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Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
FOR KIDS: Climate coolers
Reducing methane, soot in the atmosphere could curb climate change
Web edition : 4:10 pm
Most global warming stories talk about carbon dioxide, the colorless gas that accumulates in the atmosphere and insulates the planet like a giant, invisible blanket. But carbon dioxide isn?t the only greenhouse gas. Another, called methane, also traps heat in Earth?s atmosphere (one definition of the greenhouse effect) ? more than 20 times as much as the same amount of carbon dioxide. But unlike carbon dioxide, which can hover for hundreds of years, methane stays in the air for only about 12 years. ?
So reducing methane might be an easy way to start tackling a big problem. ?
In a new study, scientists say that bringing down methane emissions may be a quick, relatively simple way to slow down the temperature increase caused by global warming.
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Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337901/title/FOR_KIDS_Climate_coolers
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Wis. governor fights recall with out-of-state cash
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Wisconsin's polarizing governor is fighting attempts to recall him with money from out-of-state donors, who helped him bring in more than $12 million since last year.
An Associated Press analysis of campaign finance reports Republican Gov. Scott Walker filed Monday showed 61 percent of the $4.1 million he raised during the five-week reporting period came from out of state.
Many of the contributions came from big donors, including $250,000 from conservative Texas financier Bob Perry and a total of $750,000 from three people in Missouri. More than half of Walker's money came from people who donated $20,000 or more, such as Michael Bidwill, president of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, who gave $25,000.
Walker's furious fundraising comes as Wisconsin election officials continue to review an estimated 1.9 million signatures collected to recall the governor, lieutenant governor and four Republican state senators.
The recall effort was spurred by anger over Walker's first year in office, in particular a law he pushed through that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
The $12.1 million Walker has raised since January 2011 breaks the previous record for fundraising by a candidate for state office in Wisconsin. Walker set the earlier record when he raised $10 million on his way to victory in 2010.
Walker's latest efforts take advantage of a state law that allows targets of a recall to ignore the usual $10,000 per-donor cap and raise unlimited amounts until an election is set. Walker has been traversing the country raising money and speaking at gatherings of conservatives from Texas to New York and Tennessee.
"We haven't seen anything like this before," Mike McCabe, director of the government watchdog group the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said Tuesday. His group's analysis of Walker's latest fundraising totals, which covered Dec. 11 through Jan. 17, showed that 33 donors gave between $20,000 and $250,000 for a total of $2.3 million.
Walker's campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said the level of donations shows Walker's message is resonating with voters.
"These donations will allow us to fight back against this baseless recall and ensure Gov. Walker can continue to lay the foundation for a more successful Wisconsin and keep government working on the side of taxpayers," she said.
Recall organizers raised just a fraction of what Walker did.
The Democratic Party and United Wisconsin, which worked together on the petition drive, reported raising $480,000 collectively since Dec. 11. Walker raised $4.5 million over the same five-week period, while Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch raised $102,000.
Two Democrats, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville, have announced they will seek their party's nomination to take on Walker. A number of others are considering running.
Unlike Walker's donors, most of those funding Democrats ? 67 percent ? live in Wisconsin.
Democrats, who are bound by the state's campaign donation limits, have said they don't expect to keep up with Walker's fundraising.
"We will be outspent three or four to one," state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said.
McCabe, with the Democracy Campaign, said Walker will have a "commanding" financial advantage over any challenger. Walker has repeatedly said he is going after out-of-state money because he anticipates national organized labor groups will spend heavily in support of the candidate Democrats eventually chose.
McCabe predicted that outside groups will come in on both sides, but Walker will maintain his financial advantage.
"There's no question," he said. "I don't think any Democratic candidate can possibly catch up."
Walker has spent $9.8 million over the past 54 weeks, with much of it going toward television advertising that started the night before those gathering signatures on recall petitions hit the streets. He reported having $2.6 million in cash left.
Some of Walker's biggest backers are well-known conservatives.
Bidwill is a frequent donor to Republican candidates across the country. Perry, a Texas home builder, helped pay for the Swift Boat Veterans ads that attacked Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign. Perry has a total of $500,000 to Walker's campaign.
The three others who gave Walker $250,000 each during one week this month were Missouri residents David C. Humphreys and his sister Sarah Atkins, both of Tamko Building Products, and Stanley M. Herzog of Herzog Contracting.
Members of the Humphreys family are some of the largest Republican donors in Missouri.
