7.1 quake in China kills 400

The quake strikes a remote area of Qinghai province in western China that is mostly populated by Tibetans. About 8,000 are injured.

By Barbara Demick

April 14, 2010

Reporting from Beijing

An earthquake that Chinese officials measured at magnitude 7.1 rocked a remote, mostly Tibetan-populated county in western China early Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring at least 8,000, according to state television reports.

The quake struck in Qinghai province about 20 miles from the county seat of Yushu, where it toppled houses, an elementary school and part of a Buddhist tower in a public park and seriously damaged the main hospital in town, officials told Chinese media.

"In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake," one witness said.

Yushu is about 500 miles southwest of Qinghai's capital, Xining, and has a mostly Tibetan population of 100,000 people, many of them herdsmen in the mountainous, rural area.

Numerous houses made of mud and logs in the traditional manner collapsed during the quake and its aftershocks.

"The death toll may rise further as lots of houses collapsed," army commander Wu Yong told the state-run China Daily. "Roads leading to the airport have been damaged, hampering the rescue effort."

In Jiegu, a township near the epicenter, more than 85% of the houses had collapsed, said Zhuo Huaxia, a local Tibetan official.

"Many are buried in the collapsed houses," he told the official New China News Agency. "There are still lots of others who are injured and being treated at local hospitals."

With phone lines down, rescuers also were hindered by telecommunications problems slowing attempts at coordination. State TV showed footage of paramilitary police using shovels to dig around a house with a collapsed wooden roof. A local military official, Shi Huajie, told state broadcaster CCTV that rescuers were working with limited equipment.

"We don't have any excavators. Many of the people have been buried, and our soldiers are trying to pull them out," Shi said. "It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands."

Five thousand tents and 100,000 thick, cotton coats and blankets were being sent to help survivors cope with strong winds and temperatures of about 43 degrees Fahrenheit, the Qinghai provincial government said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured a magnitude 6.9.

There were at least six aftershocks, the strongest a magnitude 6.2.

In 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in neighboring Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-china-quake14-2010apr14,0,1314302,print.story

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Florida girl rescued from swamp 'doing remarkably well'

Nadia Bloom, 11, had spent four days in the alligator-infested area.

By Walter Pacheco and Gary Taylor

April 13, 2010

Reporting from Winter Springs, Fla.

An 11-year-old girl was being treated Tuesday for insect bites and dehydration in a Florida hospital after spending four days in alligator-infested woods and swampland.

Rescuers and other law enforcement officials carried Nadia Bloom out of the woods in a sling more than three hours after rescuer James King called 911 to report he had found her.

King, 44, of Orlando, Fla., was a volunteer searcher who is a member of Metro Church, where the child's family worships.

"I didn't all of a sudden see her," King said. "I was yelling, 'Nadia! Nadia!' and she said, 'What?' "

Nadia's father, Jeff, thanked the rescuers.

"It all came so fast, and it just shows the compassion of the human spirit. It should give everybody encouragement," he told reporters after rescue crews lifted his daughter into an ambulance. "I can't even describe it. Let's give the glory to God."

Nadia, who has an autism-related disorder called Asperger's syndrome, was covered in bug bites, her feet were waterlogged, and she was dehydrated, officials said. She was not wearing shoes when she was found, said officials, who described her as being in good condition.

Parents Jeff and Tanya, as well as younger sister Sophia, watched as Nadia was driven away to South Seminole Hospital in Longwood.

"She's smiling. Her vital [signs] are stable. She has some abrasions and bites. She is dehydrated and receiving [intravenous] fluids and wound care," said Dr. Rakesh Parekh, medical director at South Seminole. "She is doing remarkably well."

Parekh said the goal for doctors was to stabilize Nadia and make sure she hadn't suffered more serious injuries.

"We expect a short course in the hospital," he said.

Officials are interviewing King about what led him to Nadia and how he reached her. King has already told investigators that he walked into the large, wooded area from a spot near State Road 417 and found the girl on a dry patch of wetland.

King told reporters that faith led him to Nadia.

Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle said King is a "hero to me right now." Brunelle said investigators had no reason to be suspicious of the rescue and that Nadia was found in an area that had not been cleared by the search teams.

Nadia said two things to rescuers: "I'm glad you guys found me" and "I can't believe you guys rescued me."

She also told investigators she had not seen or talked to anyone since she walked into the woods Friday afternoon.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-girl-found14-2010apr14,0,4488793,print.story

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Arizona passes strict illegal immigration act

The bill directs police to determine the immigration status of noncriminals if there is a 'reasonable suspicion' they are undocumented. Immigrant rights groups say it amounts to a police state.

By Nicholas Riccardi

April 13, 2010

Reporting from Denver

Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday approved what foes and supporters agree is the toughest measure in the country against illegal immigrants, directing local police to determine whether people are in the country legally.

The measure, long sought by opponents of illegal immigration, passed 35 to 21 in the state House of Representatives.

The state Senate passed a similar measure earlier this year, and Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is expected to sign the bill.

The bill's author, State Sen. Russell Pearce, said it simply "takes the handcuffs off of law enforcement and lets them do their job."

But police were deeply divided on the matter, with police unions backing it but the state police chief's association opposing the bill, contending it could erode trust with immigrants who could be potential witnesses.

Immigrant rights groups were horrified, and contended that Arizona would be transformed into a police state.

"It's beyond the pale," said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "It appears to mandate racial profiling."

The bill, known as SB 1070, makes it a misdemeanor to lack proper immigration paperwork in Arizona. It also requires police officers, if they form a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal immigrant, to determine the person's immigration status.

Currently, officers can inquire about someone's immigration status only if the person is a suspect in another crime. The bill allows officers to avoid the immigration issue if it would be impractical or hinder another investigation.

Citizens can sue to compel police agencies to comply with the law, and no city or agency can formulate a policy directing its workers to ignore the law -- a provision that advocates say prevents so-called sanctuary orders that police not inquire about people's immigration status.

The bill cements the position of Arizona, whose border with Mexico is the most popular point of entry for illegal immigrants into this country, as the state most aggressively using its own laws to fight illegal immigration. In 2006 the state passed a law that would dissolve companies with a pattern of hiring illegal immigrants. Last year it made it a crime for a government worker to give improper benefits to an illegal immigrant.

Mark Krikorian at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates tougher immigration enforcement, said the legislation was a logical extension of the state's previous enforcement efforts.

"It makes sense that they would be the first to do it since they're ground zero for illegal immigration," he said.

