Live: Barack Obama's Second Inauguration Day!

Today is the day that President Barack Obama will be sworn in for another four-year term and deliver his all-important second inaugural?address. We'll have live updates on all the festivities throughout the day.

RELATED: Iranian Bank Hackers, the Fate of the Dreamliner, and a Poetic Inauguration

As you know, it's both Inauguration Day and the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, adding ?extra symbolism and weight to the historic?occasion. Of course, technically he's already been sworn in, since the Constitution required him to take the oath on January 20, but tradition holds that formal festivities are not held on a Sunday. However, it's really the second inaugural speech, beginning at noon, that everyone will be looking forward to.

RELATED: Citing 'Agenda,' Obama's Inauguration Pastor Drops Out After 'Ex-Gay' Sermon

The sun is just now coming up in Washington, but people area already lining up on the mall and the media is out in full force, so say tuned for more updates.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/live-barack-obamas-second-inauguration-day-121358529.html

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Emboldened Obama lays out battle plan as he launches second term

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged Americans on Monday to reject political "absolutism" and partisan rancor, as he kicked off his second term with an impassioned call for collective action and established a more assertive tone for the challenges he faces over the next four years.

Obama's ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol was filled with traditional pomp and pageantry, but it was a scaled-back inauguration compared to the historic start of his presidency in 2009 when he swept into office on a mantle of hope and change as America's first black president

Despite expectations tempered by lingering economic weakness and a divided Washington, Obama delivered a confident listing of his second-term plans for the battles he intends to fight, including over climate change, immigration reform and gay rights.

"We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," Obama said as he stood in the wintry cold atop a giant makeshift platform on the Capitol steps overlooking the National Mall. "We must act, knowing that today's victories will be only partial."

Looking out on a sea of flags, Obama spoke to a crowd of up to 700,000 people - less than half the record 1.8 million who assembled four years ago.

Obama, speaking in more specific terms than expected, promised "hard choices" to reduce the federal deficit and called for a revamping of the tax code and a remaking of government.

The Democrat arrived at his second inauguration on solid footing, with his poll numbers up, Republicans on the defensive and his first-term record boasting accomplishments such as a U.S. healthcare overhaul, ending the war in Iraq and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

But fights are looming over budgets, gun control and immigration, with Republicans ready to oppose him at almost every turn and Obama still seemingly at a loss over how to engage them in deal-making.

SECOND TIME TAKING OATH

When Obama raised his right hand and was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, it was his second time taking the oath in 24 hours - but this time with tens of millions of people watching on television.

The president beamed as chants of "Obama, Obama!" rang out from the crowd.

Obama had a formal swearing-in on Sunday at the White House because of a constitutional requirement that the president take the oath on January 20. Rather than stage the full inauguration on a Sunday, the main public events were put off until Monday.

It was another milestone of political passage for Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas. An electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic convention as a little-known Illinois state legislator lifted him to the national stage, putting him on a rapid trajectory to the U.S. Senate and a few years later the White House.

Obama, 51, his hair visibly grayed over the past four years, sought to reassure Americans at the mid-point of his presidency and encourage them to help him take care of unfinished business.

"Preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action," he said.

Obama, who won a second term by defeating Republican Mitt Romney after a bitter campaign, opened round two facing many of the same problems that dogged his first term: persistently high unemployment, crushing government debt and a deep partisan divide. The war in Afghanistan, which Obama is winding down, has dragged on for over a decade.

He won an end-of-year fiscal battle against Republicans, whose poll numbers have continued to sag, and appears to have gotten them to back down, at least temporarily, from resisting an increase in the national debt ceiling.

And Obama faces a less-dire outlook than he did when he took office in 2009 at the height of a deep recession and world economic crisis. The economy is growing again, though slowly.

His call for political compromise contrasted with the more combative approach he has taken with Republicans on a range of volatile issues since winning re-election in November.