David Humphreys, who contributed $125,000 last year to the expected gubernatorial campaign of Missouri's Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, made news last fall by asking for his money back after Kinder admitted he frequented an Illinois strip club while he was a state senator in the 1990s. Kinder did not return the money but ultimately decided against running for governor.
___
Associated Press writers Troy Thibodeaux in New Orleans and David Lieb in Jefferson City, Mo., contributed to this report.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
GreenEconomyNet: California Gets the Green Button: Well, that was fast. Just months after U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra challenged the... http://t.co/5c4F296m
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Severed hands, feet found near mystery head in Hollywood (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Detectives investigating a decapitated human head found in the hills below the famed Hollywood sign discovered severed hands and feet they believe are from the same body on Wednesday, a Los Angeles police spokesman said.
The body parts were uncovered during search of the 4,200-acre Griffith Park, where two female hikers came across the head in a plastic bag on Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith said.
Authorities said they were confident the head, hands and feet were all removed from the same body, but have declined to speculate as to how that was done.
The hands were found separately but in the same general area as the head, one by a cadaver dog and the other several hours later by a crime scene investigator who "thought something looked suspicious" in the brush, Smith said.
A Los Angeles County Coroner's Office investigator came across the feet, he said, which were together and in the same vicinity, a half mile below the Hollywood sign near hiking trails and not far from Griffith Observatory.
Smith said all of the body parts would be turned over to the coroner's office to determine how they were removed and if they held clues to the victim's identity.
Coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said that investigators there would try to take fingerprints from the hands to identify the man, who has been described as between the ages of 40 and 60.
Authorities who initially said that the man could be Caucasian or Armenian later said that coroner's investigators had listed the victim's ethnicity as "undetermined."
The search was suspended as darkness fell on Wednesday night but was scheduled to resume early on Thursday, when about 30 members of the current police academy class would be drafted to take part.
"We are going to be extremely thorough and methodical in our search," Smith said.
In the meantime, he said, detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery homicide division would meet to plan their investigation, hoping to gain clues if coroner's investigators can identify the victim.
"Then we can find out where they live, who their friends were," Smith said.
Authorities have said the head has not likely been at the site for a long time because there were no animal bites on it.
The iconic Hollywood sign on Mount Lee above Los Angeles originally read "Hollywoodland" and was created to promote a housing development in 1923. The last few letters deteriorated in the late 1940s and the part that remained was restored in 1978.
Griffith Park, which sits in the hills above metropolitan Los Angeles, is the largest municipal park with urban wilderness area in the United States, according to a city website.
(Additional reporting by Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Dan Burns)
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Wednesday, January 18, 2012
'Green' pesticide effective against citrus pests
ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2012) ? University of Florida researchers have discovered a key amino acid essential for human nutrition is also an effective insecticide against caterpillars that threaten the citrus industry.
The Lime Swallowtail, or Citrus Swallowtail, is a well-known agricultural pest from southern Asia discovered in the Caribbean in 2006, and researchers say its potential impact on the U.S. citrus industry is cause for serious concern.
"Everything that's in the Caribbean eventually gets to Florida -- Florida is an invasive magnet," said UF lepidopterist Delano Lewis, lead author of the study published in the current issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology. "That's why we're trying to make the first strike to see how to stop it."
Experiments conducted on the UF campus at the Florida Museum of Natural History's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity and the College of Medicine show when methionine is sprayed on leaves it is 100 percent effective in killing larvae related to the Lime Swallowtail caterpillars within two to three days. If not controlled, the caterpillars can completely defoliate young wild lime plants.
Because the Lime Swallowtail, Princeps (Papilio) demoleus, is invasive and cannot be legally brought into the U.S., researchers experimented using a genetically related surrogate with a similar life history and appetite for citrus, the Giant Swallowtail, Heraclides (Papilio) cresphontes. Because these pest caterpillars have the same body structure and biology, researchers are confident methionine will also control the Lime Swallowtail, Lewis said.
"Its effectiveness is based on the biochemistry of the insect gut, so although this work was done on a surrogate, the methionine will block the ion channel in the same way," Lewis said.
Methionine is needed in the human diet for many reasons, including protein-building and metabolism. It is environmentally safe and harmless to citrus plants, mammals and birds.