Krikorian added that he doubted the law would be used much. "Obviously, their prosecutors aren't going to go out and prosecute every illegal alien," he said. "It gives police and prosecutors another tool should they need it."

Opponents, however, raised the specter of officers untrained in immigration law being required to determine who is in the country legally. They noted that though the bill says race cannot solely be used to form a suspicion about a person's legality, it implicitly allows it to be a factor.

"A lot of U.S. citizens are going to be swept up in the application of this law for something as simple as having an accent and leaving their wallet at home," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona.

The ACLU and other groups have vowed to sue to block the bill from taking effect should Brewer sign it. They note that a federal court struck down a New Hampshire law in 2005 that said illegal immigrants were trespassing, declaring that only the federal government has the authority to enforce immigration. Another provision of the Arizona law, which makes day laborers illegal, violates the 1st Amendment, critics contend.

The issue of local enforcement of immigration laws has been especially heated in Arizona, where Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has taken an aggressive stance, conducting sweeps in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods to round up illegal immigrants.

His actions have drawn a civil rights investigation from the Department of Justice but strong praise from Arizonans. Other agencies have argued against Arpaio's stance, saying that they need illegal immigrants to trust them enough to report crimes.

Brewer, a Republican, has not taken a public stance on the bill. She replaced Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who became President Obama's Homeland Security chief last year. Napolitano had vetoed similar bills in the past. Brewer faces a primary challenge next month; most observers expect her to sign the measure.

Some Republicans have privately complained about the bill, which Pearce has been pushing for several years, but were loath to vote against it in an election year. The House was scheduled to approve it last week but the vote was delayed until Tuesday to give sponsors a chance to round up enough votes. It picked up steam after the killing late last month of a rancher on the Arizona side of the Mexican border. Footprints from the crime scene led back to Mexico.

In an impassioned debate Tuesday, both sides relied on legal and moral arguments.

"Illegal immigration brings crime, kidnapping, drugs -- drains our government services," said Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican. "Nobody can stand on the sidelines and not take part in this battle."

Democrats were just as passionate. "This bill, whether we intend it or not, terrorizes the people we profit from," said Rep. Tom Chabin.

http://www.latimes.com/la-na-arizona-immigration14-2010apr14,0,2010018,print.story

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Hemet City Council approves measure to "harden" buildings after attacks against police

The Hemet City Council approved an emergency measure Tuesday to fortify city buildings in response to a series of attacks against police officers in recent weeks.

The resolution allows the city to begin awarding no-bid contracts to "harden" areas at City Hall and the Police Department headquarters.

City Manager Brian Nakamura said the city received a $150,000 grant from the state and another $15,000 from Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone to fund the construction and installation of surveillance equipment.

"What we're going to try to do is create a safe buffer," Nakamura said in an interview, adding that counters in public areas may be heightened and plexiglass shields may be installed.

The council resolution cited law enforcement intelligence indicating that city buildings are the likely targets of future attacks.

"Intelligence reports indicate that the police facility is the likely focus of future criminal acts," Capt. Dave Brown wrote in a memo to council members. "Immediate action is required to harden these facilities."

No specific suspects have been named, and authorities have not said whether they believe the attacks have been carried out by a single person or group.

Last month, authorities led raids on the Vagos motorcycle gang , which was described as an "extreme threat" to law enforcement. In all, 33 members were arrested in Riverside County and 36 others were taken into custody in Arizona, Nevada and Utah as part of the operation, authorities said. Charges included possession of drugs and weapons.

In recent months, the attacks have involved booby traps set at the headquarters of the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Gang Task Force, officials said. In December, a gas utility line was redirected to fill the offices with gas. Officials said a spark could have triggered a devastating explosion.

In February, a "zip gun" was hidden by the gate to the task force office and rigged to fire. When a gang officer opened the gate, the weapon went off, the bullet narrowly missing him, authorities said.

In early March, police said, a "dangerous" device was found near the unmarked car of a task force member. That was followed by an arson attack on several city trucks March 23.

Now authorities are investigating whether an early-morning fire Monday at a Hemet police shooting range was another attack on the department.??The fire at the remote training facility off Warren Road broke out shortly after 2 a.m. Much of the building was destroyed in the blaze.??

Authorities are offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for the attacks. Anyone with information is asked to call (951) 765-3897.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/hemet-police-attacks-1.html#more

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Four homeless servicemen to be given full military funerals

The public is invited to attend a 1 p.m. ceremony Sunday honoring four homeless Southern California veterans, whose remains were unclaimed at their deaths, putting them at risk of enduring burial in paupers' graves.

Instead, the veterans, who were indigent and have no known family, will receive full military funeral honors at the Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary in Newhall.

The tribute is part of a national program known as the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, which is available in at least 25 cities across the country and has provided burial services to more than 675 homeless veterans since the program started in 2000, according to organizers.

The deceased servicemen to be honored Sunday are Raymond Frajardo, who served with the U.S. Navy from 1957 to 1963; John C. Newman, who was also with the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1945; Larry Lavine, a member of the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1958; and Edward Goodrich, an Army veteran who served from 1962 to 1965.

Little else is known about the lives of the former servicemen.

The Dignity Memorial network will prepare the bodies and provide caskets, transportation and coordination of the funeral service. The veterans will be interred on April 21 at Riverside National Cemetery, which will provide a grave liner, a headstone or marker and a graveside ceremony, organizers said.

Jim Biby, market director of the Dignity Memorial network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers in the Los Angeles area, said in a statement that paying tribute to homeless and indigent veterans ensures that they get “the honors in death that their service in life merited.”

Sunday's ceremony will include prayers, the laying of wreaths, a gun salute and the military bugle call "Taps ." Attendees will be given dog tags engraved with the names of the decedents, and a small reception will follow the ceremony, according to organizers.

Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary is located at 23287 Sierra Highway in Newhall.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/four-homeless-servicemen-whose-bodies-were-unclaimed-at-their-deaths-to-be-given-full-military-funer.html#more

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OPINION

Springtime quakes are part of life on Earth

The recent earthquakes in the Americas help underscore the volatility that has characterized the planet from its beginning.

By Craig Childs

April 14, 2010

Iwaited out Chile's recent earthquakes and highway-snapping aftershocks from deep inside the country, down along the serrated coast of Patagonia. From my remote reaches I didn't feel a thing. When I left from Santiago's airport a couple of weeks ago, I saw shattered windows boarded up with plywood. Most of the terminals had been moved outside into tents on the ramp beside one of the runways.

