Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

U.S. to 'rain mice' on tree snakes





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Man vanishes into bedroom sinkhole






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Rescuers have turned to trying to recover man's body, sheriff's office says

  • The sinkhole opened under a home's bedroom, swallowing a man inside

  • Hole, previously reported as 100 feet across, is about 20 to 30 feet wide, engineer says

  • Monitoring equipment failed to detect any sign of life in the sinkhole




Seffner, Florida (CNN) -- The ground just swallowed him up.


A Florida man fell into a sinkhole that opened suddenly Thursday night beneath the bedroom of his suburban Tampa home, calling out to his brother for help as he fell, the brother said Friday.


"I heard a loud crash, like a car coming through the house," Jeremy Bush told CNN affiliate WFTS. "I heard my brother screaming and I ran back there and tried going inside his room, but my old lady turned the light on and all I seen was this big hole, a real big hole, and all I saw was his mattress."


Bush frantically tried to rescue his brother, Jeff Bush, by standing in the hole and digging at the rubble with a shovel until police arrived and pulled him out, saying the floor was still collapsing.








"I thought I heard him holler for me to help him," the man tearfully told WFTS.


Jeremy Bush and four other people, including a 2-year-old child, escaped from the blue, one-story 1970s-era home in Seffner, Florida, a Tampa suburb.


Sinkholes: Common, costly and sometimes deadly


What began with hopes of rescue turned into a body recovery operation after monitoring equipment failed to detect any signs that Jeff Bush survived the fall into the hole, according the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.


Rescuers still hadn't gone into the hole -- it's too dangerous, Fire Chief Ron Rogers told reporters. Authorities say they worry the hole is still spreading and the house could collapse at any time.


The sinkhole is about 20 feet to 30 feet across and may be 30 feet deep, said Bill Bracken, president of an engineering company assisting emergency workers. The hole was originally reported to be 100 feet across, but that is the diameter of the safety zone surrounding it, Bracken said.


"It started in the bedroom, and it has been expanding outward and it's taking the house with it as it opens up," he said.


Check out images of the sinkhole house


Nearby homes have been evacuated as a precaution, Rogers said.


Damico said about 40 police and firefighters were standing by at the scene Friday morning. Meanwhile, engineers hope to use more sophisticated equipment to get a three-dimensional image of the sinkhole.


Family members were also on hand, waiting out what they feared would be a devastating day.


"I know in my heart he's dead," Jeremy Bush said. "But I just want to be here for him, because I love him. He was my brother, man."


Sinkholes are common in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The state lies on bedrock made of limestone or other carbonate rock that can be eaten away by acidic groundwater, forming voids that collapse when the rock can no longer support the weight of what's above it.


Hillsborough County is part of an area known as "sinkhole alley" that accounts for two-thirds of the sinkhole-related insurance claims in the state, according to a Florida state Senate Insurance and Banking Committee report.


John Zarrella reported from Seffner; Michael Pearson reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Jake Carpenter, Brian Carberry, Elwyn Lopez, Nick Valencia and Tina Burnside also contributed to this report.






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House OKs Senate's Violence Against Women Act





Activist groups rally for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act on Capitol Hill on June 26.





STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: The measure now goes to President Obama to be signed into law

  • House Republicans struggle again with an issue important to women, minorities

  • The House rejects the GOP measure before approving the Senate version

  • The legislation extends and expands the act that supporters credit with saving lives




Washington (CNN) -- Struggling again with an issue important to women and minority groups, House Republicans on Thursday failed to pass their version of a new Violence Against Women Act and then split over a Senate version that won approval with unanimous Democratic support.


The measure now goes to President Barack Obama, who said in a statement that it was "an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear."


"I look forward to signing it into law as soon as it hits my desk," Obama said.


TIME photos: A portrait of domestic violence


Thursday's votes reflected an emerging political reality in the GOP-led House, with a minority of Republicans joining Democrats to pass legislation supported by the public, including increasingly influential demographics such as Hispanic Americans.




By a vote of 166-257, the GOP version of the Violence Against Women Act failed to win a majority after almost 90 minutes of debate. The House then voted 286-138 to pass the Senate version, with 87 Republicans joining all 199 Democrats to provide majority support.


Originally passed in 1994 and reauthorized since, the act provides support for organizations that serve domestic violence victims. Criminal prosecutions of abusers are generally the responsibility of local authorities, but the act stiffened sentences for stalking under federal law.


Supporters credit the act with sharply reducing the number of lives lost to domestic violence over the past two decades.


Last year, the House and Senate were unable to compromise on another extension of the act, with Republicans opposing Democratic attempts to specify inclusion of native Americans, undocumented immigrants and lesbian, transgender and bisexual women.


Opinion: The plague of violence against women


However, exit polling showed Obama won strong support among women and Latino voters in the November election that also strengthened the Democratic majority in the Senate and weakened the Republican majority in the House.


Republicans then changed their stance and agreed to bring up the measure in the new Congress as long as they could offer their own version.


The Republican proposal deleted provisions from the Senate measure giving tribal authorities jurisdiction to prosecute cases on Indian reservations, specifically against discrimination of LGBT victims, and allowing undocumented immigrant survivors of domestic violence to seek legal status.


In debate before Thursday's votes, Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, said the Senate version includes legal precedents of expanded sovereignty that could be subject to court challenge.


Opinion: Rubio missed the year of the woman


"Please consider the damage we have done if a court overturns this act and its protection all because we wanted a good slogan instead of a good law," Cramer said.


House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and others repeatedly questioned why Republicans would seek to weaken a measure that received strong bipartisan support in the Senate.


A majority of Senate Republicans backed the act, along with every woman senator regardless of party, Pelosi noted.


"It's really hard to explain why, what eyes the Republicans are looking through, that they do not see the folly of their ways in the legislation they are proposing," Pelosi said.


Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, herself a rape victim, paraphrased the question of rights activist Sojourner Truth, a 19th century escaped slave and civil rights advocate.


"Ain't they women?" Moore shouted in reference to native American, undocumented immigrant and LGBT women.


In response, Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington challenged Democratic claims that the GOP version excluded any women, saying it was all-inclusive.


A global push to end violence with song and dance


House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia said the goal was to "make sure all women are safe," and he described the Republican version as an attempt to "improve on" what the Senate sent over.


However, Pelosi noted that hundreds of advocacy groups supported the Senate version as the best way forward.


"This is a remarkable day because we have clarity between the two proposals," she said, noting one had support from both parties in the Senate and the president while the other was opposed by "almost everybody who has anything to do with the issue of violence against women."


The final vote on Thursday followed the same pattern as votes on other legislation at the end of the previous Congress, including the agreement to avoid some impacts of the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the year.


A divide between conservative and more moderate Republicans prevented House GOP leaders from being able to pass their proposed legislation.


In the end, public pressure ratcheted up by Obama led to approval of a Democratic-inspired proposal that raised taxes on the nation's top income earners, a key campaign theme in the November election.


It passed with backing from most or all Democrats and dozens of Republicans.


