Mississippi man makes court appearance in ricin case

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? A Mississippi man appeared briefly in court Monday on a charge that he made a deadly poison that was sent in letters to President Barack Obama, a senator and a judge.

James Everett Dutschke was brought to federal court in Oxford wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands shackled. The 41-year-old suspect said little during the brief hearing other than to answer the judge's questions about whether he understood the charges against him. He said he did.

Dutschke's arrest early Saturday on a charge of making and possessing ricin capped a week in which investigators initially zeroed in on a rival of Dutschke's, then decided they had the wrong man. Dutschke has denied involvement in the mailing of the letters, saying he's a patriot with no grudges against anyone.

The judge ordered Dutschke to remain jailed until a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for Thursday. More details are likely to emerge at that hearing, when prosecutors have to show they have enough evidence to hold him.

An attorney from the public defender's office appointed to represent Dutschke declined to comment after Monday's hearing. Another attorney who had been representing Dutschke, Lori Nail Basham, no longer is.

Dutschke's house, business and vehicles in Tupelo, Miss., were searched last week, often by crews in hazardous materials suits, and he had been under surveillance.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted. A news release from federal authorities said Dutschke (pronounced DUHS'-kee) was charged with "knowingly developing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retaining and possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system, for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin."

He already had legal problems. Earlier this month, he pleaded not guilty in state court to two child molestation charges involving three girls younger than 16. He also was appealing a conviction on a different charge of indecent exposure. He told The Associated Press last week that his lawyer told him not to comment on those cases.

The letters, which tests showed were tainted with ricin, were sent April 8 to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

The first suspect accused by the FBI was Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, an Elvis impersonator. He was arrested on April 17 at his Corinth, Miss., home, but the charges were dropped six days later and Curtis, who says he was framed, was released from jail.

The focus then turned to Dutschke, who has ties to the former suspect and the judge. Earlier in the week, as investigators searched his primary residence in Tupelo, Dutschke told the AP, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"I'm a patriotic American. I don't have any grudges against anybody. ... I did not send the letters," Dutschke said.

Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, said Saturday: "We are relieved but also saddened. This crime is nothing short of diabolical. I have seen a lot of meanness in the past two decades, but this stops me in my tracks."

Some of the language in the letters was similar to posts on Curtis' Facebook page and they were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." Curtis often used a similar online signoff.

Dutschke and Curtis were acquainted. Curtis said they had talked about possibly publishing a book on a conspiracy that Curtis insists he has uncovered to sell body parts on a black market. But he said they later had a feud.

Curtis' attorneys have said they believe their client was set up. An FBI agent testified that no evidence of ricin was found in searches of Curtis' home. Curtis attorney Hal Neilson said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis and Dutschke's came up.

Judge Holland also is a common link between the two men, and both know Wicker.

Holland was the presiding judge in a 2004 case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney a year earlier. Holland sentenced him to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.

Holland's family has had political skirmishes with Dutschke. Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative, said he thinks his mother's only encounter with Dutschke was at a rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when Dutschke ran as a Republican against Steve Holland.

Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he made a derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demanded that he apologize, which Holland says he did.

Dutschke said Steve Holland exaggerated the incident, and that he has no problem with Sadie Holland. "Everybody loves Sadie, including me," he said.

___

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brief-hearing-held-suspicious-letters-case-150754186.html

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Amanda Bynes: Check Out My Cray-Cray New Twitter Video!!

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NBA player makes historic announcement

National Basketball Association center Jason Collins on Monday became the first male professional athlete in a major US team sport to reveal that he is gay.

In a lengthy post co-written with Sports Illustrated reporter Frank Lidz, Collins writes that after years of hiding his sexuality, March?s Supreme Court oral hearings pushed him to come out of the closet.

?Less than three miles from my apartment, nine jurists argued about my happiness and my future. Here was my chance to be heard, and I couldn?t say a thing,? Collins wrote.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about gay rights in America? Take the quiz!

Collins, who played for the Washington Wizards this year, waited until the season was over so as to not be a distraction to the team. Then he contacted Sports Illustrated through his agents to make the disclosure, according to an accompanying article.

?I?m glad I?m coming out in 2013 rather than 2003. The climate has shifted; public opinion as shifted. And yet we still have so much farther to go,? Collins concluded.

He is now a free agent but has said he wants to keep playing.

Will Collins?s move affect US public policy? To a certain extent, he is taking advantage of an existing trend toward more tolerance of gay rights in US public opinion. Earlier this month, an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey found 53 percent of respondents approving of gay marriage, up 2 percentage points from December.

The more personal gay rights appear to Americans, the more support for it seems to go. That?s what happened with Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio, who announced in March that he has switched and now supports gay marriage, in part because his son is gay.