I got back to the U.S. just in time for the fresh quakes ripping up the crotch of Baja. Is it just springtime in the Americas, earthquakes in bloom?

Have you been noticing all the earthquakes lately? The local ones seem enough, starting with Haiti's devastating 7.0 in January. Then there was that superlative 8.8 in Chile a month later, a singular jolt estimated to have changed the length of the day by 1.26 microseconds, shifting the planet's axis by about three inches. Now we've got high 6s and low 7s hurling like a bolt of lighting up the San Andreas fault. Even residents of Phoenix are feeling it, a palpable temblor rolling through the city at 3:40 p.m. on April 4. When an earthquake gets the attention of folks in Sun City, something big must be afoot.

Is it possible that earthquakes in one place can trigger others somewhere else, without necessarily being harbingers of doom? Ramon Arrowsmith, a geology professor at Arizona State University, says, "The passage of the seismic waves through the crust can momentarily load up other faults, and volcanic systems, even at large distances from the event." So, yes, chain reactions can happen.

One major earthquake after the next might mean nothing more than us noticing what the Earth is up to. More important, Arrowsmith told me, "As the human population of the Earth increases, we move into more and more hazardous regions, and with our increasingly connected world, we hear about and suffer from the events that much more."

But what are we also hearing about these quakes from the usual rabble? Actor Danny Glover joined the Gaia crowd, blaming Haiti's catastrophe on anthropogenic climate change in his now infamous statement: "When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?" Glover makes it sound as if we've been toying with Zeus -- and who am I to say, maybe we are.

Meanwhile, the customary biblical voices have come forth, quoting from Scripture, "And there will be . . . earthquakes in various places" (Matthew 24:7). And televangelist Pat Robertson blamed the one that dropped Port-au-Prince on a Haitian pact with the devil.

So, is it true what the man carrying the banner in the street says? Is the world actually coming to an end, and are these cascades of earthquakes the sign?

Let's ask the record-keepers.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that several million earthquakes happen around the globe each year, many undetected because they are either remote or too small to register. About 50 earthquakes are recorded every day. In one year, the average is 17 major earthquakes (7.0 to 7.9) and one doozy (8.0 or higher). Our recent numbers are on par, just another year on Earth.

This has been going on as long as anyone can remember. The earliest historically recorded earthquake in California was in 1769, when Gaspar de Portola was camping about 30 miles southeast of modern-day Los Angeles. Taking the date back much further, earthquakes have been diligently recorded in China since the Zhou dynasty in 780 BC.

Even checking the geologic record going back more than 4.3 billion years, all you see are matters of great geologic upheaval coming one after the next, from an asteroid bombardment that re-liquefied most of the Earth's surface late in the game to the monstrous forces that sent the Andes and Himalayas skyward, twisting their basement rock into hot, metamorphic taffy.

The surface of the Earth is constantly being torn asunder, huge plates grinding against each other, putting down trenches, throwing up mountains. What this planet does particularly well is keep things moving, stirring the atmosphere with climate change, bumping the surface into mountains, ripping continents end from end like molding clay. Nothing stays the way it is for long.

Are these the end times? Yes. And they have been this way since the beginning. Welcome to planet Earth, a wonderful but not entirely stable place to live.

As I holed up amid the earthquakes in Chile, camping in the towering peaks of the Aysen region, it seemed you wouldn't even notice if the world somehow ended. Cities could fall around the globe and not much would change here. Hugged up against mountains encased in ice, four days and more than 100 miles from the nearest paved road, I felt about as far away from "the world" as one could get. No shattered glass, no buckled asphalt, no buildings toppled over each other.

Though I never actually felt any of those quakes, I would often wake in the night to the sound of glacial seracs calving off the mountain -- huge, bright faces of ice breaking free and collapsing high above me. My eyes would crack open, seeing nothing but the dark of my tent as I listened to percussive thunder, tens of thousands of tons of ice and rock falling thousands of feet.

I would lie in my bag reminding myself that the mountains were not crumbling. The world was not ending. It was only a piece of the sky falling.

Craig Childs is the author of several books, including "House of Rain" and "Animal Dialogues."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-childs14-2010apr14,0,5634056,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Obama says nuke summit made US, world more secure

WASHINGTON — In full accord on a global threat, world leaders endorsed President Barack Obama's call for securing all nuclear materials from terrorists within four years at a 47-nation summit on Tuesday. They offered few specifics for achieving that goal, but Obama declared "the American people will be safer and the world will be more secure" as a result.

Obama had called the summit to focus world attention on keeping dangerous materials out of terrorist hands, a peril he termed the greatest threat facing all nations and a "cruel irony of history" after mankind had survived the Cold War and decades of fear stoked by a U.S.-Soviet arms race.

A terrorist group in possession of plutonium no bigger than an apple could detonate a device capable of inflicting hundreds of thousands of casualties, he said.

"Terrorist networks such as al-Qaida have tried to acquire the material for a nuclear weapon, and if they ever succeeded, they would surely use it," he told the opening session, which convened under tight security at the Washington Convention Center. "Were they to do so, it would be a catastrophe for the world, causing extraordinary loss of life and striking a major blow to global peace and stability."

The summit countries said they would cooperate more deeply with the United Nations and its watchdog arm, the International Atomic Energy Agency. They also said they would share information on nuclear detection and ways to prevent nuclear trafficking.

While the summit focused on the threat from terrorists, attention was given to Iran, North Korea and other nations who are seeking or have succeeded in obtaining or developing nuclear weapons.

In a news conference at the conference conclusion, Obama said he was confident China would join other nations in pressing for tough new sanctions on Iran for continuing to defy the international community in seeking such weapons.

"Words have to mean something. There have to be some consequences," Obama said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Obama on Monday, then on Tuesday gave a speech to the group calling for "effective" measures to safeguard nuclear weapons and materials. But he stopped short of mentioning Iran's program.

Iran, which was not invited to the conference, denies it intends to build an atomic bomb, and despite widespread concern about its intentions, Obama is having difficulty getting agreement on a new set of U.N. sanctions against the country. He said Tuesday that Hu had assured him that China would participate in drafting sessions at the United Nations on strong sanctions.

The summiteers announced that a follow-up nuclear security conference will be held in South Korea in 2012.

President Lee Myung-bak told reporters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will not get an invitation until the North gives up its efforts to build a nuclear arsenal.

North Korea's efforts - and its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that sets the rules of the road for nuclear technology - kept it out of the Washington summit. Syria, which is suspected by the U.S. and others of harboring nuclear weapons ambitions, also was not invited.