Such a dynamic signals continuing inability of House Speaker John Boehner to marshal his GOP members on some of the most contentious issues coming up, such as deficit reduction and immigration reform.


Boehner risks his standing as a party leader if he continues conceding on measures that become law without majority support from House Republicans, which also would fuel continuing unrest by conservatives who traditionally comprise the GOP base.


Domestic violence bill vote critical test of more inclusive GOP


According to advocacy groups, the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act strengthens protections of particular groups of women at particular risk.


For example, one in three native women will be raped in their lifetime, according to the Indian Law Resource Center. Three in five will be physically assaulted, and native women also are killed at a rate 10 times the national average, the center said.


The National Congress of American Indians addressed the issue in a December 20 letter to Cantor.


It described situations in which beatings and rapes by non-native men were declined for prosecution at a federal level and returned to a tribal court as a misdemeanor.


Federal law currently prohibits tribal courts from imposing a jail sentence of more than a year, so they generally do not prosecute felonies. In many instances, such cases are dismissed altogether and a defendant can walk free until a grand jury indictment can be obtained.


"The federal criminal justice system is simply not equipped to handle local crimes, and this is the primary reason that tribes seek local control over these crimes that are plaguing our communities," the letter said.


On undocumented immigrants, Human Rights Watch has found that immigrant farm workers are especially at risk for domestic abuse and argued provisions in the Senate bill "would go some way toward fixing the problem."


Those in the LGBT community are another high-risk group that will be affected by the Violence Against Women Act.


They experience violence at the same rate as heterosexuals but are less likely to report it. When they do, many are denied services.


About 45% of LGBT victims were turned away when they sought help from a domestic violence shelter and nearly 55% of those who sought protection orders were denied them, according to the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women.


Opinion: GOP House's inaction on VAWA shows bigotry


CNN's Moni Basu contributed to this report.






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More spin than solutions as cuts near






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Cuts will mean release to less costly monitoring of certain immigration detainees

  • Military leaders say readiness will be compromised if the cuts take full effect

  • Republicans seek to blame Obama and Democrats for the situation

  • The two sides remain divided over taxes as part of the solution




Washington (CNN) -- Three days before forced spending cuts portrayed by most as an economic body blow, President Barack Obama and Republican rivals relied on spin versus substance Tuesday in trying to prod a deeply divided Congress into action to avert the harshest impacts.


Government officials and military leaders continued warning of serious consequences if Congress fails to agree on an alternative to the mandatory $85 billion in cuts for the rest of fiscal year 2013, which ends on September 30.


Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday the automatic cuts will slow the already sluggish economy, harming the still-moderate recovery from recession.


Meanwhile, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it will release "several hundred" immigration detainees to "less costly" forms of supervision because of the imminent cuts, known in Washington jargon as sequestration.


Republican leaders have criticized Obama administration warnings as scare tactics, but also said the cuts would be bad policy and should be changed. Only rigid fiscal conservatives have backed the concept of mandatory deep spending cuts as a painful first step of deficit reduction.


Obama headed to military country in Virginia, where local residents will bear the brunt of cuts to defense spending, to urge Newport News shipyard workers to pressure Congress for a solution.


Insisting he wasn't interested in political spin, Obama acknowledged the cuts set to take effect Friday "won't be felt overnight, but it will be real," adding it means lost jobs and weakened national security.


He called the situation "a self-inflicted wound that doesn't have to happen," saying the goal of reducing the federal deficit can be achieved in a smarter way if Republicans will compromise on including additional tax revenue as part of the solution.


"I need you to keep up the fight. If you do, Congress will listen," said Obama, who spoke with a huge ship propeller as a backdrop.


Talk Back: Who do you believe when it comes to forced budget cuts?


Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner expressed continuing frustration over what he called a lack of leadership by Obama and Senate Democrats.


The House passed two bills in the last Congress that would have replaced the mandatory cuts of sequestration with other reductions that avoid harming the military, a concept rejected by Democrats as shifting the impact of deficit reduction to the middle class and needy Americans.


"We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something," Boehner told reporters on Tuesday.


In response, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said bills passed by the previous Congress no longer matter, and that the Constitution requires legislation involving appropriations and revenue to originate in the House.


"There's not much that is being accomplished by what they are doing," Pelosi said of House GOP leaders, calling their refusal to act on the matter "irresponsible" and "mindless."


The forced cuts were written into law in 2011 to be intentionally indiscriminate so that legislators would compromise on an alternative instead of allowing them to take effect.


However, election year politics in 2012 prevented an agreement, and the continuing partisan divide over how to reduce or at least control chronic federal deficits and debt caused the widely opposed spending cuts to become imminent.


Conflicting messages in the increasingly heated debate raised confusion about exactly what will happen if the spending cuts go into effect.


At a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, the heads of the nation's military services warned of serious problems if the full effect of cuts are allowed to happen.


Opinion: If spending is cut, GOP will get the blame


Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said the pending cuts would hollow out the military and were "not in the best interest of our national security."


In particular, he said reduced spending for this year would reduce training, diminish the special operations command and result in layoffs and furloughs of civilian staff that will delay medical care for soldiers and their families.


Rep. Harold Rogers of Kentucky, the GOP chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told the panel that the spending cuts were "both terrible politics and terrible policy" that would impair the nation's overall military readiness.


That contrasted with conservative Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who said Monday that the cuts won't be as harmful as the Obama administration warns.


The veteran senator conceded that he initially agreed with dire predictions from the administration and top Republicans of major harm to the nation's military. After looking into the situation, Cornyn said he now argues that the Pentagon will still see its budget go up despite the forced cuts.


Senate Republicans are considering a proposal this week that could alleviate some impacts of the cuts by giving the president flexibility to decide where they would occur.


The proposal is the GOP counter to a Democratic plan to replace the sequester with more tax revenue collected from millionaires, as well as eliminating agriculture subsidies and reducing defense spending after the end of combat operations in Afghanistan next year.


Top Senate Republican doubts damage from defense cuts


Under the law that created the forced spending cuts, neither the Pentagon or government agencies can shift money to protect some programs or operations from reduced funding.


While Republicans are divided over how much flexibility Obama should get to avoid the worst impacts of the cuts, they appear unified in opposing any increase in tax revenue to partially offset them.


A January agreement that raised tax rates on top income earners while putting off the forced cuts for two months provided all tax revenue Republicans were willing to consider, party leaders say.


"We can either secure these reductions more intelligently or we can do it the president's way with across the board cuts," Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. "But one thing Americans simply will not accept is another tax increase to replace spending reductions we already agreed to."


Obama addressed that viewpoint in his remarks in Virginia, saying there were "too many Republicans in Congress right now who refuse to compromise even an inch when it comes to closing tax loopholes and special interest tax breaks."


"That's what's holding things up right now," the president said. "Keep in mind, nobody's asking them to raise income tax rates. All we're asking is to consider closing tax loopholes and deductions that (Boehner) said he was willing to do just a few months ago."


