Ohio to seek death penalty in Craigslist slayings (AP)

CLEVELAND ? A self-styled chaplain suspected in a deadly scheme to rob people who replied to a Craigslist job ad will be charged with murder and attempted murder in attacks on four victims and could face the death penalty, a prosecutor said Monday.

The chief prosecutor in northeast Ohio's Summit County, Sherri Bevan Walsh, said local officials in southeast Ohio and state and federal officials signed off on an agreement to let her office take the lead against Richard Beasley, 52.

Three deaths and the wounding of a fourth man are part of the investigation in the plot to lure victims with the promise of a farm job in southeast Ohio.

"In deciding where and how to try this case, our primary concern was doing what is in the best interest of the victims and their families," said Walsh, who noted that most of the victims are from the Akron-Canton area.

Beasley, who has been jailed in Akron on unrelated prostitution and drug charges, has denied involvement in the Craigslist slayings. Email and phone messages seeking comment were left Monday for his attorney handling the drug case.

Beasley was arrested in November after authorities linked him to the alleged Craigslist plot.

An acquaintance of Beasley's, Brogan Rafferty, 16, of nearby of Stow, faces juvenile charges of aggravated murder, complicity to aggravated murder, attempted murder and complicity to attempted murder in the death of one man and the shooting of another.

Authorities say the plot's first victim, David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va., came to Ohio in mid-October after answering the Craigslist ad. A friend has said Pauley was desperate for work and eager to return to Ohio.

Police say he was killed Oct. 23, and his body was found Nov. 15. Family members had contacted police concerned they hadn't heard from him.

Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon, whose body was buried near an Akron shopping mall, answered the ad and was last seen Nov. 13, authorities said.

The body of Ralph Geiger, the potential third victim, was found in a shallow grave Nov. 25.

A South Carolina man also answered the ad and was shot Nov. 6 before escaping, police say.

The murder and attempted murder charges will cover those four men, said April Wiesner, spokeswoman for the prosecutor. No timetable has been set for filing charges, she said.

Beasley was a Texas parolee when he returned to Ohio in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction. He was released from an Akron jail on July 12 after he posted bond on a drug-trafficking charge. Texas officials say he never should have been released from jail and that they issued a warrant for his arrest because the charge violated his parole.

Beasley appeared briefly in an Akron courtroom last week on the drug charge, wheeled into court after he apparently became ill and said he needed a wheelchair.

In a four-page handwritten letter to the Akron Beacon Journal, Beasley has said he has been miscast as a con man when he had helped feed, house and counsel scores of needy families, drunks, drug addicts, the mentally ill and crime suspects for years.

"To call me a con man when I sacrificed for others is wrong," wrote Beasley, who didn't mention the Craigslist investigation or Rafferty. "To turn their back on me is not following Christ's example. I gave three full years of my life to that ministry and what I got out of it was the satisfaction of doing the right thing. There was no `con' to it."

___

Associated Press Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_re_us/us_craigslist_jobseekers_killed

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Fact Checking Newt Gingrich's Food Stamps Claims (ABC News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/169482340?client_source=feed&format=rss

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219-pound boy shows growing problem of extreme obesity (Reuters)

CLEVELAND (Reuters) ? The case of a 219-pound 8-year-old boy taken from his mother for health reasons spotlights a problem that has almost tripled in the U.S. in the last 30 years -- cases of extreme child obesity.

"Not only do we have a higher percentage of kids who are obese but a higher percentage of children who are severely obese," said Dr. Garry Sigman, director of adolescent medicine and associate professor of pediatrics at Loyola University Medical Center near Chicago, in an interview with Reuters.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 17 percent or 12.5 million of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years are obese, as opposed to merely overweight.

Obesity in children is defined by the CDC as having a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex. "Overweight" is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile.

About 2 million U.S. children have a BMI at or beyond the 99th percentile, according to a July article on childhood obesity in the Journal of the American Medical Association, co-authored by Harvard University child obesity expert Dr. David S. Ludwig. The article ignited controversy by saying that in some cases, removing a child from a home may be justified.

An average 8-year-old boy is about 55 pounds, making the boy in question approximately 165 pounds overweight or four times more than average, according to the CDC.

The Cleveland-area boy's mother petitioned a state court two weeks ago to regain custody. But on November 14, a judge agreed with the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services that the boy, an honor student who gained 60 pounds in about a year, should not be returned to his home due to concerns for his health. The next custody hearing is set for later this month.

