First Woman Executed in the U.S. in Five Years

AP

This 2007 file photo provided by newsPRos shows Teresa Lewis, 41, is scheduled to die by injection Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010 for trading sex and money in the hired killings of her husband and stepson in October 2002.

JARRATT, Va. -- The first woman executed in the United States in five years was put to death in Virginia on Thursday for arranging the killings of her husband and a stepson over a $250,000 insurance payment.

Teresa Lewis, 41, died by injection at 9:13 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. She became the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly a century. Supporters and relatives of the victims watched her execution at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Lewis enticed two men through sex, cash and a promised cut in an insurance policy to shoot her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and his son, Charles, as they were sleeping in the couple's mobile home in October 2002. Both triggermen were sentenced to life in prison and one committed suicide in 2006.

Lewis appeared tearful, her jaw clenched, as she was escorted into the death chamber. She glanced tensely around at the 14 assembled corrections officials before being bound to a gurney with heavy leather straps.

In the moments before her execution, Lewis asked if her husband's daughter was there.

Kathy Clifton, Lewis' stepdaughter, was in an adjacent witness room blocked from the inmate's view by a two-way mirror.

"I want Kathy to know that I love her and I'm very sorry," Lewis said.

Then, as the drugs flowed into her body, her feet bobbed but she otherwise remained motionless. A guard lightly tapped on her shoulder reassuringly as she slipped into death.

More than 7,300 appeals to stop the execution -- the first of a woman in Virginia since 1912 -- had been made to the governor in a state second only to Texas in the number of people it executes.

Texas held the most recent U.S. execution of a woman in 2005. Out of more than 1,200 people put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 have been women.

The 41-year-old woman, who defense attorneys said was borderline mentally disabled, had inspired other inmates by singing Christian hymns in prison. Her fate also had drawn appeals from the European Union, an indignant rebuke from Iran and the disgust of thousands of people.

The Lewis execution stirred an unusual amount of attention because of her gender, claims she lacked the intelligence to mastermind the killings and the post-conviction emergence of defense evidence that one of the triggermen manipulated her.

Lewis' supporters also said she was a changed woman. They pointed to testimonials from former prison chaplains and inmates that Lewis comforted and inspired other inmates with her faith and the hymns and country gospel tunes she sang at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women where she was long held.

Hours before her execution, Lewis met with family, her spiritual adviser and supporters at the Greensville Correctional Center.

Her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Julie Perry, stood sobbing as she later witnessed the execution, clutching a religious book.

Throughout her life, a faith in God had been a seeming constant for Lewis -- whether it was the prayer with her husband or her ministry behind bars.

But by her own admission, Lewis' life has been marked by outrageous bouts of sex and betrayal even as she hewed to the trappings of Christianity.

"I was doing drugs, stealing, lying and having several affairs during my marriages," Lewis wrote in a statement that was read at a prison religious service in August. "I went to church every Sunday, Friday and revivals but guess what? I didn't open my Bible at home, only when I was at church."

Her father said she ran off to get married, then later abandoned her children and ran off with her sister's husband. Then she had an affair with her sister's fiance while at the same time having an affair with another man.

Lewis' life took a deadly turn after she married Julian, whom she met at a Danville textile factory in 2000. Two years later, his son Charles entered the U.S. Army Reserve. When he was called for active duty he obtained a $250,000 life insurance policy, naming his father the beneficiary and providing temptation for Teresa Lewis.

Both men would have to die for Lewis to receive the insurance payout.

She met at a Walmart with the two men who ultimately killed Julian Lewis and his son. Lewis began an affair with Matthew Shallenberger and later had sex with the other triggerman, Rodney Fuller. She also arranged sex with Fuller and her daughter, who was 16, in a parking lot.

On the night before Halloween in 2002, after she prayed with her husband, Lewis got out of bed, unlocked the door to their mobile home and put the couple's pit bull in a bedroom so the animal wouldn't interfere. Shallenberger and Fuller came in and shot both men several times with the shotguns Lewis had bought for them.

Outside the correctional center Thursday evening, those opposed to the execution protested with signs and banners on a grassy knoll. Critics said they were repulsed by Virginia's killing of a woman.

"Tonight the death machine exterminated the beautiful childlike and loving spirit of Teresa Lewis," said her lawyer, James Rocap.

Israel confirms US put assurances in writing

JERUSALEM The Palestinian president warned on Sunday that he would not accept a U.S.-backed proposal for resuming peace talks unless Israel stops building homes for Jews in disputed east Jerusalem.

Mahmoud Abbas' position complicated already troubled American efforts to restart peace talks. Israeli hard-liners say they won't accept the proposed 90-day moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank if it also includes east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians say there can't be peace talks if Israel continues to build homes in captured territories where they want to establish an independent state. And in Cairo on Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said any construction freeze must include east Jerusalem "first and foremost."

"If the moratorium does not apply to all Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem, we will not accept it," Abbas said after consultations with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

In other news Sunday, an Israeli military court handed down three months' suspended sentence to two soldiers convicted of using a 9-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield during last year's Gaza Strip war. The soldiers were also demoted.

The military bars troops from using civilians as human shields, and the soldiers' conviction last month was the most serious yet in connection with the war. It appeared the sentence was light as the soldiers had reportedly faced up to three years in prison. The men will serve no jail time if they stay out of trouble for the next two years.

The court said the soldiers asked the boy to open bags in a building they took over, fearing explosives were inside.

Israel has faced widespread criticism that it failed to properly investigate alleged wrongdoing by troops during the three-week military operation. Some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including more than 900 civilians, according to Palestinian figures and international human rights groups.

The Palestinians claim the West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for a future independent state.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian government in the West Bank broke down just weeks after they began with the expiry of an earlier, 10-month building slowdown in the West Bank.

With the fate of Mideast peacemaking hanging in the balance, the U.S. has been pushing Israel to impose a new moratorium to draw Palestinians back to the negotiating table. As an incentive, Washington has offered Israel a fleet of next-generation stealth warplanes and promises to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations.

But the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which holds the swing votes in the inner Cabinet that is to vote on the moratorium, has demanded a written assurance from the U.S. that construction in east Jerusalem not be affected. The U.S. has agreed to provide a written statement detailing the moratorium's deals, but Shas said Sunday that the statement had not yet arrived.

Israel claims east Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Mideast war, as an integral part of its capital. Palestinians hope to establish their future capital in east Jerusalem.

A Netanyahu spokesman refused to comment on the state of talks with the U.S. The initial moratorium did not apply to east Jerusalem, though in practice, construction was curbed there, as well as in the West Bank. A total of 500,000 Jews live in both areas.

Netanyahu also faces criticism within his own Likud Party, where several ministers have endorsed a settler campaign against construction limitations. Hundreds of Jewish settlers many of them youths who skipped school demonstrated against any construction limits outside Netanyahu's office on Sunday.

"We came here as a part of our campaign to prevent the great damage that the renewal of the moratorium and submitting to American pressure can do to Israel's self interest," said Dani Dayan, a leader of the settlers' umbrella council.

