Trainer Bob Baffert watches morning workouts at Churchill Downs Monday, April 29, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
Trainer Bob Baffert watches morning workouts at Churchill Downs Monday, April 29, 2013, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Bob Baffert won't be saddling a horse in Saturday's Kentucky Derby for the first time since 2008.
The Hall of Fame trainer said Monday that Govenor Charlie would not run. His other possibility, Code West, also won't compete in the Derby at Churchill Downs.
Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie was 11th on the points leaderboard that determines the 20-horse field for the 1?-mile race. Code West was ranked 21st.
Baffert hasn't been on the Derby sidelines since 2007 and '08. He has won the race three times, but not since 2002.
Govenor Charlie galloped Monday for the first time since April 11, a layoff caused by a foot bruise and soreness in his hind end.
"You cannot have any kind of hiccup," Baffert said. "We want to be competitive and if you're not competitive, my clients don't want to be in there. We're just going to watch and good luck to everybody else."
Baffert said Govenor Charlie could be pointed toward the May 18 Preakness, while Code West is a possibility for the Belmont Stakes on June 9.
Three weeks ago, Baffert took Santa Anita Derby runner-up Flashback out of consideration because of a knee injury that will sideline the colt at least two months.
"It wasn't meant for me to be in the Derby this year," he said.
Baffert will saddle Midnight Lucky in the Kentucky Oaks on Friday, then fly home to California for his youngest son's first Communion on Saturday, when the family is planning a Derby watch party.
Your grill may be an altar for red meat but why partake only in steak when there are so many other delicious animals and vegetables to try? Here?s what you?ll need to roast birds and bivalves alongside your bevy of beef.
What happened to dinosaurs' predecessors after Earth's largest extinction 252 million years ago?Public release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703-292-7734 National Science Foundation
Fossil-hunting expeditions to Tanzania, Zambia and Antarctica provide new insights
Predecessors to dinosaurs missed the race to fill habitats emptied when nine out of 10 species disappeared during Earth's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago.
Or did they?
That thinking was based on fossil records from sites in South Africa and southwest Russia.
It turns out, however, that scientists may have been looking in the wrong places.
Newly discovered fossils from 10 million years after the mass extinction reveal a lineage of animals thought to have led to dinosaurs in Tanzania and Zambia.
That's still millions of years before dinosaur relatives were seen in the fossil record elsewhere on Earth.
"The fossil record from the Karoo of South Africa, for example, is a good representation of four-legged land animals across southern Pangea before the extinction," says Christian Sidor, a paleontologist at the University of Washington.
Pangea was a landmass in which all the world's continents were once joined together. Southern Pangea was made up of what is today Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia and India.
"After the extinction," says Sidor, "animals weren't as uniformly and widely distributed as before. We had to go looking in some fairly unorthodox places."
Sidor is the lead author of a paper reporting the findings; it appears in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The insights come from seven fossil-hunting expeditions in Tanzania, Zambia and Antarctica funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additional work involved combing through existing fossil collections.
"These scientists have identified an outcome of mass extinctions--that species ecologically marginalized before the extinction may be 'freed up' to experience evolutionary bursts then dominate after the extinction," says H. Richard Lane, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
The researchers created two "snapshots" of four-legged animals about five million years before, and again about 10 million years after, the extinction 252 million years ago.
Prior to the extinction, for example, the pig-sized Dicynodon--said to resemble a fat lizard with a short tail and turtle's head--was a dominant plant-eating species across southern Pangea.
After the mass extinction, Dicynodon disappeared. Related species were so greatly decreased in number that newly emerging herbivores could then compete with them.
"Groups that did well before the extinction didn't necessarily do well afterward," Sidor says.
The snapshot of life 10 million years after the extinction reveals that, among other things, archosaurs roamed in Tanzanian and Zambian basins, but weren't distributed across southern Pangea as had been the pattern for four-legged animals before the extinction.
Archosaurs, whose living relatives are birds and crocodilians, are of interest to scientists because it's thought that they led to animals like Asilisaurus, a dinosaur-like animal, and Nyasasaurus parringtoni, a dog-sized creature with a five-foot-long tail that could be the earliest dinosaur.
"Early archosaurs being found mainly in Tanzania is an example of how fragmented animal communities became after the extinction," Sidor says.
A new framework for analyzing biogeographic patterns from species distributions, developed by paper co-author Daril Vilhena of University of Washington, provided a way to discern the complex recovery.
It revealed that before the extinction, 35 percent of four-legged species were found in two or more of the five areas studied.
Some species' ranges stretched 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers), encompassing the Tanzanian and South African basins.
Ten million years after the extinction, there was clear geographic clustering. Just seven percent of species were found in two or more regions.
The technique--a new way to statistically consider how connected or isolated species are from each other--could be useful for other paleontologists and for modern-day biogeographers, Sidor says.
Beginning in the early 2000s, he and his co-authors conducted expeditions to collect fossils from sites in Tanzania that hadn't been visited since the 1960s, and in Zambia where there had been little work since the 1980s.
Two expeditions to Antarctica provided additional finds, as did efforts to look at museum fossils that had not been fully documented or named.
The fossils turned out to hold a treasure trove of information, the scientists say, on life some 250 million years ago.