While there was no sign that Obama was returning to the more accommodating style that marked much of his first term, it appeared to be a signal to Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, that he is still open to finding common ground.

Nevertheless, Obama's appeals for bipartisan cooperation will remind many Americans of his own failure to meet a key promise when he came to power - - to act as a transformational leader who would fix a dysfunctional Washington.

Even though his second inauguration was more subdued than the first, the crowds that turned out on the National Mall made up for their lesser numbers with an abundance of enthusiasm.

"We're a bit surprised by how few people are out here this morning. But that's fine - makes the crowds more manageable. The weather is delightful and we're happy to be here," said Kathy Reid, 61, from Waco, Texas.

Obama's ceremonial swearing-in fell on the same day as the national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. - and the president embraced the symbolism.

He took the oath with his hand on two Bibles - one from President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery, and the other from King. Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights figure Medgar Evers, was given the honor of delivering the invocation at the ceremony.

(Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Margaret Chadbourn, Jeff Mason and Robert Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-starts-second-term-low-key-white-house-034753050--business.html

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UK PM Cameron to give key speech on Europe ties

LONDON (AP) ? British Prime Minister David Cameron will deliver a long-awaited speech about his country's future in the 27-nation European Union this week.

The speech, billed as one of Cameron's most important yet, was delayed last week because of the hostage crisis at a natural gas plant in Algeria.

Cameron first hinted he wanted to set out his stance on British membership of the EU last year. He has indicated that he will suggest negotiating a new relationship with the bloc, which would then be put to a referendum.

Britain has its own currency and does not use the euro, the common currency of 17 other EU nations, but it still has been struggling due to Europe's debt crisis.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday that Cameron's address is expected this week.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-pm-cameron-key-speech-europe-ties-184017631--finance.html

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Loneliness, like chronic stress, taxes the immune system, researchers find

Jan. 19, 2013 ? New research links loneliness to a number of dysfunctional immune responses, suggesting that being lonely has the potential to harm overall health.

Researchers found that people who were more lonely showed signs of elevated latent herpes virus reactivation and produced more inflammation-related proteins in response to acute stress than did people who felt more socially connected.

These proteins signal the presence of inflammation, and chronic inflammation is linked to numerous conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease, as well as the frailty and functional decline that can accompany aging.

Reactivation of a latent herpes virus is known to be associated with stress, suggesting that loneliness functions as a chronic stressor that triggers a poorly controlled immune response.

"It is clear from previous research that poor-quality relationships are linked to a number of health problems, including premature mortality and all sorts of other very serious health conditions. And people who are lonely clearly feel like they are in poor-quality relationships," said Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University and lead author of the research.

"One reason this type of research is important is to understand how loneliness and relationships broadly affect health. The more we understand about the process, the more potential there is to counter those negative effects -- to perhaps intervene. If we don't know the physiological processes, what are we going to do to change them?"

The results are based on a series of studies conducted with two populations: a healthy group of overweight middle-aged adults and a group of breast cancer survivors. The researchers measured loneliness in all studies using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, a questionnaire that assesses perceptions of social isolation and loneliness.

Jaremka will present the research January 19 at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual meeting in New Orleans.

The researchers first sought to obtain a snapshot of immune system behavior related to loneliness by gauging levels of antibodies in the blood that are produced when herpes viruses are reactivated.

Participants were 200 breast cancer survivors who were between two months and three years past completion of cancer treatment with an average age of 51 years. Their blood was analyzed for the presence of antibodies against Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus.

Both are herpes viruses that infect a majority of Americans. About half of infections do not produce illness, but once a person is infected, the viruses remain dormant in the body and can be reactivated, resulting in elevated antibody levels, or titers -- again, often producing no symptoms but hinting at regulatory problems in the cellular immune system.

