This week's round-up of Good Reads includes a look at elusive and isolated Amazon tribes, signs of progress across Africa, the well-being of Americans, and the savvy of US voters.
By Marshall Ingwerson,?Managing editor / March 15, 2013
A couple runs at dusk along the shore of Lake Hefner, outside Oklahoma City.
Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/AP
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The Amazon Basin is often cited as a global repository of biodiversity. But it?s also the last bastion, perhaps, of human cultural diversity. In Smithsonian magazine, Joshua Hammer recounts the recent spotting of what may be the last two isolated tribes in the Colombian Amazon: the Yuri and the Pass?. They were spotted from airplanes by experts seeking to confirm their existence and to strengthen protections against outside intrusion.
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Mr. Hammer points out that the common term ?uncontacted tribes? is not strictly accurate. These tribes first encountered Spanish explorers seeking gold some 500 years ago. They fled deeper into the jungle to avoid slave traders. Around 1900, the rubber boom brought new slave traders into the rain forest and the tribes fled farther.
They were thought to be extinct, but when a jaguar hunter and his guide disappeared in 1969, the search party ran into a village of people painted with zebralike stripes. None of the native guides could recognize their language, but an expert in the United States identified them as Yuri. Then they disappeared again.
Ironically, for governments to protect the privacy of these native peoples, they must know where they are. Roberto Franco, the Colombian historian who was in the airplane that spotted the Yuri and Pass? settlements, says: ?We must respect their decision not to be our friends ? even to hate us.?
Where Africans make strides
Meanwhile, one continent over, Africa has been shedding its isolation posthaste. The Economist takes a survey of the growing dynamism in the region that still populates the bottom of development rankings.
Life expectancies have increased by 10 percent. Foreign investment has tripled in the past decade. In the next 10 years, consumer spending is expected to triple. Average growth of gross domestic product is running about 6 percent, more African children than ever are in school, cellphones are everywhere, and the countries hit worst with the AIDS crisis have seen infections fall by three-quarters.
The Economist gives the main credit to African people themselves. ?They are embracing modern technology, voting in ever more elections and pressing their leaders to do better. A sense of hope abounds.?
One sign that governance is improving, too: The correspondent visited 23 African countries to research the survey and wasn?t once asked for a bribe ? ?inconceivable only ten years ago.?
?Hey America, how ya doin???
Back in these United States, every year Gallup asks hundreds of thousands of Americans to rate their own well-being from emotional and physical health to their work environment and overall life evaluation. The top-ranked state? Hawaii, for the fourth year in a row. (And Gallup didn?t even ask about the weather. The next two states, after all, are Colorado and Minnesota.) Hawaii residents were most likely to ?experience daily enjoyment and least likely to have daily worry or stress,? says Alyssa Brown in Gallup?s new report. They also most often rated their lives as ?thriving.?
West Virginians were the least ?thriving? in the nation, and ranked lowest in overall well-being. Hawaiians also rated their work environments more highly than did residents of any other state. The lowest? Rhode Island. When it comes to healthy eating, getting exercise, and not smoking, Vermont rules and Kentucky takes the hindmost position. For access to basic services, from affordable food to a safe place to exercise, Massachusetts leads and Mississippi lags.
What the pundits don?t know
If you are tempted to argue with TV political pundits, you?re in good company. Morris Fiorina, a prominent political scientist at Stanford University, says his wife hates political season because of his running argument against what he sees as misinformed cable commentators. In The Forum, a political science quarterly, Professor Fiorina outlines what he, as a political scientist, wishes media talking heads could learn:
?US voters are not becoming more polarized. Congress is. Cable TV and talk radio are. But the moderate middle among voters is not shrinking. ?Most Americans are not ideologues and do not hold extreme views.? Voters have re-sorted themselves: Conservatives have left the Democratic Party for the GOP and liberals have fled the other way. But that?s a shift of parties, not a shift of views.
?The US electorate is closely divided, but there is little evidence that the divide has grown deeper. Fiorina suspects that when the data is available, the 2012 election will prove to have been less intensely divided than the elections in 2008 or 2004.
?The hundreds of millions of dollars spent on political advertising ?probably does not make much difference.? You would never know it from watching TV, but scholars find little evidence of any impact.
?Finally, voters are not stupid. They may be often uninformed and distracted. ?Yet the collective electorate manifests a degree of knowledge and wisdom that gives those of us who have studied that electorate for decades some cause for optimism.?
When I was named as one of the 100 Women Leaders in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in 2012, I was thrilled by the honor of being named to the list, but troubled by the need for the list itself. Sadly, women are vastly underrepresented in the ranks of STEM professionals. In general, we aren't graduating enough qualified professionals in STEM in the United States, and women are an even smaller percentage of this group. While this is a complex problem, I believe that one of the biggest challenges is a lack of credible mentors in the field to excite and inspire students and young employees about the myriad career opportunities that can result from a STEM education.
For me, as a high school graduate, I didn't have a clear picture of what I could do with a math or engineering degree as I was trying to decide on the right education to fit my passions and talents. When I think about the amazing experiences and opportunities I've had working on innovation in highly scientific and technical environments throughout my entire career, it strikes me how lucky I am to have taken this career path. But I had no idea what was possible as I was making big life decisions 20 years ago.
Before I started university, I did a two year on-the-job training as a lab technical assistant at a large food company in Germany. A female mentor encouraged me and helped me make the connection between science, technology and innovation. She explained how my work could help companies grow the top and bottom line and build a sustainable future. We had weekly meetings where she showed me the eventual impact of the work I was doing. This hands-on experience and close working relationship with my mentor made clear the dynamic path ahead of me with my degrees in food science, food technology and nutrition.
Mentors play a critical role in bringing new people -- and particularly women -- to careers in STEM. Female leaders must be role models to advocate for the possibilities of STEM education and support programs that inspire more of our best and brightest students, especially those from underrepresented or disadvantaged groups, to study in STEM fields. In my role, I am able to mentor young employees and encourage students to see STEM in a different light.