"It's a very curious phenomenon to have this nutrient amino acid that humans can't live without, yet at the concentrations we put on the leaves, it is toxic to crop-destructive caterpillars," said study co-author Bruce Stevens, professor of physiology and functional genomics in the UF College of Medicine. "It's a completely different class of pesticides that has not been seen before -- most are toxic to not only the pest, but to people and animals, too."
Stevens first discovered the pesticide properties of methionine while cloning genes that regulate amino acid metabolism in 1998. Working with co-author James Cuda of UF's department of entomology and nematology, Stevens later found this amino acid to be effective against yellow fever mosquito larvae, tomato hornworm and Colorado potato beetle.
Methionine disrupts an ion channel that controls nutrient absorption in larvae with an alkaline intestine, such as in caterpillars of the Citrus Swallowtail. In 2004 and 2007, Stevens obtained two patents for the use of methionine as a pesticide, through the UF Office of Technology Licensing.
"The methionine is sprayed on the leaves, and when the caterpillars begin to eat the leaves, they ingest the compound -- it's not in the plant itself," Lewis said. "Once they take those first few bites, they don't feed again and remain stationary until they die."
Methionine is low-cost and serves as fertilizer if it reaches the ground because it's a biodegradable nitrogen source, Stevens said. The amino acid is mass produced and has been used as a nutritional supplement in outdoor livestock feed since the 1960s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently approved the use of methionine for organic poultry production.
"This is a neat idea and I'm hoping that more work will be done on this in the future because there's a lot of potential there," said John Ruberson, a professor in the entomology department at the University of Georgia, who was not involved in the study. "The one challenge I can see from a grower's perspective is that it tends to work kind of slowly. Typically, it takes two to three days to kill the insect, but they do show that [insect] feeding is reduced, which is a good thing."
Patent rights for the use of methionine to control turf and ornamental pests have been licensed to Phoenix Environmental Care LLC, which is developing a pest control product.
While researchers are unsure how the Lime Swallowtail reached the Caribbean, its proximity poses a potential threat to Central and South American citrus industries, as well.
"We suspect someone could have brought them to release the adult butterflies in weddings, or perhaps they arrived with imported citrus stock," Lewis said. "Regardless, it's in the Caribbean and it's a very strong flyer."
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120117145101.htm
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6waves Lolapps Buys Mobile Games Developer Escalation Studios
Social gaming company 6waves Lolapps (6L) this morning announced its acquisition of Dallas-based Escalation Studios, a mobile games development firm. Three months ago, 6L already moved to buy Beijing-based social gaming company Smartron5, but apparently they felt there was still some mobile gaming expertise missing.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gKwUvQEqaNg/
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Sony Xperia ion coming to AT&T in Q2: offers 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 720p Reality display and dual HD cameras
AT&T and Sony Ericsson haven't exactly had the best of luck as Android partners -- we submit the Xperia Play 4G and the Xperia X10 as exhibits A and B -- but it appears that the two companies are blowing on the dice in Vegas and hoping that luck will change with their latest flagship. AT&T and Sony (that's right, not a hint of Ericsson in sight) took to the stage to announce the Xperia ion. It's packing some good specs, too: a 4.6-inch 1280 x 720 HD Reality display, a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, LTE, 16GB flash storage and a 12MP Exmor-R rear camera offering 1080p video capture that's paired up with a 1.3MP front-facing cam that offers 720p HD video. It'll also be Playstation-Certified, much like the Xperia Play before it.
The ion's gearing up for a Q2 release, but we were disappointed to learn that it's going to launch with Gingerbread installed, especially given the fact that Sony's been very forthcoming about upgrading its Xperia lineup to ICS by the end of the first quarter. We suspect the delay will be at least in part due to additional carrier testing. Granted, it's a long time away and things are subject to change. No pricing has yet been announced, but it's quite likely we'll see the feature-laden smartphone starting out around $250, if not more. We should have a hands-on shortly.
The ion's gearing up for a Q2 release, but we were disappointed to learn that it's going to launch with Gingerbread installed, especially given the fact that Sony's been very forthcoming about upgrading its Xperia lineup to ICS by the end of the first quarter. We suspect the delay will be at least in part due to additional carrier testing. Granted, it's a long time away and things are subject to change. No pricing has yet been announced, but it's quite likely we'll see the feature-laden smartphone starting out around $250, if not more. We should have a hands-on shortly.
