Wednesday, October 29, 2008

N.Y. faces crushing crisis, governor warns

Economic downturn, Wall Street meltdown could mean $47 billion deficit

NEW YORK - Calling the impact of the national economic crisis and the Wall Street meltdown worse than the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Gov. David Paterson said Tuesday that New York faced a mammoth budget deficit of $47 billion over the next four years that may require a 25 percent across-the-board spending cut.

“New York is at the epicenter of an extraordinary financial crisis on Wall Street,” Paterson said at a news conference where he released the state’s mid-year financial reports. “We will have no choice but to take bold and aggressive action to reduce state spending.”

Read full story MSNBC

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

200 sex assault cases pass prosecution deadline before LAPD tested DNA kits

The cases are part of a backlog of 7,000 DNA kits that the department has not tested, according to an audit by City Controller Laura Chick. Police say they don't have enough money.

As many as 200 potential sexual assault cases have gone without prosecution because Los Angeles police officials failed to meet legal deadlines to test DNA evidence that might have identified a suspect, according to a city audit released Monday.

The audit was the second critical assessment of LAPD forensic work in as many weeks. A confidential report obtained by The Times last week disclosed shoddy work by the department's fingerprint experts that had falsely implicated people in crimes.

Read full story Los Angeles Times

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Nebraska to rewrite 'safe haven' law

Lawmakers agree to cap child's drop-off age to no more than 3 days old

LINCOLN, Neb. - Stung by the abandonment of children as old as 17 at Nebraska hospitals, the governor and lawmakers struck a deal Monday to rewrite the state's "safe haven" law so it applies only to infants up to three days old.

A rash of drop-offs in recent months, particularly those of teenagers and from out of state, thrust the state into the national spotlight. The law was ridiculed on an episode of "Saturday Night Live" this past weekend.

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Falling oil prices give consumers a break

It might not prompt Americans to spend, but the drop in oil prices -- now below $70 a barrel -- could help many stay afloat.

Oil prices coughed up all of their 2008 gains and then some Thursday, stopping only after crashing below the $70-a-barrel barrier, a level not seen since the summer of 2007.

The betting money is that oil still has much further to fall, perhaps as low as $50 a barrel before the end of the year.

Economists say that would give beleaguered U.S. consumers the rough equivalent of a new economic stimulus package, dragging retail gasoline prices back down as low as $2.20 a gallon nationally. Natural gas and heating oil prices also are cratering, which would help with winter heating bills.

Read full story Los Angeles Times

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Home construction falls sharply in September

WASHINGTON -- Construction of new homes plunged by a bigger-than-expected amount in September as builders slashed production to the slowest pace since early 1991, when the country was in a deep recession.

A barometer of future building also dropped to the weakest level in more than 25 years.The building industry is on pace to construct the fewest new homes and apartments this year since the end of World War II.

The Commerce Department reported today that construction of new homes and apartments dropped by 6.3 percent last month, a much bigger decline than the 1.6 percent decrease that had been expected. It pushed total production to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 units. That's the slowest pace since January 1991, when the U.S. was in a recession and going through a similar painful housing correction.

Read full story Los Angeles Times

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Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Killer who claimed he was too fat is executed

Supreme Court rejected appeal that Ohio man could not be killed humanely

CINCINNATI - Ohio executed a 5-foot-7, 267-pound double murderer who argued his obesity made death by lethal injection inhumane.

Richard Cooey, 41, died at 10:28 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, said Jim Gravelle, a spokesman with state attorney general's office.

There were no immediate reports of difficulties finding suitable veins to deliver the deadly chemicals, a problem that has delayed previous executions in the state.

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Point blank

Shooting of a soldier in Iraq by a member of his own unit raises questions

It was a cool, clear night at Q-West base in northern Iraq, and Army Sgt. Dwayne Cole was restless. On his second tour of duty in Iraq, Sgt. Cole was counting the days — 37 — until he could return home to Brooklyn. He finished a late gym workout and was heading back to his bunk around 1 a.m. when he noticed some friends were still up in another combat housing unit (CHU).

Cole, a solidly built 28-year-old with an easy smile, stopped in to visit. His friends, two privates and another sergeant, were watching re-runs of CSI on television in the two-cot room. Cole picked up a car magazine and thumbed through it.

He began to relax, no easy feat given that he had survived two roadside bomb attacks on this tour alone. But the feeling was fleeting. Within minutes, Cole was on the floor with blood gushing from his neck. He had been shot — not by enemy fire, but at point-blank range by a member of his own unit.

Read full story MSNBC

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