Canadian sentenced in 70K Ecstasy pill border bust

A Canadian woman caught trying to smuggle more than 70,000 tablets of Ecstasy into the U.S. by sticking them in her car's gas tank has been sentenced in New York to nearly 16 years in prison.

The U.S. attorney's office in Albany announced Tuesday that 34-year-old Tara Haynes, of Montreal, was sentenced Monday to 15 years and eight months in federal prison. She was convicted in August of attempting to import a controlled substance.

U.S. inspectors at the border crossing in Champlain in northern New York searched Haynes' rental car in June and found the drugs vacuum-sealed and packed in the vehicle's gas tank.

Her lawyer had argued that she didn't know the drugs were there.

Authorities say the drugs were valued at $500,000 to $2.1 million.

Ayla Reynolds Missing: Police Say Adults Know More Than They're Telling

Police investigating the disappearance of Maine toddler Ayla Reynolds have turned their focus to the three adults who were in the home with the girl the night she was last seen, saying that the evidence doesn't point to an abduction.

In what is being called the most intense investigation launched in Maine within the last decade, state police are now saying they believe the adults inside the house the night baby Ayla disappeared know more than what they're saying. Investigators are dismissing the basic premise that Ayla's father Justin DiPietro has suggested all along that his 20-month-old was abducted on Dec. 17. DiPietro had reported her missing that day.

"We have searched that home and we have found not one piece of evidence to lead us to believe Ayla was abducted," Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety said. "We think one or all three of the adults have info they haven't told us and we need that info in order to find Ayla."

Recently police revealed that evidence found at the home includes Ayla's blood, which was discovered in the partially-finished basement that her father used as his bedroom. While investigators will not say how much blood was discovered, they told Ayla's mother Trista Reynolds that it was "more than a small cut would produce."

"There was blood found and it wasn't just a small amount … I don't want it to be real," she said.
Trista Reynolds, 23, was in a substance abuse rehabilitation program at the time of her daughter's disappearance, and baby Ayla had been placed in her father's care while she was seeking treatment.

On the night that the girl was last seen, DiPietro, 24, and his girlfriend, along with her small child, were allegedly in the basement of the Waterville home. DiPietro's sister was also in the house, along with her young child, in a bedroom on the main level, while Ayla was reportedly in an adjacent bedroom by herself. DiPietro's mother was not at home that night.

"The adults inside that home say someone came into the house -- a small home -- went into a bedroom Ayla normally doesn't sleep in, took her, vanished in the night -- and not one of them heard or saw anything," McCausland said.

At a vigil for baby Ayla over the weekend where the child's parents saw each other for the first time since her disappearance, DiPietro refused to comment.

"I'm not here to answer any questions," he said.

While police say that DiPietro has been cooperating with the investigation, they say someone isn't telling the whole truth.

Police have not named DiPietro a suspect, or even a person of interest. They say they have ruled no one out and no one in, and that they are no closer to solving this case than they were on the morning of Dec. 17 when Ayla was reported missing.

On Saturday the girl's family posted a message on the website they had set up to aid in locating her.

"Even in light of this evidence we are more determined than ever to find out what has happened to Ayla and we still cling to the hope that she is alive and will be returned to us," the message said. "We urge anyone that has information about Ayla to come forward now and unburden yourself of the truth."

Ore. Democrat wins special congressional election

Democrats will hold onto an Oregon congressional seat left vacant when David Wu resigned in a sex scandal.

Democrat Suzanne Bonamici defeated Republican Rob Cornilles Tuesday night. With 69 percent of the vote counted, Bonamici led Cornilles 54 percent to 39 percent.

National Democrats poured more than $1 million into the Portland-area district, determined not to drop another safe seat after losing a New York district left vacant by Anthony Weiner, who acknowledged sending provocative text messages and resigned.

Wu stepped down from Congress in August after a newspaper reported that the 18-year-old daughter of a campaign donor accused the seven-term Democrat of making an unwanted sexual advance at a Thanksgiving dinner. His resignation capped months of reports about Wu's bizarre behavior that included widely-panned photos of the congressman wearing a tiger costume.