The full impact of the cuts won't be felt for at least a month, until after a March 27 deadline for Congress to agree on extending funding for the government for the rest of the fiscal year.


An agreement on the overall government funding could soften or eliminate the cuts and much of the hyperbole this week involved posturing for the broader debate of coming weeks.


Where you'll feel forced spending cuts


CNN's Carol Cratty, Dana Bash, Alan Silverleib, Ted Barrett, Kevin Liptak and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.






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Weatherman blacks out on live TV





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Afghanistan links torture, murder to U.S. special forces








By Josh Levs, CNN


updated 2:17 PM EST, Sun February 24, 2013







U.S. toops patrol in Wardak province of Afghanistan in 2010.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • An armed group is torturing and killing innocent people, the Afghan government says

  • The group is "named as" U.S. special forces, Afghanistan says

  • The U.S. military says it is investigating

  • The U.S. rejects the allegations, Afghanistan says




(CNN) -- The Afghan government says a group of armed people who may be U.S. special forces is carrying out acts of torture and murder.


The U.S. military says it is investigating.


NATO's International Security Assistance Force must stop all special force operations out of Wardak province, where such horrors have been taking place, and all U.S. special forces must be gone from the province within two weeks, Afghanistan's National Security Council demanded.


At a meeting of the council, chaired by President Hamid Karzai, "it became clear that armed individuals named as U.S. special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people," Karzai's office said in a statement. It did not indicate who "named" the group a U.S. special force.


Nine people "disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force," the statement said. And in another incident, a student was taken from his home at night, and his "tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge," the statement said.


It added that the United States rejects any suggestion that its special forces carried out any such operation.


Afghan forces must protect people in the province "by effectively stopping and bringing to justice any groups that enter peoples' homes in the name of special force and who engage in annoying, harassing and murdering innocent people," the statement said.


"We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and go to great lengths to determine the facts surrounding them," U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. Until military officials speak with Afghan officials about the issue, "we are not in a position to comment further," the statement added.


"This is an important issue that we intend to fully discuss with our Afghan counterparts."


CNN's Barbara Starr contributed to this report.








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Vatican denies rumors as pope prepares to step down





































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STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Top Vatican official condemns "often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories"

  • Rumors are intended to put pressure on cardinals, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone says

  • Italy's La Reppublica has published allegations involving a shadowy network of gay clergy

  • Pope Benedict XVI is to stand down from office on Thursday




Rome (CNN) -- The Vatican sought Saturday to tamp down rumors involving sex, money and gay priests that have been swirling in the Italian media and have been linked by some to Pope Benedict XVI's decision to resign.


The strongly-worded denial came on the eve of the pope's last Angelus blessing, expected to draw huge crowds of the faithful, before he stands down on Thursday.


Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said it was "deplorable" that as the time for the Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a new pope approaches, a rash of "often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories" has appeared.


Such unfounded stories "cause serious damage to persons and institutions," he said, and are an attempt to influence the cardinals' free will in the election "through public opinion."


Opinion: There's more to the Catholic Church than the pope








Bertone did not address the specific claims that were first published in La Repubblica, the country's largest circulation daily newspaper, on Thursday and Friday.


The newspaper stories center on an investigation last year by three cardinals into a scandal involving leaks from the Vatican.


La Repubblica, citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, alleged that the investigation revealed a series of scandals involving sex, money and power that touch cardinals, priests and lay people that work in the Vatican.


Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi declined to comment on La Repubblica's article in a media briefing on Thursday.


CNN Senior Vatican Analyst John Allen, also a correspondent with the National Catholic Reporter, suggested in a piece written Friday that unsourced speculation about a shadowy "gay lobby" within the Vatican should be taken with a grain of salt.


But, he said, while he doesn't know for sure if the three cardinals did investigate networks based on sexual orientation, "frankly, it would be a little surprising if they hadn't" -- given past scandals that have become public concerning clergy involved in homosexual activities.


The pope may well have been worn down by the "cumulative impact of the various meltdowns over the last eight years," Allen said.


"However," he added, "it's probably a stretch to draw a straight line between all of this and Benedict's resignation. For the most part, one has to take the pope at his word: He's stepping aside because he's old and tired, not because of any particular crisis."


The pontiff will leave office at 8 p.m. on February 28, two-and-a-half weeks after he shocked the Roman Catholic world by announcing his resignation.


The Vatican has said a new pope will be in place for the Church's Easter celebrations on March 31.


Benedict on Saturday concluded a week-long spiritual retreat, held to mark the Lenten period.


Addressing the clergy who had joined him, he thanked them "not only for this week, but for these past eight years that you have carried with me -- with great skill, affection, love and faith -- the weight of the Petrine ministry," referring to the papacy.


Benedict also met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday, an encounter described by the Vatican as "particularly warm and cordial."


Facts about Pope Benedict XVI


The pontiff is considering changing the Vatican constitution to allow a vote for his successor to begin before March 15, Lombardi said Wednesday.


Existing rules say the Roman Catholic Church's cardinals should start voting on a replacement from 15 to 20 days after the papal throne becomes vacant. With Benedict due to depart on February 28, the cardinals' conclave ordinarily would start no sooner than March 15.


But Lombardi has said that because Benedict was leaving the papacy through resignation rather than death, the Vatican would explore the possibility of selecting a new pope sooner than normally prescribed.


The so-called "Vatileaks" scandal last year led to the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, being convicted on charges of leaking private papers from the Vatican in a high-profile trial and sentenced to 18 months in prison.


Although Gabriele was pardoned weeks later by the pope, the whole affair -- which revealed claims of corruption in the church's hierarchy -- was damaging to the Vatican's reputation.


The latest media allegations, despite the strenuous Vatican denials, may add to the pressure for reform.


CNN's Hada Messia and Ben Wedeman reported from Rome, and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London.






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U.S. suing Lance Armstrong


































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STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: U.S. Justice Department will file formal complaint in 60 days

  • NEW: Feds won't allow Armstrong and managers "to walk away" with tens of millions of dollars

  • NEW: "The defendants failed to live up to their agreement," postal official says

  • "We disagree...whether the Postal Service was damaged," Armstrong attorney says




(CNN) -- The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it has joined the whistle-blower lawsuit against cyclist Lance Armstrong that was originally filed by a former teammate.


The Justice Department will file its formal complaint in 60 days.


Armstrong, the onetime legendary and now disgraced cyclist, has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. He was the team's lead rider when the U.S. Postal Service sponsored the team from 1996 to 2004 and Armstrong won six of his seven Tour de France titles, the Justice Department said.


The civil lawsuit alleges that Armstrong and former team managers submitted false claims for government funds to the sponsoring Postal Service by their "regularly employing banned substances and method to enhance their performance" in violation of the sponsorship agreement, the federal announcement said.


"Today's action demonstrates the Department of Justice's steadfast commitment to safeguarding federal funds and making sure that contractors live up to their promises," Stuart F. Delery, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the civil division, said in a statement.


Between 2001 and 2004, the Postal Service paid $31 million in sponsorship fees, but that affiliation has now been "unfairly associated with what has been described as 'the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,' " said Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.


