New Jersey Special Election Date Approved By Court

Then-Vice President George Bush (right) points to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (left), after Bush administered the oath of office for the U.S. Senate to Lautenberg in the old Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 4, 1983. This swearing-in was a re-enactment of the actual ceremony that took place on the floor of the Senate earlier in the day. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2012 file photo, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) smiles after the final votes before the Senate leaves for a five-week recess on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lautenberg was honored Wednesday, May 29, 2013 for his contributions to the Jewish community and Israel. The New Jersey Democrat was feted at New York?s Pierre Hotel at the annual gala for Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus life. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 19: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) looks at a newly installed temporary memorial of pictures of all the troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan set-up by his office in the Hart Senate building. (Photo By Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Getty Images)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), 89, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, shares a laugh with wife Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, in Paterson, N.J., as he is introduced to a gathering where he announced plans to retire at the end of his current term. Lautenberg confirmed he would step down when his term ends in 2015 rather than seek re-election at age 90. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is greeted by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012, prior to testifying before the Senate State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee hearing on the State Department's fiscal 2013 budget. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, tells a gathering Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, in his hometown of Paterson, N.J., that he plans to retire at the end of his current term. The 89-year-old says he'll fight for gun control, against global warming and press to ensure working families are not left behind. His decision eliminates a probable primary battle with Cory Booker, the charismatic mayor or Newark, and possibly others including Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone, who is also mulling a run. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013, file photo, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) speaks to reporters after the Senate passed a $50.5 billion emergency relief measure for Superstorm Sandy victims at the Capitol in Washington. Lautenberg announced on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, he will not seek re-election. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Senate Homeland Security subcommittee member Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) left, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, during the subcommittee's hearing to examine Superstorm Sandy, focusing on response and recovery and progress and challenges. Subcommittee Chair Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. is at right. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), 89, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, listens Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, in Paterson, N.J., as he is introduced to a gathering where he announced plans to retire at the end of his current term, eliminating the possibility of a standoff with a would-be successor in a re-election battle next year and setting up a contest to fill his seat two years from now. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) walks to the Senate floor from a Democratic caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Lautenberg, 89, has decided not to seek re-election on order to clear the way for Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker to assume the spot. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT SPELLING FROM LATENBERG TO LAUTENBERG - FILE - In this Friday, June 30, 2006 file photograph, Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., left, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) talk as they walk together before touring some of the flooded neighborhoods in Trenton, N.J. Sen. Robert Menendez, whose political career began in a place with a reputation as one of the most corrupt corners of the nation, has often found himself the focus of ethics allegations as he has risen to prominence. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2013 file photo, lawmakers react after the Senate passed a $50.5 billion emergency relief measure for Superstorm Sandy victims at the Capitol in Washington, three months after Superstorm Sandy devastated coastal areas in much of the Northeast. Added to $9.7 billion previously approved for a federal flood insurance program, the total is roughly in line with the $60.4 billion President Obama requested in December. From right to left are; Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this May 3, 2012 file photo, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) smiles as he stands on the Rutgers-Camden campus in Camden, N.J. Lautenberg, at age 88 the oldest sitting U.S. senator, said Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 that the mayor of the state's largest city is entitled to run next year for the seat he now holds _ but he did not yet reveal his own plans. Newark Mayor Cory Booker likely won't be the only candidate ?drooling at the mouth? over the job, Lautenberg noted while talking with reporters in Washington. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

From left, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan (at podium), and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) at a briefing on storm recovery efforts in Middletown N.J. on Nov. 16, 2012. The cabinet secretaries promised federal assistance for as long as it takes New Jersey to recover from Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), center, leads a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 24, 2012, to criticize the sale of high-capacity magazines for assault rifles that are sold to the public. He is joined by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), left, and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), right. A previous federal ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines was allowed to lapse in 2004. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) looks around at the Rutgers-Camden campus in Camden, N.J., Thursday, May 3, 2012, as he visits to discuss federal low-interest loan rate legislation and take questions on the proposed merger with Rowan University. Lautenberg talked about legislation that would extend low-interest rates for federal student loans. If Congress doesn't act by July 1, interest rates for federally backed Stafford loans will double to 6.8 percent. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) walks at the Rutgers-Camden campus in Camden, N.J., Thursday, May 3, 2012, as he visits to discuss federal low-interest loan rate legislation and take questions on the proposed merger with Rowan University. Lautenberg talked about legislation that would extend low-interest rates for federal student loans. If Congress doesn't act by July 1, interest rates for federally backed Stafford loans will double to 6.8 percent. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2011, file photo Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lautenberg is one of the comeback crew of U.S. senators, who served for years, bowed out because of a term-limits promise or the frustration of endless fundraising and then discovered couldn?t quit the place. Lautenberg left the Senate in January 2001 after 18 years. Then came Sept. 11 and the terrorist attacks. "I realized I made a mistake. With my experience, I?m not there, the war is starting, the recession?s starting,? Lautenberg said in an interview. ?I missed it terribly. I felt helpless.? (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) arrives at the Senate on Capitol hill in Washington, Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, as debt talks continued. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON - MAY 01: Holocaust survivor Irene Katz (left) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) attend the Days of Remembrance Program in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda May 1, 2008 in Washington, DC. Organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the remembrance program was held on the day of the national commemoration of the holocaust, the attempt by Nazi Germany to extinguish European Jews before and during World War II. Katz was born in Dornheim, Germany and was deported with her mother to the Riga ghetto and to various labor camps. She was liberated in January 1945 in Poland by Soviet troops. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/new-jersey-special-election_n_3438567.html

