Place Stamp Here
Mailing Address
THE
LEGAL STREET NEWS Circulated Weekly To Cities In Kentucky
In The News This Week US SENDS FORCES TO JORDAN AS CHECK ON SYRIA The United States has sent troops to Jordan to bolster its military capabilities in the event Syria's civil war escalates. Page 1
MARIJUANA BACKERS COURTING CONSERVATIVES It's not all hippies backing November's marijuana legalization votes in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Page 2
WHITE HOUSE MULLS HOW TO STRIKE OVER LIBYA ATTACK The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, Page 3
KENTUCKY ACCIDENT STATISTICS Accident Statistics from Kentucky Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Page 4
KENTUCKY ACCIDENT REPORTS This Weeks Accident Reports from Various countys in Kentucky. Page 5
OBAMA ON DEBATE WITH ROMNEY: 'I HAD A BAD NIGHT' President Barack Obama conceded Wednesday he did poorly in a debate last week that fueled a comeback by his rival. Page 6
EXPERTS: GLOBAL WARMING MEANS MORE ANTARCTIC ICE The ice goes on seemingly forever in a white pancake-flat landscape, stretching farther than ever before. Page 7
THINK TANK: PATH TO IRAN NUKE WARHEAD 2-4 MONTHS A firefight broke out between U.S. forces and their Afghan army allies in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing two Americans and three Afghan soldiers. Page 8
TEAM DECIDES AGAINST THURSDAY SUPERSONIC S K Y D I V E Extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner hopes to make a second attempt at a supersonic skydive over New Mexico on Sunday or Monday. Page 8
Volume 731 Issue 41
Established 1998
October 15, 2012
U S S E N D S F O R C E S T O J O R D A N A S C H E C K O N S Y R I A BRUSSELS (AP) -- The United States has sent troops to Jordan to bolster its military capabilities in the event Syria's civil war escalates, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said We d n e s d a y, reflecting U.S. concerns about the conflict spilling over allies' borders and about the security of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. Speaking at a NATO conference of defense ministers, Panetta said the U.S. has been working with Jordan to monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria and also to help Jordan deal with refugees pouring over the border from Syria. About 150 U.S. troops, largely Army special operations forces, are working out of a military center near Amman, two senior defense officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the mission. The troops have moved back and forth to the Syrian border as part of their work, which is joint planning and intelligence gathering, one official said. The revelation of U.S. military personnel so close to the 19-month-old Syrian conflict suggests an escalation in the U.S. involvement in the conflict, even as the Obama administration pushes back on any suggestion of a direct intervention in Syria. News of the U.S. mission to Jordan also follows several days of shelling between Turkey and Syria, an indication that the civil war could become a regional conflict. One of the U.S. defense officials said the extra planning is aimed at avoiding those kinds of clashes between Jordan and Syria. The development comes with the U.S. presidential election less than a month away, as Republican nominee Mitt Romney criticizes President Barack Obama for weak leadership in foreign policy. Romney has said he would send U.S. troops into Syria if needed to prevent the spread of chemical weapons, while Obama has said that movement or use of chemical weapons would have "enormous consequences." Panetta has said that while the U.S. believes the weapons are still secure, intelligence suggests the regime might have moved some to protect them. Syria is believed to have one of the world's largest chemical weapons programs, and the Assad regime has said it might use the weapons against external threats, though not against Syrians. The U.S. and Jordan share the same concern about Syria's chemical and biological weapons - that they could fall into the wrong
hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them. Jordan's King Abdullah II fears such weapons could go to the alQaida terror network or other militants, primarily the Iranian-allied L e b a n e s e Hezbollah - a vocal critic of Jordan's longstanding alliance with the United States. The Monterey, Calif.