Washington Mudslide: With 2 Bodies Still Missing, Authorities End Search

Posted on April 28, 2014 by earl m

Its been 5 weeks since a Mudslide trampled homes and claimed 43 lives. Out of those 43, rescuers and volunteers desperately dug and recovered 41 bodies. The search for the 2 remaining bodies has stopped while the rescue and clean-up teams regroup and rest.

Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said today that “its’ a difficult decision because two people are still missing.” So far, 41 victims have been recovered. He said 11 people were saved the day of the March 22 slide about an hour northeast of Seattle.

Trenary also said that with the remains of two people still buried under the rubble, the so-called “active search” has also been halted because of deep pools of water and adverse weather which has created dangerous conditions.

“Mother nature is what’s stopping us and it’s time to take a pause and take a break.”

Other authorities said the two remaining bodies may never be recovered, but they have not lost hope. Spotters will now continue searching “Passively” during the disaster clean up.

The two remaining bodies are Steven Hadaway, 53, and Molly Kristine “Kris” Regelbrugge, 44. Regelbrugge and her husband bought a home there in 2007, while Hadaway was installing a satellite dish for a woman who was also killed by the slide.

http://time.com/79912/mudslide-search-ends/

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/04/officials-are-ending-search-for-oso-mudslide-victims/

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How Should the NBA Punish Donald Sterling?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by raymond

During the past couple of days, Donald Sterling went from being an average owner of a sports team to a common household name.  Normally, becoming a household name is a good thing, but in this case it is not.  Sterling was caught on an audio tape making racist remarks towards blacks and minorities.  This has caused a public outrage from fans, players, analysts, other owners, and pretty much everyone.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time for the LA Clippers because they are currently in a tight playoff series with the Golden State Warriors.  Before one of the games, the players turned their warmups inside out in a silent protest of Donald Sterling’s comments.  Sponsors have come out and said they no longer want to be associated with the Clippers and that they were pulling their sponsorship.  The question is, what should or can the NBA do to punish Donald Sterling?

Sterling’s racially charged comments were made in private and just recorded.  They were made public later on.  Yes, the comments are horrible and ignorant, but can the NBA punish someone for making comments in private?  If everyone’s private conversations were made public, we would all be in some hot water with someone.  I am in no way defending Donald Sterling or the comments he made, but I am just not sure what the NBA can do.  Can they force him to sell the team?  I’m not sure, but there are some big decisions to be made.  This will be the first true test for the new NBA commissioner Adam Silver.  He’s got a lot of pressure on him to make the ‘right’ decision whatever that may be.

 

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Thoughts on the end of the school year

Posted on April 28, 2014 by wnmcelveen

Tomorrow is the last day of the semester for this first year UCF student, and I’m ready for a much needed break.  I can honestly say my first year at UCF has been unlike any other.  I truly do love UCF and am proud to be a Knight, but after the toughest year of my college career, I’m glad it’s over.

My first semester here, it was a lot to get used to.  I had just moved from home for the first time, and the classes were unlike anything I’d ever experienced before.  When I graduated with my AA from the small state college in my hometown, the largest class size I’d ever been in was maybe 40-50 at the most.  My first semester, I had no class less than 80 students, so it took a little getting used to.  And the size of the campus itself… I don’t think I’ve ever been on any single property that large before.  But eventually I got used to the majority of the change.

Then, time for a new semester.  I was now officially in the Radio/Television major, and as soon as a started my classes, I felt at home.  Although, the work load was a little more than I was anticipating.  In the end, I managed to make it through most of my classes with my GPA still attached, haha.

By this time I’d become a little more comfortable.  My class sizes were a lot closer to what I was used to, and I’ve managed to make some new friends, which is something that’s difficult for me to do.  It was a pleasure working with my group-mates on several projects in my single cam class, and I enjoyed the experience in my two film classes I’m taking for my minor.