Netanyahu was set to meet with Likud's parliamentary faction and with opposition leader Tzipi Livni of the Kadima Party. Livni, a former foreign minister, could potentially join his hard-line coalition as a dovish counterweight.

A Netanyahu spokesman characterized both meetings as "routine."

The U.S. hopes a renewed moratorium will allow Israel and the Palestinians to make significant progress toward working out a deal on their future borders. With borders determined, Israel could resume building on any territories it would expect to keep under a final peace deal.

A former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, had harsh words for the dealmaking. He accused Washington of preparing "to reward Israel for its bad behavior."

Writing in The Washington Post on Saturday, Kurtzer also warned that America's commitment to Israel's security once insulated from politics would become "merely a bargaining chip with which to negotiate what Jerusalem will or will not do to advance the peacemaking."

______

Associated Press reporter Maggie Michael contributed to this report from Cairo.

First Chevy Volt Sold for $225,000 to NASCAR Team Owner

GM

What do you do after winning five straight NASCAR titles? Buy a Chevrolet Volt, of course.

Rick Hendrick, owner of the NASCAR Sprint Cup team that runs the car of five-peater Jimmie Johnson - along with those of Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – purchased the first Volt built for sale. And he picked it up for the low, low price of $225,000 dollars.

Hendrick purchased the Volt – which carries as sticker price of $41,000 - in an auction held to benefit science, math, technology and engineering studies in the Detroit Public Schools System, which will receive the proceeds from the sale.

“This was an opportunity to own a piece of history while giving back to the community,” Hendrick wrote in a press release. The longtime Chevrolet dealer opened for business in 1976 and got involved in the top tier of stock car racing in 1984. His team currently fields Chevrolet Impala race cars.

The Volt has been named the best car of the year from both Motor Trend and Automobile Magazine, and is a finalist for the 2011 North American Car of the Year award, which will be announced at the Detroit Auto Show in January 2011.

The vehicle, described by Chevrolet as an “extended range electric car” can travel up to 50 miles on battery power before needing to turn on its internal combustion engine and operate as a hybrid for longer journeys. General Motors expects to sell approximately 15,000 of the vehicles worldwide in 2011, before increasing production to 45,000 the following year.

NY senator pleads not guilty to embezzling charges

NEW YORK A New York state senator who was the Senate's Democratic leader and his son have pleaded not guilty to charges they embezzled more than $500,000 from their New York City health clinic.

Sen. Pedro Espada and his son Pedro Gautier Espada entered the pleas Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn. Bond was set for each at $750,000.

Federal and state authorities have accused the pair of raiding the clinic's coffers to spending spree that included Broadway shows and a down payment on a Bentley automobile.

The clinic is a federally funded not-for-profit in the Bronx known as Soundview, which the senator founded 30 years ago.

The elder Espada was the Senate majority leader, but was stripped of the title after the indictment was released. He lost his re-election bid in the fall.

Kentucky con man receives 2 life sentences for killing Wisconsin couple in 1980

JEFFERSON, Wis. JEFFERSON, Wis. (AP) An aging con man who confessed to killing five people over 20 years and wrote an autobiography detailing his life of crime was sentenced to two life terms in prison Monday, his second such sentence in as many weeks.

Edward W. Edwards sat quietly during the hearing, handcuffed in his wheelchair about 20 feet from his victims' family. The 77-year-old did not address them and showed no emotion, spending much of the hearing with his head drooped, facing the ground.

The victims' family members cried as relatives talked about their pain and grief since the 1980 murders of 19-year-old Wisconsin sweethearts Tim Hack and Kelly Drew.

"You are a lying, evil murderer and God is saving a special place in hell for you," said Drew's mother, Norma Walker. She told Edwards he deserved to be hanged.

Kelly Drew's sister, Wendy, said she wanted him to suffer.

"I'm glad that Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty because I want this despicable piece of garbage to fester in prison as long as possible," she said in a statement read to the courtroom.

Edwards also has confessed to killing a couple near Akron, Ohio, in 1977 and was sentenced 10 days ago to two life terms in that case. In a jailhouse interview with The Associated Press last week, he said he had killed a fifth man a 24-year-old he considered to be his foster son. He said he was talking about the killing because he wanted the death penalty. Ohio has the death penalty; Wisconsin does not.

Edwards, of Louisville, Ky., was arrested in July after DNA connected him to the deaths of Tim Hack and his girlfriend, Kelly Drew, who disappeared from a Wisconsin wedding reception in August 1980. Their bodies were found weeks later in the woods. Investigators believe Hack was stabbed and Drew strangled.

Edwards agreed to a plea deal earlier this month in which he admitted to both the Wisconsin murders and the killing of Judith Straub, 18, of Sterling, Ohio, and Bill Lavaco, 21, of Doylestown, Ohio. He shot each of them in the neck in a Norton, Ohio, park.

He was sentenced to two life terms for those slayings and under a plea deal will serve his prison time in Ohio. Ohio has the death penalty, but Edwards wasn't eligible for it because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidated the punishment between 1974 and 1978. It is unclear if he could receive it for the fifth slaying; he has not been charged, and Ohio juries must find offenders guilty of a serious secondary offense such as rape, arson or aggravated robbery in addition to aggravated murder.

Edwards spent much of his life running from the law, landing on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in 1961. In his 1972 autobiography, "Metamorphosis of a Criminal," he wrote he spent the 1950s and early 1960s drifting across the country, stealing cars, robbing banks and gas stations and seducing women he met along the way.

Report: NASCAR May Send Points System to the Scrap Heap

Reuters

Jimmie Johnson makes a pit stop in the final laps as he won the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship at the Ford 400 race in Homestead, Florida November 21, 2010.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  NASCAR is considering scrapping the points system it has used since 1975 in favor of a simpler method that awards points per finishing position, The Associated Press has learned.

The overhauling of the system is one of a handful of changes NASCAR is considering implementing before the season begins next month. Series officials have been detailing their ideas in individual meetings with teams, a person who attended one of the briefings told The AP on Monday.

The person spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because NASCAR has not finalized its upcoming changes.

The sanctioning body wants to go to a scoring system that would award 43 points to the race winner, and one point less for each ensuing position down to one point for the 43rd-place finisher.

NASCAR is also shying away from wholesale changes to its Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format.

NASCAR chairman Brian France floated the idea last July of shaking up the Chase to create more drama to the 10-week series that determines the Cup champion. Among France's suggestions were widening the 12-driver field, instituting elimination rounds, and adding any other drama that could create "Game 7" type moments rivaling those from other professional sports leagues.

But teams have been told NASCAR is leaning toward keeping it a 12-driver field, with one caveat: The top 10 drivers following the 26th race of the season would qualify for the Chase, while the remaining two spots would go to the drivers with the most wins who are not already eligible for the Chase.

NASCAR officials have also told teams they aren't leaning toward adding eliminations.

Preseason testing begins Thursday at Daytona International Speedway, and NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president of competition Robin Pemberton are scheduled to discuss some of the changes planned for 2011.

But the major announcements aren't scheduled until next week when France makes a presentation during Charlotte Motor Speedway's annual media tour.