###
Other co-authors of the paper are Adam Huttenlocker, Brandon Peecook, Sterling Nesbitt and Linda Tsuji from University of Washington; Kenneth Angielczyk of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago; Roger Smith of the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town; and Sbastien Steyer from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
The project was also funded by the National Geographic Society, Evolving Earth Foundation, the Grainger Foundation, the Field Museum/IDP Inc. African Partners Program, and the National Research Council of South Africa.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
What happened to dinosaurs' predecessors after Earth's largest extinction 252 million years ago?Public release date: 29-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Cheryl Dybas cdybas@nsf.gov 703-292-7734 National Science Foundation
Fossil-hunting expeditions to Tanzania, Zambia and Antarctica provide new insights
Predecessors to dinosaurs missed the race to fill habitats emptied when nine out of 10 species disappeared during Earth's largest mass extinction 252 million years ago.
Or did they?
That thinking was based on fossil records from sites in South Africa and southwest Russia.
It turns out, however, that scientists may have been looking in the wrong places.
Newly discovered fossils from 10 million years after the mass extinction reveal a lineage of animals thought to have led to dinosaurs in Tanzania and Zambia.
That's still millions of years before dinosaur relatives were seen in the fossil record elsewhere on Earth.
"The fossil record from the Karoo of South Africa, for example, is a good representation of four-legged land animals across southern Pangea before the extinction," says Christian Sidor, a paleontologist at the University of Washington.
Pangea was a landmass in which all the world's continents were once joined together. Southern Pangea was made up of what is today Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia and India.
"After the extinction," says Sidor, "animals weren't as uniformly and widely distributed as before. We had to go looking in some fairly unorthodox places."
Sidor is the lead author of a paper reporting the findings; it appears in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The insights come from seven fossil-hunting expeditions in Tanzania, Zambia and Antarctica funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additional work involved combing through existing fossil collections.
"These scientists have identified an outcome of mass extinctions--that species ecologically marginalized before the extinction may be 'freed up' to experience evolutionary bursts then dominate after the extinction," says H. Richard Lane, program director in NSF's Division of Earth Sciences.
The researchers created two "snapshots" of four-legged animals about five million years before, and again about 10 million years after, the extinction 252 million years ago.
Prior to the extinction, for example, the pig-sized Dicynodon--said to resemble a fat lizard with a short tail and turtle's head--was a dominant plant-eating species across southern Pangea.
After the mass extinction, Dicynodon disappeared. Related species were so greatly decreased in number that newly emerging herbivores could then compete with them.
"Groups that did well before the extinction didn't necessarily do well afterward," Sidor says.
The snapshot of life 10 million years after the extinction reveals that, among other things, archosaurs roamed in Tanzanian and Zambian basins, but weren't distributed across southern Pangea as had been the pattern for four-legged animals before the extinction.
Archosaurs, whose living relatives are birds and crocodilians, are of interest to scientists because it's thought that they led to animals like Asilisaurus, a dinosaur-like animal, and Nyasasaurus parringtoni, a dog-sized creature with a five-foot-long tail that could be the earliest dinosaur.
"Early archosaurs being found mainly in Tanzania is an example of how fragmented animal communities became after the extinction," Sidor says.
A new framework for analyzing biogeographic patterns from species distributions, developed by paper co-author Daril Vilhena of University of Washington, provided a way to discern the complex recovery.
It revealed that before the extinction, 35 percent of four-legged species were found in two or more of the five areas studied.
Some species' ranges stretched 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers), encompassing the Tanzanian and South African basins.
Ten million years after the extinction, there was clear geographic clustering. Just seven percent of species were found in two or more regions.
The technique--a new way to statistically consider how connected or isolated species are from each other--could be useful for other paleontologists and for modern-day biogeographers, Sidor says.
Beginning in the early 2000s, he and his co-authors conducted expeditions to collect fossils from sites in Tanzania that hadn't been visited since the 1960s, and in Zambia where there had been little work since the 1980s.
Two expeditions to Antarctica provided additional finds, as did efforts to look at museum fossils that had not been fully documented or named.
The fossils turned out to hold a treasure trove of information, the scientists say, on life some 250 million years ago.
###
Other co-authors of the paper are Adam Huttenlocker, Brandon Peecook, Sterling Nesbitt and Linda Tsuji from University of Washington; Kenneth Angielczyk of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago; Roger Smith of the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town; and Sbastien Steyer from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
The project was also funded by the National Geographic Society, Evolving Earth Foundation, the Grainger Foundation, the Field Museum/IDP Inc. African Partners Program, and the National Research Council of South Africa.
[ | 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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A groundbreaking pronouncement from NBA veteran Jason Collins ? "I'm gay" ? reverberated Monday through Washington, generating accolades from lawmakers on Twitter and a supportive phone call from President Barack Obama.
Hours after Collins disclosed his sexuality in an online article, Obama reached out by phone, expressing his support and telling Collins he was impressed by his courage, the White House said.
Collins, 34, becomes the first active player in one of four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He has played for six teams in 12 seasons, including this past season with the Washington Wizards, and is now a free agent.
Collins' declaration in a first-person account posted on Sports Illustrated's website garnered particular attention from Democrats, many of whom have recently announced their support for gay marriage despite opposing it in the past. Obama announced his support last year during his re-election campaign.
Organizing for Action, a grassroots group run by Obama loyalists that grew out of his 2012 re-election campaign, offered its support for Collins as well, writing to Collins on Twitter on Monday that the group's supporters "stand with you today."
And first lady Michelle Obama chimed in on Twitter on Monday afternoon to applaud Collins.
"So proud of you, Jason Collins! This is a huge step forward for our country. We've got your back!" the tweet read. It was signed "mo" ? signifying that the first lady personally wrote the message.