I lead teams of food scientists, engineers, inventors, statisticians, nutritionists and product designers, so I know the critical importance of continuing to fill our talent pipeline with high caliber STEM-educated talent. My team develops new, delicious and innovative snacks that consumers enjoy every day. When I talk to students, they are excited by the idea of working on our brands, but they don't make the connection to the need for science, math and engineering to make and deliver foods that are convenient, shelf-stable, safe, and most importantly, taste good. This is the role that mentors in the industry must play: encouraging students to pursue STEM by showing the creative, diverse and unexpected career paths that can result from degrees in these fields.
Industry mentors -- particularly women in positions of influence - are one important link to increasing the pipeline of talent. To encourage more mentors and to help solve the pipeline issue, I -- along with other leaders -- am working to create a STEM Innovation Taskforce. The taskforce is comprised of some of the most experienced and talented professionals in innovation. Members of the taskforce will be asked to act as champions for their focus areas and to help mentees understand the process behind innovation. We are building a network so that connectivity will be a driver of success as young people advance through the program. With the proper resources and the passion driving our members, we believe the task force will create programs that unlock the change needed to develop future STEM leaders.
Throughout my career I have seen the importance of innovation as way to improve many aspects of our everyday lives. And I know from my experience that a STEM education is the foundation of my success. My colleagues and I must return the favor and help develop future generations of leaders by helping them connect the dots from a STEM education to rewarding and impactful careers.
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The business of SXSWi is business: There are panels and attendees focused on such broad topics as disaster relief and the future of creativity, but the dominant theme is how to launch and grow companies. The Collegiate Digital Media Entrepreneurial Tournament is a good place to see this preoccupation in practice. I attended the final round, which featured three student teams being grilled, none too gently, by a panel that included Jim McKelvey, the founder of Square, an engineering director at Google, and executives at smaller companies. Here are the three last finalists, which were whittled down from an initial 64.
RentLingo, a Stanford University project, provides a social way to look for apartments for rent, as well as roommates. The site helps you know where your friends and their connections live, and provides demographic information (from gender split to interests to ages) for distinct neighborhoods drawn from the service's larger database. The ideal user is recently post-college and looking to move to a new city. As a New Yorker, I found the service to make perfect sense. The up-and-coming, affordable-but-cool neighborhood of the moment changes rapidly. This service came in third in the competition. The company's first monetization strategy is lead generation, I was told by cofounder Dan Laufer later in the day. (I ran into him at a PopMech phone charging station across town, where he was getting ready for another entrepreneurs' competition.)
Traverie, an entry from the University of California at Berkeley, taps into social networks for travel recommendations. The idea is have ready access to the insights of your trusted sources for tips on where to go, how to go, and when to go. The site will scour your Facebook friends' photo albums for travel shots, provide forums for asking and answering questions, and give you tools for building up a bucket list. How attractive this is may depend on how broadly your friends have traveled, and your goals. Traverie won't help you become the first person in your circle to ever visit a spot, but that's not important to everyone. #firstworldproblems
TempoRun is a mobile app meant to improve a runner's experience by using music to help him or her maintain a desired pace. The team was from Michigan State University. The app scans the user's music library, and assigns a tempo value, from one through 12, to each one. The app then allows the user to choose playlists grouped by playlist; it will also provide cloud-based music if you prefer. Company founder Joshua Leider (standing on the right in the photo) says that competitive apps speed or slow the tempo of a song to match your running pace. This app does the opposite, hopefully keeping the runner on the tempo of the song. The judges gave this company the win. My analysis: I'd use it, and the nice thing about it is that it is so focused. Like most successful apps, it tries to do one thing well. Leider spun out some potential social functionalities, which aren't hard to guess, but the company is wisely leaving most of that for later releases. TempoRun is only for iOS right now; the plan is for it to become available in mid-April.
Photo by Elina Berzins, a senior at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Graphic Design
Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for March 5, 2013Public release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Megan Hanks mhanks@acponline.org 215-351-2656 American College of Physicians
A special supplement on patient safety strategies will be published with the March 5 issue. In addition to the 10 articles included in the supplement, Annals of Internal Medicine also will publish a special five-page graphic narrative on the topic of medical errors. Please see summaries at the bottom of the page for information. Full text of the graphic novel and articles in the supplement are available upon request.
1. Screening with Colonoscopy May Reduce Risk for Late-stage Cancer By 70 Percent
Screening with sigmoidoscopy yields similar results in cancer of the left colon, but not the right
Using colonoscopy to screen average-risk adults for colorectal cancer (CRC) reduces the risk for diagnosis of late-stage CRC by about 70 percent for both the right- and left-sided disease. Previous trials and observational studies have shown that screening with fecal occult blood tests (FOBT) and sigmoidoscopy reduce the risk for CRC incidence and death, but evidence of the effectiveness of screening colonoscopy has been limited. Researchers reviewed health records for 1,012 average-risk adults between the ages of 55 and 85 to examine the association between screening colonoscopy and incident late-state CRC risk. Case patients (n = 474), or those with advanced CRC at the time of diagnosis, were compared to 538 control patients. Those screened with colonoscopy had a significant overall reduction in the risk for late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis. The authors simultaneously examined the association between screening sigmoidoscopy and late-state CRC risk. They found that screening sigmoidoscopy was associated with a reduction in risk similar to that of colonoscopy for left-sided late-stage CRC, but showed a modest, statistically nonsignificant effect on risk for right-sided colon cancer, which accounts for about 50 percent of new CRC cases in the United States. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00001.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To speak with the author, please contact Katie Delach at 215-349-5964 or katie.delach@uphs.upenn.edu.
2. Mailings Linked to Electronic Health Records Double Colorectal Cancer Screening Adherence Rates
Sending automated mailings linked to electronic health records (EHR) led to twice as many persons adhering to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening recommendations compared to usual care. CRC is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Screening has been proven to reduce morbidity and mortality, but fewer than 60 percent of Americans aged 50? (the recommended age range for screening) report being current for screening. According to the authors, interventions to increase adherence to recommendations for CRC screening are needed. The researchers sought to determine if interventions using EHR, automated mailings, and stepped increases in support could improve CRC screening adherence over two years. They randomly assigned 4,675 adult Group Health patients aged 50 to 73 years who were not current on CRC screening to one of four interventions: usual care; EHR-linked mailings that included a letter, a pamphlet, and a fecal occult blood testing kit ("automated"); automated plus telephone assistance ("assisted"), or automated and assisted plus nurse navigation to testing completion or refusal ("navigated"). These same interventions were repeated in year two. Compared with usual care, patients in the automated group, where letters, pamphlets, and fecal occult blood tests were mailed, completed recommended screening twice as often, for less cost. Patients in the assisted and navigated groups had additional but smaller incremental improvements in adherence. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00002.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Rebecca Hughes at hughes.r@ghc.org or 206-287-2055.
