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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

New book addresses consequences of drought in arid regions

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Oct-2013

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Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
iqbal@ucr.edu
951-827-6050
University of California - Riverside

Lead editor Kurt Schwabe of UC Riverside says drought must receive the attention a natural disaster deserves

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Mention of natural disasters usually brings to mind vivid images of shattered concrete and piles of rubbish strewn across the landscape the result of violent hurricanes, massive earthquakes, or rampaging tornadoes. From an economic standpoint, however, the most costly natural disaster in U.S. history ravaged the Midwest in the late eighties with considerably less theatrics. The source of this disaster? Water scarcity. Drought during this period affected crop production, ecosystems, environmental policy, and the lives of scores of Americans.

A new book titled "Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: A Multidisciplinary and Cross-Country Perspective" (Springer, 2013) provides a multidisciplinary and cross country perspective on ecological, economic, hydrological, agronomical, and policy-related issues arising from water scarcity and drought. Lead editor Kurt Schwabe is an associate professor of environmental economics and policy at the University of California, Riverside and the associate director of the Water Science and Policy Center (WSPC).

"There's a significant amount of meteorological and climate research suggesting that the frequency and intensity of drought is going to increase worldwide," Schwabe said. "We can either wait for a drought, and experiment with costly and lengthy ways to mitigate its effects, or we can learn from the collective successes and failures of countries that have tried to manage it."

"Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions" provides an interdisciplinary guide for addressing and adapting to drought in the future. The idea for the book arose in a 2010 UC Riverside Drought Symposium put on by the WSPC, in which researchers from around the world discussed issues related to aridity.

"Many of the countries represented at the symposium were in the middle of a severe drought or were just finishing up having experienced one," Schwabe said. "This, coupled with the expectation that drought will become increasingly persistent, heralded the necessity for a book that would lead the way in integrating information about drought from a multitude of perspectives and experiences."

According to Schwabe, the best water management policy comes from being more informed about consequences.

"You can't address drought well without feedback from different perspectives," he said. "That's why a book like this helps. In it, we have explored issues from the perspectives of agronomists, hydrologists, ecologists, policy makers, economists, and water managers. Future policymakers will have this rich array of information to help them make the best decisions."

The book touches upon important issues in agronomy the study of crop management and discusses how improving the drought tolerance of crop varieties and managing soil systems can alleviate drought-induced rises in food prices and availabilities. A section on ecology investigates the effects of drought on ecosystems and habitat. The section on hydrology highlights trends in water supply changes over time and how drought exacerbates those trends, stresses the linkages between surface and groundwater supplies, and emphasizes the fact that drought affects both the quantity and quality of available water supplies.

From an economic and policy-related perspective, the book illustrates how the costs from drought can be reduced significantly with flexible policy instruments, including water trading and water banking, yet cautions that in most developed countries the water-supply augmentation strategies of the past are unlikely to be feasible; rather, more attention needs to be focused on water conservation, recycling, and water pricing.

Not only will the book benefit scientists and policy makers who want to make effective decisions about water management, it also will appeal, Schwabe believes, to anyone interested in the environment.

"This book will help readers understand the importance of research, and in particular multidisciplinary research, being conducted on drought-related topics," he said. "Further, it will keep readers informed on the serious consequences of this overlooked phenomenon."

Schwabe is concerned that people do not think of drought as a natural disaster like a tornado or hurricane.

"Indeed, the 1988-1989 drought in the Midwest is far less well-known than its dustbowl predecessor made famous in the John Steinbeck novel 'The Grapes of Wrath,'" he said. "Unfortunately, we don't have a Steinbeck today to write about drought."

According to him, as drought becomes increasingly persistent, arid and semi-arid regions in California and around the world will need to take a closer look at how they mitigate and adapt to the consequences of drought. He hopes to further contribute to the understanding of drought effects and water scarcity by way of a new book co-edited by Ariel Dinar, the director of the WSPC. Soon to be published, the book is titled "The Handbook of Water Economics."

At UCR, Schwabe specializes in water economics, wildlife and fisheries management, the economics of pollution control, salinity and drainage management, and nonmarket valuation. Currently, he is working with local water agencies to help better understand the effectiveness of various water conservation measures and water pricing structures on water use.

The other editors of "Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions" are Jose Albiac, Jeffery D. Connor, Rashid M. Hassan, and Liliana Meza Gonzalez.

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The University of California, Riverside (http://www.ucr.edu) is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment has exceeded 21,000 students. The campus will open a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion. A broadcast studio with fiber cable to the AT&T Hollywood hub is available for live or taped interviews. UCR also has ISDN for radio interviews. To learn more, call (951) UCR-NEWS.

By Sarah Santiago

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

New book addresses consequences of drought in arid regions

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: Iqbal Pittalwala
iqbal@ucr.edu
951-827-6050
University of California - Riverside

Lead editor Kurt Schwabe of UC Riverside says drought must receive the attention a natural disaster deserves

According to Schwabe, the best water management policy comes from being more informed about consequences.