Former President Bill Clinton also voiced encouragement, releasing a statement that asks fans, NBA colleagues and the media to support and respect him. Clinton said he has known Collins since he attended Stanford University with his daughter Chelsea.
Clinton said Collins' announcement Monday is an "important moment" for professional sports and the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Collins is "a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek ? to be able to be who we are, to do our work, to build families and to contribute to our communities," Clinton said. "For so many members of the LGBT community, these simple goals remain elusive."
Chelsea Clinton also tweeted her support for Collins Monday, saying she was proud of her friend for having the strength and courage to be the first openly gay player in the NBA..
Earlier Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Collins' decision was another example of progress and evolution in the U.S. as Americans grow more accepting of gay rights and same-sex marriage. He said he hoped the 34-year-old center's NBA colleagues will also offer support.
"We view that as another example of the progress that has been made and the evolution that has been taking place in this country," Carney said.
Chad Griffin, the president of Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, said Collins has "forever changed the face of sports."
"No longer will prejudice and fear force gay athletes to remain silent about a fundamental part of their lives," Griffin said.
The NBA player also received support from Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., his college roommate. Kennedy tweeted Monday that "I've always been proud to call (Collins) a friend, and I'm even prouder to stand with him today."
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
WASHINGTON (AP) ? One of the architects of failed gun control legislation says he's bringing it back.
Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday said he would re-introduce a measure that would require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online. The West Virginia Democrat says that if lawmakers read the bill, they will support it.
Manchin sponsored a previous version of the measure with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. It failed.
Manchin says there was confusion over what was in the bill.
In the wake of last year's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., Congress took up gun control legislation, but it was blocked by supporters of the powerful pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association.
Apr. 27, 2013 ? New research suggests that changes in sex hormones as seen in obesity may have possible effects on the heart. The study by researchers from Belgium, presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Copenhagen, Denmark, suggests effects on heart function in healthy men with artificially raised estrogen levels and artificially lowered testosterone levels to mimic an obese state.
Estradiol, an estrogen, is primarily known as a female hormone but it also circulates at very low levels in men. Testosterone is converted to estradiol by the enzyme aromatase, the activity of which might be increased in obesity leading to raised estradiol and reduced testosterone.
To determine whether obesity might alter heart function via changes in sex hormones, Drs Maarten De Smet and colleagues at Ghent University in Belgium recruited 20 healthy men aged 20-40 and used an aromatase inhibitor and an estrogen patch to artificially alter the hormone levels to mimic sex hormone concentrations in obesity (high estradiol and low testosterone) vs contrast by an aromatase inhibitor (low estradiol, high testosterone). Prof Dr T De Backer, Cardiologist, assessed the heart function before and seven days after the intervention using ultrasonographic imaging with strain analysis, which measures the deformation of the heart between the resting and contracted states.
The men with obesity-related changes in sex hormones exhibited altered heart function. At baseline the global circumferential strain was -17.1% +/-3.9, which decreased significantly to -14% +/-2.5 (p=0.01). The contrasting group did not show any difference.
By artificially altering sex hormones in a small number of healthy men, Drs De Smet and colleagues have shown that an altered sex hormone profile as seen in obesity might be relevant for heart function. Adequately powered clinical trials with sufficient duration may establish the role of sex hormones in the heart function of obese men.
Maarten De Smet, Masters student in Medicine at Ghent University, Belgium, and first author said:
"Obesity is a major contributor to heart disease. By giving an aromatase inhibitor and estrogen to healthy men we mimicked the effect of sex hormones in obesity alone, in isolation from the rest of the obese metabolic state.
"In order to pump blood around the body the heart must fill with blood and then contract, pushing the blood out. We found that after increasing the estrogen levels and decreasing the testosterone levels in men for one week the deformation of the left heart chamber was significantly altered.
"Because the contributing factors to obesity, as well as the underlying biology, are so complicated it's a real challenge to tease apart one single aspect, so we think this study is of particular interest. As these results are from a small number of healthy men over one week, we hope to investigate sex hormone changes and the heart in the obese in the long term."
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Minutes after losing by TKO to UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones, Chael Sonnen indicated his fighting days may be over.
"I'm not going to be one of the guys to hang around. If there's not a road to the title, then this sport isn't for me. I believe that was probably my last opportunity," Sonnen said to UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
He didn't specifically say "I'm retiring," but he did talk about the end of the road. This seems like more than the emotional ramblings of a fighter after a bad loss. B.J. Penn threatened retirement several times before it stuck. Nick Diaz has retired and unretired plenty of times.
Retirement wouldn't be out of the question. He's 36 years old and has fought in 40 fights after a long career as an amateur and collegiate wrestler.
If he does decide to retire, don't expect him to play shuffleboard and take up gardening. He already works as a commentator for Fox's broadcasts. During the last season of "The Ultimate Fighter," he proved to be a capable coach. Retirement would not mean Sonnen was done with MMA.
Sonnen talked his way into a title shot with Jones just months after he dropped a title shot to Anderson Silva at middleweight. Deserved or not, Sonnen has had several chances to win the UFC belt, and he hasn't won any of them. Not many fighters get more chances than he has. If the belt is the only thing that's important, why not retire?
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation accords on Saturday for 51 projects as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first trip to the island since his election, pledged to maintain the close alliance forged by his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Maduro said they would jointly spend $2 billion this year on "social development," but it was not clear if he was discussing the 51 projects, few details of which were disclosed, or other works.
His visit appeared aimed in part at allaying Cuban worries about post-Chavez relations with the oil-rich South American nation that is Cuba's biggest ally and benefactor.
