star-telegram.com: Nation

Many tornado dead were in cars

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:39 CDT

More than a third of the 22 people killed by a tornado that smashed parts of Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend died in cars, troubling experts who say that vehicles are among the worst places to be during a twister.

"It's like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor," said Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, surveying the damage in and around Seneca, Mo., near the Oklahoma line, the hardest hit area.

Tornado deaths

About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters so far this year, the worst toll in a decade, according to the National Weather Service, and the danger has not passed. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall.

This could also prove to be the busiest tornado season on record in the United States.

At least 25 people died in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama after severe storms erupted Saturday over the Southern Plains and swept eastward.

Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said the most tornadoes ever recorded through May 11 of any year was in 1999, when 676 tornadoes were counted.

Mid-Atlantic storms

A wet, gusty storm that lashed the mid-Atlantic states Monday forced evacuations, flooded roads, fanned the flames of a deadly New Jersey fire and wrecked a research vessel off the Delaware coast, killing a crew member.

Tens of thousands of electricity customers in several states lost power as up to 7 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday and wind gusts in some places reached hurricane strength.

Up to 7 inches of rain fell in Calvert County, Md., and about 4 inches fell in the District of Columbia and northern Virginia from Sunday afternoon to Monday evening.

Florida wildfires

Dry, windy weather fueled several wildfires on Florida's central Atlantic coast Monday, destroying more than a dozen homes and driving hundreds of residents away as the governor declared an emergency.

Fires in Palm Bay in Brevard County claimed at least a dozen homes. The largest fire was a 3,000-acre blaze in nearby Malabar.

To the north in Daytona Beach, about 800 acres had burned by Monday afternoon.

McCain talks of a new 'energy economy'

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:39 CDT

By MATT STEARNS

WASHINGTON -- Wooing independent voters, Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain called Monday for reductions in carbon emissions and criticized the Bush administration for failing to lead the fight against climate change.

"We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. ... We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain said in a speech at a wind-energy facility in Portland, Ore. "The most relevant question is whether our own government is equal to the challenge."

McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, proposed a "cap-and-trade" system to reduce greenhouse gases and allow the sale of rights to excess emissions by firms that reduce their own emissions. He also said he'd support auctioning permits for excessive emissions, using the revenue to "help build the infrastructure of the post-carbon economy."

Such a system would "change the dynamic of our energy economy" by giving companies incentives to invest in alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, nuclear, clean-coal, biomass and biofuels, McCain said, providing the United States with an energy supply "that is safe, secure, diverse and domestic."

McCain set a goal of returning to 2005 levels of carbon emissions by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020 until the United States achieves at least a 60 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2050.

McCain's Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have called for reducing emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, in line with what's recommended by most scientists, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"To his credit, Sen. McCain wants to do something serious about global warming, but his proposal falls far short of what the science says we need to do today," said Gene Karpinski, president of the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters.

McCain's lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters is 24 percent; Clinton's is 87 percent, and Obama's is 86 percent.

Genetic alterations to human embryo stir fears

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:39 CDT

By MALCOLM RITTER

News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it's a step toward creating "designer babies."

But an author of the study says the work was focused on stem cells. He notes that the researchers used an abnormal embryo that could never have developed into a baby anyway.

"None of us wants to make designer babies," said Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, director of the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The idea of designer babies is that someday, scientists may insert particular genes into embryos to produce babies with desired traits such as intelligence or athletic ability.

Some people find that notion repugnant, saying that it turns children into designed objects and would create an unequal society in which some people are genetically enriched while others would be considered inferior.

The study appears to be the first report of genetically modifying a human embryo. It was presented last fall at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine but didn't draw widespread public attention then.

The result was reported over the weekend by The Sunday Times of London, which said British authorities highlighted the work in a recent report.

Rosenwaks and colleagues did the work with an embryo that had extra chromosomes, making it nonviable.

Following a standard procedure used in animals, they inserted a gene that acts as a marker that can be easily followed over time.

The embryo cells took up the gene, he said.

The goal was to see whether a gene introduced into an abnormal embryo could be traced in stem cells that are harvested from the embryo, he said. Such work could help shed light on why abnormal embryos fail to develop, he said.

No stem cells were recovered from the human embryo, said Rosenwaks, noting that abnormal embryos frequently don't develop well enough to produce them.

Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, said the Cornell scientists were developing techniques that others might use to make genetically modified people, "and they're doing it without any kind of public debate."

Online: Center for Genetics and Society, www.geneticsandsociety.org

Human Genetics Alert, www.hgalert.org

Genetics and Public Policy Center, www.dnapolicy.org

Ex-GOP congressman launches Libertarian candidacy

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:37 CDT

By BEN EVANS

WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr launched a Libertarian Party presidential bid Monday, saying voters are hungry for an alternative to the status quo who would dramatically cut the federal government.

His candidacy throws a wild card into the White House race that many believe could peel away votes from Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain given the candidates' similar positions on fiscal policy.

Barr, who has hired Ross Perot's former campaign manager, acknowledged that some Republicans have tried to discourage him from running. But he said he's getting in the race to win, not to play spoiler or to make a point.

"I've heard from Americans from all walks of life ... they want a choice," he said at a Washington news conference.

Barr first must win the Libertarian nomination at the party's national convention that begins May 22. Party officials consider him a front-runner thanks to the national profile he developed as a Georgia congressman from 1995 to 2003.

Barr said that if he wins the White House, he would immediately freeze discretionary spending in Washington. He also would begin withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The former U.S. attorney also said he would strictly enforce immigration laws.

"This notion that government owes something to people just because they're here does not resonate with me," he said. "This is not a charity."

Barr, 59, quit the Republican Party two years ago, saying he had grown disillusioned with its failure to shrink government and its willingness to scale back civil liberties in fighting terrorism.

While in Congress, he was a persistent critic of President Clinton and was among the first to press for impeaching the former president. He helped manage House Republicans' impeachment case before the Senate.

He lost his seat to fellow Republican Rep. John Linder in 2002 after a redistricting.

Study: Today's immigrants less assimilated

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:37 CDT

By EUNICE MOSCOSO

Current immigrants, especially Mexicans, are less assimilated than those 100 years ago, a study to be released today found.

The study uses census data going back more than a century to measure assimilation through various indicators such as English-learning, employment, home ownership, rates of marriage to native-born people, child bearing, naturalization, educational attainment, military service and many others.

Based on these factors, the study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York, creates an assimilation index ranging from 1 to 100, with 100 being complete assimilation.

Currently, immigrants collectively have an assimilation index of 28, compared with an index of more than 50 in 1900. The study also separates economic, cultural and civic integration levels.

The study's author, however, said the data also indicate that the pace of assimilation over the past 25 years is higher than a century ago, which means immigrants are catching up to previous levels.

"The nation's capacity to integrate new immigrants is strong," said Jacob Vigdor, an associate professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University.

But the progress "is not present for all groups and in particular, it's not present among some of the Latin American immigrants that are at the heart of the immigration debate these days," he said.

Low rate for Mexicans

For Mexicans, the assimilation rate is 13, according to the index. By comparison, Canadians have an assimilation index of 53 and Germans have an index of 87, the highest.

Vigdor said there could be many reasons why Mexicans have lower rates of assimilation, including that they are closer to their home country, they have more chances to speak Spanish, and they mostly come for economic reasons as opposed to immigrants who are fleeing dangerous regimes and fear going back. For example, Vietnamese immigrants had a strong incentive to accept the United States as their homeland, he said.

In addition, many Mexican immigrants are in the United States illegally and therefore are unable to meet many of the criteria for assimilation.

Index called flawed

Jeffrey Passel, a demographer with the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, said the index was flawed as a measure of assimilation.

"Assimilation is a process that takes place over time and over generations. They're not measuring that," he said.

In addition, Passel said that the snapshot of immigrant assimilation is weighted heavily toward new immigrants who are clearly going to be less integrated into the larger society.

Online: Pew Hispanic Center,

pewhispanic.org

Manhattan Institute study,

www.manhattan-institute.org/cci

Assimilation

NATIONAL BRIEFS

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:39 CDT

Holdings lead court to drop case

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Supreme Court tossed itself off a big case Monday. The court couldn't take up an apartheid dispute involving some of the nation's largest companies because too many of the justices have investments or other ties with those corporate giants. It appeared to be the first time in at least a quarter-century that the justices' financial holdings prevented them from taking a case. The result is that a lawsuit will go forward accusing dozens of corporations of violating international law by assisting South Africa's former apartheid government.