Collins? disclosure is likely to put wind in the sails of this trend, given the coverage it is likely to receive and the interest major league team sports generate in the US, indeed the world. He is a tough, veteran center who was an all-American at Stanford and a first-round draft pick of the Houston Rockets. He?s spent significant time playing for the New Jersey Nets and the Atlanta Hawks, with stops in Memphis, Minnesota, Boston, and now Washington along the way.

Of course, this trend is still partisan, and the Collins story may not change that. In the NBC poll, 73 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents approved of gay marriage, while 66 percent of Republicans opposed it.

Collins was a roommate of Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D) of Massachusetts in college. Kennedy has already issued a statement of support for Collins and invited him to march in the 2013 Gay Pride parade in Boston.

Ex-President Bill Clinton was also quick to weigh in, as Collins was also a classmate and friend of daughter Chelsea at Stanford.

?Jason?s announcement today is an important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community,? said Clinton?s statement in part.

Clinton also said he hoped that the larger NBA community would accept Collins for who he is. Notably, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tweeted on Monday that he was ?proud? of Collins.

?Don?t suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others,? Bryant tweeted.

The effect of the Collins announcement would be more pronounced if other male pro athletes follow his example. Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who is straight but has expressed support for gay rights, has said that there are as many as four NFL players who he knows to be gay, and that they have been discussing coming out as a group.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about gay rights in America? Take the quiz!

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nbas-jason-collins-comes-does-mean-gay-rights-171515452.html

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Boston suspects' father postpones trip to US

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The father of the two Boston bombing suspects said Sunday that he has postponed a trip from Russia to the United States because of poor health.

"I am really sick," Anzor Tsarnaev, 46, told The Associated Press. He said his blood pressure had spiked to dangerous levels.

Tsarnaev said at a news conference Thursday that he planned to leave that day or the next for the U.S. with the hope of seeing his younger son, who is under arrest, and burying his elder son, who was killed. His family, however, indicated later Thursday that the trip could be pushed back because he was not feeling well.

Tsarnaev confirmed on Sunday that he is staying in Chechnya, a province in southern Russia, but did not specify whether he was hospitalized. He is an ethnic Chechen and has relatives in Chechnya, although he and his family spent little time in Chechnya or anywhere else in Russia before moving to the U.S. a decade ago.

He and the suspects' mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, returned to Russia last year and settled in Makhachkala, the capital of neighboring Dagestan, where Tsarnaeva's relatives live.

During the past week, they were both questioned extensively by U.S. investigators who had traveled to Makhachkala from Moscow. They also were besieged by journalists who staked out their home.

Tsarnaev's family said last week that he intended to get to the U.S. by flying from Grozny, the Chechen capital, to Moscow. He and Tsarnaeva left Dagestan on Friday, but their whereabouts were unclear.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-suspects-father-postpones-trip-us-124041600.html

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Reid Shelves Gun Control Bill?For Now

Congress Remains In Session In Attempt At Avert Government Shutdown

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) (Getty Images).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday announced that the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate would shelve its gun control legislation -- for now.

"Yesterday, President Obama said it was a shameful day for the Senate, and it probably was, I agree," Sen. Reid said. "But we should make no mistake: This debate is not over, in fact this fight is just beginning."

The Nevada Senator said that the legislative body would "take a pause and freeze the background check bill where it is" and "return to it at an undetermined date," according to the Washington Post.

"We're going to come back to this bill," Reid said.

A White House source familiar with senator's decision to pull the bill tells the WaPo that he first cleared it with the Obama administration.

"The underlying bill hasn't been defeated and is still technically on the legislative calendar. As majority leader, Reid can bring up the bill again at a moment's notice," the report explains.

"When the Senate might reconsider the bill remains uncertain and may not occur for weeks or months. Reid said the Senate would move next to consideration of an Internet taxation bill, a proposal that is believed to enjoy bipartisan support," the report adds.

The senate on Wednesday rejected?seven gun-related amendments, most of them measures championed by President Barack Obama. The big one was the Toomey-Manchin proposal to expand background checks.

Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.), though frustrated, told reporters he is confident that the Senate would return to the issue.

"The bottom line is, that the facts were just so clean and clear," the senator said. "The bill had been worked on for three months, it took everyone. It sure as heck wasn't the president's bill."

On Thursday, the senate approved two more amendments: "One that would deter states from publishing lists of gun owners and a bipartisan plan to bolster federal funding for mental health efforts, including suicide prevention programs," the WaPo notes.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image Getty Images.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reid-shelves-gun-control-bill-now-024229612--finance.html

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Loan Education Becomes Prerequisite As Student Debt Balloons

College loan debt isn't easing up, and students are struggling to navigate a plethora of obligations.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

College loan debt isn't easing up, and students are struggling to navigate a plethora of obligations.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

For students now sprinting toward the end of their college days, the finish line may not be much of a relief. More than ever, their gait is slowed by the weight of impending debt.