Venezuelan oil and money help keep the communist-ruled island's troubled economy afloat and the governments have about 30 joint ventures, most of them in Venezuela.
"We have come to Havana, Cuba, to say to the people of Venezuela, the people of Cuba, all the people of Latin America ... are going to continue working together, we came to ratify a strategic, historic alliance that transcends time, that is more a brotherhood than an alliance," Maduro said at a signing ceremony in Havana's main convention center.
Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, told reporters he met with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, 86, for five hours on Saturday, "remembering Comandante Chavez, remembering that those two built this relationship."
Maduro narrowly won an April 14 election to replace Chavez, who died on March 5 after a long battle with cancer.
He ran basically as a Chavez surrogate who would continue his socialist policies both at home and abroad, including a close relationship with Cuba and Castro, whom Chavez considered his political mentor.
But his election opponent, Henrique Capriles, scored political points by criticizing the alliance with Cuba, which combined with serious economic problems facing Venezuela, made Cubans worry they could lose their economic lifeline.
Cuba receives an estimated 110,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan oil in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.
In 2000, Cuba and Venezuela created an intergovernmental commission that holds annual meetings to develop joint projects in a wide range of areas, among them healthcare, education, culture and economics.
Cuban President Raul Castro, who spoke only briefly at the ceremony, said that along with the 51 projects, they had agreed on memorandum of understanding for the development and adoption of a "bilateral economic agenda" for the next five years.
(Reporting By Jeff Franks and Rosa Tania Valdes; Editing by Peter Cooney)
There's something on the internet that you desperately want to keep everyone from seeing. Something you're deeply embarrassed of. That would show all your friends how you're not actually as smart and fashionable and ironically self-aware as you pretend to be. And you really ought to get over it. More »
Amazon appears to be learning a big lesson from its nascent, $500 million advertising business: It's a lot easier to make money if you're not selling physical stuff.
Reuters examined Amazon's profitability outlook and found that the company's real growth is not going to come from selling books and toys.
Rather, it's coming from:
advertising;
third-party merchandising (i.e. allowing other people to advertise their stuff on Amazon);
non-physical digital media (e-books and movies);
and computer cloud services for businesses.
An analyst told Reuters:
"Over the long term it does help margins," said Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie. "You don't have to put these things on a truck and ship them."
Amazon's physical warehouses are legendary: vast, football field-sized storage units jammed with towers of boxes and fleets of palette trucks. That's expensive to maintain.
This explains why Amazon is so keen to develop its own TV programming business, which we noted CEO Jeff Bezos talked up yesterday in his Q1 2013 earnings statement. The shows are streamed digitally ? Amazon doesn't need to ship DVDs to customers.
In fact, for the first time ever, Amazon's 10 best-selling items are either digital or non-physical products. CFO Tom Szkutak said on the conference call:
Another way you see it is, if you take a look at our top 10 best-selling items worldwide in Q1. The top 10 are all either digital or Kindle related. Paperweight is our best selling product worldwide. But again, all 10 spots in the Q1 were either Kindle or digital items. And I believe that that's the first time that we?ve seen.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.
DENVER (AP) ? Medical and recreational marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but employers in the state can lawfully fire workers who test positive for the drug, even if it was used off duty, according to a court ruling Thursday.
The Colorado Court of Appeals found there is no employment protection for medical marijuana users in the state since the drug remains barred by the federal government.
"For an activity to be lawful in Colorado, it must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law," the appeals court stated in its 2-1 conclusion.
The ruling concurs with court decisions in similar cases elsewhere and comes as businesses attempt to regulate pot use among employees in states where the drug is legal. Colorado and Washington state law both provide for recreational marijuana use. Several other states have legalized medical use. Police departments have been especially concerned since officers are sworn to uphold both state and federal laws.
The Colorado case involves Brandon Coats, 33, a telephone operator for Englewood, Colo.-based Dish Network LLC. Coats was paralyzed in a car crash as a teenager and has been a medical marijuana patient in the state since 2009.
He was fired in 2010 for failing a company drug test, though his employer didn't claim he was ever impaired on the job.
Coats sued to get his job back, but a trial court dismissed his claim in 2011. The judge agreed with Dish Network that medical marijuana use isn't a "lawful activity" covered by a state law intended to protect cigarette smokers from being fired for legal behavior off the clock. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than half of all states have such laws.
Dish Network did not return a call seeking comment.
Coats' attorney, Michael Evans, issued a statement saying the ruling has wide implications for Colorado marijuana laws.
"This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law," Evans noted.
Evans plans to ask the state Supreme Court to review the case.
Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, called it a setback.
"It's unfortunate, considering how much support there is for medical marijuana, that employers don't see this like any other medication," Fox said.
The Marijuana Policy Project said the ruling appears to be limited to state law because it does not fall under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Judge John Webb dissented in the split decision, saying he couldn't find a case addressing whether Colorado judges should consider federal law in determining the meaning of a Colorado statute.
Marijuana supporters say the courts are discriminating against them because Colorado's Lawful Off-Duty Activities law protects workers being fired for legal behavior off the clock, citing cigarette smoking as a protected activity.
The court said lawmakers could act to change the law to protect people who use marijuana, but there have been no plans to do that at the state Capitol.
Colorado's amendment legalizing recreational marijuana doesn't give people a constitutional right to smoke pot and doesn't protect users from criminal prosecution, from being fired or from other negative consequences. Backers said smoking off the job was a gray area and warned people to be familiar with their employers' drug policies.
Coats told reporters Thursday afternoon that he obtained a prescription for medical marijuana to deal with debilitating muscle spasms that would otherwise prevent him from working. He has been looking for a job ever since being dismissed by Dish.