France and his top officials found themselves in a precarious position at the end of last season, which was marked by the closest championship race in seven years. France had already publicly toyed with the idea of changing the Chase, which was implemented in 2004 to spice up NASCAR's championship system.

"Right now every sports league, or almost every one, is looking at what they need to do to change their formats a little or a lot, depending on who they are, to make sure their playoffs or their championship runs are what they want them to be," France said two days before the November season finale.

Three drivers went into the season finale eligible to win the championship. It went to Jimmie Johnson, who overcame a 15-point deficit to Denny Hamlin in the final race to win his record fifth consecutive title.

Because the system seemingly worked as the Chase played out last season, sweeping changes did not seem necessary.

The points system, though, apparently is a different matter.

NASCAR legend claims the current system was devised on a napkin over drinks at a Daytona bar in 1974 and implemented the next season. The complicated scoring method gives 175 points to the winner, and decreases in increments of five points and then three points down to 34 points for the last-place finisher.

Five-point bonuses are awarded for leading a lap, and to the driver who leads the most laps.

NASCAR is still debating how to award bonuses under a straight points system, and ideas being considered are for anywhere from one to three points being given to lap leaders and race winners.

Martinique man convicted of making racist remarks

FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique –  A court has found an 84-year-old businessman guilty of condoning a crime against humanity for praising slavery during a TV interview and sentenced him Wednesday to pay a fine of nearly $10,000.

Alain Despointes made the comments at a moment when the French Caribbean territory was convulsed by protests over high prices and low wages and by resentment that the primarily white, "beke" descendants of slaveholders control much of the local economy.

Despointes, one of the beke elite, also criticized mixed-race marriages during the interview aired in late January 2009 and said he wanted to "preserve his race."

He is the first man in Martinique found guilty under a 2001 French law that declared slavery a crime against humanity.

Defense attorney Dinah Rioual-Rosier said she would appeal the ruling and described Despointes as "a great humanist" who "has deep respect for man."

Despointes had argued that his comments were taken out of context in the documentary on Martinique's bekes.

"Historians exaggerated the problems a bit. They talk above all about the bad aspects of slavery," he said in the documentary. "But there were good aspects, too ... There were colonizers who were very humane with their slaves."

Despointes is a well-known businessman in Martinique whose case was followed closely. He oversees more than 500 workers as a major bottler and distributor of products including Coca Cola and Yoplait. He also is a member of the Legion of Honor, a French order whose members include military officials, entrepreneurs and renowned athletes.

Frantz Lebon, an attorney representing one of three civil rights groups that filed a complaint, said the conviction "is a warning to all those who want to take the same path," though he called the penalties "timid" and "purely symbolic."

In addition to the fine, Despointes was ordered to publish a letter detailing the case and to give more than $3,000 to a local civil rights organization.

The court dropped a separate charge of provoking and inciting racial hatred.

Prosecutor Xavier Hubert had asked for a yearlong prison sentence that could be suspended if Despointes built a memorial dedicated to slaves.

Awaiting a verdict on similar charges is Ghislaine Joachim-Arnaud, one of the leaders of the violent 2009 protests, who wrote a slogan in Creole at the time stating that Martinique belonged to the black majority and accusing the bekes of being thieves and freeloaders.

Wikileaks: Ahmadinejad is 'Steinbrenner of Iran'

TAMPA, Fla. –  George Steinbrenner often compared himself to powerful, iron-fisted leaders.

Assuredly, the late New York Yankees owner never had the Iranian president in mind.

An American diplomat did, calling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the "The George Steinbrenner of Iran" in a leaked U.S. cable detailing the president's meddling with his country's national soccer team.

Steinbrenner's name showed up among the thousands of State Department documents released by Wikileaks. His son was startled when told by The Associated Press.

"I think that's a ridiculous comparison," Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said this week. "Obviously, it was very inappropriate."

The confidential cable described how Ahmadinejad tried to use the popularity of Team Melli to improve his standing with the Iranian people ahead of the 2009 elections. The diplomat predicted the team's struggles could affect the president's results at the ballot box.

According to the document, Ahmadinejad, a former player, used his position to influence the firing of two coaches in a matter of weeks, an act George Steinbrenner was well versed in.

Known as The Boss, Steinbrenner changed managers 21 times during his 37½ years as owner.

The cable, out of the Dubai-based Iran Regional Presence Office, said Team Melli was suspended in 2006 from international tournaments because of Ahmadinejad's "repeated violations" of soccer's governing body's rules against political interference.

The State Department declined to address the cable's contents.

"We don't comment on supposedly leaked documents," State Department spokeswoman Leslie Phillips said.

The cable also said Iranian intelligence services had files on many of the team's players. Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball for 2½ years for paying a self-described gambler to obtain negative information on Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield, with whom Steinbrenner was feuding.

Steinbrenner had a reputation for instilling fear in his players and staff, and outspending other teams to land the biggest-named players. During his tenure, the Yankees were called the "Evil Empire" by the rival Boston Red Sox.

He also knew how to win. The Yankees won seven World Series titles under Steinbrenner's leadership.

As president of Iran — the country was a member of President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" — Ahmadinejad regularly unleashed verbal attacks on the West and has called for the destruction of Israel.

Iran failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and, according to the cable, the Iranian people accused Ahmadinejad of jinxing the team after a loss to Saudi Arabia.

Ahmadinejad won re-election in 2009 amid claims of widespread electoral fraud, setting off protests and brutal government crackdowns that have continued for over a year.

Megamoney comes from megadonors at OU and Auburn

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –  One is a publicity-shy 72-year old who has made billions selling athletic gear. The other is a 60-something multimillionaire who turned a local bank into a colossus and may have helped cause its downfall as well.

While most see Monday night's BCS title game between Oregon and Auburn as a matchup of two powerful offenses led by LaMichael James of the Ducks and Cam Newton of the Tigers, those who cherish the art of the deal in college football might look at it as megabooster Phil Knight of Oregon vs. his Auburn counterpart, Bobby Lowder.

Knight and Lowder are deep-pocketed alumni of their respective schools and very possibly the two most powerful boosters in the nation. Knight, the founder and chairman of Nike, is said to have given more than $200 million to Oregon athletics over the last quarter century. Lowder, the founder and former CEO of Alabama-based Colonial Bank who also sits on Auburn's board of trustees, has written checks to the school over the past three decades totaling well into eight figures.

Those who worry that big-time athletics saps resources might embrace these men for helping turn their respective schools' football programs into profitable enterprises. But those who decry the big-money extravagance of college sports and its booster-as-powerbroker reality say the Knights and Lowders of the world only exacerbate the problems, not solve them.

"Like most of these things, it's a complicated matter and there's no easy answer," said John S. Nichols, a retired professor from Penn State who co-chairs the reform-minded Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics. "So much of this is based on the individual, on the local university and the local donor. It depends on whether megaboosters or megadonors, whether their activities enhance the academic mission of the university — or at least don't undermine the academic mission of the university."

Lowder is the more divisive of the two megaboosters, more of a lightning rod, and there is ample evidence that his zest for football has indeed undermined Auburn's academic mission.