"In today's economic climate, the U.S. Postal Service is simply not in a position to allow Lance Armstrong or any of the other defendants to walk away with the tens of millions of dollars they illegitimately procured," Machen said.


The suit also names as defendants Johan Bruyneel, who had managed the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery racing teams on which Armstrong raced, and Tailwind Sports, which was the team's management entity, the Justice Department said.


The Justice Department is joining the lawsuit's allegations against Bruyneel and Tailwind, but it isn't intervening in the suit's claims against several other defendants, the agency said.


The U.S. Postal Service supported the intervention.


"The defendants agreed to play by the rules and not use performance enhancing drugs," general counsel and executive vice president Mary Anne Gibbons said in a statement. "We now know that the defendants failed to live up to their agreement, and instead knowingly engaged in a pattern of activity that violated the rules of professional cycling and, therefore, violated the terms of their contracts with the Postal Service."


The lawsuit accuses the former management of Armstrong's team of defrauding the federal government of millions of dollars because it knew about the drug use and didn't do anything.


The federal government had been evaluating for weeks whether to intervene in the lawsuit.


An attorney for Armstrong, Robert Luskin, said that ongoing discussions between the federal government and Armstrong's legal team had collapsed.


"Lance and his representatives worked constructively over these last weeks with federal lawyers to resolve this case fairly, but those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged," Luskin said. "The Postal Service's own studies show that the service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship -- benefits totaling more than $100 million."


Former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after failing a drug test, filed the lawsuit in 2010 against the team, which was sponsored the U.S. Postal Service.


As of midday Friday, the whistle-blower suit remained under court seal.


For years, Armstrong had denied drug use and blood doping, but he publicly admitted such use in January, three months after international cycling's governing body stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles.


That stripping came after a damning report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency accused Armstrong and his team of the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program" in cycling history.


CNN's Jason Morris in Dallas contributed to this report.






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Gunfire, crash kill 3 in Vegas








By CNN Staff


updated 1:58 PM EST, Thu February 21, 2013









STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Casino visitor to KLAS: I "could see the fireball" out my window

  • A gunman in an SUV shoots at a car on the Las Vegas strip, causing a multivehicle crash

  • Three were dead following the shooting and crash at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road

  • Police are looking for a black Range Rover Sport with large black rims




(CNN) -- Three people were dead and at least three others injured after a shooting and fiery six-vehicle crash along the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada early Thursday, police said.


The incident began about 4:20 a.m. when someone in an SUV -- stopped at a stoplight on Las Vegas Boulevard near Caesars Palace and a number of other casinos -- fired into a Maserati that also had stopped at the light, Las Vegas police said.


The Maserati moved into the intersection with Flamingo Road and collided with a taxi, starting a chain of crashes that involved four other vehicles, police said.


Fire swept through the taxi, where the driver and a passenger were trapped. The taxi's two occupants and the Maserati's driver died, Las Vegas Police spokesman Jose Hernandez said.


A passenger in the Maserati suffered gunshot wounds and was being treated at a hospital, police said. At least two other people in the other crashed vehicles suffered light to moderate injuries, they said.


John Lamb, who was inside Caesars Palace, told CNN affiliate KLAS he heard the commotion and saw the taxi on fire from a window.


"There was a loud bang, and I hear two other booms. I looked out my window at Caesars Palace ... and could see the fireball," he told KLAS.


Police are looking for the occupants of the SUV, described as a black Range Rover Sport with tinted windows, large black rims and a dealer license plate not from Nevada, said Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan.


Hernandez said he didn't have information on what led to the shooting. The names of the dead and the injured were not immediately released.


Man kills 3, himself in Southern California shooting


CNN's Carol Costello, Jason Hanna and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.








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Jesse Jackson Jr.: 'Guilty, your honor'






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Sandra Jackson pleads guilty to filing false tax returns

  • Jesse Jackson Jr. dabs at his eyes as he admits guilt in court

  • Jackson will have to forfeit $750,000 in misused funds

  • The former congressman acknowledges he has been under psychiatric care




Washington (CNN) -- Dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one federal charge related to years of using campaign funds for personal expenses that included purchases of Michael Jackson memorabilia and a Rolex watch.


"Guilty, your honor," Jackson responded to U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins after looking back at family members in the courtroom, including his father, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.


"I used monies that should have been used for campaign purposes," Jackson acknowledged to the judge. When Wilkins asked if Jackson realized that the guilty plea meant giving up the right to a trial, he responded: "I have no interest in wasting the taxpayers' time or money."




Wilkins set sentencing for June 28.


At a separate hearing later Wednesday, Jackson's wife, former Chicago Alderman Sandra Stevens Jackson, pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns in connection with the misuse of her husband's campaign funds.


She could receive up to three years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine when sentenced on July 1.


Wednesday's hearings completed the fall of the once politically powerful Chicago couple. Jackson won won re-election to Congress last year despite personal problems, including a mood disorder, that caused him to drop out of sight for months during the campaign.


That was also the time that he was under investigation for the campaign fund irregularities that dated back several years.


He resigned a few weeks after the election, while his wife resigned her position as a Chicago alderman in January.


At Jackson's hearing in the morning, he responded to standard legal questions about his soundness of mind by acknowledging his treatment by a psychiatrist.


The treatment was not for alcohol or drug abuse, Jackson said, adding that he had a beer on Tuesday night but "I have never been more clear in my life than I am now."


"I fully understand the consequences of my actions," he said.


Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and false statements.


That charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but Wilkins noted that prosecutors and defense attorneys said sentencing guidelines indicated an appropriate sentence of 46 to 57 months in prison and a fine of between $10,000 and $100,000.


However, Wilkins said he was not bound by sentencing guidelines, telling Jackson: "The bottom line is, I don't know what sentence you're going to get and you don't know what sentence you're going to get."


Jackson's lawyer, Reid Weingarten, told reporters after the hearing that he would mount a strong legal case for a fair sentence, noting his client is the father of two young children and has the health problems mentioned in court.


"It turns out that Jesse has serious health issues," Weingarten said. "... We are going to talk about them extensively with the court and those health issues are directly related to his present predicament. That is not an excuse. That is just a fact. And Jesse has turned a corner there as well."


Neither Jackson nor his wife spoke to reporters when they arrived at the courthouse in Washington on Wednesday morning, or after the hearings concluded in the afternoon.


Last week, prosecutors filed charges against the couple in separate criminal informations, which are used when parties strike plea agreements.


The documents say the former Democratic congressman from Illinois misused about $750,000 in campaign funds from August 2005 through approximately July 2012.


According to court documents, Jackson's campaign credit cards were used for $582,772 in personal expenditures. Jackson's purchases included a gold-plated men's Rolex watch costing more than $43,000 and almost $10,000 in children's furniture.


As part of the plea agreement Jackson, 47, will have to forfeit the $750,000 in improperly used funds and assorted memorabilia that prosecutors said he bought with campaign cash.