Thirty-seven million Americans share about $1 trillion in student loans, according to Federal Reserve data. It's the biggest consumer debt besides mortgages, eclipsing both auto loans and credit cards. And on it grows, an appetite undiminished by the recession.

Learning What To Ask

There are signs that students are catching on to the dangers, however. Dawit Lemma learned his own lessons about loans and is now passing them on to others. He's the associate director of operations at the University of Maryland's Office of Student Financial Aid.

He graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in 2004, years before the recession hit. At the time, Lemma says, he considered student loans another form of financial aid.

Now, he says, students are starting to ask questions he had never considered when he took out loans.

"They know more about the loan process. So they want to know about not just [the] interest rate, they want to know about repayment options, consolidations, forgiveness options," Lemma tells Jacki Lyden, guest host of weekends on All Things Considered.

'I Was Very Naive'

Emmanuel Tellez wishes he had been more inquisitive. Tellez graduated from Northeastern University in Boston in 2008. He majored in English, and on graduation day, he owed about $50,000. That debt has ballooned to more than $70,000 with interest and collection fees.

He says it wasn't a responsibility he was ready for when he applied for school.

"When I signed my promissory note, I was 17-and-a-half. I was very naive with regard to my expectations," he says. "I knew early on I wouldn't be living high off the hog being an English major. I didn't know the explicit terms."

Tellez says he would have been more wary of the kinds of loans he took on if he had known, for example, that he would not be able to discharge the debt in bankruptcy or that the federal government could garnish his wages if he defaulted.

What Can Congress Do?

There is a legislative effort to ease some of the potential burdens, as the interest rate for some federal student loans is set to jump to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent in July.

Congresswoman Karen Bass is proposing to cap student loan interest rates at 3.4 percent. A bill the California Democrat has introduced, The Student Loan Fairness Act, would also require the federal government to forgive loans up to $45,000 if the borrower has been paying back loans consistently for 10 years.

Bass says the bill is not an overall fix, but it's a necessary step.

"There are a lot of problems that we're facing in our country. We really need to rethink how higher education is paid for ? period. But until then, we really shouldn't pass this debt on to future generations," she says.

Moreover, she says, investing in education is essential for staying competitive with other countries.

A Bit Of Advice

Meanwhile, five years after graduating, Tellez is just trying to keep up. He has hired a lawyer to help him navigate what he calls the "labyrinth" of his private loans and has successfully consolidated his federal loans. Now he's chipping away at the total, paying about $500 a month.

Tellez, now a legal assistant/administrative assistant at a Boston law school, hopes future students can learn from his struggles.

"I tell my sister, who's now at [University of California, Berkeley], to be far more frugal than she imagines she has to be," he says. "One thing that I kind of had to learn the hard way is to scan all the documents you get and make sure that you have electronic copies because ... young people move a lot."

Today, Tellez is back in school part-time, pursuing a master's in public administration. This time, he says, he's learned his lesson: He's not borrowing. Instead, his employer is picking up the tab.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/06/176442821/loan-education-becomes-prerequisite-as-student-debt-balloons?ft=1&f=1001

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Six NATO Troops, Civilians Killed in Afghan Attacks

Six International Security Assistance Force troops and civilians, including an American, were killed in attacks on Saturday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, according to coalition forces.

In the south, three NATO service members and two coalition civilians were killed in an attack involving an improvised explosive device, the coalition said in a statement.

Source: http://reason.com/24-7/2013/04/06/six-nato-troops-civilians-killed-in-afgh

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Foreign embassies sit tight despite North Korea's warning

The missiles recently moved to the east coast of North Korea aren't believed capable of carrying nuclear warheads and may not even be armed, however, Pyongyang has warned foreign diplomats to have evacuation plans ready. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

By Jane Chung, Reuters

SEOUL -- Staff at embassies in North Korea appeared to be remaining in place on Saturday despite an appeal by authorities in Pyongyang for diplomats to consider leaving because of heightened tension after weeks of bellicose exchanges.

North Korean authorities told diplomatic missions they could not guarantee their safety from next Wednesday -- after declaring that conflict was inevitable amid joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises due to last until the end of the month.

Whatever the atmosphere in Pyongyang, the rain-soaked South Korean capital, Seoul, was calm. Traffic moved normally through the city center, busy with Saturday shoppers.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a government official as saying diplomats were disregarding the suggestion they might leave the country.

"We don't believe there's any foreign mission about to leave Pyongyang," the unidentified official was quoted as saying. "Most foreign governments view the North Korean message as a way of ratcheting up tension on the Korean peninsula."