Asked about steps that have been taken against North Korea, Obama conceded that "sanctions are not a magic wand." Still, he said he hoped the pressure could lead North Korea's leaders to multinational talks.

In a joint work plan spelling out specific actions to be taken, the summit countries said they would "work together to achieve universality" of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, but there was no mention of specific additional countries formally ratifying the convention. They also underscored the importance of a 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material.

The United States declared that the Obama administration had submitted to Congress legislation to bring U.S. laws into line with the two treaties.

The U.S. also committed to requesting an "advisory mission" from the International Atomic Energy Agency to review physical security at a nuclear facility of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

As an example of the collective action called for by Obama, officials of the U.S., Canada and Mexico announced an agreement to work together, along with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, to convert the fuel in Mexico's research reactor from highly enriched uranium to a lower-enriched fuel that would be much harder to use in the manufacturing of a nuclear weapon.

Mexico further agreed that once the fuel is converted, it will get rid of all its highly enriched uranium. That follows Ukraine's announcement on Monday that it, too, will ship all its highly enriched uranium to protected storage outside its borders - possibly to Russia or the U.S.

U.S. officials touted their completion of a long-delayed agreement with Russia on disposing of tons of plutonium from Cold War-era weapons. Each country will complete and operate facilities to dispose of at least 34 tons of plutonium by using it as fuel in civilian power reactors to produce electricity, although it will not start until 2018; monitors and inspectors will ensure against cheating.

The State Department said the combined 68 tons of U.S. and Russian plutonium represents enough for about 17,000 nuclear weapons. The deal was signed Tuesday at the summit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in his remarks to the conference, stressed the importance of protecting nuclear-related information.

"We must keep the science as well as the substance of nuclear materials out of terrorist hands," he said, according to a transcript provided by British officials.

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14876559

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Facebook unveils revamped online safety site

PALO ALTO — Facebook is unveiling a revamped internal site designed to help people stay safe while surfing online.

Facebook's "Safety Center," which features new tools for parents, teachers, teens and law enforcement, is the first major endeavor from the social networking site and its four-month-old global safety advisory board.

The board is composed of Internet safety groups Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute.

Some new features of the safety center include four times more content on staying safe, such as dealing with bullying online, an interactive portal and a simpler design.

The presence of sexual predators is a problem for social networking sites and their users.

Previously, Facebook, based in Palo Alto, has helped identify, and has disabled accounts of, registered sex offenders. In 2008, Facebook said it agreed to assist 49 Attorneys General to protect kids against Internet predators.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14872947

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Tons of produce tossed as many go hungry

First of two parts

An estimated 6 million tons of food is thrown out each year in California, studies have shown - enough to fill the Staples Center 35 times over.

Despite laws and tax incentives that encourage donation, food is the largest single source of waste in California, making up 15.5 percent of its waste stream, according to the state Integrated Waste Management Board.

"Waste is built into the food chain, at all levels," said author Jonathan Bloom, the founder of wastedfood.com . "The amount of food we waste is ridiculous, especially when you consider the number of Americans who experience hunger every day."

An analysis by California Watch and the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at University of Southern California found weaknesses in every link of California's food distribution chain, allowing vast amounts of produce and other edible products to go to waste in landfills.

Among the findings:

Millions of tons of fruits and vegetables are left to rot in orchards and fields or are plowed because the crops are misshapen, discolored or otherwise unappealing. Gleaning programs - collecting leftover crops from the fields - salvage only a fraction of the field waste.

While some supermarket chains donate surplus food to programs for the needy, others discard meat, produce and other items not yet past their expiration date. Although federal and state laws protect grocers from liability, many stores expressed concern that donated food could sicken recipients.

The vast majority of the state's 90,000 restaurants do not participate in food donation programs, instead discarding tens of thousands of tons of food annually.

Food represents a quarter of all waste tossed away by California households.

Increased value of waste

But with unemployment near record highs and food banks reporting surging demand for emergency assistance, the issue of food as a commodity takes on added significance. And health officials, researchers, economists, farmers and corporate leaders agree that the more efficient production and distribution of food could reduce waste and help feed millions of families.

Numerous volunteer organizations are now working to "re-harvest" California's vast produce landscape and divert surplus food from the waste stream into food banks and soup kitchens.

"It's a win-win situation," said Arlene Mercer, founder of Food Finders, a Long Beach-based food recovery group that collects donations from supermarkets and restaurants for food pantries. "They can receive a tax write-off, people will be fed, and it will stop food waste."

Many of California's farms, supermarket chains and restaurants donate millions of pounds of food each year to help the needy. They are spurred by good will, environmental initiatives and relentless demands to cut costs, including food waste disposal.

"When it comes to feeding people, there's no competition," said Lilia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Albertsons, whose Fresh Rescue program makes dairy and meat products available to food banks. "We feel like if we don't do it, who will?"

But, Mercer and others say too many opportunities are missed to divert food to the hungry.

Fighting to cut losses

California's carpet of farmland spans 25 million acres and produces about half of the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

Although no one can say exactly how much food is left in the fields, experts estimate it amounts to millions of tons of produce, much of it plowed under after every harvest.

Though farmers pride themselves on efficiency, they also run businesses that are subject to weather and market forces. If a farmer can't sell a crop at a profit or if some of it falls short of retailers' cosmetic requirements, the crop goes to waste - even if it is edible.

"Waste is inevitable," said Mike O'Leary, vice president of Boskovich Farms in Ventura County, which grows more than 30 crops on 10,000 acres in California and Mexico. "We try to minimize it, but sometimes fields have to be disked."

Some farms try to reduce their waste by donating produce to food banks. This year, Del Monte Foods Co. donated more than 2 million pounds of bananas and cantaloupes to Food Share, a regional food bank in Ventura County.

Millions more pounds are rescued from the plow blade by gleaning groups that deliver "second harvest" crops to food banks for distribution. The California Association of Food Banks, which represents 45 food banks, has distributed more than 60 million pounds of food through its Farm to Family gleaning program.

But there are limits to how much produce can be salvaged.

During one recent gleaning operation, just 10 percent of an estimated 140,000 pounds of carrots could be picked, said Christy Porter, founder of Hidden Harvest in Coachella, which hires low-income workers to glean locally grown food.

"We couldn't go fast enough to get the product before it spoiled," she said.

A 2004 study by anthropologist Timothy Jones estimated that up to 10 percent of certain crops, such as cauliflower, never leave the field. He projected that the overall figure for crop waste in the United States is closer to 20 percent.