3. Atrial Fibrillation Associated with Higher Risk for Cognitive Impairment, Dementia
Atrial fibrillation is associated with a higher risk for cognitive impairment and dementia, with or without stroke. AF is the most common arrhythmia in the United States, affecting more than 2.7 million Americans in 2010. Three known risk factors for AF heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension are also risk factors for cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment may affect long-term memory, but does not adversely affect daily living. However, dementia is associated with memory and other cognitive impairments that may have a substantial impact on patients, families, and the health care system. For this reason, finding and addressing major risk factors is imperative. Researchers reviewed 21 published studies to assess the association between AF and cognitive impairment. The studies revealed a strong association between AF and cognitive impairment or dementia independent of stroke. The authors suggest that these findings should inspire future research that carefully distinguishes types of dementia. Investigators also should consider cognitive function as a new outcome to be assessed in studies about treatments for AF. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00007.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Ryan Donovan at rcdonovan@partners.org or 617-724-6433.
*Special Section/Supplement
4. Comics Offer an Innovative Way to Enhance Medical Training
Comics, or graphic narratives, may be an effective way to share important medical experiences with physicians in training. The graphic narrative, "Missed It" is being published in Annals of Internal Medicine to illustrate how creative learning tools can enhance medical training by adding an emotional and visual component. "Missed It" tells the story of a medical resident dealing with a seemingly routine case of COPD in the emergency room. The five-page story unfolds in a dramatic and emotionally compelling fashion. According to the author, graphic narratives are not always silly or frivolous, as some may say. They can be used to tell incredibly moving stories about serious topics. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00013
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Scott Gilbert at sgilbert1@hmc.psu.edu or 717-531-1887.
5. Special Supplement Focuses on Top 10 Strategies to Improve Patient Safety Now
Between 44,000 and 80,000 patients die each year in the United states from diagnostic errors. Another 68,000 patients die of bed sores, and many thousands of patients die from teamwork and communication errors or failure to receive evidence-based interventions. Patient safety is a significant public health issue that requires strategic intervention. In 2000, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commissioned a report analyzing and rating nearly 80 different patient safety strategies (PSSs). Since the report was issued, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers gained a greater understanding of the epidemiology of errors and preventable harms. The burden is larger than previously thought. In a major effort to help health care systems protect the safety of patients, the AHRQ developed a report identifying the top 10 patient safety strategies ready for immediate use. If widely implemented, these 10 strategies have the potential to vastly improve patient safety and save lives, according to the report. Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices assess the evidence for 41 patient safety strategies and strongly encourages that 10 be adopted now. The strategies can help prevent harmful events such as medication errors, bed sores, and healthcare-associated infections. Ten of the 41 strategies are being published in a special supplement to Annals of Internal Medicine at http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00010.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Alison Hunt at alison.hunt@ahrq.hhs.gov or 301-427-1244.
###
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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.
Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for March 5, 2013Public release date: 4-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Megan Hanks mhanks@acponline.org 215-351-2656 American College of Physicians
A special supplement on patient safety strategies will be published with the March 5 issue. In addition to the 10 articles included in the supplement, Annals of Internal Medicine also will publish a special five-page graphic narrative on the topic of medical errors. Please see summaries at the bottom of the page for information. Full text of the graphic novel and articles in the supplement are available upon request.
1. Screening with Colonoscopy May Reduce Risk for Late-stage Cancer By 70 Percent
Screening with sigmoidoscopy yields similar results in cancer of the left colon, but not the right
Using colonoscopy to screen average-risk adults for colorectal cancer (CRC) reduces the risk for diagnosis of late-stage CRC by about 70 percent for both the right- and left-sided disease. Previous trials and observational studies have shown that screening with fecal occult blood tests (FOBT) and sigmoidoscopy reduce the risk for CRC incidence and death, but evidence of the effectiveness of screening colonoscopy has been limited. Researchers reviewed health records for 1,012 average-risk adults between the ages of 55 and 85 to examine the association between screening colonoscopy and incident late-state CRC risk. Case patients (n = 474), or those with advanced CRC at the time of diagnosis, were compared to 538 control patients. Those screened with colonoscopy had a significant overall reduction in the risk for late-stage colorectal cancer diagnosis. The authors simultaneously examined the association between screening sigmoidoscopy and late-state CRC risk. They found that screening sigmoidoscopy was associated with a reduction in risk similar to that of colonoscopy for left-sided late-stage CRC, but showed a modest, statistically nonsignificant effect on risk for right-sided colon cancer, which accounts for about 50 percent of new CRC cases in the United States. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00001.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To speak with the author, please contact Katie Delach at 215-349-5964 or katie.delach@uphs.upenn.edu.
2. Mailings Linked to Electronic Health Records Double Colorectal Cancer Screening Adherence Rates
Sending automated mailings linked to electronic health records (EHR) led to twice as many persons adhering to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening recommendations compared to usual care. CRC is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Screening has been proven to reduce morbidity and mortality, but fewer than 60 percent of Americans aged 50? (the recommended age range for screening) report being current for screening. According to the authors, interventions to increase adherence to recommendations for CRC screening are needed. The researchers sought to determine if interventions using EHR, automated mailings, and stepped increases in support could improve CRC screening adherence over two years. They randomly assigned 4,675 adult Group Health patients aged 50 to 73 years who were not current on CRC screening to one of four interventions: usual care; EHR-linked mailings that included a letter, a pamphlet, and a fecal occult blood testing kit ("automated"); automated plus telephone assistance ("assisted"), or automated and assisted plus nurse navigation to testing completion or refusal ("navigated"). These same interventions were repeated in year two. Compared with usual care, patients in the automated group, where letters, pamphlets, and fecal occult blood tests were mailed, completed recommended screening twice as often, for less cost. Patients in the assisted and navigated groups had additional but smaller incremental improvements in adherence. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00002.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Rebecca Hughes at hughes.r@ghc.org or 206-287-2055.
