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From Los Angeles Times

Unlicensed drivers: Impounding is not the answer

Chief Beck is right to curb the impounding of vehicles driven by unlicensed motorists. A better solution is to allow all immigrants, regardless of status, to apply for licenses.

April 29, 2011

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has adopted a common-sense approach to dealing with unlicensed drivers and the cars they drive. Under Beck's new rule, when officers at sobriety checkpoints stop unlicensed drivers, they can issue them tickets or, if they have no identification, arrest them. But police are no longer allowed to impound a car if a licensed driver or the registered and licensed owner is on hand or can pick up the car in a reasonable amount of time. This helps officers do their jobs while complying with a federal court ruling that set limits on when cars can be seized.

The LAPD's new rule doesn't give a free pass to drivers whose licenses have been revoked or who failed to get one in the first place. Rather, it applies the same rules to them that are applied to drunk drivers. In those cases, police aren't required to impound a vehicle as long as there is a licensed and sober individual available to drive it.

The change was made in part to ensure that sobriety checkpoints focused on nabbing drunk drivers. Beck said the old policy cast too wide a net and suggested that it disproportionately penalized undocumented immigrants, who are barred by law from getting driver's licenses. The new approach should also help prevent abuses like those uncovered in Bell, where police are accused of using impounds to help boost the city's revenues.

A 2005 federal court ruling said that police can't impound a car just because the driver is unlicensed. The California Highway Patrol and other police departments, including San Francisco's, have the same policy.

Yet Beck's new rule is opposed by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which alleged in a grievance filed this month that it violates state law and creates a liability issue. It warns that officers and the city could be sued for any damage or injury caused by an unlicensed driver who later continues to drive. The league argues that impounds discourage such drivers by making it expensive and inconvenient for them to recover a car.

Unlicensed drivers, including illegal immigrants, shouldn't be on the road. But impounding their cars is not the answer. A far better solution would be to enact legislation to allow all immigrants — without regard to their status — to apply for driver's licenses. This would ensure that illegal immigrants learn the rules, pass a driving test and obtain insurance. That, ultimately, would help protect everyone on the roads.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-impound-20110429,0,234768,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Predicting Tornadoes: It's Still Guessing Game

The cruelty of this particular April, in the number of tornadoes recorded, is without equal in the United States. The record for the month has been shattered, and preliminary assessments say that of the four biggest clusters ever recorded, two have occurred in the last three weeks.

What is happening here? With every passing day, it seems, more precise digital tools emerge to clarify the inner heart of a storm cell in rampage. And yet, for all that solid information, the natural world can still seem murky, unpredictable and downright scary when it roars into full-throated chaos.

Tornadoes in particular, researchers say, straddle the line between the known and the profoundly unknowable.

“There's a large crapshoot aspect,” said Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “A little quirky thing can set one off at one time, and another time not.”

Tornadoes need warm, moist air interacting with faster, cooler air. That much scientists know for sure.

“There's a lot we understand about tornadoes,” Dr. Trenberth said. “They're tied to thunderstorms, and also require something that will cause the rotation to occur, a wind shear.”

And all of these ingredients have been in abundant supply in the areas of the country that have been hit hardest this month than in any April since current counting methods began. Nevertheless, scientists can only guess when and where tornadoes will actually strike.

When technology can predict oncoming storm tracks and conditions with greater certainty than ever, and scientists assert with growing unanimity a human impact on climate, what is a natural act of God and what is more correctly the province of humans themselves? Where is the place of psychic shelter in an age when the lines between fate and human action are blurred?

The prevalence of hurricanes , droughts and floods has been linked in many climate models to the impact of a warming planet. Such a connection is more tentative when it comes to twisters.

“Tornadoes are tougher,” said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weather Underground, an Internet-based weather service.

Many climate models, for example, predict a weakening upper atmosphere jet stream over time on a warming planet, Dr. Masters said, which would presumably create less energy for tornado formation. But some of those same models also suggest wetter conditions in tornado country, which is the other key ingredient in storm formation.

