UAB Hunger awareness month

 HUNGER AWARENESS MONTH!!!

November is Hunger Awareness Month at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and with Thanksgiving right around the corner your support is needed more than ever! Many of Birmingham’s food banks are running on empty and need our help to ensure that everyone in Birmingham has access to a warm meal this Thanksgiving. In attempt to collect as many canned goods as possible, UAB is participating in a schoolwide collection competition with Southern Miss November 1- 20. Drop boxes to collect the canned goods will be located in the HUC in room 440 and throughout campus, and a number sporting events will be accepting canned goods in lieu of the admission cost– a list of these events is located below.

In addition to the canned food competition with Southern Miss, UAB’s Leadership and Service Council is also hosting a Hunger Banquet on Nov. 13 at 7:00 P.M. in the Great Hall. This event will grant those involved the opportunity to gain awareness and a better understanding of the global problems of hunger and poverty. Students and faculty who are interested in attending this eye-opening event should RSVP at HUC 440.

Let’s get out there and show our Blazer spirit in order to make this year’s Hunger Awareness Month a greater success than ever!

Participating Campus Events to Benefit Hunger Awareness Month

10/31/2008	Alpha Lambda Delta Canned Food Drive	Trick or Treat for Cans
11/1/2008	Canned Food Competition Kick-off	First day to start collecting and counting cans
11/2/2008	UAB Volleyball vs. Marshall	Cans collected at game for free admission
11/8/2008	UAB Women’s Basketball vs. Montevallo	Cans collected at game for free admission (plus free admission to 11/14 WBB game)
Week of 11/10	Conference USA (SAAC) Canned Food Drive	Week to count Conference USA canned food drive competition (will still count for Southern Miss competition)
11/12/2008	Cans Across America	Sodexo’s Cans Across America (wills till count for Southern Miss competition and for Conference USA competition)
11/13/2008	Hunger Banquet	130 students can sign up to attend – 7 p.m. in the Great Hall
11/20/2008	Canned Food Competition Ends	Last day to count cans in Southern Miss competition
11/22/2008	UAB Football vs. Eastern Carolina	Collection at game
12/17/2008	UAB Men’s Basketball vs. Jacksonville State	Cans collected at game (5 cans gets you a $5 ticket)

 

INVESTIGATION-Palin pipeline terms curbed bids

Justin Pritchard and Garance Burke

Associated Press Writers

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ Gov. Sarah Palin’s signature accomplishment _ a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 _ emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.

 

Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.

 

“We’re building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets,” Palin said during the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate.

 

Despite Palin’s boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

 

And contrary to the ballyhoo, there’s no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

 

In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:

 

_Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group _ the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.

 

_Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

 

_The leader of Palin’s pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman’s former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada’s lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin’s pipeline team.

 

_Under a different set of rules four years earlier, TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million.

 

“Governor Palin held firmly to her fundamental belief that Alaska could best serve Alaskans and the nation’s interests by pursuing a competitive approach to building a natural gas pipeline,” said McCain-Palin spokesman Taylor Griffin. “There was an open and transparent process that subjected the decision to extensive public scrutiny and due diligence.”

 

___

 

ONLY ONE VIABLE BIDDER

 

There were never more than a few players that could execute such a complex undertaking _ at least a million tons of steel stretching across some of Earth’s most hostile and remote terrain.

 

TransCanada estimates it will cost $26 billion; Palin’s consultants estimate nearly $40 billion.

 

The pipeline would run from Alaska’s North Slope to Alberta in Canada; secondary supply lines would take the gas to various points in the United States and Canada. The pipeline would carry 4.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily, about 8 percent of the present U.S. market.

 

Building such a pipeline had been a dream for decades. The rising cost and demand for energy injected new urgency into the proposal.

 

So too did the depletion of Alaska’s long-reliable reserves of oil, which are trapped in the same Arctic Circle reservoirs as clean-burning natural gas. Not only does that oil provide jobs, it pays for an annual dividend check to nearly every Alaska resident. This year’s payment was $2,069, 25 percent higher than 2007 _ plus a $1,200 bonus rebate to help offset higher energy costs.