Bonamici, a former state senator who gave up her seat to run for Congress, emphasized her experience in the legislature and as a lawyer working on consumer protection issues at the Federal Trade Commission. She talked about controlling the national debt, but stuck mostly to traditional Democratic themes like preventing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Cornilles, owner of a consulting firm that does business with sports franchises, promoted his business experience. He ran toward the center and downplayed his Republican affiliation, but he still faced an uphill climb in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans and President Barack Obama enjoyed significant support in the 2008 campaign.

Democrats and their allies pummeled him with television ads that attacked his business credentials and tried to align him with the tea party.

Late in the race, Cornilles tried to tar Bonamici with the scandal that took out Wu.

Cornilles made his second bid for the seat. He lost to Wu by 13 percentage points in 2010.

The district includes downtown Portland and the suburbs in Washington County, as well as smaller communities in Clatsup, Columbia and Yamhill counties.

Letter from freed slave to former master draws attention

A newly discovered letter from a freed former slave to his onetime master is creating a buzz. Letters of Note explains that in August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee wrote to his former slave Jourdan Anderson, requesting that Jourdan return to work on his farm.
In the time since escaping from slavery, Anderson had become emancipated, moved to Ohio where he found paid work and was now supporting his family. The letter turned up in the August 22 edition of the New York Daily Tribune. Some excerpts:

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

On the "good chance" offered by the former slave owner:

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

And then Jourdan explains that anything his former master could offer, he's already earned on his own. Other than some back wages:

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

And after a few more jabs about how his children are now happy and receiving an education, Jourdan concludes his letter with:

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

Alaska volcano lava dome forms, alert level raised

The warning level for a remote Alaska volcano has been raised after a new lava dome began forming, indicating the mountain could explode and send up an ash cloud that could threaten aircraft.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Tuesday elevated the alert status for Cleveland Volcano.

Officials say the new lava dome was spotted in the summit crater. The observatory says as of Monday, the dome was about 130 feet in diameter.

There have been no eruptions since Dec. 25 and Dec. 29, which destroyed the earlier lava dome built up over the fall.

Cleveland is a 5,675-foot peak on an uninhabited island 940 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Authorities say sudden eruptions could occur at any time, and ash clouds 20,000 feet above sea level are possible.

The sin of sloth

I have never watched “Veronica Mars.” I know, I know. Stop yelling at me. I mean it. Stop. Hey, hey – the fetid fruit is totally uncalled for. Many, many people have already told me, commanded me, implored me to watch, and I just simply have not found the time. This, however, does not mean I have not taken the time to admire and appreciate Kristen Bell. Quite on the contrary, I find her quite nice. But, yesterday, that quire nice got stepped up to epically adorable. Because this is Kristen Bell unable to contain her joy at the fact that a sloth would be at her birthday party. If another event remotely that ridiculously cute, bordering on flat-out insane happens on “Veronica Mars,” I need to run out and but the box set immediately.

Fight through it

Hey, remember when I interviewed Zoie Palmer and she was lovely and charming and gracious and everything you’d ever hoped for? Me too! But, as I touched on ever so briefly in the interview, she’s also a bunch of other things. Funny, that’s one of them. But we all knew that already. But also badass. Yes, badass. Sure, on “Lost Girl” her skills are mostly confined to looking great in a lab coat and occasionally poking someone with a needle. But when she guested on “Nikita,” she got to show us some of her other skills. I know it’s probably wrong on every level, but watching Zoie and Maggie Q beat the shit out of each other is all kinds of hot. Hello, Monday. Now isn’t that a nice kick in the ass? Well, actually, the head.

p.s Reminder, I’m all “Lost Girl” all the time right now at AfterEllen. Season 2 SnapCaps run Tuesdays and Season 1 Rewind SnapCaps run Wednesdays. Check them out and play along, if you feel so inclined.