"I'm not going to get better anytime soon," said Coats. "I need the marijuana, and I don't want to go the rest of my life without holding a job."
The Washington state Supreme Court also has found that workers can be fired for using marijuana, even if authorized by the state's medical marijuana law.
Last year, a federal appeals court ruled against a cancer survivor in Battle Creek, Mich., who was fired from his job with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. after failing a drug test for marijuana. Joseph Casias had a medical marijuana card and said he used pot to alleviate symptoms of an inoperable brain tumor.
According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the California Supreme Court also has ruled that people could be fired for testing positive for marijuana. The Legislature passed a bill to change that in 2008, but it was vetoed.
In Arizona, however, a law approved by voters in 2010 forbids employers from terminating someone who possesses a state-issued card allowing them to use marijuana medically.
___
Associated Press writers Colleen Slevin, Peter Banda, Nicholas Riccardi and Eugene Johnson contributed to this report.
In this Tuesday, April 16, 2013, photo, Specialist Michael O'Mara, left, and trader Fred Demarco work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets fell Friday April 26, 2013 after Japan faced an unwelcome drop in consumer prices. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
In this Tuesday, April 16, 2013, photo, Specialist Michael O'Mara, left, and trader Fred Demarco work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets fell Friday April 26, 2013 after Japan faced an unwelcome drop in consumer prices. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market stalled Friday after the U.S. economy didn't grow as much as hoped and earnings from a handful of big companies failed to rev up investors.
The economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the government said. That was below the 3.1 percent forecast by economists.
The shortfall reinforced the perception that the economy is grinding, rather than charging, ahead. Investors have also been troubled by reports in the last month of weaker hiring, slower manufacturing and a drop in factory orders. Many economists see growth slowing to an annual rate of around 2 percent a year for the rest of the year.
U.S. government bonds, where investors seek safety, rose after the report.
"There are some concerns as we head into the summer," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist for TD Ameritrade. "In the last three weeks, we've seen numbers that weren't exactly what you'd love to see."
Corporate earnings this week have also contained worrisome signs. Many companies missed revenue forecasts from financial analysts, even as they reported higher quarterly profits. For example, Goodyear Tire slipped 3.3 percent to $12.51 Friday after revenue fell short of analysts' estimates, hurt by lower global tire sales.
Of the companies that have reported earnings so far, 70 percent have exceeded Wall Street's expectations, compared with a 10-year average of 62 percent, according to S&P Capital IQ. But 43 percent have missed revenue estimates. Just over half of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported quarterly results.
The S&P 500 index dropped 2.92 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,582.24.
The Dow rose 11.75 points, or 0.1 percent, to 14,712.55. The index got a big lift from Chevron. Profit for the U.S. oil company beat expectations of financial analysts in the first quarter, pushing shares up 1.3 percent to $120.04.
Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
Both indexes were up for the week and remain slightly below their all-time highs reached April 11. The Dow index rose 1.1 percent this week while the S&P gained 1.7 percent.
The market has been bolstered by the Federal Reserve's easy money policy. The disappointing growth figure for the economy will ensure that the Fed sticks with its stimulus policy, providing support for stocks, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.
"The economic data that we've been getting points to no early exit for the Fed's stimulus," Cardillo said.
The Nasdaq composite fell 10.72 points to 3,279.26, a decline of 0.3 percent. The index is 2.3 percent higher this week.
The tech-heavy index has lagged the Dow and the S&P 500 this year, but it led the way higher this week, boosted by Microsoft. The software giant, which makes up 5.3 percent of the Nasdaq, recorded its biggest weekly gain since January of last year ? up 6.8 percent. It reported earnings April 19 that beat Wall Street expectations. The company also began an aggressive push into the computer tablet market.
Apple, the largest stock in the Nasdaq, also had a good week. The stock rose 6.8 percent to $417.20, its best weekly gain since November, despite posting a decline in quarterly profit Tuesday. Apple accounts for 7.6 percent of the Nasdaq composite.
Among other big names investors focused on:
Amazon.com fell 7 percent to $254.81 after the company warned of a possible loss in the current quarter. The online retailer also reported lower income for the first quarter as it continued to spend heavily on rights to digital content.
Expedia fell 10 percent to $58.56 after the online travel company reported a quarterly loss.
Homebuilder D.R. Horton surged 8.7 percent to $26.66 after its income nearly tripled thanks to a continuing recovery the housing market. The results handily beat the forecasts of financial analysts who follow the company.
J.C. Penney jumped 12 percent to $17 after the billionaire financier George Soros disclosed that he had taken a 7.9 percent stake in the struggling company.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to its lowest rate of the year, 1.67 percent, from 1.71 percent the day before. The yield has fallen from 2.06 percent six weeks ago as traders move money into lower-risk investments.
The dollar weakened against the euro.
The European currency bought $1.3029 at the end of day, compared with $1.3002 the day before. The ISE dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a group of other world currencies including the Japanese yen and the euro, dropped 0.3 percent, to 82.48.
This week I?ll be in Iceland, compliments of CCP Games, to immerse myself in the culture that has sprung up around the developer?s massively multiplayer online RPG,?EVE Online. The yearly EVE Fanfest gathering is more than just a celebration of the game?s dedicated fanbase; it?s also a fictional sort of UN Summit in which the state of the union is laid out for one and all, with panel discussions and keynotes offering a sense of what?s next for the ever-evolving game.
