Jurors find Jodi Arias eligible for death penalty

Jodi Arias looks at the family of Travis Alexander as the jury arrives on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, during the sentencing phase of her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. If the jury finds aggravating factors in her crime, Arias could be sentenced to death. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Jodi Arias looks at the family of Travis Alexander as the jury arrives on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, during the sentencing phase of her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. If the jury finds aggravating factors in her crime, Arias could be sentenced to death. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Jodi Arias listens to prosecutor Juan Martinez address the jury on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, during the sentencing phase of her trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. If the jury finds aggravating factors in her crime, Arias could be sentenced to death. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Prosecutor Juan Martinez addresses the jury on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, during the sentencing phase of the Jodi Arias murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. If the jury finds aggravating factors in her crime, Arias could be sentenced to death. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi addresses the jury on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 during the sentencing phase of the Jodi Arias murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. If the jury finds aggravating factors in her crime, Arias could be sentenced to death. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

PHOENIX (AP) ? Jurors in Jodi Arias' trial on Wednesday found the former waitress should be eligible for the death penalty after they convicted her last week of murdering her one-time boyfriend.

The decision came after a day of testimony in the "aggravation" phase of the trial, during which prosecutor Juan Martinez hoped to prove the June 2008 killing was committed in an especially cruel and heinous manner.

Family members of victim Travis Alexander sobbed in the front row as Martinez took the jury through the killing one more time. He described how blood gushed from Alexander's chest, hands and throat as the motivational speaker and businessman stood at the sink in his master bathroom and looked into the mirror with Arias behind him.

"The last thing he saw before he lapsed into unconsciousness ... was that blade coming to his throat," Martinez said. "And the last thing he felt before he left this earth was pain."

The trial now moves into the final phase, in which prosecutors will call Alexander's family and other witnesses in an effort to convince the panel Arias should face the ultimate punishment. Arias' attorneys also will call witnesses, likely members of her family, in an attempt to gain sympathy from jurors so they give her life in prison.

The aggravation phase played out in quick fashion, with only one prosecution witness and none for the defense. The most dramatic moments occurred when Martinez displayed photos of the bloody crime scene for the jury and paused in silence for two minutes to describe how long he said it took for Alexander to die at Arias' hands on June 4, 2008.

Arias, wearing a silky, cream-colored blouse, appeared to fight back tears most of the morning. She spent the weekend on suicide watch before being transferred back to an all-female jail where she will remain until sentencing.

"She made sure she killed him by stabbing him over and over and over again," Martinez said.

The defense didn't have much of a case given how many times Alexander was stabbed, the defensive wounds on his hands, the length of the attack, and the sheer amount of blood found at the scene. Defense lawyers said Alexander would have had so much adrenaline rushing through his body that he might not have felt much pain.

The only witness was the medical examiner who performed the autopsy and explained to jurors how Alexander did not die calmly and fought for his life as evidenced by the numerous defensive wounds on his body.

Minutes after her first-degree murder conviction last Wednesday, Arias granted an interview to Fox affiliate KSAZ, only adding to the circus-like environment surrounding the trial that has become a cable TV sensation with its graphic tales of sex, lies and violence.

"Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," a tearful Arias said. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom, and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it."

However, Arias cannot choose the death penalty. It's up to the jury to recommend a sentence.

The medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified Wednesday that Alexander did not die calmly and fought for his life as evidenced by the numerous defensive wounds on his body.

Arias acknowledged killing Alexander on June 4, 2008, at his suburban Phoenix home. She initially denied any involvement then later blamed masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense when the victim attacked her after a day of sex.

She stabbed and slashed Alexander nearly 30 times, shot him in the forehead and slit his throat from ear to ear, leaving him nearly decapitated before she dragged his mutilated body into his shower, where friends found him about five days later.

Prosecutors said Arias planned the killing in a jealous rage, as Alexander wanted to end their affair and planned to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Testimony in Arias' trial began in early January. The jury reached its verdict after about 15 hours of deliberations over four days. All 12 jurors ? eight men and four women ? unanimously agreed the killing was premeditated.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-15-Boyfriend%20Slaying/id-58e8c59f6bbf49139a27918c80ae29c2

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Katy Perry and Mick Jagger: Gyrating in Concert!