-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies provided a map purporting to show four Syrian production sites for chemical weapons, three for storage, one for research and development, and two with dual use infrastructure. Steven Bucci, an expert in chemical weapons at the Heritage Foundation, has told Congress there might be as many as 50 chemical weapons sites. He said in an interview Wednesday that Syria's stockpile is potentially "like a gift from God" for militants since they don't have the know-how to assemble such weapons, while some of Syria's chemical agents are believed to have already been fitted into missile warheads. Pentagon press secretary George Little, traveling with Panetta, said the U.S. and Jordan agreed that "increased cooperation and more detailed planning are necessary in order to respond to the severe consequences of the Assad regime's brutality." He said the U.S. has provided medical kits, water tanks and other forms of humanitarian aid to help Jordanians assist Syrian refugees fleeing into their country. "We have a group of our forces there working to help build a headquarters there and to insure that we make the relationship between the United States and Jordan a strong one so that we can deal with all the possible consequences of what's happening in Syria," Panetta said. In Jordan, the biggest problem at the moment seems to be the strain put on the country's meager resources by the estimated 200,000 Syrian refugees who have flooded across the border the largest number fleeing to any country. Several dozen refugees in Jordan rioted in their desert border camp of Zaatari earlier this month, destroying tents and medicine and leaving scores of refugee families out in the night cold. Jordanian men also are moving the other way across the border, joining what intelligence officials have estimated to be around 2,000 foreigners fighting alongside Syrian rebels trying to topple Assad. A Jordanian border guard was wounded after armed men - believed trying to go fight exchanged gunfire at the northern frontier.
Continued on page 3
2
Legal Street News Monday October 15, 2012
PUBLISHER INFORMATION Publisher & Editor Jane L Rahim
Design, Production & Layout Joseph Badamo
Records Department Administrator Jane L Rahim
Administrative Assistant Charlene Smith Office
Assistant
Erick Pennington
Office Assistance Karen Green Local Sales & Marketing Office The Legal Street News, Inc. 1887 Wildwood Lane North Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442
TOLL FREE (888) 708-3576
T h e L e g a l S t r e e t N e w s ™”, is published four times a month by “The Legal Street News Inc.” with editorial and advertising offices at 1887 Wildwood Lane North,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442. All rights are reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in whole or part is strictly prohibited. Editorial inquiries and manuscripts should be directed to the Editor. Manuscripts or other submissions must be accompanied by self addressed, stamped envelopes. “The Legal Street News, Inc.,”, assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or artwork. All correspondence regarding business, editorial, production, and address changes should be sent to: The Legal Street News, Inc. 1887 Wildwood Lane North Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442 Disclaimer: We are a news agency and consumer journalists. We are not insurance, legal or medical advisors. So, while we try our best to write accurate articles on many different types of state and world wide laws and government decisions. We are happy to answer your questions, to the best of our ability and knowledge, nothing we say should be interpreted or considered as legal advise or medical opinion.
You Can Help Make A Difference By 2020, WWF will conserve 15 of the world’s most ecologically important regions by working in partnership with others
THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND www.worldwildlife.org/
M A R I J U A N A B A C K E R S C O U R T I N G C O N S E R VA T I V E S "Proponents of big government have duped us into supporting a similar prohibition of marijuana - even though it can be used safely and responsibly by adults," Tancredo s a i d .
DENVER (AP) -It's not all hippies backing November's marijuana legalization votes in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Appealing to Western individualism and a mistrust of federal government, activists have lined up some prominent conservatives, from one-time presidential hopefuls Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul to Republicanturned-Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. "This is truly a nonpartisan issue," said Mark Slaugh, a volunteer for the Colorado initiative who is based in Colorado Springs, which has more Republicans than anywhere else in the state.
In this Oct. 2, 2012 photo, former Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo speaks out in favor supporting Amendment 64 to legalize marijuana in Colorado during a news conference at the Capitol in Denver. Joe Megyesy coordinator for the campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol listens at left. Appealing to Western individualism and a mistrust of federal government, activists have lined up some prominent conservatives as natural allies to make pot legal, from one-time presidential hopefuls Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul to Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.
Pot supporters have lined up other surprising allies this year, even as many Democrats oppose the measures. Conservative stalwart Pat Robertson, for example, said marijuana should be l e g a l .