The items include two hats belonging to the late singer Michael Jackson costing more than $8,000; a $5,000 football signed by U.S. presidents; and memorabilia involving the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and martial artist Bruce Lee.


Another expenses incurred using the campaign credit card were a five-day stay at Martha's Vineyard Holistic Retreat in 2008 for $5,687.75, and a $4,272.78 charge in 2006 for on-board cruise expenses to Navigator of the Sea, according to court documents.


Jackson issued a statement through his attorneys on Friday that said, in part: "I offer no excuses for my conduct and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made."


Jackson's wife is not mentioned by name in the document outlining misuse of campaign funds.


But there are references to her as "Co-Conspirator 1," a former consultant and later the manager of Jackson's re-election campaign. According to the court documents, "Co-Conspirator 1" bought $5,150 worth of fur capes and parkas and had them shipped from Beverly Hills, California, to Washington.


Jesse Jackson Jr. had served in Congress since 1995. His name came up during the investigation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, linked to allegations that Blagojevich attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he became president.


No charges were filed against Jackson, but the House Ethics Committee decided to look into whether Jackson or an associate offered to raise a large amount of money for Blagojevich in exchange for Jackson getting the Senate seat.


Jackson dropped out of sight last spring and his office later said he was being treated at the Mayo Clinic for a mood disorder, depression and gastrointestinal problems. He was re-elected in November but resigned a few weeks later.


His father recently said his son was "taking his medication and handling his challenges."







Read More..

Pistorius: 'She died in my arms'






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Oscar Pistorius paints a detailed picture of his version of his girlfriend's death

  • "I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he says in the statement

  • "We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier," he said

  • Prosecutors dispute Pistorius' version, say he meant to kill her




Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- It was the middle of the night, Oscar Pistorius says, and he thought an intruder was in the house. Not wearing his prosthetic legs, feeling vulnerable in the pitch dark and too scared to turn on the lights, the track star pulled his 9mm pistol from beneath his bed, moved toward the bathroom and fired into the door.


It was only after he called to girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp -- whom he thought had been in bed beside him after a quiet evening -- that he realized something horrible might have happened, he told Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair in a statement read by his lawyer during his bond hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors dispute the version of events that Pistorius detailed in his statement.


Pistorius says he broke down the locked bathroom door -- at one point in the statement saying he kicked the door in, at another saying he used a cricket bat to break it down -- then scooped up the mortally wounded Steenkamp and carried her downstairs after for help.


"I tried to render the assistance to Reeva that I could, but she died in my arms," he said in the statement. "I am absolutely mortified by the events and the devastating loss of my beloved Reeva."


Pistorius' affidavit in alleged murder of girlfriend









Pistorius' girlfriend dies on Valentine's Day










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'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius



















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While prosecutors and defense lawyers agree Pistorius shot Steenkamp, the track star denied intentionally killing her, in the statement read Tuesday.


Prosecutors say they believe Pistorius put on his prosthetic legs, picked up his gun and walked to the bathroom where Steenkamp, 29, had locked herself -- apparently after a heated argument -- and shot at her four times.


Three of the bullets struck Steenkamp, who died soon after. Her funeral was Tuesday.


Pistorius spent much of the hearing sobbing and heaving at the mention of his girlfriend's name, at one point forcing Nair to stop the proceedings to ask him to compose himself. His family stood nearby, huddling during breaks and appearing to pray. During parts of the hearing, Pistorius' brother placed his hand on the suspect's back.


During Tuesday's hearing, Nair upgraded the charge against Pistorius to premeditated murder, saying he could not rule out the possibility that the track star planned Steenkamp's death. But Nair said he will consider downgrading the charge later.


The allegation of premeditation makes it more difficult for Pistorius' attorneys to argue he should be released on bail pending trial. To win bail, the defense must argue that "exceptional circumstances" exist that would justify Pistorius' release.


The session ended Tuesday afternoon with no decision on bail for Pistorius, 26. Prosecutors said they needed time to study the affidavits read in court before deciding how to proceed.


Opinion: What my son taught me about Pistorius


In the statement read by his lawyer, Pistorius said he would not try to flee or influence any witnesses if he is allowed out on bail, and argued that his release wouldn't be a danger to public order.






The hearing is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.


Follow updates on our live blog


A tragic mistake?


In his statement, Pistorius said Steenkamp came over February 13, opting for a quiet dinner in over a night out with friends. They wrapped up the night with a bit of television in bed for him, some yoga for her. She had brought him a Valentine's Day present to open the next day.






After the couple had gone to bed, he said he got up in the early hours of February 14 to close the balcony door in his bedroom when he heard a sound in the bathroom.


Pistorius said he'd been a victim of violence and burglary in the past, and realized with terror that contractors who worked at the house had left ladders outside.


Fearing someone had entered the home through the open bathroom window, moving in the dark on the stumps of his amputated legs, Pistorius grabbed his pistol from under the bed and yelled at the intruder to get out.


"I fired shots at the toilet door and shouted to Reeva to phone the police. She did not respond and I moved backwards out of the bathroom, keeping my eye on the bathroom entrance," Pistorius said in his statement. "Everything was pitch-dark in the bedroom and I was still too scared to switch on a light."


"When I reached the bed, I realized that Reeva was not in bed. That is when it dawned on me that it could have been Reeva who was in the toilet. I returned to the bathroom calling her name," he said.


He said he threw open the balcony door and screamed for help, put on his prosthetic legs and tried to kick in the door to the separate room inside the bathroom containing the toilet. Then, he said, he picked up a cricket bat, smashing panels out of the door before finding a key and unlocking it.


"Reeva was slumped over but alive," he said.


Pistorius said he called for help and was told to take her to the hospital himself.


He carried her downstairs and tried to help but, but she died.


"I cannot bear to think of the suffering I have caused her and her family, knowing how much she was loved," he said.


But he said he did not mean to kill her, and protested the charges against him.


"I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated murder because I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," Pistorius said in the statement.


"We were deeply in love and couldn't be happier," he said."I loved her and I know she felt the same way."


A premeditated murder?


Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture.


They rejected Pistorius' claim that he mistook her for a burglar, saying it would make no sense for an intruder to hide behind a locked bathroom door.


Instead, they say Pistorius armed himself, attached his prosthetic legs and walked 7 meters (23 feet) to shoot Steenkamp through a bathroom door after a heated argument.


Defense attorney Barry Roux questioned the state's argument, asking how prosecutors would know Pistorius had put on his prosthetic legs and walked to the bathroom before shooting his girlfriend.


Police were alerted to the shooting by neighbors, and residents had "heard things earlier," police spokeswoman Denise Beukes said.


Authorities said there had been "previous incidents" at the home, including "allegations of a domestic nature," but did not provide details.


Detectives are investigating the blood-stained cricket bat found in the home, Johannesburg's City Press newspaper reported. They are trying to determine whether it was used to attack Steenkamp, if she used the bat in self-defense, or if Pistorius used it to try to break down the bathroom door, the newspaper said.