He made his millions by building Colonial Bank from a local entity into a gargantuan Southern enterprise. But after the housing market tanked in 2008, Colonial ended up as the sixth-biggest bank failure in U.S. history, according to Money Magazine, which said Lowder built Colonial into a $26 billion entity largely by capitalizing on the real estate bubble. Lowder's role in the failure is under investigation, though his role as a power player at Auburn has been seldom challenged since he was appointed to the board of trustees by Gov. George Wallace in 1983.

Lowder's most noteworthy — or notorious — moment in athletics came in 2003, when school officials went on a clandestine trip to Louisville to gauge Bobby Petrino's interest in taking over as coach for Tommy Tuberville, even though Tuberville was still under contract.

Though not everyone involved believes Lowder was directly pulling the strings behind that deal, it was his corporate jet that the school president, William Walker, athletic director David Housel and two trustees used for the trip. When details of the trip went public, it embarrassed the university and Walker and Housel left their jobs soon after.

But the most significant repercussion came when the accrediting Southern Association of Colleges and Schools put Auburn on probation. The SACS found that Lowder, in part through his lucrative bank ties, had undue influence over the board, and that he and other trustees had become micromanagers of the football program.

"Our problem here was they were mixed in, indirectly running the university," said journalist Paul Davis, a longtime critic of Lowder who writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News. "They're hiring and firing coaches, hiring and firing presidents and that's when it all got out of hand."

That's an opinion shared by former Auburn coach Terry Bowden, who, along with Housel, declined to be interviewed for this story. But Bowden did conduct an interview with Davis in 2001, detailing what he called Lowder's overreaching role in the week-to-week operation of the program. "Nothing was done without Lowder knowing," said Bowden, who resigned in 1998.

Lowder did not respond to interview requests sent to him through Auburn.

"Who's paying? That's the important question," Nichols said, though not referring specifically to Auburn or Oregon. "Many universities have been able to manage that, both on the academic and athletic side. But you'd have to be a Pollyanna not to recognize that along with large amounts of money comes either subtle or real dangers to autonomous decision-making for universities, including their athletic departments."

Though Knight's donations to Oregon are far larger than what Lowder gives to Auburn, his influence has been much more gently applied and evoked much less of a backlash around the Oregon campus.

Part of that could be because football isn't a 365-day-a-year obsession there the way it is in Alabama, where Auburn and the University of Alabama butt heads at almost every intersection.

It could also be, though, that the folks at Oregon simply know when to stay quiet.

Almost every time in the past two decades that Oregon's administration has done anything that might offend Knight — such as when the school president linked up with a workers rights group critical of Nike's labor practices — meetings have been held, policies and personnel have been shifted and the threat of losing the Nike money, whether it be real or perceived, has been removed. Not a bad way to operate, considering it costs more than $18 million a year to run the OU football program ($27 million at Auburn) according to statistics compiled by the federal government.

Unlike Lowder, Knight holds no official position at the university. But in 2007, he paid $100 million for a legacy fund to ensure sports will remain self-supporting. That's on top of the $45 million he gave toward a stadium renovation in 2002 and countless other major donations he's made over the decades. (He also gave a record-setting $105 million to his other alma mater, the Stanford Graduate School of Business.)

"My own opinion is that in university and intercollegiate athletics, he who pays the piper gets to call the tune, for better and for worse," Nichols said.

Nike, of course, provides millions of dollars to dozens of other schools via apparel deals. And, in fact, on Thursday, Knight endowed a prestigious National Football Foundation award in perpetuity, and attached former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden's name to it.

Still, nobody gets more out of the Nike founder than Oregon. It's no surprise that the Ducks were the first to highlight multiple uniform combinations, replete with the latest in "high tech," performance-enhancing technology.

Yet in Eugene, it seems Knight is no better known where his company's money is dispersed than anywhere else. He declined a request to be interviewed for this story.

"He works hard to be under the radar," said Oregon biology professor Nathan Tublitz, another member of COIA. "The guy is mercurial and he makes it his business to stay away from general university life."

For the most part, though, Knight is portrayed as a gentle and unassuming donor — "You'd never think he's a billionaire. Just a normal guy," says James, Oregon's star running back — albeit one with the best luxury suite in Autzen Stadium, the 59,000-seat monster that towers over the Willamette River.

Tublitz said in his perfect world, the financially struggling university would get to direct every donor's money to the area of greatest need.

Knight, however, is a sports fan who has made his fortune in the sports world, so the bulk of his money goes there. It's the blessing and the curse of having so much money coming from a single source.

"If you spread out the money to 100 people giving the same collective amount, you may reduce your vulnerability to the whims of one person, but you also reduce control," Nichols said. "The question then becomes, 'Which do you prefer?'"

For the foreseeable future at Oregon and Auburn, there won't be much of a choice.

Age of Aquarius Actually Age of Capricorn, Thanks to Rotation of the Earth

Wikipedia

An anonymous woodcarving from the late 19th century depicts a medieval pilgrm looking at the hidden workings of the universe -- an image commonly associated with the world of astrology.

Brace for the worst: You may be a Virgo, scientists say.

There are many newspapers and websites that promise to tell your fortune, detailing where the planets were when you were born and what their future movements suggest about your future. It's called astrology, and whether or not you believe in the signs of the zodiac, you won't believe this: It's all wrong.

Astronomers with the Minnesota Planetarium Society have dropped a bomb on the zodiac, noting that thanks to the millennia-long effect of the moon's gravitational pull on the Earth, there's about a one-month bump in the alignment of the stars. The result?

"When [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, it's really not in Pisces," Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, told the Star Tribune.

And if the sun isn't in Pisces, YOU'RE not in Pisces. Surprise! You're an Aquarius! New zodiac sign dates are in order, it seems.

Much of astrology -- called an ancient and complex system that uses math and science to predict the future -- relies upon careful observation of the heavens. And your astrological sign is based on the date of your birth, something that was tied very tightly to the position of the heavens back in Babylonian times.

"When someone asks you what your sign is, they're referring to your Sun Sign -- where the sun was in the Zodiac at the exact moment of your birth," explains the website of noted astrologer Kelli Fox. As the years have worn on, the position of the heavens has shifted ever so slightly -- but those signs haven't.

Could this be true? Is an Aries really a Cancer -- or worse yet, a Virgo? It's a question for Paul the Psychic octopus, of course. But sadly, the soccer-predicting sea creature died last year. So we asked Kunkle for clarification. 

"Ever since astrology began back in 3000 B.C., we've known there were problems with it," he said with a chuckle. "The ancient Babylonians had 13 constellations, for example, so they just threw one out."

Ophuchicus, or the snake holder, was ejected from the charts when the Zodiac was codified at the 12 we know of today, to align it more accurately with the calendar. And Libra didn't come into things until Julius Caesar's time, Kunkle told FoxNews.com.

Seeing stars yet? It all comes down to the 26,000-year precession of the planets through space, he said, noting that a variety of gravitational forces have changed the position of the planets in the sky over time.

Bottom line, the astrological forecasts we've all been turning to may -- gasp! -- not be accurate at all, or at least they may be intended for other readers.

"We're off by about 10 degrees or so, a twelfth of the way around," Kunkle said.

