Democrats spend big in Ore. special election (AP)

PORTLAND, Ore. ? Determined not to lose another friendly district because of a sex scandal, Democrats and their allies have pumped more than $1 million into an Oregon special election race that has turned into a vicious exchange of attacks over the airwaves.

Voters are deciding who should replace former Rep. David Wu, a seven-term Democrat who resigned last year following a string of bizarre news stories that began with photos of the congressman wearing a tiger costume and ended with a young woman's accusation that he made an unwanted sexual advance.

Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballots in the all-mail election.

Republican Rob Cornilles, a sports business consultant, has tried hard to extend the scandal that brought down Wu to the Democrat who wants to take his place, former state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici. She says the race is about the future, not about Wu.

Bonamici and independent groups that support her have gone after Cornilles for missing tax payments for his business and for inconsistent statements about the number of jobs his company has created.

Oregon's 1st Congressional District is the state's economic engine, encompassing downtown Portland and the fast-growing western suburbs that are home to the Silicon Forest high-tech hub and the global headquarters for athletic-wear giants Nike Inc. and Columbia Sportswear Company. It stretches across agricultural communities to the Pacific coast. Democrats have represented the district since 1975, and its voters overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama.

But Democrats do not want to see a repeat of what happened last year in a heavily Democratic New York district, when a Republican won a special election after Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged sending provocative text messages and resigned.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $1.3 million to boost Bonamici. Political committees for a union, abortion-rights groups and a super PAC allied with Democrats have also chipped in with their own mail or television ads.

Democrats insist they're not scared. They've likened their investment to an insurance policy to avoid any doubts about the party's strength that would inevitably follow a loss in a liberal state like Oregon. The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent just $85,000 on the race.

Cornilles, 47, is making his second bid for the seat after losing to Wu in 2010. He's centered his pitch on his experience running a sports-marketing firm, hoping to swing an upset with a relentless focus on jobs and a run toward the center. Unemployment in the Portland area dropped to 7.8 percent in November 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bonamici, 57, is mixing traditional Democratic themes of protecting Social Security and Medicare with a pledge to tackle the national debt by getting Washington's priorities in order.

Without reliable public polling it's anyone's guess how close the race will be.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_el_ho/us_oregon_congressional_election

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Houston First-Party Insurance Claims Lawyer Expects Disputes to ...

Houston First-Party Insurance Claims Lawyer Expects Disputes to Arise After Double Dose of Winter Storms

Houston first-party insurance claims lawyer Brad T. Wyly

Houston (PRWEB) January 27, 2012

Brad T. Wyly, a Houston first-party insurance claims lawyer, said today that many Harris County homeowners will need legal assistance to obtain appropriate settlements for property damage after a second round of winter storms struck the area this week.

?After two rounds of wind damage and flooding, insurance adjusters are likely to either try to settle quickly with a low-ball offer or to delay paying claims with the excuse that they are busy,? said Wyly, founder of the Wyly Law Firm, P.C., which evaluates business / commercial property first-party insurance claims and residential / homeowners claims.

?Insurance companies are never eager to pay damages, regardless of what their policies say they?ll do,? Wyly continued. ?Homeowners and businesses that are unsure about an insurance company?s offer will inevitably come out ahead by having an experienced first-party insurance claims lawyer review their policy, claim and settlement offer before agreeing to or accepting anything.?

The storm that hit the Houston area Wednesday January 25, 2012, included a tornado reported near Manvel about 12:45 p.m., and between one and four inches of rain, according to the Houston Chronicle. Tornado damage in Pearland included a torn-open shopping center roof, downed power lines and snapped trees. Trees and power lines were also reported down in Montgomery, Houston, Washington, Burleson, Grimes and Brazos counties.

On January 9, 2012, a tornado packing 95 mph winds touched down briefly in the Mission Bend community southwest of Houston amid storms that dumped up to four inches of rain in parts of Harris County and nearly seven inches in spots near Sugar Land, the Chronicle said.

?This double dose of strong storms should prove persuasive to those businesses or homeowners who don?t already have comprehensive property insurance that includes coverage for hail, wind, flood, hurricanes, tornados or whatever perils Mother Nature can conjure,? Wyly said.

The veteran lawyer said that area home and business owners can best protect themselves by having a Houston first-party insurance claims attorney review their insurance needs or existing coverage before a natural disaster strikes.

?Despite bad-faith insurance practices and disputes over claim settlements or delays, having the proper amount of comprehensive insurance coverage in place is invaluable when you need it,? Wyly said.

?We?ve seen the tricks of the insurance trade from start to finish,? he continued. ?And we help homeowners and businesses by making sure they have the proper insurance coverage and that, when the need arises, they get proper settlements.?

About Wyly Law Firm, P.C.

The Wyly Law Firm, P.C., is a Houston law firm that represents business and homeowners in disputes with their insurance companies. The firm also represents personal injury victims, including those injured in car, truck, motorcycle, bicycle or pedestrian accidents, throughout Houston and surrounding communities, including Harris County, Baytown, Pasadena, Galveston, Beaumont, Bellaire, Cloverleaf, Spring Valley, Missouri City, Aldine and Jersey City.

Attorney Brad T. Wyly, the firm?s founder, is a skilled negotiator and lawyer. Wyly has extensive experience in personal injury cases, including claims involving complex accidents, catastrophic injuries and wrongful deaths. He has been named a Rising Star in Law & Politics magazine. To contact Wyly Law Firm, P.C., call (713) 574-7034 or use the firm?s online form.

###

?Copyright 1997-

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Tagged as: after, Arise, Claims, Disputes, Dose, Double, Expects, FirstParty, Houston, Insurance, Lawyer, Storms, Winter

Source: http://www.rave-network.com/houston-first-party-insurance-claims-lawyer-expects-disputes-to-arise-after-double-dose-of-winter-storms/

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Quest for the golden cross (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? January has turned out to be strong for stocks with just two trading days to go. If you're afraid to miss the ride, there's still time to jump in. You just might want to wear a neck brace.

