Hot on the heels of Adobe's announcement yesterday
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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Grab Adobe Ideas For iOS For Free Right Here
App lets amputees program their own bionic hands
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution hands during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution hands during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution hands during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution hands decorated with images of his children during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., demonstrates his i-limb ultra revolution hands during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Double amputee Jason Koger, 34, of Owensboro, Ky., smiles during an interview with the Associated Press, Thursday, May 2, 2013, in Philadelphia. Koger, a husband and father of three who lost his limbs in an accident, can now activate with an iPhone app 24 different grip patterns for his new bionic hands. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Double-amputee Jason Koger used to fly hundreds of miles to visit a clinician when he wanted to adjust the grips on his bionic hands.
Now, he's got an app.
Koger came to Philadelphia this week to demonstrate the i-limb ultra revolution, a prosthetic developed by the British firm Touch Bionics. Using a stylus and an iPhone, Koger can choose any of 24 grip patterns that best suit his needs.
It's the latest evolution in equipment for Koger, a 34-year-old married father of three from Owensboro, Ky., who lost his hands in an all-terrain vehicle accident in 2008.
"Five years ago, I couldn't pull my pants up by myself," said Koger. "Today, I go hunting and do some of the things that I probably never imagined I could have done five years ago."
The technology indicates how rapidly the field of prosthetics is changing, benefiting patients from injured military members to victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Practitioners say increased government research in the wake of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is driving some of the advances.
In Koger's case, he was shocked by a downed power line. He went into a coma and had no idea until he woke up three days later that doctors had amputated both his limbs at mid-forearm.
His wife spent those three days researching prosthetics, Koger said.
Since then, he's used a variety of prostheses, which he considers like tools ? different extensions for different tasks. Electric hooks have allowed him to pursue his passion for hunting. Myoelectric hands, which react to electrical impulses generated by his remaining arm muscles, offer more precise movements.
The previous version of Koger's myoelectric device required programming by a prosthetist, meaning Koger had to fly to Advanced Arm Dynamics in Dallas. The prosthetist would work with Koger to pick a few grip patterns ? such as pinching, pointing or shaking hands ? to program into the i-limb.
Yet sometimes Koger would get home and realize they weren't the ones he needed. Now, the latest i-limb comes with iPhone or iPad app that allows Koger to reprogram his hand with the touch of a stylus. On Thursday, he demonstrated by gripping an orange, a baseball and a can of soda.
The i-limb allows fingers and thumbs move independently to conform around certain objects, said Ryan Spill, a prosthetist for Advanced Arm Dynamics' new office in Philadelphia, who is working with Koger. The thumb is also motorized, not passive, as in previous prostheses.
The Boston Marathon bombings, which wounded more than 260 people including many with serious leg injuries, have shined a light on the advances in prostheses. But experts note that technology for upper extremity bionics, which involve fine motor skills, is much different from what's needed for lower extremities, which focuses on weight distribution and gait.
There have also been huge advances in computerized knees and feet, said Joe Reda, assistant director of orthotic and prosthetic services at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange, N.J.
"The changes are happening rather rapidly now and I think it's because of our wars overseas," said Reda. "The government is trying to put more money into research and development."
The i-limb ultra revolution costs about $100,000, though some insurance might cover it. Koger, who received his free in exchange for testing them and providing feedback, met Friday in Philadelphia with other amputees interested in the new technology.
Mark Dowling, 50, of Newark, Del., lost his arm to cancer several months ago. He said he cried while watching Koger demonstrate how the hand worked.
"I'm very touched with his story," Dowling said.
___
Online:
http://www.jasonkoger.com
http://www.touchbionics.com
http://www.armdynamics.com
___
Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson
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Malaysia ruling coalition leads early poll results
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ? Malaysia's ruling coalition took an early lead in results for national elections Sunday after a record number of voters cast ballots, with some choosing to extend the coalition's 56-year rule and others pressing for an unprecedented victory by an opposition that pledges cleaner government.
Prime Minister Najib Razak's National Front coalition captured 38 parliamentary seats while opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance seized 16 in early results released by Malaysia's Election Commission. At least 112 of the 222 parliamentary seats at stake are needed to win federal power.
Many of the seats won so far are in the National Front's traditional rural strongholds, especially in Borneo, where Anwar's alliance was hoping to make major inroads to bolster its chances of victory.
The National Front has triumphed in 12 consecutive general elections since independence from Britain in 1957, but it was facing its most unified challenge ever from an opposition that hoped to capitalize on widespread allegations of arrogance, abuse of public funds and racial discrimination against the ruling coalition.
