death threats against a former girlfriend and a local attorney.
In the sentencing phase, Kim Williams testified in her husband's defense. She said she suffers from several illnesses, including rheumatoid arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome. She said her husband was her sole caregiver as well as the caregiver for her two ailing parents.
"Eric is a loving man," she testified. "He wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody. I'm standing by him 100 percent."
While Eric Williams was well known in the community as a lawyer and more recently a justice of the peace, his wife was largely invisible, according to Steve Hulme, an attorney who lives in Kaufman.
Hulme said he knew that Kim Williams had illnesses and that her parents, who live in the same neighborhood, also are in poor health. Beyond that, little else about her was known, he said.
Apr. 16, 2013 ? Camping in the backcountry may never be the same.
Power Practical, a student startup that sprang from research at the University of Utah, is selling a portable cook pot that transforms heat and water into a power source. Imagine charging your cellphone or using speakers in the mountains at night far from civilization. That's what the device, called the PowerPot, can do with just a campfire and a little water. Using thermoelectricity, the PowerPot generates power by capturing the electrons moving from the heated pot to the cooler water inside. The greater the temperature difference, the more electricity is generated.
The company has a growing variety of PowerPots that serve different needs. The basic model, the PowerPot V, weighs less than a pound and produces 5 volts, enough to charge a cellphone in 60 to 90 minutes. Larger models, like the PowerPot X, produce 10 volts and can charge larger devices, like a tablet computer.
The PowerPot is more than just an idea. The company has already shipped more than 1,000 units after attracting $126,000 in funding from its debut on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform, and they recently raised an additional $750,000 in seed funding. The device is available for $149 on the company website and at select retailers. The team just landed a deal to sell the PowerPot at the new Scheels store in Salt Lake City. They are also selling it at Sportsman's Warehouse, and other distribution partnerships are on the horizon.
The students behind the company have been surprised by its rapid growth and are struggling to keep up with growing interest and demand.
"We knew we were on to something when we got requests from around the world and more than doubled our goal during our Kickstarter campaign," says David Toledo, a co-inventor and founder. "We just shipped all of those orders, and we are quickly getting our product into more stores."
Toledo graduated from the U in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering. He is putting his Ph.D. at Cornell on hold to build his company. Paul Slusser is the other co-inventor and founder. He graduated from the U in 2009 with a bachelor's and master's in materials science and engineering.
"David and Paul are examples of what makes engineering so exciting -- by mixing creativity, science, math and design education, they came up with a product that improves the quality of life for people around the world," says Richard Brown, dean of the College of Engineering at the U. "Being entrepreneurial comes naturally to many engineers -- in fact, 41 percent of the spinoff companies from the U are from engineering."
Camping enthusiasts are important customers, but they are far from the only target market. PowerPots could become a staple in emergency preparedness kits. And perhaps the biggest market is in developing countries, where cellphone usage is exploding despite the fact that many people don't have electricity in their homes.
"There are hundreds of millions of people with cellphones in Africa, and most people need to walk more than a mile and spend a big chunk of their income simply to charge their phone," says Riley Swenson, the marketing director at Power Practical who has a degree in political science from the U.
Toledo and Slusser invented the device while studying thermoelectricity. Initially, Toledo and Slusser, who were roommates, just wanted to experiment with a thermoelectric generator. In 2008, they bought a thermoelectric cooling device from eBay, tore it apart, tried to improve it and turned their attention toward developing a thermoelectric device that could produce power. Months passed, and they eventually built the first prototype using an old pot from Toledo's mom.
The project hit some roadblocks, and Toledo and Slusser graduated and left the area. Toledo started working on a Ph.D. at Cornell; Slusser took a job in San Jose. Then, while surfing the Internet in New York, Toledo made a breakthrough -- he found a cheap power regulator designed for hobbyists. It was the essential component they needed to make their invention useful by providing a steady power stream.
From there, everything started coming together. Toledo took a leave of absence from Cornell. He and Slusser moved back to Salt Lake to work on the project, and together they assembled their business team.
Other members of the Power Practical team include Matt Ford, the CEO who graduated with a degree in finance from the U in 1990; Wafiq Ali, who is graduating this May with a business degree from the U; Caleb Light, a business graduate from University Valley University; and Kenyon Ellis, an international studies student at the U.
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Gilles Bouchard, chief executive officer uses Livescribe's new Sky Wi-Fi Pen and Portfolio.
Oakland-based Livescribe, Inc. has taken the ancient art of writing and turned it into a stylish high-tech concept that helps professionals and students maximize their ability to capture information and move it from notepad to computer screen.
?The pen connects two worlds that don?t usually communicate well together?writing and technology,? said Gilles Bouchard, chief executive officer of the privately held, venture capital-backed computer software and peripherals company.
A case filled with awards stands near the reception desk of the company?s offices, which are located near the Oakland Airport. Customer comments praising the product have been turned into artwork that decorates the walls of the offices on the 12th floor on Oakport Street, where 70 employees are at work on the next generation of products connecting the pen and keyboard.
Livescribe introduced its first Smartpen five years ago, bridging the gap between the written word and computer technology. The Smartpen works both by recording audio and by allowing the user to take notes on a special kind of paper, then transfer those notes directly to a computer.
The pen was originally marketed to students who regularly capture information presented in class in multiple formats. Special needs students who require additional assistance logging data also use the pen. The market was later expanded to include business professionals who at the time made up approximately 70 percent of the company?s customer base.