North Korea has been angry since new U.N. sanctions were imposed following its third nuclear weapons test in February. Its rage has apparently been compounded by joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that began on March 1.

Experts say a ground war with North Korea would be devastating, with 700,000 North Korean soldiers aiming thousands of rockets and artillery at South Korea. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

China's Xinhua news agency on Friday had quoted the North's Foreign Ministry as saying the issue was no longer whether but when a war would break out.

Most countries saw the appeal to the missions as little more than strident rhetoric after weeks of threatening to launch a nuclear strike on the United States and declarations of war against the South.

But Russia said it was "seriously studying" the request.

'Deeply concerned'
A South Korean government official expressed bewilderment.

"It's hard to define what is its real intention," said the official, who asked not to be identified. "But it might have intensified these threats to strengthen the regime internally or to respond to the international community."

The United Nations said its humanitarian workers remained active across North Korea. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, however, remained "deeply concerned" about tensions, heightened since the imposition of U.N. sanctions against the North for its third nuclear arms test last in February.

The appeal to diplomats followed news reports in the South that North Korea, under its 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un, had moved two medium-range missiles to a location on its east coast.

That prompted the White House to say that Washington would "not be surprised" if the North staged another missile test.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland discusses the increase of aggressive rhetoric that is being expressed on a regular basis by the North Korean government.

Kim Jong-un is the third member of his dynasty to rule North Korea. He took over in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, who staged confrontations with South Korea and the United States throughout his 17-year rule.

North Korea has always condemned the exercises held by U.S. forces and their South Korean allies. But its comments have been especially vitriolic this year as the United States dispatched B-2 bombers from its home bases to stage mock runs.

North Korea's government daily newspaper said tension remained high because the United States was "waging madcap nuclear war maneuvers.?

"This is aimed at igniting a nuclear war against it through a pre-emptive strike," the Minju Joson said in a commentary. "The prevailing situation proves that a new war, a nuclear war, is imminent on the peninsula."

But some commentators examining the outcome of meetings in Pyongyang last week - of the ruling Workers' Party and of the rubber-stamp legislature - concluded that Kim and his leadership were more concerned with economic than military issues.?

Internet site 38 North, which specializes in North Korean affairs, noted the reappointment of reformer Pak Pong Ju as prime minister, the limited titles given to top military and security officials and the naming of a woman to a senior party post.

"These personnel appointments make a great deal of sense in the context of Pyongyang's declarations ... that its economic policy will be modified by introducing systemic reforms while also continuing the development of nuclear weapons," 38 North commentator Michael Madden wrote.

"(They) appear to be important steps in moving key economic development products and production away from the control of the military to the party and government,? he added.

North Korea has not shut down one symbol of joint cooperation, the Kaesong industrial zone just inside its border. But last week it prevented South Koreans from entering the complex and about 100 of them who have since remained were due to return home on Saturday, leaving a further 500 there.?

Elizabeth Dalziel / AP

From work to play, see pictures from inside the secretive country.

Related:

Nine 'facts' about North Korea's Kim Jong Un

N. Korea's overseas apologists dismiss 'propaganda'

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Retailers track employee thefts in vast databases

Stephanie Clifford and Jessica Silver-Greenberg , The New York Times ? ? ? 2 hrs.

Facing a wave of employee theft, retailers across the country have helped amass vast databases of workers accused of stealing and are using that information to keep employees from working again in the industry.

The repositories of information, like First Advantage Corporation?s Esteem database, often contain scant details about suspected thefts and routinely do not involve criminal charges. Still, the information can be enough to scuttle a job candidate?s chances.

Some of the employees, who submit written statements after being questioned by store security officers, have no idea that they admitted committing a theft or that the information will remain in databases, according to interviews with consumer lawyers, regulators and employees.

The databases, which have tens of thousands of subscribers and are used by major retailers like Target, CVS and Family Dollar, are aimed at combating employee theft, which accounts for a large swath of missing merchandise. The latest figures available, from 2011, put the loss at about 44 percent of missing merchandise, valued at about $15 billion, according to a trade group, the National Retail Federation.

Retailers ?don?t want to take a chance on hiring somebody that they might have a problem with,? said Richard Mellor, the federation?s vice president for loss prevention.

But the databases, which are legal, are facing scrutiny from labor lawyers and federal regulators, who worry they are so sweeping that innocent employees can be harmed. The lawyers say workers are often coerced into confessing, sometimes when they have done nothing wrong, without understanding that they will be branded as thieves.

The Federal Trade Commission has fielded complaints about the databases and is examining whether they comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a federal law aimed at curbing inaccurate consumer information and giving consumers more control, said Anthony Rodriguez, a staff lawyer at the agency.