Farmers dispute such estimates, noting that most factor a loss of 5 percent into their business plans to cover food left in the field, crops lost to bad weather and other factors.

"We're not in the business of leaving commodities in the field," said Scott Deardorff of Deardorff Family Farms in Ventura County. This story is the result of a collaboration between USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and California Watch, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting.

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14817026

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Some grocers reluctant to donate food

As a result, vast amounts of food go to waste across the state, an examination by California Watch and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at University of Southern California found.

Fearing liability if someone were to get severely ill, major retail grocery chains and restaurants are more likely to throw away meats, fruits and vegetables than donate to distribution centers.

Just ask John Wadginski, who is still bothered by the amount of food he discarded nightly while working in the delicatessen at a Safeway store in Davis.

"I had to throw out 10-pound hams that weren't even touched," said Wadginski, now 24. "It was easily 50 pounds of food a night."

Wadginski volunteered to take the surplus to a local shelter, but his supervisors declined his request.

"They told me no because if anything happened, they would be liable," Wadginski said.

Such attitudes prevail despite state and federal laws in place for more than a decade that protect businesses and individuals from liability should recipients become ill from food donations, experts said.

Since the only exceptions are gross negligence or intentional misconduct, a plaintiff would have to prove that a donor intentionally tried to harm another with a contribution of food they knew to be unsafe.

"Many of them don't understand," said Arlene Mercer, founder of Food Finders in Long Beach, which collects donations from supermarkets and restaurants for distribution to food pantries.

"We try to educate them that they are protected by the good Samaritan laws and our insurance and that neither have ever been challenged."

Some donations made

Waste from supermarkets is one of the big contributors, along with farms and restaurants, to an estimated 6 million tons of edible food in California alone that ends up in the trash.

Most grocery chains participate in some sort of hunger-relief program, but may limit their donations to bakery items - the kind of foods organizations need the least.

Safeway subsidiary Vons, for instance, makes regular donations to Feeding America - a supplier of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank - but makes sure its contributions are nonperishable.

"Safeway does not donate items that are not fit for consumption or could be unfit for consumption when they reach the final recipient," spokeswoman Teena Massingill said.

"Once the items are out of our control, we cannot guarantee that they will be kept under the specified temperatures."

Albertsons was the first supermarket chain to start a formal perishable food recovery program. Through its Fresh Rescue program, one or two employees in each Albertsons store work on donating surplus food to local organizations.

"Stores have been doing it on their own for a few years now, but we wanted to find a way to pull it all together," said Lilia Rodriguez, the public affairs manager for Albertsons. "It's eggs, cheese, milk, fruits - and it's those products that are really hard for food banks to get a hold of.

"Non-perishables are usually what they get."

The Ralphs chain has a program in about two-thirds of its stores that distributes food that has reached its "sell-by" date but remains edible. The company hopes to have the program operating in all stores within a few months.

Costco is among the chains that has opted not to participate in food-donation programs, although company records show it sends about 45 million pounds of food annually to compost.

Mercer noted, however, that the warehouse chain has offered her discounts, and occasionally free turkeys, for her Food Finders program.

Not willing to invest

Of the more than 90,000 eating and drinking establishments operating in California, just 940 contributed last year through Food Donation Connection, which links restaurants with hunger relief agencies. Those include nearly 400 Pizza Hut restaurants, and more than 100 KFC and 100 Chipotle Mexican Grill establishments.

"They think it is going to take too much time, too much effort and companies aren't willing to invest more time now to do things even though there is a financial upside to donating their surplus food," said Steve Dietz, director of business for Food Donation Connection.

He noted that only major corporations and large franchise owners are currently eligible for a tax deduction for food donation. A temporary allowance for small businesses expired at the end of 2009 and has not yet been revived by Congress.

A 2006 study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board showed that food made up 66 percent of the waste at full-service restaurants and 51 percent at fast-food eateries.

While hunger-relief organizations concede that not all of that food is recoverable or edible, they say that a concerted effort would make a huge difference.

"The amount of food that is wasted is heart-breaking to me because it can be harvested," said Louise Morris, the food coordinator at Shining Light Ministries in Garden Grove. "People are hungry and it's just thrown away."

This story is the result of a collaboration between USC's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and California Watch, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting.

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_14819722

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Are we worthy of local hero's sacrifice?

One day a chicken and a cow were talking about breakfast. The chicken says, "How about steak and eggs? I'll bring the eggs." Not all commitments are equal.

How committed are you to Los Angeles? To California? To America? How committed am I?

That's what I asked myself yesterday as the flag-draped coffin of Los Angeles police and U.S. Marine hero Robert Cottle moved from police headquarters to Our Lady of the Angels cathedral in downtown Los Angeles. Cottle lost his life on March 24 in Afghanistan, killed by a roadside bomb. The official L.A. tribute was conducted with appropriate pomp and solemnity, but a man of Cottle's caliber deserves a higher honor - a commitment to service on our part to justify the magnitude of his sacrifice.

Robert Cottle didn't die trying to re-brand himself by winning a golf tournament. The IED didn't get Cottle while cutting a deal in a backroom at City Hall with a politically connected developer. He wasn't killed at his laptop while knocking out another newspaper screed about the mayor.

Robert Cottle spent his life in the trenches of public service. As a SWAT team member he confronted the most dangerous assignments imaginable. As a Marine he was a leader and mentor and died in that role.

Once the final chords of taps are blown at Arlington National Cemetery the long process of healing will begin for Officer Cottle's family. His name has already been added to the roster of heroes we honor and then forget.

Remember Randal Simmons? If you don't, Google him; you'll be glad you did. In a city run by mediocrities it's cathartic to learn we still have men of Cottle and Simmons' caliber. We need to do more than inscribe their names on memorial plaques. Not many of us can match the capacity for bravery and service of Robert Cottle. But can't we do a little more to justify his sacrifice?

We pay taxes because we have to and vote occasionally if we're so inclined.

When it comes to our personal commitment to Los Angeles, we might bring the eggs but we leave it to others to bring the steak.

Not that we have to become martyrs to save the city, but we do have to get involved. The current mayor of L.A. is a self-serving incompetent who was elected by only 9 percent of the registered voters. That's pathetic.

It's not enough to complain. It's not enough to write columns in newspapers and blog or tweet. We need to be activist citizens and run for office and support candidates who will aggressively fight for the long-term health of the city rather than the short-term expedience of political gain.

At the end of Steven Spielberg's brilliant "Saving Private Ryan," the Tom Hanks character, mortally wounded, challenges young Ryan with a powerful invocation, "Earn this."