The new year lured buyers into growth-related sectors, the ones that were more beaten down last year. The economy is getting better, but not dramatically. Earnings are beating expectations, but at a lower rate than in recent quarters. Nothing too bad is coming out of Europe's debt crisis -- and nothing good, either -- at least not yet.

"No one item is a major positive, but collectively, it's been enough to tilt it towards net buying," said John Schlitz, chief market technician at Instinet in New York.

Still, relatively weak volume and a six-month high hit last week make some doubt that the gains are sustainable.

But then there's the golden cross.

Many market skeptics take notice when this technical indicator, a holy grail of sorts for many technicians, shows up on the horizon.

As early as Monday, the rising 50-day moving average of the S&P 500 could tick above its rising 200-day moving average. This occurrence -- known as a golden cross -- means the medium-term momentum is increasingly bullish. You have a good chance of making money in the next six months if you put it to work in large-cap stocks.

In the last 50 years, according to data compiled by Birinyi Associates, a golden cross on the S&P 500 has augured further gains six months ahead in eight out of 10 times. The average gain has been 6.6 percent.

That means the benchmark is on solid footing to not only hold onto the 14 percent advance over the last nine weeks, but to flirt with 1,400, a level it has not hit since mid-2008.

The gains, as expected, would not be in a straight line. But any weakness could be used by long-term investors as buying opportunities.

"The cross is an intermediate bullish event," Schlitz said. "You have to interpret it as constructive, but I caution people to take a bullish stance, if they have a short-term horizon."

GREECE, U.S. PAYROLLS AND MOMENTUM

Less than halfway into the earnings season and with Greek debt talks over the weekend, payrolls data this week and the S&P 500 near its highest since July, there is plenty of room for something to go wrong. If that happens, the market could easily give back some of its recent advance.

But the benchmark's recent rally and momentum shift allow for a pullback before the technical picture deteriorates.

"We bounced off 1,325, which is resistance. We're testing 1,310, which should be support. We are stuck in that range," said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.

"If over the weekend, Greece comes out with another big nothing, then you will see further weakness (this) week," he said. "A 1 (percent) or 2 percent pullback isn't out of the question or out of line."

On Friday, the S&P 500 (.INX) and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) closed their fourth consecutive week of gains, while the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dipped and capped three weeks of gains. For the day, the Dow dropped 74.17 points, or 0.58 percent, to close at 12,660.46. The S&P 500 fell 2.10 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,316.33. But the Nasdaq gained 11.27 points, or 0.40 percent, to end at 2,816.55.

For the week, the Dow slipped 0.47 percent, while the S&P 500 inched up 0.07 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 1.07 percent.

A DATA-PACKED EARNINGS WEEK

This week is filled with heavy-hitting data on the housing, manufacturing and employment sectors.

Personal income and consumption on Monday will be followed by the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index, consumer confidence and the Chicago PMI -- all on Tuesday.

Wednesday will bring the Institute for Supply Management index on U.S. manufacturing and the first of three key readings on the labor market -- namely, the ADP private-sector employment report. Jobless claims on Thursday will give way on Friday to the U.S. government's non-farm payrolls report. The forecast calls for a net gain of 150,000 jobs in January, according to economists polled by Reuters.

On the earnings front, it will be another hectic week with almost a fifth of the S&P 500 components posting quarterly results. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Amazon (AMZN.O), UPS (UPS.N), Pfizer (PFE.N), Kellogg (K.N) and MasterCard (MA.N) are among the names most likely to grab the headlines.

With almost 200 companies' reports in so far, about 59 percent have beaten earnings expectations -- down from about 70 percent in recent quarters.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/bs_nm/us_usa_stocks_weekahead

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Economic protester tased at park near White House (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Park police used a Taser to subdue an anti-Wall Street protester during an arrest at a park near the White House on Sunday as tension rose ahead of a police order for the demonstrators to stop camping in the parks overnight.

"He was arrested for disorderly conduct. In the course of the arrest he was tased," Park police spokesman David Schlosser said, adding that he had no additional information on the man who was taken into custody.

The National Park Service has said it will begin enforcing a ban on Occupy protesters from camping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, two parks just blocks from the White House where they have been living since October.

That order, if carried out as promised starting at noon on Monday, could be a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement, which denounces economic inequality.

Earlier on Sunday, Park Police posted notices on tents indicating their intent to start enforcing a ban on sleeping in the park overnight, the Washington protest group said.

A spokeswoman for the movement said police singled out, detained and tased a man who goes by the name "Lash" after protesters began removing the notices from tents. The group posted video of the incident on its website.

Sara Shaw, 24, said the group would "maintain a presence in the park," but she did not indicate whether Occupy members intended to defy the camping restrictions.

The so-called "Occupy" protests against economic inequality began last year in New York and have spread across the country. More than 400 people were arrested on Saturday night in Oakland, California during clashes with police. But protests have been peaceful in most cities, including Washington.

(Reporting By JoAnne Allen; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/us_nm/us_occupy_dc_arrest

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Dr. Phil interviews parents of missing KC baby

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? The family of a missing Kansas City baby has taped an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show.

Viewers can tune in Friday to watch the interview with Lisa Irwin's parents and a private investigator who's searching for her.

Lisa was reported missing Oct. 4 when her father, Jeremy Irwin, came home from work around 4 a.m. and couldn't find her. Irwin and Deborah Bradley say they think someone broke into the house and took their daughter.

Deborah Bradley has said police have accused her of being involved in Lisa's disappearance. In tearful statements to the media early on, Bradley has repeatedly insisted she doesn't know what happened to her child.

No suspects have been named, despite an intensive search.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-28-Kansas%20City-Baby%20Missing/id-2ec79b54f38f4530b42d05cd1ccd8a44

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Video: Researchers show how viruses evolve, and in some cases, become deadly

Friday, January 27, 2012

In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations.

The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called "Lambda" evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn't dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, said Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

"We were surprised at first to see Lambda evolve this new function, this ability to attack and enter the cell through a new receptor ? and it happened so fast," Meyer said. "But when we re-ran the evolution experiment, we saw the same thing happen over and over."

Researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, shedding light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. Credit: Michigan State University/Jeremy Polk, National Science Foundation

This paper follows recent news that scientists in the United States and the Netherlands produced a deadly version of bird flu. Even though bird flu is a mere five mutations away from becoming transmissible between humans, it's highly unlikely the virus could naturally obtain all of the beneficial mutations all at once. However, it might evolve sequentially, gaining benefits one-by-one, if conditions are favorable at each step, he added.

Through research conducted at BEACON, MSU's National Science Foundation Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Meyer and his colleagues' ability to duplicate the results implied that adaptation by natural selection, or survival of the fittest, had an important role in the virus' evolution.

When the genomes of the adaptable virus were sequenced, they always had four mutations in common. The viruses that didn't evolve the new way of entering cells had some of the four mutations but never all four together, said Meyer, who holds the Barnett Rosenberg Fellowship in MSU's College of Natural Science.

"In other words, natural selection promoted the virus' evolution because the mutations helped them use both their old and new attacks," Meyer said. "The finding raises questions of whether the five bird flu mutations may also have multiple functions, and could they evolve naturally?"

###

National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov

Thanks to National Science Foundation for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117147/Video__Researchers_show_how_viruses_evolve__and_in_some_cases__become_deadly

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Elisabeth R?hm?s Blog: Out with the Old, In with the New

In her latest blog, R?hm - mom to 3?-year-old Easton August with Ron Anthony - gets a 2012 wake up call when her fianc? suggests her resolution includes chucking the mom clothes!

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/VzfkUfsYDE8/

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As Sears Plans Closings, Cities Fight To Keep Stores

Sears Holdings Corp., the iconic company that sold millions of families their first appliances and christened America's tallest building, finally succumbed to shabby sales late December, announcing that it would close 100 to 120 of its of its Sears and Kmart stores. Many of the 81 store closings announced thus far are in small towns, where Sears is one of only a handful of retailers.

Now, at least four of the places affected -- Jackson, Miss., Cleveland, Tenn., New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and Harper Woods, Mich. -- are fighting the company's decision. Local governments, afraid of the economic impact of the closures, are appealing to Sears Holdings with petitions, rallies and even tax incentives, so far to no avail.

"We would like for a major store to remain in the Jackson area," pleaded Mary Garner on the online petition started by Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. "Please do not desert us." The petition had 3,251 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

Without a replacement store -- unlikely to emerge in this economy -- the departure of a Sears or Kmart means fewer jobs, less tax revenue and another ugly vacancy for already struggling cities. It also means a loss of pride. Even as affluent Americans protest the spread of chains like Walmart and shoppers look online for good deals, big box stores remain important symbols of prosperity for many small towns.

Once America's largest retailer -- and still one of its most ubiquitous, with almost as many store locations as Walmart -- Sears Holdings has struggled in recent years to refresh its staid brand and aging retail stores. After seeing same-store sales decline 5.2 percent in the eight weeks before Christmas (traditionally the most profitable time of the year), the company announced the closures.

"We appreciate the community support and in fact have seen an increase in traffic to these stores since the petitions have started," Tom Aiello, a Sears spokesperson, wrote in an email. "Unfortunately these stores have lost money for several years and Sears Holdings, as a company, cannot continue to support underperforming stores."

RALLIES AND INCENTIVES

Mayors Harvey Johnson Jr. of Jackson, Miss., and Tom Rowland, of Cleveland, Tenn., say that Sears Holdings didn't contact them before making the announcement and that their cities are in the midst of economic development projects that they had hoped would eventually bring more business to struggling stores like Sears'.

"I would hate to see us lose the Sears brand," Rowland said, noting that Cleveland, with a population of 41,285, is also the place where many of the Kenmore ranges -- a brand of ovens exclusive to Sears -- are manufactured. He cited a recently completed luxury apartment complex and a soon-to-open branch of the Whirlpool plant as examples of his city's vibrancy. While Cleveland has other big stores in the area, including branches of Home Depot and Kmart, the loss of one of its oldest department stores would hurt, he said.

Jackson, meanwhile, stands to lose much more: Sears is one of only two remaining anchor stores in the largest mall in Mississippi. City officials are considering offering the company an incentive package to keep it in the Metrocenter Mall, according to Chris Mims, director of communications for the mayor's office.

Jackson, the state's capital, has seen its population drop 5.8 percent since 2000, and the Metrocenter Mall has not fared well either. Since the mall's opening in 1978, it has declined along with the surrounding neighborhood as newer, nicer shopping centers opened in the northern part of the city. In 2010, the mall owners narrowly avoided foreclosure, and today only two of four anchor spaces are filled. That number will dwindle to one if Sears leaves.

Jackson city officials, working to fight the flight of retail from the area, are planning to move 200 to 300 employees from various government offices into one former anchor space in the mall, which they hope will bring new customers to stores like Sears, Mims said.

Any incentive package would most likely be made up of tax abatements, according to Mims. Jackson will lose $129,000 in property taxes annually should the store close. While proposing incentives for private companies is a bold move in a state currently considering cutting its public health budget, Sears is enough of a fixture in Jackson that public support (and petition signatures) are mounting for the plan.

'SEARS HELPED US'

So far, Sears Holdings has yet to respond publicly to the cities' efforts. It's not clear yet whether things will change before Sears Holdings completes the liquidation process for its stores in the next few months.

For cities, giving incentives to retailers doesn't always work out as planned. In 2002, when Kmart (then a separate company) announced store closings en masse, city officials in Buffalo, N.Y., presented the company with a $400,000 incentive package, including six months' worth of free rent, to keep its local store. While the company initially accepted the offer, a few months later it decided to close the Kmart anyway. The building remains vacant to this day, with Buffalo green-lighting plans for an Aldi discount supermarket to take over the space only this past summer.