Screening for suspected episodes of shoplifting is one part of a background check, as companies scour for evidence of criminal convictions or sex-offender registration. Almost all retailers perform background checks, according to a 2011 survey from the federation. But some background-check companies are wary of the theft admissions, which retailers submit to the databases.

?That is not a product that we sell, because I think it?s a product fraught with risk and inefficiency,? said William Greenblatt, the chief executive of the background-check company Sterling Infosystems.

Background-check data
Federal authorities have zeroed in on background-check data. Last summer, the F.T.C. settled charges with HireRight, which provides a retail-theft database along with other types of screenings. Among the accusations, the agency said that some records were inaccurate and that the firm made it too difficult for consumers to dispute claims.

LexisNexis agreed last week to pay $13.5 million to settle a class-action suit on behalf of 31,000 people that accused the firm of violating consumer protection laws by selling background checks to debt collectors. The company did not admit wrongdoing.

As the economic recovery limps forward, consumer lawyers say, the consequences of the retail theft databases? can be particularly devastating. With so many job applicants, employers have little incentive to hire someone with a tarnished background.

Since the recession, lawsuits have proliferated against the companies that operate retail theft databases, like LexisNexis, which owned Esteem until this year, HireRight and GIS, according to a review of court records. In the last year, the nature of the lawsuits has changed, too, as lawyers try to build class-action cases. HireRight did not return calls for comment, and the other firms declined to comment.

Stores carefully train loss-prevention officers to ensure the admissions are accurate, Mr. Mellor said, and the databases reverify information. But with an inaccurate statement, he said, ?your options for getting it out of a database are slim.? Some retailers are moving away from the databases. Home Depot, which just stopped using Esteem, said the decision followed a general review of ?systems and services.?

For Keesha Goode, $34.97 in missing merchandise was enough to destroy her future in retailing.

Ms. Goode, 28, was a clerk at the discount store Forman Mills in 2008, when she was accused of not ringing up a former employee?s purchases. During a nearly two-hour examination, Ms. Goode, who maintains her innocence, said she had agreed to write out a statement because she worried she would be sent to jail.

In looping cursive, she said her accusers were trying to make her out as a liar, adding, ?I was just doing my job.? Ms. Goode was immediately fired, and was asked to pay back the $34.97. She had no idea, she said, that the statement would go into a shared database.

She received a letter from Dollar General alerting her that she had been turned down for a job partly because of her listing in Esteem, and a copy of the report showed that she had a ?verified admission? for ?theft of merchandise.? She wrote LexisNexis, ?I was accused of not reporting on a former employee who was stealing merchandise, but I did not steal anything myself.?

The company responded that it had reinvestigated and ?verified? the accuracy of the information. Ms. Goode, who now works at a halfway house, has a lawsuit pending against LexisNexis, accusing the company of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Forman Mills and Dollar General did not respond to requests for comment. LexisNexis has moved to toss out the lawsuit, arguing that the company abided by the law, according to court filings.

Willing to say anything
As in Ms. Goode?s case, the admission statements are typically obtained by a store?s security force. Employees are often willing to say anything to ward off what can feel like an interrogation, the lawyers say. Another problem: the employee is informally accused and ultimately deprived of the protections, like due process, that a suspect would receive in a police precinct, for example. Lawyers also say that admission forms do not typically warn employees that it will go on their record.

?We?re not talking about a criminal record, which either is there or is not there ? it?s an admission statement which is being provided by an employer,? said Irv Ackelsberg, a lawyer at Langer, Grogan & Diver who represents Ms. Goode.

Such statements may contain no outright admission of guilt, like one submitted after Kyra Moore, then a CVS employee, was accused of stealing: ?picked up socks left them at the checkout and never came back to buy them,? it read. When Ms. Moore later applied for a job at Rite Aid, she was deemed ?noncompetitive.? She is suing Esteem.

CVS, noting that it is not a defendant in this lawsuit, said that many retail companies used Esteem ?to report and share information about employees who have admitted to theft from their employers,? and that CVS only sent written theft admissions to Esteem.

Still, lawyers say those admissions can be problematic. The database is ?a secret blacklist,? Mr. Ackelsberg said. ?The employees don?t know about it until they have already been hurt.?

Copyright ? 2013 The New York Times

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Chemistry: Elusive mechanism of widely used click reaction revealed

Apr. 4, 2013 ? Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have illuminated the mechanism at the heart of one of the most useful processes in modern chemistry. A reaction that is robust and easy to perform, it is widely employed to synthesize new pharmaceuticals, biological probes, new materials and other products. But precisely how it works had been unclear since its invention at TSRI more than a decade ago.