Lonelier participants had higher levels of antibodies against cytomegalovirus than did less lonely participants, and those higher antibody levels were related to more pain, depression and fatigue symptoms. No difference was seen in Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels, possibly because this reactivation is linked to age and many of these participants were somewhat older, meaning reactivation related to loneliness would be difficult to detect, Jaremka said.

Previous research has suggested that stress can promote reactivation of these viruses, also resulting in elevated antibody titers.

"The same processes involved in stress and reactivation of these viruses is probably also relevant to the loneliness findings," Jaremka said. "Loneliness has been thought of in many ways as a chronic stressor -- a socially painful situation that can last for quite a long time."

In an additional set of studies, the scientists sought to determine how loneliness affected the production of proinflammatory proteins, or cytokines, in response to stress. These studies were conducted with 144 women from the same group of breast cancer survivors and a group of 134 overweight middle-aged and older adults with no major health problems.

Baseline blood samples were taken from all participants, who were then subjected to stress -- they were asked to deliver an impromptu five-minute speech and perform a mental arithmetic task in front of a video camera and three panelists. Researchers followed by stimulating the participants' immune systems with lipopolysaccharide, a compound found on bacterial cell walls that is known to trigger an immune response.

In both populations, those who were lonelier produced significantly higher levels of a cytokine called interleukin-6, or IL-6, in response to acute stress than did participants who were more socially connected. Levels of another cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, also rose more dramatically in lonelier participants than in less lonely participants, but the findings were significant by statistical standards in only one study group, the healthy adults.

In the study with breast cancer survivors, researchers also tested for levels of the cytokine interleukin 1-beta, which was produced at higher levels in lonelier participants.

When the scientists controlled for a number of factors, including sleep quality, age and general health measures, the results were the same.

"We saw consistency in the sense that more lonely people in both studies had more inflammation than less lonely people," Jaremka said.

"It's also important to remember the flip side, which is that people who feel very socially connected are experiencing more positive outcomes," she said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University, via Newswise. The original article was written by Emily Caldwell.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/zh6EAfrImIM/130119185019.htm

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preetyzinta: Preparedness Pantry - Food Storage, Emergency ...

Welcome!

We?re glad you are here.? If you are new to preparedness or ?prepping?, this is a great place to start.? Please keep reading.? Here we?re going to discuss the whys for getting prepared, and recommend some ways to get started.? It can feel daunting, but with a little insight and direction, we hope to arm you with the information you need to move forward and make the preparations that fit you and your situation. If you?re a more experienced ?prepper? and are looking for specific information, follow the links below to lots of articles, blog posts, and other sites that are brimming with prepping principles, knowledge, tips, and ideas. If an emergency happened right this minute, how would you fare? Think about how much you depend on an ever-present supply of electricity, water, food, heat, the ability to travel and communicate, and a place to lay our head.? What if?due to circumstances beyond your control?any one or two of those were lost?? What if they all were? Most threats come from Mother Nature.? Depending on where you live, earthquakes, hurricanes, ice storms, flooding, or tornadoes can play a major role in people?s lives and plans. Everyone is susceptible to fires, power outages, economic changes or disruptions?and often on a very personal level: job loss, divorce, or physical disability due to accident or illness all too often turns the lives of individuals and families upside down. It is Emergency Essentials? goal to offer products and information that will help you take care of yourself and those who may depend on you should the conveniences we rely on every day be taken away or lost. By making the necessary preparations, you can have the confidence of knowing you and your family will have their needs met in an emergency, whether it is an economic, man-made, or natural disaster. All of our recommendations are based on several ?what ifs?.? What if your water was cut off? Or what if your electricity was cut off?? We?re not talking the occasional thunderstorm or power line maintenance everyone experiences, but something longer lasting, like the 4 million people from Virginia to Ohio that lost their electricity for several days and up to a few? weeks in July of 2012? What if your home were so damaged from an earthquake you had to evacuate?? What if your entire community had to evacuate due to flooding such as happened August 29, 2005 in New Orleans? As a result of Hurricane Katrina, everyone had to leave their homes and evacuate via the routes out of town that weren?t already cut off by damage. Those evacuees had to seek temporary shelter for weeks?even months. It?s easy to say to yourself, ?But it won?t happen to me.? And that may or may not be true?there?s no way to predict what will happen when or where. But consider the following statement by Richard Gist, psychologist for the Kansas City Fire Department: ?Do not put off the improbable for the unthinkable. [?] If there is a one in a million chance of something happening to you then it is happening to 300 people in this country right now.? The bottom line is: unfortunate things happen all the time?and you?re the first and best defense for caring for yourself and your family. Emergency Essentials has been helping people prepare for over 25 years.? Our supplies have been there for families and agencies across the nation for a long time.? Our food and gear have provided relief and security for people across the country. ?We strive to provide not only quality products but also a ?Low Price Guarantee.? We think our Mission Statement says it all: "To help people prepare. To serve our customers, fellow employees, business associates, etc. in exactly the same way we would want to be served. To use the resources that we have been given to serve, build, and inspire our community."