At the same time, more people are also living in areas where tornadoes strike, across the broad band called Tornado Alley in the nation's midsection as well as in the South, so the number of observed and recorded tornadoes has steadily gone up.

The population of the South grew by 14.3 percent over the last decade, according to the Census Bureau , compared with 9.7 percent for the nation as a whole. Of those states hardest hit by tornadoes this year, some were among the fastest growing, notably Texas and North Carolina.

Much of the new construction took place on flat areas of flood plain, meteorologists say, where rains from storms in years past spread across the earth and either evaporated or were absorbed. The water now runs across pavement, seeking lower ground rendered more vulnerable to flood.

And to top that off that mix, the jet stream forces in April were among the strongest ever recorded, possibly because of La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. A La Niña pattern, which leads to cooler water conditions around the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, is associated with wetter and stormier conditions through the middle of the country as cooler air from Canada surges into warm moisture heading north — made warmer, many climate scientists say, by climate change .

And yet, since that crucial element of weather prediction is missing — when and where the next tornado hit might come — the question of trust and faith, if not fatalism, is easy to find. If scientists cannot be sure — or trusted, as doubters of climate change might say — then where should an ordinary person on the ground turn for solace or strength in the raging maw of a storm?

Perhaps, as the National Weather Service put it in an update on Thursday morning about Birmingham, Ala., there is only perseverance. “Many thoughts and prayers go out to those impacted,” the update said. “The weather never ends and we must continue.”

The weather often has a political aspect, and a monetary one as well, as anyone who has lived through a major snowstorm only to see streets unplowed can attest.

Tornadoes, too, have political and monetary impacts, but more than many other natural phenomena they invite us, in their unpredictability and fierceness, to contemplate the possibility of a hidden hand directing them in their path.

In March 1994, for example, a tornado hit the small town of Piedmont, Ala., destroying the Goshen United Methodist Church in the middle of Palm Sunday services, killing 19 people inside.

“Because it was a church, it brought up this issue: is it an act of God?” said Ted Steinberg, professor of history and law at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

It turned out to be more a result of human failing, said Mr. Steinberg, who was researching a book on natural disasters at the time.

“It was a relatively poor community and there were no sirens there, so people in that leveled church had no warning,” he said. “Things can seem like acts of God or wrath of nature when in fact the reality, at least sometimes, is a failure of political will.”

As a tornado bore down on Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Wednesday, the chief meteorologist at the CBS affiliate in Birmingham seemed ready to hold out faith and science with equal measure. “We're going to get through this! I promise you!” said the breathless forecaster, Mark Prater. “It's just got to pass.”

In a later interview, Mr. Prater said that reporting a live storm beyond his imaginings had changed him.

“There are some parts of nature you just can't defeat,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/us/29tornadoes.html

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Internet Lets a Criminal Past Catch Up Quicker

Convicted of robbing a video store in California in 1997, Ayanna Spikes decided to change the trajectory of her life. In 14 years, she has had no further brushes with the law.

The eight months she spent in prison, she said, were “the best thing that ever happened to me,” persuading her to pursue training in medical administration and complete coursework for a degree in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley . At 38, she is a far different person from the confused young woman who strayed into crime, she says.

But employers, initially impressed by her credentials, grow leery when they learn her history through criminal background checks. She has been turned down for more than a dozen jobs since finishing college in 2010.

The pool of Americans seeking jobs includes more people with criminal histories than ever before, a legacy in part of stiffer sentencing and increased enforcement for nonviolent crimes like drug offenses, criminal justice experts said. And each year, more than 700,000 people are released from state and federal prisons, a total that is expected to grow as states try to reduce the fiscal burden of their overcrowded penal institutions.

Almost 65 million Americans have some type of criminal record, either for an arrest or a conviction, according to a recent report by the National Employment Law Project, whose policy co-director, Maurice Emsellem, says that the figure is probably an underestimate.

Some, like Ms. Spikes, have left their criminal pasts far behind. Others have been convicted of minor offenses, or of crimes that appear to have little relevance to the jobs they are seeking.