Counting showed the opposition increased its support in key urban constituencies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's biggest city, and was poised to retain control of northern Penang state, one of Malaysia's wealthiest territories, where middle-class voters have clamored for national change.
More than 10 million Malaysians cast ballots for a record turnout of 80 percent of about 13 million registered voters, the Election Commission said in preliminary estimates. They were also voting to fill vacancies in 12 of Malaysia's 13 state legislatures.
Some people lined up for more than an hour at schools and other voting centers, showing off fingers marked with ink to prevent multiple voting after they had finished.
The National Front held 135 seats in the 222-member Parliament that was dissolved last month. It is anxious to secure a stronger five-year mandate and regain the two-thirds legislative majority that it held for years but lost in 2008.
"The government has made some mistakes but the prime minister has made changes and I believe they (the National Front) will do their best to take care of the people's welfare," said Mohamed Rafiq Idris, a car business owner who waited in a long line at a central Selangor state voting center with his wife and son.
Andrew Charles, a Malaysian businessman working in Australia, flew home to vote for the opposition because he believes it can end corruption and mistrust between the Malay Muslim majority and ethnic Chinese, Indian and smaller minorities.
"I am really fed up. There are more abuses in the system and there is no equality among the races. After 56 years, it is time to give others a chance to change this country," he said after voting in a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur.
Najib says only the National Front can maintain stability in Malaysia, which has long been among Southeast Asia's most peaceful countries.
"Your support is paramount if we are to keep to our path of development, if we are to continue our journey toward complete transformation," Najib said in a statement to voters. "This election is about fulfilling promises, bringing hope and upholding trustworthiness."
If the opposition wins, it would mark a remarkable comeback for Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who was fired in 1998 and subsequently jailed on corruption and sodomy charges that he says were fabricated by his political enemies. He was released from jail in 2004.
Anwar and other opposition leaders voiced deep fears Sunday about electoral fraud. Claims of bogus ballots and an apparent ease in which some voters cleaned the ink stains off their fingers dominated social media.
Opposition leaders said the National Front was using foreign migrants from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia to vote unlawfully. Government and electoral authorities deny the allegations.
"We have in fact jointly condemned this, which is not only fraudulent but virtually attempting to steal the elections, which is unconstitutional, disregard for the law," Anwar told reporters.
The National Front's aura of invincibility has been under threat since three of Malaysia's main opposition parties combined forces five years ago. In recent years the National Front has been increasingly accused of complacency and heavy-handed rule.
Najib, who took office in 2009, embarked on a major campaign to restore his coalition's luster. In recent months, authorities have provided cash handouts to low-income families and used government-linked newspapers and TV stations to criticize the opposition's ability to rule.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/malaysia-ruling-coalition-leads-early-poll-results-141016715.html
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Monday, May 6, 2013
Could immigration bill set off another backlash?
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As a Senate committee prepares to begin voting this week on far-reaching immigration legislation, advocates are watching warily to see whether opposition, thus far subdued, builds into the same kind of fierce backlash that shut down Congress' last attempt to remake the nation's immigration system.
That time around, in 2007, angry calls overwhelmed the Senate switchboard and lawmakers endured raging town hall meetings and threats from incensed constituents. The legislation ultimately collapsed on the Senate floor.
"I've been through this battle, and it's ugly," said former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who supported the bill. "My phones were jammed for three weeks and I got three death threats, one of which I turned over to the FBI. So it's rough business."
Supporters of the immigration bill, released last month by a group of four Republican and four Democratic senators, have been cautiously optimistic about their prospects because of factors including public support for giving citizenship to immigrants, a large and diverse coalition in support of the bill, and a growing sentiment among Republican leaders that immigration must be dealt with if they are to regain the backing of Hispanic voters. Backers have been working hard to build alliances and strategies aimed at avoiding the mistakes of 2007, when critics largely defined the bill and some supporters ended up turning against it.
Opponents acknowledge that supporters started out better organized and mobilized than last time around, and they also anticipate that outside groups pushing the legislation ? including efforts headed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ? will outspend them. Supporters include large and influential groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AFL-CIO and the Catholic Church, while opponents include lesser-known think tanks or advocacy organizations such as NumbersUSA, the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies. Both sides have already begun running ads.