 

Palin was elected as governor two years ago in part because of her populist appeal. Promising “New Energy for Alaska,” she vowed to take on Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and BP, the multinational energy companies that long dominated the state’s biggest industry.

 

Oil interests were particularly unpopular at that moment: Federal agents had recently raided the offices of six lawmakers in a Justice Department investigation into whether an Alaska oil services company paid bribes in exchange for promoting a new taxing formula that would ultimately further the multinationals’ pipeline plans.

 

Palin ousted fellow Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski, who pushed a pipeline deal he negotiated in secret with the “Big Three” energy companies. That deal went nowhere.

 

With Alaskans eager for progress and sour on Big Oil, Palin tackled the pipeline issue with gusto, meeting with representatives from all sides and assembling her own team of experts to draw up terms.

 

Palin invited bidders to submit applications and offered the multimillion-dollar subsidy. Members of Palin’s team say that without the incentive, it might not have received any bids for the risky undertaking.

 

___

 

TIES THAT BIND

 

Palin’s team was led by Marty Rutherford, a widely respected energy specialist who entered the upper levels of state government nearly 20 years ago. Rutherford solidified her status when, in 2005, she joined an exodus of Department of Natural Resources staff who felt Murkowski was selling out to the oil giants.

 

What the Palin administration didn’t tell legislators _ and neglected to mention in its announcement of Rutherford’s appointment _ was that in 2003, Rutherford left public service and worked for 10 months at the Anchorage-based Jade North lobbying firm. There she did $40,200 worth of work for Foothills Pipe Lines Alaska, Inc., a subsidiary of TransCanada.

 

Foothills Pipe Lines Alaska Inc. paid Rutherford for expertise on topics including state legislation and funding related to gas commercialization, according to her 2003 lobbyist registration statement.

 

Palin has said she wasn’t bothered by that past work because it had occurred several years before. But Rutherford wouldn’t have passed her new boss’ own standards: Under ethics reforms the governor pushed through, Rutherford would have had to wait a year to jump from government service to a lobbying firm.

 

Rutherford also has downplayed her work for Foothills.

 

“I did a couple of projects for them, small projects,” she told a state Senate committee examining the TransCanada bid earlier this year. While a partner, Rutherford said, she “realized that my heart was not in the private sector, it was in the public sector, and I sold out for the same amount of money I bought in for.”

 

At one point, Palin’s pipeline team debated Rutherford’s role, but concluded there was no problem.

 

“We were looking at it in terms of is this an actual conflict or is there the appearance of impropriety of Marty’s participation,” said Pat Galvin, the commissioner of the Revenue Department and another top team member. “It was determined that there was none, and so we moved forward.”

 

Patricia Bielawski, Rutherford’s former partner at Jade North, spent last summer in Juneau, the state capital, serving as TransCanada’s lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal. While the Legislature debated _ and ultimately approved _ the TransCanada deal, Bielawski met with lawmakers and sat in on the public proceedings, several legislators said.

 

Bielawski told AP earlier this month that Rutherford’s employment at her firm was irrelevant. She said Rutherford never directly lobbied the Legislature for Foothills, and that Rutherford broke no rules based on 2003 state ethics guidelines.

 

“There’s no statutory or regulatory prohibition that extends to things that many years ago,” Bielawski said. “So there’s no issue.”

 

But others say it’s a legitimate question.

 

“I’m not saying someone’s getting paid off for a sweetheart contract, but it’s very hard to ignore that this is your former partner and your former client standing there before you,” said Republican Sen. Lyda Green, a Palin critic who in August was among the handful of lawmakers who voted against awarding TransCanada the license. “Every time it was mentioned to the governor or to the commission, it was like, ‘How could you question such a wonderful person?”’

 

Tony Palmer, the TransCanada vice president who leads the company’s Alaska gas pipeline effort, rejects the suggestion that his company benefited.