We owe Officer Robert Cottle a better Los Angeles.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14877349

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From the New York Times

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After Another Murder, Another Proposed Law

Megan, Jessica, now Chelsea — each name a legislative expression of public fury.

The rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King outside a San Diego park sparked a media firestorm and incensed residents in Southern California after the police charged John Albert Gardner III, a convicted sex offender, with the crimes.

Mr. Gardner has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. He was released from prison in 2006 after serving time for beating and molesting a 13-year-old, and records show that he had committed seven parole violations in the time between his release and the rape and murder of Ms. King.

On Monday in Sacramento, Kelly and Brent King announced a bill called Chelsea's Law, named after their daughter. The bill notably includes a “one strike” provision that would allow prosecutors to pursue a life sentence without parole for forcible sex crimes against a minor when there are aggravating circumstances such as torture and kidnapping.

“Life without possibility of parole for a violent sexual predator is needed,” Mr. King told reporters. “These offenders cannot be rehabilitated. They do not deserve a second chance.”

The parents were joined at the capitol by Nathan Fletcher, the Republican assemblyman from San Diego who sponsored the bill.

Still, the proposed legislation is reigniting the debate over the the efficacy, justness and consequences of laws against sex offenders that have been ushered through during the emotionally fraught periods following shocking and high-profile crimes.

Chelsea's Law would increase — to 25 years from 15 years — the minimum sentence for forcible sex crimes that involve minor aggravating circumstances, like drugging the victim. Those convicted of sex crimes against children younger than 14 would also face lifetime of parole that included G.P.S. monitoring. And, instead of a residency restriction such as those contained in previous sex offender legislation, Chelsea's Law forbids outright sex offenders from visiting public spaces like parks without the express permission of their probation officers.

Mr. Fletcher said he drafted and revised the bill after consulting law enforcement officials, judges, community forums in his district and Bonnie M. Dumanis, the district attorney of San Diego County. His office has received a deluge of calls from constituents who support his measure, Mr. Fletcher said, and his district has galvanized around the issue.

“You feel anger, you feel rage, you feel frustration,” Mr. Fletcher said. “Now the community is channeling all those emotions into motivation for change.”

A local radio station paid for passenger buses to take San Diego residents to Sacramento on Monday evening ahead of a “Sunflower Ovation” event on Tuesday morning, when the King family's supporters will spread 1,000 sunflower petals on the capitol steps and press legislators to support Chelsea's Law. As of late Monday, a Facebook group supporting Chelsea's Law had over 76,000 fans, many of whom had adopted the group's sunflower motif as their personal profile photo.

But these sex offender laws have historically courted controversy, largely from legal groups that say the restrictions infringe on the offender's basic civil rights.

When reached on Monday, the office of California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Monday that it was too early to comment on Chelsea's Law as it had been just been introduced, but the office would be “closely examining the details of this bill.”

The California Attorneys for Criminal Justice opposes the bill because it said there is no proof that longer sentences and parole terms are effective, KGO-TV reported. The group also said the state would not be able to afford to implement the measures.

In January, California's Sexual Offender Management Board concluded that Jessica's Law was in fact potentially harmful as it displaced hundreds of convicted offenders from their homes , heightening the likelihood that they might recommit crimes.

“I don't understand how the public feels safer with me roaming the streets aimlessly,” one convicted offender, who was allowed to visit his family only four hours a day, told The San Francisco Chronicle.

And in March, an East Bay community discovered that it had no way of enforcing Jessica's Law even as a convicted sex offender moved into a home directly across the street from an elementary school. The loophole existed because the bill, while passing comfortably with strong public support, never included a punishment in its language. Other enforcement loopholes are manifold.

Franklin Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, told The New York Times that sex offender laws were sometimes nothing more than a barometer of public opinion.

“They're a plebiscite on sex offenders, and no one likes sex offenders,” Professor Zimring said. “It's not like they have a lobbying group.”

But Mr. Fletcher portrayed Ms. King's murder as a case of a convicted offender falling through gaps in the criminal justice system and guaranteed that his bill would greatly bolster any previous legislation.

“Our mission here isn't just about proposing new laws,” the assemblyman said.

http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/after-another-murder-another-proposed-law/

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Civil Rights Groups Fight Oakland Gang Injunction

The proposed Oakland gang injunction — introduced in February by Oakland's city attorney, John Russo — has garnered praise from those seeking aggressive anticrime measures and wary disapproval from others concerned about racial profiling. The issue has generated considerable back-and-forth debate about the best ways to balance public safety and civil liberties.

Last week, the opposition headed to court when the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights filed with the Alameda County Superior Court to challenge the city's plan .

In a statement, Mr. Russo said that he respected the concerns raised by the A.C.L.U. but that “the injunction is intended to protect people who live in this community from a small group of hard-core gang members.”

Civil gang injunctions have been used to fight crime in California since the 1980s. In 1997, the California Supreme Court ruled that such injunctions were constitutional. Several major California cities, including San Francisco , San Jose and Los Angeles , have active gang injunctions.

As managing lawyer of the A.C.L.U.-Northern California, Jory Steele said her job was to make sure injunctions were “as limited as possible and that they don't overreach.”

The Oakland injunction would create a roughly 100-block “safety zone ” in North Oakland — turf of the North Side Oakland gang, which has been locked in a violent battle with a neighboring South Berkeley gang. The injunction filed by Mr. Russo, which must be approved by an Alameda County judge, named 19 individuals who would be subject to curfews and limits on associating with other gang members.

Ms. Steele said the limitations were overly broad.

“If you had to go out to get medicine for a sick child in the middle of a night, you could be arrested for violating the curfew,” she said in an interview Monday. “They don't pass the common sense test. And in our view, they raise constitutional concerns.”

In his statement, Mr. Russo said:

The injunction will not prevent anyone from going to school. It will not prevent anyone from seeking health care for themselves or their children. It only applies to adults. Police cannot arbitrarily throw anyone into the injunction. Anyone named will have full due process rights in court and the burden of proof is on the city, as it should be, to prove that they deserve to be restricted from continuing gang-related behavior. Anyone who honestly leaves the gang life can go through an ‘opt-out' process to be removed.

Whether or not the injunction is sufficient in protecting civil liberties will be up to the Alameda County Superior Court; a hearing is scheduled for April 22.

So are gang injunctions effective?

Ms. Steele cited a 2007 report from the Justice Policy Institute that concluded that gang injunctions had a limited effectiveness in reducing violent crime. But the San Francisco City Attorney's Web site posts two studies — one from a Los Angeles Civil Grand Jury Report and another published in Criminology and Public Policy — that cast gang injunctions as potent crime-fighting tools.