But critics also have important grass-roots influence, including from talk radio hosts who were instrumental in defeating the bill in 2007, and opponents argue that as the public absorbs the content of the legislation, the tide will turn against it. They say that there are already signs that it's happening. Although conservative commentators on Fox News Channel and elsewhere have been more muted so far than in 2007, some talk radio hosts including Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh have begun to voice deep unease about the bill despite the efforts of its conservative standard bearer, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to sell the legislation to them and other conservative opinion leaders.
"The supporters promoted the bill aggressively before anybody saw the language, and certain Republicans and conservative voices sort of held their fire, but that's beginning to change," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who was a leading voice in the Senate against the bill in 2007 and is reprising that role this time around, making floor speeches, issuing press releases and holding briefing calls with reporters to argue that the bill would unlock a much larger volume of immigration into the U.S. than advertised, to the detriment of U.S. workers and jobs.
"It's going to be like that mackerel in the sunshine ? the longer it's out there the worse it smells," Sessions said.
The bill would aim to boost border security, fix legal immigration and worker programs, require all employers to check their workers' legal status and offer eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million immigrants already living in the country illegally.
Joyce Kaufman, a host on a Florida radio station, WFTL, said that opposition to the bill was soft at first but grows daily.
"Yes, we believe this is amnesty," Kaufman said. "Citizen activists are outraged."
Lott said that supporters of the legislation still haven't come up with an argument as concise and effective as that one word ? "amnesty" ? from opponents. He said he's spoken with Rubio, among others, to make clear that supporters of the bill need to hone their arguments.
"Last time our explanation was three paragraphs. Theirs was a word," Lott said. When that happens, he said, "You're dead."
The Democratic-led Senate, where the Judiciary Committee takes up the bill on Thursday, is already going to be a tough challenge. But if the bill does pass the Senate, opponents are betting it gets stopped in the Republican-led House. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has been promising for months to release their own bill mirroring elements of the Senate legislation but taking a tougher tack. So far they haven't delivered.
Meanwhile, to the dismay of immigration advocates, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has announced plans to move forward with individual, single-issue immigration bills, rejecting the comprehensive approach in the Senate that's backed by President Barack Obama, who's made immigration legislation a top second-term priority. The legislation was also a priority in 2007 for then-President George W. Bush, but he was unsuccessful in persuading Republican lawmakers to get behind the bill, and Democrats who at the time controlled Congress were divided, too.
In the 2007 debate, a turning point came when the conservative Heritage Foundation released a report saying that the legislation would cost taxpayers $2.6 trillion, including benefits to immigrants and other expenditures. Although the analysis was disputed it carried weight with GOP lawmakers. Now under the leadership of former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., another lead opponent of the legislation in 2007, Heritage is preparing to release an updated version of that report.
In a sign of how supporters of the bill are working hard not to repeat mistakes from the past, conservative groups that support the legislation have already sought to pre-empt the Heritage report, with the Cato Institute deriding it ahead of time as "fatally flawed," and Cato and others arguing that immigration reform would boost the economy by growing the labor market. Nonetheless officials with Heritage argue their report could have the same impact this time around as in 2007.
"There's been a lot of posturing, a lot of talk. We haven't really gotten to the heart of the debate yet," said Dan Holler, communications director for Heritage Action for America, the Heritage Foundation's activist arm. "We have the right policy, the numbers are going to be there, and the debate is going to shift. And no amount of ads will be able to shift it back."
___
Follow Erica Werner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-immigration-bill-set-off-another-backlash-074649827.html
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Cyberbullying rampant among high school students
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Public release date: 5-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Susan Stevens Martin
ssmartin@aap.org
847-434-7131
American Academy of Pediatrics
Nearly one-third of youths also report playing video/computer games for more than 3 hours a day
WASHINGTON, DC Step into a class of 30 high school students and look around. Five of them have been victims of electronic bullying in the past year.
What's more, 10 of those students spend three or more hours on an average school day playing video games or using a computer for something other than school work, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 5, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.
"Electronic bullying of high school students threatens the self-esteem, emotional well-being and social standing of youth at a very vulnerable stage of their development," said study author Andrew Adesman, MD, FAAP, chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York. "Although teenagers generally embrace being connected to the Web and each other 24/7, we must recognize that these new technologies carry with them the potential to traumatize youth in new and different ways."
The researchers analyzed data from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 15,425 public and private high school students. The school response rate was 81 percent, and the student response rate was 87 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts the survey on a nationally representative sample of high schoolers every two years to monitor six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability and social problems among U.S. youths.
For the first time, the 2011 survey asked students whether they had been a victim of electronic bullying in the past 12 months, including through email, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites and texting. They also were asked how many hours they play video or computer games or use a computer for something that is not school work.