First, you need a plan. Then, some water, followed by an emergency kit, some food, and finally some skills and other supplies.

Having a plan is fundamental in emergency preparedness; a plan is your road map for navigating the unknown issues that can arise. You and your family should make a plan together and practice it regularly so everyone knows exactly what to do in any emergency. You can download a FREE customizable emergency and evacuation plan at www.beprepared.com/downloads. Fill it out, give it a whirl, then talk to your family about what worked and what didn?t. Practicing your plan gives you an idea of what is realistic, what steps are unnecessary, and how well each member of the family can follow the plan without help. Water is probably the most important thing to consider as you make emergency plans. If water is cut off in an emergency, you?ll need to have water on hand for drinking, cooking, cleaning, first aid, and sanitation. If you had to make the choice between storing water or food, choose water. Without a good source of clean, drinkable water, you simply won?t survive very long. You can last for weeks without food, but much less without water. FEMA recommends storing a minimum of 1 gallon of water per person per day for two weeks.? One gallon will only provide enough water for drinking and light sanitation (e.g., a sponge bath and brushing your teeth), so it?s wise to store more if you have the space.? For comparison, the average person normally uses 70 gallons per day. You will need to store portable water designed to take with you in an emergency and permanent water in case the emergency allows you to stay at home. Besides this stored water, you will also need ways to purify and filter water. Should your regular supply become contaminated or run out, you?ll need to find alternate sources, which may or may not be safe to drink without filtering and treatment. ?With a good way to filter and purify water, you can use water from local rivers, lakes, or other water sources if necessary. (we need a link here to take them to our water pages) The next vital part of your preparedness is having an emergency kit to meet your needs during the first days of an emergency. ?That means food, water, light, communication, first aid, shelter, warmth, clothing, money, medications, and any other items you need on a day-to-day basis in order to survive. Your kit should be light enough to carry if you have to evacuate on foot, yet comprehensive enough to ensure you can meet your needs. Your emergency kit will see you through the first few days of an emergency if you?re unable to stay at home. ?FEMA and other agencies used to recommend a 3 day kit, but after Hurricane Katrina, it was obvious that folks waited to get help for much longer than 3 days.? Now the recommendation is to prepare for as many days as is reasonable, considering that you may have to carry your supplies with you.? The main idea is to have what you?ll need until help arrives. The next item on your preparedness priority list should be food. In an emergency you?ll need to keep up your strength and energy more than ever, and building up a good supply of food storage is crucial in making that a reality. The basic principles of food storage are the same as with water?your first step is to get enough for the first several days of a crisis as a minimum supply, and increase your supply from there until you have enough for a week, two weeks, and finally up to 3 months of the normal food you eat. Then add the basics: grains, legumes, salt, milk, sugar or honey, oil and garden seeds until you?ve accumulated a year supply. Once you have these basics, add other dehydrated and freeze-dried foods to complete your supply.? While building this supply, think about how many calories each person will need on a daily basis, and plan to meet those requirements. Don?t forget to include some cooking equipment in your emergency supplies. At minimum you?ll need a way to boil water, since most food storage requires water for re-hydration. Think about the foods you have (or will have) in storage, and add cooking methods that will best suit your supply and your cooking style. Many people have additional worries about food storage?whether they?re doing it right, whether they?re getting quality products, whether? they?re getting a good deal?and they need some extra direction. Food storage is the most expensive part of emergency preparedness, so knowledge and research will pay off in significant ways?not only in cost savings, but ensuring that you have food storage that works for your lifestyle and nutritional needs. Gaining this knowledge can seem tricky or overwhelming. That?s why Emergency Essentials created the 15 Tips for Food Storage Shopping. These tips will give you a great knowledge base about food storage, so you will know what to look for, what questions to ask, and what items will be the best fit for you and your family. Find the tips here.
Once you?ve got a 3-day kit, a water supply, and a food supply, you?re well on your way. But there are some other supplies you?ll want to consider in case of an emergency:

????????? Shelter and bedding (tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, etc.)
????????? Cash, coins, and an emergency debit or credit card
????????? A well-equipped First Aid kit
????????? Medications needed on a daily basis by members of your family
????????? A way to charge electronics like cell phones, tablets, radios, or other items if the electricity is out
????????? Candles, lanterns, headlamps, and/or flashlights ? plus plenty of extra batteries
????????? Replacement items for crucial equipment?contacts, glasses, medical equipment, cooking equipment, fuel, etc.
????????? Items that will help family members relax and stay calm during stressful emergencies: music, games, art supplies, paper and pencils, books, etc.

Having kits, water, food, and other items stored for an emergency puts you way ahead of the curve. While you?re working on gathering and storing all these supplies (most people can?t do it all at once), also take time to learn some skills that will be useful in an emergency. Below are just a handful of skills that would be valuable in an emergency. Think about conditions in your area, and consider what kind of skills might be useful if you had to survive there during different times of the year.

????????? Knot-tying
????????? Foraging your local plant life for food or first aid remedies
????????? Starting a fire
????????? Cooking from scratch
????????? Gardening
????????? Canning and dehydrating foods at home
????????? Navigation with a compass
????????? Basic auto repair skills
????????? CPR and other First Aid skills
????????? Emergency non-traditional communication skills (like Ham radio operation)

So, can you do it? Of course you can. We?ll be here to help you every step of the way. We?ve been helping people prepare for 25 years?that?s what we do. For more preparedness resources, including products, tips, recipes, and articles, visit us on any of our online pages:

Source: http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/2013/01/read-first.html

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Source: http://preetyzinta59.blogspot.com/2013/01/preparedness-pantry-food-storage.html

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Ex-New Orleans mayor Nagin charged with bribery

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008 file photo, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin speaks during an interview in his office at City Hall in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008 file photo, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin speaks during an interview in his office at City Hall in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 22, 2011 file photo, former Mayor Ray Nagin arrives to talk about his new book, "Katrina's Secrets," at a news conference in New Orleans. Nagin was indicted Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, on charges that he used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the city was struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, May 20, 2006 file photo, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, right, is greeted by the city's Chief Technology Officer Greg Meffert following his victory party in New Orleans. Nagin was indicted Friday, Jan. 18, 2013, on charges that he used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the city was struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, Meffert pleaded guilty to charges he took bribes and kickbacks in exchange for steering city contracts to a New Orleans businessman. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? More than a decade ago, Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans on a vow to root out corruption in a city plagued by decades of it. On Friday, the former mayor was indicted on charges he lined his pockets with bribe money, payoffs and gratuities while the chronically poor city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina's punishing blow.

The federal indictment alleges that city contractors paid Nagin more than $200,000 in bribes and subsidized his trips to Hawaii, Jamaica and other places in exchange for his help securing millions of dollars in work for the city.