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@WalmartLabs Acquires Cloud Computing Startup OneOps & Delicious Founder's Tasty Labs

Walmart, via its Silicon Valley innovation lab @WalmartLabs, today announced the acquisition of two startups: cloud computing newcomer OneOps and the software development shop Tasty Labs, from Delicious founder?Joshua Schachter. Tasty Labs offered two services Jig.com and Human.io – both domains which are now redirecting to Walmart’s?acquisition?announcement, along with that of their corporate parent. Walmart declined to disclose deal terms. OneOps?developed a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capability that Walmart explains will enable it to “significantly accelerate” its PaaS and Private Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) strategies. The company offered developer tools built from the ground up for those who host their applications on cloud services like Amazon’s Web Services, for example, as well as Rackspace and HP Cloud. Developers could publish to any cloud, and seamlessly port their apps elsewhere as needed, eliminating lock-in. The company offered a library of predefined building blocks to quickly bootstrap an application, which could be visually assembled in its interface. A variety of categories such as content management (ex. Drupal, WordPress), e-commerce (ex. Magento), enterprise portals (ex. Liferay), and more were available. OneOps was named one of?12 Hot Cloud Computing Companies Worth Watching by Network World, and was a finalist at the?GigaOM?LaunchPad Competition. “Walmart is looking to create a best-in-class global eCommerce platform to power ‘anytime, anywhere’ shopping for our customers. The Platform team has been working tirelessly to build the tools to help our developers deliver big site changes faster,” explains Walmart Public Relations Director Ravi Jariwala in a statement. “We are innovating on a very large scale, and OneOps brings us tools that will allow us to move even faster toward a global platform.” Meanwhile, Tasty Labs was founded in 2010 by a team which includes ex-Mozillian?Nick Nguyen, HousingMaps creator Paul Rademacher, and Joshua Schachter, who was best known for founding of of “web 2.0″‘s finest: the social bookmarking service Delicious. The company had raised $3 million?in Series A funding from?Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and other unnamed angel investors. The startup launched its first product Jig.com in 2011, which was described as a “marketplace for needs” – meaning users would post “I need…” and others would respond to help them. The following year, it debuted Human.io, a micro-task service operating in the space general space. This application targeted businesses with small requests – like wanting to know how many people were in line at a store, for example, or getting people to take short surveys

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/G3q2CNEENzA/

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Palestinians Unite Behind Gaza Strip 'Arab Idol' Star (Voice Of America)

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Fight to close oyster farm pits environmentalists against foodies

Kevin Lunny of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company is fighting to keep his farm (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

INVERNESS, Calif.?It is coming up on planting season at Drakes Bay Oyster Company, a tiny family-owned oyster farm located on a inlet nestled within the lush grassy cliffs that run along the Pacific Ocean here just north of San Francisco.

For more than 50 years, the modest farm, which looks like nothing more than a cluster of shacks, has been one of California?s leading producers of shellfish. Grown in the clear blue waters of what is known as Drakes Estero, Drakes Bay oysters make up a third of California?s annual shellfish production and are on the menu at some of the Bay Area?s top restaurants.

But the Lunny family, which purchased the farm in 2004, has been reluctant to begin planning cultivation for future seasons because they aren?t sure they will be here for much longer. For months, the Lunnys have been locked in an intense legal fight to keep the Interior Department from closing their farm?a closely watched case that heads before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday.

At issue is a decision made last November by then-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who declined to extend Drakes Bay?s 40-year-lease, which allowed it to operate on public land within the Point Reyes National Seashore that was created decades after the oyster farm?s inception.

The Lunnys, who had been pressing for an extension of their lease for years, sued?arguing Salazar based his decision on flawed environmental impact studies produced by the National Park Service, which oversees the land. They also contend he ignored a 2009 bill championed by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and approved by Congress that would allow the farm?s lease to be extended by another 10 years.