"These new findings allow us to exert greater control of the reaction and make it faster and more efficient under the most challenging conditions," said chemist Valery Fokin, an associate professor at TSRI, who was principal investigator for the new study. "The reaction-tracking techniques we developed here also can be applied to the study of other complex processes, both chemical and biological."

The report, which sheds light on the reaction known as copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), appears on April 4, 2013 in Science Express, the advance online edition of the journal Science, and in the April 18, 2013 issue of the journal.

Classic Click Reaction

Fokin and his laboratory, and the laboratory of K. Barry Sharpless, a Nobel laureate and the W.M. Keck Professor of Chemistry at TSRI, reported the discovery of the CuAAC reaction in 2002. Danish researchers independently reported a similar reaction in the same year. The reaction involves the use of copper compounds to catalyze the linkage of two functional groups, a nitrogen-containing azide and a hydrocarbon alkyne, to make a stable five-membered heterocycle, 1,2,3-triazole. Azides and alkynes are small functional groups that can be easily introduced into a wide variety of structures using chemical or biological methods without interfering with normal biological processes.

The experimental simplicity and reliable performance of CuAAC under virtually all conditions, including in water and in the presence of oxygen, has made it a "go-to" method whenever covalent stitching of small human-made molecules or large biopolymers is needed, exemplified by protein and nucleic acid labeling, in vitro and in vivo imaging, drug synthesis and the forging of complex molecular architectures with surgical precision.

"Despite its many uses, the nature of the copper-containing reactive intermediates that are involved in the catalysis had not been well understood, in large part due to the promiscuous nature of copper, which rapidly engages in dynamic interactions with other molecules," said Fokin.

Previous studies had hinted that in the swirl of short-lived bondings and partings that occur during a given CuAAC reaction, not one but two copper-containing catalytic units -- "copper centers" -- are needed to help build the new triazole structure. To confirm this, Fokin and two of his graduate students, Brady Worrell and Jamal Malik, tried to reproduce key steps of the CuAAC catalytic cycle with either one or two copper atoms available. Analysis of the reaction course by tracking the heat given off by each reaction as well as product yield indicated whether it worked efficiently. "By monitoring the reaction in real time, we showed that both copper atoms are needed and established the involvement of copper-containing intermediates that could not be isolated or directly observed," said Worrell, who was the paper's first author.

In a second set of experiments, Worrell, Malik and Fokin introduced a pure isotope of copper -- which differs slightly in mass from the isotope blend found in natural copper -- as one of the two copper centers so that they could track their respective fates during the reaction. "We hypothesized that the two copper centers would have distinct roles, but found unexpectedly that their functions during key steps in the reaction are effectively interchangeable," said Malik.

New Linkages

The research reveals the popular CuAAC reaction in unprecedented detail. In addition to the fundamental insights into the chemistry of copper and its interactions with organic molecules, the techniques will lead to better understanding of many chemical and biological processes involving copper. The current study also enables development of new reactions that exploit weak interactions of copper catalysts with carbon-carbon triple bonds. In fact, based on the new findings, Fokin and his team have begun to devise new reactions in which one copper center can be replaced with a different element, to pursue complementary biocompatible and efficient techniques.

Funding for the study was provided by grants from the National Science Foundation (CHE-0848982) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (GM-087620).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scripps Research Institute, via Newswise.

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Journal Reference:

1. B. T. Worrell, J. A. Malik, and V. V. Fokin. Direct Evidence of a Dinuclear Copper Intermediate in Cu(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions. Science, 4 April 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1229506

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/K6VG1pKZETo/130404142419.htm

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Seo Services

Getting specific services can help any business improve their operations and also help them succeed as much as possible. One of the most beneficial services is SEO services. With SEO services, a company can have a way to get their website promoted at little cost and therefore get more customers. By getting SEO services, a business will have the assistance they need in order to help get the most exposure that they can get. When looking to get these services, you will want to keep a few things in mind. These things include what these services are, how they can help a business and also when to get them. Once a company gets these services they will have one service that can help them maximize their success.

Search engine optimization services are services that help a company promote their website through the internet. A service provider will usually help use keywords and meta tags to help the website stand out more and get to the top of the search engines. They will usually learn about your business and then write keywords to help promote the site of your business online. With their assistance, a company will increase its chances of getting far up the search engines and eventually getting more exposure.

When getting search engine optimization services, there are some ways in which they will help you. They will usually help you by allowing you to promote your business, get your site to the top of the search engines more quickly, and also help you get more customers from the internet. The first thing these services can do for you is to help you promote your business as they will help you let others know that you are in business and can offer them something that they may need. Another way these services help is by helping you get your site listed at the top of the search engines. As a result you will be more likely to get attention and get more customers. With more customers you will make your business more successful.