Indeed, most horoscope readers who consider themselves Leos are actually Cancers, explained the Star Tribune. So instead of being courageous, natural-born leaders, they actually are sensitive and emotional -- ruled by moodiness, not innate rulers.

And those folks who have for decades considered themselves Sagittarius, the sign governed by the truth-seeking archer and ruled by Jupiter, are actually Scorpios -- stubborn, passionate people ruled over by Mars and Pluto.

So read with a grain of salt when Sally Brompton advises the Aries that Januaryג€™s midheaven Solar Eclipse will move you closer to a long-term goal, or that you must keep a sense of perspective, and be prepared to change course in midstream if necessary. Your real sign may just be Pisces, and her real forecast advises you that some mountains can be moved and others very definitely cannot -- your predicament this year is to try to distinguish between the two.

And Capricorns, rejoice! NO need to worry about over-reacting to pressure from the powers that be, as Brompton warns. Instead, turn to the forecast of Aquarius, and know that a major conjunction between wealth planet Jupiter and changes planet Uranus means fundamental adjustments to the way you handle your finances are likely this year.

But whatever you do, keep this in mind: All signs point to fulfilling and rewarding year. For Geminis, anyway.

Austria probes diary detailing alleged money flows between Haider and Libya, Iraq

VIENNA –  VIENNA (AP) — Austrian prosecutors said Tuesday they were investigating after a respected weekly newspaper published excerpts of what it claimed was a diary suggesting there were transfers of money from Moammar Gadhafi and Saddam Hussein to late far-right politician Joerg Haider's inner circle.

The weekly, Falter, said it had obtained the diary of Walter Meischberger, a former member of Haider's Freedom Party. Falter is publishing what it describes as excerpts of the diary that mention an alleged transfer of euro45 million by the Libyan leader in connection with an unnamed Haider confidant. According to Falter, the diary also claims that others from Freedom Party circles visiting Iraq returned home with millions of euros. It claims that further millions allegedly came from a Swiss account belonging to the Iraqi leader's family. Falter says Meischberger had secondhand knowledge of the alleged transfers.

Falter did not provide details about where it obtained the purported diary. A spokesman for the Vienna public prosecutor's office, Thomas Vecsey, confirmed that authorities had seized the diary but declined to comment on its author or contents, saying it was under investigation.

The daily Kurier quoted Meischberger as saying in an e-mail that he would advise against taking the matter too seriously.

A receptionist at the office of Meischberger's lawyer said he was on vacation and not available for comment on the matter. A number for Haider's widow could not be found.

"I knew my brother as someone whose handling of affairs was always proper, and that's why I want these rumors to be cleared up — but not the way it's currently being done," Haider's sister, Ursula Haubner, told broadcaster ORF.

Haider, who died in a car crash in 2008, was the head of the Freedom Party before breaking away to form the less successful Alliance for the Future of Austria five years ago.

During his political career, he achieved notoriety for, among other things, a visit with Saddam Hussein on the eve of the Iraq war and a friendship with Gadhafi when Libya was still an international pariah.

The excerpts are to be published in Wednesday's issue of Falter, which provided The Associated Press with an early version.

NASA Scientist Publishes 'Colonizing the Red Planet,' a How-To Guide

NASA

A conceptual illustration depicts what a manned mission to Mars may look like.

A manned mission to Mars would be the greatest adventure in the history of the human race. And one man knows how to make it a reality. In fact, he just wrote the book on it -- literally.

Joel Levine, senior research scientist with NASA's Langley Research Center and co-chair of NASA's Human Exploration of Mars Science Analysis Group, just published "The Human Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet." The book reads like a who's who of Mars mission science, featuring senators, astronauts, astrophysicists, geologists and more on getting to Mars, studying its atmosphere and climate, the psychological and medical effects on the crew and other details.

There's even a section detailing the science of sex on Mars, should NASA attempt to create a permanent colony there.

"For the last three years, I've been co-chairing a panel of about 30 U.S. and Canadian scientists, coming up with a blueprint, purely from a scientific perspective, of humanity's role on Mars," Levine told FoxNews.com. He was asked to put together a special edition of the Journal of Cosmology exploring the topic, which was just published as the new book. 

"The United States of America is the only country that can do this successfully right now," he said. And to remain the technological leader of the world, he argued, we need to do this. And it's quite possible, the book notes; after all, a trip to Mars isn't even a lengthy one.

"The trip to Mars would take on the order of 220 days using today’s chemical propulsion technology," writes Steven A. Hawley, a former astronaut now with the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, in a chapter on  the challenges and sacrifices of the trip to Mars. He suggests either a short duration or longer duration stay before the return trip. "The longer surface mission would enable significant science, but also expose the crew to greater risk if systems don’t function as planned."

But regardless of whether a colony is initially established, Levine is passionate -- and poetic -- about a trip to Mars. "When we do this, the human species will be a two-planet species for the first time ever," he said. A trip to Mars would open up countless revelations and possibly answer one of the greatest questions science today seeks to answer: is there life elsewhere in the universe?

"The search for life outside the Earth is one of the key questions in all of science," he told FoxNews.com, "and of all the objects in the Solar System, Mars is the most likely." 

Many scientists speculate that life may exist on the red planet today in the form of microorganisms, and the book concludes that a manned mission could very well answer that question for once and all. "All of the articles here conclude that yes, it's possible that when we go to Mars we will find microorganism at the surface or below the surface."

Another question Levine believes the mission will answer deals with the strange history of Mars -- which he called the most intriguing, and the most confusing planet in the solar system. Today Mars has no liquid water and a very, very thin atmosphere -- it's like the Earth's atmosphere at 100,000 feet, he said. Yet we have very, very strong evidence that its surface used to be covered with water. What happened to it all?

"What catastrophic event led to Mars going from an Earth-like planet to a very inhospitable planet today?" he asked. The Mars mission would send humans there to study that, and see if there's a lesson in the planet for the future of Earth.

Levine has a general timeline in mind for the mission, which he hopes to launch by 2040. He believes we could launch the missions far sooner, however -- if we could afford to. Tragically, the major problem for getting humans to Mars isn't building new spacecraft, furthering science, or inventing new technologies, he says. 

The only hold-up is the budget.

"NASA's budget is 18 billion a year, and I don't think we can seriously plan a launch until 2040" given those funds, he said. "If NASA's budget went up 3 billion a year, or 5 billion a year, we could do it in half the time."

But Levine presents a solution for that problem in his book as well, something unprecedented for NASA: advertising.

"The suggestion is marketing to different corporations and professional sports leagues for advertising, which is something NASA never does -- it's a whole new economic plan for financing what has to be the greatest adventure in the history of the human race."

Read the special edition of the Journal of Cosmology here.

World

Leaked documents reveal Mideast talks' human side

Published January 27, 2011

| Associated Press

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AP

Jan. 24: From right to left, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak meets with Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt.

RAMALLAH, West Bank –  Leaked documents from years of Mideast peace talks reveal a rarely seen human side of high-level diplomacy, showing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators joking, teasing, losing their tempers and even sympathizing with one another on thorny issues that have divided them for decades.