In Washington state, Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Baumgartner is running a longshot bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, who opposes it.
"States' rights! States' rights!" Slaugh cried as he handed out flyers about the state's pot measure outside a rally last month by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Quite a few passing Republicans took the flyer.
"It's taking a different approach to a very expensive drug war, and potentially a better approach," he said.
"It's fiscally prudent. It would be taxed, regulated, monitored. It makes a lot of sense to Republicans," he said.
In Oregon, at least one Republican state Senate candidate backs legalization. Cliff Hutchison reasoned that legalizing pot would "cut wasteful government spending on corrections and reduce drug gang violence."
Most Republicans still oppose legalization. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney vows to enforce federal law. When Ryan told a Colorado Springs TV station in September that medical marijuana was "up to Coloradans to decide," his campaign quickly backtracked and said he agreed with Romney.
Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, is fiscally conservative but supports such liberal causes as legalizing marijuana, immigration reform and abortion rights. He's said that if elected he would pardon all non-violent prisoners convicted of marijuana-related offenses in federal court.
When activists make their appeal, it goes like this: States should dictate drug law. Decades of federal prohibition have failed where personal responsibility and old-fashioned parenting will succeed. Politicians back East have no business dictating what the states do.
Pro-pot conservatives have counterparts on the other side - Democrats who say pot shouldn't be legal without a doctor's recommendation. Democratic governors in Colorado and Washington oppose legalization. Oregon's Democratic governor has not taken a stand.
"What is the law against marijuana if it isn't the Nanny State telling you what you can do and what you can't do to your body and with your body?" asked Tancredo, a former Republican congressman from suburban Denver who briefly ran for president in 2008 and endorsed the measure on the steps of the state capitol. He compared federal law to New York City's ban on sugary sodas.
President Barack Obama's administration has shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in California and Colorado.
Tancredo launched a radio ad this week in which he compares marijuana prohibition to alcohol prohibition as a "failed government program" that, in this case, "steers Colorado money to criminals in Mexico."
LIVE UNITED http://www.sierraclub.org/
Republican Colorado state Sen. Steve King is a frequent critic of Colorado's medical marijuana law. Conservatives abhor government, but they also fear legalization would increase children's drug use, he said. "It's pretty easy to come in and say, `Let's decrease government.' And I'm all for that. This just isn't the place to start," King said. "We have a next generation to protect," he said.
EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE,
ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND ENJOY AND
PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT PROTECT
THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE THE
PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET PLANET
Subscription Request Form TAKE ACTION GIVE ADVOCATE VOLUNTEER http://www.unitedway.org/
The Florida Legal Street Newspapers are happy to offer free subscriptions to individuals and businesses that would like to receive a weekly publication. However, if you would like to have one of the newspapers sent to you on a weekly basis, please fill out the form below and return it with a money order for $24.95 per year to cover postage & handling. Outside Florida $52.95 Tax Incuded Mail To:
The Legal Street News 1887 Wildwood Lane North Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442
Name__________________________________________________________________________ Address________________________________________Telephone____________________________
Street News Monday, October 15, 2012
W H I T E H O U S E S T R I K E O V E R
M U L L S L I B Y A
Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly. The dilemma shows the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al-Qaida, balanced against its longterm plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region. Vice President Joe Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others. "We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterter-
U S S E N D S F O R C E S Continued from page 1 Turkey has reinforced its border with artillery and deployed more fighter jets to an air base close to the border region after an errant Syrian mortar shell killed five people in a Turkish border town last week and Turkey retaliated with artillery strikes. Turkey's military chief, Gen. Necdet Ozel, vowed Wednesday to respond with more force to any further shelling from Syria, keeping up the pressure on its southern neighbor a day after NATO said it stood ready to defend Turkey. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington on Wednesday that the Pentagon was planning for "a number of contingencies" and was prepared to provide the administration with options on Syria, if needed. "But the military instrument of power at this point is not the prominent instrument of power that should be applied in Syria," he said.