 

“We have gained clearly no advantage from anything that Ms. Rutherford did for Foothills some five years ago on a very much unrelated topic,” he said.

 

Rutherford did not respond to interview requests made directly to her and through the governor’s office. But Griffin, the spokesman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said Rutherford “had no decision-making role or authority,” and contended that such matters were handled by others on the Palin pipeline team.

 

TransCanada also had a connection to the team hired by the Palin administration to analyze the bid. Patrick Anderson, a former TransCanada executive, served as an outside consultant and ultimately helped the state conclude that TransCanada’s technical solution for shipping gas through freezing temperatures would work.

 

___

 

NARROW SET OF RULES

 

In January 2007, Palin spoke the first of at least two times to Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bush administration’s point person on energy issues, according to calendars obtained by the AP through a public records request. Cheney’s staff pressed the Palin administration to draw in the energy companies, said current and former state officials involved in those discussions.

 

As the governor’s approach unfolded in the spring of 2007, there were signs it was skewed in a different direction.

 

Palin said she saw problems if the firms that own the gas also owned the pipeline. They could manipulate the market or charge prohibitive fees to smaller exploration firms, discouraging competition.

 

Several important requirements in the legislation were unpalatable to the big oil companies. In the talks under Murkowski, the firms asked that the rates for the gas production tax and royalties be fixed for 45 years; Palin refused to consider setting rates for that long.

 

Under the Palin process, the pipeline firms had an advantage because they simply pass along taxes paid by oil and gas producers.

 

Oil company officials warned lawmakers they wouldn’t participate under those terms. Still, in a near unanimous vote, the Legislature passed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in May 2007, generally as written by Palin’s pipeline team.

 

Once the state issued its request for proposals on July 2, 2007, the level of communication between the government and potential bidders was supposed to decrease drastically, so that no one would be accused of gaining unfair advantage. State lawyers advised public officials to keep their distance, and bidders were told to submit questions on a Web site where answers could be seen by all.

 

Several of the state’s gas line team members interviewed by AP said they had no contact with possible bidders. But Palin had conversations with executives at most of the major potential bidders during that period, according to her calendars.

 

While the calendars don’t detail what was discussed, the documents indicate that the pipeline was the subject of the discussions, or that the conversations occurred immediately after a briefing with Palin’s pipeline team.

 

When she was in Michigan for a National Governors Association summit in late July 2007, Palin and her team met executives from Williams Co., a pipeline builder that ended up not bidding.

 

“The purpose of the meeting was to more fully understand the details of the project, which we were still evaluating at the time,” company spokeswoman Julie Gentz said in a statement.

 

TransCanada’s Palmer described communication with state officials as nonexistent.

 

According to the governor’s official schedule, however, Palin called TransCanada President and CEO Hal Kvisle on Aug. 8, 2007. Asked about that call, Palmer said it was to clarify the bidding process.

 

Griffin said that in keeping with legal guidance, Palin never spoke in any of the meetings about the competitive bidding process.

 

By the Nov. 30 submission deadline, there were five applications. But the state disqualified four for failing to satisfy the bill’s requirements.

 

That left TransCanada.

 

The Canadian giant had been pursuing an Alaska pipeline since at least 2004, when the company negotiated a deal with Rutherford that the state ended up shelving. While the details remain confidential, six people familiar with the terms told the AP that TransCanada was willing to do the work then without the large state subsidy.

 

In testimony this July before the state Senate, Rutherford herself confirmed such a willingness, but described the 2004 deal as presenting a different set of trade-offs. A state lawyer warned her not to say more, lest she violate a confidentiality agreement.

 

Others who reviewed the deal think much of the $500 million will be wasted money.

 

“Most definitely TransCanada got a sweetheart deal this time,” said Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, who voted against the TransCanada license. “Where else could you get a $500 million reimbursement when you don’t even have the financing to build the pipeline?”