With a click of the record button and the tap of the pen on a piece of paper printed with what the company calls ?micro-dots,? the mini computer in the pen records information transcribed onto the page, including drawings and charts, while also capturing audio. The ink on the dotted paper appears in green to indicate that an audio recording is also attached to what is written on the sheet. ?Once the information is uploaded to the computer, the user can tap anywhere the green ink appears on the page for audio playback.
While the Echo version of the pen uses a USB cable to transfer data from the pen to the computer, the company?s newest product, the Skypen, is a Wi-Fi pen. It allows users to connect wirelessly and upload content that can be stored in the cloud and distributed to multiple applications and mobile devices using Evernote, software used for notetaking and archiving data.
This technology solves real problems, Bouchard said. Students with physical challenges, and those with test anxiety, say using the Livescribe pen helps them to focus on what the teacher is saying because they can capture more information, he said. ??We have a product that?s very unique,? he said. ?Once people know and use it, they really like it. But it?s also so different. It?s not just another PC or another computer or another phone, another camera. It?s a Smartpen.?
More than 1 million Smartpens have sold since they were introduced in 2007. The price of the Sky Wi-Fi Smartpen ranges from $169 for a 2GB pen to $249 for an entire package that includes the pen, cartridges, USB cable and a starter dot paper notebook. The current price for an Echo 2GB is $119.
The goal for the future is to make it look more like a pen, less?tech-y?in design and easier to use. You turn it on, write and it uploads, Bouchard said.
In the next six to 12 months, consumers can expect to see some of the new technology the company is working on now, Bouchard said, which could translate into a lower price or a lighter or smaller pen.
Livescribe representatives describe the company as ?well funded;??they have?raised more than $100 million to date.?The company?s lead investor is?Vantage Point Venture Partners.
Jim Marggraff?the inventor of paper-based computing products such as LeapPad and Fly Pentop?founded the company in 2007. The idea was ?bringing paper to the digital world,? Marggraff said in the company?s five-year anniversary video.
The company?s product has evolved quickly over a short period of time. Its technology earned Livescribe a position as a finalist in the category of engineering and design at the first East Bay Innovation Awards in 2012, a nomination that comes directly from the business community.
Bouchard has a background in mechanical engineering and has been in the consumer and technology industry for more then 25 years. He decided to come to Livescribe because the company has ?incredible potential,? he said.
?What?s exciting to me about technology is to take something that?s small and exciting and make it into a real business,? Bouchard said. ?I think this is what Livescribe is right now. It?s a good business.? A good idea but it?s still in the very early stages. I saw the potential of taking this idea and making it really relevant to a lot of people.?
One possibility, he said, is bridging the gap between the Smartpen?s unique product market and the mobile computing world, since the pens are natural companions to mobile devices. ?We have great potential and a great future. I envision a world filled with Smartpens,? Bouchard said.
Johannesburg -?South African Airways (SAA) and Jet Airways, India?s premier international airline, have announced a code share agreement that will enable seamless air travel connectivity to several business centres in India and South Africa. Tickets went on sale on 16 April 2013 with travel effective from 18 April 2013.
Under the arrangement; South African Airways, the only airline with non-stop flights between Johannesburg and Mumbai, will code share on Jet Airways? operations between Mumbai and Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. In turn, Jet Airways will code share on SAA?s flights between Mumbai and Johannesburg and beyond to Cape Town and Durban.
Customers who are members of SAA?s loyalty programme, Voyager, will be able to earn miles and obtain tier status when travelling on Jet Airways using SAA-issued tickets. Likewise, members of Jet Airways? Jet Privilege programme will also be able to earn and redeem JPMiles and earn Tier points/Tier JPMiles when they travel on SAA flights marketed by Jet Airways. This provides an opportunity for customers to spend miles exploring the various Indian and South African destinations on offer.
?SAA is pleased with this latest offering on the India route. This partnership strengthens the historic commercial, political and cultural cooperation between South Africa and India. In essence, the agreement further supports the objectives of the BRICS member states,? said Mr. Manoj Papa, SAA?s acting General Manager: Commercial.
Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Jet Airways? Chief Commercial Officer, elaborated: ?Jet Airways is delighted to enter into a codeshare partnership with SAA, South Africa?s flag carrier. Besides its global popularity as a tourist destination, South Africa, in its capacity as Africa?s largest economy, is also a strategic trade and investment destination. With the seamless connections offered between India and South Africa, we are confident that this mutually beneficial codeshare will prove extremely popular with both business and leisure travellers.?
A recent study by the Department of Tourism indicated that the number of tourists from India to South Africa has steadily increased in recent years by over 122% between 2005 and 2010 and a further 29% increase between January and September 2011.
?We have been witnessing a steady increase in the number of business and leisure travellers coming into South Africa. Using Johannesburg as a convenient connection hub, a significant number of these travellers are also taking advantage of SAA?s vast route network of 26 destinations across Africa as well as access to over 1300 airports in almost 200 countries through our Star Alliance membership,? explained Papa.
The codeshare agreement will effectively enhance flight choices for customers, whether originating in India or Africa. ?In essence we are truly bringing the world to Africa and taking Africa to the world,? Papa asserted.?
Unusual suspect: Hopkins scientists find 'second fiddle' protein's role in Type 2 diabetesPublic release date: 11-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ekaterina Pesheva peshev1@jhmi.edu 410-502-9433 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Discovery in mice may help quest to restore function in damaged insulin cells
A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center has found that a protein long believed to have a minor role in type 2 diabetes is, in fact, a central player in the development of the condition that affects nearly 26 million people in the United States alone and counts as one of the leading causes of heart disease, stroke and kidney, eye and nerve damage.