The charges against Nagin are the product of a City Hall corruption investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen and a prison sentence for a former city vendor.

The case also punctuates the reversal of political and personal fortune for Nagin, who had what New Orleans Magazine editor Errol Laborde called "rock star status" soon after his election in 2002.

Nagin, a former cable television executive, took office with an image as a largely apolitical businessman ready to root out corruption. "The media bought into that 100 percent. They used the term 'crackdown on corruption,'" Laborde said Friday.

But Nagin's popularity and support waned in the years after Katrina. The federal investigation of his administration was mushrooming by the time he left office in 2010.

Rafael Goyeneche, head of the nonprofit watchdog agency the Metropolitan Crime Commission, remembers Nagin entering office with a call for the public to let authorities know about corruption.

"To go from the mandate that he was elected with to reading this indictment today and finding out that he was in many respects, if these allegations are true, a complete fraud, is eye-opening," Goyeneche said Friday.

In inauguration remarks May 6, 2002, Nagin promised a City Hall "where permits and licenses are provided quickly, predictably and honestly; where contracts are awarded based on what you can do, not who you know."

Soon afterward, his administration's probe into alleged corruption in taxi cab regulation resulted in numerous arrests.

"We're basically trying to send the signal ... that what has happened in the past, and the way people played in the gray areas, is no longer acceptable," Nagin said at the time. "We need to get in step with what's done in the rest of the country."

Friday's indictment accuses Nagin of accepting more than $160,000 in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of a local businessman who secured millions of dollars in city contract work after the 2005 hurricane. The businessman, Frank Fradella, pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to commit bribery and has been cooperating with federal authorities.

Nagin, 56, also is charged with accepting at least $60,000 in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts for architectural, engineering and management services work. Williams, who was president of Three Fold Consultants LLC, pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to a conspiracy charge.

The indictment also accuses Nagin ? who now lives in Frisco, Texas ? of getting free private jet and limousine services to New York from an unidentified businessman who owned a New Orleans movie theater. Nagin is accused of agreeing to waive tax penalties that the businessman owed to the city on a delinquent tax bill in 2006.

From several city contractors, Nagin is accused of accepting free travel and vacation expenses for trips to Hawaii, Chicago, Las Vegas and Jamaica while in office.

The alleged bribery plot isn't limited to Nagin's tenure as mayor. Prosecutors say Nagin, a Democrat, accepted monthly payoffs from Fradella totaling $112,250 after he left office.

In 2010, Greg Meffert, a former technology official and deputy mayor under Nagin, pleaded guilty to charges he took bribes and kickbacks in exchange for steering city contracts to businessman Mark St. Pierre. Anthony Jones, who served as the city's chief technology officer in Nagin's administration, also pleaded guilty to taking payoffs.

Meffert cooperated with the government in its case against St. Pierre, who was convicted in May 2011 of charges that include conspiracy, bribery and money laundering. The indictment says Nagin accepted bribes from St. Pierre, including free travel and lodging, cellphone service for relatives, and campaign funding.

Nagin's attorney, Robert Jenkins, didn't immediately return cellphone calls seeking comment on the indictment. No one answered the door at Nagin's home in Texas on Friday afternoon.

Nagin was a political novice before his first term as mayor in 2002, buoyed by strong support from white voters. He cast himself a reform-minded progressive who wasn't bound by party affiliations, as he snubbed fellow Democrat Kathleen Blanco and endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2003.

Katrina elevated Nagin to the national stage, where he gained a reputation for colorful and sometimes cringe-inducing rhetoric.

During a radio interview broadcast in the storm's early aftermath, he angrily pleaded with federal officials to "get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans." In January 2006, he apologized for a Martin Luther King Day speech in which he predicted New Orleans would be a "chocolate city" and asserted that "God was mad at America."