In New Smyrna Beach, Fla., the petition drive to save Kmart hit a standstill last week when organizers failed to gain the support of the city commission and mayor, even though roughly 6,000 people had signed on. While there is a brand-new Super Walmart a few miles away, unlike Kmart, that store isn't accessible by public transportation. Some worry that those who don't have cars will be out of luck once Kmart is gone. "Poor and elderly people will be especially hurt," said Ellen Weller, 70, the retired nurse who launched the petition.

Dottie, a Kmart employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing her last set of paychecks, is one of those people. "I've worked here for 17 years and now I'm looking for another job," she said. "I'm 72 and I live on my own on a very tight budget. It's very scary."

Whether or not the stores will stay afloat, the news of their closing has generated one strange by-product: nostalgia. Since shoppers learned of the closures, there has been more effusive praise for the iconic glory of Sears than any other time in recent history (and certainly more than was ever generated by the company's own advertising campaigns).

"I would like to see the Sears at Metrocenter in Jackson MS remain open because of the great values on the everyday products that working class people need and want," wrote Anthony Clay on the Jackson petition. Below him, many others pledged earnestly to do all of their shopping at Sears until the store decided to remain open.

"Sears helped us, I believe we can and will help Sears," wrote Jim Watford.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/sears-closes-cities_n_1231326.html

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Surprise! Zawadzki steals show, wins short program (AP)

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? Agnes Zawadzki sure knows how to shake things up.

The U.S. junior champ only two years ago, Zawadzki outskated not one, not two, but three former winners Thursday night to claim the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. One of the few women to skate cleanly, her sultry routine to a blues medley earned her 66.24 points and put her three points ahead of defending champion Alissa Czisny going into the free skate Saturday. Ashley Wagner was third.

Mirai Nagasu, the 2008 U.S. champ, was fifth after botching her opening jump. Rachael Flatt, the 2010 winner, was way down in ninth after a lackluster performance in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd.

"I'm really excited," Zawadzki said, still grinning 15 minutes after she got off the ice. "Everything's finally clicked."

Earlier Thursday, Mary Beth Marley and Rockne Brubaker took a big lead in the pairs competition, winning the short program by more than four points. Marley and Brubaker, who already has two U.S. senior titles with former partner Keauna McLaughlin, scored 65.80 points with their delightfully peppy "Singing in the Rain" program.

Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig, runners-up last year, were second again (61.27), followed by Caydee Denney and John Coughlin (60.88), winners of the last two pairs titles with different partners. The free skate is Saturday.

The U.S. women have been stuck in a rut since Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen hung up their skates. They've gone five years without a medal at the world championships, came up empty at the Vancouver Olympics and will have only two spots at worlds for a fourth year in a row. Czisny, Flatt and Nagasu have all tried ? and failed.

All Zawadzki wants is a chance.

"I'd put her talent up against anybody," coach David Santee said about Zawadzki. "I think it was just a matter of time until it was going to come out."

Zawadzki has medals from the last two junior world championships. But skating stopped being fun last season, and she was so unhappy over the summer that she seriously considered quitting.

"I wasn't really enjoying skating," she said. "But I wanted to try something before I stopped."

A senior in high school, Zawadzki didn't want to leave Colorado Springs, Colo., where she'd spent the last several years training with Tom Zakrajsek. She began working with another coach at the rink, Christy Krall, who also coaches world champion Patrick Chan, and then called Santee, her old coach in her native Chicago, and asked if he'd help train her, too.

"I hung up and thought, `How's this going to work?'" Santee said. "But it's worked out great."

Santee likened the arrangement to "a corporation," with Krall as the chief operating officer in charge of day-to-day training and Santee the chief executive officer. He's traveled to Colorado three times since he resumed working with Zawadzki, and she's come back to Chicago once to work with him.

Though Zawadzki had a rough Grand Prix season, she and her coaches knew she was on the verge of doing something big. Where better than at the U.S. championships?

Her program to a blues medley was so captivating you could almost see the thick fog of smoke hanging over the bar and hear the clink of bottles. She opened with a monstrous triple toe loop-triple toe combination ? one of only a handful of women to even try a triple-triple combo ? that seemed to last for ages yet didn't take a second off her speed. Her triple lutz was explosive, and her double axel done with ease.

The crowd was on its feet before she finished her final spin, and Zawadzki grinned and clapped before she buried her face in her hands.

"Not at all," Santee said when asked if he was surprised by Zawadzki's performance. "Because we know what she's capable of doing. We said all along she came in to win."

If she skates like this again Saturday, the rest of the favorites can't afford to make the errors they did Thursday night.

Czisny had no trouble with her triple lutz-double toe combination or her triple loop. But she botched the double axel, the easiest jump in her program, drawing a gasp from the arena.

"I hesitated just a little bit going into the jump and that usually doesn't work," she said.

But Czisny is one of the most elegant and beautiful skaters around, and her component scores were strong enough to hold her up.

"Considering (the double axel) is worth the least amount of points, it's probably the best one miss if you're going to miss one. Which I'd prefer not to," Czisny said.

Nagasu stumbled out of the landing of her triple loop ? she did manage to do it in time to the music, at least ? and she lost whatever spark she had. Oh, her spins were gorgeous as always, the combination spin centered as perfectly as if she'd used a protractor. But it was like watching a movie in black-and-white instead of in HD.

"I'd say it was disappointing," coach Frank Carroll said. "When the loop was not good, the spark was gone so the program looked flat. When she's in character, it's great."

___

Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_sp_ot/fig_us_championships

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Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich Spar Over Immigration During CNN 2012 GOP Debate In Florida

Earlier this week, Newt Gingrich caught criticism from Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio over an Spanish-language radio ad, in which Mitt Romney was referred to as "anti-immigrant." Said Rubio -- who is neutral in the 2012 race and has endorsed no one as of yet -- "This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It's inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn't belong in this campaign."

Gingrich was asked by CNN's Wolf Blitzer during the GOP debate Thursday night to explain himself. Gingrich replied: "Why did we describe him that way? In the original conversations about deportation, the position I took, which he attacked pretty ferociously was that grandmothers and grandfathers aren't going to be successfully deported. We as a nation are not going ... to grab a grandmother and kick them out. We're not -- I think you have to be realistic in your indignation."