Working with mice, the scientists discovered that a protein called EPAC2 deemed a second-fiddle player up until now is actually an important regulator of insulin that appears to work by nudging insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas to ramp up production of the sugar-regulating hormone when the body needs it most. Until now, EPAC2 was suspected of playing a merely supporting role as a signaling molecule, but scientists remained uncertain why and how that mattered, if at all.
The results of the federally funded research, described online April 11 in the journal Diabetes, also suggest EPAC2 could provide an important new target for treatment to restore pancreatic cell function, the researchers say. Current diabetes treatments halt disease progression at best and focus on controlling symptoms and averting complications, so therapies that actually reverse the disease are badly needed.
"Drugs that precision-target failing pancreatic cells and restore or boost their function have become the holy grail of diabetes research. We believe that our finding establishes a pathway to do just that," says lead investigator Mehboob Hussain, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and a metabolism expert at the newly formed Johns Hopkins Diabetes Institute.
The researchers say several experimental compounds known to alter EPAC2 are now lined up for testing in diabetic animals, but caution that their findings remain far from human application.
Type 2 diabetes stems from the failure of beta cells members of a family of hormone-secreting pancreatic cells known as islets of Langerhans to keep up with the body's demand for insulin. Insulin regulates blood sugar by transporting glucose from the blood into organs and tissues for fuel or storage. The body normally releases extra insulin when blood sugar levels surge after eating, but repeated or continued overeating and high-fat diets put added demand on the pancreas to churn out more insulin to keep up with constantly high blood sugar levels. The chronically overworked beta cells eventually slow down their insulin output until it ceases altogether. Insulin deficiency causes abnormal buildup of glucose in the blood and the body's inability to deliver it as fuel to organs and tissues. This, the researchers say, is the essence of diabetes.
Working with mice whose pancreatic cells were missing the EPAC2 signaling molecule, the researchers found that lean, healthy mice regulated their blood sugar levels even in the absence of EPAC2. Short-term surges in food consumption did not affect the mice's ability to regulate their blood sugar, but when the mice were put on a high-fat diet for a month, they developed a condition similar to human diabetes. At the same time, a group of overfed, pudgy mice with intact EPAC2 managed to control blood sugar levels without a problem. In other words, EPAC2 remained dormant and played no role in insulin production under normal conditions, but emerged as a critical factor when the fat mice needed more insulin to control their surging blood sugar levels. This finding led the scientists to believe EPAC2 is an important fail-safe mechanism unlocked only during abnormal conditions.
"It is as if during these extreme conditions, the body calls upon EPAC2 as backup to help it balance insulin supply and demand," Hussain says.
The study further reveals that EPAC2 is critical because it acts as a link in a signaling cascade that culminates in the release of insulin by pancreatic cells. Comparing EPAC2-deficient and normal pancreatic cells under a microscope, the investigators found that the EPAC2-deficient cells were unable to regulate calcium, a well-known catalyst that triggers the release of insulin into the blood. EPAC2 functioned as calcium's gatekeeper, the researchers say. In its absence, calcium did not reach the critical mass needed to initiate the release of insulin.
The researchers say it remains unclear whether type 2 diabetes damages EPAC2 directly or whether EPAC2 can coax the cells to crank out extra insulin only for so long and eventually gives up.
Either way, Hussain says, targeting EPAC2 with drugs could ratchet up the beta cells' dwindling insulin production and nip, or even reverse, diabetes at its root.
Type 2 diabetes is the predominant form of the disease, accounting for more than 90 percent of all diabetes diagnoses. It is commonly associated with diet and lifestyle. Previously seen mostly in middle-aged and older adults, type 2 diabetes is now increasingly diagnosed in younger people and children, a phenomenon fueled by growing obesity rates, experts say.
###
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant numbers DK090245, DK090816, DK084949 and DK 079637).
Co-investigators on the study were Woo-Jin Song, Prosenjit Mondal, Yuanyuan Li and Suh Eun Lee, all of Johns Hopkins.
Animal Study Finds Surprising Clues to Obesity-Induced Infertility
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Animal-Study-Finds-Surprising-Clues-to-Obesity-Induced-Infertility.aspx
Old Diabetes Drug Teaches Experts New Tricks
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Old__Diabetes_Drug_Teaches_Experts_New_Tricks.aspx
Founded in 1912 as the children's hospital of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center offers one of the most comprehensive pediatric medical programs in the country, with nearly 95,000 patient visits and some 9,000 admissions each year. Hopkins Children's is consistently ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation. Hopkins Children's is Maryland's largest children's hospital and the only state-designated Trauma Service and Burn Unit for pediatric patients. It has recognized Centers of Excellence in dozens of pediatric subspecialties, including allergy, cardiology, cystic fibrosis, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, pulmonary, and transplant. For more information, visit http://www.hopkinschildrens.org.
Media Contacts:
Ekaterina Pesheva, epeshev1@jhmi.edu, (410) 502-9433, (410) 926-6780 cell
Helen Jones, hjones49@jhmi.edu, (410) 502-9422
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Unusual suspect: Hopkins scientists find 'second fiddle' protein's role in Type 2 diabetesPublic release date: 11-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ekaterina Pesheva peshev1@jhmi.edu 410-502-9433 Johns Hopkins Medicine
Discovery in mice may help quest to restore function in damaged insulin cells
A team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center has found that a protein long believed to have a minor role in type 2 diabetes is, in fact, a central player in the development of the condition that affects nearly 26 million people in the United States alone and counts as one of the leading causes of heart disease, stroke and kidney, eye and nerve damage.