Results showed:
- One in six high school students (16.2 percent) reported being electronically bullied within the past 12 months.
- Girls were more than twice as likely to report being a victim of cyberbullying than boys (22.1 percent vs. 10.8 percent).
- Whites reported being the victim of cyberbullying more than twice as frequently as blacks.
"Electronic bullying is a very real yet silent danger that may be traumatizing children and teens without parental knowledge and has the potential to lead to devastating consequences," said principal investigator Karen Ginsburg, also at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York. "By identifying groups at higher risk for electronic bullying, it is hoped that targeted awareness and prevention strategies can be put in place."
Results regarding video game and recreational computer use showed:
- Thirty-one percent of high school students reported spending three or more hours daily playing video games or using a computer for something other than school.
- Boys were more likely than girls to report playing for more than three hours a day (35.3 percent vs. 26.6 percent).
"As technology continues to advance and computers become that much more accessible, cyberbullying will continue to grow as a hurtful weapon against kids and teens," Dr. Adesman concluded.
###
To view the abstract, "Electronic Bullying and Recreational Video/Computer Time in U.S. High School Students," go to http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS13L1_2835.3.
For more information on cyberbullying, visit http://www.stopbullying.gov and http://www.stopcyberbullying.org.
The Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) are four individual pediatric organizations that co-sponsor the PAS Annual Meeting the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Members of these organizations are pediatricians and other health care providers who are practicing in the research, academic and clinical arenas. The four sponsoring organizations are leaders in the advancement of pediatric research and child advocacy within pediatrics, and all share a common mission of fostering the health and well-being of children worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.pas-meeting.org. Follow news of the PAS meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PedAcadSoc.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 5-May-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Susan Stevens Martin
ssmartin@aap.org
847-434-7131
American Academy of Pediatrics
Nearly one-third of youths also report playing video/computer games for more than 3 hours a day
WASHINGTON, DC Step into a class of 30 high school students and look around. Five of them have been victims of electronic bullying in the past year.
What's more, 10 of those students spend three or more hours on an average school day playing video games or using a computer for something other than school work, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 5, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.
"Electronic bullying of high school students threatens the self-esteem, emotional well-being and social standing of youth at a very vulnerable stage of their development," said study author Andrew Adesman, MD, FAAP, chief of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York. "Although teenagers generally embrace being connected to the Web and each other 24/7, we must recognize that these new technologies carry with them the potential to traumatize youth in new and different ways."
The researchers analyzed data from the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 15,425 public and private high school students. The school response rate was 81 percent, and the student response rate was 87 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts the survey on a nationally representative sample of high schoolers every two years to monitor six types of health-risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability and social problems among U.S. youths.
For the first time, the 2011 survey asked students whether they had been a victim of electronic bullying in the past 12 months, including through email, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites and texting. They also were asked how many hours they play video or computer games or use a computer for something that is not school work.
Results showed:
- One in six high school students (16.2 percent) reported being electronically bullied within the past 12 months.
- Girls were more than twice as likely to report being a victim of cyberbullying than boys (22.1 percent vs. 10.8 percent).
- Whites reported being the victim of cyberbullying more than twice as frequently as blacks.
"Electronic bullying is a very real yet silent danger that may be traumatizing children and teens without parental knowledge and has the potential to lead to devastating consequences," said principal investigator Karen Ginsburg, also at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York. "By identifying groups at higher risk for electronic bullying, it is hoped that targeted awareness and prevention strategies can be put in place."
Results regarding video game and recreational computer use showed:
- Thirty-one percent of high school students reported spending three or more hours daily playing video games or using a computer for something other than school.
- Boys were more likely than girls to report playing for more than three hours a day (35.3 percent vs. 26.6 percent).
"As technology continues to advance and computers become that much more accessible, cyberbullying will continue to grow as a hurtful weapon against kids and teens," Dr. Adesman concluded.
###
To view the abstract, "Electronic Bullying and Recreational Video/Computer Time in U.S. High School Students," go to http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS13L1_2835.3.
For more information on cyberbullying, visit http://www.stopbullying.gov and http://www.stopcyberbullying.org.
The Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) are four individual pediatric organizations that co-sponsor the PAS Annual Meeting the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Academic Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Members of these organizations are pediatricians and other health care providers who are practicing in the research, academic and clinical arenas. The four sponsoring organizations are leaders in the advancement of pediatric research and child advocacy within pediatrics, and all share a common mission of fostering the health and well-being of children worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.pas-meeting.org. Follow news of the PAS meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PedAcadSoc.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/aaop-cra042613.php
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Ricardo Portillo, Utah Soccer Referee Punched By Player, Dies
MURRAY, Utah ? Ricardo Portillo's daughters had begged him to stop refereeing in a Hispanic soccer league because of the growing risk of violence from angry players.
Now they're faced with planning his funeral after he succumbed to injuries late Saturday that had put him in a coma for a week since a 17-year-old goalie punched him in the head.
Authorities say the teen punched Portillo after the youth was called for a foul and issued a yellow card.
"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal in a press release.
The suspect has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since the 46-year-old Salt Lake City man has died.
Hoyal said an autopsy is planned. No cause of death was released.
Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
The victim's family spoke publicly of Portillo's plight this past week, but has asked for privacy, Hoyal said.
The unaffiliated soccer league, Liga Continental de Ftbol, updated its Facebook posting Sunday with a tribute to Portillo including a number of photographs of him refereeing and playing soccer. It also set up a bank account to accept donations for his family. No plans have been announced for a funeral or memorial services.
Mario Vazquez, the league president who also was a friend and worked with Portillo, said Sunday everyone in the league had the greatest respect for him.
"We will miss him at the soccer fields. He loved the game and loved doing his job. Ricardo always had a great sense of humor and loved being in the service of others," Vazquez said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Portillo family during this difficult time. Ricardo will always be with us," he said.
Daughter Johana Portillo, 26, said last week that she wasn't at the April 27 game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head.
"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said. She did not immediately respond to a text message request for comment The Associated Press sent her on Sunday.
Accounts from a police report, Portillo's daughter and others offer further detail what occurred.
The teenager was playing goalie during a game at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville when Portillo issued him a yellow card for pushing an opposing forward trying to score. In soccer, a yellow card is given as a warning to a player for an egregious violation of the rules. Two yellow cards lead to a red card and expulsion from the game.
The teenager, quite a bit heavier than Portillo, began arguing with the referee, then punched him in the face. Portillo seemed fine at first, then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. He sat down and started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance.
When police arrived around noon, the teenager was gone and Portillo was laying on the ground in the fetal position. Through translators, Portillo told emergency workers that his face and back hurt and he felt nauseous. He had no visible injuries and remained conscious. He was considered to be in fair condition when they took him to the Intermountain Medical Center.
But when Portillo arrived to the hospital, he slipped into a coma with swelling in his brain. Johana Portillo called detectives to let them know his condition had worsened.
That's when detectives intensified their search for the goalie. By Saturday evening, the teenager's father agreed to bring him down to speak with police.
Portillo's family said he had been attacked before, and Johanna Portillo said she and her sisters had pleaded with their father to stop refereeing because of the risk from angry players, but he continued because he loved soccer.
"It was his passion," she said. "We could not tell him no."
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/05/ricardo-portillo-soccer-referee-dies_n_3219305.html
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Amid budget cutbacks, U.S. shipping sector seeks more federal funds
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Congress imposes deep spending cuts on everything from national defense to child care, shipping industry executives are urging lawmakers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on a river network that accounts for a declining share of the nation's domestic freight.
During a lobbying blitz in the past month, roughly 130 tugboat and barge operators fanned across Capitol Hill, meeting with lawmakers and congressional staffers.
The shipping executives argued that the U.S. government should spend $150 million more each year to upgrade the Depression-era locks and dams that enable them to ship soybeans, coal and other commodities down the nation's major rivers. In return, the shippers said, they would pay more in fuel taxes.
For an industry that already is subsidized heavily by the U.S. government - and whose growth in moving domestic freight is being outpaced by rail and interstate trucking - pushing such an argument at a time of budget cutbacks is navigating upstream.
But barge operators have cultivated a bipartisan group of river-state lawmakers, including Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, who appear ready to fight for the industry's interests when the Senate takes up the issue next week.
The "Battle of the Barges" may not command the public's attention the way that the debates over gun control and immigration have. But the outcome could signal whether the traditional way of doing business on Capitol Hill - coalition-building, campaign donations and face-to-face lobbying - can still get results in an era when partisan conflicts have made it hard to advance legislation of nearly all types.
Barge executives leading the lobbying effort include Peter Stephaich of Campbell Transportation Co in Pennsylvania.
"It does seem to be unusual these days to have both sides come together and support something like this," Stephaich said last month, as he wrapped up a meeting with Alaska Democratic Senator Mark Begich and headed to a fundraiser for Republican Representative Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania.