Schwabe is concerned that people do not think of drought as a natural disaster like a tornado or hurricane.

The other editors of "Drought in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions" are Jose Albiac, Jeffery D. Connor, Rashid M. Hassan, and Liliana Meza Gonzalez.

###

By Sarah Santiago

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uoc--nba102813.php
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What You Need To Know About Babies, Toddlers And Screen Time

Eva Hu-Stiles virtually interacts with her grandmother. iPad assist by Elise Hu-Stiles.

John W. Poole/NPR

Eva Hu-Stiles virtually interacts with her grandmother. iPad assist by Elise Hu-Stiles.

John W. Poole/NPR

This week, we're exploring the tech frontier through the eyes of our children. So we're starting with the littlest ones — babies. Can certain kinds of screen time help babies learn?

To find some answers, I employed the help of my 1-year-old daughter, Eva. She's still a wobbly walker and the sum total of her speaking skills sound like gibberish. But she has no problem activating Siri, the virtual assistant on my iPhone. Her 16-month-old friend, Lily, is even savvier with the gadgets.

"She knows how to turn the iPad on, she knows how to slide her finger across," says her mom, Kim Trainor.

That gets to the technology tension in modern parenting: You want your kids to be technologically adept — but without giving them so much screen time that it's not healthy for development.

"If I think about my childhood, a lot of these things didn't exist. And obviously my parents didn't have to think about what the exposure might do to us," Trainor says. The tech frontier for our kids is changing so fast that the guidelines are barely keeping up with it.

Case in point: Just two years ago, when San Francisco-based nonprofit Common Sense Media surveyed families with children 8 and under, just 8 percent owned tablets like iPads. That's now jumped five-fold — to 40 percent. And the percent of children with access to some sort of smartphones and tablets has jumped from half of those surveyed to 75 percent. (Read the full report.)

Pediatricians discourage passive screen time for children 2 and under.

Baby Lily's mom says she follows her pediatrician's guideline to discourage screen time until after her daughter turns 2. But the doctor behind the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 policy guideline discouraging screen time for kids under 2 says it specifically concerns passive screen viewing. That is, plopping the baby in front of a TV or film, or having media on in the background.

"The concern for risk is that some kids who watch a lot of media actually have poor language skills, so there's a deficit in their language development. We also have concerns about other developmental issues because they're basically missing out on other developmentally appropriate activities," says Dr. Ari Brown, the lead author on the American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement discouraging screen time for babies under 2.

On Monday, the pediatrics group released updated media guidelines for children and adolescents. While still discouraging screen time for children under 2, the policy recommends a balanced approach to media in the homes instead of blanket bans. We've laid out some of the latest thinking on screen time for babies and toddlers, below.

There's a key difference between passive screen time and active screen time.

Research indicates that activities like Skyping or FaceTime — in which the baby communicates with a live human on the screen — can actually help babies learn.

"[Lily] watched her little message from her dad who had bought her a ball and said, 'This is a ball.' " Trainor says that when Lily called her father on Skype a few days later, she associated him with the ball. "She went 'ball, ball, ball,' " Trainor says.

Vanderbilt University developmental psychologist Georgene Troseth conducts some of the country's leading research on children and screens. She says Skyping isn't like watching TV because it's a social interaction.

"We're finding pretty consistently — in fact, two recent studies with actual Skype [calls] — that children do seem to learn better when there is social interaction from a person on video. So it's kind of encouraging with FaceTime or Skype for parents and grandparents to know that [with] that interaction, the children might actually be willing to learn from a person on a screen because of the social interaction showing them what's on the screen is connected to their lives," Troseth says.

The research on touch-screen apps is unclear. Apps and games labeled "educational" may not necessarily help your child learn.

Touch-screens are taking over and babies seem especially great at working with them. Lily, the 16-month-old, showed me how she shuffles through photos on her mom's phone.

Parents, meanwhile, keep hearing about "educational" apps. Troseth says be wary, for now.

"There's nothing wrong with a toy being fun, engaging a child for an amount of time. But to promote it as being educational we really need to do research to find out, is having it be interacting, doing anything to make it easier to learn from?" she asks.

Aim for a balanced approach — for you and your baby.

Since the research on touch-screens isn't clear yet, Brown offers some advice in the meantime.

"We still have questions. If you're planning on using interactive media with your child, use it with your child, sit down with your child and engage with them because that's going to be more valuable than anything," Brown says.

It's valuable time with her 14-month-old daughter that taught another mom — Jennifer Grover — about her own relationship with screens.