3. Atrial Fibrillation Associated with Higher Risk for Cognitive Impairment, Dementia
Atrial fibrillation is associated with a higher risk for cognitive impairment and dementia, with or without stroke. AF is the most common arrhythmia in the United States, affecting more than 2.7 million Americans in 2010. Three known risk factors for AF heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension are also risk factors for cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment may affect long-term memory, but does not adversely affect daily living. However, dementia is associated with memory and other cognitive impairments that may have a substantial impact on patients, families, and the health care system. For this reason, finding and addressing major risk factors is imperative. Researchers reviewed 21 published studies to assess the association between AF and cognitive impairment. The studies revealed a strong association between AF and cognitive impairment or dementia independent of stroke. The authors suggest that these findings should inspire future research that carefully distinguishes types of dementia. Investigators also should consider cognitive function as a new outcome to be assessed in studies about treatments for AF. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00007.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Ryan Donovan at rcdonovan@partners.org or 617-724-6433.
*Special Section/Supplement
4. Comics Offer an Innovative Way to Enhance Medical Training
Comics, or graphic narratives, may be an effective way to share important medical experiences with physicians in training. The graphic narrative, "Missed It" is being published in Annals of Internal Medicine to illustrate how creative learning tools can enhance medical training by adding an emotional and visual component. "Missed It" tells the story of a medical resident dealing with a seemingly routine case of COPD in the emergency room. The five-page story unfolds in a dramatic and emotionally compelling fashion. According to the author, graphic narratives are not always silly or frivolous, as some may say. They can be used to tell incredibly moving stories about serious topics. A link to this article will be live at 5:00 p.m. on March 4 http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00013
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Scott Gilbert at sgilbert1@hmc.psu.edu or 717-531-1887.
5. Special Supplement Focuses on Top 10 Strategies to Improve Patient Safety Now
Between 44,000 and 80,000 patients die each year in the United states from diagnostic errors. Another 68,000 patients die of bed sores, and many thousands of patients die from teamwork and communication errors or failure to receive evidence-based interventions. Patient safety is a significant public health issue that requires strategic intervention. In 2000, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) commissioned a report analyzing and rating nearly 80 different patient safety strategies (PSSs). Since the report was issued, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers gained a greater understanding of the epidemiology of errors and preventable harms. The burden is larger than previously thought. In a major effort to help health care systems protect the safety of patients, the AHRQ developed a report identifying the top 10 patient safety strategies ready for immediate use. If widely implemented, these 10 strategies have the potential to vastly improve patient safety and save lives, according to the report. Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices assess the evidence for 41 patient safety strategies and strongly encourages that 10 be adopted now. The strategies can help prevent harmful events such as medication errors, bed sores, and healthcare-associated infections. Ten of the 41 strategies are being published in a special supplement to Annals of Internal Medicine at http://www.annals.org/article.aspx?doi=10.7326/0003-4819-158-5-201303050-00010.
Note: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview the lead author, please contact Alison Hunt at alison.hunt@ahrq.hhs.gov or 301-427-1244.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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 YORK (AP) ? A baby delivered after his parents were killed in a Brooklyn hit-and-run accident died early Monday, a community spokesman said.
Isaac Abraham, who serves as a spokesman for the family's Orthodox Jewish community, said the child died around 5:30 a.m.
Police were searching for the driver of a BMW and a passenger who fled on foot after slamming into a livery cab, killing the young pregnant woman and her husband.
"This guy's a coward and he should pay his price," said Abraham, adding that the community wants a homicide prosecution.
Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, were looking forward to welcoming their first child into their tight-knit community of Orthodox Jews.
The horrific crash happened in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn as the couple headed to a hospital.
The engine of the livery car ended up in the backseat, where Raizy Glauber, who was seven months pregnant, was sitting before she was ejected, Abraham said. Her body landed under a parked tractor-trailer, said witnesses who raced to the scene after the crash. Nachman Glauber was pinned in the car, and emergency workers had to cut off the roof to get him out, witnesses said.
The Glaubers both were pronounced dead at hospitals, and the medical examiner said they died of blunt-force trauma. Doctors had delivered the baby by cesarean section.
Neighbors and friends said the boy weighed only about 4 pounds. The Glaubers' livery cab driver was treated for minor injuries at the hospital and was later released. Both the driver of the BMW and a passenger fled and were being sought, police said.
Meanwhile, police said the registered owner of the BMW, who was not in the car, was charged with insurance fraud. Police said Takia Walk, 29, was arrested Sunday. They did not have any details regarding the charge.
On Saturday, Raizy Glauber "was not feeling well, so they decided to go" to the hospital, said Sara Glauber, Nachman Glauber's cousin. Abraham said the Glaubers called a car service because they didn't own a car, which is common for New Yorkers.
The Glaubers were married about a year ago and had begun a life together in Williamsburg, where Raizy Glauber grew up in a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbinical family, Sara Glauber said.
Raised north of New York City in Monsey, N.Y., and part of a family that founded a line of clothing for Orthodox Jews, Nachman Glauber was studying at a rabbinical college nearby, said his cousin.
Brooklyn is home to the largest community of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside Israel, more than 250,000. The community has strict rules governing clothing, social customs and interaction with the outside world. Men wear dark clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat and often have long beards and ear locks.
Jewish law calls for burial of the dead as soon as possible, and hours after their deaths, the Glaubers were mourned by at least 1,000 people at a funeral outside the Congregation Yetev Lev D'Satmar synagogue.
Afterward, the cars carrying the bodies left and headed to Monsey, where another service was planned in Nachman Glauber's hometown.