Sigman said he usually only sees that sort of rapid weight gain in teenagers, and this along with the sleep apnea is "life threatening."

"That kind of weight gain is a very serious imbalance in both movement and calorie intake," in a younger child, he added.

This is the first time an Ohio child had been removed from a parent's custody primarily due to weight concerns. Court records show that the boy was seen by endocrinologists, nutrition experts, and a sleep clinic in efforts to decrease his weight and remedy his sleeping problems. Medical professionals concluded that the boy's weight gain was due to environmental reasons such as his diet, and there was no medical reason for the gain, according to court records.

Social workers became aware of the boy's situation in spring of 2010 when the 7-year-old was hospitalized for two weeks with severe breathing problems. The child has since been diagnosed with sleep apnea and uses a breathing device and monitor at night, according to court records.

Sam Amata, an attorney for the mother of the child, did not returned repeated calls for comment.

According to social worker reports, the boy had been diagnosed as morbidly obese and lost weight during his two-week hospitalization.

The boy's weight continued to decrease for a short period of time but he then began gaining again at "a rapid pace," according to court documents.

Sigman noted that weight-related health issues like heart and fatty liver disease, usually thought of as adult or end-stage diseases, are effecting children with severe weight problems.

The Cleveland boy, who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 60, was enrolled in a hospital program for overweight children. Social worker reports said he frequently missed weigh-ins and appointments, the court document said.

During the year-and-a-half protective supervision of the child, a social worker reported observing the boy out of breath after walking down the length of a short hallway and that some of the boy's breathing problems are, "due to extra skin in his throat."

An 8-year-old boy with a moderate activity level would require about 11,200 calories in one week to maintain his current weight, according to the University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland. For the same child to gain one pound in a week, he would need to consume about 14,700 calories.

The boy is now living in a foster home close to his mother who is allowed weekly visits. He has lost weight while in foster care, according to Mary Louise Madigan, spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services.

Sigman warns that any young child with a severe weight problem will need years of care. "Even under the best conditions, it is not always possible to maintain significant weight loss in these children," explains Sigman. "It is going to take years to get that child well."

(Writing and reporting by Kim Palmer; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111203/us_nm/us_obesity_children

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37 Republican Senators Push for Pipeline with Bill (ContributorNetwork)

Thirty-seven Senate Republicans signed onto a bill on Wednesday, Nov. 30, that would require the Obama Administration to issue a permit within 60 days of its passage allowing the Keystone XL project to move forward. But, according to an article published by Reuters, the bill will be difficult to pass in a Democratic-controlled Senate.

Here's a look at some of the pertinent details surrounding the bill and the project:

* TransCanada's Keystone XL project is an approximately 1,661 mile, 36-inch crude oil pipeline that would connect oil from the Hardisty, Alberta area to refineries in the Nederland, Texas region. The pipeline would also pass through Saskatchewan, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. On Nov. 10, the Obama Administration announced that the project - for which end-of-the-year approval was anticipated - would be delayed until 2013.

* According to Sen. Dick Lugar (Indiana), the North American Energy Security Act, also known as the Keystone Bill, contains environmental protections, guards states' rights and protects Nebraska's ability to move the route around the Sand Hills without delaying construction elsewhere. Lugar says that the Keystone XL project will create 20,000 jobs and accuses President Obama of delaying the decision until after the 2012 election to avoid offending part of his political base. The bill would give Obama the option, if not approving the permits for the pipeline within 60 days, to publicly explain his decision as to why the project is not in the nation's best interest.

* Sen. Jerry Moran (Kansas), another of the Keystone bill's sponsors, stated the project will provide 700,000 new barrels of oil a day to the United States. Kansas will be hard-hit by the project's delay because municipal utilities across the state have already invested electrical infrastructure to supply power to the pumping stations along the length of the pipeline, Moran said.

* During a Nov. 30 daily press briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson, Mark Toner, reiterated that the Department continues to work closely and consult closely with Congress in conducting the study and assessment of the project.