 

 

 

 

 

Two Wisconsin papers endorse Obama

Excerpts from the latest Wisconsin newspaper endorsements of the presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

 

___

 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an editorial set for publication on Oct. 26:

 

The economy teeters. The country is waging two foreign wars. A third conflict – the “war” on terror – tests whether the nation will keep its soul.

 

A health care morass threatens pocketbooks and lives. Whether a U.S. Supreme Court tilt becomes more pronounced hangs in the balance. Problems abound for any incoming president, including regaining U.S. stature abroad.

 

The Bush administration has bumbled from crisis to crisis for nearly eight years, competence gone AWOL. The nation needs resuscitating change like a new baby needs that first breath of air.

 

Two would-be successors pledge it. But Barack Obama is more believable. We recommend him to be the 44th president of the United States.

 

Obama’s vision and potential to be that change agent trump his relative lack of experience, though the experience he possesses is valuable. The maturity and calm demeanor he has exhibited these past two years in the public spotlight and earlier, speak to able, careful, inclusive leadership. And he is simply the better of the two on the issues.

 

Who is the real Obama? …

 

Obama is the candidate who recognized early the folly of invading Iraq and, earlier than McCain, spoke out because Afghanistan was spinning out of control.

 

McCain, an early supporter of the invasion, was later a critic of how the war was being waged, supporting a surge that Obama opposed. But McCain now fails to recognize that Americans want something different than his open-ended approach. …

 

And he also has squandered his claim to one of his supposed assets – his experience, as a military man and member of Congress for 26 years. Simply, he has displayed deplorable judgment in key instances that call into question the value of his overall judgment.

 

In Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 72-year-old candidate with a history of melanoma picked a woefully unqualified running mate – as she continues to prove day after day. And both he and she have conducted a campaign that has careened from inept to offensive.

 

In Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Obama picked a vice president with foreign policy credentials to serve in the event of tragedy, not just a running mate to score political points.

 

The non-issue of William Ayers has become a centerpiece of McCain’s campaign while Palin talks as if the only real Americans live in red-state small towns (something she was forced to apologize for) and falsely smears Obama for “palling around with terrorists.” …

 

It is Obama, in his first term as a U.S. senator, who offers the freshest face of change. He, more than McCain, offers the best chance for instilling in Americans a new sense of unity and purpose and restoring the image abroad of an America as worthy as its ideals.

 

___

 

The Chippewa Herald in an editorial for Oct. 26:

 

Every four years we hear how the presidential election is pivotal, one of the most important in history. By now the refrain should be too old to garner much attention.

 

Only this time, there is a very real sense in America that this election is indeed historic and pivotal. Americans feel the need for new leadership, a renewal of our national spirit, and a desperate need to pull together in tough times.

 

This election is about such needs, not individual planks in a campaign platform. That’s why the Herald endorses Barack Obama for president. …

 

America needs to move away from the Bush model of foreign policy marked by confrontation and aggressive use of American military power and toward a policy based on diplomacy backed by strength. America needs a government that takes seriously its role of “referee” in the free market, protecting against abuses and exploitation while at the same time not stifling entrepreneurial spirit.

 

Barack Obama has the proper vision of America’s role in the world and the role of its government at home to establish sensible policies in these areas.

 

America had widespread sympathy and support around the world after the 9-11 attacks. That support has evaporated due to the policies it has pursued. Obama would be in a position to restore America’s credibility among its allies and friends.

 

Restoring health to the nation’s economy will be even more difficult considering the mess that the nation finds itself in at this point. It will likely require patience, sacrifice and a positive attitude from the American people. That will require inspirational leadership from the nation’s president, and there is every reason to believe that is Obama’s greatest strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stevens recieved $2.7 million for road

 Garance Burke and Adam Goldman

Associated Press Writers

 

GIRDWOOD, Alaska (AP) _ Just 0.7 miles long, Crow Creek Road isn’t a road to nowhere. It runs straight to the Double Musky, a Cajun bistro owned by a Bob Persons, a close friend of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

 

It cost taxpayers $2.7 million to widen and pave that road, and Alaska had higher priorities. But an Associated Press examination of government e-mails and interviews with state transportation officials found that Stevens moved the project to the front of the line.