Joe Paterno died

JOE PATERNO DIED JOE PATERNO DIEDYou should honestly think about removing this post. Joe Paterno admitted that he didn’t know what to do in this situation, so he took it to who thought to be the appropriate outlet. He also admitted that he failed by not following up.
It’s disgusting that you have the audacity to say that Joe Paterno shielded a pedophile when you write about having sex with any celebrity at any age on this website. Your readers shield you every day. I wish I hadn’t come across your page at all. You’re disgusting and a pervert and a pedophile from what I’ve seen on this wesbite.
And just a reminder, he’s dead. So let it go.
 JOE PATERNO DIED 
 Colvin: Exactly this. Because writing a satirical website is exactlythesame as abetting a child rapist - as long as you admit fault, Amirite?
From what I hear, Jeffrey Dahmer, was just misunderstood. Plus he’s dead now, so let it go for fuck’s sake.
Logic.
 JOE PATERNO DIED 
Very good information………@nare. my buddy’s half-sister makes $73/hr on the laptop. She has been unemployed for 6 months but last month her pay was $8247 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more on this site… LazyCash1[dot]com

Woman gets life sentence in Md. yoga shop murder

A woman convicted of killing her co-worker at an upscale yoga clothing shop in the Washington suburbs, then spinning an elaborate lie about being attacked by two masked men, was ordered Friday to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Brittany Norwood tearfully apologized to the family of her victim in her first public statements since her arrest in March. A jury two months ago convicted Norwood of first-degree murder for bludgeoning and stabbing 30-year-old Jayna Murray, a co-worker at the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda. Murray had more than 330 distinct wounds on her body, and investigators believe she was alive for the duration of the attack.

The judge was unmoved by Norwood's tears, telling the 29-year-old that her crime "exemplified the worst of human nature" and that she was "one hell of a liar." He rejected defense pleas that she was capable of rehabilitation and deserved an eventual shot at freedom.

"You mutilated this woman. And with every blow, you had a chance to think about what you were doing," said Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg in imposing a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

The violent nature of the crime, and the initial accounts by Norwood of two murderers and rapists on the run, rattled the community northwest of Washington.

Prosecutors said Norwood attacked Murray with at least five weapons, including a knife, merchandise peg and a hammer, during a fight March 11 after they closed the shop for the day. They said Norwood lured Murray back to the store by falsely claiming she forgot something inside and needed to be let back in. She beat Murray for at least 20 minutes and doctored the scene overnight to support her story that intruders had attacked and sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said,

Murray was found the next morning in a pool of blood at the back of the store. Her wounds included a knife strike to the head that served as the death blow. Norwood was found nearby, moaning in apparent pain and tied up, with superficial — and self-imposed — wounds on her body. Blood was tracked throughout the store, something detectives later determined Norwood had done to throw them off her trail.

The jury didn't hear a motive for the killing, but prosecutor John McCarthy said Murray had confronted Norwood after finding a pair of stolen pants in Norwood's bag. Norwood feared the shoplifting discovery would cause her to be fired and derail her planned career as a personal trainer, McCarthy said.

"It was more than a pair of pants," McCarthy said. "It was the unraveling of a life that she had set for herself."

Norwood said she contemplated not making any statements because she knew nothing she said would ease the Murrays' pain. But as a row of her family members sobbed, Norwood briefly apologized and asked the judge for a morsel of leniency.

"My hope for your family is that someday you'll be able to find forgiveness in your heart," she told the Murray family.

Norwood's account of the attack set off panic in Bethesda, an affluent suburb where violent crime is rare. Montgomery County police went on a manhunt and fielded hundreds of tips. Some residents and shoppers who frequented the bustling corridor of high-end shops and trendy restaurants where Lululemon is situated admitted to feeling anxious at night.

"Businesses operated differently," McCarthy said.

Norwood stared to the ground as eight of Murray's friends and family detailed how their once-joyful lives have become consumed by nightmares, anxiety, depression and feelings of emptiness. Her father, David Murray, showed the courtroom a series of photographs — his daughter as a smiling young girl, shooting a bow and arrow, bungee jumping, posing alongside a trophy and in her graduation cap and gown — that he said illustrated his daughter's zest for life and talents as a student, swimmer, dancer and gymnast.