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PFT: Titans' Johnson insists he's not selfish

AP

Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan defended the team?s use of Robert Griffin III last season, saying their quarterback was actually at greater risk on passing plays than runs.

As a result, he said there?s no need to take away the option elements of the offense.

?He stayed healthy last year running the zone-read,? Shanahan said, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post. ?So I feel pretty good about that.? You really hope no one gets hurt. It?s hard to control injuries, . . .

?When you do the zone-read, everyone [on the opposing defense] is accounted for. There?s not many free hitters in it.?

Griffin?s still recovering from reconstructive knee surgery after last year?s playoff loss, but every expectation is that his return is on target.

And it appears the Redskins aren?t so concerned about his health that they?re changing the way they?re doing business.

Shanahan said he was alarmed at times by the lack of pass-rush the Redskins saw, and that the key this year would be to get Griffin to slide more often or throw the ball away when scrambling.

?It?s the least pass rush I?ve ever seen as a coordinator?guys just sitting there scared to death, just watching everybody, not moving,? Shanahan said.

Shanahan also said that RG3 should become more conservative as he gets older, as most quarterbacks learn to do.?

?It?s not just Robert. I think it?s every quarterback who?s ever played the game,? he said. ?A guy?s got to get used to sliding, knowing when to fight for yards, when not to fight for yards. I think it?s harder for guys their rookie years because the speed of the game?s a lot different. Where you used to have a little more time to slide, now people get up on you a little quick. And when someone gets up on you quick and you slide at the last second, that?s when you get hit under the chin and stuff. You?ve got to slide early, anticipate things.

?I think a lot of rookie quarterbacks, it takes time to get that feel and they learn through experience. And I think Robert had a lot of experience last year, and I think he?ll definitely be better from that. And we?ll keep harping on it, and I think it will come natural for him.?

At least, as soon as he?s able to get back on the field and follow orders.

While there?s little doubt Griffin?s explosive ability in the open field can give defenders pause, it also seems apparent that the more times you put him in a vulnerable space, the more likely he is to get whacked.

It?s a risk the Redskins seem comfortable with at the moment, as Griffin watches and waits to get better.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/12/chris-johnson-im-not-selfish/related/

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CEO describes Jackson as forceful businessman

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The head of AEG Live LLC told jurors Wednesday that he knew Michael Jackson as a sophisticated, forceful businessman and not the drugged-up performer who's been described throughout an ongoing civil trial filed over the singer's untimely death.

Jackson was a far more complex figure than has been portrayed during the trial of a case filed by the singer's mother against AEG Live over her son's death, said Randy Philips, the company's president and CEO.

Phillips said based on meetings he had with Jackson in 2008 and early 2009, he found Jackson to be a "sophisticated man who had control of his life."

The portrait of Jackson that's been presented to the jury during the seven-week trial has been inaccurate, Phillips said. Jackson was described by both sides in opening statements as struggling with prescription drug addiction throughout his life.

Phillips said he disagreed with the descriptions of Jackson "because he's been presented as drug-addled 5-year-old. That was not the man I dealt with. The man I dealt with was forceful. Kind, but determined. He was a force."

Jurors have been presented with conflicting accounts of Jackson, even from Philips. They will have to weigh the different portrayals when they decide who is liable for the singer's June 2009 death.