* According to the Oil & Gas Journal, the U.S. House passed a bill of its own in July, H.R. 1938, requiring that the Obama administration decide on the permit by November 1 of this year. A White House statement on July 25 expressed the Administration's opposition to the bill, stating that it limits the discretion of the Department of State in its role of overseeing the issuance of permits for border-crossing facilities. Additionally, the bill would conflict with Executive branch authority and could prevent thorough consideration of complex issues "which could have serious security, safety, environmental, and other ramifications." The Senate later refused to move the House-passed 1938 forward.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111201/pl_ac/10569613_37_republican_senators_push_for_pipeline_with_bill

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Acer riding shotgun on quad-core bandwagon, confirms Tegra 3 tablet coming next year

The web was rife with scuttlebutt yesterday that the artist formerly known as Kal-el would make an appearance in an Acer slate next year. In response, Acer's President Jim Wong has confirmed that the company will, indeed, be bringing a quad-core tablet to market in 2012. Unfortunately, Wong failed to mention any other details about Acer's next Android slate, though he did say the company plans to "remain very aggressive" on the tablet front. We're not sure what that means, but we do know we can't wait to see the results of that aggression -- who's up for a quad-core cage match between the unnamed Acer and a Transformer Prime?

Acer riding shotgun on quad-core bandwagon, confirms Tegra 3 tablet coming next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/acer-riding-shotgun-on-quad-core-bandwagon-confirms-tegra-3-tab/

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Best Buy seems to think the Galaxy Nexus is in stock Dec. 11

Take this with a grain of salt, seeing as how Best Buy's had a hard time remembering the the Galaxy Nexus' name, but this inventory screen sent to Engadget shows that the big-box retailer is expecting to have the Verizon Galaxy Nexus in stock on Dec. 11. Note that the street date is blank, though -- and we've seen these Best Buy inventory screens be wrong before.

In other words: Still no official launch date for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus.

Source: Engadget

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/-vohPA4TAfU/story01.htm

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Blackstone, Bain plan Yahoo bid: source (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Blackstone Group and Bain Capital are preparing a bid for all of Yahoo Inc with Asian partners in a deal that could value the Internet company at about $25 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The potential bid by the consortium, which would include China's Alibaba Group and Japan's Softbank Corp, has not yet been finalized, the source and two other people familiar with the matter said.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose primary interest is in buying back a 40 percent stake owned by Yahoo, is keeping its options open and said it has not decided whether to participate in a bid for all of Yahoo.

"Alibaba Group has not made a decision to be part of a whole company bid for Yahoo," Alibaba Group spokesman, John Spelich, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

Yahoo's shares, which closed at $15.71 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, gained 6.4 percent to $16.72 in after-hours trading, valuing the company at more than $20 billion.

"Alibaba definitely wants to get its stake back from Yahoo, so whatever that can make that happen, they will try for it," said Hong Kong-based JPMorgan analyst, Dick Wei, adding Alibaba may finance the deal by taking on more debt or finding a strategic buyer.

Alibaba, run by its founder and billionaire CEO Jack Ma, has ties with some of the world's most prominent private equity funds and a group of investors including Silver Lake purchased a 5 percent stake worth $1.6 billion in early November.

A bid for Yahoo at more than $20 per share would mean a deal value of about $25 billion based on 1.24 billion shares outstanding, potentially making it the largest leveraged buyout in recent years.

Blackstone, Bain and Softbank declined to comment, while Yahoo representatives were not immediately available to comment.

HEAT ON THE BOARD

Although a bid for all of Yahoo is not yet on the table, the latest twist turns up the heat on Yahoo's board, which has received at least two offers for a minority stake in the company according to people familiar with the matter. One offer came from a consortium of Silver Lake and Microsoft Corp, and another from TPG Capital. Silver Lake, Microsoft and TPG have declined to comment.

Meanwhile, private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners is interested in buying the U.S. operations of Yahoo, people familiar with the matter told Reuters previously. Providence Equity Partners and Hellman & Friedman are also interested in a potential Yahoo deal. Thomas H. Lee, Providence and Hellman & Friedman have declined to comment on the situation.

Bain and Blackstone have a track record of teaming up for joint investments. In 2008, the two buyout firms, in partnership with NBC Universal, bought the Weather Channel.

In 2006, the private equity firms teamed up for a $6 billion buyout of Michaels Stores Inc, the biggest U.S. arts and crafts retailer.

Internet pioneer Yahoo has seen its growth stagnate in recent years due to competition from Google Inc and Facebook and is currently without a permanent CEO as it tries to regain relevance.

Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz in September and started a strategic review, which has been complicated by the different agendas of players with a say in the situation, including its Asian partners, co-founders Jerry Yang and David Filo, the board and shareholders.

Yang has been exploring a deal with private equity firms to take the company private, according to sources, in part because that would represent his best chance of remaining involved with the company.

(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Soyoung Kim in New York and Melanie Lee in Shanghai; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Carol Bishopric and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/wr_nm/us_yahoo

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