Of course, that's a real hair-split. Romney contends that a process called "self-deportation" will work. As Romney theorizes, if you prevent undocumented workers from obtaining a job, they'll largely leave of their own accord and attempt to re-enter legally. From there, it seems a stretch to suggest that Romney's position was the "anti-immigrant" position relative to Gingrich's, which is essentially the same, save for his preference to leave longstanding undocumented immigrants of advanced age and ties to the community alone, and extending them some residency privileges.

Blitzer correctly sensed the hair-split, and asked for clarification: "I want to make sure I understand. Is he still the most anti-immigrant candidate?"

Gingrich replied, "I think of the four of us, yes."

Romney was given the chance to intercede:

That's simply inexcusable. And Senator Marco Rubio came to my defense and said that ad was inflammatory and inappropriate. I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive.

He went on to say that Gingrich's ad was an example of "over the top rhetoric" and said he was glad Rubio "called [him] out."

Gingrich told Romney that he would give him the opportunity to "self-describe," saying, "You tell me what language you would use to describe somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family, just tell me the language. I'm happy for you to explain the language you would use."

Romney suggested this was beside the point: "I described following the law, which is to say, I'm not going around and rounding people up and deporting them. ... I'm not going to find grandmothers and deport them. those are your words. not my words."

Gingrich essentially continued attempting to hang the "Romney as anti-immigrant" case solely on the basis of their policy differences, where elderly immigrants are concerned. "I just want to allow the grandmother to be here legally with some rights to have residency but not citizenship so that he or she can finish their life with dignity, within the law."

Romney shot back: "You know, our problem is not 11 million grandmothers."

That the two men have a difference in their immigration policy is perfectly clear. What's not clear is why this minor difference required Gingrich to put out an ad that drew Rubio's ire. Gingrich couldn't make the case. Romney wins this round.

But Romney's "11 million grandmothers" line implied that he would let some undocumented immigrants stay put while going after the trouble-makers.

This is a see-no-evil, highly-tailored form of amnesty. And while Romney has and never will call it that, it's worth noting that he's actually practiced it in the past. As The Huffington Post's Andrea Stone reported, as governor, Romney wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging that it not deport a beloved teacher from his state who was in the country illegally.

As Romney told CNN at the time, he appreciated the need to apply the same rules to everybody. "But now and then," he said, "when a group of kids come together and say this is different. Please all you people at the top of the pyramid of the public service world, will you stop and look at this? This is different. It doesn't fit the rule."

Romney wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff -- now an adviser to his presidential campaign -- saying, ''I have heard from scores of Mr. Attouoman's students who are concerned that the loss of their teacher in the middle of this school year will not only impact their education, but also will take from our community a man who has been willing to mentor young men who lack a prominent role model in their lives."

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/mitt-romney-newt-gingrich-immigration-florida-debate_n_1235344.html

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HP's Plan to Open-Source WebOS: What's Taking So Long? (Mashable)

Hewlett-Packard just announced it would fulfill its promise to make the code of its dormant mobile operating system, webOS, open-source ... by September. The company, which effectively stopped the webOS platform in its tracks when it killed the HP TouchPad tablet and Palm line of phones last summer, said in a statement that it would gradually release parts of webOS to the open-source community over the next eight months. Starting this month with Enyo 2.0, the webOS developer tool, HP will make individual elements available bit by bit. (The full schedule is below.)

[More from Mashable: Is the HP Spectre a Real Ultrabook? [VIDEO]]

On webOS Nation, a forum for enthusiasts of the platform, some members complained about the long schedule. Member kill_Dano said, "Seems like a really long time to do this. HP should have hired more people," and another commenter noted HP's September deadline was "a little longer than hoped."

Other forum members raced to defend HP, however, with some even saying the schedule was "pretty aggressive."

[More from Mashable: HP Spectre Might Be a Beautiful UltraBook, According to This Video]

"I would rather them take time and get it right," member gargoylejps said, "than rush something out the door and mess up. Realize, every line of this code has to be reviewed to make sure its not infringing on someone else's intellectual property. If this were released with some Apple, or Google, IP in it, we could see any new device held up for, literally, years as they tie up things in court."

Looking at some comparable projects, the Open Handset Alliance, led by Google, was formed in November 2007, and the first Android phone got FTC approval in August 2008 -- about nine months. And when Symbian, the operating system on most Nokia phones until this year, went open-source, it took a year and a half.

"We feel really good about the timeline," an HP spokesman told Mashable. "We're thrilled to be putting some of the code into the hands of developers today. We feel it's a smart and aggressive schedule. This is par or ahead of par for something of this scale."

After the schedule is complete, HP says it'll continue to be involved in the development of webOS.

"We've got a full development staff on it," HP's spokesman said. "1.0 in September is just the beginning. We're going to be collaborating with the community. But it's tough to speculate. We want webOS to take on a life of its own, and there's no better way to do that than open-sourcing it."

HP acquired webOS when it bought Palm in 2010, and the company attached its entire mobile strategy to the platform. All that changed when CEO Leo Apotheker took over, though, who eventually decided to discontinue the TouchPad last August.

Shortly afterward Apotheker was fired, but the fate of webOS remained up in the air for a while. After rumors about a sale, HP said in December that it would be taking webOS open-source.

Here's HP's full schedule for open-sourcing webOS:

• January: Enyo 2.0 and Enyo source code; Apache License, Version 2.0
• February: Intended project governance model; QT WebKit extensions; JavaScript core; UI Enyo widgets
• March: Linux standard kernel; Graphics extensions EGL; LevelDB; USB extensions
• April: Ares 2.0; Enyo 2.1; Node services
• July: System manager (?Luna?); System manager bus; Core applications; Enyo 2.2
• August: Build release model; Open webOS Beta
• September: Open webOS 1.0

Let us know in the comments what you think of HP's plan.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/linux/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120125/tc_mashable/hps_plan_to_opensource_webos_whats_taking_so_long

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Contest: Win one of five Androidified TPU cases for the Samsung Galaxy Nexuxs

OK, OK. We couldn't wait any longer. We picked up five of these "Androidified" TPU Skin Cases from Cruzerlite -- and these are for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus -- just to give away to you fine, upstanding readers of Android Central. Not a fine, upstanding reader of Android Central? Well, you should be. Just saying.