Casey Anthony is protected from the media by her attorney Cheney Mason as she arrives at the United States Courthouse for a bankruptcy hearing Monday, March 4, 2013, in Tampa, Fla. Anthony has not been seen in public since being acquitted in 2011 of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Casey Anthony is protected from the media by her attorney Cheney Mason as she arrives at the United States Courthouse for a bankruptcy hearing Monday, March 4, 2013, in Tampa, Fla. Anthony has not been seen in public since being acquitted in 2011 of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Casey Anthony is protected from the media by her attorney Cheney Mason as she arrives at the United States Courthouse for a bankruptcy hearing Monday, March 4, 2013, in Tampa, Fla. Casey has not been seen in public since being acquitted in 2011 of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
FILE -In this July 17, 2011 file photo, Casey Anthony, center, walks out of the Orange County Jail with her attorney Jose Baez, left, during her release in Orlando, Fla. Anthony comes out of seclusion for a meeting with the creditors in her bankruptcy case in Tampa Monday March 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool, File)
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? After 19 months of seclusion, Casey Anthony emerged into the public spotlight once again on Monday for a meeting with creditors in her bankruptcy case.
Dressed all in black, Anthony arrived at the federal courthouse in Tampa with her attorney, Cheney Mason, several hours early for the bankruptcy meeting. The pair was mobbed by photographers as they made a short walk to the courthouse.
Anthony's hair was long and dark and she wearing a sunglasses, black heels and stockings and carrying a black hat. She appeared flustered and hurried and did not address the media.
Anthony, 26, has not made any public appearances since she left jail in July 2011 after being acquitted of murder in the death her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
Anthony filed for bankruptcy in Florida in late January, claiming about $1,000 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities. Court papers list Anthony as unemployed, with no recent income.
Her listed debts include $500,000 for attorney fees and costs for her criminal defense lawyer during the trial, Jose Baez; $145,660 for the Orange County Sheriff's office for investigative fees and costs; $68,540 for the Internal Revenue Service for taxes, interest and penalties; and $61,505 for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for court costs.
The filling also stated that she was a defendant in several lawsuits, including one brought by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez for defamation in Orange County Circuit Court.
Fernandez-Gonzalez said her reputation was damaged by Anthony telling detectives that a baby sitter by the same name kidnapped Caylee. The detectives were investigating the 2008 disappearance of the girl, who later was found dead. Anthony's attorney said details offered by Anthony did not match Fernandez-Gonzalez and clearly showed Anthony wasn't talking about her.
Anthony had not been seen in public since she left an Orange County jail on July 16, 2011, 12 days after she was acquitted of murdering Caylee but convicted of lying to investigators and sentenced to four years in jail. With credit for the nearly three years she spent in jail since August 2008 and good behavior, she had to serve only several days when she was sentenced July 7.
Leaving jail just after midnight, Anthony was hustled into an SUV by her then-attorney, Jose Baez, and drove off, disappearing from public view.
The case drew national attention ever since Caylee was reported missing. Cable network HLN aired the entire trial, with pundit and former prosecutor Nancy Grace sharply criticizing Anthony nightly. Vitriol poured into social networking sites after the acquittal, with observers posting angry messages on Twitter and Facebook's "I Hate Casey Anthony" page.
Outraged lawmakers in several states responded by passing so-called Caylee's laws that allow authorities to prosecute parents who don't quickly report missing children. And many still speculate about what really happened to Caylee: Was she suffocated with duct tape by her mother, as prosecutors argued? Or did she drown in an accident that snowballed out of control, as defense attorneys contended?
Caylee's remains were found in December 2008 in woods near the home Casey Anthony shared with her parents.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Gay advocacy group GLAAD says Madonna will present CNN's Anderson Cooper with an award for openly gay media professionals.
GLAAD told The Associated Press on Saturday that the singer has been chosen to give Cooper the Vito Russo Award at the 24th annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City on March 16.
GLAAD President Herndon Graddick says Madonna and Cooper are longtime friends who have both used their careers to support lesbian, gay and transgender people.
Cooper declined to speak publicly about his sexuality for years. But last July he gave blogger Andrew Sullivan permission to publish an email in which Cooper said he was gay and "couldn't be more happy."
Russo helped found GLAAD and wrote a book about gay people in the movies called "The Celluloid Closet."
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama has phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin, welcoming Russian cooperation on international efforts to confront Iran's nuclear ambitions. The White House says the two men also discussed the ongoing violence in Syria, a topic that still divides Washington and Moscow.
The White House says Putin and Obama agreed to hold their own meeting in June on the sidelines of the upcoming meeting of leading industrial nations in Northern Ireland. Obama also told Putin he looked forward to visiting St. Petersburg for the meeting of leading rich and developing nations in September.
The White House says Putin and Obama welcome "substantive and constructive consultations" by Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over a political transition in Syria.
Identity theft is a huge black market industry, costing US consumers $1.52 billion in 2011 and stealing headlines all last year. Here are five habits that all but guarantee you'll become just another statistic in 2013—and how to break them. More »
CARACAS (Reuters) - Ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been undergoing "tougher" new treatment for cancer, including chemotherapy at the military hospital where he has been for the past two weeks, his vice president said.
Speaking after a Catholic Mass to pray for Chavez's health, Nicolas Maduro described how the socialist president had personally given the order to leave Cuba in mid-February, two months after his latest cancer surgery there.
"He said, 'I've taken the decision to return to Venezuela, I'm going to enter a new phase of complementary treatments, tougher and more intense, I want to be in Caracas,'" Maduro said in the comments late on Friday.
"Do you know what the complementary treatments are? They are the chemotherapies applied to patients after operations," he added outside a chapel in the Caracas military hospital.
Apart from one set of photos showing Chavez in a Havana hospital bed, he has not been seen or heard from in public since the December 11 surgery in Cuba, his fourth operation since the disease was detected in mid-2011.
Chavez had previous rounds of chemo- and radiotherapy, which at times left him bald and bloated. He twice wrongly declared himself cured.
Furious at rumors swirling all week that Chavez may have died, Maduro said chemotherapy was only possible because his condition had actually improved in January after a delicate few weeks following the December operation.
Chavez's No. 2 urged Venezuelans to be on guard against "rumor-mongers" and "destabilizes," saying right-wing politicians in the United States were in league with Venezuela's opposition to spread lies about his boss.
"Sadly, the opposition live in a world of hatred, wrongdoing, bad feelings and bad desires," Maduro said, adding that Chavez had become sick from overworking.