"March 11, 2011 was my family's Sept. 11, 2001," Murray's brother, Hugh, told the judge. "Nothing will ever return to normal. Nothing will ever be the same."

Murray's other brother, Dirk, said his two young sons adored their aunt but were starting to ask difficult questions about her death. When they go to bed at night, he said, the family doesn't check the closets for an anonymous bogeyman.

"We check for Brittany Norwood," he said.

The family described how their initial empathy for Murray's surviving co-worker — her father said he even contemplated sending Norwood flowers at the hospital — transformed into horror and rage when they learned she was the attacker, not the victim.

"Of the many stages of grief, I have not moved away from rage," David Murray said.

Norwood's tale unraveled within days as police fingered her as their sole suspect. Workers at an adjacent Apple store told police that they heard two women loudly arguing — though they were castigated by the judge Friday for failing to call for help. Investigators found only two sets of footprints in the store. A physical examination did not back up Norwood's claim of being sexually assaulted. And Norwood's DNA was found inside Murray's car, which Norwood had driven away from the store as part of her ruse.

She was arrested a week after the murder.

Norwood's lawyers conceded at the outset of the trial that Norwood had killed Murray, but said she had simply "lost it" in a moment of irrationality and didn't have the required forethought to be convicted of first-degree murder.

Her attorney, Doug Wood, urged a judge to grant her the possibility of parole, though he acknowledged there was a minimal chance of her ever being granted it. Giving her and her family at least a glimmer of hope is part of the community's collective healing, Wood argued.

A sentence of life without parole, he argued, "forecloses hope. It forecloses redemption. It forecloses forgiveness. It allows anger, hatred and fear to win out."

Facebook IPO could value it among top companies

• 
  FILE - In this May, 26, 2010 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the social network site's new privacy settings in Palo Alto, Calif. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Facebook makes its long-expected debut as a public company this spring, the social-networking company will likely vault into the ranks of the largest public companies in the world, alongside McDonald's, Amazon.com and Bank of America.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Facebook is preparing to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion and value the company at $75 billion to $100 billion. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission could come as early as Wednesday, with an initial public offering of stock in three or four months.

The targeted amount would slot it among the world's 25 largest IPOs, although as recently as November 2010, General Motors raised $15.8 billion when it shed majority control by the U.S. government.

The IPOs of 14 companies would rank higher than Facebook's, according to investment adviser Renaissance Capital. Among them were Visa Inc.'s $17.9 billion IPO in March 2008, the largest for a U.S. company, and world-topper Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., which raised $19.3 billion in July 2010, not including extra shares issued to meet demand.

Facebook spokesman Larry Wu said the company will not comment on IPO-related speculation. The Journal had cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The Journal also said that Facebook was close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter, which would be a setback for rival Goldman Sachs. Both declined comment to The Associated Press.

The buzz surrounding an outsized haul for Facebook's founders, employees and early investors remains a hopeful sign for capital markets following a deep recession. At the reported price, Facebook's IPO would be the biggest for a U.S. Internet company ever — topping the debut of one of its main rivals, Google Inc.

"We are expecting 2012 to be a year of recovery for the IPO market led by the Facebook IPO," said Kathy Smith, Renaissance Capital's principal.

The event will follow a string of tepid debuts by technology startups including social game maker Zynga and discount advertiser Groupon. The stocks of both companies are just pennies above their offering prices in December and November respectively. Zynga's stock fell 5 percent below the IPO price on its first day of trading.

Facebook's will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004. Not including shares sold by early investors, the Internet search giant raised $1.2 billion and grabbed a market value of $23 billion, the biggest so far for a U.S. Internet company. The IPO raised $1.9 billion, including shares sold by early investors and extra stock issued to meet the heavy demand. It's not known whether Facebook's $10 billion target includes shares owned by early investors.