 

Persons, owner of the popular watering hole where the Republican senator frequently dines, testified as a defense witness this month in Washington, D.C., where Stevens is on trial for corruption.

 

“This is a classic pork barrel project that just confirms everyone’s fears,” said David Williams, a vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “It’s like ‘Hey, if you’re my buddy, I’ll just get you a few million dollars and make you a road to your restaurant.”’

 

Details of the Crow Creek deal emerged as Stevens awaits a verdict in his trial. He is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about gifts, including more than $250,000 in home improvements to his cabin, not far from the Double Musky.

 

Trial testimony indicated that Stevens granted Persons power of attorney to guide the home renovation. Among the many presents Stevens is charged with concealing is a nearly $2,700 massage chair from Persons. Stevens says the chair was a loan. But his explanation of why he kept it in his house for seven years led to one of the more awkward exchanges of his testimony.

 

Telephone messages left at Persons’ home and at the restaurant were not immediately returned. Stevens’ spokesman did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

 

Stevens made the road part of a congressional earmark. In 2002, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Stevens inserted last-minute language in a transportation bill to set aside $10 million for “Girdwood: Road Improvements.” He then ensured that his intentions were carried out.

 

Girdwood officials had planned to cut the Crow Creek Road project and fix residential streets with the money instead, according to the e-mails. They had other priorities such as fixing trails and easing traffic.

 

That was unacceptable to Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator. Stevens, in office since 1968, has brought home billions in projects to his state.

 

In a June 2003 e-mail, a Stevens office worker, Lisa Sutherland, warned the director of Alaska’s state office in Washington, D.C., that Stevens lived on a street that the local government wanted to repair with the money. The senator would “be criticized for fixing up his own street. Remember he lives there. The best person to talk to to get guidance is Bob Persons.”

 

Persons was ready to help.

 

At Sutherland’s suggestion, a state transportation official, David Post, called Persons to clarify the senator’s intent. Persons said the senator wanted the money to pave Crow Creek Road, a spruce-lined path dotted with a few commercial businesses.

 

Post told the AP he found it unusual to get direction on a publicly funded project from someone outside government. “It struck me as odd, yes,” said Post, a regional transportation planning manager.

 

In an e-mail from June 24, 2003, the department’s chief of planning for the central region wrote a colleague about Post’s conversation with Persons.

 

“Spoke with Bob Persons this morning as Lisa suggested and his understanding from the Senator was that Crow Creek Rd. is number 1 priority because it is in such bad shape,” reads the e-mail from John Tolley. “This is ’somewhat’ consistent with the board of supervisors’ priorities, however they have some other improvements in their top 7 priorities.”

 

In fact, the paving of Crow Creek Road was No. 6.

 

Stevens and Persons have known each other for 25 years. Persons and his wife, Deanna, have contributed nearly $7,000 to Stevens’ campaigns over the past decade.

 

The restaurant, which has been featured on the Food Network’s “Best Of” series, is less than two miles from Stevens’ cabin, near the Mount Alyeska ski resort. Stevens wrote an introduction for Person’s cookbook, praising his “honestly good meals.”

 

In 2000, when the senator needed to renovate his cabin, he asked Persons for help. Prosecutors say Persons knew Stevens was not paying the full cost and that he helped cover up who was _ an Alaska oil services company.

 

Persons’ son Justin, who co-owns the Musky, told the AP his father voiced concern about the paving project when crews took out trees along their property line this year.

 

Justin Persons said his father did not support the paving because the family long had enjoyed the “novelty of driving down a bumpy dirt road to a great restaurant.”

 

But Post said Persons never objected to it when he called in 2003.

 

The restaurateur submitted one comment at a public meeting about the road project in 2004, urging authorities to “keep it narrow and add speed bumps w/ gravel shoulders for walkers & runners.”