Working with mice, the scientists discovered that a protein called EPAC2 deemed a second-fiddle player up until now is actually an important regulator of insulin that appears to work by nudging insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas to ramp up production of the sugar-regulating hormone when the body needs it most. Until now, EPAC2 was suspected of playing a merely supporting role as a signaling molecule, but scientists remained uncertain why and how that mattered, if at all.
The results of the federally funded research, described online April 11 in the journal Diabetes, also suggest EPAC2 could provide an important new target for treatment to restore pancreatic cell function, the researchers say. Current diabetes treatments halt disease progression at best and focus on controlling symptoms and averting complications, so therapies that actually reverse the disease are badly needed.
"Drugs that precision-target failing pancreatic cells and restore or boost their function have become the holy grail of diabetes research. We believe that our finding establishes a pathway to do just that," says lead investigator Mehboob Hussain, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and a metabolism expert at the newly formed Johns Hopkins Diabetes Institute.
The researchers say several experimental compounds known to alter EPAC2 are now lined up for testing in diabetic animals, but caution that their findings remain far from human application.
Type 2 diabetes stems from the failure of beta cells members of a family of hormone-secreting pancreatic cells known as islets of Langerhans to keep up with the body's demand for insulin. Insulin regulates blood sugar by transporting glucose from the blood into organs and tissues for fuel or storage. The body normally releases extra insulin when blood sugar levels surge after eating, but repeated or continued overeating and high-fat diets put added demand on the pancreas to churn out more insulin to keep up with constantly high blood sugar levels. The chronically overworked beta cells eventually slow down their insulin output until it ceases altogether. Insulin deficiency causes abnormal buildup of glucose in the blood and the body's inability to deliver it as fuel to organs and tissues. This, the researchers say, is the essence of diabetes.
Working with mice whose pancreatic cells were missing the EPAC2 signaling molecule, the researchers found that lean, healthy mice regulated their blood sugar levels even in the absence of EPAC2. Short-term surges in food consumption did not affect the mice's ability to regulate their blood sugar, but when the mice were put on a high-fat diet for a month, they developed a condition similar to human diabetes. At the same time, a group of overfed, pudgy mice with intact EPAC2 managed to control blood sugar levels without a problem. In other words, EPAC2 remained dormant and played no role in insulin production under normal conditions, but emerged as a critical factor when the fat mice needed more insulin to control their surging blood sugar levels. This finding led the scientists to believe EPAC2 is an important fail-safe mechanism unlocked only during abnormal conditions.
"It is as if during these extreme conditions, the body calls upon EPAC2 as backup to help it balance insulin supply and demand," Hussain says.
The study further reveals that EPAC2 is critical because it acts as a link in a signaling cascade that culminates in the release of insulin by pancreatic cells. Comparing EPAC2-deficient and normal pancreatic cells under a microscope, the investigators found that the EPAC2-deficient cells were unable to regulate calcium, a well-known catalyst that triggers the release of insulin into the blood. EPAC2 functioned as calcium's gatekeeper, the researchers say. In its absence, calcium did not reach the critical mass needed to initiate the release of insulin.
The researchers say it remains unclear whether type 2 diabetes damages EPAC2 directly or whether EPAC2 can coax the cells to crank out extra insulin only for so long and eventually gives up.
Either way, Hussain says, targeting EPAC2 with drugs could ratchet up the beta cells' dwindling insulin production and nip, or even reverse, diabetes at its root.
Type 2 diabetes is the predominant form of the disease, accounting for more than 90 percent of all diabetes diagnoses. It is commonly associated with diet and lifestyle. Previously seen mostly in middle-aged and older adults, type 2 diabetes is now increasingly diagnosed in younger people and children, a phenomenon fueled by growing obesity rates, experts say.
###
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant numbers DK090245, DK090816, DK084949 and DK 079637).
Co-investigators on the study were Woo-Jin Song, Prosenjit Mondal, Yuanyuan Li and Suh Eun Lee, all of Johns Hopkins.
Animal Study Finds Surprising Clues to Obesity-Induced Infertility
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Animal-Study-Finds-Surprising-Clues-to-Obesity-Induced-Infertility.aspx
Old Diabetes Drug Teaches Experts New Tricks
http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/Old__Diabetes_Drug_Teaches_Experts_New_Tricks.aspx
Founded in 1912 as the children's hospital of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Johns Hopkins Children's Center offers one of the most comprehensive pediatric medical programs in the country, with nearly 95,000 patient visits and some 9,000 admissions each year. Hopkins Children's is consistently ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation. Hopkins Children's is Maryland's largest children's hospital and the only state-designated Trauma Service and Burn Unit for pediatric patients. It has recognized Centers of Excellence in dozens of pediatric subspecialties, including allergy, cardiology, cystic fibrosis, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, pulmonary, and transplant. For more information, visit http://www.hopkinschildrens.org.