Ms. Steele said the A.C.L.U. remained concerned about violent crime in Oakland, but she urged the city to pursue alternative methods. One such program could be a new grant, announced last week and totaling about $400,000, to create 70 part-time jobs and training opportunities for young people at risk for gang involvement.

“Those are precisely the types of strategies we think will be more effective at combating these issues,” Ms. Steele said.

http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/civil-rights-groups-fight-oakland-gang-injunction/

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From the White House

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"An Enormously Productive Day"

Capping a week of historic progress on the issues of nuclear security, non-proliferation, and the threat of nuclear terrorism, the President closed out the two-day Nuclear Security Summit with a lengthy press conference to discuss the progress that had been made.   Shortly afterwards the White House released a series of hey documents related to the summit: 

• The U.S. National Statement
  
  
• Key Facts about the Nuclear Security Summit
  
  
• Highlights of the national commitments made at the Nuclear Security Summit
  
  
• The Communique
  
  
• The Work Plan
  
  
• The Work Plan reference document
  

The President's opening remarks at the press conference:

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody.  We have just concluded an enormously productive day. 

I said this morning that today would be an opportunity for our nations, both individually and collectively, to make concrete commitments and take tangible steps to secure nuclear materials so they never fall into the hands of terrorists who would surely use them. 

This evening, I can report that we have seized this opportunity, and because of the steps we've taken -- as individual nations and as an international community -- the American people will be safer and the world will be more secure.

I want to thank all who participated in this historic summit -- 49 leaders from every region of the world.  Today's progress was possible because these leaders came not simply to talk, but to take action; not simply to make vague pledges of future action, but to commit to meaningful steps that they are prepared to implement right now. 

I also want to thank my colleagues for the candor and cooperative spirit that they brought to the discussions.  This was not a day of long speeches or lectures on what other nations must do.  We listened to each other, with mutual respect.  We recognized that while different countries face different challenges, we have a mutual interest in securing these dangerous materials.

So today is a testament to what is possible when nations come together in a spirit of partnership to embrace our shared responsibility and confront a shared challenge.  This is how we will solve problems and advance the security of our people in the 21st century.  And this is reflected in the communiqué that we have unanimously agreed to today.

First, we agreed on the urgency and seriousness of the threat.  Coming into this summit, there were a range of views on this danger.  But at our dinner last night, and throughout the day, we developed a shared understanding of the risk. 

Today, we are declaring that nuclear terrorism is one of the most challenging threats to international security.  We also agreed that the most effective way to prevent terrorists and criminals from acquiring nuclear materials is through strong nuclear security -- protecting nuclear materials and preventing nuclear smuggling.

Second, I am very pleased that all the nations represented here have endorsed the goal that I outlined in Prague one year ago -- to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years' time.  This is an ambitious goal, and we are under no illusions that it will be easy.  But the urgency of the threat, and the catastrophic consequences of even a single act of nuclear terrorism, demand an effort that is at once bold and pragmatic.  And this is a goal that can be achieved.

Third, we reaffirmed that it is the fundamental responsibility of nations, consistent with their international obligations, to maintain effective security of the nuclear materials and facilities under our control.  This includes strengthening national laws and policies, and fully implementing the commitments we have agreed to.

And fourth, we recognized that even as we fulfill our national responsibilities, this threat cannot be addressed by countries working in isolation.  So we've committed ourselves to a sustained, effective program of international cooperation on national [sic] security, and we call on other nations to join us.

It became clear in our discussions that we do not need lots of new institutions and layers of bureaucracy.  We need to strengthen the institutions and partnerships that we already have -— and make them even more effective.  This includes the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the multilateral partnership that strengthens nuclear security, prevent nuclear trafficking and assist nations in building their capacity to secure their nuclear materials.   

But as I said, today was about taking tangible steps to protect our people.  So we've also agreed to a detailed work plan to guide our efforts going forward -- the specific actions we will take.  I want to commend my partners for the very important commitments that they made in conjunction with this summit.  Let me give some examples.

Canada agreed to give up a significant quantity of highly enriched uranium.  Chile has given up its entire stockpile.  Ukraine and Mexico announced that they will do the same.  Other nations -- such as Argentina and Pakistan -- announced new steps to strengthen port security and prevent nuclear smuggling. 

More nations -- including Argentina, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam -- agreed to join, and thus strengthen, the treaties and international partnerships that are at the core of our global efforts.  A number of countries -— including Italy, Japan, India and China -— will create new centers to promote nuclear security technologies and training.  Nations pledged new resources to help the IAEA meet its responsibilities.

In a major and welcomed development, Russia announced that it will close its last weapons-grade plutonium production reactor.  After many years of effort, I'm pleased that the United States and Russia agreed today to eliminate 68 tons of plutonium for our weapons programs -— plutonium that would have been enough for about 17,000 nuclear weapons.  Instead, we will use this material to help generate electricity for our people.

These are exactly the kind of commitments called for in the work plan that we adopted today, so we've made real progress in building a safer world.

I would also note that the United States has made its own commitments.  We are strengthening security at our own nuclear facilities, and will invite the IAEA to review the security at our neutron research center.  This reflects our commitment to sharing the best practices that are needed in our global efforts. We're seeking significant funding increases for programs to prevent nuclear proliferation and trafficking. 

And today, the United States is joining with our Canadian partners and calling on nations to commit $10 billion to extending our highly successful Global Partnership to strengthen nuclear security around the world.

So this has been a day of great progress.  But as I said this morning, this can't be a fleeting moment.  Securing nuclear materials must be a serious and sustained global effort.  We agreed to have our experts meet on a regular basis —- to measure progress, to ensure that we're meeting our commitments and to plan our next steps. 

And I again want to thank President Lee and the Republic of Korea for agreeing to host the next Nuclear Security Summit in two years.

Finally, let me say while this summit is focused on securing nuclear materials, this is part of a larger effort -— the comprehensive agenda that I outlined in Prague last year to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Indeed, in recent days we've made progress on every element of this agenda.

To reduce nuclear arsenals, President Medvedev and I signed the historic new START treaty —- not only committing our two nations to significant reductions in deployed nuclear weapons, but also setting the stage for further cuts and cooperation between our countries.