-- The Associated Press

Wiretaps up, prosecutions down

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after 9-11. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.

-- Los Angeles Times

Death toll hits 22 in storms that struck wide area

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:38 CDT

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

SENECA, Mo. -- Tornadoes tore across the Plains and the South over the weekend, killing at least 22 people.

President Bush has talked with governors to express his condolences for the deaths and discuss needs for recovery, according to the White House.

"The federal government will be moving hard to help," Bush said.

At least 15 were killed in southwestern Missouri; six in Picher, Okla.; and one in Georgia.

At least 150 people were injured in Picher, which was once a bustling mining center of 20,000 that has dwindled to about 800 people as families fled lead pollution. On Sunday, there was a surreal scene of overturned cars, smashed homes and mattresses, and twisted metal stuck high in the canopy of trees.

"I swear I could see cars floating," said Herman Hernandez, 68. "And there was a roar, louder and louder."

Ed Keheley was headed to town to help Saturday night when he heard a woman screaming. He looked over to see her hand reaching out of debris.

"She was sitting in the bathtub, she had curlers in her hair and she wanted out of there," said Keheley, who along with several others pulled her out.

The area is part of a Superfund site, and residents have been asked to take part in state and federal buyouts in recent years.

"From what I've been able to determine, that wouldn't have any bearing on whether a disaster declaration would come forth," said Earl Armstrong, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman.

Georgia

As the system moved east Sunday, one of at least six tornadoes in Georgia killed a person in Dublin, about 120 miles southeast of Atlanta, the National Weather Service said.

The small town of Kite was destroyed by the storm, said Caroline Pope, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. Close to 1,000 people live in the community, she said.

"From what they're telling me, it's gone," she said from the dispatch center in the jail, which was operating on a generator because the power was out.

The Carolinas

Storms later Sunday in North Carolina destroyed several mobile homes, and six people were slightly injured, said Patty McQuillan of the state police.

And in South Carolina, a possible tornado damaged several homes, but no injuries were reported, Charleston County spokeswoman Jennie Davis said.

Arkansas

In storm-weary Arkansas, a tornado caused significant damage in Stuttgart, but no one was seriously injured, said Joe Goudsward, Weather Service meteorologist.

Tornadoes killed 13 people in Arkansas on Feb. 5, and seven died in storms May 2.

On holiday, Clinton touts strength among women

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:37 CDT

By MATT APUZZO

GRAFTON, W.Va. -- Hillary Clinton toured the birthplace of Mother's Day in rural West Virginia, offering Democrats a subtle reminder Sunday that her fading candidacy remains strong among women and blue-collar white voters.

That loyal base is expected to carry Clinton to a sizable victory in the primary Tuesday, though it won't do much to close the gap between her and Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton's lingering candidacy highlights not just her strengths but also how difficult it has been for Obama to make inroads among some key Democratic constituencies.

Clinton made a brief afternoon visit to the home of Anna Jarvis, who is credited with founding Mother's Day 100 years ago. Clinton spoke to reporters afterward and told stories about women who have changed history by pressing for equal rights and breaking into male-dominated careers.

She highlighted her own mother's working-class upbringing and quoted from letters she said mothers have written her recently.

"Keep fighting," Clinton said, reading from one of those letters. "The fact is that you stood throughout the constant ups and downs of this race. You never wavered, and you never gave up."

Clinton said her favorite letter ended, "It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is."

Though Obama has amassed a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates and has turned his attention to a general election against Republican John McCain, Clinton is pressing ahead in West Virginia and Kentucky -- states where the demographics strongly favor her.

Overall, her campaign has remained alive largely because of her lead, 60 percent to 36 percent, over Obama among white women voters in the primaries so far. But among college-educated white women -- the demographic of many feminists and of Clinton herself -- her lead is much smaller, 54 percent to 43 percent, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.

Even if, as expected, she racks up hefty wins in both West Virginia and Kentucky, it likely won't change the landscape of the race. But Clinton's advisers hope it will persuade party leaders that she is more likely than Obama to beat McCain.

Clinton did not mention Obama on Sunday. But campaign strategist Howard Wolfson said that West Virginia is a key swing state that Republicans won in 2000 and 2004, and that the former first lady will put it back in the Democratic column. He said Obama should beat her there if he wants her out of the race.