Media Contacts:
Ekaterina Pesheva, epeshev1@jhmi.edu, (410) 502-9433, (410) 926-6780 cell
Helen Jones, hjones49@jhmi.edu, (410) 502-9422
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Miami U.S. District Judge Robert Scola had choice words for Apple and Samsung during one of the pair's manypatentdisputes, accusing the two of of having "no interest in efficiently and expeditiously resolving this dispute" and instead using such proceedings "as a business strategy." The Florida case began in 2010 and has since swelled to over 180 claims, causing the pair to ask the court to reduce the scope of the case. That caused Judge Scola to rail against the combatants, saying "without a hint of irony, the parties now ask the court to mop up a mess that they made," adding that he would "decline this invitation." Instead, he gave them four months to streamline the case themselves, less it be placed on hold until all the nearly 100 terms in dispute are defined to everyone's satisfaction -- and we know how that's gone so far.
More than 100 people received Federal Reserve policy minutes some 24 hours before their scheduled release. Federal Reserve and federal regulators are looking to see if any stocks or other securities were traded based on the information.?
By Alister Bull,?Reuters / April 10, 2013
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a news conference in Washington last month. On Tuesday, more than 100 people, mostly congressional staffers and trade associations, received market-sensitive minutes of a Fed policy meeting 24 hours before they were scheduled to be released. Fed says the release appears 'entirely accidental.'
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP/File
Enlarge
The Federal Reserve launched an investigation on Wednesday into the U.S. central bank's worst security lapse in years, but said it appeared the early release of market-sensitive minutes of a policy meeting, including to some banks, was accidental.
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Minutes of Fed meetings can shed vital light on the future path of U.S. monetary policy and frequently impact financial markets worldwide. As such, they are normally guarded by elaborate security measures.
"At this time, we do not know whether there was any trading related to inadvertent early distribution of the minutes," a Fed spokesman said. "We will be working with market regulators, the SEC and CFTC, to ensure they have the information they need to evaluate the incident."
Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman John Nester confirmed the SEC had been contacted by the Fed, but declined further comment. A spokesman for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also confirmed that the agency had been informed by the Fed.
The Fed's inspector general is also investigating.
The central bank said it discovered the error around 6:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) on Wednesday. More than 100 people, primarily congressional staffers and employees of trade associations, had received the minutes of its March policy meeting around 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Tuesday - about 24 hours before their scheduled public release.
Among those who received the minutes early were people with email addresses that identified them as working for a number of financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, UBS and JPMorgan, which regularly trade on new information about U.S. monetary policy.
After discovering the breach, the Fed decided it would publish the minutes at 9 a.m. (1300 GMT).
"We discovered the early distribution on our own early this morning and we released the minutes publicly as early as practicable," the Fed spokesman said. "Every indication at this time is that the early release of the minutes was entirely accidental."
The spokesman said the people who got the minutes on Tuesday had been on a list of professional contacts held by an individual at the central bank.
A copy of the email obtained by Reuters showed it was sent by Brian Gross, a member of the Fed's congressional liaison staff. The minutes were sent as an attachment to the email that was labeled as being embargoed for release at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT); the attachment referenced both Wednesday and the date April 10.
Long-time watchers of the central bank could not recall another incident when such a highly sensitive document was released a day early.
"It's certainly an embarrassment for the Fed," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics in New York. "It will make the Fed mind its technology better."
Several other congressional staffers contacted by Reuters said that they had received the email of the minutes on Tuesday, but had not noticed until after the story broke.
SENSITIVE RELEASE
The minutes detail discussions between the 19 members of the policy-setting committee over each of the Fed's regular two-day meetings, held eight times a year, plus Fed staff forecasts for the U.S. economic outlook.
Although they do not name individual officials' policy preferences, the minutes give a pretty clear sense of where the consensus at the Fed lies around key issues, such as if and when it plans to taper monthly Fed bond purchases.
Such insight into possible future Fed actions can move the prices of stocks, bonds and currencies. The release of the minutes three weeks after each policy meeting has become a key trading event in the financial markets calendar.
Indeed, the latest set of minutes, which suggested policymakers were nearing a decision on tapering their bond purchases, pushed prices for U.S. government debt lower and helped lift the dollar to a four-year high against the yen after they were released broadly on Wednesday morning.
The minutes of the previous two meetings had an even bigger impact. Minutes released in late February led to the biggest drop in U.S. stocks in three months, while minutes in January sparked a selloff in the Treasury market that drove benchmark yields to their highest level since May 2012.
Premature disclosures of sensitive U.S. government data is unusual but not unprecedented. Last August, the U.S. Labor Department accidentally posted weekly jobless claims data to its website the afternoon before the report was due to be released.
Lawyers and former federal prosecutors said that any insider trading case based on the early release of the minutes would hinge on whether the recipient of the information specifically knew the details were provided on a confidential basis.
"The major issue is whether the recipients understood that the information that was leaked early was confidential," said Mark Fickes, a partner in BraunHagey & Borden LLP in San Francisco, and a former senior SEC trial counsel. "It would be hard to imagine liability if the early release were totally accidental and the recipient didn't know the release was early."
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks rose sharply on Wall Street Wednesday, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 index to an all-time high.
Technology stocks, which have lagged the broader market this year, surged after network communication company Adtran reported earnings that were double what Wall Street analysts expected. That's helping boost optimism that spending by businesses on technology equipment will increase.
Chipmakers Micron and Intel jumped, as did other network equipment makers like Cisco and JDS Uniphase.
The S&P 500 climbed as high as 1,588 in the afternoon, beating the high of 1,576 it set during the day on Oct. 11, 2007. Technology stocks led the way higher with an increase of 1.8 percent. The group is up just 4.7 percent this year, trailing the S&P's gain of 11.4 percent.