Facebook's reported valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion compares with about $100 billion for McDonald's Corp., $90 billion for Citigroup Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and $75 billion for Bank of America Corp. It would exceed the market cap of $55 billion for Hewlett-Packard Co., one of the world's largest technology companies by revenue.

Both Facebook and Google earn most of their money from advertising and are now competing to gain as much information as possible about their users to help advertisers target niche audiences.

According to eMarketer, Facebook is expected to grow its share of the U.S. display ad market to about 20 percent this year from 16 percent in 2011, above second-ranked Yahoo's expected share of about 13 percent. For overall online ad revenue, Facebook is seen grabbing just 8 percent of the market this year, compared with 45 percent for Google.

EMarketer estimates that Facebook's ad revenue will grow 52 percent to $5.78 billion this year and will reach $7 billion in 2013.

Despite presumably topping Google's public launch, Facebook spent more time growing behind the veil of private ownership than its rival.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates in 2004 and is debuting on stock markets in its eighth year. Google's IPO came six years after being founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. When Google turned eight in August 2006, its market cap was roughly $116 billion. Today, the company is worth nearly $190 billion — down from a peak of about $235 billion in November 2007.

Investors may be asked to bet heavily on the belief that Facebook will continue to revolutionize the way people communicate around the globe. Even with Facebook's heady growth rate, Google had ad revenue last year of more than five times what Facebook is expected to get in 2013. Yet it is Google that is mimicking Facebook in building a rival social network called Plus.

"There's the general feeling that Facebook might be the future of the way the Internet works," said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Zuckerberg, 27, is already worth $17.5 billion, based on the latest estimates from Forbes magazine. Most of that wealth is drawn from the value of Facebook shares that have traded among a small universe of well-heeled investors that buy stakes in companies before they go public.

As the company gauges public demand for its stock, the number of shares offered and the price asked could change significantly. Groupon had to refile its securities paperwork repeatedly as regulators questioned some of its accounting methods. Even Google took in less than it hoped as people shunned an unorthodox auction-based offering.

John Fitzgibbon Jr., publisher of IPOScoop.com, said it's too early to get excited.

"Until they actually put the ink on the paper and push it across the desk of the SEC, it's all speculation," he said.

The possible filing next week isn't all that surprising.

Federal rules require companies with at least $10 million in assets and more than 500 shareholders to disclose its quarterly financial results and other details. The reporting requirement kicks in 120 days after the fiscal year in which a company exceeds the shareholder threshold for the first time.

Facebook's fiscal year ends Dec. 31, so it has until late April 2012 to comply with this requirement, having hit the 500-shareholder threshold last year. Because it typically takes three or four months after filing paperwork to issue the IPO, a Wednesday filing would allow it to meet the deadline. If it happens in May, it could become a lucrative birthday gift for Zuckerberg, who will turn 28 that month.

Bridges in the United States 'Torn' was hit by a Giant Cargo Ships

Bridges in the United States 'Torn' was hit by a Giant Cargo Ships A giant cargo ship crashed into a steel bridge in the area of ​​Kentucky, United States (U.S.). As a result the 91-meter long bridge was torn and stuck on the front of the ship.

Named Delta Mariner cargo ship has a length of 95 meters.When viewed from its size, the ship was too large to traverse the bottom of the bridge named Eggner Ferry Bridge, which stretches across Kentucky Lake Reservoir.

Similarly, as reported by the Daily Mail, Saturday (28/01/2012).

This cargo ship transporting aircraft parts belonging to the enterprise space and the United Launch Alliance will be used toassemble spacecraft to be launched from Headquarters U.S. Air Force Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Some bridges were destroyed after it was hit by a ship. Steel bridge was torn away when hit, the asphalt road that is in it tootorn.

In fact in mind that a km long bridge is the only access to the lakeand across the Tennessee River. With terpotongnya partialbridge, the road users must turn away up to tens of kilometers tocross the river. Post-event, the bridge was closed and guardedby the coast guard officers.

According to local government, there were no casualties as a result of this incident. Currently, local governments are investigating further about this incident.