Final farewells for Steenkamp


As the drama in court unfolded, friends and family mourned Steenkamp at a private funeral in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.


"There's a space missing inside all the people she knew that can't be filled again," her brother Adam Steenkamp told reporters outside.


Steenkamp was a law school graduate whose modeling career was on the rise. She landed the cover of FHM magazine and recently appeared on a reality TV show.


On Sunday, South Africans heard Steenkamp's voice one last time after her death, when the national broadcaster aired a pre-recorded episode of the show. The model talked about her exit from "Tropika Island of Treasure," on which local celebrities compete for prize money.


"I'm going to miss you all so much and I love you very, very much," she said, blowing a kiss to the camera.


Case rivets fans


The case of the global sports hero known as the "Blade Runner" has riveted stunned fans around the world.


As he walked into court in a blue shirt and gray suit, frenzied photographers snapped away, prompting the judge to demand they stop.


The scene was a far cry from the packed stadiums that erupted in applause whenever the double-amputee competed against men with legs.


On social media, sentiment appeared to mixed. "Oscar Pistorius is telling us rubbish," one Twitter user posted.


But others were more supportive after hearing Pistorius' story. "I for some reason believe Pistorius after reading his affidavit!!," another person tweeted.


Robyn Curnow reported from South Africa; Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Nkepile Mabuse also contributed to this report.






Read More..

Pistorius' girlfriend was alive after shooting, official says






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • NEW: Detectives are examining role of a blood-stained cricket bat, newspaper reports

  • Runner Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murder in model Reeva Steenkamp's death

  • Steenkamp was still alive when Pistorius carried her downstairs, an official says




Pretoria, South Africa (CNN) -- Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times through the bathroom door at the home of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African official familiar with the case told CNN on Monday.


She was alive after she was shot and was carried downstairs by Pistorius, said the official, who was not authorized to release details to the media.


A blood-stained cricket bat has also emerged as key evidence in the case, according to the City Press newspaper of Johannesburg.


Detectives are working to determine whether the bat was used to attack Steenkamp or she used it in self-defense, the newspaper reported, citing a source with inside knowledge of the case. Detectives are also looking into the possibility that Pistorius used the bat to break down the bathroom door.










The details are the latest to emerge in the shooting death that has roiled the nation and left South Africans asking what went so terribly wrong inside the upscale Pretoria home of the man nicknamed "Blade Runner" for his lightning-fast prosthetic legs.


The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were indications the 29-year-old model intended to stay the night at the house: She had an overnight bag and her iPad.


Opinion: Pistorius case and the plague of violence against women


Authorities have released little about a possible motive in the Valentine's Day shooting, while local media have reported that Pistorius had mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder. South African authorities have stressed that the scenario did not come from them, and said there was no evidence of forced entry at the home.


Police have charged Pistorius with murder, and he will appear in court Tuesday for a bail hearing. South African prosecutors have said they intend to upgrade the charge to premeditated murder, but have not released further details.


Pistorius, 26, has rejected the murder allegation "in the strongest terms," his agent said in a statement.


Nike's bullet ad with Pistorius backfires


Burial service


The same day Pistorius returns to court, Steenkamp will be buried in a private service in her hometown of Port Elizabeth.


Her burial Tuesday will come two days after South Africa's national broadcaster aired a pre-recorded reality TV show featuring Steenkamp discussing her exit from "Tropika Island of Treasure," on which local celebrities compete for prize money.


The decision to air the program took "much deliberation," and "this week's episode will be dedicated to Reeva's memory," said Samantha Moon, the executive producer.


The shooting has stunned South Africa, where Pistorius is a national hero as the first disabled athlete to compete in the able-bodied Olympic Games. He competed in the London Games as well as winning two gold medals in the Paralympic Games.


Headlines about the case have dominated in the days since Pistorius was arrested, though tight-lipped authorities have revealed little about what, if anything, the track star has said.




Oscar Pistorius with Reeva Steenkamp in January 2013.



Questions swirl


Reports say Pistorius and Steenkamp became an item around November and were popular in South African social circles.


The night before the shooting, Steenkamp appeared to be looking forward to Valentine's Day.


"What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" she asked her Twitter followers the day before. "Get excited."


Steenkamp was found in a pool of blood at Pistorius' home Thursday morning. Neighbors alerted authorities to the early morning shooting, saying they had "heard things earlier," police spokeswoman Denise Beukes has said. She did not clarify what the neighbors reported they heard.


Authorities also have not said whether Pistorius called for help.


Pictures of his walk to a police car, his head covered by a sweatshirt, have flashed repeatedly across television screens.


On Sunday, Pistorius canceled his appearances in five upcoming races.


The move is meant to help Pistorius focus on the legal proceedings and "help and support all those involved as they try to come to terms with this very difficult and distressing situation," said Peet Van Zyl of Pistorius' management company, In Site Athlete Management.


CNN's Robyn Curnow reported from South Africa; Chelsea J. Carter and Faith Karimi reported from Atlanta.






Read More..

Panic, then composure as Bounty sank










Sinking of the HMS Bounty


Capt. Robin Walbridge


Claudene Christian








STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Third mate: Crew remained calm after Sandy tossed them into the Atlantic

  • Coast Guard hearings look for possible negligence

  • Before leaving port, captain gave crew option to go home

  • Shipyard representative says Bounty had rotted frame




Portsmouth, Virginia (CNN) -- Floating in a life raft with Hurricane Sandy raging around them, the crew of the HMS Bounty remained surprisingly calm and even told jokes after their ship rolled them into the Atlantic, survivors said.


Testifying Friday before a Coast Guard hearing, former Bounty third mate Daniel Cleveland and boatswain Laura Groves revealed breathtaking details about the shipwreck last fall that left a deckhand dead and the captain missing.


The vessel and its crew of 16 were heading from New London, Connecticut, to St. Petersburg, Florida, when it ran into Sandy's vicious winds and waves 90 miles off North Carolina. The ship began taking on water and eventually it lost power to its pumps and engines. In the 4 a.m. darkness of October 25, Capt. Robin Walbridge gave the order they all knew was coming: abandon ship.


Dressed in red survival suits, they stood on deck preparing to take to their lifeboats. Suddenly 50-mph winds and up to 30-foot waves flipped the ship horizontally, tossing the crew overboard.


It was chaos.


"Everybody panicked at that point," said Groves, fighting back tears as she described the struggle to keep their heads above water.






Cleveland said he recalled being "thrown around, caught on stuff and underneath stuff and being hit by things." While they were treading water under the Bounty's huge sails, the wind began slamming the sail rigging down "on all of us repeatedly," said Groves. "We were doing our best to swim away from the boat and the rig."


Cleveland, Groves and a few other crew members found a large piece of wood grating that kept them afloat. "We were all looking for each other," Cleveland said, "but all you could see was a bunch of red suits and there was a lot of yelling."


In a stroke of luck, the crew clinging to the wood grating found a floating capsule containing an inflatable life raft. With some difficulty they inflated the raft and got inside. They had seen a Coast Guard aircraft circling overhead, giving them confidence a rescue helicopter would arrive soon.