Sony Xperia ion coming to AT&T in Q2: offers 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 720p Reality display and dual HD cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012
Live from NVIDIA's CES 2012 press event
Continue reading Live from NVIDIA's CES 2012 press event
Live from NVIDIA's CES 2012 press event originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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1793 penny fetches $1.38M at Fla. auction
This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions shows the front and back of one of the first pennies struck at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. This 1793 ?Chain Cent? sold for a record $1,380,000 in a public auction conducted by Heritage Auctions at a coin collector?s convention in Orlando, Fla. on Wednesday evening, Jan. 4, 2012. The linking rings on the back of the coin were intended to represent the original 13 colonies, but critics claimed the chain was symbolic of slavery and the design was quickly changed with a wreath replacing the chain. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)
This undated photo provided by Heritage Auctions shows the front and back of one of the first pennies struck at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. This 1793 ?Chain Cent? sold for a record $1,380,000 in a public auction conducted by Heritage Auctions at a coin collector?s convention in Orlando, Fla. on Wednesday evening, Jan. 4, 2012. The linking rings on the back of the coin were intended to represent the original 13 colonies, but critics claimed the chain was symbolic of slavery and the design was quickly changed with a wreath replacing the chain. (AP Photo/Heritage Auctions)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? A once-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the U.S. Mint in 1793 has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction.
James Halperin of Texas-based Heritage Auctions told The Associated Press on Saturday that the sale was "the most a United States copper coin has ever sold for at auction." The coin was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793, the first year that the U.S. made its own coins.
Heritage officials said in a news release that the name of the buyer was not revealed but that he was "a major collector." One of the coin's earliest owners was a well-known Baltimore banker, Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr.
"Mr. Eliasberg was nicknamed, 'the king of coins' because before his death in 1976 he assembled a collection that consisted of at least one example of every coin ever made at the United States Mint, a feat never duplicated," Halperin said in the news release.
The final bid for the coin last week was one of the largest sales at the Florida United Numismatists coin show and annual convention, which runs through Sunday. Halperin said a five-dollar gold piece from 1829 also was sold.
Halperin said there remain a few hundred 1793 coins in different condition, but that the one auctioned off Wednesday night is rare because it wasn't in circulation.
Officials say it shows no wear on its lettering, its Lady Liberty face or the chain of linking rings on its back.
The news release said the coin is known as a "Chain Cent" because its chain of linking rings was supposed to represent the solidarity of the states. The design was changed to a wreath after some critics claimed it was symbolic of slavery.
Halperin said the auction had more than $64 million in transactions. The show runs through Sunday.
Associated PressWednesday, January 11, 2012
Iran leader defends nuclear program on LatAm trip
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hold hands during a welcoming ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hold hands during a welcoming ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, shares a laugh with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez upon his arrival at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hold hands after the Iranian leader's arrival to Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures during a ceremony to sign agreements at Miraflores presidential palace, back dropped by a painting of Venezuela's independence hero Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, listens as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez delivers a speech upon the Iranian leader's arrival to Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Jan. 9, 2012. Ahmadinejad visited with Chavez as tensions rose with the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA. Venezuela is the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended his country's nuclear program as he began a four-nation tour of Latin America, joining his ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in accusing the U.S. and its allies of using the dispute to unjustly threaten Iran.
Both leaders dismissed U.S. concerns about Iran's intentions in the Middle East and its growing diplomatic ties with Chavez and his allies in Latin America.
"They accuse us of being warmongers," Chavez said. "They're the threat."
Both leaders planned to travel to Nicaragua on Tuesday for the inauguration of newly re-elected President Daniel Ortega, and then Ahmadinejad will also visit Cuba and Ecuador.
The Iranian leader is using the visit to tout relationships with some of his close friends shortly after the U.S. imposed tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
Washington and other governments believe Iran is using the nuclear program to develop atomic weapons. Chavez and his allies back Iran in arguing the program is purely for peaceful purposes.
Chavez accused the U.S. and its European allies of demonizing Iran and using false claims about the nuclear issue "like they used the excuse of weapons of mass destruction to do what they did in Iraq."
Ahmadinejad dismissed the accusations about Iran's nuclear program in general terms.
"They say we're making (a) bomb," the Iranian leader said through an interpreter. "Fortunately, the majority of Latin American countries are alert. Everyone knows that those words ... are a joke. It's something to laugh at."
"It's clear they're afraid of our development," Ahmadinejad said.
Adding to the U.S.-Iran tensions, Iranian state radio reported Monday that a court in Iran convicted dual U.S.-Iranian citizen Amir Mirzaei Hekmati of working for the CIA and sentenced the former Marine to death. Neither Chavez nor Ahmadinejad referred to the case.