H O W T O A T T A C K gence intercepted phone calls after the attack from Ansar fighters to leaders of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, bragging about it. The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House has put special operations strike forces on standby and moved drones into the skies above Africa, ready to strike militant targets from Libya to Mali - if investigators can find the al-Qaida-linked group responsible for the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya. But officials say the administration, with weeks until the presidential election, is weighing whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al-Qaida is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight it in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
8
But U.S. investigators have only loosely linked "one or two names" to the attack, and they lack proof that it was planned ahead of time, or that the local fighters had any help from the larger alQaida affiliate, officials say. ror policy should be, "if you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be." The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack. The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism early on, and slow to strike back at those responsible. "They are aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, `Hey, we're doing something about it,'" said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for the Department of Defense under President George W. Bush. Attalah noted that in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al-Qaida. "It was a way to say, `Look, we did something,'" he said. A Washington-based analyst with extensive experience in Africa said that administration officials have approached him asking for help in connecting the dots to Mali, whose northern half fell to al-Qaida-linked rebels this spring. They wanted to know if he could suggest potential targets, which he says he was not able to do. "The civilian side is looking into doing something, and is running into a lot of pushback from the military side," the analyst said. "The resistance that is coming from the military side is because the military has both worked in the region and trained in the region. So they are more realistic." Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S. "If America hits us, I promise you that we will multiply the Sept. 11 attack by 10," said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for the Islamists in northern Mali, while denying that his group or alQaida fighters based in Mali played a role in the Benghazi attack. Finding the militants who overwhelmed a small security force at the consulate isn't going to be easy. The key suspects are members of the Libyan militia group Ansar al-Shariah. The group has denied responsibility, but eyewitnesses saw Ansar fighters at the consulate, and U.S. intelli-
If that proof is found, the White House must decide whether to ask Libyan security forces to arrest the suspects with an eye to extraditing them to the U.S. for trial, or to simply target the suspects with U.S. covert action. U.S. officials say covert action is more likely. The FBI couldn't gain access to the consulate until weeks after the attack, so it is unlikely it will be able to build a strong criminal case. The U.S. is also leery of trusting the arrest and questioning of the suspects to the fledgling Libyan security forces and legal system still building after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The burden of proof for U.S. covert action is far lower, but action by the CIA or special operations forces still requires a body of evidence that shows the suspect either took part in the violence or presents a "continuing and persistent, imminent threat" to U.S. targets, current and former officials said. "If the people who were targeted were themselves directly complicit in this attack or directly affiliated with a group strongly implicated in the attack, then you can make an argument of imminence of threat," said Robert Grenier, former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. But if the U.S. acts alone to target them in Africa, " it raises all kinds of sovereignty issues ... and makes people very uncomfortable," said Grenier, who has criticized the CIA's heavy use of drones in Pakistan without that government's support. Even a strike that happens with permission could prove problematic, especially in Libya or Mali where al-Qaida supporters are currently based. Both countries have fragile, interim governments that could lose popular support if they are seen allowing the U.S. unfettered access to hunt alQaida. The Libyan government is so wary of the U.S. investigation expanding into unilateral action that it refused requests to arm the drones now being flown over Libya. Libyan officials have complained publicly that they were unaware of how large the U.S. intelligence presence was in Benghazi until a couple of dozen U.S. officials showed up at the airport after the attack, waiting to be evacuated - roughly twice the number of U.S. staff the Libyans thought were there. A number of those waiting to be evacuated worked for U.S. intelligence, according to two American officials. In Mali, U.S. officials have urged the government to allow special operations trainers to return, to work with Mali's forces to push al-Qaida out of that country's northern area. AQIM is among the
4 Legal Street News Monday October 15, 2012 Data From the Official Website of the Kentucky Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
You Can Help Make A Difference By 2020, WWF will conserve 15 of the world’s most ecologically important regions by working in partnership with others
THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND www.worldwildlife.org/
Questions About Your Accident Report CONTACT
THE LEGAL STREET NEWS
Toll Free At
888-708-3576
If You Hve It Give Some Back
THIS W EEK
________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, October 15, 2012
AUTO ACCIDENTS
IN
5
KENTUCKY
A Continuing Series of Statistice Focusing on Auto Accidents
www.veteransvoice.org
http://www.aging-research.org
6 Legal Street News
Monday October 15,