To move beyond outdated Cold War thinking and to focus on the nuclear dangers of the 21st century, our new Nuclear Posture Review reduces the role and number of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy.  And for the first time, preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism is at the top of America's nuclear agenda, which reaffirms the central importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

And next month in New York, we will join with nations from around the world to strengthen the NPT as the cornerstone of our global efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons even as we pursue greater civil nuclear cooperation.  Because for nations that uphold their responsibilities, peaceful nuclear energy can unlock new advances in medicine, in agriculture, and economic development. 

All of these efforts are connected.  Leadership and progress in one area reinforces progress in another.  When the United States improves our own nuclear security and transparency, it encourages others to do the same, as we've seen today.  When the United States fulfills our responsibilities as a nuclear power committed to the NPT, we strengthen our global efforts to ensure that other nations fulfill their responsibilities. 

So again, I want to thank my colleagues for making this unprecedented gathering a day of unprecedented progress in confronting one of the greatest threats to our global security.  Our work today not only advances the security of the United States, it advances the security of all mankind, and preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism will remain one of my highest priorities as President.      

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/13/enormously-productive-day

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Health Reform and the Recovery Act: Unprecedented Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

It's that time of year where we're all filling out our tax forms to get them in under the deadline, so we thought it would be worth taking a step back and looking over how two of the President's top priorities – health reform and the Recovery Act – are helping to give a little relief to middle class families.  While some critics and media outlets may want to mislead the public, or cherry-pick provisions to give another impression, there is no debating the fact that making the tax code more fair for the middle class, and helping working families get through these tough economic times has been the central plank of the President's agenda.

Health Reform: The health reform legislation signed into law by President Obama includes the largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families, helping to make insurance much more affordable for millions of families.  Here's a more extensive list of how health reform helps ease the financial burden on the middle class:

• The largest health care tax cut in history for middle class families.
  
  
• Americans buying the same coverage they have today in the individual market will see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent compared to what they would pay without health insurance reform and by as much as 3% for those who get coverage through their employers.
  
  
• The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit can cover up to 35 percent of the premiums a small business pays to cover its workers. In 2014, the rate will increase to 50 percent
  
  
• Reduces out-of-pocket expenses so insurance doesn't still leave families holding the bag
  
  
• Bans lifetime limits on coverage
  

The Recovery Act: As the President noted in his last Weekly Address , you can get a good handle on how the Recovery Act might help you out on your taxes through our Tax Savings Tool .  Here's a glance at how the numbers break down nationwide:

• Over $160 Billion - Tax relief provided through the Recovery Act so far to families and businesses. 
  
  
• Nearly $3,000 - The record average tax refund taxpayers are seeing this tax season, something the IRS says is largely due to the Recovery Act.
  
  
• Nearly 10% - The percentage average tax refunds are up this year - something the IRS says is largely due to Recovery Act tax credits.
  
  
• 95% - The percentage of working families benefiting from the Recovery Act's Making Work Pay tax credit, making it the broadest tax credit in the history of the country. 
  
  
• $800 - The amount most married couples are collecting through their paychecks this year thanks to the Recovery Act's Making Work Pay tax credit. Individuals collected $400 this year thanks to Making Work Pay.
  
  
• Up to $2,500 - The expanded amount eligible taxpayers can collect with the American Opportunity Credit to help cover college expanses thanks to the Recovery Act.
  
  
• Up to $8,000 - The amount new homebuyers can collect this year for purchasing their first home thanks to the Recovery Act's expansion of the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit. 
  
  
• Up to $1,500 - The amount homeowners can collect this year on improvements made to their homes like energy-efficient windows, doors and insulation thanks to Recovery Act tax credits.
  
  
• 65% - The amount by which the Recovery Act cut the cost of COBRA health insurance premiums for unemployed workers last year through an up-front tax credit.
  

Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/04/13/health-reform-and-recovery-act-unprecedented-tax-cuts-middle-class

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From the FBI

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Some examples of illegal license plates used by so-called sovereign citizens.

DOMESTIC TERRORISM The Sovereign Citizens Movement 04/13/10 Domestic terrorism—Americans attacking Americans because of U.S.-based extremist ideologies—comes in many forms in our post 9/11 world. To help educate the public, we've previously outlined two separate domestic terror threats— eco-terrorists/animal rights extremists  and lone offenders .

Today, we look at a third threat—the “sovereign citizens” extremist movement. Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or “sovereign” from the United States. As a result, they believe they don't have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement. This causes all kinds of problems—and crimes. For example, many sovereign citizens don't pay their taxes. They hold illegal courts that issue warrants for judges and police officers. They clog up the court system with frivolous lawsuits and liens against public officials to harass them. And they use fake money orders, personal checks, and the like at government agencies, banks, and businesses.

That's just the beginning. Not every action taken in the name of the sovereign citizen ideology is a crime, but the list of illegal actions committed by these groups, cells, and individuals is extensive (and puts them squarely on our radar). In addition to the above, sovereign citizens:

• Commit murder and physical assault;
  
  
• Threaten judges, law enforcement professionals, and government personnel;
  
  
• Impersonate police officers and diplomats;
  
  
• Use fake currency, passports, license plates, and driver's licenses; and
  
  
• Engineer various white-collar scams, including mortgage fraud and so-called “redemption” schemes .
  

Sovereign citizens are often confused with extremists from the militia movement. But while sovereign citizens sometimes use or buy illegal weapons, guns are secondary to their anti-government, anti-tax beliefs. On the other hand, guns and paramilitary training are paramount to militia groups.

During the past year, we've had a number of investigative successes involving sovereign citizens. A few recent cases:

• In Sacramento, two sovereign citizens were convicted of running a fraudulent insurance scheme. Operating outside state insurance regulatory guidelines, the men set up their own company and sold “lifetime memberships” to customers, promising to pay any accident claims against their “members.” The company collected millions of dollars, but paid out very few claims. More
  
  
• In Kansas City, three sovereign citizens were convicted of taking part in a conspiracy using phony diplomatic credentials. They charged customers between $450 and $2,000 for a diplomatic identification card, which would bestow upon the holder “sovereign” status—meaning they would enjoy diplomatic immunity from paying taxes and from being stopped or arrested by law enforcement. More
  
  
• In Las Vegas, four men affiliated with the sovereign citizen movement were arrested by the Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force on federal money laundering, tax evasion, and weapons charges. The investigation involved an undercover operation, with two of the suspects allegedly laundering more than a million dollars from what they believed was a bank fraud scheme. More
  

You can help. First, “be crime smart”—don't fall for the bogus claims and scams of sovereign citizens. And second, if you have information on any suspicious activities or crimes, please contact us .

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april10/sovereigncitizens_041310.html

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