"He neglected his own body to give our people his work, his love, his life," Maduro said, confirming Chavez was still using a tracheal tube to breathe and was communicating with family and aides through written messages and other "creative" means.
'THEY MUST SHOW HIM'
Opposition leaders have accused Maduro of lying about Chavez's condition. Several dozen anti-government students have chained themselves up in public to demand proof that the president is alive and in Venezuela.
"We challenge Nicolas Maduro to say where Hugo Chavez is. They must show him," opposition leader Pablo Medina said during a visit on Saturday to the students in Caracas.
Chavez's family and supporters are smarting at the crescendo of rumors that surfaced this week in news media and on the Internet. They have ranged from a claim by a Panamanian diplomat that Chavez's family had switched his life support off, to a Spanish newspaper report he had gone to die on an island refuge.
"Let's see, let's see, gentlemen in the laboratory, what rumors have you prepared for us today?" said Information Minister Ernesto Villegas.
Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela, complained about the media scrutiny of her face during the Mass on Friday night. Her somber expression was interpreted by some on Twitter as a sign her father was near death.
"I can't be happy if my father is ill ... In the next Mass, I'll have to dance and laugh," she tweeted.
Should Chavez die or step down, a vote would be held within 30 days, probably pitting Maduro against opposition leader and state governor Henrique Capriles for leadership of a nation that holds the world's biggest oil reserves. Capriles lost to Chavez in last year's election.
The stakes are also high for the region. Chavez has been the most vocal Latin American critic of Washington and financed hefty aid programs for leftist governments from Cuba to Bolivia.
(Additional reporting by Mario Naranjo; Editing by Peter Cooney)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will unveil a new look for its popular "newsfeed" next week, the latest move by the Web company to revamp key elements of its 1 billion member social network.
Facebook will showcase the newsfeed makeover at a media event on March 7 at its Menlo Park, California headquarters, the company said in an emailed invitation to reporters on Friday.
The event will be Facebook's second high-profile product event this year, following the rollout of its social search feature in January.
Facebook's newsfeed, which displays an ever-changing stream of the photos, videos and comments uploaded from a user's network of friends, is one of the three "pillars" of the service, along with search and user profiles, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has said.
The last major update to Facebook's newsfeed was in September 2011. Since then, the company has incorporated ads directly into the feed and the company has shifted its focus to creating "mobile first experiences," as more people now access the social network every day on mobile devices than on desktop PCs.
The mobile version of Facebook still lacks many of the features available on the PC version, said Brian Blau, an analyst with industry research firm Gartner. "So maybe this is a way to bring some of that together," he said.
Shares of Facebook, the world's No.1 social network, were up nearly 2 percent, or 52 cents, at $27.77 in midday trading on Friday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
Warren Buffett's annual shareholders letter says Berkshire Hathaway's 14.4 percent gain trailed the S&P's performance. That's happened only eight other times in 48 years that Buffett has owned Berkshire Hathaway.?
By Alex Crippen,?CNBC Executive Producer / March 2, 2013
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., arrives at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2012. Mr. Buffett called the company's $24 billion gain 'subpar' in his annual shareholders letter, because it should outperform the S&P 500 index over time.
Paul Sakuma/AP/File
Enlarge
Warren Buffett called 2012 "subpar" in his?annual letter to shareholders?as Berkshire Hathaway's per-share book value rose 14.4 percent, less than the S&P 500's 16-percent increase.
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It's the ninth time in 48 years this has happened. Buffett notes that the S&P has outpaced Berkshire over the past four years and if the market continues to gain this year the benchmark stock index could have its first five-year win ever.
"When the partnership I ran took control of Berkshire in 1965, I could never have dreamed that a year in which we had a gain of $24.1 billion would be subpar ... But subpar it was."
Buffett notes that while he believes Berkshire's intrinsic value will probably beat the S&P by a "small margin" over time, the company's relative performance is better when the market is down or unchanged. "In years when the market is particularly strong, except us to fall short."
Even so, Buffett warned that he and partner Charlie Munger "will not change yardsticks. "It's our?job?to increase intrinsic business value ? for which we use book value as a?significantly understated proxy?? at a faster rate than the market gains of the S&P." If they are successful, Berkshire's share price will beat the S&P "over time."
Berkshire's boss did have praise for his two new investment managers, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, writing that "we hit the jackpot with these two." Buffett said they both outperformed the S&P by "double-digit margins" in 2012. Using a very small font, Buffett added, "They left me in the dust as well."
Buffett also expressed disappointment that Berkshire didn't make a major acquisition last year. "I pursued a couple of elephants, but came up empty-handed."
Echoing what?he told us?after Berkshire announced two weeks ago that it's teaming up with 3G Capital for a?$23 billion acquisition?of?H.J. Heinz, Buffett said even though that deal accounts for much of what Berkshire earned last year, "we still have plenty of cash and are generating more at a good clip."
"So it's back to work; Charlie and I have again donned our safari outfits and resumed our search," Buffett said.?(Read More:?Warren Buffett: 'I'm Ready for Another Elephant')
Buffett criticized "hand-wringing" from CEOs who "cried 'uncertainty' when faced with capital-allocation decisions." Berkshire, he said, spent a record $9.8 billion on plants and equipment last year. "We will keep our foot to the floor and will almost certainly set still another record for capital expenditures in 2013. Opportunities abound in America."
Buffett still sees an opportunity in local newspapers. Berkshire has spent $344 million to buy 28 dailies, and Buffett expected more purchases of "papers of the type we like" at "appropriate prices."
Even though he still believes overall newspaper industry profits are "certain"?to drop, Buffett likes smaller community-oriented newspapers that provide local news and information that can't be obtained elsewhere. "Wherever there is a pervasive sense of community, a paper that serves the special informational needs of that community will remain indispensable to a significant portion of its residents."