 

The repaving originally was intended to stretch 3.5 miles, but had to be scaled back in part due to the cost of replacing a bridge farther along Crow Creek Road, said Jennifer Witt, a transportation department chief.

 

Today, the asphalt ends just past the Double Musky. Witt said in an interview it’s a coincidence.

 

But had Stevens done a favor for his friend?

 

“I could see where it appears that way,” said Witt.

 

 

Arrest made in the killings of actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother

Robert Mitchum, Angela Rozas and Jeremy Gorner
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
CHICAGO _ Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson considered her mother’s Chicago home a haven, a place where she could find respite from Hollywood’s occasionally brutal and superficial ways.
That South Side sanctuary, however, was violently shattered Friday when her mother and brother were gunned down during a domestic disturbance, law-enforcement officials said. The actress’ 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, remained missing late Friday night. A suspect in the killings was believed to have abducted the boy, but when the man was arrested Friday night, the boy was not with him.
“I just can’t fathom something like this happening,” said Ethel Grisom, a longtime family friend. “The entire family were just real friendly people who enjoyed being together. This is going to be devastating for them.”
At about 3 p.m., a relative found Darnell Donerson, 57, fatally shot in her living room, law enforcement officials said. The family member notified authorities, who then found Jason Hudson, 29, dead in a bedroom.
Neighbors reported hearing gunshots about 9 a.m. There were no signs of forced entry to the home.
Donerson had been shot in the head, while Jason Hudson suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Police said at least one of the victims had suffered defensive wounds.
A law-enforcement source said police had a suspect in custody but still had not located the boy. King is described as 4-foot-11 and weighing 130 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair and was last seen wearing a striped polo shirt and khaki pants.
The actress’ sister, Julia, reported the boy missing from the home Friday afternoon, a police source said. Family friends said the boy was her son, but police did not confirm that. Authorities had issued an Amber Alert for the suspect and the boy earlier in the day.
The Tribune is not naming the suspect because he has not been charged. Public records list one of his previous addresses as the Donerson’s home in the 7000 block of South Yale Avenue in Chicago.
Cook County court records show the suspect pleaded guilty in 1999 to attempted murder and vehicular hijacking. He also was convicted in a 1998 case of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, records show.
The man was released from the Illinois River Correctional Center in Downstate Canton in May 2006 after serving seven years in prison. He is still on probation, state records show.

 On Friday afternoon, scores of onlookers flocked to the street corner nearest to the Hudson home. They pressed up against yellow police tape for a glimpse of the white house three doors down. Evidence technicians and police officers came and went, and the house’s lights stayed on as the sky grew darker and rain squalls scattered the dwindling onlookers.
Many neighbors’ thoughts turned to Jennifer Hudson, who returned home to visit her mother as often as twice a month if her schedule allowed. A 1999 graduate of the Dunbar Vocational Career Center, she could walk through the Englewood neighborhood without anyone hassling her or following her with a camera.
“She never had no problems with fans stalking her,” neighbor Vanessa Stanton said. “She didn’t even need a bodyguard (though she did have one). The whole neighborhood block would look out for her.”

 Hudson famously left her Burger King job to compete in the 2004 season of “American Idol.” She finished seventh and endured harsh words from judge Simon Cowell, but her powerful, five-octave range helped win her the role of Effie White in the musical “Dreamgirls.”
Her show-stopping on-screen rendition of “And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going” led to widespread critical praise and the 2007 Academy Award for best supporting actress.
Upon winning the Oscar, she became emotional as she thanked her mother for traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate the nomination. Since that time, her family and their large, white home has been her touchstone, a place that could pull her back to Earth should her self-importance skyrocket.
“My faith in God and my family, they’re very realistic and very normal, they’re not into the whole limelight kind of thing, so when I go home to Chicago that’s just another place that’s home,” she recently told the Associated Press. “I stand in line with everybody else, or, when I go home to my mom I’m just Jennifer, (so she says), ‘You get up and you take care of your own stuff.’ And I love that; I don’t like when people tell you everything you want to hear, I want to hear the truth, you know what I mean.”