Anyhoo. What you see here is your basic TPU skin case, meaning it feels like a cross between rubber and plastic and fits snugly around your phone. This one's got some nice ribbing along the edges, to help with grip, and there are cutouts for all of the buttons and ports, as well as the secondary microphone. (That's important.) It fits our GSM Galaxy Nexus just fine, as well as Verizon's LTE version.

And we're giving away five of them. In fact, we're giving away the five you see here. How to enter? Just hit the link below for all the deets. Good luck!

Enter to win an "Androidified" TPU skin case for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/6LiNBQ7N3k0/story01.htm

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Dayton to Vikings: Metrodome site is only option this session (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/190700694?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Wanted activist tells of 'bows and arrows' revolt

Tjahjono Eranius / AFP - Getty Images

Papuan demonstrators wave a banned flag during before police opened fire to break up the protest on Dec. 1, 2011.

By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

Benny Wenda was born in a village of the Lani people in?the Baliem valley, a?remote and beautiful?mountain region of West Papua. It should have been an idyllic childhood.

Instead Wenda says one of his earliest memories is the bombing of his village in 1977; that at the age of five he witnessed his aunts being raped ? "it make me hard cry, you know?"??? and that?later his uncle Kepas was beaten and buried alive.

The culprits, he told msnbc.com, were Indonesia's security forces.

As an adult, Wenda became a leader of the campaign for West Papuan independence. But he then found himself accused of inciting people to attack a police station and an arson attack that resulted in several deaths.

---

While awaiting sentence in 2002, he escaped prison after hearing rumors he was going to be killed and fled Indonesia.

Wenda was granted asylum in Britain and settled down with his family in Oxford, while still continuing to campaign for freedom for his people and setting up his own website.

Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images, file

Benny Wenda protests in London on April 15, 2010.

But late last year, he became aware that Interpol had issued a "red notice" for him at Indonesia's request and that he was listed as a "wanted person" on Interpol's website.

"I think Indonesia is just trying to stop me and my campaign," he told msnbc.com. "Because I'm getting support around the world, that's why they put Interpol on me. I'm telling the truth and I'm standing for my people."

'Justice, freedom and dignity'
Wenda admitted there was an armed resistance movement in West Papua, but said they were freedom fighters, not terrorists.

"They are standing for justice, freedom and dignity," he said.

Wenda said some fighters had guns but "mainly they are fighting with bows and arrows."

"They know where to go, they are hiding on their own lands, hiding in the bush," he said, of their conflict with one of the world's largest militaries.

"We're not scared of those Indonesians, because we are standing for our rights," Wenda said.

In 2004, a 75-page Yale Law School report detailed bombings of the Baliem Valley in 1977,?citing a former?Indonesian official's estimate that?3,000 people had died.

"The Jakarta daily,?Kompas, reported?... (the)?'Baliem River was so full of corpses that for a month and a half ... people could not bring themselves to eat fish'," the report said.

Natural resources
Wenda?said while the U.S.,?U.K. and other countries had previously been mainly interested in the region's natural resources, he sensed "a new generation" of politicians?were changing their views.

In October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced her concern about violence and human rights violations in the region, the Jakarta Globe reported?in an article that said 2011 had been "marked by violence and increased militarization."

Indonesia says West Papua ? officially divided by Indonesia into the regions of Papua and West Papua, names rejected by Wenda?? belongs to them because it was part of the Dutch East Indies colony, which became independent as Indonesia in 1949.

The Dutch retained control over West Papua at that time and in 1961, Indonesia threatened to invade. After discussions at the United Nations, it was decided to let West Papuans make the decision in an "Act of Free Choice" in 1969. Just over 1,000 specially chosen tribal leaders voted.

'A Greek tragedy'
According to an article published by The George Washington University in 2004,?a secret U.S. Embassy telegram in 1969 said the Act was "unfolding like a Greek tragedy, the conclusion preordained."

"Dissident activity is likely to increase but the Indonesian armed forces will be able to contain and, if necessary, suppress it," it added.

Ambassador Frank Galbraith said in another secret 1969 document that "possibly 85 to 90 percent" of the population "are in sympathy with the Free Papua cause." He added that recent Indonesian military operations had resulted in the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians, leading to rumors of "intended genocide."

However, secret briefing papers show that Henry Kissinger told President Richard Nixon not to raise the West Papuan issue on a July 1969 visit to Indonesian capital Jakarta, the GWU article said.

According to Amnesty International, "human rights violations are a daily reality" in modern-day West Papua.

"Freedom of express and association are severely restricted. Since the late 1990s, hundreds of people have been arrested for pro-independence activities, and dozens of peaceful protesters remain in prison," Amnesty says on its website.

"Reports indicate that the security forces use unnecessary force during demonstrations, and torture those who are perceived to be pro-independence supporters ... torture by Indonesian police is also widespread," it adds.

In Nov. 2001,?BBC News quoted an?Indonesian official as?saying Wenda was part of?a "clandestine organization dedicated to secede from Indonesia using any means available to them."

Billy Wibisono, Third Secretary (Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs) at the Indonesian Embassy in London, told the BBC: "Mr. Wenda and several other accomplices participated in an attack of the Abepura Police Station on December 7,?2000 and caused the deaths and destruction of property."

He told the BBC that six police officers and civilians were killed. Wibisono added that the red notice would be withdrawn if Wenda "can prove his innocence in our court of law."

Father of six
Now a U.K. citizen and living with his wife Maria and six children, aged from one-and-a-half to 11, Wenda said he was confident he is safe from the Indonesian authorities.

"I'm not alone, because all the British people are surrounding me. They are really nice people," he said, adding that he has not heard anything from the British authorities about the red notice.

But his children are not so certain.

"They are really scared. My oldest daughter ... she really worries because 'I don't want my daddy in prison again, I don't want my daddy tortured again,'" he said.