OBAMA ON DEBATE WITH R O M N E Y: ' I H A D A B A D NIGHT' SIDNEY, Ohio (AP) -President Barack Obama conceded Wednesday he did poorly in a debate last week that fueled a comeback by his rival in the race for the White House. Mitt Romney barnstormed battleground Ohio and pledged "I'm not going to raise taxes on anyone" in a new commercial. A perennial campaign issue flared unexpectedly as Romney reaffirmed he is running as a "pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president." He spoke one day after saying in an interview he was not aware of any abortionrelated legislation that would become part of his agenda if he wins the White House. Romney and Obama maneuvered in a race with 27 days to run as Vice President Joe Biden and Republican running mate Paul Ryan looked ahead to their only debate, set for Thursday night in Danville, Ky. Whatever the impact of the Biden-Ryan encounter, last week's presidential debate boosted Romney in the polls nationally and in Ohio and other battleground states, to the point that Obama was still struggling to explain a performance even his aides and supporters say was subpar. "Gov. Romney had a good night. I had a bad night. It's not the first time I've had a bad night," Obama said in an ABC interview. Asked if it was possible he had handed the election to Romney, the president replied: "No." "What's important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed," he said. "You know, Gov. Romney went to a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions are," he said, referring to abortion as an example. Despite the presidential display of confidence, public opinion polls suggested the impact of last week's debate was to wipe out most, if not all, of the gains Obama made following both parties' national conventions and the emergence in late summer of a videotape in which Romney spoke dismissively of 47 percent of Americans whom he said pay no income taxes. They feel as if they are victims, he said, adding
http://www.network.directrelief.org Healthcare Providers: If you are a healthcare provider located in the United States, contact us by calling 1-877-30-DR-USA (1-877-303-7872).
they don't take personal responsibilities for their lives. Eager to capitalize on his newfound momentum, Romney told more than 7,000 packed into a western Ohio rally: "We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama." The Republican challenger made three public appearances in Ohio on Wednesday and will spend two of the next three days in the state. "Ohio could well be the place that elects the next president of the United States," he said. "I need you to do that job. We're going to win together." Romney's new television commercial was an appeal to voters' pocketbooks - and also a rebuttal to Obama's claim that Romney had a plan to cut taxes by $5 trillion on the wealthy that would mean higher taxes for the middle class. "The president would prefer raising taxes," Romney is shown saying in an exchange from last week's debate. "I'm not going to raise taxes on anyone. ... My priority is putting people back to work in America." Unemployment and the economy have been the dominant issues in the race for the presidency, and while Romney gained from the debate, last week's drop in the jobless rate to 7.8 percent gave Obama a new talking point for the Democratic claim that his policies are helping the country recover, however slowly, from the worst recession in decades. Romney also sought to lay any abortionrelated controversy to rest as he campaigned across Ohio, a battleground with
If You Hve It Give Some Back
18 electoral votes and one of the places where he has gained ground since last week's debate. "I think I've said time and again that I'm a pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president," he said, renewing his promise to cut off aid for federal Planned Parenthood and implement a ban on the use of foreign aid for abortions overseas. But by the time he spoke, Obama's aides had already jumped on comments from an interview with The Des Moines Register in which Romney said "there's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda." Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, told reporters on a conference call that Romney was "cynically and dishonestly" hiding his positions on women's issues. "We're not saying he's changed his mind on these issues. We're saying he's trying to cover up his beliefs," she said. For entirely different reasons, one prominent anti-abortion group agreed that he shouldn't. As if to remind Romney of his previous statements on the issue, the head of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List distributed an article he wrote last summer vowing to prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood and to support legislation that would "protect unborn children who are capable of feeling pain from abortion." "We have full confidence that as president, Gov. Romney will stand by the pro-life commitments," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group's president. Vice presidential encounters rarely make a significant difference in a White House campaign, although aides engage in the same sort of attempt to shape public expectations as when the men at the top of the ticket are ready to face off. For Ryan's camp, that meant whispering that the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman and House Budget Committee chairman was comfortable discussing spending issues and domestic policy, but might not be able to hold his own on foreign policy, a Biden strong suit. The vice president's side let it be known that Ryan is smart and wonky, a man who knows the budget better than anyone - but it's a version that omits mention of Biden's nearly four decades of experience in government and his role as Obama's point man in budget negotiations with Republicans on an elusive deficit-reduction deal. Romney's wife, Ann, took a turn as guest host on ABC's "Good Morning
Continued on page 7
_____________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, October 15, 2012
E X P E R T W A R M I N G A N T A R
S : G L O B A L M E A N S M O R E C T I C I C E the ice farther north, extending its reach.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The ice goes on seemingly forever in a white pancake-flat landscape, stretching farther than ever before. And yet in this confounding region of the world, that spreading ice may be a cockeyed signal of manmade climate change, scientists say.