Kevin Lunny, who owns the farm with his brothers, casts the fight as a battle between his family and an overzealous federal agency that is bowing to pressure from a powerful lobby of environmentalists who refuse to see benefits of farming on federal land. He says the government is ignoring the concerns from local residents who see his farm an important local sustainable food source.

?We are a part of a working landscape, the agriculture which is a key part of the fabric, the history and the culture that was always expected to be preserved here on the seashore,? Lunny said in an interview with Yahoo News. ?What we are doing is fighting for our business, our employees and our community against a federal bureaucracy that seems to want to ignore the will of the people.?

But his opponents argue it?s more important to restore the land to protected wilderness and that extending the Drakes Bay oyster lease would set a dangerous national precedent that would allow commercial operations on other federal park lands.

?It?s a contract issue, a deal?s a deal,? said Amy Trainer, head of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, one of the farm?s most outspoken opponents. ?If (Lunny) is allowed to stay, then we think that hurts the integrity of all our national parks and wilderness areas.?

Both Lunny and his opponents insist they are each trying to be the best stewards of the land along the Pacific seacoast?and both claim to have science on their side to prove they are doing just that. At the same time, both claim to be speaking for the majority of residents in the region.

The case has become something of a local soap opera in Marin County, where the farm is located?dividing local residents and elected officials, many of whom refused to be interviewed because of fear of retribution. The local newspapers in recent weeks have been full of warring op-eds from interested parties on both sides of the debate, which has split people who have traditionally been allies like Feinstein and the environmental lobby. There have been rallies and petitions circulated by both sides--and even snarky bumper stickers issued, including one that read, ?Shuck you, Secretary Salazar.?

More recently, the fight has gone national. In December, Lunny?s cause was picked up by Cause of Action, a Washington-based conservative watchdog group, that has been handling his case pro bono.

The farm?s opponents quickly seized on that development, pointing out that the group?s executive director, Dan Epstein, once worked for a foundation financed by Charles Koch, who, along with his brother David, has spent tens of millions of dollars to boost conservative candidates and causes. But Cause of Action has said it has not taken any money directly or indirectly from the Koch Brothers.

Lee Rubinstein, a spokesman for the group, said they were drawn to the case because of flawed science in a Park Service impact study on Drakes Bay?including a claim that the farm?s operations were hurting harbor seals. The Park Service later retracted the claim after criticism from outside scientists who said their study was inaccurate.

?When you get an agency that is playing really very fast and loose with the science, that is engaging in a whole variety of very questionable practices, where it is going to astounding lengths? to prove there is some sort of disturbance with seals, from a policy standpoint, this is tremendously worrisome because we depend on agencies to do things in a transparent manner (and) a professional manner,? Rubinstein told Yahoo News.

The case also has gotten attention from Republican members of Congress, including Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who included a provision to extend Drakes Bay?s lease another decade in a GOP energy bill that primarily aimed to speed up production of the Keystone XL pipeline?an anathema to environmental groups. That attracted the attention of other national environmental lobby, including the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council, that has mentioned the oyster farm fight in fundraising emails to their members and pumped funds into the region to lobby the debate.

In a situation that created even more strange bedfellows in the case, a group of well-known chefs recently submitted a legal brief in support of keeping Drakes Bay Oysters open. Among the signers was Alice Waters, the famed chef at Berkeley?s Chez Panisse who is one of the nation?s best known proponents for using locally sourced food.

For his part, Lunny insists he?s stunned to be in the middle of a debate that he said increasingly seems to be ?less and less about a little oyster farm and more about issues that have nothing to do with us.?

?All we are trying to do is stay open, to keep our way of life,? said Lunny, who has lived on the coast near the Point Reyes seashore his entire life.

His family first came to the coast in the 1940s, when his grandparents opened a cattle ranch in the hills near the oyster farm. His family still owns the ranch, but Lunny says if the oyster farm closes, the cattle operation could be at risk, as well, because they would still be obligated to pay back bank loans they took out on the oyster farm.

?We are facing bankruptcy,? Lunny said.

But he quickly added that it?s more than just about his family, pointing to his farm?s 30 employees and their families?about half of whom live on site. He said the workers would not only be out of jobs, but would be homeless and with a skill set that would likely force them to start all over with new careers or to move to other areas where oyster operations are flourishing, like Washington State.