Employers once had to physically search court records to uncover the background of people they were considering hiring. But the Internet and the proliferation of screening companies that perform background checks have made digging into a job applicant's history both easy and inexpensive for prospective employers.

In a 2010 survey by the Society for Human Resources Management, almost 90 percent of the companies surveyed, most of them large employers, said they conducted criminal background checks on some or all job candidates.

Advocates for workers say that the indiscriminate use of background checks by companies has made finding employment extremely difficult for millions of Americans.

“We're spending a tremendous amount of money incarcerating people and then creating a system where it's almost impossible for them to find gainful employment,” said Adam T. Klein, an employment lawyer with Outten & Golden in New York, a firm that has represented plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits against employers over criminal checks.

Many companies, advocates say, screen out anyone who has a hint of criminal activity in his or her background, in violation of government guidelines that demand that employers take into account the severity of an offense, the length of time that has passed and its relevance to the job in question.

In some cases, they note, people have been turned away because of arrests that never resulted in convictions.

“I understand the employers' response that, ‘We don't want murderers working for us,' ” Mr. Klein said. “What if you just have minor events, like arrests for drug use in college, speeding tickets, D.W.I.'s?”

Employers argue that they already use common sense when they evaluate a candidate's background and take steps to ensure that they are being fair.

“Advocacy groups are kind of saying that this is the day and age of the sign that says, ‘Convicts need not apply,' ” said Rod Fliegel , a lawyer at Littler Mendelson, an employment law firm. “But in my experience, that would be taking the exception and presenting it as the rule.”

Mr. Fliegel and other lawyers representing companies said that employers were caught in a bind; they can also be sued if they fail to screen an employee who later harms someone. Some type of jobs — in the securities industry, for example — require that candidates be free of convictions for certain crimes. And when applicants are abundant and jobs are scarce, some employers say that they should be able to pick and choose candidates who carry no legal baggage.

There is no federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with criminal records. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has set guidelines on how employers can use such records. Because African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities have higher rates of criminal convictions, a blanket policy that screens out anyone with a criminal history will discriminate against these groups, the commission says, and is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

The E.E.O.C. has been a plaintiff in several lawsuits over background checks, and the guidelines have led to a raft of lawsuits against companies under Title VII — at least seven are working their way through the courts. One, brought by the commission against Peoplemark, an employment agency, was dismissed because the commission was not able provide expert evidence to back up the discrimination claim.

At least three lawsuits brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act , which mandates that employers notify applicants rejected because of a consumer reporting agency's criminal background check, have been settled for the plaintiffs.

Defendants in lawsuits over criminal background checks have included transportation companies, a charter school , screening companies, a global consulting firm and the Census Bureau .

In New York, where state law regarding background checks is stricter than federal policies, the state attorney general's office has settled with Radio Shack , ChoicePoint and other companies after investigating them for violations.

Mr. Fliegel and some other lawyers who represent employers argue that Title VII is not an appropriate tool for ensuring fairness for people with criminal records.

“If you've read Title VII, it doesn't say anything about ex-criminals,” Mr. Fliegel said.

But advocates and lawyers for plaintiffs in the suits say that using of Title VII in regard to criminal background checks is well established. Still, many employers suspect that hiring a person with a criminal conviction is a gamble.

Until recently, the available statistics seemed to back up employers' suspicions: A third of those released from prison returned within three years, recidivism studies showed, and it was assumed that ex-offenders would always be more likely to commit crimes than people with no criminal convictions.

But several new studies by criminologists are beginning to turn that assumption on its head, providing a far more encouraging picture of actual risks posed to employers by those whose crimes lie well in the past. Called “redemption research,” the studies find that the risk that an ex-offender will be re-arrested decreases substantially over time, eventually becoming indistinguishable from that of someone of the same age with no record.

For first-time offenders, this point of “redemption” is reached 7 to 10 years after a conviction. For older first offenders, it comes significantly earlier. For some crimes and for offenders with multiple prior convictions, redemption takes considerably longer.