"I'm confident one day my people will be free, just like other people. That is my dream: One day my people will be able to get freedom."

Follow msnbc.com's Ian Johnston on Twitter.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10182669-wanted-activist-benny-wenda-tells-of-bows-and-arrows-revolt

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Dissecting Alcatraz's Mysteries: How Many '63s Are Working With Hauser? (omg!)

Alcatraz's second outing didn't offer up as many new mysteries as the series premiere, but the few that were dished out were enough to whet our appetites for more.

Instead, the episode featured Hauser (Sam Neill), Rebecca (Sarah Jones) and Diego (Jorge Garcia) on the hunt for notorious child killer Kit Nelson (Fringe's Michael Eklund), who happens to be one of the missing '63s, a group of prisoners who mysterious disappeared from Alcatraz island in 1963.

Parminder Nagra's reaction to Alcatraz premiere: "Already? You're killing me off?"

Kit's eventual capture did bring up a few new questions, though. Let's take a look at the new mysteries Alcatraz introduced this week:

Why were the Warden (Jonny Coyne) and Deputy Warden (Jason Butler Harner) so intent on tormenting the prisoners?
The men holding the keys to Alcatraz seem to take sick pleasure in messing with the prisoners heads, whether it be the warden trying to get Kit Nelson to confess to killing his brother or putting Ernest Cobb (Joe Egender) in a private cell with a Chatty Cathy, or the deputy locking Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce) up in solitary on visitors' day. Do their motives run deeper than simply putting the hardened criminals in their place?

Did the Warden know something big was coming?
He seemingly knows about the doctors taking blood from the prisoners, but did he realize there was a bigger overall plan? Also, is the Warden now a '63 himself? We learned in the premiere that he had died years ago, but the rest of the prison population's death certificates had eventually been faked, so maybe the same can be said for the Warden's?

Dissecting Alcatraz's Mysteries: Who are the '63s?

How many '63s are working with Hauser?
Lucy, who had formerly been a psychiatrist on the island, eventually teamed with Hauser, but she wasn't the only one. Hauser brought the dead body of Kit Nelson to Dr. Beauregard at the duplicate Alcatraz prison for him to work on. Based on the premiere, in which Hauser threatened Jack Sylvane with a visit from the doc, Beauregard is someone the prisoners fear.

Why did Hauser kill Kit Nelson when he's taken precautions to bring the other '63s back alive?
Was the fact that Kit was a dangerous child killer the reason why he couldn't be kept alive? Or does Hauser believe his body could hold some answers to where the '63s have been?

What happened to Hauser to make him so heartless?
Sure, Hauser showed that he does, in fact, have feelings after Lucy was shot, but he was willing to let a child die just so they could capture Kit. There must be a deeper reason as to why he's closed himself off from feeling anything or trusting anyone.

Who kidnapped Diego Soto when he was 11?
Though he was unable to tell Rebecca what happened, Diego revealed to Kit's kidnapping victim that he, too, had been taken when he was a child, but was able to get away. Is this the reason Diego became so invested in prisoners? Did the police ever catch his captor? Who has money on the kidnapper being a '63 who came back earlier? Just us?

Alcatraz's J.J. Abrams: New Fox drama is on an island, but it's not Lost

Why are the prisoners' motives so obvious?
Angry that his mother abandoned him, but later raised a daughter, sniper Ernest Cobb targeted girls who were around 15 years old, his sister's age, and went on a shooting spree over three days. Kit Nelson kidnapped 11-year-old boys for three days before killing them because that's the age he had murdered his younger brother. Are these just overly obvious motives or should we start keeping track of these numbers??

What burning questions do you have about Alcatraz? And will you be tuning in to find out the answers?

Alcatraz airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_dissecting_alcatrazs_mysteries_many63s_working_hauser_053400114/44281678/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/dissecting-alcatrazs-mysteries-many-63s-working-hauser-053400114.html

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Why Autism Diagnosis Can Change as Children Grow Up (LiveScience.com)

Children with autism tend to also have other disorders, such as a learning disability or depression, which affect them in different ways as they age, a new study finds.

The findings?may explain, in part, why children with autism often see a change in their diagnoses as they grow older, the study suggests.

The study was based on 1,366 children who had taken part in a national health survey who either were currently diagnosed with autism, or had been in the past but no longer had the diagnosis.

"Parents should have their child checked for other conditions to make sure an autism diagnosis is properly determined," said study researcher Li-Ching Lee, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"That way, a more appropriate intervention for the child can be planned as early as possible," Lee said.

The study is published today (Jan. 23) in the journal Pediatrics.

Making a proper diagnosis can often be difficult

Autistic spectrum disorders ? including autism, Asperger's syndrome and other developmental disorders???affect a child's ability to communicate and interact with people.

About 1 in 110 children in the U.S. is currently diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Boys are four times more likely to have autism than girls.

Symptoms of co-existing medical conditions, such as learning disabilities, hearing and speech problems, depression and anxiety, have been shown to overlap with symptoms of autism, often making it difficult for doctors to make a proper diagnosis.

Previous studies have shown that children with autism have higher rates of co-existing conditions than normally developing children, and those with developmental delays who don't have autism.

How long an autism diagnosis lasts seem to vary over time. One study found that more than 10 percent of children diagnosed with autism at age 2 no longer had the disorder at age 9.

"We're not saying that a child who was diagnosed with autism at age 2 won?t have autism later in life," said lead author Heather Close, a researcher at the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"But there are other mechanisms at work that we don't know about that could take place," she said.

More than one diagnosis is likely

The new study included 2007 data from the National Survey of Children's Health. Parents were surveyed about their child's physical and mental health, current and past medical, behavioral and developmental diagnoses and health care needs.

Researchers looked at data for children in three age groups, including young children who were 3 to 5 years old, children who were 6 to 11 years old and teenagers who were 12 to 17 years old.

They found that young children with a current diagnosis of autism were 11 times more likely to have a learning disability, and nine times more likely to have another developmental delay, than young children diagnosed with autism in the past who no longer had a diagnosis.

