Group seeks federal probe of killing of Miss. politician

JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) - A congressman and a national civil rights group asked the federal government on Tuesday to investigate the killing of a gay, black Mississippi mayoral candidate.

The family of Marco McMillian, who had returned to his hometown of Clarksdale to run for office as a Democrat, said he was beaten, dragged and set on fire before his body was dumped near the Mississippi River.

McMillian was one of the first viable openly gay candidates to run for public office in Mississippi, according to the Victory Fund, a national organization that supports homosexual candidates.

Law enforcement officials arrested Lawrence Reed, 22, who is also black, and charged him with murder. Police have released few details about the case or possible motive. They have said the killing was not being treated as a hate crime.

U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement that he wants the FBI to "review the circumstances and evidence of this case to determine whether a violation of federal law has occurred and provide any necessary assistance to local and state law enforcement officials."

Thompson represents the impoverished Delta region where McMillian had sought elected office. His statement came hours after the National Black Justice Coalition made a similar request to the U.S. Justice Department.

"If there is the possibility that McMillian was murdered because of who he is, that warrants the Department of Justice's involvement," the coalition said in a statement.

McMillian's family has said it does not believe the 33-year-old was the victim of a random act of violence, based on the gruesome details surrounding his death.

Coahoma County Coroner Scotty Meredith declined to comment. The Justice Department and the FBI did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

McMillian had been missing since February 26. His sport utility vehicle was involved in a head-on collision in Coahoma County, but McMillian was not in the vehicle at the time of the accident. His body was found the following day.

McMillian had faced state Representative Chuck Espy, a Democrat, former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett and two other candidates.

McMillian's campaign focused on reducing crime and unemployment in Clarksdale, a city of roughly 18,000 people, campaign spokesman Jarod Keith said. A once-booming agricultural community, the city has steadily bled residents and jobs over the years and faces high levels of violence and unemployment.

Another Democratic candidate for mayor, Doris Haynes Miller, said she recently was robbed at gunpoint in the town.

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/civil-rights-group-seeks-federal-probe-killing-mississippi-040339546.html

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Gov. Jerry Brown works to spread California's green doctrine

SACRAMENTO ? When Gov. Jerry Brown called on his fellow governors at a conference in Washington last week to embrace a California-style pursuit of cleaner air, he was doing more than reinforcing the state's image as an environmental trailblazer. He was trying to protect its economy.

Brown needs other states and the federal government to adopt key elements of California's environmental agenda, such as reaping more energy from renewable sources and capping greenhouse gas emissions, if those programs are to be successful here.

The state's aggressive pursuit of environmental goals has provided a new impetus for green jobs and federal subsidies. But the programs are costly to businesses, raising the price of their energy and forcing them to upgrade to cleaner manufacturing technologies.

If others don't go green, California could become an outlier, saddling businesses with costly new power while neighboring states continue to use traditional, cheaper energy, experts say. If the efforts under way in California spread to become the new normal, however, all will benefit from economies of scale.

If more states order power companies to limit their use of fossil fuels, for example, the incentive will grow nationwide for firms to develop cheaper alternatives, leaving California consumers less exposed to spikes in electricity rates.

Likewise, if greenhouse gas caps are widely implemented, the state's landmark climate change law is more likely to be successful. Cleansing the air is "clearly not something California can do on its own," said Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute.

The authors of California's emissions law said as much in its text: The ultimate goal is "encouraging other states, the federal government and other countries to act."

Brown has vowed to keep pushing to "decarbonize the economy." He wants to advance the state's mandate for renewable energy ? already the most ambitious in the nation ? further so California will receive as much as half its power from renewable sources within 20 years. In the courts, his administration is defending a state law, challenged by some oil and ethanol companies, that requires gasoline to contain 10% less carbon by the end of the decade.

In Washington, Brown pushed for others to join in. "We can't do it alone," he told state leaders gathered for the National Governors Assn. meeting. "We need other states.... We need China. We need India."

Many elements of California's environmental blueprint have already become a national model as other states and the federal government have adopted some version of them over the past several decades.

Using its leverage as the largest automobile market in the nation, California in 1975 required the use of catalytic converters to help reduce pollution from cars. Six years later, the federal government required them in all cars sold in the U.S.

A California law that passed more than 10 years ago limiting tailpipe emissions was the basis for a federal standard imposed by the Obama administration in 2010.

The state's global warming law, called AB 32 and passed in 2006, has been partly imitated elsewhere.

It was a model for federal legislation to curb greenhouse gas limits in 2010. President Obama failed to get the measure through Congress, but the Environmental Protection Agency created new rules to roll back emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The California law was grounded in the creation of a market that puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Owners of power plants and factories buy and sell permits to release the gases into the atmosphere.

The system, called "cap and trade," limits the volume of air pollutants that may be released in California each year but permits high polluters to buy the right to emit more.

Many business interests say cap-and-trade is too costly, though they may have fewer objections if that market grows large enough.

"The current system amounts to a tax to continue doing business in the state," said Shelly Sullivan, executive director of the AB 32 Implementation Group, a coalition of California businesses that has opposed many of the state's environmental regulations. "A broader system would create a larger market and, depending on how it's constructed, could address some of our concerns."

A limited number of cap-and-trade markets are in place in other parts of the country, although their scope is more modest than California's. Nine northeastern states, for example, have a carbon market aimed at reducing only power plant emissions.