Those changes in wind are tied in a complicated way to climate change from greenhouse gases, Maksym and Scambos say. Climate change has created essentially a wall of wind that keeps cool weather bottled up in Antarctica, NASA's Abdalati says.
This is Antarctica, the polar opposite of the Arctic. While the North Pole has been losing sea ice over the years, the water nearest the South Pole has been gaining it. Antarctic sea ice hit a record 7.51 million square miles in September. That happened just days after reports of the biggest loss of Arctic sea ice on record. Climate change skeptics have seized on the Antarctic ice to argue that the globe isn't warming and that scientists are ignoring the southern continent because it's not convenient. But scientists say the skeptics are misinterpreting what's happening and why. Shifts in wind patterns and the giant ozone hole over the Antarctic this time of year - both related to human activity - are probably behind the increase in ice, experts say. This subtle growth in winter sea ice since scientists began measuring it in 1979 was initially surprising, they say, but makes sense the more it is studied.
7
And the wind works in combination with the ozone hole, the huge gap in Earth's protective ozone layer that usually appears over the South Pole. It's bigger than North America. Antarctic is part of the warming as well." And on a third continent, David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey says that yes, what's happening in Antarctica bears the fingerprints of man-made climate change. "Scientifically the change is nowhere near as substantial as what we see in the Arctic," says NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, an ice expert. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be paying attention to it and shouldn't be talking about it." Sea ice is always melting near one pole while growing around the other. But the overall trend year to year is dramatically less ice in the Arctic and slightly more in the Antarctic.
It's caused by man-made pollutants chlorine and bromine, which are different from the fossil fuel emissions that cause global warming. The hole makes Antarctica even cooler this time of year because the ozone layer usually absorbs solar radiation, working like a blanket to keep the Earth warm. And that cooling effect makes the winds near the ground stronger and steadier, pushing the ice outward, Scambos says. University of Colorado researcher Katherine Leonard, who is on board the ship with Maksym, says in an email that the Antarctic sea ice is also getting snowier because climate change has allowed the air to carry more moisture. Winter sea ice has grown by about 1 percent a decade in Antarctica. If that sounds small, it's because it's an average. Because the continent is so large, it's a little like lumping together the temperatures of the Maine and California coasts, Vaughan says.
"A warming world can have complex and sometimes surprising consequences," researcher Ted Maksym said this week from an Australian research vessel surrounded by Antarctic sea ice. He is with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
It's most noticeable in September, when northern ice is at its lowest and southern ice at its highest. For over 30 years, the Arctic in September has been losing an average of 5.7 square miles of sea ice for every square mile gained in Antarctica.
Many experts agree. Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado adds: "It sounds counterintuitive, but the
Loss of sea ice in the Arctic can affect people in the Northern Hemisphere, causing such things as a higher risk of extreme weather in the U.S. through changes to the jet stream, scientists say. Antarctica's weather peculiarities, on the other hand, don't have much effect on civilization.