 Donerson mostly kept out of the spotlight. When asked if she’d like to attend a recent taping of Oprah Winfey’s show, on which Hudson would be publicizing “The Secret Life of Bees,” Donerson declined.
“She doesn’t welcome the attention at all,” Hudson told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph recently. “She’s the complete opposite of those stage mothers who say, ‘Oh, that’s my daughter, aren’t I great?’ She doesn’t want the attention, while at the same time, she’s extremely proud and happy for me.”
Jennifer Hudson was in the Tampa area at the time of the murders, and planned to immediately head to Chicago. Her sister, Julia, met police at Wentworth Area late Friday night.

Palin insists she and her family are “frugal people”

 Jill Zuckman
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
PITTSBURGH _ Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted in an interview with the Chicago Tribune on Thursday that she did not accept $150,000 worth of designer clothes from the Republican Party and “that is not who we are.”
“That whole thing is just, bad!” she said. “Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.
“It’s kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported,” said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. Most of them, she said, haven’t even left the belly of her campaign plane.
Thrust into the national spotlight as John McCain’s running mate in late August from relative obscurity as governor of Alaska, Palin has found herself under the microscope ever since, accused of being inexperienced, a drag on the ticket and, most recently, the recipient of racks of expensive clothes.
Less than two weeks before Election Day, she will deliver her first major policy speech Friday, calling for full funding of special education, a subject that has suddenly become extremely personal. And that’s not just because of the arrival of Trig, her 6-month-old son with Down syndrome. It’s because families with children who have disabilities have been flocking to her campaign stops, looking to Palin and her family for inspiration.
Palin on Thursday granted one of her first newspaper interviews since becoming McCain’s vice presidential nominee. She was joined by her husband, Todd, who cradled Trig, noticeably plumper since he was first introduced to the world two months ago.
Palin called the disabilities issues “a joyful challenge.” Todd Palin showed off photos of people with Down syndrome who have come to campaign events, and the candidate said one advocacy group sent her a bumper sticker that said “My kid has more chromosomes than your kid.”
“These children are not a problem, they are a priority,” Palin said.
“We’re on this journey with other families,” she said. “We’ll learn a lot from those other families, as they can count on us in the White House doing all that we can for them also. It’s going to be a nice team effort here.”
Still, much of the media attention Palin has received _ on the issue of the clothes, for example _ has decidedly not been about public policy issues. She points to that as evidence of a bias against women candidates.
“I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race,” Palin said. “Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don’t talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That’s a bit of that double standard.”
Palin said she would rather talk about the Republican campaign’s mission to reform government, get the economy back on track and bring opportunities to families, especially those with special needs.
“I’m not going to complain about it, I’m not going to whine about it, I’m going to plow through that, because we are embarking on something greater than that, than allowing that double standard to adversely affect us,” she said.
 
But polls suggest that McCain is in trouble, partly because of Palin, who has been criticized as lacking the experience to become president. This week’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll suggested more people now think that Palin is hurting McCain’s chances of becoming president than President George W. Bush, whose national approval ratings are in the 20s.
Palin disputed such conclusions.
“I think that those reporters asking those questions should come to some of our rallies and ask some of those in the crowd why it is they are enthused,” she said, adding that the crowds see her as representing “hardworking, everyday American families.”

 In her speech Friday, Palin will lay out the campaign’s plans to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, boost funding for special-needs children from birth to age 3 and allow parents to choose whether federal money for their child is used in a public, private, religious or secular school without navigating a cumbersome administrative process.
The federal government originally committed in 1975 to paying 40 percent of the cost of educating children with special needs, with the states paying the rest. But that has never happened; full funding would require about $26 billion a year, and the federal government currently shells out $10.9 billion.
The McCain campaign plans to phase in that money with an extra $3 billion a year over five years. McCain has called for a domestic discretionary spending freeze, but programs for disabled people would be exempt.
“It’s not all about the money, it’s not all about budgets,” Palin said, adding vaguely that the money could come from “reprioritizing” the budget. “It’s about that spirit of acceptance and embracing that diversity that is in the world with children who are special, a little bit different from the norm.”