"It's just amazing how good they are at mimicking what they see. So I've definitely had to learn to kind of rein in my attention to the laptop, or my attention to my phone in front of her, because whatever I'm doing that's what she wants to be doing," Grover says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/28/228125739/what-to-know-about-babies-and-screen-time-kids-screens-electronics?ft=1&f=1019
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Study maps human impacts on top ocean predators along US west coast

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Oct-2013

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Contact: Tim Stephens
stephens@ucsc.edu
831-459-2495
University of California - Santa Cruz

Animal tracking data combined with mapping of human activities reveals high impact areas where efforts to reduce impacts would be most effective

The California Current System along the U.S. west coast is among the richest ecosystems in the world, driven by nutrient input from coastal upwelling and supporting a great diversity of marine life. Like coastal regions in general, it is also heavily impacted by human activities. A new study led by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveals areas along the west coast where human impacts are highest on marine predators such as whales, seals, seabirds, and turtles.

The study, published October 28 in Nature Communications, found that many of the high impact areas are within the boundaries of National Marine Sanctuaries. This means there are good opportunities for improving management strategies, according to first author Sara Maxwell, who led the study as a graduate student in ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz and is now a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station.

"The sanctuaries are located close to the coast in areas where there are a lot of human activities and a lot of marine life, so it's not surprising that we see a lot of impacts there," Maxwell said, noting that oil spills were a big concern when the sanctuaries were established, and many do not limit activities such as fishing, although they are actively engaged in managing industries such as shipping.

"With the sanctuaries already in place, we have an opportunity to increase protections. The results of this study allow us to be more specific in where we focus management efforts so that we can minimize the economic impact on people," she said.

There are five National Marine Sanctuaries along the west coast, covering nearly 15,000 square miles. A proposed expansion of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries would extend protections north to Point Arena, a key area identified in the study.

Marine mammals and other predators are critical to the health of marine ecosystems. The study used tracking data for eight species of marine predators: blue whales, humpback whales, northern elephant seals, California sea lions, black-footed and Laysan albatrosses, sooty shearwaters, and leatherback sea turtles. These are among the 23 species whose movements have been tracked since 2000 as part of the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program. The eight species included in the new study are ecologically important but are not commercially exploited, Maxwell said.

The TOPP studies showed that many marine predators travel thousands of miles every year, yet often concentrate within small-scale "hotspots" to breed or feed on fish and other prey. Many such hotspots are found within the California Current System.

Maxwell and her coauthors combined the TOPP tracking data with a database of human impacts in the California Current System that was developed by a group led by coauthor Benjamin Halpern at UC Santa Barbara. The relative impact on each species was determined for each of 24 stressors associated with human activities, such as fishing, shipping, climate change, and pollution. The analysis yielded maps showing where the greatest impacts on each species are likely to be.

"Areas where key habitats and human impacts overlap represent important areas for conservation efforts," Maxwell said. "In other cases, areas of high human activities are not key habitats for predators. As a result, we can maximize both conservation of marine predators and human uses that our coastal communities depend on."

The study suggests that protecting key habitat without considering human uses may result in missed opportunities for sustainable resource use. "Having this detailed spatial information will help us move toward a more sustainable management approach," said coauthor Elliott Hazen, a research biologist at UCSC and the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Providing information to support management and policy decisions was one of the goals of the TOPP program, which was conceived by coauthors Dan Costa at UC Santa Cruz, Steven Bograd at NOAA, and Barbara Block at Stanford. TOPP researchers used sophisticated tags with satellite- or light-based geolocation capabilities to track the movements of top predators throughout the Pacific Ocean.

"A major component of the TOPP program was to identify important conservation areas of the North Pacific Ocean. This paper is a significant step forward in increasing our awareness of the 'blue Serengeti' that lies just off the west coast of the U.S.," Costa said.

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The new study involved a team of 23 researchers at 19 institutions. Coauthors affiliated with UC Santa Cruz include Elliott Hazen, Barry Nickel, Nicole Teutschel, Michelle Kappes, Jason Hassrick, Robert Henry, Patrick Robinson, and Daniel Costa. Funding for this work was provided by the Sloan Foundation's Census of Marine Life program and Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station and Center for Ocean Solutions. TOPP research was funded by the Sloan, Packard, and Moore Foundations.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Study maps human impacts on top ocean predators along US west coast

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Oct-2013

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Contact: Tim Stephens
stephens@ucsc.edu
831-459-2495
University of California - Santa Cruz

Animal tracking data combined with mapping of human activities reveals high impact areas where efforts to reduce impacts would be most effective

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uoc--smh102513.php
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Good news for Dexter fans looking to relive the show's former glory: Netflix is getting exclusive ri

Good news for Dexter fans looking to relive the show's former glory: Netflix is getting exclusive rights to all eight seasons of the show. The first four will be available starting October 31, and that should keep you plenty busy until the second four hit on January 1.

Donald Cerrone mulling featherweight move after UFC 167

Donald Cerrone may soon have a new home.

While fielding questions during a Monday live Google chat, the longtime lightweight contender indicated that he's considering a drop down to featherweight following his upcoming UFC 167 bout against Evan Dunham.