Released on the website of Al-Jazeera TV this week, the documents also disclose that the sides made significant progress on the conflict's toughest disputes before the talks broke down around the time of Israel's war in Hamas-ruled Gaza in early 2009.

"We were very close, more than ever before, to concluding an agreement of principles that would have led to an end of the conflict between us and the Palestinians," then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has written in a forthcoming memoir. Excerpts from it were published in Israel's Yediot Ahronot daily on Thursday.

An Al-Jazeera TV special on the documents focused on segments it says show Palestinian negotiators made major concessions, which prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accuse the station of distorting facts to undermine his Palestinian Authority.

But read in bulk, the documents give a blow-by-blow of hard-nosed bargaining while offering glimpses of the deeply personal interactions between negotiators.

During one argument over Israel's insistence that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni receives a phone call from her son, recently drafted into the army. The minutes read: "She reiterates the importance of making peace for precisely that reason, although it may be too late for her son already."

In another meeting, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat tells the U.S. secretary of state that Israeli home demolitions make Palestinians doubt Israeli motives — even in his own family.

"My wife asks me what the hell we are doing here?!" Erekat says.

Talk on tough issues was often lightened with jokes during the negotiations.

Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia joked that he wants the sides to focus on West Bank infrastructure so the future Palestinian state will come "furnished." At another point, he tells Livni he'd vote for her if he were Israeli.

Present and past negotiators from both sides said the intensity of peace talks draws negotiators together despite their arguments.

"If you put Israelis and Palestinians at one table, in no time they find a common language," said Ron Pundak, an Israeli who helped arrange the back channel contacts that led to the first interim peace deals in the mid-1990s. "They are swimming in the same mud. They know they are dependent on each other."

Sometimes the jokes in the memos are darker, playing off the sides' deepest fears of each other.

Livni suggested the two sides plan a release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas in Gaza since 2006, around some event.

"You mean like kidnapping an Israeli?" Qureia asks.

"You know, when you are smiling you ask the most difficult questions," Livni responds.

The documents, mostly notes from meetings between Nov. 2007 and Dec. 2008, show both sides conceding key demands, though usually with a fight.

When Livni argued that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state," Palestinians said doing so could harm Israel's Arab citizens and the rights of Palestinian refugees displaced in the war surrounding Israel's creation.

One document notes Livni was "visibly angered" when a Palestinian suggested Israel is for "the Israeli people," not "the Jewish people."

"I think that we can use another session about what it means to be a Jew and that it is more than just a religion," she fires back.

The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in 1967 — but the documents show they'd accept minor land swaps so Israel could keep some of the largest settlements it has built there.

They also indicate that as part one proposed deal, the Palestinians would let Israel keep all but one east Jerusalem Jewish enclave and accept the return of only a symbolic number of refugees.

Both offers contradict long-held Palestinian public demands.

The Olmert book describes the Israel leader's last meeting with Abbas on Sept. 16, 2008, when he showed Abbas a map detailing his latest offer and pressured him to sign it his peace blueprint.

"Take the pen and sign now. You will never receive a fairer or more equitable proposal," Olmert said. Abbas asked for more time then canceled their next meeting, and the two men never met again, Olmert wrote.

Throughout the process, the documents also show both sides struggling to keep information from the media and scolding each other when leaks occur. A former Palestinian negotiator said that everyone involved knows there is a gap between what happens in negotiations and what the public will tolerate.

"If they see you shaking hands with the prime minister, they will criticize you," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to be able to speak freely. "It's like (the public) thinks in negotiations you have to punch each other. No. You have to have a kind of relationship to feel comfortable."

The documents also cite moments when negotiators appear to sympathize with each other in ways rarely expressed publicly.

At one point, Qureia says Israel must feel its security needs are covered before it can adopt an agreement — a rare acknowledgment among Palestinians.

Before detailing an Israeli proposal on borders, Livni says the Palestinians could find it hard to allow so many Jewish settlements to remain in the West Bank. "I know that every inch hurts you," she said.

But while struggling, both sides come across in the documents as committed to the process and keenly aware of the difficulty of their task.

At one point, Erekat says: "Whoever will be able to reach an agreement to solve this conflict will be the most important figure in the region after Jesus Christ!"

Crime & Courts

AP Exclusive: Fearful Russian lawmaker flees to US

Published February 06, 2011

| Associated Press

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WASHINGTON –  A wealthy Russian lawmaker has fled with his family to the United States, where he says he fears assassination over accusations that some of Russia's richest and most influential people swindled him in a real estate deal. Back home, he's been charged with financial crimes.

Ashot Egiazaryan (pronounced Ah-shawt Yeh-gee-ah-zar-ee-AHN) says he is considering seeking asylum in the U.S. But after suing a Russian billionaire and several former business partners — including a close friend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow's former mayor — he said he doesn't feel safe even in this country.

"I do think it's possible than an assassination attempt can be mounted against me here," he said flanked by lawyers in a conference room a few blocks the White House. The interview with The Associated Press was his first with Western media and came a few weeks after one of his relatives was gunned down in the Russian city of Astrakhan on Dec. 7, an attack he claims is connected with his suit.

The struggle over the Moskva Hotel, a prime piece of Moscow real estate, is now being waged in a civil court in Cyprus, the London Court of International Arbitration, on the Web and on Capitol Hill. It provides a rare insider's view of the often ruthless world of money, power and politics in Russia, where wealth and connections can sometimes trump property rights and the rule of law.

The case could become a headache for the Obama administration. The U.S. is counting on Moscow's support in everything from the fight against extremists in Afghanistan to efforts to derail the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.

If the 45-year-old Egiazaryan seeks to remain in the U.S., the administration could face a difficult choice: risk angering the Kremlin by sheltering a high-ranking Russian official charged with financial crimes, or force a fugitive to return and face a legal system that even Russian officials recognize is riddled with corruption and cronyism.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came into office in 2008 pledging to battle what he called Russia's "legal nihilism." But so far, many inside and outside Russia see more rhetoric than reform. The respected watchdog group Transparency International's latest rankings place Russia 146th out of 180 countries in its corruption index, just ahead of Sierra Leone but behind Kenya.

For two years, Egiazaryan told the AP, he was subjected to groundless police raids, personal smears and anonymous death threats as he struggled to hang onto his $2 billion stake in a project to tear down the Moskva, an old Soviet hotel a few dozen steps from the Kremlin, and reconstruct it as a five-star luxury establishment.

He says he was forced to hand over his share in the hotel in June 2009 after a campaign of intimidation that included raids by armed police on some of his partners and businesses and threats of criminal prosecution. He said he was the target of anonymous threats, including threats to behead his children.

Last September, shortly after Egiazaryan arrived in the U.S., his lawyers filed a civil suit in a court in Cyprus charging the billionaire Russian investor Suleiman Kerimov with leading a hostile takeover of the Moskva hotel project.

The court ordered a freeze on about $6 billion in Kerimov's assets as well as the assets of several of Egiazaryan's former partners in the project. They include Moscow's canny and colorful former mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, and Arkady Rotenberg, Putin's longtime judo partner.

A New York lawyer representing Kerimov in this country, Eliot Lauer, denied the allegations. "They are total fabrications," he said.