Katherine Jackson's lawyers contend AEG failed to properly investigate the doctor convicted of causing her son's death, pushing her son too hard to perform and missed warning signs of his health. AEG, however, contends Michael Jackson hid his addiction to the powerful anesthetic propofol and that the company could not have foreseen that the singer's doctor was giving him the drug as a sleep aid.

Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake in the negligent hiring trial.

Phillips said he didn't see signs that Jackson was struggling with prescription drugs when he met with the entertainer to discuss options for his "This Is It" comeback concerts scheduled for London's O2 Arena in 2009. Phillips has also told jurors that Michael Jackson never told him he was having trouble sleeping.

The executive has described the superstar as difficult to work with, often changing managers and ideas about what he wanted creatively.

In testimony later on Wednesday, he described having to coax Jackson to a London press conference in March 2009 to announce his concerts. The singer was a couple of hours late, appeared hung over and was concerned no one would want to see him perform.

"He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time," Phillips wrote his boss that day. He testified that he just wanted to get through the event and forget it ever happened.

The six-man, six-woman jury has been shown numerous emails throughout the trial in which high-level tour workers expressed concerns about the singer's health, his weight, and whether he was ready for the shows. Many of the concerns were voiced by tour director Kenny Ortega, who Phillips at one point told not to attempt to serve as an amateur doctor or psychiatrist.

Phillips acknowledged earlier this week that statements he wrote to Ortega about Michael Jackson's physician, Conrad Murray, were untrue. Among those statements were Phillips' assertions that AEG Live had checked out Murray, and that the deeply indebted physician didn't need the job.

Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for giving Michael Jackson a lethal dose of propofol. Murray is not a defendant in the civil case, although AEG Live lawyers said early they intend to call the former cardiologist as a witness.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ceo-describes-jackson-forceful-businessman-181936675.html

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Nicaragua approves massive canal project

A demonstrator holds out a picture of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega that reads in Spanish "The biggest thief and traitor of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega illegal President" in front of a line of police during a protest against a canal project outside the National Assembly in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the National Assembly Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A demonstrator holds out a picture of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega that reads in Spanish "The biggest thief and traitor of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega illegal President" in front of a line of police during a protest against a canal project outside the National Assembly in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the National Assembly Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Anti-government protesters clash with police outside the National Assembly as the demonstrate against a canal project in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the National Assembly Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Anti-government protesters clash with police outside the National Assembly as they protest a canal project in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the National Assembly Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Map locates Lake Nicaragua, which could be affected by a plan to build a canal through Nicaragua

Protesters stand on signs of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega which read in Spanish "The biggest thief and traitor of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, illegal president" at a demonstration against a canal project outside the National Assembly in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A multi-billion dollar proposal to plow a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was approved by the National Assembly Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) ? A proposal to build a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was overwhelmingly backed by lawmakers Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists.

The National Assembly dominated by President Daniel Ortega's leftist Sandinista Front voted to grant a 50-year concession to study, then possibly build and run, a canal linking Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts to a Chinese company whose only previous experience appears to be in telecommunications.

The legislation approved by a 61-25 vote contains no specific route for the canal and virtually no details of its financing or economic viability, simply granting the Hong Kong-based company exclusive rights to study the plan and build the canal if it proves feasible in exchange for Nicaragua receiving a minority share of any eventual profits.

Ortega's backers say the Chinese will transform one of the region's poorest countries by turning a centuries-old dream of a Nicaraguan trans-ocean canal into reality, bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the country and fueling an economic boom that would mimic the prosperity of nearby Panama and its U.S.-built canal.

"One of Nicaragua's great riches is its geographic position, that's why this idea has always been around," Sandinista congressman Jacinto Suarez said during Thursday's legislative debate. "Global trade demands that this canal is built because it's necessary. The data shows that maritime transport is constantly growing and that makes this feasible. Opposing it is unpatriotic."

The Hong Kong company will now begin a study of the project's feasibility that will last many months, said chief project adviser Bill Wild, one of a number of Western experts hired by the firm to provide advice ranging from engineering and environmental planning to public relations.

He said it was too early to say if a widely reported project cost of $40 billion would turn out to be accurate. While rising demand for shipping appears to make a compelling economic case for the new canal, it is impossible to predict before the study is complete if the project will turn out to be financially feasible, he said.

The canal project will require financing from international investors.

"There's a compelling commercial reason to build the canal," Wild said. "We have to prove now that the actual rate of return that the investors will get is adequate."

While the company has said almost nothing about the canal's route, it would certainly cross Lake Nicaragua, the country's primary source of fresh water. If one of the world's largest infrastructure projects ever is actually built, the water used by the canal's locks could seriously deplete the lake, environmentalists say.