"I need to get (Mike) Dolce on my side. I'm going to 145 after this fight," a bearded Cerrone said.

"[Featherweight] is going to be a lifestyle change. No more Bud Light and Budweisers. No more stopping with Chris on the way here to eat random food. No more late nights with (UFC Senior Director of Public Relations) Dave Sholler at Wendy's. Those are all things you're going to have to change."

At six-feet tall, with a reach of 73 inches, Cerrone is already a large lightweight by any measure.

Nonetheless, after dropping three of his past six contests, including his most recent upset loss to Rafael dos Anjos, "Cowboy" suggested that the change of scenery, while perhaps not permanent, could do him some good.

"I just think I could really dominate down there," Cerrone said. "I don't know. Most people lose a lot of fights, and they run down. I'm going to go down to 45 after a win, so we'll see. I'll still be at 55 though, I'll play back and forth. Why not? Go get the belt."

Cerrone went on to explain that while no decision is yet final, he has already spoken to members of the UFC's public relations team and UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby about the potential change.

"They're like, as long as you can healthily make the weight. We don't want to see you in there dying," Cerrone said, before joking, "But Kenny Florian made it. I'll probably look worse than him, so it should be fun."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/28/5040824/donald-cerrone-mulling-featherweight-move-after-ufc-167
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Grand Theft Auto 5 iFruit app available on select Android devices

Rockstar Games has finally fulfilled its promise of bringing Grand Theft Auto 5's iFruit companion app to Android. Over a month after the game's launch and the app's iOS availability, you can trick out your ride or train Franklin's dog from your handset running Mountain View's OS. Our Nexus 4 phones ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ztTrAzHAVaY/
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AP source: US weighs end to spying on leaders

In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, file photo, a man is reflected in paneling as he speaks on his phone at the Mobile World Congress, the world's largest mobile phone trade show, in Barcelona, Spain. A Spanish newspaper published a document Monday that it said shows the U.S. National Security Agency spied on more than 60 million phone calls in Spain in one month alone — the latest revelation about alleged massive U.S. spying on allies. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, file photo, a man speaks on a cell phone in the business district of Madrid. A Spanish newspaper published a document Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, that it said shows the U.S. National Security Agency spied on more than 60 million phone calls in Spain in one month alone — the latest revelation about alleged massive U.S. spying on allies. (AP Photo/Paul White, File)

Graphic shows country-by-country look allegations of spying by the U.S. National Security Agency and reaction; 3c x 5 inches; 146 mm x 127 mm;

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering ending spying on allied heads of state, a senior administration official said, as the White House grappled with the fallout from revelations that the U.S. has eavesdropped on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The official said late Monday that a final decision had not been made and an internal review was still underway.

The revelations about National Security Agency monitoring of Merkel were the latest in a months-long spying scandal that has strained longstanding alliances with some of America's closest partners. Earlier Monday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called for a "total review of all intelligence programs."

Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a statement that the White House had informed her that "collection on our allies will not continue." The administration official said that statement was not accurate, but added that some unspecified changes already had been made and more were being considered, including terminating the collection of communications from friendly heads of state.

The official was not authorized to discuss the review by name and insisted on anonymity.

As a result of the spying allegations, German officials said Monday that the U.S. could lose access to an important law enforcement tool used to track terrorist money flows. As possible leverage, German authorities cited last week's non-binding resolution by the European Parliament to suspend a post-9/11 agreement allowing the Americans access to bank transfer data to track the flow of terrorist money.

A top German official said she believed the Americans were using the information obtained from Merkel to gather economic intelligence apart from terrorism and that the agreement known as SWIFT should be suspended.

Feinstein said while the intelligence community has kept her apprised of other issues, like the court orders on telephone record collection, intelligence officials failed to brief her on how they followed foreign leaders.

Her statement follows reports based on new leaks from former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden indicating that the NSA listened to Merkel and 34 other foreign leaders.

"With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of U.S. allies — including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany — let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed," Feinstein said. She added that the U.S. should not be "collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers" unless in an emergency with approval of the president.

European Union officials who are in Washington to meet with lawmakers ahead of White House talks said U.S. surveillance of their people could affect negotiations over a U.S.-Europe trade agreement. They said European privacy must be better protected.

Many officials in Germany and other European governments have made clear, however, that they don't favor suspending the U.S.-EU trade talks which began last summer because both sides stand to gain so much through the proposed deal, especially against competition from China and other emerging markets.

As tensions with European allies escalate, the top U.S. intelligence official declassified dozens of pages of top secret documents in an apparent bid to show the NSA was acting legally when it gathered millions of Americans' phone records.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said he was following the president's direction to make public as much information as possible about how U.S. intelligence agencies spy under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Monday's release of documents focused on Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows the bulk collection of U.S. phone records.