The stock market is reversing course from last week, when investors' confidence took a blow from an unexpectedly poor report on the U.S. job market and other signs that the U.S. economy slowed in March.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 125 points to 14,799 and is on track for its third straight gain and its biggest one-day rise in six weeks. The Dow surged in the first three months of the year and is still up 13.1 percent so far in 2013.
The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, had the biggest percentage gain of the three main indexes Wednesday, rising 51 points, or 1.6 percent, to 3,288. The S&P rose 16 points, or 1 percent, to 1,585.
Bond yields fell as investors moved money out of safe haven U.S. government debt and into riskier assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.80 percent from 1.75 percent late Tuesday.
Chipmaker Intel logged the biggest percentage gain in the 30-member Dow index, rising 62 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $22.36. Cisco Systems rose 55 cents to $21.52 and Microsoft gained 60 cents to $30.21.
Cameron Hinds, regional chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank based in Nebraska, said rising house prices, coupled with a strong stock market, are creating a virtuous circle for consumers and is bolstering investors' confidence.
"We are starting to develop what I would call a positive confidence loop," Hinds said. "Last year we were lacking in confidence."
The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its March policy meeting ahead of schedule Wednesday morning. The minutes indicated that some Fed members wanted to end the bank's stimulus program relatively soon, saying the costs likely outweigh the benefits. The Fed's stimulus program has been one of the key factors driving stocks higher this year.
Investors may welcome signs that the economy is recovering well enough that it may no longer need support from the Fed, said Brian Gendreau, a market strategist at Cetera Financial Group.
"The idea that the Fed thinks that we are closer to the restoration of normality might be positive for the market," said Gendreau.
Hospital management stocks fell heavily after Deutsche Bank lowered its recommendation on the companies because their prices have risen so much that they no longer offer good value. Private hospitals have surged over the past year in anticipation that health care spending will increase following the introduction of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act.
Health Management Associates plunged $2.13, or 17 percent, to $10.47. Tenet Healthcare fell $2.35 to $41.17 and Community Health Systems dropped $1.74 to $42.17.
European markets also rose broadly. Benchmark indexes were up 3 percent in Italy, 3.4 percent in Spain, 2 percent in France and 2.3 percent in Germany. Yields fell on the government bonds of Italy and Spain, which means investors are more confident in the finances of those countries.
LAKE ORION (WWJ) - Police say a 47-year-old woman who was driving recklessly with her 9-year-old son in the vehicle registered a blood alcohol content nearly?five times the legal limit.
?There is a technical legal term called ?super drunk? but that?s for?a blood alcohol level of 0.17.?This case?is?another story; super, super drunk,??said WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton.
The whole situation unfolded around 11:30 a.m. Sunday in Lake Orion, near Perry and Atwater streets. Police say a witness called 911 and reported a reckless driver who had left the roadway, drove over the sidewalk and through a back yard before coming back onto the street. The witness said the driver also almost hit another vehicle head on after crossing over the center line.
Police responded to the area and found the woman?s vehicle in a parking lot near M-24 and Atwater Street. When officers approached the vehicle, they reportedly found the woman slumped over the steering wheel, and her son in the back seat.?Officers allegedly knocked on the window several times before getting a response from the woman, identified as an Orion Township resident.
The woman, who doesn?t have any prior drunk driving?arrests,?was taken to the hospital before being booked in the Oakland County Jail. Police say her blood alcohol content was 0.36 percent, which is four-and-a-half?times the 0.08 legal?limit in Michigan. It took her over 19 hours to sober up, according to police.
The woman was released Monday after posting bail. Police say the child?s father took custody of the boy.
Langton said the woman, whose name was not released,?is now facing child endangerment charges on top of a drunk driving charge.
?Child Protective Services more than likely will investigate this case. She has a lot of legal problems ahead of her,? he said.
Police say the case has been submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor?s Office for review.
Truth be told, not much has been announced on the consumer end at IDF Beijing earlier today, but Intel did tease us with upcoming refreshes of its Xeon E7, E5 and E3 families for the enterprise space. In chronological order we have the Haswell-based E3 with TDP as low as 13W, and it's coming in mid-2013. This is followed by the "Ivy Bridge-EP" E5 in Q3 and then the "Ivy Bridge-EX" E7 series in Q4, the latter of which boasting three times the memory capacity of its predecessor, along with Intel's Run Sure reliability feature. More details in the press release after the break if you're into these flavors of chips.
Also mentioned at the keynote were the now-available Atom S12x9 family for storage systems, as well as a couple of upcoming 22nm 64-bit Atom SoCs codenamed "Avoton" and "Rangeley," both of which are sampling now and are expected to launch in the second half of this year. We've actually already heard of the microserver-friendly Avoton from Facebook's Open Compute Project, whereas Rangeley for network infrastructures was also detailed around the same time; so again, hit up the press release for more details.
LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket chain Asda said on Tuesday very low levels of the horse pain-killing drug phenylbutazone, also known as bute, had been found in horsemeat discovered in tins of corned beef in the first such case in Britain.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the level of the drug, which is banned from entering the human food chain, posed a low risk to human health, as results showed it contained 4 parts per billion.
Asda, the British arm of the U.S. retailing giant Wal-Mart, said the drug had been found in tins of its Smart Price Corned Beef which had tested positive for horsemeat DNA in March and was removed from its selves.