I’ve managed to learn more than I expected both this semester and this year.  The only cons I can think of would be a couple of extremely dull classes (only one each semester, which isn’t bad, so I can’t complain), and a professor that just does not care about students or for how he teaches his class.  I come from a long line of proud teachers and educators, so nothing burns me more than a professor that outright tells you that he has tenure and if you don’t like him, too bad, deal with it.  Professors should be in it for the students and teaching, if you don’t care about students, then what are you doing in a classroom?  But that’s a discussion for another time, so I digress.

All in all, this year has been an amazing experience for me, albeit with a few issues along the way, but what school year doesn’t?  Haha!

It’s been a pleasure spending my year at UCF, and I can’t wait until next school year… or, on second thought, maybe I can, haha.  But hopefully next year will be just as good!

Have a great summer everyone!

Posted in Education, General | Comments Off on Thoughts on the end of the school year

Hunter-Reay Takes Barber By Storm

Posted on April 28, 2014 by dougcampbell06

2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay has had an up-and-down start to his 2014 season. The road course expert scored a second place finish to start the year at St. Petersburg and looked to have strong form headed into Long Beach for the second race of the season, sitting on pole for the California classic. Then an incident late in the race between Hunter-Reay and teammate James Hinchcliffe threw a battle for the lead out the window along with the cars of several other drivers. Entering the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, Hunter-Reay looked to rebound from the embarrassing Long Beach wreck and continue his championship form in the hills of Alabama.

Qualifying showed Will Power to be the quickest driver of the week, laying down a blistering lap in the 1:08s on worn Firestone reds. Hinchcliffe rebounded from his disappointing finish at Long Beach by joining Power on the front row, qualifying just a few hundredths ahead of Hunter-Reay. Josef Newgarden was also involved in the Andretti skirmish during the previous race, but didn’t show any signs of slowing down with a fourth place qualifying effort. Scott Dixon was the only member of a struggling Chip Ganassi Racing operation to make the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying and finished ahead of only 2013 title rival Helio Castroneves in the final session.

Sunday’s race was initially delayed by over an hour due to severe storms passing through the Birmingham area that included lightning and flooding of the track. Once the storms had passed, spectators resumed their positions and track officials made sure the track was in raceable condition. Once the green flag dropped, Power immediately began to set sail from the rest of the pack. However, the Australian road course expert made an unusual mistake by missing the hairpin on lap 16 and handing the lead to Hunter-Reay. The driver of the #28 DHL Honda never looked back and comfortably held the lead after pit stop cycles put Sebastian Saavedra in the lead for a short time. A late wreck by Michael Aleshin caused the race to end under yellow when the race hit it’s allotted time to be run.

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment

Will Neil Young’s Pono Music Player Create New Waves for the Music Industry?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by alyssakelly

Neil Young has created the Pono Music Player that is meant to be high quality sounds on a digital device.  Digital music can easily be poor quality compared to the actual versions of the albums.  Neil Young’s Pono is meant to be a solution for having your good quality music on the go.  You do have to buy the Pono Player, and the player will have it’s own “iTunes” if you will.  Meaning you have to pay for these high quality albums that you want.

Do you think the Pono Player will be able to hold its own next to smartphones and iPods?  Seems like there is only a small niche of people that will actually want to spend more money to have better quality.  Memory is abundant on technology now.  Usually we want our music free, and easy to store so we can bring it anywhere.  The Pono Player won’t make it as easy.  They will charge of their music, and the triangular shape of the device makes it not so pocket friendly.

I can see how the idea of the Pono Player may have sounded better, but reality  may be a little different.  Many people will not want to pay a lot for music she it is so easy to find online.  Plus the price may be steep for what people are looking for.  People are always looking for the best bargain and this doesn’t quite sound like one.  It’s hard to say if this new device will successfully meet what it was intended for or if it will be a flop.

But, if you do like high quality music, and need a device to put it on, the Pono Player may be your next buy for your music collection.

http://www.ponomusic.com/#home

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A Man Pretending To Be A Deputy Pulls A Women Over And Tried To Force Her And Her Friends Out Of The Car

Posted on April 28, 2014 by the one and only

Three women from Seminole county said that they were driving in Geneva, Florida when they were pulled over by someone that was posing as a Seminole county deputy officer. The deputies said that 27-year old Joseph Bradford had turned on a fake blue and red police lights on his pickup truck and had pulled the women over on Snow Hill Road near State Road-426. Joseph Bradford is now facing one felony for impersonating a law enforcement officer due to him using the lights said the authorities. Bradford is also facing three felonies for false imprisonment because he pulled over the women and tried to force them out of the truck.