Still,?EVE Online is something of an enigma within the gaming space. A number of related factors help to set it apart from other MMOs. Most serious gamers are tuned into the fact that something unique is happening is CCP?s 500,000-strong userbase, but complex gameplay and a somewhat unapproachable user interface often sees the sci-fi future-set MMO?summed up simply as ?spreadsheets in space.? It?s a reductive assessment that completely overlooks the intensely social play that makes?EVE?so popular among its fans.
With the festivities set to commence in Iceland in a matter of hours, we thought it would be a good idea to spend some time today laying out what?EVE Online is and why it amounts to one of the most fascinating games that most of you have never played.
Understanding the?EVE-verse
EVE Online?is set in the distant future, right around the year 23,000. Sometime in Earth?s future, humanity began to spread out and colonize star systems across the entire Milky Way. The expansion continued until, inevitably, humanity began to fight over a limited supply of resources. The chance discovery of an apparently stable natural wormhole led our people to the galaxy of New Eden, an untouched domain where the onward march of manifest destiny could continue.
This worked well for a time until the wormhole collapsed and the gateway was sealed. Cut off from a steady supply of resources and technology, civilization started to crumble. Humanity persevered despite heavy losses, and five separate factions emerged over time.?Four of these five factions are the playable races that you choose from when creating a new character in EVE Online.
The four playable factions all feature their own histories that define their personalities, and the story continues to evolve even now. The Amarr Republic was the first to recover after the wormhole collapse, and its discovery of a faster-than-light drive led to a bloody phase of conquest and slavery. One of those slave races revolted and formed the Minmatar Republic, which remains strongly anti-slavery and survives through a strong economy backed by an equally strong military.
Meanwhile, the mega-corporation-controlled Caldari State began as part of the democratic Gallente Federation, but seceded, sparking a 93 year war that left many grievances unresolved. The terraformed Caldari homeworld remained in the hands of the Federation until just recently, when a major engagement spanning across the two games,?EVE Online and Dust 514, led to the planet changing hands. The fifth and unplayable faction, the Jove Directorate, suffered the effects of self-imposed genetic manipulation and lives on the outskirts of known space, suffering from a psychological disorder.
The differences born of their mutual history define the Factions. For example while the Gallente and the Caldari are both trade oriented, the Gallente believe in small business practices and progressive attitudes, while the Caldari are focused on the major corporations and create their own lab bred labor. These differences color the way you play and influence the continuing story.
Life in New Eden
EVE Online?s galaxy of New Eden is a dangerous place to build a life for oneself, but great rewards also await those who take the biggest risks. The game is built to support any number of player approaches. You can focus entirely on mining or trading or manufacture. You can tailor your ship for combat and link up with a band of mercenaries or pirates. You can even take on administrative roles at any number of corporations ? or one that you found yourself ? as anything from CEO to accountant. The game is built to encourage social play and much of the fun is derived from the dynamics that spring from CCP?s hands-off approach to the economy.
The New Eden economy is driven by Interstellar Kredits (ISK), the in-game currency that is used by all factions. Various resources can be found and gathered across the galaxy, and they are regularly replenished by an automated process that sees them spread to less populated regions. Every one of the game?s 7,500+ star systems is assigned a Security Status rating that offers an idea of how ?safe? the region is.
High-security (or ?high-sec?) systems are overseen by New Eden?s NPC law enforcement body, CONCORD; ?illegal? in-game actions such as piracy ? illegal according to the in-game laws rather than the rules that CCP has laid out ? are responded to quickly and severely. Low-security (?low-sec?) systems are policed as well, but less intensively.??Null sec? or ?zero space? systems are completely lawless, but they are often where great resource rewards await. More importantly, individual ?null sec? systems and even entire clusters can be wholly controlled and policed by player-run corporations and alliances.?
This brings us to one of the most unique facets of?EVE Online?s universe: it operates on what CCP refers to as a ?single shard.??
Most MMOs use multiple servers, where the world is identical on each server, but the people there are limited to interacting with those on that same server.? EVE Online?s subscribers are all on one main server, or shard, known as ?Tranquility.? There are a handful of servers for other purposes as well, such as one dedicated to Chinese gamers and others for testing purposes, including one to test cross play between Eve and Dust 514.?
PlayStation 3 owners will have a unique connection to?EVE Online that will likely be discussed in some detail over the next week at Fanfest.?Dust 514 is a free-to-play first-person shooter available to PS3 fans that is currently still in beta, with the full release planned for later this year.?
All of the planetary engagements in the PS3 shooter are ostensibly unfolding on the surface of one of the thousands of worlds scattered across New Eden. Many of the details are still being hammered out as?Dust 514?s open beta proceeds, but the fundamental aim is pretty straightforward: corporation vs. corporation play, with players on the?EVE?side putting out contracts that?Dust?mercs can accept. This creates a tangible tie between the multiplayer action and the eye-in-the-sky MMO play. Both sides enjoy benefits:?EVE?players can offer aid to?Dust?match-ups in the form of?orbital bombardment, while successfully completed contracts bring all manner of rewards to corps on the?EVE?side.
Social dynamics and paying for play with play
With nearly every one of?EVE Online?s players concentrated on a single server, it?s probably no surprise to learn that social play is at the heart of the game. Player-run corporations and alliances span huge chunks of New Eden, and CCP?s hands-off approach allows for what amounts to real world intrigue. There are stories of real-life players infiltrating corporations over significant periods of time and working up to a powerful enough position to make off with key resources and even bring down leadership. It is all about relationships, and that is part of what Fanfest represents. ?