They joked that their relationship shouldn't cause any concern. Ahmadinejad said if they were together building anything like a bomb, "the fuel of that bomb is love." Chavez played on the same theme, saying Iran has been helping manufacture an "atomic bicycle" at a plant in the country.
The Venezuelan leader said Iran's assistance has helped his country build 14,000 homes as well as factories that produce food, tractors and vehicles. Government officials signed two agreements promoting industrial cooperation and worker training.
Chavez said both Venezuela and Iran are peaceful countries that weather a battery of suspicion and accusations by critics.
"When we devils get together ... it's like they go crazy," Chavez said.
Laughing, Chavez said Ahmadinejad is traveling through "the axis of evil of Latin America."
Iran finds itself under increasing pressure in the standoff over its nuclear program, and in response to the latest U.S. sanctions has threatened to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, an important transit route for oil tanker shipments.
The U.N. nuclear agency on Monday confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium at an underground bunker to a level that can be upgraded more quickly for use in a nuclear weapon than the nation's main enriched stockpile. That development has increased fears among U.S. and European officials about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Beyond voicing criticism of the U.S. on his tour, Ahmadinejad is also likely to look for ways to use his Latin American alliances to diminish the impact of sanctions on Iran's oil industry, said Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst with consulting firm IHS Global Insight in London.
However, Moya-Ocampos predicted that "Venezuela is going to be very careful not to push its relationship with Iran beyond the U.S. tolerance limits," so as not to risk being hit with more U.S. sanctions.
Last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA for delivering at least two cargoes of oil products to Iran.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters the government had not made any oil-related agreements with Iran.
Asked about the sanctions against Iran and its threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, Ramirez said OPEC, to which both countries belong, could not get involved in the issue.
"Any action that Iran takes in defense of its sovereignty is a matter of Iran," Ramirez said.
___
Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Gonzalo Solano in Quito, Ecuador, and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas contributed to this report.
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Blue Jackets fire head coach
After weeks of lopsided losses and blown leads, the Columbus Blue Jackets fired second-year coach Scott Arniel.
In announcing Arniel's dismissal and the elevation of assistant Todd Richards to interim head coach, general manager Scott Howson said the season had "gone off the rails."
Under Arniel, the Blue Jackets were just 11-25-5 this season -- the worst record in the NHL.
Richards was 77-71-16 as head coach of the Minnesota Wild from 2009-11.
Howson announced the firing after the club's latest dreadful loss: a 7-4 setback at Anaheim. The Ducks came into the game just one point ahead of the Blue Jackets' league-low 27 points but dominated throughout.
Howson said things had spiraled out of control recently. "We were playing pretty good [after a bad start] until the middle of December and we were going in the right direction, but it's gone off the rails since then," he said.
The Blue Jackets have blown eight games in which they led heading into the final period, the most in the NHL.
Richards said he did not plan wholesale changes. "I've got a list of to-dos," he said. "I don't think it's big changes. It's little tweaks, little things here and there."
Arniel was hired as the fifth head coach in Blue Jackets history June 8, 2010, and compiled a 45-60-18 record in 123 games.
Bruins
Forward Brad Marchand has been suspended for five games by the NHL because of a hit on the Canucks' Sami Salo. The league considers Marchand a repeat offender. He received a two-game suspension in March 2011. Marchand clipped Salo just before the end of the second period of Saturday night's game, receiving a major penalty and a game misconduct. He will also forfeit more than $150,000 in pay.
Blackhawks
Forward Patrick Sharp, among the NHL's top 10 scorers, will be out 3-4 weeks with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Sharp was injured late in the first period of Sunday's overtime loss to Detroit and did not return to the game. Sharp has 20 goals and 20 assists in 42 games this season.
Elsewhere
A fan who threw a banana at a black player during an NHL exhibition game has been fined $200. Christopher Moorhouse lobbed a banana at Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds as he was approaching Red Wings goalie Jordan Pearce during a shootout in the Sept. 22 game in London, Ontario. The 26-year-old Moorhouse pleaded guilty but did not appear in court. Moorhouse was charged with a provincial trespassing and given 90 days to pay the fine. Police said there wasn't enough evidence to charge Moorhouse with a hate crime.
First published on January 10, 2012 at 12:00 am
Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12010/1202477-61.stm?cmpid=sports.xml
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