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FRESNO (MCT) — A Fresno City College instructor is wrongly presenting religious-based and antigay views as fact in an introductory health class, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Monday. The organization outlined complaints against full-time instructor Bradley Lopez in a letter sent to City College President Cynthia Azari. The ACLU — which requested a response by Feb. 15 — demanded the campus ensure that health science classes teach unbiased and medically accurate information.
MIAMI (MCT) — As Haiti begins digging out from under 60 million cubic meters of earthquake wreckage, U.S. companies have begun jockeying for a bonanza of cleanup work. It’s unclear at this point who will award the cleanup contracts, but there is big money to be made in the rubble of some 225,000 collapsed homes and at least 25,000 government and office buildings. At least two politically-connected U.S. companies have enlisted powerful local allies in Haiti to help compete for the high-stakes business.
JERUSALEM (MCT) — A U.S.-based philanthropy that funds human rights groups in Israel is under fire amid accusations that its recipients provided the bulk of evidence to a U.N. commission that issued a report highly critical of Israel’s Gaza Strip offensive a year ago. Leaders of the Washington-based New Israel Fund, whose recipients include several organizations that promote Palestinian rights, said Sunday that they are being unfairly targeted by conservatives in Israel seeking to silence opposing viewpoints. “It’s an attempt to stifle dissent,” said Daniel Sokatch, chief executive of the fund, which donates about $15 million annually to human rights and civil society groups in Israel.
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LOS ANGELES (MCT) — In an effort to better regulate the number of hikers using the cable system to the top of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park will begin requiring day-use permits for the popular climb when the cables are put back up in May. This interim program, implemented by the National Park Service, is being conducted in an effort to address safety issues that have arisen from crowding, which has led to unsafe conditions and long waits. The Half Dome day-use permits will only be required on weekends, including Fridays, as well as holidays. Four hundred will be issued per day, with 100 of those to be included in wilderness permits. About 84,000 people climbed to the top of Half Dome in 2008.
Wire Editor: Jennifer Titcomb
mustang daily
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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CHICAGO (MCT) — Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker whose surprise victory in last week’s Illinois’ Democratic lieutenant governor primary was followed by scandalous revelations about him, quit the race Sunday during the half time of the Super Bowl, saying he didn’t want to “put the people of Illinois in jeopardy in any way.” Cohen made the tearful announcement just hours after a spokesman for powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the state Democratic chairman, said Madigan had urged Cohen to quit in a private meeting Friday. “For the good of the people of the state of Illinois and for the Democratic party, I will resign,” an emotional Cohen told a crowd of supporters and reporters.
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BEIJING (MCT) — The Chinese Web site, Black Hawk Safety Net, online academy for hackers has been shut down. Police announced they had closed down the operation, which state media said was the largest training site for Chinese hackers, and arrested three of its ringleaders. Black Hawk is accused of collecting more than $1 million in tuition from 12,000 subscribers and 170,000 others who took its online courses, according to Chinese media.
The drug, one of the most widely used general anesthetics in the nation, is so dangerous that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says only those trained in anesthesia should administer it. Murray told police that he had been giving Jackson nightly intravenous doses of propofol for six weeks, about the time he began working for the performer, according to police affidavits filed in court. Murray, who was in debt and behind on child support payments, earned $150,000 a month treating Jackson and closed practices he op-
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erated in Las Vegas, where he lived, and Houston to join the performer in Los Angeles for rehearsals. According to the affidavits, Jackson told the physician that for years other doctors had treated his chronic insomnia with doses of propofol, a white liquid the singer called “milk.” Through his attorney, Murray has maintained his innocence and said he did nothing that should have caused Jackson’s death. In his only public comment — a one-minute video released in August through his lawyer — a somber-looking Murray expressed confidence that he would be exonerated. “I told the truth, and I have faith the truth will prevail,” he said.