Yet the irony in Lunny?s legal battle is that even if he succeeds in court, the farm may still be forced out of business. At issue Tuesday is whether Drakes Bay can stay open while the Lunny family?s case against the Interior Department and the Park Service is being litigated. If the panel says no, the farm could be evicted within weeks?and Lunny would be forced to remove and destroy in upwards of 20 million oysters growing in the water. That would effectively kill his business, Lunny said.

But even if Lunny can get a reprieve and wins his case in court forcing the Interior Department to reconsider its decision not to extend his lease, it doesn?t mean he will win that battle either.

?We could go through this whole process and still not get another lease,? Lunny said. ?It all very nerve-wracking and depressing to not know what your future is going to be. You try to hope for the best, but you can?t help but feel anxious.?

But Lunny?s opponents have shown him no sympathy. In an interview, Trainer accused Lunny of polluting the waters in Drake?s Estero, flouting local environmental regulations and treating his employees badly by not giving them adequate health insurance and overtime pay (allegations he denies). And she slammed Lunny and his supporters for putting out what she described as ?misinformation? in an effort to boost their cause.

?The story has been, ?This poor farmer, and he?s a victim of the government,? and it?s just complete nonsense,? Trainer said. ?He?s getting all kinds of free legal advice, hundreds of thousands of dollars in free legal help. He?s working with all these ultra-conservative members of Congress.?

But Lunny counters that while he has accepted help from those willing to help, it doesn?t mean he agrees with all of their views. He, in turn, accuses Trainer and local environmentalists of being unwilling to even try to find common ground and for personal attacks that aren't true.

?I have never been treated like the enemy before, and it?s been an uncomfortable position,? Lunny said, adding that he?s invited his opponents to come view his operation, but none have.

Sighing, he added, ?I am a farmer. That?s all I want to do.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/fight-close-california-oyster-farm-divides-community-gains-100654275.html

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From ocean to land: The fishy origins of our hips

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

New research has revealed that the evolution of the complex, weight-bearing hips of walking animals from the basic hips of fish was a much simpler process than previously thought.

Tetrapods, or four-legged animals, first stepped onto land about 395 million years ago. This significant change was made possible by strong hipbones and a connection through the spine via an ilium - features that were not present in the fish ancestors of tetrapods.

In a study published in the journal Evolution and Development, Dr Catherine Boisvert of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University, MacQuarie University's Professor Jean Joss and Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University examined the hip structures of some of human's closest fish cousins.

They found the differences between us and them are not as great as they appear - most of the key elements necessary for the transformation to human hips were actually already present in our fish ancestors.

Dr Boisvert and her collaborators compared the hip development - bones and musculature - of the Australian lung fish and the Axolotl, commonly known as the Mexican Walking Fish.

The results showed that, surprisingly, the transition from simple fish hip to complex weight-bearing hip could be done in a few evolutionary steps.

"Many of the muscles thought to be "new" in tetrapods evolved from muscles already present in lungfish. We also found evidence of a new, more simple path by which skeletal structures would have evolved," Dr Boisvert said.

The researchers found that the sitting bones would have evolved by the extension of the already existing pubis. The connection to the vertebral column could have evolved from an illiac process already present in fish.

"The transition from ocean-dwelling to land-dwelling animals was a major event in the evolution of terrestrial animals, including humans, and an altered hip was an essential enabling step," Dr Boisvert said.

"Our research shows that what initially appeared to be a large change in morphology could be done with relatively few developmental steps."

###

Monash University: http://www.monash.edu.au

Thanks to Monash University for this article.

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IRS chief: Agency lacked sensitivity in screenings

President Barack Obama speaks during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where they talked about various topics including Syria's civil war and the IRS. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama speaks during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where they talked about various topics including Syria's civil war and the IRS. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama gestures during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Monday, May 13, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where they talked about subjects ranging from Syria's civil war to preparations for a coming summit in Northern Ireland. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The IRS acting chief acknowledged Tuesday that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity" in its screenings of political groups seeking tax-exempt status, but he said those mistakes won't be repeated.