For those seeking to get search engine optimization services, there are numerous times when you should get them. As soon as you put together a website you will want to get this assistance so that you can immediately work towards getting your site maximum visibility. Another good time to get search engine optimization services is when you may have difficulty getting exposure yourself and need professional assistance. Lastly getting these SEO services is a good idea when you want to enhance your rankings and get more traffic than you are now.

Source: http://www.informationbible.com/article-seo-services-298079.html

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Justice Services Volunteer Program | Saint Louis County *DIRECT*

Volunteers and Volunteer Coordinator Richard Bruenderman

Justice Services is fortunate to have a strong Volunteer Program.? Many concerned citizens from the community willingly donate their time and expertise to help the inmate population of St. Louis County.? They put into action the belief that each person has personal dignity with the ability to change his/her life.? The volunteers provide a vital link to community resources and have brought hope to many lives that otherwise saw no future.

Volunteers play an invaluable role within the Department of Justice Services.? They are able to connect with the inmates in ways that Correctional Staff cannot.? They teach classes such as, Becoming All You Can Be, Stress Management, New Directions to Success, Fathering, Career Development, Creative Writing, Leadership, Dance Fitness, How To Succeed On the Streets, Anger Management, and Makin? It Work.

Volunteers make our existing programs stronger. Dedicated volunteer educational tutors assist with the G.E.D. and ESL (English as a Second Language) programs to ensure the inmates have a better chance of passing the G.E.D. test.? These volunteers are provided by the ParkwaySchool District, St. Vincent DePaul Criminal Justice Ministry and the Literacy Council.? The SpecialSchool District also provides teachers that educate individuals with learning disabilities.

The Choices Program receives a major boost from volunteers who conduct Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Cocaine Anonymous meetings.? They also teach Stress Management, Breaking Barriers, Career Development, Women?s Issues, Arts & Crafts and Dance Fitness to the Choices participants.

Volunteer Luncheon

Currently there are 350 volunteers conducting a variety of services totaling of 11,255 hours this past year.? In the course of a week, 72 scheduled chapel services that encompass a wide variety of denominations are offered to the inmates on four floor units.? Total volunteer hours over the past year included:

• 2,374? hours of educational classes
• 940? hours of substance abuse recovery
• 1,060? hours of one-on-one visiting
• 7,307? hours of religious services.

In addition to these community volunteer classes, practicum students from University of Missouri- St. Louis conducted health classes for the men and women.? As in past years, special events supplemented the regular programs.? Let?s Start sponsored a play, ?Stories of Hope.? The Central Presbyterian? also presented a Christmas Concert for the women.

Several groups provided Christmas gifts for the children of inmates.? Mission Gate Prison Ministry and Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist provided gifts for over 350 children of 150 inmates. Black Jack Baptist Church also donated 75 care packages for indigent inmates. The Central Presbyterian Church presented a Christmas Program to The Justice Center population.

If you are interested in volunteer opportunities with Justice Services, please contact Richard Bruenderman, DJS Volunteer Coordinator at 314-615-5722 or email him at?Rbruenderman@stlouisco.com

?

??to return inmates to the community

who have been given the opportunity to

improve their behavior and lifestyle.?

-From-Justice Services? Mission Statements

?

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Source: http://stlouisco.me/2013/04/02/justice-services-volunteer-program/

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'Mean Girls' at college: Social whirl derails many, study finds

Public release date: 2-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan

You're not done with high school when you go to college, according to a new study of student culture.

An in-depth look at the lives of young women who started college on the same floor of a large dorm at a middle-tier public university shows that the high school peer culture that divides students into homecoming queens, wannabes and nerds thrives in college, to the disadvantage of many.

"Parents and college administrators are naively optimistic about the atmosphere for freshman women in large party dorms," said Elizabeth Armstrong, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who conducted the study with colleague Laura Hamilton of the University of California at Merced.

"The pressures these young women encounter make it very difficult for them to focus on academics. For many, the experience is not a good one, and we found that it can affect the trajectories of their lives for many years to come."

Armstrong and Hamilton immersed themselves in the lives of 53 women as they moved into their dorm, following them for five years to see how their lives developed. Although only about a third of the women started their college years as socialites or wannabes, all of their lives were shaped by the dominance of the party pathway at this school. The party pathway was a set of social and academic arrangementsincluding a powerful Greek party scene and an array of easy majorsfacilitating a primarily social experience.

Even those who entered determined to succeed academically were judged by their success at attracting the attention of high-status men and making it into sororities. This culture is often referred to as "the college experience," Armstrong says. But in fact it's an experience that many students would do well to avoidor to participate in only a bit.

In a new book based on the study, "Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality," Armstrong and Hamilton detail the experiences of the women, who had a great deal in common when they entered college but whose situations were dramatically different down the road.