The studies have been cited in some lawsuits over criminal background checks. Taken collectively, they indicate that “it is no longer accurate to say that individuals with criminal records are always a higher risk than individuals without a criminal record,” said Shawn Bushway, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, one of several researchers who have conducted redemption studies.

Ms. Spikes, who is still searching for a job, said she hoped she would eventually find an employer who could overlook her background.

“I've been told that I'm the kind of person that can pick myself up, dust myself off and give it a go again,” she said. “What's most important to me is that the story has somewhat of a happy ending.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/us/29records.html?pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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Online videos show fistfight between police officer, restaurant patron

Atlanta (CNN) -- Police officials in Atlanta are investigating an incident that started with shouting at a pancake restaurant and ended with a fistfight between a patron and an off-duty officer.

Videos of the altercation posted online show a woman hitting the officer, who responds by slugging her in the face.

The incident occurred early Saturday morning, according to an Atlanta police report. One video posted on YouTube had received more than 100,000 hits by Thursday.

"He literally attacked her," witness Roberta Caban told CNN affiliate WSB.

But a police report released Thursday had a different take on the incident.

Officer J. Vidal said he punched the woman after she punched him in the face. He also said the woman "used vulgar language," "continued acting in a boisterous manner" and "had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath."

Atlanta police said the officer has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation.

"Use of force by police officers is a matter the department takes seriously, and the...investigation will determine if the officer acted within established guidelines," Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said in a statement.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/28/georgia.police.punching/

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Red Cross: How to help Alabama tornado victims

While tornadoes and strong storms battered the South and the Midwest Tuesday and Wednesday, none were as catastrophic as the mile-wide behemoth that steamrolled through Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Wednesday.

Relief efforts are underway and Red Cross volunteers are already on the ground there. Do you want to help?

The American Red Cross is asking the community to help the Alabama Red Cross and other Red Cross chapters by making financial contributions.

Go to the Red Cross website or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 or call 1-800-RED-CROSS .

You can also help by donating blood right where you live. Find a local blood donation center where you live

http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/187571/3/Red-Cross-How-to-help-Alabama-tornado-victims

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Call these numbers to report people missing in Pratt City

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper says a couple of phone lines are now open to call in reports of missing people in Pratt City.

Call 205-787-1487 or 205-787-1488 to report anyone missing from the Pratt City area.

Please give them the missing person's full name and last known address.

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/14536694/call-these-numbers-to-report-people-missing-in-pratt-city

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From the White House

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President Obama Announces New Members of his National Security Team

As the President announced several new members of his national security team this afternoon, he took a moment to speak to those families in Alabama and throughout the South who are suffering as a result of the devastating storms that just passed through:

I want to begin by saying a few words about the devastating storms that have ripped through the southeastern United States. The loss of life has been heartbreaking, especially in Alabama. In a matter of hours, these deadly tornadoes, some of the worst that we've seen in decades, took mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, even entire communities. Others are injured and some are still missing, and in many places the damage to homes and businesses is nothing short of catastrophic.

We can't control when or where a terrible storm may strike, but we can control how we respond to it. And I want every American who has been affected by this disaster to know that the federal government will do everything we can to help you recover. And we will stand with you as you rebuild.

He described some of the federal response so far in coordination with the region's governors, including declaring a state of emergency in Alabama and dispatching Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate to the state, where the President himself will be tomorrow as well. He then went on to discuss the context in which these new appointments are being made.

Still, we confront urgent challenges. In Iraq we're working to bring the rest of our troops home as Iraqis secure their democracy. In Afghanistan we're moving into a new phase, transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces, starting to reduce American forces this summer, and building a long-term partnership with the Afghan people.

As people across the Middle East and North Africa seek to determine their own destiny, we must ensure that America stands with those who seek their universal rights, and that includes continuing to support the international effort to protect the Libyan people. And here at home, as we make the hard decisions that are needed to reduce America's debt, we cannot compromise our ability to defend our nation or our interests around the world.