Mark Serreze, director of the snow and ice data center, says computer models have long predicted that Antarctica would not respond as quickly to global warming as other places. Since 1960, the Arctic has warmed the most of the world's regions, and Antarctica has warmed the least, according to NASA data.
At well past midnight in Antarctica, where it's about 3 degrees, Maksym describes in a rare ship-to-shore telephone call from the R.V. Aurora Australis what this extra ice means in terms of climate change. And what it's like to be out studying it for two months, with the nearest city 1,500 miles away.
Scientists on the cruise with Maksym are spending eight to 12 hours a day on the ice bundled up against the fierce wind with boots that look like Bugs Bunny's feet. It's dangerous work. Cracks in sea ice can form at any time. Just the other day a sudden fissure stranded a team of scientists until an inflatable bridge rescued them.
"It's only you and the penguins," he says. "It's really a strikingly beautiful and stark landscape. Sometimes it's even an eerie kind of landscape."
"It's a treacherous landscape," Vaughan says
H O W
T O
S T R I K E Continued from page 3 groups that filled the power vacuum after a coup by rebellious Malian forces in March. U.S. special operations forces trainers left Mali just days after the coup. While such trainers have not been invited to return, the U.S. has expanded its intelligence effort on Mali, focusing satellite and spy flights over the contested northern region to track and map the militant groups vying for control of the territory, officials say. In northern Mali, residents in the three largest cities say they hear the sound of airplanes overhead but can't spot them. That's standard for drones, which are often invisible to the naked eye, flying several thousand feet above ground. Residents say the plane sounds have increased sharply in recent weeks, following both the attack in Benghazi and the growing calls for a military intervention in Mali.
While the Arctic is open ocean encircled by land, the Antarctic - about 1.5 times the size of the U.S. - is land circled by ocean, leaving more room for sea ice to spread. That geography makes a dramatic difference in the two polar climates. The Arctic ice responds more directly to warmth. In the Antarctic, the main driver is wind, Maksym and other scientists say. Changes in the strength and motion of winds are now pushing Chabane Arby, a 23-year-old student from Timbuktu, said the planes make a growling sound overhead. "When they hear them, the Islamists come out and start shooting into the sky," he said. Aboubacrine Aidarra, another resident of Timbuktu, said the planes circle overhead both day and night. "I have a friend who said he recently saw six at one time, circling overhead. ... They are planes that fly at high altitudes. But they make a big sound. "
B A D
N I G H T
Continued from page 6 America" and spoke candidly about experiencing depression after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 14 years ago. She said horses helped her recover her mental health. "I was very, very weak and very much worried about my life, thinking I was going to be in a wheelchair as well. Turned to horses, my life has been dramatically different," she said. "They gave me the energy, the passion to get out of bed when I was so sick that I didn't think I'd ever want to get out of bed." Mrs. Romney is part-owner of a horse that competed this summer in the Olympic sport of dressage, the equine equivalent of ballet.
8
Legal Street News Monday, October 15, 2012
2 5 P R I M A T E S P E C I E S R E P O R T E D O N B R I N K O F E X T I N C T I O N NEW DELHI (AP) -- Twenty-five species of monkeys, langurs, lemurs and gorillas are on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking, researchers said Monday.
world did not lose a single primate species to extinction in the 20th century, and no primate has been declared extinct so far this century, said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and the chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's primate specialist group.
Six of the severely threatened species live in the island nation of Madagascar, off southeast Africa. Five more from mainland Africa, five from South America and nine species in Asia are among those listed as most threatened.
"Amazingly, we continue to discover new species every year since 2000," Mittermeier said. "What is more, primates are increasingly becoming a major ecotourism attraction, and primate-watching is growing in interest."