Buffett isn't a fan of giving that information away for free on the Internet, pointing out that an Arkansas paper has retained its circulation "far better than any other large paper in the country" after it was an early adopter of a pay model.For its fourth quarter, Berkshire's operating earnings per share came in at $1704, below the consensus estimate of $1755 from the few analysts who follow the firm.?(Read More:?We Want Your Questions for Warren Buffett)
The company's net earnings were $4.55 billion in the quarter, up from $3.05 billion in last year's Q4. That includes "paper" gains for derivatives contracts Berkshire has sold that provide insurance against losses for some corporate bonds and stock indexes.
The bond-related contracts will expire in the next year. Buffett expects they will generate a $1 billion pre-tax profit. After unwinding about 10 percent of its exposure in 2010 at a profit of $222 million, the remaining stock index contracts will expire between 2018 and 2026.
Mar. 1, 2013 ? The first spacecraft NASA has designed to fly astronauts beyond Earth orbit since the Apollo era is well on its way to making a flight test next year, agency officials said Wednesday. The mission is planned for launch in September 2014, and will see an Orion capsule orbit Earth without a crew and return through the atmosphere at speeds unseen since astronauts last returned from the moon in 1972.
"It's a key element of our overall plan to get humans beyond Earth orbit as quickly as we can," said Dan Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Division.
Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1, will be the first chance engineers get to test Orion's design in space. Flying atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket, the spacecraft will be pressurized as it would be if astronauts were onboard. It will orbit Earth twice on a track that will take it more than 3,600 miles above us, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station.
From that height, Orion will be steered to a re-entry at speeds of about 20,000 mph, slamming into the atmosphere to test whether the heat shield will protect the spacecraft adequately.
"It allows us to stress the heat shield in conditions that are very close to what we will see coming back from a region around the moon," said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager. "This is going to help us make our heat shield lighter, safer and more reliable."
Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the spacecraft will carry scores of instruments. Even the heat shield will have instruments to measure temperature and plasma flow around the spacecraft as it endures the searing conditions of high-speed reentry.
Engineers will use the readings to update computer models and refine designs for the spacecraft, ground support equipment and the in-development Space Launch System rocket. The agency also will provide the data to the agency's commercial partners developing their own spacecraft.
Orion will land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean where recovery teams from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Department of Defense will retrieve it and return it to Florida.
Just as the mission will help spacecraft designers, the recovery will show those on the ground what to expect when they begin retrieving crews after long missions into deep space, said Pepper Phillips, director of the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program based at Kennedy.
"The teams are exercising some static tests now, but we're going to be ready with this full-up active test of a live spacecraft," Phillips told reporters who had gathered in the Young-Crippen Firing Room at Kennedy for the update Feb. 27.
The firing room, which has been refurbished and extensively modified since last hosting a space shuttle launch, will give engineers direct links to the Orion after it is powered up later this year. Launch controllers will follow the mission from the same firing room, as well.
NASA designed Orion as a versatile spacecraft able to handle the hardships of flying safely far beyond Earth's atmosphere to take astronauts to distant destinations such as an asteroid and Mars. Starting in 2017, Orion spacecraft will be paired with the agency's Space Launch System (SLS), a massive rocket in development more powerful than the Saturn V that propelled astronauts to the moon.
Although EFT-1 will focus largely on testing the Orion spacecraft, it also will aid the teams designing and building the SLS, said Todd May, program manager for the new booster.
"There are a lot of things about this mission that helps SLS," May said. "A lot of this data we're going to use to understand the structural properties, the aero-loading, the guidance navigation and control that we feed back into our calculations."
The SLS team, based at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., designed and built an adapter ring for this mission that will connect Orion's broad base with the much narrower Delta IV second stage.
While the Orion spacecraft takes shape inside the Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy, the heat shield's skin and skeleton have been finished. The heat-resistant coating will be applied next month and the all-important component will be shipped to Kennedy in July for attachment to the spacecraft.
NASA has designed the mission to evaluate how the spaceship behaves in 10 of the 16 highest risk areas for a crew. Avionics systems, software and the myriad other elements that go into a spacecraft are expected to get a rigorous workout. Those elements are making their way into the spacecraft in a careful procession as Lockheed Martin builds up Orion into a working spacecraft.
"We all have these great (computer) models but when you fly in the real environment, does it behave as you expect," Geyer said.
The flight will begin a series of flight tests for the Orion and Space Launch System programs as the agency moves toward launching astronauts into space in 2021. Orion is scheduled to fly a second test mission in 2017 aboard the first Space Launch System booster.
Along the way, engineers also will conduct smaller-scale flight tests to evaluate the performance of specific systems such as the escape rocket designed to pull a crew out of harm's way in the event of an emergency during launch and ascent.
The progression from concept drawings to working with mockups and replicas to building the actual spacecraft reinvigorates the teams, the officials said.
"I think it helps keep the team's morale up and you want to see a steady beat of successes as you move forward," May said.
"Now we're actually doing it," Geyer said. "It shows you that we're putting the expertise into actually making it happen."
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Think back, if you can, to the days of legwarmers, leotards and the complexity that was the archetypal aerobics class ? complicated dance moves taking you to the point of crashing and burning exhaustion. These were the days when all most people knew about fitness is that if you want to be healthy you need cardio. While fitness trends have evolved and changed, cardio is ever-present but how much do you actually understand it?
Could you give a good definition of cardio? Why is it important? And, what exercises or workouts involve cardio? The world of health and fitness has never been as exciting, varied and progressive as it is in 2013. However, it?s worth not forgetting some of the basics of exercise which will never go out of fashion or favor.
What is cardio? Cardio is short for cardiovascular, and is exercise that benefits a healthy heart system as well as your respiratory functions. In essence, cardio, or aerobic exercise is when you raise your heart rate is raised above normal and maintained over a certain period of time. On a basic level, if you?re feeling the pace and you?re breaking out in a sweat then you?re more likely than not working out at an aerobic level.
What is the cardio heart rate? Many wear heart rate monitors so that they monitor as they exercise, which is vital in working out at the right intensity. With your heart rate monitor you can aim for different levels of cardio. Most people use a monitor by calculating their Maximum Heart Rate (MHR), a rough approximation is: 220 ? your age. From there they aim for different levels of intensity.