The President began with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will be stepping down at the end of June:

Because he challenged conventional thinking, our troops have the lifesaving equipment they need, and our military is better prepared for today's wars. And because he courageously cut unnecessary spending, we'll save hundreds of billions of dollars that can be invested in the 21st-century military that our troops deserve. I am confident Bob Gates will be remembered as one of the finest Defense Secretaries in American history.

On Leon Panetta, who will take Gates' place as Secretary of Defense:

Leon appreciates the struggles and sacrifices of our troops and military families because he served in the Army himself, and because he and his wife Sylvia are proud parents of a son who served in Afghanistan. And just as Leon earned the trust and respect of our intelligence professionals at the CIA -- by listening to them and fighting fiercely on their behalf -- I know he'll do the same for our armed forces and their families.

And on General David Petraeus, who will in turn take over at the CIA:

And even as he and the CIA confront a full range of threats, David's extraordinary knowledge of the Middle East and Afghanistan uniquely positions him to lead the agency in its effort to defeat al Qaeda.

In short, just as General Petraeus changed the way that our military fights and wins wars in the 21st century, I have no doubt that Director Petraeus will guide our intelligence professionals as they continue to adapt and innovate in an ever changing world.

He also announced a new civilian military team for America's efforts in Afghanistan, with Lieutenant General John Allen succeeding General Petraeus and Ryan Crocker taking over Karl Eikenberry's post as Ambassador to the country – the President had strong words of praise for each of them. After each of the new appointees had a chance to speak briefly, the President closed by thanking the teams that have worked tirelessly in each place, and the families that have stood by them.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/04/28/president-obama-announces-new-members-his-national-security-team

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Administration Officials Join Millions of Americans in Public Earthquake Drill

Great Central U.S. ShakeOut Drill Serves as Important Preparedness Exercise for Earthquakes and other Hazards

April 28, 2011

ST. LOUIS–U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today joined leaders from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), state and local officials, and more than three million Americans across the central United States to participate in the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut—the largest-ever, multi-state earthquake drill to be held in the United States, and the first major drill to take place along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which was the site of one of the worst earthquakes in U.S. history nearly 200 years ago.

“The devastating storms and tornadoes that have impacted our nation this week are a vivid reminder that disasters of all kinds can strike at any time, and it is vital that all members of our nation's emergency management team—including the American public—are prepared.” said Secretary Napolitano. “The Great Central U.S. Shakeout exercise will help millions of Americans know how to protect themselves in the event of an earthquake and strengthen the resiliency of communities across the central United States.”

“The safety of our nation's children is everyone's responsibility," said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “Community leaders, elected officials and educators need to work together to make sure their schools and communities are prepared to respond to earthquakes and other natural disasters.”

Secretaries Napolitano and Duncan joined Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to participate in this morning's drill with school officials and students at Carnahan High School of the Future in St. Louis. In total, 2,644 K-12 schools and 117 colleges participated in the ShakeOut, along with businesses, local, state and federal government agencies, child care centers, and many other organizations. Ten states participated in today's drill, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee; Indiana conducted their drill last Tuesday, April 19, 2011.

Leading FEMA officials also traveled to participating states today to join ShakeOut drills, with FEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino participating in a ShakeOut event at Milford Elementary School in Georgia, and FEMA Deputy Administrator for Protection and National Preparedness Tim Manning joining students for a ShakeOut drill at Jones Elementary School in Oklahoma.

While in St. Louis, Secretary Napolitano and Secretary Duncan expressed their condolences for the tragic loss of life and suffering caused by severe storms and tornadoes in Missouri and throughout the Southeast region, and stressed the important role that individuals play in building a national culture of readiness and resilience—encouraging Americans to learn what they can do to help their families, businesses and communities be prepared and stay safe in any emergency.

The ShakeOut was organized to help individuals and organizations be better prepared for major earthquakes, and to raise public awareness of the "Drop, Cover, Hold On" method of protecting ourselves during an earthquake. To learn more about the ShakeOut, visit: http://www.shakeout.org/centralus/ . To learn more about how you can prepare for earthquakes and other emergencies, visit www.ready.gov

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1304016665634.shtm

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