"Although there is a very low health risk, we are recalling this product," it said. The FSA said people who still had the affected corned beef should not eat it but return the tins for a refund.
Bute, a commonly used medicine in horses, can be harmful to humans but only in very high concentrations.
"Animals treated with bute should not enter the food chain as the drug may pose a risk to human health," the FSA said.
"However, even if people have eaten products which contain contaminated horsemeat, the risk of damage to health is very low."
Europe's horsemeat scandal erupted in January, when testing in Ireland revealed that some beef products also contained equine DNA.
In February, the French farm minister said meat from three horse carcasses contaminated with bute had entered the human food chain in France but added there was no public health risk.
The affected carcasses were from horses slaughtered in Britain which had been exported to France.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Michael Roddy)
We were lucky enough to meet with Vernon Kerswell at ExtremeFliers, a 20-something inventor with a passion for little flying things. His latest creation, the Microdrone 2.0, puts a surprisingly powerful brain inside a drone that is about as big as a baseball.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Austin & Ally's" young fans should be singing a happy tune.
Disney Channel announced on Tuesday that it's renewing the musical comedy. Season 3 is slated to premiere in October 2013.
"Austin & Ally" is one of the channel's most popular shows and the No. 1 comedy series for kids 2-11.
Original programming SVP Adam Bonnett teases the new season: "'Austin & Ally' continues to hit high notes with kids and families, and the new season promises excitement for ?Auslly' fans as Austin's music career kicks into full gear and Ally's begins to take flight. This ensemble cast - Ross Lynch, Laura Marano, Raini Rodriguez and Calum Worthy - has incredible comedic chemistry and charm that continues to win audiences over."
The series is executive produced by creators Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert ("Sonny With A Chance," "Jonas") along with EP Rick Nyholm ("I'm in the Band," "George Lopez) with It's A Laugh Productions, Inc.
The web world is the most diverse world and the best feature of web is accessibility, you can access any sort of web content, all you need is internet connection. The internet technology has provided people ease in terms of communication and information sharing; besides this people are running businesses online which is simply great. The most prominent aspect of web world is website, it?s just like having an online identity in the context of real world, and you can say that your website is your online home with a unique address using which people can access your website.
People these days are addictive to the internet as it offers you every single thing online, you can shop online, sell online, communicate and share information across the world. And in all these aspects, website is the most important element, that?s a gateway through which you can represent yourself. That?s why website owners? focus on having flexible and attractive websites. The success of website majorly relies on design and development. Design focus on the looks of you website whereas development indicates the functionality, how it behaves.
These days numerous different technologies are available for website development such as PHP, ASP.net, JQuery, HTML and more, based on these programming languages developers add functionality to the website. The most pioneer programming language is HTML, it was the basic Hyper Text Mark-up Language which was the best at its time but later on new technologies take over the web as they offer more advance development options. But HTML has released the new version 5 which offers plenty of features according to the latest trends. HTML5 offers you support to create document structures, allow you to interact with User-Interface, offer styling for HTML elements, implementation of HTML5 API?s and implement program flow. Furthermore, HTML5 support for web applications it allow you to use CSS3 in applications and integration of numerous apps in order to enhance website functionality.
Web development is a rapidly growing industry but at the same time developers have to keep their knowledge up to date in order to survive because technologies are improving consistently. One way to keep your skills up to date is to earn certifications. There are numerous companies that are offering certifications regarding their technologies so that people can utilize them properly. Microsoft is offering Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 certifications for the developer who are interested in working HTML5. To gain this certification, developers have to pass Microsoft 70-480 HTML5exam.
Microsoft Certified Professionals are great valued in IT industry which is why most IT professionals opt for Microsoft certification. Well, the most important concern is preparation, there are countless books available on HTML5 but to pass 70-480 exam candidates must understand the exam structure. That?s why I always suggest IT professionals to obtain 70-480 training material from certshelp.com. They are offering preparation content based on real exam formats so that people can understand the pattern and nature of questions and prepare accordingly. If you are interested in learning HTML5, I recommend you to earn Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 certifications.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction spending rebounded in February as both public and private outlays increased, bolstering views of faster economic growth in the first quarter.
Construction spending advanced 1.2 percent to an annual rate of $885.1 billion, the Commerce Department said on Monday. Spending had declined 2.1 percent in January.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected construction spending to rise 1 percent in February.
The construction report added to a series of other data that have suggested economic growth accelerated in the first quarter from the fourth quarter's anemic 0.4 percent annual pace.
Despite tighter fiscal policy, data on employment, consumer spending and factory activity have been relatively strong, leaving economists scrambling to raise their forecast.
First-quarter GDP growth estimates currently range as high as a 3.5 percent annual rate.
Construction spending in February was boosted by a 1.3 percent rise in private construction projects. Spending on private residential projects increased 2.2 percent to the highest level since November 2008.
Part of the increase reflected renovations. The housing market is no longer a drag on the economy and residential construction contributed to growth last year for the first time since 2005. It is expected to do so again this year.
Spending on private nonresidential structures rose 0.4 percent after declining 5.9 percent.
Public sector construction spending increased 0.9 percent, rising for a second straight month. Outlays on federal government projects fell 1.1 percent. However, state and local spending, which is far larger than federal projects, rose 1.1 percent. It was the second straight month of gain in state and local government outlays.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)
No iMore show tonight because I just got back from GDC, and it's easter, and we couldn't get it together. So we'll be recording tomorrow sometime. I'll let you know precisely when as soon as we figure out precisely when.