In his first public comment on the case, Steven Miller said there was "a shortcut taken in our processes" for determining which groups needed special screening.

Miller has emerged as a key figure in the controversy over the IRS' singling out of conservative groups for extra scrutiny. President Barack Obama said Monday that if the agency intentionally targeted such groups, "that's outrageous and there's no place for it."

In an opinion piece in Tuesday's editions of USA Today, Miller said conceded that the agency demonstrated "a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made." He said screening of advocacy groups is "factually complex, and it's challenging to separate out political issues from those involving education or social welfare."

"The mistakes we made were due to the absence of a sufficient process for working the increase in cases and a lack of sensitivity to the implications of some of the decisions that were made," Miller wrote.

Miller said the agency has implemented new procedures that will "ensure the mistakes won't be repeated."

Meanwhile, two Republican governors urged Obama to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker call the allegations "Big Brother come to life." They want a special prosecutor to find out if any laws were broken and say Obama should fire any IRS employees responsible for the situation.

On Monday, the IRS said Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny. Congress, though, was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted, even after Miller had been briefed on the matter.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny ? despite being asked about it.

Miller's op-ed, however, did not address why he did not inform Congress after he was briefed.

At the congressional hearing, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, told Miller that some politically active tax-exempt groups in his district had complained about being harassed. Marchant did not explicitly ask if tea party groups were being targeted. But he did ask how applications were handled.

Miller responded, "We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases," according to a transcript on the committee's website.

Earlier, Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., had raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed. Boustany specifically mentioned tea party groups in his inquiry.

But in a June 15, 2012, letter to Boustany, Miller said that when the IRS saw an increase in applications from groups that were involved in political activity, the agency "took steps to coordinate the handling of the case to ensure consistency."

He added that agents worked with tax law experts "to develop approaches and materials that could be helpful to the agents working the cases."

Miller did not mention that in 2011, those materials included a list of words to watch for, such as "tea party" and "patriot." He also didn't disclose that in January 2012, the criteria for additional screening was updated to include references to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by GOP Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, is holding a hearing on the issue Friday and Miller is scheduled to testify.

The Senate Finance Committee announced Monday that it will join a growing list of congressional committees investigating the matter.

The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors.

The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware.

When members of Congress repeatedly raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed last year, a deputy IRS commissioner took the lead in assuring lawmakers that the additional scrutiny was a legitimate part of the screening process.

That deputy commissioner was Miller, who is now the acting head of the agency.

Camp and other members of the Ways and Means Committee sent at least four inquiries to the IRS, starting in June 2011. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent three inquiries. And Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, sent at least one.

"This was a targeting of the president's political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn't discovered until afterwards," Issa said Tuesday on "CBS This Morning." The fact is this is the kind of investigation that has to be open and transparent to the American people."

None of the agency's responses to Congress acknowledged that conservative groups had ever been targeted, including a response to Hatch dated Sept. 11, 2012 ? four months after Miller had been briefed.

In several letters to members of Congress, Miller went into painstaking detail about how applications for tax-exempt status were screened. But he never mentioned that conservative groups were being targeted, even though people working under him knew as early as June 2011 that tea party groups were being targeted, according to an upcoming report by the agency's inspector general.

The IRS issued a statement Monday saying that Miller had been briefed on May 3, 2012 "that some specific applications were improperly identified by name and sent to the (exempt organizations) centralized processing unit for further review." That was the unit in Cincinnati that handled the tea party applications.

Miller became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

On June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to a draft of the report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

At the meeting, Lerner was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups "immediately."

However, when Lerner responded to inquiries from the House oversight committee, she didn't mention the fact that tea party groups had ever been targeted. Her responses included 45-page letters in May 2012 to Issa and to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs a subcommittee.

Lerner also met twice with staff from the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee to discuss the issue, in March and in May 2012, according to a timeline constructed by committee staff. She didn't mention at either meeting that conservative groups had been targeted, according to the timeline.

Associated Press writers Jim Abrams and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-14-US-IRS-Political-Groups/id-217f71c8fadf422dba50eb348bbc1d7f

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