For example, Taylor and Emma had strong academic records entering college and both aspired to be dentists. At the end of the study, Taylor was in dental school while Emma was working as a dental assistanta job that does not require a college degree. Their fates diverged when Emma made it into an elite sorority and Taylor opted into a more studious sororitya move supported by her college-savvy parents. Without highly educated parents like Taylor's, Emma needed academic and social supports not offered at this school to succeed.

Their stories are indicative of a broader pattern.

"We found that most of the women reproduced their parents' status," Armstrong said. "College did not act as a pathway to upward mobility for most."

Students whose parents had enough resources to bankroll their success in the Greek system did fine, making social connections that propelled them into post-college lives that equaled or exceeded the affluence of their parents. Those with highly educated parents like Taylor's were able to help women avoid the lure of the party pathway and succeed academically. But for those from less affluent backgrounds, Armstrong and Hamilton found that the best approach was often to transfer to a smaller, less prestigious university that provided a better fit with their personalities and resources.

As anxious high school seniors and their parents wait for the word about college acceptance, Armstrong suggests that getting into their top choice school may not always be the best bet, particularly if it's known as a party school.

"Students and parents shouldn't be afraid of making a course correction if it's clear early on that the college they've chosen just isn't working for them," Armstrong said. "Sometimes going to the highest prestige place a student can get into is not the choice that leads to the best outcome.

"The fit between a student and a college should be considered, and this includes social fit as well as academic fit. The culture of the school is extremely important in determining what the impact of attending a particular school will be down the road."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 2-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Diane Swanbrow
swanbrow@umich.edu
734-647-9069
University of Michigan

You're not done with high school when you go to college, according to a new study of student culture.

An in-depth look at the lives of young women who started college on the same floor of a large dorm at a middle-tier public university shows that the high school peer culture that divides students into homecoming queens, wannabes and nerds thrives in college, to the disadvantage of many.

"Parents and college administrators are naively optimistic about the atmosphere for freshman women in large party dorms," said Elizabeth Armstrong, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who conducted the study with colleague Laura Hamilton of the University of California at Merced.

"The pressures these young women encounter make it very difficult for them to focus on academics. For many, the experience is not a good one, and we found that it can affect the trajectories of their lives for many years to come."

Armstrong and Hamilton immersed themselves in the lives of 53 women as they moved into their dorm, following them for five years to see how their lives developed. Although only about a third of the women started their college years as socialites or wannabes, all of their lives were shaped by the dominance of the party pathway at this school. The party pathway was a set of social and academic arrangementsincluding a powerful Greek party scene and an array of easy majorsfacilitating a primarily social experience.

Even those who entered determined to succeed academically were judged by their success at attracting the attention of high-status men and making it into sororities. This culture is often referred to as "the college experience," Armstrong says. But in fact it's an experience that many students would do well to avoidor to participate in only a bit.

In a new book based on the study, "Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality," Armstrong and Hamilton detail the experiences of the women, who had a great deal in common when they entered college but whose situations were dramatically different down the road.

For example, Taylor and Emma had strong academic records entering college and both aspired to be dentists. At the end of the study, Taylor was in dental school while Emma was working as a dental assistanta job that does not require a college degree. Their fates diverged when Emma made it into an elite sorority and Taylor opted into a more studious sororitya move supported by her college-savvy parents. Without highly educated parents like Taylor's, Emma needed academic and social supports not offered at this school to succeed.

Their stories are indicative of a broader pattern.

"We found that most of the women reproduced their parents' status," Armstrong said. "College did not act as a pathway to upward mobility for most."

Students whose parents had enough resources to bankroll their success in the Greek system did fine, making social connections that propelled them into post-college lives that equaled or exceeded the affluence of their parents. Those with highly educated parents like Taylor's were able to help women avoid the lure of the party pathway and succeed academically. But for those from less affluent backgrounds, Armstrong and Hamilton found that the best approach was often to transfer to a smaller, less prestigious university that provided a better fit with their personalities and resources.

As anxious high school seniors and their parents wait for the word about college acceptance, Armstrong suggests that getting into their top choice school may not always be the best bet, particularly if it's known as a party school.

"Students and parents shouldn't be afraid of making a course correction if it's clear early on that the college they've chosen just isn't working for them," Armstrong said. "Sometimes going to the highest prestige place a student can get into is not the choice that leads to the best outcome.

"The fit between a student and a college should be considered, and this includes social fit as well as academic fit. The culture of the school is extremely important in determining what the impact of attending a particular school will be down the road."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uom-ga040213.php

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Let the Democrats sleep in the Obamacare bed sooner rather than later (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296299493?client_source=feed&format=rss

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