The victim named Ember Bothwell and her friends had thought that they were the one in trouble on Sunday night when Joseph Bradford, had pulled them over because they thought that they had done something wrong. The three women were on their way back from a friend’s house with a child in the back seat from when Bradford pulled them over in his car, a 1995 Ford Ranger, said the deputies. The three women felt that something wasn’t right, so then they rolled up their window, wrote down Bradford’s tags and then called 911.

The women that was driving named Morgan Wordlow, said that Bradford looked like one of those creepy guys that you see on the news. When the three women refused to get out of the car, Bradford drove off. The driver Bothwell, had told Bradford “If you are not in a uniform, I am not going to trust you and even if you are in uniform, I am going to check to make sure you are a cop”. The real deputies pulled Bradford over down the road and they arrested him. Joseph Bradford bonded out of jail Monday morning but refused to speak with anyone. The victims said that they think Bradford should have gone to prison and stayed there.

The suspects’ brother said that Bradford would never force people out of their truck and said that Bradford was most likely upset because the women cut him off and were speeding but the women said that wasn’t true. This made the women feel unsafe and uncomfortable and that it will be harder for them to trust cops because they won’t know who is actually a real cop. Joseph Bradford has had a number of traffic citations including a leaving the scene charge.

 

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Drug trafficing: a pandamic that has ruined too many lives

Posted on April 28, 2014 by laurentm

We all know how drugs affect people who are addicted to it. Many dies from them, and even more people who are addicted to them lose family, friends, and even them selves. Should we blame them for being addicted to these drugs? Absolutely they share part of the blame but not all of it. Should we punish the drug dealers who distribute these poisons to the people of society? With out a doubt we should, but that doesn’t stop this problem. The people that should be taken down are the people who are producing and distributing the drugs to people, which are the drug cartels.

The Drug Cartels old most of the blame for this problem; they are reckless, greedy, and do not care about any one but thm selves. They will extort, physically hurt and even kill innocent people just so that they can continue their buisness and make lots of money. These are bad people who only care about expanding their wealth who dont care about what their “product” is doing to the people who use them. Places have become extremely dangerous to live in because of these Drug Cartels. Places like Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, and even Puerto Rico have become deadly places to live because of this dangerous trade.

The issue with the drug wars is that even though govornments across the world have tried to stop them, the drugs will continue to be made, people will still distribute it and people will still use them. There is so many holes to plug that it seems impossible, but it is not. We as a society have to enforce and stand united against drugs. We have to help the ones who have become addicted to them and help the one’s that sell them. The one thing we can’t do is just sit and watch people die, we have to act against these actions and do what we can so that future generations won’t have to deal with this problem.

Posted in Crime, Environment, Health, Politics, War and Conflicts, World News | Comments Off on Drug trafficing: a pandamic that has ruined too many lives

Best Paying Jobs In America

Posted on April 28, 2014 by samantha young

With college graduation on the horizon, only time will tell if our 30k+ student debt was really worth it. To give us all an idea about our future success, or demise, here is the list of the best jobs in America. If you’re lucky, you’re career is on the list! If you’re me, you’ll simply read and sob a little to yourself.

10. Industrial-Orginizational Psychologist ($124, 160)- Despite the ‘psychologist’ title, this field involves working with the company’s HR, management, and marketing department.

9. Computer and Information Systems Managers ($125,660)- IT managers plan and implement a company’s  IT strategy.

8. Marketing Manager ($126,190)- The best MM’s make a great living because they’re good at what they do: getting their company’s message out to the public. Years of experience is highly required though.

7. Natural Science Manager ($128,230)- Natural sciences managers supervise scientists in such fields as biology, physics and chemistry, and split their time between office and lab work. 