"Approving this is unconstitutional, fraudulent and damaging to the interests of Nicaragua. The 'great Chinese' don't have the capital or the experience for a work of this size. There's no precedent to support it," Eduardo Montealegre, the leader of opposition legislators, said during the assembly debate Thursday.

Global engineering and shipping experts say those concerns are real and that lowered demand for massive container shipping and increasing competition from other potential routes may mean that the Nicaraguan canal will simply prove economically unfeasible.

Either way, the quick march of the canal project through the National Assembly has set off a backlash from environmental and other activists, who held a series of marches this week to protest the granting of rights to the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co., without any open bidding process or details of its financing.

"Nicaragua isn't for sale. Nicaragua belongs to all Nicaraguans and isn't the private property of Ortega and his family," the Movement for Nicaragua, a coalition of civil-society groups, said in an open letter to the country Wednesday.

When he took power in 1979, Ortega was a socialist firebrand whom the U.S. government tried to overthrow by backing Contra rebels in the 1980s. He was voted out of office in 1990 but returned after winning the 2006 election. Since then, critics allege, the 67-year-old leader has maneuvered to become president for life, using courts and electoral institutions that are stacked with appointees from his Sandinista Front.

In 2009 the Sandinista majority on the Supreme Court overruled limits on consecutive terms set by the Nicaraguan constitution, allowing Ortega to run for his third 5-year term and win.

Other recent Nicaraguan presidents also had repeatedly tried to win support for a canal, without much success.

Some economists express doubts about the proposed canal.

North American companies are increasingly looking to factories and suppliers in the U.S. and Latin America rather than in Asia, where rising salaries in China are making manufacturing less appealing for foreign companies.

In addition, the global economic slowdown of recent years means large numbers of ships are unused, perhaps 5 percent of the global fleet. Many vessels are scheduled to be completed in coming years, meaning the percentage of idled ships could grow to more than 20 percent, experts said.

And global warming means that even the Arctic may become a viable alternative to crossing Central America by canal.

"Looking at the changing flows and where the growth is in the world economy, personally I'm not seeing it. I wouldn't invest my money in it," said Rosalyn Wilson, a senior business analyst at the Delcan Corporation, a Toronto-based transportation consultancy and author of the U.S. logistics industry's annual report.

"It's addressing a need that definitely is not here now and I'm not sure if it's 'a build it and they will come sort of thing,'" she said.

Eduardo Lugo, a Panamanian port logistics consultant who worked for 10 years studying traffic demand for the Panama Canal's expansion plan, also questioned whether global traffic demand would support the high costs of the Nicaragua project.

"There's going be some growth in world trade. The big question is, what routes is that trade going to move on. That's the real challenge that Nicaragua faces," said Paul Bingham, the head of economic analysis at engineering planning firm CDM Smith, which specializes in large water and transportation infrastructure. "It's very easy to say trade is going to grow but that doesn't mean that Nicaragua is going to be in a competitive position to take advantage of it ... I'm not convinced right now."

Backers of previous canal plans have argued that the Nicaraguan route would prove more economical than Panama's because it would handle ships with far larger cargo capacity.

But the Nicaraguan path would have to be roughly three times as long as than Panama's, which is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) long, a fact that Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano said "gives us even more of a competitive advantage."

"It isn't easy," Quijano said. "The terrain is really complex, more than ours."

Wilson also said the project could have serious impacts on Lake Nicaragua, also known as Cocibolca, because of the amount of fresh water that would be used to operate the canal.

"It takes a lot of water to run locks," Wilson said. "Is it going to be done in such a way that's not trading away another part of the country's economy down the line?"

Roberto Troncoso, president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives, said China's government may be encouraging the new canal as a way to establish a route independent of the Panama Canal, which is perceived as remaining under heavy U.S. influence.

"The money is totally irrelevant," he said. "We're talking about national hegemony. China is looking to turn itself into the predominant economic power. Whoever dominates trade, dominates the world."

The United States has taken no official position on the Nicaraguan canal.

The Chinese company has declined to comment on the record about its funding and backers.

According to local records, HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. head Wang Jing has also been a director of about a dozen other companies, some current and others that have been dissolved.

He also heads Beijing Xinwei, a mid-sized telecommunications firm that, according to Chinese media, was partly owned by a large government telecoms equipment company, Datang, which sold its shares in a 2010 restructuring.

