A 12-year-old Katy girl charged with murder in the shooting death of her father last month will remain free until her case goes to trial, a Harris County juvenile judge ruled this afternoon. In a closed hearing, State District Judge Michael Schneider heard evidence the teen would be supervised by her stepmother and her stepmother’s parents, the girl’s attorney, Windi Akins Pastorini, said.
Pirates captured after attacking a Dutch vessel have gone on trial in the liberal Netherlands and at least two of them have declared their intention to stay on as residents. Geert-Jan Knoops, an international criminal law attorney and professor at the Royal University of Utrecht, has suggested that the Dutch trial might encourage pirates to surrender just in order to seek a better life in Western countries. “These trials may trigger other pirates to let themselves be arrested on purpose,” he told the Volkskrant newspaper.
The Pentagon says it has no plans to repeal the don’t ask-don’t tell policy for gay troops. Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday that the military’s top leaders have only had initial discussions with the White House about whether gay troops should be open about their sexuality. Under current rules, openly gay troops can be discharged from the U.S. military. Morrell said the White House has not asked for the 1993 policy to be scrapped.
In an escalation of arguments over closing a prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, a top Pentagon official says members of Congress must rethink their opposition to accepting these detainees into the United States. Michele Flournoy is President Barack Obama’s new Pentagon policy chief. She says members of Congress need to remember that closing the stigmatized prison in Cuba will mean hard choices for everyone. She spoke after Senate Democrats said they won’t pay for closure until the administration delivers a satisfactory plan for what to do with the detainees.
Retired NYPD sergeant arrested after allegedly robbing a Long Island bank.
A retired NYPD sergeant who was heavily in debt and having marital problems held up a Long Island bank yesterday, police said. Thomas Feeney, 46, who did security work at Scores strip club after leaving the force in 1994, walked into a branch of the Roslyn Savings Bank in Huntington Station and presented a note to a teller, Suffolk County cops said.
HP to lay off 6,400 employees over the next year.
As a gauge of how personal computer sales are faring, Hewlett-Packard Co.’s quarterly results clouded the issue rather than provided clarity. HP’s profit dropped 17 percent to $1.72 billion and sales fell 3 percent to $27.4 billion in its fiscal second quarter, dragged down by lighter sales in two key areas — PCs and printer ink. The company also announced more layoffs: some 6,400 workers, or 2 percent of HP’s global staff of 321,000, will lose their jobs over the next year as the company shrinks its product divisions.
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Work for Google? Plan to quit? They probably knew before you did.
Concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete, Google Inc. is tackling the problem with its typical tool: an algorithm. The Internet search giant recently began crunching data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories in a mathematical formula Google says can identify which of its 20,000 employees are most likely to quit. Google officials are reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested. The inputs include information from surveys and peer reviews, and Google says the algorithm already has identified employees who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving.
The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint over the clothes and accessories purchased for Gov. Sarah Palin and her family on the campaign trail. The Republican National Committee bought designer outfits during Palin’s vice presidential run last fall. Wardrobe and related expenses reportedly ran more than $150,000 and included purchases from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.
Joe Six-Pack may have to hand over nearly $2 more for a case of beer to help provide health insurance for all. Details of the proposed beer tax are described in a Senate Finance Committee document distributed to lawmakers in advance of a closed-door meeting Wednesday. Senators are focusing on how to pay for expanding health insurance for an estimated 50 million uninsured Americans, a cost that could range to some $1.5 trillion over 10 years. You can’t raise that from beer money alone.
A MAN being mauled by a bull mastiff in Sydney yesterday was only saved when a passer-by clubbed the dog with a steel bar. The 10-minute attack began when the dog grabbed the arm of Tensai Tran, 56, and pulled him to the ground as he walked to Lidcombe train station about 11.50am (AEST). Witnesses said the man’s face was chewed to bits by the dog. “There was blood everywhere and his chin is gone,” a witness told the Ten Network.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has dropped its prosecution of a New Mexico man accused of arranging over the Internet to meet an underage girl in Layton for sex after his attorney argued that the stress of the case could kill him. At the request of prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups dismissed the case last week without prejudice, meaning the charge of enticement for illegal sexual activity could be refiled later. The defense attorney for Reinaldo Canton, an Air Force major who is now retired, said his client has an aortic dissection, a life-threatening condition in which a tear develops in the large blood vessel branching off the heart.
China has warned the EU not to interfere in its affairs, at a summit previously delayed by a row over Tibet. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the two sides should “stick to the principles of mutual respect and not interfere in each other’s internal affairs”.
As many as 1,000 people who used ATM cards to buy gas at a Redondo Beach service station have become victims of thieves who intercepted their personal information and withdrew $200,000 from their bank accounts, police said Wednesday. Theft reports began trickling in to the police station on May 12, but ballooned as the week progressed. The common denominator: Each victim had used a automated teller machine card at the Arco station at Prospect Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.
Gun safety IS very important however this is definitely NOT the way to go about it.
A 26-year-old Phoenix man accidentally killed himself early Sunday while explaining gun safety to two Sierra Vista residents. Samuel Benally Jr. was at an apartment on West Tacoma Street when he said guns should be kept unloaded because people could point them at their heads, said Sierra Vista police Sgt. Brett Mitchell. Benally then demonstrated by putting his own 9mm Ruger, which he believed to be unloaded, to his head and firing it, Mitchell said.
Quote of the day.
The trouble with this country is that there are too many politicians who believe, with a conviction based on experience, that you can fool all of the people all of the time.
-Franklin Pierce Adams