"We were there for a while telling jokes and stuff," said Cleveland. "No one was in a bad mood -- crying or anything." He said they talked about the terrifying experience they'd just been through and "what we were going to do when we got home."


"At some point we sang a few sea shanties," recalled Groves. "We were in relatively good spirits."


Dawn broke, followed by the the sound of a Coast Guard chopper, which dropped a rescue swimmer down to the life raft.



He said, 'Hi, I'm Dan. I heard you guys need a ride. Let's get out of here.'
Laura Groves, shipwreck survivor



"He said, 'Hi, I'm Dan,'" Groves remembered. "'I heard you guys need a ride. Let's get out of here.'"


While the swimmer was helping survivors get out of the life raft, it flipped upside down. "We all thought we were going to drown again," remembered Groves. Instead, they swam out of the raft and held on to the outside until the chopper hoisted them to safety.

Related: Watch Bounty survivors being rescued


Meanwhile the Bounty -- a replica of an 18th-century sailing ship that was longer than half a football field and weighed about a million pounds -- was descending to the bottom of the Atlantic.


During his testimony, Cleveland was asked about the last time he saw deckhand Claudene Christian, 42. More than three months after the shipwreck, the exact circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear. Before the ship rolled, Cleveland said he remembered holding Christian's hand as he helped her and other crew members prepare to launch the life rafts. Searchers found Christian's body later that evening.


Related: Claudene Christian's mutineer connection


The final glimpse Cleveland got of Walbridge, 63, was just before the ship went on its side.


Walbridge's body has not been found. His widow said she believes the captain died trying to help Christian escape.


Related: Bounty's captain was 'my soul mate'









Bounty's captain: 'My soul mate'








HIDE CAPTION









Bounty was much more than a creaky 50-year-old wooden tourist attraction. It was a bona fide Hollywood star, featured in the 1962 film version of "Mutiny on the Bounty," which starred Marlon Brando, and more recently in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise that starred Johnny Depp. But it also was a ship where inexperienced sailors could learn seafaring skills that go back hundreds of years.


The hearings, which include the National Transportation Safety Board, could lead to federal recommendations aimed at improving safety for other ships like the Bounty.


Investigators in this military shipyard region near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay have been asking two basic questions: Was the Bounty fit to sail in rough weather? And did the ship needlessly sail into harm's way?


About two months before the disaster, Walbridge, a master sailor with a lifetime of experience at sea, played down the seriousness of sailing through bad weather. "Have we run into stormy seas? We chase hurricanes," Walbridge said in a video interview posted on YouTube. "You don't want to get in front of it," he said. "You want to stay behind it, but you also get a good ride out of a hurricane."


Asked about that comment by Walbridge, Cleveland testified that the captain didn't mean literally chasing hurricanes. "It means we are trying to follow them into a navigable, safer" area of the storm, he said. The idea was "getting behind it, in a safe place" to make use of its favorable winds. "You don't want to be in its path."


Before the ship set sail from New London, the crew was very aware of the approaching hurricane, Cleveland said. Walbridge gathered them for a meeting in which he "mentioned his experience with hurricanes and he said if anybody wanted to leave there would be no hard feelings, no begrudging."


"I believed him," said Cleveland, who was then asked if the crew were offered paid expenses home. "In my experience, if you choose to leave, you would have to find your own way home."


"Nobody decided to leave," Cleveland said.


Walbridge said he wanted to "make tracks" to the south and east as fast as possible, Cleveland said, so the vessel could position itself to get the best winds from Sandy.


The captain believed, Cleveland said, that his ship would be safer riding Sandy out at sea, instead of waiting for the storm to hit them in New London. Cleveland said he agreed with that point of view, but there were also good arguments to remain in port.


Bounty first mate John Svendsen testified Tuesday that Walbridge wasn't chasing Sandy, but the captain had said "the ship was safer at sea."


Svendsen testified that as the storm worsened on October 29, he advised Walbridge to abandon ship more than once over a short period. "He said, 'I think we have more time.'" When Svendsen made a third request to the captain to abandon ship, he said Walbridge finally gave the order.


While the 13 other crew members, including Groves and Cleveland, made it safely to two life rafts, Svendsen spent three hours floating alone in his survival suit before Coast Guard rescuers saw his emergency beacon.


The Coast Guard said its goal for the investigation is to determine as much as possible about the cause of the tragedy and whether it was linked to equipment or material failure. Investigators are looking for evidence of "misconduct, inattention to duty, negligence or willful violation of the law."


Did Walbridge make a fatal error? People who weren't there have no right to pass judgment, the captain's widow, Claudia McCann, said last week from her home in St. Petersburg.


Although it's not a criminal hearing, Bounty owner Robert Hansen declined to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment constitutional protections against self-incrimination. Evidence could be forwarded to federal prosecutors.


In Thursday's testimony, Todd Kosakowski of Maine's Boothbay Harbor Shipyard said he raised doubts about Bounty's seaworthiness weeks before it sailed into the storm. He said he told Walbridge he was worried about rotting wood in the Bounty's frame. Walbridge, Kosakowski said, decided against fixing the rot.


"I believe that that could have had an impact on the strength of the vessel," Kosakowski said.


Joe Jakomovicz, a retired manager who worked at the shipyard for four decades, told investigators he disagreed with Kosakowski's analysis. The decay of the Bounty's timbers, he said, wasn't as bad as Kosakowski's assessment. "He's basing his judgment on probably five or six years of experience," Jakomovicz testified.


Claudene Christian's father, Rex, and her mother -- who shares her daughter's first name but goes by Dina -- were also at the hearing. For now, they've declined to speak with reporters.


Their daughter was relatively new to sailing, and told friends in May how excited she was to join the Bounty. A former beauty queen, Christian also said she was a descendant of Fletcher Christian, the infamous mutineer on the real HMS Bounty 220 years ago.


On Friday, her mother sat silently at the side of the hearing room, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief and sometimes taking notes.


The memory of Claudene Christian took a seat at the proceding almost as real as any of the participants.


Several questions focused on the energetic deckhand who had virtually no experience aboard a tall ship, let alone riding out hurricanes. When Cleveland helped her move toward the back of the ship, shortly before it went horizontal, he "told her to stay low. I told her to go aft and to grab the next person I would hand her to."


She never made it home.


During a brief recess, Christian's parents paused at a window near the hearing room in this shipyard town, their arms around each other, looking across the Elizabeth River flowing toward the sea.


CNN's John Couwels contributed to this report.






Read More..

Internet rules: More cats. LESS CAPS




















Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet


Our 12 Rules of the Internet





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  • Yes, there ARE some rules to the Internet, though, for now they're mainly an inside joke

  • Some rules based on pop culture, some have become Web memes

  • Other rules ominously quote Anonymous

  • Is there a need for rules on the vast and wild Web? Depends on where you stand




Editor's note: In the gallery above, we've selected a handful of our favorite Internet rules, or truths. (You might recognize a few.) What are some of yours? Tell us in the comments. We'll feature some of the best on CNN.