The document release is part of an administration-wide effort to preserve the NSA's ability to collect bulk data, which it says is key to tracking key terror suspects, but which privacy activists say is a breach of the Constitution's ban on unreasonable search and seizure of evidence from innocent Americans.

The release of the documents comes ahead of a House Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday on FISA reform.

The documents support administration testimony that the NSA worked to operate within the law and fix errors when they or their systems overreached. One of the documents shows the NSA admitting to the House Intelligence Committee that one of its automated systems picked up too much telephone metadata. The February 2009 document indicates the problem was fixed.

Another set of documents shows the judges of the FISA court seemed satisfied with the NSA's cooperation. It says that in September 2009, the NSA advised the Senate Intelligence Committee about its continuing collection of Americans' phone records and described a series of demonstrations and briefings it conducted for three judges on the secretive U.S. spy court. The memorandum said the judges were "engaged throughout and asked questions, which were answered by the briefers and other subject matter experts," and said the judges appreciated the amount and quality of information the NSA provided.

It said that two days later, one of the judges, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, renewed the court's permission to resume collecting phone records.

The documents also included previously classified testimony from 2009 for the House Intelligence Committee by Michael Leiter, then head of the National Counterterrorism Center. He and other officials said collecting Americans' phone records helped indict Najibullah Zazi, who was accused in a previously disclosed 2009 terror plot to bomb the New York City subways.

The documents also show the NSA considered tracking targets using cellphone location data, and according to an April 2011 memo consulted the Justice Department first, which said such collection was legal. Only later did the NSA inform the FISA court of the testing.

NSA commander Gen. Keith Alexander revealed the testing earlier this month to Congress but said the agency did not use the capability to track Americans' cellphone locations nor deem it necessary right now.

Asked Monday if the NSA intelligence gathering had been used not only to protect national security but American economic interests as well, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We do not use our intelligence capabilities for that purpose. We use it for security purposes."

But National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden later clarified that: "We do not use our intelligence capabilities to give U.S. companies an advantage, not ruling out that we are interested in economic information."

Carney acknowledged the tensions with allies over the eavesdropping disclosures and said the White House was "working to allay those concerns," though he refused to discuss any specific reports or provide details of internal White House discussions.

___

Follow Kimberly Dozier at http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier and Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

___

Associated Press writers Ted Bridis and Jack Gillum in Washington, Frank Jordan, Geir Moulson and Robert H. Reid in Berlin, Juergen Baetz in Brussels, Ciaran Giles, Jorge Sainz and Alan Clendenning in Madrid and Sarah DiLorenzo in Paris contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-10-28-NSA%20Surveillance/id-a2bd0af47c7b4c6bac3faffdbe8b401b
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Fed judge: Texas abortion limits unconstitutional

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge determined Monday that new Texas abortion restrictions place an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end a pregnancy, a ruling that keeps open dozens of abortion clinics across the state while officials appeal.

The ruling by District Judge Lee Yeakel came one day before key parts of the law the Legislature approved in July were set to take effect. Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers argued in their lawsuit that a provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital less than 30 miles away would have effectively shuttered about a third of the state's 38 clinics that perform abortions.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose office argued the law protects women and the life of the fetus, immediately filed an appeal with the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

"I have no doubt that this case is going all the way to the United States Supreme Court," Abbott said during stop in Brownsville, Texas, as part of his campaign to replace retiring Gov. Rick Perry.

Although several conservative states in recent months have approved broad abortion limits, the Texas ones were particularly divisive because of the number of clinics affected and the distance some women would have to travel to get an abortion.

Federal judges in Wisconsin, Kansas, Mississippi and Alabama also have found problems with state laws prohibiting doctors from conducting abortions if they don't have hospital admitting privileges.

All the other appeals — including the one from Mississippi, which like Texas is within the 5th Circuit — deal only with whether to lift a temporary injunction preventing the restriction from taking effect. The Texas appeal could be the first that directly addresses the question of whether the provision violates the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion.

The admitting privileges provision "does not bear a rational relationship to the legitimate right of the state in preserving and promoting fetal life or a woman's health and, in any event, places a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion," Yeakel wrote.

In another part of his ruling, Yeakel, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, partially blocked the provision requiring doctors to follow an 18-year-old U.S. Food and Drug Administration protocol. He found that the state could regulate how a doctor prescribes an abortion-inducing pill, but the law failed to allow for a doctor to adjust treatment in order to best protect the health of the woman taking it.

Abortion-rights supporters complained that requiring doctors to follow the FDA's original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny women the benefit of recent advances in medical science.

Other portions of the law, known as House Bill 2, include a ban on abortions after 20 weeks and a requirement beginning in October 2014 that all abortions take place in a surgical facility. Neither of those sections was part of this lawsuit.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman's Health, said the judge did not go far enough.

"Nearly 40 percent of the women we serve at Whole Woman's Health choose medication abortion and now Texas is preventing these women from the advances in medical practice that other women across the United States will be able to access," she said.