Low intensity is 60-70% of your MHR
Moderate intensity which will tone and aid weight loss is 70-80%
High intensity ? a real fat burner is 80-90%
Maximum ? for short bursts such as interval training is 90-100%
Why is cardo important? Many fitness professionals advocate cardio work with other forms of exercise that perhaps focus more on building and toning muscles. However, aerobic workouts will definitely yield some great results:
Strengthen heart & lungs
Improve body?s ability to maintain health
Burn fat and help you lose weight
Boost metabolism
Reduce stress
Release energy
What exercises are cardio? A a general rule of thumb, if your routine is more focused on stretching the less likely it is to incorporate cardio. There are some great ways to get your heart rate high:
Fitness class ? aerobics, step, dance fitness
Treadmill
Ellipticls
Rowing machine
Cycling
Swimming
BOSU
PX90
TRX Suspension Training
Jump rope
Numerous reasons exist as to why cardio should count in your life, and many ways in which you can raise the intensity and the tempo of your exercise routine. Check your workout intensity and make sure you?re working at a comfortable, optimal pace. Don?t be afraid to work up a sweat, there?s nothing as exhilarating as a good exercise session!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barely a minute into a U.S. Supreme Court hearing, liberal justices began a strategic barrage of questions that came down to this: Why should a time-honored plank of the 1965 Voting Rights Act be invalidated in a case from Alabama with its history of racial discrimination?
What followed constituted a classic example of how justices can try to use oral arguments to dramatic effect and influence a swing vote justice. Key players were Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, appointees of President Barack Obama and the newest members of the bench. The likely target of their remarks: Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who is often the decisive fifth vote on racial dilemmas.
"Think about this state that you're representing," Elena Kagan told the lawyer arguing against the law on Wednesday. "It's about a quarter black, but Alabama has no black statewide elected officials."
Focusing on Shelby County, Alabama, the southern locale that brought the case, Sotomayor asked, "Why would we vote in favor of a county whose record is the epitome of what caused the passage of this law to start with?"
Those liberals were addressing lawyer Bert Rein, but their comments seemed aimed more at Kennedy, often the swing vote on the nine-member court. While appearing overall open to Shelby County's claims, Kennedy quickly picked up on their line of inquiry, asking Rein how a county with a record of bias would be "injured" by the 1965 provision that was intended to prevent discrimination.
One of the most closely watched disputes of the term, the case centers on the civil rights-era law that broadly prohibited poll taxes, literacy tests and other measures that prevented blacks from voting. In the 1960s, such laws existed throughout the country but were more prevalent in the South with its legacy of slavery. Specifically at issue is a provision - designed to be temporary and that Congress has continued to renew - that requires certain states, mainly in the South, to show that any proposed election-law change does not discriminate against African-American, Latino or other minority voters.
The Shelby County challengers say the kind of systematic obstruction that once warranted treating the South differently is over and the screening provision should be struck down.
Convincing Kennedy of lingering problems in Alabama may be liberals' best hope of stopping the conservative majority from invalidating what's known as Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
The Obama administration, backed by civil rights advocates, says the provision is still needed to deter voter discrimination. Kennedy's comments during the 75-minute session suggested he was sympathetic to Shelby County's claim that in modern times different states should not be treated differently. Yet the liberals' assertions clearly gave him some pause.
The onslaught, particularly from Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice, and Kagan, known for asking piercing questions, served as a reminder of how the justices often use oral arguments to try to make their cases. These sessions, which let dueling attorneys present their claims at the lectern, give the justices their first chance to lay the groundwork for their ultimate discussion and vote on a case. The nine justices are due to meet in private on Friday to discuss the merits of the case. An opinion can take months to write, and the decision is not likely to be handed down until June.
LAW'S RELEVANCE ENDURES
Voting rights remain a prominent issue. During the 2012 presidential election campaign, judges nationwide heard challenges to new voter identification laws and redrawn voting districts. The most restrictive moves, including those from places covered by the screening provision in Section 5, ended up being blocked before the November elections.
In Shelby County over the years, Sotomayor asserted, Section 5 had prevented "240 discriminatory voting laws" from taking effect. In a 2008 incident, the city of Calera in Shelby County put in place a redistricting plan that led the one African American on the city council to lose his seat. After the Justice Department forced Calera to redraw the map, the council member regained his seat.
Rein did not challenge Sotomayor's numbers, but he said black-voter registration and turnout in Alabama were "very high." He said evidence on the ground was irrelevant when officials are lodging a broad-based challenge to a law. His main argument was that the criteria by which states fall under Section 5 are outdated. The formula can be traced to electoral practices in the late 1960s and ?70s. The nine fully covered states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued that Congress compiled a sufficient record to demonstrate that the decades-old formula continues to target the places with the most serious problems of voting discrimination.
Much of the give-and-take on Wednesday echoed arguments in a 2009 challenge to Section 5. In that case from Texas, the five most conservative justices, including Kennedy, voiced doubts about whether Congress had valid grounds to continue singling out the South. Both times Kennedy questioned whether a separate provision of the Voting Rights Act, known as Section 2 and covering intentional acts of discrimination, did not sufficiently protect minorities. Four years ago, the court ended up ruling narrowly and avoiding the larger question about the scope of Congress' power to enforce voting rights.
A marked difference in Wednesday's dynamic stemmed from the additions of Sotomayor and Kagan, who succeeded Justices David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively, in 2009 and 2010, and who are more forceful at oral arguments.
Kennedy signaled he wants to make sure that states are able to address their own problems without Washington's intervention.
"If Alabama wants to have monuments to the heroes of the civil rights movement," he asked Verrilli, "if it wants to acknowledge the wrongs of its past, is it better off doing that independent sovereign or ... under the trusteeship of the United States government?"
Verrilli said Congress found that many places because of deep-seated discrimination still needed oversight. Said Verrilli: "Of fundamental importance here is that that history remains relevant."
(Reporting by Joan Biskupic; Editing by Howard Goller and Tim Dobbyn)
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Public release date: 4-Mar-2013
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Think back, if you can, to the days of legwarmers, leotards and the complexity that was the archetypal aerobics class ? complicated dance moves taking you to the point of crashing and burning exhaustion. These were the days when all most people knew about fitness is that if you want to be healthy you need cardio. While fitness trends have evolved and changed, cardio is ever-present but how much do you actually understand it?