Lauer said Egiazaryan transferred his interest in the Moskva Hotel as part of a legitimate business deal. "He was overextended," Lauer said. "He was deep in debt and he was facing financial ruin." A year later, Lauer said, Egiazaryan "concocted this scheme" to regain control.

Within weeks of the suit, Egiazaryan was stripped of his legislative immunity by his fellow deputies in parliament, charged with fraud by Russian prosecutors and put on his country's wanted list. Several of his Russian properties have been seized.

In coming weeks, the judge in Cyprus is expected to rule on a defense challenge to the asset freeze.

The dispute spilled into cyberspace. An anonymous website appeared detailing a long list of allegations against Egiazaryan. He fought back with two websites of his own, including www.ashot-egiazaryan.com, where he has published documents that he said support his allegations that he is the victim of persecution.

Egiazaryan compared himself to other business and political figures who have run afoul of Russia's political elites — including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former Yukos Oil chairman who has twice been convicted of financial crimes. Many Russian human rights activists say Khodorkovsky's prosecution was politically inspired.

But two of Khodorkovsky's most prominent supporters, rights advocates Lyudmila Alexeyeva of the Moscow Helsinki Group and Lev Ponomarev of Russia's For Human Rights, wrote to key U.S. lawmakers Jan. 29, urging them to raise questions with the State Department and Department of Homeland Security about Egiazaryan's continuing presence in the U.S.

Alexeyeva criticized Egiazaryan's role on a parliamentary committee he helped found on human rights in Chechnya. Alexeyeva wrote that the panel had provided cover for well-documented atrocities during Russia's second war with Chechen insurgents.

Drew Holiner, a lawyer representing Egiazaryan, denied the allegations. He contended the two Russian rights advocates were "misled" into writing the letters, which he called part of a "black PR" campaign against his client. "We're going to find out who misled them, and why," he said.

Alexeyeva told the AP on Sunday that she had met with people who spoke on Egiazaryan's behalf and that she was now uncertain of the facts in her letter. She said she planned to look more closely at the case of the fugitive lawmaker on Monday.

___

Online:

Moskva Hotel: http://www.hotel-moskva.ru/index.en.html

Mixed Emotions After Michigan School Moves to Gender-Neutral Prom Court

Education

Mixed Emotions After Michigan School Moves to Gender-Neutral Prom Court

By Joshua Rhett Miller

Published February 19, 2011

| FoxNews.com

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"I'm so glad that the rules have been changed," Mona Shores High School senior Oak Reed said in a statement released by the ACLU. "All I wanted was a chance for all students to participate and be heard. Now my classmates and I can just focus on having a great time at our school dance." (YouTube.com)

A Michigan high school's decision to allow a gender-neutral prom court this spring -- after denying a transgendered student the title of homecoming king last fall -- has angered and "disappointed" some current and former students.

Sam Kuiper -- who graduated from Mona Shores High School in 2009 and played in the school's marching band alongside Oak Reed, the transgendered student who was denied the homecoming-king crown after being voted in by classmates -- said he doesn't think a "permanent change" to prom traditions was necessary.

"It should be flexible enough to be changed on a case-by-case basis," Kuiper told FoxNews.com in an e-mail.

Although school officials struggled to control the fire following the controversy surrounding last fall's vote, Kuiper said he hopes other nearby school districts can learn from the incident.

"Other high schools should take note of how the situation was handled by [Mona Shores High School] and possibly shape their policies around our end result," Kuiper's message continued.

Several current students said they had mixed feelings about the new gender-neutral prom court, however.

"In all honesty, I strongly disagree with it," one student who asked not to be identified wrote FoxNews.com in an e-mail. "I do not think it is right for the school district to make a decision like this based on one student." 

"The district made this decision because of the chaos that was started by the incident at homecoming last fall. I feel that they are not doing this to be politically correct, but simply to avoid negative press -- and the negative responses that were generated last fall," the student wrote.

The student suggested that the policy be implemented for "this year only," since Reed is a senior.

"I can assure you there are many others who share my opinion," the message continued.

Another Mona Shores student, who also asked not to be identified, said he wouldn't be surprised if the idea caught on at other schools and districts.

"I only believe that would happen because of pressure from the 'minority' group that desires it," the student said. "I have no bias against transgender, homosexual or all alike, but I do not believe that we should be changing the precedence of the male-female court on account of someone 'not getting their way' or feeling 'discriminated' against."

To coincide with the gender-neutral prom court, the student suggested that school locker rooms and bathrooms be changed to unisex facilities.

Another student at Mona Shores said she was "disappointed" that a longstanding tradition had been changed because of one student.

"There is some talk around the school right now about having another prom that students and parent volunteers would organize," the female senior wrote. "Possibilities would include a different venue, maybe on the same night/time, and we get to vote for our own king & queen."

Another student, senior John Skocelas, told WOOD-TV he thought it was wrong to change the policy based on one student.

"It's our vote," he told the NBC affiliate. "It's not what the school wants, it's what we want."

Officials at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and Mona Shores High School announced the change on Monday. ACLU officials, in cooperation with law firm Sidley Austin LLP, had sent the school a letter following last year's vote detailing concerns of suppressing free speech and discrimination based on gender identity.

Mona Shores Public School Superintendent Terry Babbitt told FoxNews.com the "building-level" policy change has been unanimously approved by the school district's board to move toward a "gender-neutral terminology" instead of prom queen or prom king. Instead, voting for the upcoming "prom court" will be open to all juniors and seniors, including Reed.

"For us, it was just a matter of doing the right thing," Babbitt said. "It's more inclusive and has a greater sense of fairness."

ACLU officials have also praised the decision.

"Schools should provide a welcoming and safe environment for all students, and should be free from discrimination," read a statement by John Knight, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan's Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. "We hope that Oak -- and all of his classmates -- will not have to worry in the future about feeling left out because of who they are."

Reed, who will wear a male cap and gown during graduation later this year, said he was pleased by the new prom court configuration.

"I'm so glad that the rules have been changed," Reed said in a statement released by the ACLU. "All I wanted was a chance for all students to participate and be heard. Now my classmates and I can just focus on having a great time at our school dance."

Ready for the highway train? Google cooks up cars that drive themselves

One of Google’s side experiments could have a big impact on the future of automobiles.

Google has created automated cars that drive themselves. These robots have a trained driver riding shotgun, but these automated autos have already logged more than 140,000 miles in California.

In a blog post and an advance to the New York Times, Google outlined how these robot cars work.

• First, these cars use video cameras, radar and laser range finders to see traffic.
• Detailed maps are used to navigate roads.
• Google’s data centers crunch the information so the cars can handle their tasks.
• The cars have a trained driver that can take over for the robot.
• A sensor on the roof scans 200 feet in all directions. Sensors measure movements to locate position. A camera is the eyes and ears of the vehicle.
• The cars can be programmed to be cautious or any other driving personality.
• Police knew about the experiment.
• Google’s grand experiment includes engineers from DARPA as well as Carnegie Mellon and Stanford.
• There’s no business model yet, but who really cares at this point?