Panama and Nicaragua were the top contenders for the route of a trans-ocean canal from the first arrival of Europeans in Latin America. A French company began excavating the Panama canal in 1880 but work was halted by rampant tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. The project was sold for $40 million to the United States, which finished it in 1914.

Historians say 5,609 people, mainly West Indian workers, died during its construction, on top of the 22,000 dead during the period of French control.

_____

Correspondents Mark Stevenson in Mexico City, Joe McDonald in Beijing and Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-13-Nicaragua-Canal/id-462ea5efd34a487b8c75053e490bbd89

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Washington DC Weather: Threat of severe weather continues today

An active weather day is ahead with hefty storms likely.

Today:

Chance AM Storms, Partly Cloudy, Warm & Breezy, Severe Afternoon Storms

Highs: Near 90?

Wind: SW 10-20 mph

Overnight:

T?Showers Taper, Partly Cloudy, Breezy & Less Humid

Lows: 57?-63?

Wind: NW 10-15 mph

Tomorrow:

Partly Sunny, Breezy & Cooler, 30% Spotty Shower Possible

Highs: Upper 70s

Wind: NW 10-15+ mph

The region has been placed under a MODERATE RISK for severe weather today. Stay up to date by FRIENDING me on Facebook and FOLLOWING me on Twitter!

Overnight Midwest storms push toward the metro region this morning before a lull in the action with sun breaking through. Temperatures soar to near 90? with high humidity helping prime the atmosphere for potential afternoon storms. At this point damaging straight-line winds seem to be our biggest threat as well as flooding. The region has been inundated with rain over the last week and even an inch of rain could lead to flash flooding. Remember to turn around and don?t drown! Hail is a possibility today as well as isolated tornadoes. Remember to remain alert, stay connected via TV, web or mobile and have a safety plan. Storms should diminish by tonight with cooler and drier weather moving in for Friday. While a stray shower is possible Friday most of the day is dry and the weekend looks pleasant and calm. Be safe and have a great day!

Source: http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/2013/06/washington-dc-weather-threat-of-severe-weather-continues-today-19082.html

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Ballpark sinkhole behind mound cancels BP in Texas

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? There was a sinking feeling behind the pitcher's mound at Rangers Ballpark.

A busted pipe under the infield at Rangers Ballpark created a sinkhole right behind the mound. On-field batting practice Tuesday for both the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians was canceled so the grounds crew could fix the problem.

Workers had to dig more than 3 feet deep to try to fix the pipe under the field that is used to water the infield. One of the workers could only been seen from the waist up after getting down into the hole.

About an hour before the game was scheduled to start, the repair was complete and the grass behind the mound had been put back in place. Workers even used a hose hooked to the repaired pipe to water the infield grass and dirt.

While the Indians entered the game with an eight-game losing streak, and 12 losses in a row on the road, Cleveland manager Terry Francona said there were no Bull Durham-like shenanigans by his team trying to get a day off.

"I didn't do it," Francona said with a chuckle about the reference to a scene in the Kevin Costner baseball movie. "We're not there yet. We're frustrated, but we're not there."

About three hours before the game, as usual before a home game, Rangers players went on the field for stretching and batting practice. But after stretching in the outfield as normal, they went back inside to take their pregame swings in an indoor cage.

Two weeks ago, a game between Arizona and Texas at Rangers Ballpark was postponed because of unplayable field conditions.

The infield that night was soaked during a severe thunderstorm about an hour before that scheduled start while the grounds crew struggled to get the tarp on the field.

Though the rain stopped shortly after that and more than an hour of work was put into preparing the field, that game was postponed after officials from both teams determined the dirt basepaths were too soft to play the game safely.

Arizona and Texas played the next afternoon, after the grounds crew worked into the wee hours of the night.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ballpark-sinkhole-behind-mound-cancels-bp-texas-235842649.html

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Brain-Computer Interface Makes Learning As Simple As Waving

The title is very much misleading, as per usual.

/. Title: Brain-Computer Interface Makes Learning As Simple As Waving
Article Title: New tasks become as simple as waving a hand with brain-computer interfaces.

Now, University of Washington researchers have demonstrated that when humans use this technology ? called a brain-computer interface ? the brain behaves much like it does when completing simple motor skills such as kicking a ball, typing or waving a hand. Learning to control a robotic arm or a prosthetic limb could become second nature for people who are paralyzed.

It's not about learning, it's about an interface that makes controlling a robotic arm as easy as if it were your actual arm. Big difference.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/7vOTHBTq3eE/story01.htm

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