The law requiring admitting privileges was the biggest obstacle facing abortion clinics in Texas, and the ruling gives them a temporary reprieve until new regulations go into effect next year.

Mississippi passed a similar law last year, which a federal judge also blocked pending a trial scheduled to begin in March. Mississippi's attorney general asked the 5th Circuit to lift the temporary injunction so the law could be enforced, but the judges have left it in place signaling they believe there is a legitimate constitutional question.

Unlike the Mississippi case, Yeakel's order is a final decision, setting the groundwork for the 5th Circuit to review the merits of the law, not just an injunction against it.

The proposed restrictions were among the toughest in the nation and gained notoriety when Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis launched a nearly 13-hour filibuster against them in June. She is now the only Democrat in the race for Texas governor.

Davis said the ruling didn't surprise her.

"As a mother, I would rather see our tax dollars spent on improving our kid's schools than defending this law," she said in a statement.

During the trial, officials for one chain of abortion clinics testified that they've tried to obtain admitting privileges for their doctors at 32 hospitals, but so far only 15 accepted applications and none have announced a decision. Many hospitals with religious affiliations will not allow abortion doctors to work there, while others fear protests if they provide privileges. Many have requirements that doctors live within a certain radius of the facility, or perform a minimum number of surgeries a year that must be performed in a hospital.

Beth Shapiro, chairwoman of board of directors of Lubbock's Planned Parenthood Women's Health Center, said no hospital in Lubbock has granted privileges to the lone doctor from East Texas who flies in to do abortions when there are procedures scheduled. There is not incentive for hospitals to do so, she said.

"I don't see why local hospitals would give privileges to someone who's not going to admit patients," Shapiro said. "I don't see what the business and financial incentive would be."

___

AP correspondents Christopher Sherman in Brownsville and Betsy Blaney in Lubbock contributed to this report.

___

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/cltomlinson

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-judge-texas-abortion-limits-unconstitutional-190525066.html
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Monday, October 28, 2013

U.S. factory, housing data suggest economy losing steam

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing output barely rose in September and contracts to buy previously owned homes recorded their largest drop in nearly 3-1/2 years, the latest signs the economy's momentum ebbed as the third quarter ended.

The reports on Monday showed economic activity was on weak footing even before a 16-day partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government early in October that is expected to weigh on fourth quarter growth.

"The economy seems to be losing steam as higher mortgage rates have hit the housing market and destructive government policy will likely bash the rest of the economy," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisers in Holland, Pennsylvania.

Manufacturing production edged up 0.1 percent last month after advancing 0.5 percent in August, the Federal Reserve said.

Factory output was held back by a 0.5 percent drop in computer and electronic goods production. Output of electrical appliances also fell.

While automobile output increased 2.0 percent, that was a sharp slowdown from the 5.2 percent rise logged in August.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said its Pending Homes Sales index, based on contracts signed last month, plunged 5.6 percent to the lowest level since December.

The decline was the largest since May 2010.

The index, which leads home resales by a month or two, has now dropped for four straight months. Realtors believe home resales, which dropped in September, peaked in July and August.

The reports come on the heels of data last week showing a gauge of business spending tumbled in September. That data, combined with a disappointing reading on hiring released earlier this month, has offered a dull picture of economic activity.

Thomas Costerg, U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, said a run up in interest rates over the summer on expectations the Fed would soon trim its bond-buying stimulus appeared to be holding back the economy.

"This will make the Fed even more cautious when they next start to hint at tapering," he said.

Rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages rose to an average of 4.49 percent in September from an average of 3.54 percent in May, according to Freddie Mac. But a surprise decision by the central bank in mid-September not to cut its purchases and soft economic data have pulled rates lower since then.

With politicians in Washington still to agree on a budget, uncertainty over fiscal policy may also continue to hinder growth, making it unlikely the Fed will be in a hurry to start scaling back its purchases.

Fed officials meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and are expected to maintain their $85 billion per month bond-buying pace.

WEAK DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL DEMAND

While manufacturing accounts for only about 12 percent of U.S. economic activity, it was the main driver of the economy from the 2007-09 recession.

Factory output rose at a 1.2 percent rate in the third quarter, rebounding from a 0.1 percent fall in the prior three months. Economists expect manufacturing slowed in October as the federal government shutdown hurt business confidence.

The weak manufacturing data contrasts with fairly upbeat business surveys. For example, a closely watched gauge from the Institute for Supply Management has been pushing higher since contracting in May.

"We are inclined to focus on actual activity gauges like manufacturing production, rather than surveys, which have given several false signals during this recovery," said Peter D'Antonio, an economist at Citigroup in New York.

"The soft manufacturing output reflects weakness abroad, little need to build inventories, and the general slowdown in demand in the first half of the year."

Despite the softness in factory output, a rebound in utilities output lifted overall industrial production 0.6 percent, the largest increase since February.