The report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature was released at the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity being held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Primates, mankind's closest living relatives, contribute to the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and maintaining forest diversity. Conservation efforts have helped several species of primates that are no longer listed as endangered, said the report, prepared every two years by some of the world's leading primate experts. The report, which counts species and subspecies of primates across the world, noted that Madagascar's lemurs are severely threatened by habitat destruction and illegal hunting, which has accelerated dramatically since the change of power in the country in 2009. Among the most severely hit was the northern sportive lemur, with only 19 known individuals left in the wild in Madagascar. "Lemurs are now one of the world's most endangered groups of mammals, after more than three years of political crisis and a lack of effective enforcement in their home country, Madagascar," said Christoph Schwitzer of the Bristol
In a separate report on global urbanization released Monday at the Hyderabad conference, the United Nations urged urban planners to incorporate green spaces in cities as more and more people move away from rural areas in search of work. Conservation and Science Foundation, one of the groups involved in the study. "A similar crisis is happening in Southeast Asia, where trade in wildlife is bringing many primates very close to extinction," Schwitzer said. More than half of the world's 633 types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct because of human activity such as the burning and clearing of tropical forests, the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade. While the situation appears dire for some species, wildlife researchers say conservation efforts are beginning to pay off, with several primates being removed from the list, now in its seventh edition. India's lion-tailed macaque and Madagascar's greater bamboo lemur have been taken off the endangered inventory for 2012 after the targeted species appeared to have recovered. Also, conservation efforts have ensured that the
FLORIDA MAN CHARGED IN NY D I N O S A U R FOSSILS CASE MIAMI (AP) -- A Florida man was charged Wednesday with smuggling dinosaur fossils into the United States, including a nearly complete Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton from Mongolia, federal prosecutors said. Eric Prokopi, a self-described "commercial paleontologist" who buys and sells whole and partial dinosaur skeletons, was arrested at his home in Gainesville, according to a complaint unsealed by prosecutors. He was charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and interstate sale and receipt of stolen goods. He also faces one count of conspiracy to smuggle illegal goods, possess stolen property and make false statements. If convicted on all of the charges, he could face up to 35 years in prison. Prokopi made an appearance Wednesday in federal court in Gainesville, where U.S.
Green areas in big cities perform important ecological functions, such as "filtering dust, absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and improving air quality," the Convention on Biological Diversity said in its new assessment. The "Cities and Biodiversity Outlook" is the first global analysis of how urban land expansion will impact biodiversity in the coming decades. The world's total urban area is expected to triple between 2000 and 2030, with urban populations set to double to around 4.9 billion in the same period. Data from the United Kingdom show that a 10 percent increase in tree canopy cover in cities may result in a 3-4 degree Celsius decrease in ambient temperature, thus reducing energy used for air conditioning, the report said. Urban biodiversity also delivers important health benefits, with studies showing that proximity to trees can reduce the prevalence of childhood asthma and allergies.
Prokopi has been involved in a lawsuit in New York over the auction because the Mongolian government has said it may belong to that country. Prokopi's attorney in the lawsuit, Michael McCullough, has said his client is entitled to keep the creature he spent a year putting together at great expense.
District Judge Gary R. Jones ordered him to be held on $100,000 bond. Prokopi must also surrender his passport and be kept under home detention. He did not enter a plea. The arrest was handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the investigation "uncovered a oneman black market in prehistoric fossils." The U.S. government seized the Tyrannosaurus skeleton earlier this year after it was sold by an auction house for $1.05 million. Prokopi did not immediately respond to a phone call, but his attorney has said he did nothing wrong.
McCullough has said the U.S. government was incorrect when it alleged that the skeleton pieces were brought into the country in one $15,000 shipment. He said there were three other shipments and only 37 percent of the completed skeleton came from one specimen. Federal prosecutors said Prokopi misrepresented the identity, origin and value of the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar, a dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago. Prokopi also is accused of illegally importing from Mongolia the skeleton of a Saurolophus, another dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period that he sold to a gallery in California along with fossils of two other dinosaurs native to Mongolia, Gallimimus and Oviraptor mongoliensis. He also imported the fossilized remains of a Microraptor, a small, flying dinosaur from China, the complaint said.