| Dublin police to ride three-wheeled scooter
DUBLIN Police will soon be patrolling the city's busiest shopping center on a three-wheeled, clean-energy scooter. The T3 scooter, which has a top speed of 25 mph, looks like a beefier version of a Segway. It runs on batteries that need recharging every 30 miles. The police department now uses patrol cars and bicycles to navigate the shopping center on Hacienda Drive and Dublin Boulevard. The scooter, which was donated by center businesses, will give officers a good option, said Dublin police Lt. Glenn Moon. Patrol cars have more visibility, a good deterrent to bad behavior, but they are harder to use in crowded areas, Moon said, while bikes can be used when officers don't necessarily want to be seen. The motorized scooter is the best of both worlds, he said. "It has the (visible) deterrent of a patrol car, but somewhat of the stealth" of a bike, Moon said.
IDB approves US$176.7 million for urban transportation program for ...
The Inter-American Development Bank today approved a US$176.7 million loan to Brazil for an urban transportation program for its Federal District, where around 2.8 million commutes are made each day. “This initiative will improve the mobility and accessibility for the population of the district, particularly its low-income segments, by further integrating its communities through financing of a modern Bus Rapid Transit System," said IDB team leader Rosana Brandao. “This will help to improve the circulation and safety of motorized and non-motorized forms of transportation." The program will invest in road and urban infrastructure, including bus transfer stations, roadway and pedestrian safety, the construction of ramps at crosswalks, sidewalks and pedestrian walkways for persons with physical disabilities, the modernization of the traffic light system, bicycle paths or lanes, and the strengthening of institutional and management capacity in the area of transportation.
Carnegie man guilty of killing roommate
A jury convicted a Carnegie man today of fatally stabbing his roommate and then beheading, dismembering and eviscerating him and concealing the body in a shallow grave. James Baldwin Jr., 24, presented evidence at trial that he was mentally ill when he attacked Brendon Glen-David Martin, 19, on Jan. 25, 2006. He showed no emotion when the jury foreman announced the panel of seven men and five women had found him guilty of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, meaning they'd ruled against his insanity defense. The victim's parents said the family has been torn apart by the tragedy. His father, Craig Martin, explained he had attempted suicide five times since Brendon died, and had been assigned a service dog to monitor his mood swings. The victim's mother, Sarah Memel, has suffered a heart attack and other health ailments which she said were related to the trauma.
Our view: Topsfield should get on rail-trail bandwagon
Wonder whether those who proposed laying down the first street grids had to deal with the same fears that arise anytime someone proposes turning an abandoned rail line into a bike trail? Probably not, or else we'd all still be walking everywhere. Topsfield is the latest focal point in the debate over rail trails. Creating such pathways makes sense for several reasons — encouraging people to ride their bicycles rather than get in their car whenever they need to get someplace, is good for the environment; providing people with a place to ride, run or walk is good for their health. Yet inevitably the cry goes out that such trails will attract hooligans and predators. Such protests usually come from those whose homes abut the abandoned rights-of-way. They certainly wouldn't want trains running along those old tracks again, but they'd prefer they not be used for any other purpose either.
Digital picture frames may hold computer virus
At this time we are not issuing a product recall," the spokesperson said. "Because not every frame was affected and customers load and share files to these frames in many different ways, we're providing one-on-one support to make sure that each customer impacted can access the solution that best meets their needs. Customers should call the Insignia customer care line at 1-877-467-4289. An Insignia representative will be available to answer questions and determine what actions are necessary to ensure that the customer's digital picture frame and computer are clean and fully functional." For information on the recall, visit the Insignia Web site. .
More Insurer Trials Likely
White collar criminal cases of this kind are very difficult to get your hands around as a prosecutor," said Rueckert, who wasn't involved in the General Re/AIG case. "They're very difficult and time-consuming to investigate" and tend to involve reams of documents, including e-mails, he added.
Prosecutors in the General Re/AIG case had "inflammatory informal communications" in taped phone calls and e-mails, in which people tend to feel freer and more informal than in a regular letter, Rueckert said. "It comes back to be particularly harmful to them, particularly in a trial where it is presented as evidence."
Prosecutors aren't saying whether they expect to seek more indictments in the General Re/AIG case.
"Our investigation is continuing," said Steven A.
Pay heed to risks of all-terrain vehicles
Toward the end of a Journal Star story on workplace safety last week, an expert pointed out that all-terrain vehicles are involved in a significant number of farming-related fatalities in Nebraska.Six people were killed last year, and the previous year, in rural accidents involving the popular off-road vehicles.Similar references to ATVs show up in other stories involving accident statistics. Officials pointed out last year that motor vehicle crashes are the third leading cause of death for children in Nebraska. One out of every eight of the children killed in vehicle crashes in 2005 was involved in an ATV accident. .
Reviews of all the latest DVD releases
Investigative reporter Rowena Price (Halle Berry) goes undercover in cyberspace to track down her mate's killer. Her on-line target is top advertising executive Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) - a man she's also trying to trap by getting a job, under a different alias, as a temp in his empire. Murky stuff which gets murkier by the minute as the two worlds - real and cyber - threaten to collide. Just who is Rowena talking to online? Is someone else out there? It's complicated stuff which takes a fair amount of unravelling, owing its origins to Rowena's own troubled childhood. But it's more than enough to hold your attention for a reasonably entertaining couple of hours of shadow-boxing and second-guessing - an effective thriller with twists ever more twisted as Rowena seems increasingly ensnared in a web of her own making.
Adjusting to a land their people once fled
He used to go to her house to gamble with her father and uncles. After a few months of flirting, he had his parents in the United States call her parents in Phnom Penh to ask for her hand. "I know the traditions," Bun said. "They accepted me." A neighbor asked Oeur Chomnan's mother why on earth she would let her daughter marry such a man. "I told my mom, 'Ignore them. Nobody is perfect,' " Oeur Chomnan said through a translator. She likes that Bun is not like other Khmer men. "He meets a rich and powerful guy, he never bows down," she said. "He doesn't care. I like that. I don't like a coward." Indeed, Bun's and Mel's clash with the country's Buddhist ethos could not have been more severe. For Bill Herod, an American minister who has been working with the returnees since the first group arrived, Bun's Yamaha dirt bike is a symbol of their unwillingness to adapt to Cambodian society.
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