Of those in the 6- to 11-year old group, children with a current diagnosis of autism were almost four times more likely to have a past speech problem and suffer from anxiety than those who no longer had a diagnosis.

And among teenagers, those with a current diagnosis of autism were almost four times more likely to have speech problems, and 10 times more likely to have epilepsy than those who no longer had a diagnosis.

"This study looks at a broader population of kids," than previous work, said Tristram Smith, a behavior specialist at the University of Rochester, who was not part of the study.

"It shows that developmental delay and seizures are what can increase the likelihood that autism will stay in someone who has a current diagnosis," Smith said.

Smith said he recommends that parents learn to understand that diagnoses can change, or there can be more than one.

"Parents are often looking for that one answer," he said. "Reality is, it's a moving target, and it's complicated. It can be more than one diagnosis at one time, or it can be different diagnoses at different times too."

Pass it on: Certain co-existing conditions could likely lead to a change in autism diagnosis.

This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily on Twitter @MyHealth_MHND. Find us on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120123/sc_livescience/whyautismdiagnosiscanchangeaschildrengrowup

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The Evolving Truth about Fracking for Natural Gas [Updated]

Web Exclusives | Energy & Sustainability

Scientists are speaking out about the risks that fracking may or may not pose to drinking water

By Mark Fischetti ?| January 20, 2012?| 51

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Video: 25 years later, mom cleared of son?s death

>>> it's every person parents worth nightmare. for one north carolina mother, the tragedy was made expo anybody nalley worse. for 25 years she was the only suspect in the case until recently. in a moment, that mother, elizabeth watkins , will join us in an exclusive interview. but first here's nbc 's michelle franzen .

>> reporter: for nearly 25 years elizabeth watkins lived under a cloud of suspicion, the prime suspect in the death of her own sun, nicholas. please say the 6-year-old's body was discovered by a neighbor this this wooded area in north carolina not far from the family's home nguyenston salem. the medical examiner's office conclude it was a homicide by strangulation. now investigators say a new look at the evidence shows the boy's marks on his neck were consistent with a dog attack , finally clearing watt kins's name, but thornts offered no apologies.

>> we did not apologize. our purpose was not to apologize. we have nothing to apologize for.

>> reporter: sheriff william shotman reopened the cold case seven years ago. police hat never made an arrest but considered watkins their only suspect. watkins told authorities she last saw her son leave to walk the pet collie and another dog. they were asked to reexamine the evidence using the latest photo graphic technology.

>> they decided that it was possible that dogs actually grabbed ahold of the boy's clothing so tight that he was strangled.

>> reporter: they concluded the boy's pet was in heat and attacked by other dogs, a case closed. but for watkins , there is little closure. last year she attended a memorial for nicholas, and for years her older son believed she was responsible for his death. her attorney says now thanks to investigators, she has a chance to reunite with him.

>> this sheriff's department did more than say i'm sorry. they went to him to show him all the evidence to explain his mother had no involvement with his brother's death.

>> reporter: for "today," michelle franzen , nbc news, new york.

>> elizabeth watkins and her attorney david freeman are with us this morning. good morning to both of you.

>> good morning.

>> good morning.

>> and, elizabeth , i know you were never formally charged, but as we mentioned you were the only suspect for so long hochl u are you feeling today now that you've been officially cleared. i imagine this moment is still bittersweet though.

>> it certainly is bittersweet, but i am very, very happy to finally be cleared of my son's death.

>> we mentioned the cause add real rift in your family. you recently reunited with your other son who for nearly 25 years thought you were involved in his younger brother 's death. tell us about that reunion.

>> it was the highlight of the day. we had not seen each other in almost 17 years. and all was forgotten in the past, and we're moving from this day forward for a new relationship. it was one of the best days of our lives .

>> and, elizabeth , i understand that you found out this week that you're a grandmother.

>> yes, i am. i have two grandsons, 11 and 4, and i'm very excited about meeting them. we're just so happy to have alex back in our family. it was mostly his side of the family, his biological father's side of the family that estranged from us. my family has been behind me 100% in their support. this is how i've been able to get through this. and my friends. but to have alex back with the family is -- i just can't tell you how happy we are about that.

>> you lost two sons that day.

>> yes, i did. we've never had any more christmases with our oldest son alex . no more birthdays for 25 years. and now i think a christmas won't go by and a birthday won't go by that we won't be together.

>> that is an unbelievable great outcome. david, i understand that over the years police have from time too time followed up on leads and theories, but did you know that the fbi had gotten involved and were coming close to a conclusion?

>> we had no idea. we found out last week, last tuesday when we received a phone call . coincidentally enough i was receiving a phone call from the sheriff's department when elizabeth and her husband were in my office, and i called them back and i said, have her come down in the following weekend. i've been talking to the fbi. we're going to show there's no involvement at all and she's to be exonerated of this horrible ee fence.

>> elizabeth , did you ever think you'd hear of those words, you're exonerated?

>> i've dreamed of it for many, many years because i've always known that was the truth. it just -- i was so happy. we're all so happy that i've been cleared. it makes our lives easier to live and we're just looking forward to moving on and having a wonderful relationship with alex , our oldest son and the two grandchildren.

>> and elizabeth , i know you want people to see this as a story of hopeful and what do you want people at home watching to walk away with?

>> i know there are other parents that are suspected of the murder of their child or the disappearance of their child. i would like to see the investigators look more into what the parents are saying. parents love their children more than anything else, and to have a parent have to go through any length of time of being suspected of wrongful doing in their child's death or disappearance is wrong. i think new things ought to beit in place to prevent this from happening to anyone else . i don't want to have to see anyone else go through 25 years of being a suspect and knowing you're not.

>> well, elizabeth watkins , we're so happy that you were able to reunite with your son alex . we are excited that you're going to be enjoying those grandkids. david freeman , thanks as well for joining us.

>> you're welcome.

>> thank you.

>> thank you.

>> and we're back. but first this is "today" on nbc .

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46081693/

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The Milky Way's Babies

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