(CNN) -- Hello!


Welcome to the Internet. It's a big place, so let me show you around.


You're approaching Oversharing Pass, where residents routinely post too much information. The Facebook Gorge and Twitter Triangle are particularly nefarious time-sucks. Restraint is advised.


Up ahead is Hyperbole Junction, which is the Worst. Spot. Ever. We recommend that you maintain an even keel and stay to the center; the extreme left and right can be dangerous.


And over there is the infamous Lair of Sociopaths, the home of trolls and loners who mercilessly mock everyone who enters their territory. Watch your step: They may trip you up and you'll fall into the Chasm of Lulz.


Our world isn't all dangerous, of course. You may visit Squee City, where images of cute cats and laughing babies fill the landscape. You'll also meet countless kind strangers, hilarious raconteurs and hard-working fact-checkers. They make it all worthwhile.


Hmm. Maybe it would be easier if you had a guide -- you know, some rules to help you find your way.


What, you didn't know there are rules of the Internet?


Of course there are rules. How do you think we maintain order around here?


A parody of rules


That's a joke.


But there really are some rules of the Internet -- even if they, too, began as kind of a joke.


According to the site KnowYourMeme.com, the Rules began around 2006 as a guide for the Internet collective Anonymous and emerged on the old Encyclopedia Dramatica, a bawdy meme catalog. Soon a version emerged on 4chan, an online bulletin board where most users post anonymously, says Jamie Cohen, director of web/digital media at Hofstra University's School of Communication.


"Chris Poole (4chan's founder) kind of designed it, kind of like a Netiquette rules," he says, describing the unspoken code of conduct that lubricates Internet discourse. (Poole has attributed the rules to Gaia Online, a role-playing community.)


But the rules of the Internet deliberately mocked many of those conventions. The self-reflexive parody fit perfectly with its community's attitude, points out Anthony Rotolo, a professor at Syracuse University's School of Information Studies.


"These jokes are meant to comment on something happening in the world," he says. "Later they get accepted as truisms or become a meme."


The absurdity has been reflected even in the supposed number of rules. Though the best-known first version claimed there were 50 rules, only 18 were listed. Number 1 was initially "Do not talk about Rules 2-33"; no Rules 2-33 were on the list.


The sarcastic attitude was reinforced by the kicker found on Encyclopedia Dramatica. It was a parody of Wikipedia's stub language: "This article is crap. You can help by completely re-writing it."


'Fight Club' and Monty Python


Very quickly, the lists started multiplying and expanding, liberally borrowing from comedy, Web culture and math-science tropes. On one list, a few were designated by complex numbers and mathematical symbols. Some were observations; others were directives.




Some have traced the Internet rules to Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan.



Two rules were taken from "Fight Club": "You do not talk about 4chan (or "/b/," 4chan's random, free-wheeling bulletin board) and "You DO NOT talk about 4chan." One version of Rule 6 stated "There is no Rule 6," which is from a Monty Python sketch. Rule 42, "Always bring a towel," was drawn from Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. (If you have to ask, read the books.) "Profit," Rule 49, came from "South Park."


Other rules went the reverse direction and became part of mainstream culture. Rule 34 -- "If it exists, there is porn of it" -- is likely the most famous. But there's also "Pics or it didn't happen" (Rule 30), "For every given male character, there is a female version of that character; conversely for every given female character, there is a male version of that character" (Rule 63) and, of course, the corollary to Rule 34 -- "If no porn of it exists at the moment, it will be made" (Rule 35).


Most retained a sense of humor, riffing off established rules and occasionally ending with a giggly "No exceptions."


But a handful were, and remain, as serious as a judge -- notably the three directly about Anonymous (commonly Rules 3-5):


- We are Anonymous.


- We are legion.


- We do not forgive, we do not forget.


The overall Internet rules may have started as a joke, but such ominous language from Anonymous speaks to some of the paradoxes of the Web:


Rules? Why do we need some stinkin' rules?


After all, rules can be helpful -- or divisive. They can create community -- or subvert it.


Even Anonymous, the activist group itself, cuts both ways, says Rotolo. When it hacked the extremist Westboro Baptist Church, many people cheered. But when it goes after less unpopular targets, some cry vigilantism.


Cohen says that the rules themselves try to have it both ways. They're funny until someone gets hurt.


They "play more of a game type of role. They can be bent or broken or cheated or moved around, as you would in any game that has no physical reaction," he says. "That doesn't take into account ever the result of real people being affected by this -- such as teenagers, children, anybody who's seeing things that they shouldn't."


He adds, "There's a lot of rules in there that work for (the creators) more than anyone else. Until they become victims of their own thing, they don't know how powerful the rules are."


Evolving from the Wild West


Of course, the Internet isn't that old, and we're still in its Wild West era in many ways. As the technology evolves from a handful of hackers on Usenet bulletin boards to billions of users on officially sponsored sites, the customs -- the rules -- of the Web will evolve with it.


But we're not talking about the kinds of changes that your family makes to the rules of Monopoly (no, Free Parking is NOT for the pool of money acquired via Chance and Community Chest). We're talking something more expansive: All the established customs of our carbon-based life forms, making way for the instantaneous and virtual modes of silicon-based electronics.


Who knows what new rules may be written?


"When you're in the midst of social change, it's impossible to determine where it's going," says Peter S. Vogel, a former programmer who's now a Dallas-based attorney. "And I think we are in the greatest social change in the history of humans, because there are no boundaries of geography or time."


We haven't even sorted out what happens when the differences in local culture meet global technology. Bruce Umbaugh, a philosophy professor at Webster University in St. Louis who teaches a course on philosophy and technology, argues that not all parts of the world are as tolerant or open-minded as Western democracies.



There's a lot of rules in there that work for (the creators) more than anyone else.
Jamie Cohen, Hofstra University



"There are a lot of other places in the world that are actively using the technology of the Internet to control the free communication among citizens, and to identify critics of the government and hurt them," he says. "We need to be mindful in what we advocate from our perspective that the tools that are implemented on the Net are tools for the global Net."


In other words, citizens of other countries already face actual, enforceable rules -- unlike the folkways established by Web users in the West. Witness the frictions of the Arab Spring, or the restrictions of societies such as North Korea.


It's the kind of perspective that provides a different context for the issues raised by a libertarian, anything-goes Internet. It's hard enough to stop "Star Wars" comment boards from devolving into flamebaiting, meme-generating files of NSFW Yodas.


So for now, we're still making our way through the Series of Tubes, and nobody knows where the boundaries lie. We joke, we grimace and we marvel at the creativity of the hive mind. The Internet is a big place, and countless cultures have set up residence. Eventually, what is now humor may lose its zing; what are now customs may become laws.


Will the rules ever become The Rules? Maybe some future generation will figure out the true guideposts of Internet life, and the singularity will be upon us.


Nah. It'll never happen.


What did we miss? Share your rules for the internet below in the comments. We'll feature some of the best on CNN.







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