Utilities rebounded 4.4 percent in September after five straight months of declines. Mining production rose 0.2 percent, but that was a slowdown from at 0.6 percent increase in August.

Last month, the amount of industrial capacity in use rose to 78.3 percent, the highest level since July 2008, from 77.9 percent in August.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani, additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Meredith Mazzilli)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-industrial-output-posts-largest-gain-seven-months-132117288--business.html
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Bridling Bride

Emily Yoffe, aka Dear Prudence, is on Washingtonpost.com weekly to chat live with readers. An edited transcript of the chat is below. (Sign up here to get Dear Prudence delivered to your inbox each week. Read Prudie’s Slate columns here. Send questions to Prudence at prudence@slate.com.)

Emily Yoffe: Good afternoon, I look forward to your questions!

Q. Always Take the Wife's Side?: I'm about to get married and am caught in an argument between my fiancée and my parents. This will be the first time in over five years that our whole family will be together. My parents want to take a picture of just them, me, and my siblings, and a family photo obviously means a lot to them. My fiancée heard this and became immediately offended. She says it's rude to exclude her on the day she "joins the family" and any family photo should therefore include her in it. We're not talking about taking an hour for a separate family photo shoot; my parents simply want one photograph of themselves and their children. I don't understand why my fiancée is so annoyed and now she's even more angry because I'm not supporting "her side." Should I back up my fiancée on principle, even if I disagree with her?

A: Apparently your fiancée wants to be the "Where's Waldo" of her wedding album. When the photographer calls for a shot of all the groomsmen, she plans to puts herself in the middle. Photographs take only a short time to compose and an instant to snap. Presumably, both of you want a variety of pictures of groups of people to commemorate this event. Since your family is apparently far-flung, there is nothing wrong with your side wanting to piggy-back on the big event and get a couple of family photos added to the mix. This is one of those silly little fights every couple has. Calmly tell her you understand how she may have misperceived your family's request, but it has nothing to do with excluding her. Your parents just want to take advantage of all of being together for this happy day to have a long overdue photo of your immediate family. Explain to her that of course all the many and traditional wedding photos will take place. If she won't back off, then it's important that you two figure out how to resolve an issue—trivial as this is—that has you each in opposite corners, certain you are right.

Dear Prudence: Failure to Communicate

Q. Dog Gone?: I am a fiftysomething woman preparing to move in with my boyfriend next March. I have a miniature schnauzer who is 8 years old and has always slept in my room on the floor next to the bed. My boyfriend wants me to banish my dog from our bedroom when we move. I don't think it's a good idea, especially with moving to a strange house, and I think the dog will do better with the transition if he can sleep in our room. Am I wrong on this?

A: Oh, your boyfriend has come to the wrong place. Some nights my husband and I can barely turn over in bed due to the arrangement of the dog and two cats around us. You've got me laughing at the idea of banishing my cavalier from the bedroom. No one would get a minute of sleep due to the whining and howling. You have a beloved pet who sleeps peacefully on the floor. Unless your boyfriend frequently steps on your dog on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night (if so, just rearrange the dog bed) I do not understand his objection. More than that, if he understands what your dog means to you (and you to the dog), his demand is rather cruel. I've had letters from people who have fallen in love with other humans who are seriously allergic to their pets. Those are very difficult situations, but—much to the annoyance of animal lovers—I come down on the side of human love taking precedence. But there is no good reason here to shut the door on a sleeping dog. You've got a lot of time before the move to hash this out. But I think you're entitled to say, "Love me, love my schnauzer."

Q. Smother-in-Law: My mother-in-law threw me a sort of family baby shower, giving us lots of stuff we don't need even though I specifically requested not to have one because we have such a small N.Y. apartment and I was already given practically everything from my sister who just had a baby. My question is: Do I have to send a thank you note to her for the stuff she bought me even though I specifically requested that she NOT buy anything?

A: Nasty, nasty mother-in-law, wanting to shower you with stuff for her impending grandchild. I hope you understand that now that you're having a child your mother-in-law is likely to be more in your life than ever. Maybe apart from ignoring your express orders about gifts, she's a lovely person who will be an important presence in your baby's life. Although your pen may be dripping poison, write the thank you note and make it sound as sincere as possible. Since you are having a child, surely many of your friends will be too, so a closet of new baby items will be perfect regifting material.

Q. Late Night Sidewalk Etiquette: I'm a young man who works late as a bartender in an urban area. I walk home usually at 2 a.m. I often find myself half a block behind women (either alone or in pairs) going home the same route. How do I act so that they don't fear me as a potential predator? Cross the street? Slow down (looks like stalking) or greet them (equally creepy)? Help!

A: There is nothing that gets a woman's sympathetic nervous system on high alert like hearing footfalls behind her at 2 a.m. Thanks for being sensitive to this. Since you see the woman looming ahead of you, it would be a nice thing to do to cross the street before you're close enough so that she starts glancing behind her, clutching her purse.