Besides his lead in pledged delegates, those won in primaries and caucuses, Obama on Saturday erased Clinton's once-commanding advantage among superdelegates, the elected Democrats and party leaders who will play a role in determining the nominee.

Obama took Sunday off, spending it at home in Chicago. He has scheduled campaign appearances today in Charleston, W.Va., and Louisville, Ky.

Students punished for not standing for pledge

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:38 CDT

By PAUL WALSH

Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the pledge of allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free-speech rights.

"My son wasn't being defiant against America," said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in northwestern Minnesota.

Brandt told the Forum newspaper in Fargo, N.D., that Thursday's one-day in-school suspension, "was kind of dumb because I didn't do anything wrong. It should be the people's choice."

The school's handbook says all students must stand but are not required to recite the pledge. The same is true for all four schools in the district, a school official said.

"These three [students] didn't, and they got caught," said Mel Olson, the district's community education director.

The head of the Minnesota American Civil Liberties Union said the school's actions against the students are unconstitutional, and his office informed the district of that Friday in a strongly worded letter.

"The school can't do that; that's illegal," said Chuck Samuelson, the civil liberties group's executive director.

Samuelson said numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating to the 1940s say in "well-settled constitutional law" that "students who refuse to participate in the pledge cannot be punished for refusing to participate."

Colleen Houglum, the principal who suspended the three, acknowledged in a statement that the policy may need to be modified.

A graduate who sees the world in black and white

Mon, 12 May 2008 04:37 CDT

By ERRIN HAINES

ATLANTA -- From his first day at Morehouse College -- the country's only institution of higher learning dedicated to the education of black men -- Joshua Packwood has been a standout.

His popularity got him elected dorm president as a freshman. His looks and physique made him a fashion-show favorite. His intellect made him a Rhodes Scholar finalist. His work ethic landed him a job at the prestigious investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in New York City.

But it's his skin that has made all of that an anomaly. This month, Packwood is set to take the stage and address his classmates as the first white valedictorian in Morehouse's 141-year history.

The 22-year-old from Kansas City, Mo., will graduate Sunday with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics.

He could have gone to a school like Columbia, Stanford or Yale, but his four-year journey through Morehouse has taught him a few things that they could not, and he makes it clear that he has no regrets.

"I've been forced to see the world in a different perspective that I don't think I could've gotten anywhere else," he said. "None of the Ivies, no matter how large their enrollment is, no matter how many Nobel laureates they have on their faculty ... none of them could've provided me with the perspective I have now."

'You know I'm white, right?'

When Packwood applied to Morehouse, he had frequent conversations with George Gray, an alumnus who was a recruiter at the school. Gray was impressed by Packwood's credentials and spent months trying to talk the sought-after senior into choosing Morehouse over other elite schools.

"He had outstanding numbers," said Gray, now director of admissions at historically black Philander Smith College in Little Rock. "He was the kind of kid we were looking for to be a presidential scholar."

After several conversations, Packwood began to suspect that Gray had no idea that he was white. His suspicions were confirmed when one of Gray's calls caught Packwood in the middle of track practice.

"Don't let the white kids walk you down," Gray quipped.

"Wait," Packwood responded. "You know I'm white, right?"

Silence. Uneasy laughter. Confirmation.

"The challenge was to get the best student that we could, and Josh definitely fit that," Gray said.

And for Packwood, knowing that he had been picked on his merits, and not as a token white recruit, made the difference.

"That said I could come here and, ironically, be accepted for who I am," Packwood said. "I thought I made the right decision then, and I know I made the right decision now."

Packwood's mere presence on campus wouldn't make history at this school, which was founded by a black minister and cabinetmaker two years after the end of the Civil War. Howard Zehr, Morehouse's first white student, graduated in 1966, and there have been dozens of other whites on campus since.

'You don't see a skin color'

Packwood still laughs when he remembers his first day on campus, wandering the grounds in pajama pants and getting stares from black classmates who wondered if the freshman wasn't a wayward student from Georgia Tech, Georgia State or perhaps Emory University.

After convincing the photographer to take a picture for his student ID, Packwood headed to his room in Brazeal Hall. Shortly after, his roommate arrived with his mother. Four years later, Packwood still can't get over the irony: After years of being one of a few blacks at majority-white schools in Dallas, Phillip Smithey had come to Morehouse to get the "black experience."