During the Icelandic event, fans and developer openly discuss what can make the game better, what works and what doesn?t. When Dust 514 was still in the development phase, CCP went to the fans and asked them for more?than?just general questions about what fans wanted, they asked for actual input on things like features. CCP?listened?too. In an MMO where social interaction is so highly praised, this level of communication between gamers and developers is incredible.?
EVE Online is not a subscription-based MMO in the traditional sense. Instead of paying a monthly fee, players spend either real-world or in-game dollars/ISK on PLEX, or Pilots License EXtension. One PLEX extends a subscription by 30 days, though it can also be used to transfer or resculpt characters (or to obtain Aurum, which can be spent on a variety of cosmetic in-game enhancements). The important thing to note here is that PLEX isn?t only available as a real money purchase; ISK can pay for it as well, effectively creating a situation in which dedicated?EVE?players can pay for their time in the game? by spending time in the game and playing it effectively.
The economy in?EVE Online?also operates on a real world model, with player behaviors actively influencing how it fluctuates over time. The market operates on supply and demand, based entirely on what players are buying and selling. This open-ended structure creates even more opportunities for mischief. Those with enough resources at their disposal can actively manipulate the market. For example, a corporation with a controlling share of one type of resource could effectively drive the price of said resource higher by restricting its availability, creating higher demand in the process. Fanfest presents some of the most dedicated gamers with a chance to meet in person and discuss the future of the economy. Back room deals will be made, and conversations over beers will shape the digital landscape for years to come.
Bringing everything together at EVE Fanfest
All of these various aspects of game and community come together at CCP?s yearly EVE Fanfest celebration in Iceland, where the studio is based. Players meet with devs in an informal, party setting. Serious business is discussed, but the gathering is as much about fostering the?EVE?community as it is about accepting feedback in a one-on-one setting. The talks and panels and keynotes all exist to communicate the current state of the?EVE universe and the direction it is headed in.
There are stories of hated in-game enemies meeting in person for the first time and cracking a beer together. Of wild nighttime parties at which?EVE Online is simply the common bond that brings these people together. The closest comparison is to BlizzCon, though the Iceland setting and smaller?EVE player base makes for a much more intimate gathering. This year?s festivities are expecting an attendance of roughly 1,400 from around the world. This also marks the game?s 10th anniversary, so Fanfest is as much a celebration of where things have been as it is a look at where they?re headed.
If you?d like to learn more about?EVE Online, there are plenty of resources available, from the?EVElopedia?to the streaming podcasts of?EVE Radio.?EVE Online?is unlike any other game out there right now because of the commitment of the community and the receptiveness of the developers. For 10 years that digital cabal has continued to expand and evolve in ways that no one, not even the people that made the game, could have predicted. So now it is a time to recount and recap, to plan and prepare, and discuss what the next decade of?EVE Online?will look like.?
Check back with us all week for updates live from Iceland.?
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Somali mothers wait in line to have their babies examined before receiving a five-in-one vaccine against several potentially fatal childhood diseases, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, launched the new deployment of a pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type B the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Somali mothers wait in line to have their babies examined before receiving a five-in-one vaccine against several potentially fatal childhood diseases, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, launched the new deployment of a pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type B the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Somali mother and her baby wait in line to receive a five-in-one vaccine against several potentially fatal childhood diseases, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, launched the new deployment of a pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type B the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Somali mother and her baby wait in partial shade in a courtyard after her baby received a five-in-one vaccine against several potentially fatal childhood diseases, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, launched the new deployment of a pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type B the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Somali mothers and their babies wait in line for the babies to receive a five-in-one vaccine against several potentially fatal childhood diseases, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, launched the new deployment of a pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenzae type B the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A Somali baby receives a polio vaccine, at the Medina Maternal Child Health center in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, April 24, 2013. On the eve of the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi and coinciding with World Immunization Week, the authorities in Somalia, which has one of the lowest immunization rates in the world, have launched a new push to vaccinate against several potentially fatal childhood diseases. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? Two dozen babies sat on the laps of their mothers, who dressed in a rainbow of headscarves at the Medina Maternal Child Health Center. They are among Somalia's luckiest ? the first to receive a new vaccine that protects against five dangerous diseases.
With more regions of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, at peace for the first time in 20 years, health care workers are expanding vaccination programs and can now access 40 percent of south-central Somalia, where the influence of hardline Islamic insurgents is highest. Three years ago, health workers could access only 15 to 20 percent of that territory.
With one in five Somali children dying before his or her fifth birthday, the international community is rolling out the new five-in-one child vaccine they say will save thousands of lives.
The roll-out of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and an influenza known as Hib comes as health leaders on Thursday held the Global Vaccine Summit in the United Arab Emirates, where a six-year plan to eradicate polio was unveiled.
Violence and insecurity cost children dearly when it comes to preventable diseases. Polio remains endemic in only three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. All three experience heavy violence. In February, gunmen believed to belong to a radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram shot and killed at least nine women taking part in a polio vaccination drive in northern Nigeria.
In Somalia, efforts by African Union forces ? from Kenya, Uganda and Burundi primarily ? have beaten al-Shabab back from areas it once controlled. As evidence of the improved security, Britain's foreign secretary traveled to Mogadishu on Thursday to open the British Embassy, the first time Britain has had an embassy in Somalia since 1991, when violence forced an embassy evacuation.