Begich and Shuster have not announced their positions on the shipping industry's call for more government funding.
Opposition to the industry's push hasn't become public in the Senate, but that is likely to change soon. Taxpayer watchdogs and environmental groups see the industry's current subsidies as overly generous, and vow to fight any increase.
"The idea of expanding a subsidy to the most subsidized form of transportation this side of space travel is not going to happen," said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "It's really beyond the pale."
Conservative groups such as the Club for Growth also are signaling they could join the shipping industry's opponents - a move that would get the attention of Republicans wary of facing a challenge from the right when they run for re-election.
The shipping industry has a long history of support in Congress, dating to the early days of the country when rivers were the most reliable form of cargo transportation.
In recent decades, freight rail and interstate trucking have eclipsed the shipping industry. In 1980, 27 percent of domestic freight moved by water; by 2009 that figure had dropped to 11 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Waterborne transportation still plays a key role in moving grain, coal and other bulk commodities from the nation's interior states down the Mississippi River to Louisiana, where they are sent around the world.
Through a fuel tax, the industry pays about 10 percent of the $800 million or so spent each year to keep the nation's rivers open for navigation. The government covers the rest.
By contrast, a fuel tax on car and truck drivers covers about 80 percent of the cost of maintaining the nation's highway system. Freight rail operators cover all of their costs.
The barge fuel tax is supposed to cover half the costs of new construction, but it has not increased since 1994 and does not generate enough revenue to build new locks and dams in a timely manner. At the current pace, some planned projects won't be completed for 77 years, according to an industry trade group.
Industry officials also say they need more help to repair existing structures - a problem they say was vividly illustrated in 2011, when a 280-foot section of canal south of Chicago collapsed, disrupting commercial traffic.
A WORTHY INVESTMENT?
Some analysts question whether a massive new spending push would yield the benefits that the shipping industry claims.
Decaying locks and dams can contribute to delays in shipping, but the system's reliability is affected much more by droughts, floods and other weather events that largely are beyond human control, said Don Sweeney, a transportation specialist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
"Are these expenditures likely to yield the kind of economic benefits that would make them good expenditures?" he asked. "I'm not convinced at all."
The shipping industry's proposal would boost its contribution by 30 to 45 percent, to about $110 million a year. In return, the government would more than double its annual contribution to $270 million, on top of the $500 million to $600 million it spends each year on dredging and other waterway maintenance. The government would pay for any cost overruns.
The industry aims to insert the proposal into a broad water-resources bill that the Senate will take up next week.
To push the plan, the Waterways Council, an industry trade group, boosted its spending on lobbyists to $315,000 in the first three months of this year, much more than past year.
The industry's lobbyists include John Breaux, a former Democratic senator from Louisiana, and Bob Livingston, a former Louisiana Republican who oversaw spending issues as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee during the 1990s.
SUPPORT FROM RIVER STATES
The shipping industry's backing in Congress dates to at least 1848, when Congressman Abraham Lincoln fought President James Polk's push to make the industry pay its own way.
More recently, Congress turned back efforts by presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama to get users to pick up a greater share of their costs.
Republican lawmakers often are skeptical about increasing domestic spending, but those from states with significant river traffic have joined Democrats in expanding funds for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains commercial waterways.
That pattern is apparent in the Democrat-led Senate, where Alexander and Casey back the industry's plan.
In the Republican-led House, a similar bill is supported by Democratic and Republican lawmakers from states such as Alabama and Illinois that see a large amount of barge traffic. The bill's lead sponsor, Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, represents a district that borders the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
While outside groups like Club for Growth use the threat of a primary challenge to wield influence over lawmakers, the shipping industry has taken the opposite approach. Industry employees donated $28,000 to Whitfield last year.
This year, the industry has sent donations to other lawmakers who could prove influential in the debate - including Shuster, who will draft his own water-resources bill as head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
American Waterways Operators, an industry trade group, gave $2,500 to Shuster in February and hosted a fundraising dinner in April. The amount raised is not yet public.
A Shuster spokesman said the congressman had not decided whether to back the shipping industry's plan. Stephaich, the industry executive, sounded confident of Shuster's support.
"We've got a desire, a will on both Congressman Shuster's side and in the Senate, with the help of Senator Casey, to hopefully have all of this come together," Stephaich said.
(Editing by David Lindsey and Lisa Shumaker)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amid-budget-cutbacks-u-shipping-sector-seeks-more-050558595.html
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