Where’s this headed? Google talks of improved safety as well as car sharing. In addition, highway trains could take hundreds of people to work. Google is giving a new definition to cruise control.

I’m not sure whether to be wowed or freaked out by this Google development. After all, I barely trust my GPS.

A few questions:

• Who would be liable in an accident? Would Google?
• What kind of reliability could we expect?
• What is the profit motive for Google?
• Would drivers trust a remote data center with their safety?
• What’s the society ROI?

Where to stick your digital camera (and how)

During the post-PMA lull in the digital camera universe, I’ve stumbled upon two interesting (albeit a little odd) accessories, that might just help you get that difficult shot.  Both the Monster Pod and the Fat Gecko Camera Mount let you boldly go where no tripod will take you, letting you stick your camera in the most unlikely places.

The Monster Pod isn’t new (CNET’s Crave ran a post on it yesterday and back in 2007), having come out a couple years back at CES. It’s one of those gadgets you see in the SkyMall catalog (when you’re admittedly oxygen deprived) and think, “boy, I could use one of those!” Essentially a huge glob of “patented viscoelastic polymer” (read: Silly Putty), with a tripod mount attached, the Monster Pod (which you can grab for $18 at Amazon.com) promises to let you stick your camera to any surface for those hard-to-get shots.  It will hold up to a 15-ounce camera, so while you shouldn’t have any trouble with a point-and-shoot, for bigger cameras like the Panasonic Lumix G1 or a real dSLR, you may want to take a look at the Fat Gecko for your camera-sticking purposes.

The award-winning Fat Gecko camera mount costs three or four times as much (at an MSRP of $89.99), but it’s a much more rugged piece of equipment than the Monster Pod and supports over 5 pounds (e.g., an SLR plus standard lens).  The Fat Gecko lets you mount your camera to a number of surfaces using the three attachment options: a double-suction cup mount for smooth surfaces (like planes, trains, and automobiles), a clamp-style handlebar mount (for motorcycles and the like), and a strap bicycle mount.  Unlike the Monster Pod, the Fat Gecko allows for 360-degree tilt, turn, and rotation.

Do people want or need social location (SoLo) services?

Over the last couple of years, one of Nokia’s focusal points has been social location technology and services and I suppose it is a natural evolution in the usage of GPS technology. There have been a number of services from Nokia such as Vine, Friend View, enhanced Ovi Maps, and now Lifecasting and I have to honestly say I stopped using them after a few attempts because I personally found little value in them and never thought they were worth the hit in battery life to keep the connection and GPS receiver up or intermittently updating. I think the idea sounds great, but how many of us actually wander around the city looking for friends and people to meet up with? If I am going to meet someone then I just call them up and we work out the details of the meetup spot rather than fumble around on a phone (both parties would have to have supported services) trying to find their GPS coordinates on a map. Shoot, we could just use Twitter or text messaging too if I didn’t want to talk on the phone.

Am I being too cynical here when it comes to social location services? We see these great Nokia commercials, but I have yet to see anyone in Seattle using such services to meetup with someone. Are social location services more useful to those in Europe living in large cities without automobiles? Please respond in the Talkback section and let me know if these are useful services and I am just being an old fart who doesn’t get it.

Wireless users may be shut off if sharing copyrighted files

Internet services have created explosive growth in distribution of copyright materials. Some people are distributing it and don’t even know it, some argue. Reaction, regardless whether a consumer knows it or not, is to push for extensive reform and new enforcement capabilities to prevent further erosion andֲ  protect their content. The U.K. government respondedֲ (Oct. 28)ֲ with proposed enforcement options for OFCom to use at its discretion. Among them is the ability to shut off a user’s wireless WiFi service if user is found to be transmitting internet traffic such as file transfer of copyright material. Singling out wireless access to the internet is just the start.

Just exactly how the government plans to detect, prove and enforce such action is raising more than a few eyebrows. According to one service provider in the U.K. Talk Talk, the implications are staggering , suggesting that up to 7.2 million wireless users could be disconnected if found to be an access point via WiFi that is acting as a middle gateway to file transfers of copyright content. They have created a website to sound the alarm. Our own Zack Whittaker talks about how U.K. universities are reacting.

The Department of Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) has published its plans on stopping illegal downloads and file transfers of copyright protected material. There will be significant challenges in its implementation given the current proposal.ֲ  What it really boils down is money and who’s going to pay for policing the service provider’s network and its customers. Worldwide this is an area where every ISP is trying to pass the responsibility onto every other group but themselves.

Internet service providers suggest that it’s not their fault nor is it fair that users should be shut off because their wireless access device is not secured is an interesting, if curious defense against regulatory oversight and enforcement. ֲ The service provider should be ensuring that all its customers are protected when connected to their network and thus; why are so many WiFi access points vulnerable in the first place? Intelligence agencies in the U.K. have come out against this legislation enabling it easier to monitor security threats.

One reason is that consumers usually buy their own WiFi products and the devices are left in default mode from the manufacturers. ֲ But that shouldn’t be the crux of the argument or debate about illegal downloading and file transfers. Talk Talk of the U.K. counters that it is, since it’s not their responsibility to track a customer’s behavior when using the Internet. To a fair degree that is a reasonable point. It’s no more a car dealer’s responsibility that consumers leave their automobile’s doors unlocked and still have to protect the contents inside.ֲ  The problem is that the contents in this case are illegal and thus should have never been in possession of the Internet user in the first place. The open wireless security problem is simply the red herring.ֲ  The bigger issue that this will boil down to will be enforcement and inspection of where an ISP’s users are going on the Internet. Both sides are simply in the opening gambit of where the true regulations will wind up and who will be paying for the infrastructure.

Car crash imminent?

Wow, the battle over the future of American-based car manufacturers is getting more complex. Now there’s a major battle brewing WITHIN the majority Democratic Party, and it’s centered on the political clout of the Detroit auto interests.

ROAD KILL?

There’s good evidence that the plan to pass any kind of loan package for Detroit this year is road kill. It is likely the Republicans in the Senate will detour any attempt to drive a bill through Congress this year. I wouldn’t be buying any real estate in Detroit right now, evern if you could get a loan to make the purchase.

And there’s now even an inter-party squabble coming over control of the powerful House Energy and Coomerce Committee. Long-time top Dem on the panel is John Dingell from Detroit, one of the staunchest protectors of the entrenched auto interests. His wife is even a high-ranking exec at Ford Motor. Opposing him for continued chairmanship of the committee: California’s Henry Waxman.Dingell has long aided the automakers in preventing higher mileage standards for cars. Waxman comes from the state that tried to raise mileage standards only to have the current EPA rule that states don’t have the power to require more fuel efficient cars. This titanic political battle could really make a huge difference in the future of hybrid and plug-in and more fuel efficient cars in America. If Dingell loses his chairman’s gavel he could no longer forestall efforts from New York, California and other state to get smaller and more efficient cars made and sold in America.

Of course, don’t worry about those federal standards, automakers who are flush with cash, like the Japanese companies, can just ignore the law and the pay the fines.

Poll

I'm in favor of

Dingell

Waxman

leaving the auto industry to its own devices

any loan with tight restrictions

disbanding Congress before it can act