When al-Shabab is forced out, health officials rush in and vaccinate children, said Marthe Everard, the World Health Organization country director for Somalia. After Kenyan forces took the coastal city of Kisumu last year from al-Shabab, health officials immediately vaccinated nearly 13,000 children, but districts around the city remain off-limits, she said.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, speaking at the new vaccine's launch in Mogadishu on Wednesday, said all Somali children deserve the good health that children from rich countries enjoy. He blamed much of the country's vaccination problem on al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked militant group that controls much of south-central Somalia and up until August 2011 controlled Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab, the president said, is killing people with attacks and explosions, but also by forbidding children access to vaccines. Maryan Qasim Ahmed, the country's health minister, said al-Shabab kills aid workers who try to better health in south-central Somalia, "so they are contributing to child and infant mortality."
"The state of child health in Somalia is one of the worst in the whole world," said Ahmed. "The children of Somalia are dying from diseases that don't exist in the rest of the world."
Al-Shabab distributes false propaganda against vaccines, Everard said, such as claims the vaccines will make girls infertile, or that the vaccines are made by Christian countries. The vaccines are actually made in Indonesia and Pakistan, Muslim countries.
Sikander Khan, the head of UNICEF in Somalia, said the health sector must take advantage of Somalia's improved security: "There's more confidence and there's more hope. I don't think we can afford to let go of this opportunity."
But the remote stretches of the arid Horn of Africa nation also hamper aid workers.
Saqa Farah is the mother of 12 children from a nomadic goat-herding family in Somalia's north, where al-Shabab is not prominent. Only her youngest child, Abdi, was vaccinated. But even Abdi didn't get a full cycle and he's now in a Mogadishu hospital with measles.
"There is no medicine," Farah said. "I'm a nomad. When one of us gets sick we either get medicine or we die."
Omar Mayuw Mahdi, the nurse in charge of the Medina Maternal Child Health Center, where the two dozen mothers waited on Wednesday, said Somali mothers know that prevention is better than cure, but in the country's Bay and Bakool regions, where al-Shabab still reigns, there are no vaccines. "The situation does not allow it."
Global health leaders face similar security problems in trying to stamp out the last few remaining patches of polio around the world. The crippling disease is at its lowest level ever. Nineteen children have been paralyzed by polio so far this year; 223 were paralyzed last year.
The new anti-polio push will cost $5.5 billion, three-quarters of which has already been pledged, including $1.8 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"After millennia battling polio, this plan puts us within sight of the endgame," said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan.
The six-year plan to end polio addresses such challenges as insecurity and hard-to-reach populations.
Charges were dropped Tuesday against the Mississippi man suspected of mailing?ricin-laced letters to President Obama and other public officials ? as authorities searched the home of another man hoping to find clues in the expanding investigation.
Hours after Paul Kevin Curtis' release, authorities searched the home of another Mississippi man, J. Everett Dutschke, as part of the investigation, reported WTVA. ?Dutschke's name had come up earlier this week when Curtis' defense attorney suggested prosecutors look into him, WTVA reported.
Curtis was arrested last Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Miss. Two letters that initially tested positive for ricin, a poison, had been found earlier in the week -- one addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and one to President Barack Obama.?
According to an FBI bulletin, both letters were postmarked April 8, 2013, out of Memphis, Tenn., and included an identical phrase:?"to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
Both were signed?"I am KC and I approve this message."
Another suspicious letter was sent to a Lee County, Miss., judge.?
Curtis, 45, was released on bond from Mississippi's Lafayette County Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon, defense attorney Christi McCoy confirmed to WTVA.
It was not immediately clear if there were conditions for his release.
On Monday, an FBI agent testified that a search of Curtis' vehicle and home did not yield any ricin or castor beans, the ingredients needed to make the poison.?
"There was no apparent ricin, castor beans or any material there that could be used for the manufacturing, like a blender or something,"?Agent Brandon Grant said in an Oxford, Miss., courtroom, reported The Associated Press. ?He said there was a possibility Curtis could have thrown away the processor, and that computer technicians were taking a deeper look at Curtis' computer after an initial search didn't find documents or searches connected to ricin.
McCoy argued on Monday that the government does not have probably cause to hold Curtis, an Elvis impersonator who relatives say has bipolar disorder.
"The searches are concluded, not one single shred of evidence was found to indicate Kevin could have done this," McCoy told reporters after the hearing Monday.?
A news conference was scheduled for 5 p.m. CT Tuesday, according to The AP.
Also on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid set off a new round of concerns after telling reporters ricin had been found?at?a mail facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C. However, the?Defense Intelligence Agency later clarified in a statement that screening equipment alerted authorities to potential hazardous substance, but an investigation found no suspicious packages or letters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Tue Apr 23, 2013 6:04 PM EDT
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EVE Online is not a subscription-based MMO in the traditional sense. Instead of paying a monthly fee, players spend either real-world or in-game dollars/ISK on PLEX, or Pilots License EXtension. One PLEX extends a subscription by 30 days, though it can also be used to transfer or resculpt characters (or to obtain Aurum, which can be spent on a variety of cosmetic in-game enhancements). The important thing to note here is that PLEX isn?t only available as a real money purchase; ISK can pay for it as well, effectively creating a situation in which dedicated?EVE?players can pay for their time in the game? by spending time in the game and playing it effectively.
There are stories of hated in-game enemies meeting in person for the first time and cracking a beer together. Of wild nighttime parties at which?EVE Online is simply the common bond that brings these people together. The closest comparison is to BlizzCon, though the Iceland setting and smaller?EVE player base makes for a much more intimate gathering. This year?s festivities are expecting an attendance of roughly 1,400 from around the world. This also marks the game?s 10th anniversary, so Fanfest is as much a celebration of where things have been as it is a look at where they?re headed.