Strong support from black voters helped Nagin win re-election in 2006 despite widespread criticism of his post-Katrina leadership. But the glacial pace of rebuilding, a surge in violent crime and the budding City Hall corruption investigation chipped away at Nagin's popularity during his second term.

Nagin could not seek a third consecutive term because of term limits. Mitch Landrieu, who ran against Nagin in 2006, succeeded him in 2010.

Aaron Bennett, a businessman awaiting sentencing in a separate bribery case, told The Times-Picayune that he introduced Nagin to Fradella specifically to help the mayor get Home Depot granite installation work for a business that he and his sons founded. Fradella's company received more than $4 million in city contracts for repair work at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and in the French Quarter after Katrina, the indictment says.

Some of the allegations in the indictment have been the subject of state ethics complaints.

In April 2010, the Louisiana Board of Ethics charged Nagin with two possible violations of state ethics law. One charge involved Nagin's "use of a credit card and/or gifts" from St. Pierre. In the other charge, the Ethics Board said Stone Age LLC, the Nagin family's business, was compensated for installation services provided to Home Depot while the home improvement retailer was negotiating tax breaks from the city.

The indictment doesn't mention Home Depot by name but says Nagin approved a 2007 ordinance that allowed city property to be sold to an unidentified "major retail corporation" at the same time he was soliciting the retailer for work for his granite business.

Nagin has largely steered clear of the political arena since he left office. On his Twitter account, he describes his current occupations as author, public speaker and "green energy entrepreneur." He wrote a self-published memoir called "Katrina's Secrets: Storms After the Storm."

A few hours before his indictment, Nagin retweeted a post by Texas megachurch pastor Joel Osteen that says, "You are closest to your victory when you face the greatest opposition."

Landrieu, Nagin's successor, called Friday a "sad day" for the city.

"Today's indictment of former Mayor Ray Nagin alleges serious violations of the public's trust," he said in a statement. "Public corruption cannot and will not be tolerated."

Nagin's indictment is another blemish on the reputation of the city, which has been plagued by decades of corruption.

"I was really disappointed in him," said Norlita Parker Wells, a city employee. "I expected more from him. I think it's funny only because when he was entering office he said he was going to run such a tight ship. What happened?"

___

Associated Press writers Danny Robbins in Dallas, Kevin McGill and Chevel Johnson contributed to this report.

Follow Michael Kunzelman at https://twitter.com/Kunzelman75.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-18-US-New-Orleans-Corruption/id-57b16c0df9ae4dc0a6dbdd4a6fd4a28a

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70 Injured in NY Ferry Accident | Personal Injury News

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Home / / 70 Injured in NY Ferry Accide... January 19, 2013 (AmericanInjuryNews.com - Press Release)

New Source: JusticeNewsFlash.com
01/15/2013 // WPB, FL, USA // Injury Lawyers News // Nicole Howley // (press release)

New York, NY ? An accident involving a commuter ferry at a dock near New York?s Financial District has left 70 people injured, including two who suffered critical injuries. The accident occurred at Pier 11, just before 9 a.m., Wednesday, January 9, 2013, ABC News reports.

According to initial reports, the ferry was carrying 326 people, including two crew members, when it slammed into the dock and threw the passengers about the vessel.

The ferry originated from Highlands, N.J. and was on its way to Wall Street when the accident occurred.

One of the critically injured people was reportedly thrown down the stairs, where he hit his head on a window when the crash occurred.

It is unknown at this time what caused the ferry to slam into the dock. The impact also left a large gash into the bow of the vessel.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the ferry accident.

Drug and alcohol tests were conducted on the captain and the crew. Everyone had passed the breathalyzer tests, but the blood tests would take several days.

Legal News Reporter: Nicole Howley-Legal news for New York personal injury lawyers.

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Source: http://www.americaninjurynews.com/2013/01/19/70-Injured-in-NY-Ferry-Accident_201301197911.html

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