Another landmark California environmental law requires power companies to generate more electricity from wind, solar and other "renewable" sources. Under a bill signed by Brown in 2011, California utilities must generate one-third of their power that way by 2020 ? the most ambitious such standard in the nation.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/hOQvDfifLLw/la-me-brown-environment-20130304,0,848605.story

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Family Home and Life: Sweet Encouragement

Hello! My name is Melissa and I blog over at?Willamette Valley Wonder Woman. I have been following?Family Home and Life?for quite some time and was thrilled that Connie took me up on my offer to guest host?for part of her blogs anniversary month! I just have something so simple and easy to show you guys, but it is so meaningful if you have any children in your life, whether it be kids or grand kids, it really doesn't matter.
We all need a little pep talk from time to time, right? Even if we know we are trying our hardest and doing a fabulous job at work, raising our families, at home; sometimes a little unexpected encouragement goes a long way. Our kids need this too! In fact, most kids are seeking our approval in the activities that they do. My preschoolers are always bringing drawings and cards they have made for me. My 4th grader proudly shows off her spelling assignment that she did a good job on. Of course I thank them and tell them they are doing wonderful, but sometimes it may not be as much recognition as they wanted. So here's what I did. A little piece of candy and a play with words and viola. Now this made my daughters day! Sneak it in a backpack or lunch pail, and its just a little sweet significant surprise to remind them that you are always proud of them and are always thinking of them.

Family Home and Life?is all about making memories, and it truly is the little thoughtful things that we do for our children that add up and create those happy memories that they can look back upon when they?are adults?and cherish! What are some little?things you have done to encourage your children and show them how much you care?

Hello all, Connie here, wasn't that a really fun post? Little things in life are just as important as the big things. Melissa's sweet and thoughtful way to show love and encouragement is really wonderful! Please stop over at her place,?Willamette Valley Wonder Woman,?and say hello OK? Thanks Melissa for a sweet post! :)

If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Please report it! Copyright ? Family Home and Life 2010-2013 All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.familyhomeandlife.com/2013/03/sweet-encouragement.html

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Border less secure after cuts, Napolitano says

Power Players

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says that, although safety is her top priority, there is no way around cutting back on border patrol agents monitoring the country's borders because of the across-the-board spending cuts, known as "the sequester," that went into effect over the weekend.

"The number of border patrol hours that will need to be reduced equates to the equivalent of 5,000 border patrol agents, so we have fewer border patrol agents between the ports of entry," the secretary of homeland security told ABC's senior national correspondent Jim Avila in an exclusive interview. "We're going to do everything we can to minimize that impact on our nation's security, but that's just the plain fact of it."

When asked about the Department of Homeland Security's controversial decision to begin releasing illegal immigrants from jails across the country last week in preparation for sequestration, Napolitano said she was not involved in making the decision.

"The decision was made by the people who operate this program that certain low level detainees could be put in an alternative to detention. They're not released. Some are wearing ankle bracelets. Some have to report repeatedly into an office and the like," Napolitano says, going on to add that she would have preferred the changes to have been made more gradually.

Despite the secretary's concern about the impact of sequestration on border security, she says the country's border with Mexico has never been stronger and says the time for comprehensive immigration reform is now.

"We need to bring the 10 million to 11 million who are here out of the shadows so that, we know who they are, we have their biometrics, and we're better able to then focus on narco-traffickers, and human smugglers, and transnational criminal operations, the big law enforcement needs that we have," says Napolitano.

Napolitano says there also needs to be a system for employers to verify the legal status of their employees, to cut back on the demand for illegal immigrant labor among businesses.

To hear more of the interview with Napolitano, and to find out what border area poses the greatest security challenge, check out this episode of Power Players.

ABC's Eric Wray, Alexandra Dukakis, and Serena Marshall contributed to this episode.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/janet-napolitano-border-less-secure-because-budget-cuts-120328755.html

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Video: MTP EXCLUSIVE: Boehner sees no pathway to ending sequester

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032608/vp/51009392#51009392

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Evernote resets passwords after data breach

Jim Finkle , Reuters ? ? ? 9 hrs.

Evernote, a Web-based note-sharing service, said it was resetting the passwords of its 50 million users because hackers managed to breach its computer network and access some user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords.

Evernote spokeswoman Ronda Scott said via email on Saturday that the attack "follows a similar pattern" to other cyber attacks on Internet-based companies in recent weeks, but she did not elaborate.

"In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost," the company said on its website. "We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed."

Scott declined to say how many accounts had been exposed or whether it might be possible for the hackers to unscramble encrypted passwords.

A series of technology companies including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Twitter have recently disclosed cyber attacks. In the majority of those cases, the companies said that the unknown hackers exploited a bug in Java software and that no user information was compromised.

Twitter is the only major Internet company that has recently reported its user information was exposed to hackers. On Feb. 1, Twitter reset passwords for 250,000 accounts whose encrypted passwords may have been accessed.

Scott said Evernote believed that the hackers did not exploit a bug in Java when they broke into the company's system.

Evernote is a privately held company whose major investors include Meritech Capital, CBC Capital, Sequoia Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures and DOCOMO Capital.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/evernote-resets-50-million-passwords-after-hackers-steal-user-data-1C8659106

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Barack Obama, Spending Junkie (Powerlineblog)

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

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