Ghassan Hitto, speaking to reporters after his March 18 election as Syria's interim prime minister.
By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News
He is a ?straight shooter? from Texas who worked as a telecoms executive until November. But Ghassan Hitto now finds himself the presumptive caretaker-leader of Syria as world powers plot the end of Bashar Assad?s crumbling regime.
The American citizen, born in Syria, is the new prime minister of the opposition?s interim government ? the apparatus that the international community hopes will seal the end of Assad?s rule.
Friends describe Hitto, 50, as ?sincere? and ?practical,? but the charismatic technocrat will need all the charm he can muster to unify Syria?s fragmented opposition.
His rapid rise has prompted questions about how the deadly conflict should end and has cast a light on infighting, fueled by regional countries purportedly supporting certain opposition figures.
The Free Syrian Army, one of the key rebel groups fighting Assad?s forces on the ground inside Syria, responded to Hitto?s appointment in Istanbul on March 18 by refusing to recognize his authority.
?The situation there is so dire, I?m afraid for him,? said Mustafa Carroll,?who worked alongside Hitto in Texas as a volunteer at Muslim advocacy groups. ?It?s a big responsibility and it?s very complicated.?
?He?s a straight shooter, very sincere, very well-regarded and a very active community person,? said Carroll, who is director of the Houston chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations.
Seen as Muslim Brotherhood's pick Hitto, a father of four, lived in the U.S. for three decades, most recently on the outskirts of Dallas working as director of operations for telecoms supplier Inovar, where co-worker?Arshad Syed remembers him as "honest" and "personable."
He left Syria in the early 1980s and received an MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University on top of a degree in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University in Indianapolis.
Strongly active in community groups, he was a member of the board of directors at the private Islamic school Bright Horizons Academy, in Garland, Texas, where his wife Suzanne still teaches English.
In November, he made the decision to get involved in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces -- the international grouping that seeks to end Syria?s civil war on the condition that Assad is removed from power.
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A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.
?Like a lot of people living away, he just wanted to help his homeland,? said Carroll.
Hitto?s wife did not return calls, but the academy issued a statement describing him as ?a practical man with great management experience.?
It said: ?He was always open minded and open to debate. He conducted himself with the highest honesty and integrity. His talent for bringing people together for the common good will be missed in our community.?
Hitto, a respected technocrat but an inexperienced politician, won the overwhelming number of votes from those who cast a ballot -- other possible candidates that included a former Syrian regime official -- but some members of the Coalition boycotted the vote in protest at the process.
Not everyone was convinced the opposition needed an interim government, seeing it as yet another organization that could compete for control of a post-Assad Syria.
Official spokesman Walid al-Bunni walked out of the vote in protest and Moaz al-Khatib, president of the Coalition, resigned and had to be persuaded back on board just in time for the Arab Summit in Doha, which began Tuesday.
?Hitto?s whole role has been undermined from the start,? said Christopher Phillips, associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at U.K. think tank, Chatham House.
?He?s very much the Muslim Brotherhood?s man, and is seen as such. There was a lot of pressure to get an interim opposition leader in place ahead of the Doha talks, but the way in which it was done, and the choice of very much the man that Qatar and Turkey wanted, has infuriated and alienated just about every key player in the process.?
Represents 'the some of the some' Salman Shaik, director of the Brookings Center in Doha, said many Syrians "still regard the appointment of Hitto with suspicion." Even if Assad is toppled from power, Hitto is by no means certain of the authority he needs to implement free and fair elections.
?The huge elephant in the room is that there is no guarantee that, if and when the Assad regime falls, that any of the groups fighting in Syria will gather around this official opposition,? said Phillips. ?There are huge uncertainties in all of this.?
Abdulrahman al-Rashed, commentator and general manager of the Al Arabiya news channel, wrote: ?I am confident that Mr. Hitto is a respectable person and that he cares about Syria. But during this difficult time, we want a person who represents everyone and not only some Syrians. Some members of the Syrian coalition decided to choose Hitto but the coalition itself only represents some Syrians. Therefore, Hitto represents the some of the some!?
Yasser Tabarra, the Chicago-based legal adviser to the Coalition, says the interim government will focus on managing the 60 to 70 percent of the country that is liberated and controlled by opposition rebels.
The government would coordinate local management efforts, including establishing law and order, and delivering basic goods and services, Tabarra said.
Two key stumbling blocks remain: whether the Coalition should enter into any form of negotiations with the regime while Assad is still in power, and whether Hitto, an ethnic Kurd viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood's favored candidate, can unite the ideological differences between its liberal and Islamist members.
In his task, Hitto at least has the backing of the U.S.
?This is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country,? said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland after Hitto?s election.
?We?re very hopeful that his election will foster unity and cohesion among the opposition.?
Johannesburg -?South African Airways (SAA) and Jet Airways, India?s premier international airline, have announced a code share agreement that will enable seamless air travel connectivity to several business centres in India and South Africa. Tickets went on sale on 16 April 2013 with travel effective from 18 April 2013.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uW6vT12-N5GcmnZnUEAbcXsrmwo1arbNxsezf5tJrfiM-RDp6_QIKlGGFWTrk-ynwc1yA-vqTVBnoee4wsGIx8jgLRUaDk5RGHeNQfolw=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 11-Apr-2013
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We were lucky enough to meet with Vernon Kerswell at ExtremeFliers, a 20-something inventor with a passion for little flying things. His latest creation, the 