Q. Re: Wedding siblings photos: We had the same battle. My view was that after we are married, all photos must involve both of us. However, before the wedding, each family got 30 minutes to get whatever photos they wanted done. After the wedding was my photos on my schedule. I got great photos with my family, and my in-laws chose to get great photos of their grandkids, family portraits, and a siblings photo. The photo in their house is their immediate family and my parents display the one of our new family. It was an easy compromise.

A: After the vows, if the photographer snapped a photo that didn't include you, did you take the camera and smash it like Sonny Corleone in The Godfather? It's good everyone was able to complete their photo assignments in the 30 minutes allotted.

Q. Inappropriate Contact as Children: I'm 47. My dad sexually abused me when I was young. It stopped when I was 12, and I've gotten therapy for it. The only lingering problem for me is what to do about my cousin. When we were younger, I remember playing with her and I'm pretty sure that it was inappropriate. She is three years younger than me, and I couldn't have been more than eight, and it didn't happen with anyone else that I can remember. I've wanted to talk to her about this, but it's been almost 40 years. I know from counseling that I was acting out from what my dad was doing to me, and I didn't have the understanding of it that I do now. It's still painful to talk about, and there are some other family issues that I am dealing with that are connected with my dad's incest, but not relevant to my cousin. We haven't been in contact for more than 20 years because of the family issues. When I found my cousin this summer, she and her parents were delighted to see me, so there doesn't seem to be any long-term hard feelings. My cousin has a good life, with good relationships with her brother, husband, and parents, and she has a master's degree and is successful. I don't know how to approach this topic with her. I want to apologize. Does this seem like a good thing to open this can of worms?

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2013/10/dear_prudence_my_fiancee_wants_to_be_in_my_family_photos_at_the_wedding.html
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Samsung selling 1 million mobile devices a day, exec says

Samsung David Eun

Samsung is selling 1 million mobile devices every day, executive vice president David Eun announced this morning at the Samsung Developers Conference at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco. That's phones, tablets — any and all things mobile.

Now the trick is to get them all talking to each other.

"We know many of these devices and screens are connected," Eun said. "This is largely due to the fact that some 40 percent of the population connects to the internet. We hope to build along with you one of the largest platforms in the world for content, services, apps and ads. We call this the connoted home, and the connected life."

More from the conference at our SDC13 page.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/uGpQBZwK5To/story01.htm
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'Vampire Academy' Stars Play 'F---, Marry, Kill' With Your Favorite Bloodsuckers

After Hours guests Zoey Deutch and Lucy Fry get frisky with Edward Cullen, Damon Salvatore and more!

By Amy Wilkinson, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1716360/vampire-academy-lucy-fry-zoey-deutch-marry-kill.jhtml

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African-Americans In Tech: How To Get A 'Black Steve Jobs'

African-Americans are noticeably absent in Silicon Valley, and in tech firms around the country. So now, leaders from historically black colleges and universities are gathering at Stanford University to talk about changing that. Guest Host Celeste Headlee finds out more.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=241385367&ft=1&f=1001
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Nursing students revive teacher who 'died' during class

Amy Hunter, a professor at Uintah Basin Applied Technology College in Roosevelt, Utah, keeps her students engaged. Good thing, too, because the quick-thinking students recently saved her life.

Hunter, 36, has a congenital heart abnormality known as Ebstein's malformation of the tricuspid valve. While Hunter was giving a lecture to her class, her heart stopped beating and she collapsed onto her desk. Students snapped into action, calling 911, alerting office staff to bring a defibrillator and bringing in students from an applied nursing class across the hall.

By a stroke of good luck, there were a half-dozen emergency medical technicians just a few doors from Hunter's classroom, and they tried to stabilize her for transport to a nearby hospital.

Then her heart stopped. Medical technicians worked to clear her airway and shocked her with the defibrillator twice, finally restarting her heart.

"She died and they got her back," Dr. Greg Staker, who helped work on Hunter, told Utah's KSL. "The fact that someone started CPR on her had a huge impact in saving her life."

Hunter's prognosis was grim; her condition necessitated a medically induced coma and the use of a lung bypass machine. But she has steadily improved, although she remains in the hospital.

"If Amy would have been driving, or if Amy had been in her office, or if Amy had been anywhere else at that time," her sister Jodi Reinhardt said, "she probably wouldn't be here with us."

Hunter now needs a heart transplant. Her friends and family have set up a website for donations to help defray the costs of the transplant.

"Amy is a true success story for all the doctors, nurses and support staff that have worked with her over the years," says the donation website. "Her grit, determination and love for life will be the catalyst that will propel her to be entered in rodeos sooner rather than later with a brand new healthy heart."

Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quick-thinking-students-save-utah-professor-s-life-after-her-heart-stops-142037067.html
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