 Palin’s eyes welled up as she spoke about her sister’s son, Karcher, who has autism.
“My sister and I have talked a lot about this. It makes me cry thinking about it,” Palin said. “She asked with tears in her eyes, she says, ‘What happens when Kurt and I, though, are elderly, then what happens to Karcher?’”
Palin calls that the story of millions of Americans. Her hope is to strengthen the National Institutes of Health “to make sure we’re researching everything about autism and make sure we find out what causes it.”

UAB Media Relations: Halloween Safety Tips

HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS FROM THE UAB YOUTH SAFETY LAB

Psychologist David Schwebel, Ph.D., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Youth Safety Lab, offers the following tips for a safe and healthy Halloween:

Jack-o’-Lanterns

·        In general, only adults should be allowed to cut jack-o’-lanterns and light candles. Very young children can scoop out the seeds and draw designs on the pumpkins with a pen.

Trick-or-Treating

·        Wear light clothing, reflective strips and carry a flashlight.

·        Children should be supervised by an adult until the age of 10.

Halloween Costumes

·        Wear costumes that don’t restrict vision.

·        Make sure that costumes and shoes permit safe, comfortable walking.

·        Avoid loose hanging clothing that could catch fire near candles.

Motorists

·        Watch for children.

·        Drive more slowly than usual.

·        Avoid distractions while driving.

Safe Candy

• Inspect all candy before it is eaten and discard treats that aren’t sealed tightly.
• Fruit should be thrown away, or else peeled, washed carefully and cut into small pieces.
• Watch out for choking hazards with young children.

 

Researchers at the UAB Youth Safety Lab conduct laboratory-based studies on the factors that lead to child and adolescent injuries.

Car crash kills Pennsylvania state senator, 66

Marc Levy

Associated Press Writer

 

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ A longtime Pennsylvania state senator has died after his Cadillac collided head-on with a truck.

 

Legislative leaders say Sen. James Rhoades died Saturday. He and his wife, Mary, were taken to a hospital after the crash Friday.

 

There was no immediate word on Mary Rhoades’ condition. The accident is being investigated.

 

The 66-year-old Republican had served for seven terms and was chairman of the Education Committee. He was campaigning for an eighth term.

 

A Senate Republican spokesman says the party would have to get a court’s permission to remove Rhoades’ name from the ballot and replace him.

 

He started in the Senate in 1981 and represents northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal country.

Nevada boy found safe, grandfather arrested

The search for a young boy came to an end yesterday as 6-year-old Cole Puffinburger was found walking outside a Las Vegas church late Saturday. While the missing person case is ending, questions surrounding the abduction are just beginning.

Puffinburger’s grandfather, Clemens Tinnemeyer, was arrested late Friday in connection to Puffinburger’s disappearance. 

Police believe that Mexican drug dealers kidnapped the boy at gunpoint as a “message” to Tinnemeyer, who might have stolen millions of dollars from them. The police also believe methamphetamine was involved.

CAMPAIGN ALERT-Powell endorses Obama

Gen. Colin Powell(Ret.) endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on “Meet the Press” Sunday.

Powell said of Obama, “I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I’ll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.”

Powell also gave reasons as to why he didn’t condone of the tactics his friend, Sen. John McCain, was using in his campaign. He largely blamed the GOP for their “narrowing” of McCain’s campaign. “I think that’s inappropriate. I understand what politics is about — I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far, and I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for,” he said.

Not only are the tactics concerning Powell, but also his nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

“I don’t believe [Palin] is ready to be president of the United States,” he said. Along with that statement, Powell said that Sen. Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate,“is ready to be president on day one.”