6. Architectural and Engineering Managers ($129, 350)- Becoming an architectural and engineering manager requires a bachelor’s degree, at minimum, and experience working in the industry. California, Texas, and Alaska are the best locations for this career. 

5. Lawyer ($130, 490)- Lawyers typically need a bachelors degree and three years of law school.

4. Petroleum Engineers ($138,930)- Most petroleum engineers hold a bachelors and work in a coop during their degree earning.

3. Chief Executive Officer ($176, 550)- A bachelors and an MBA may help you in this field, but it is the experience earned in your career that most qualifies you for this role.

2. Dentist & Orthodontists ( $204,670)- Orthodontists earn about $204,670 and dentist earn maybe 40K less and require 8 years of school and written exams.

1. Doctors & Surgeons ($234,950)- It goes without saying that  the medical is the most lucrative of the bunch but also requires the most years in school. However, the payoff is outstanding if you have the brain for it.

Posted in Economy, General | Comments Off on Best Paying Jobs In America

What Should Be Done About Donald Sterling?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by l.susan

It has now been a few days since the tape that recorded who is believed to be Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, saying racist and discriminatory statements about black people to his mistress was leaked. The reactions have been furious to say the least. In a league dominated by African American men and driven by African American stars, that is of now surprise.

Between the time TMZ released the tape and today, both Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan have publicly and furiously stated that Sterling has no place in the NBA and should not be allowed to be an owner in this league. LeBron James of the Miami Heat has stated similarly after a post-game interview two days ago, and commissioner Adam Silver is now directing an investigation against Sterling. Even the players of his own team had their own protest. Before their game yesterday against the Golden State Warriors, the players all gathered in the middle of the court and removed their warm-up shirts with the Clippers logo and warmed up in their practice shirts turned inside out to hide the team name printed on it.

However, at the end of the day, what can the NBA do to get rid of this man? The most they can do is suspend him and find him a million dollars, which is the maximum the NBA can fine someone in the Association. But surely, with all the outrage within the league to get rid of this man, something has to be done.

In my opinion, the answer lies with corporate sponsors. I think all of those companies do not want to be represented by someone who is a blatant racist, and are going to threaten to quit doing business with him. I think that the players and coach Doc Rivers also come into play. With the way that they reacted and Doc Rivers, who is not only the coach but is in charge of all basketball operations, pondering his return next season, I believe ultimately Sterling will be force out one way or the other.

One thing is for sure, in a league that is pretty much 80% African American, there is absolutely no place for someone like Donald Sterling. He must go. The quicker the better.

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Egyptian Court Sentences 683 People to Death

Posted on April 28, 2014 by aspiringauthor

The Egyptian court recently sentence 683 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, including its leader Mohamed Badie. The supporters were sentenced to death in order to crackdown on the people they feel have the potential to begin protests and political violence as an election soon approaches. The court hearing allegedly only lasted 10 minutes to decide the fate of these 683 individuals. As a result, many family members of those convicted have stated that they were unjustly put on trial and one woman was quoted stating the following “My son does not even pray, he does not even know where the mosque is.”

Those who were sentenced were accused of being involved in a murder and attempted murder of several of the Egyptian province of Minya’s policemen on August 14. However, on that same day these policemen killed hundreds of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s former president, supporters in clashes with Cairo. Defense lawyers have boycotted the trial calling it “farcical.” The United Nations has been stated calling the mass death sentence a breach of international human rights. The lawyer Elkomy claims that 60% of those sentenced have been proven to not have been present at the events that took place on August 14. However, the Egyptian government has backed the court for its mass death sentence by stating that it was only passed “after careful study” and that these people were subject to appeal.

Furthermore, Prosecutor Abdel Rahim Abdel Malek has claimed the following “We have strong evidence that incriminates all those sentenced to death. We have videos, witness accounts… documents that prove that the Muslim Brotherhood had called on its supporters to attack police stations and public and private property in case the sit-in at Rabaa al-Adawiya (in Cairo) was broken up, and that’s what happened,” he said. In addition, Amnesty International has said that at least 1,400 people have been killed by policemen since Mohamed Morsi was overthrown.

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