Shaun White pulled out of the Olympic slopestyle contest Wednesday, about 24 hours after being banged up on a course that riders are criticizing as unduly harsh.
White issued a statement, saying that after much deliberation, he has decided to forgo the new snowboarding event and concentrate on halfpipe, where he will try for his third straight gold medal next week.
“With the practice runs I have taken, even after course modifications and watching fellow athletes get hurt, the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on,” White said.
Considered among the favorites of the new events on the Sochi Olympics schedule, White jammed his left wrist during practice Tuesday, and when he came off the slopestyle course, he called it “a little intimidating.”
CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) announced today that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its more than 7,600 CVS/pharmacy stores across the U.S. by October 1, 2014, making CVS/pharmacy the first national pharmacy chain to take this step in support of the health and well-being of its patients and customers.
“Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health,” said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Caremark. “Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose.”
Merlo continued, “As the delivery of health care evolves with an emphasis on better health outcomes, reducing chronic disease and controlling costs, CVS Caremark is playing an expanded role in providing care through our pharmacists and nurse practitioners. The significant action we’re taking today by removing tobacco products from our retail shelves further distinguishes us in how we are serving our patients, clients and health care providers and better positions us for continued growth in the evolving health care marketplace.”
Smoking is the leading cause of premature disease and death in the United States with more than 480,000 deaths annually.
The body of a 50-year-old man was found hanging from a tree in Prospect Park early this morning, police said.
The man, who has not been identified, was found with a rope around his neck near the park’s lake at 3:44 a.m. Authorities are primarily classifying the death as a suicide.
If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide: do not leave the person alone, remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt, and call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.
Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Lauren Evans in News on Feb 3, 2014 9:52 AM
prospect park suicide.
A Florida woman is jailed after making a Super Bowl week trip from her home to New York City, where she allegedly sought to pimp out her 15-year-old daughter, according to police.
When questioned by cops after her arrest Wednesday, Yolanda Ostolaza, 39, admitted that, “We came up here to work and make money with a pimp. I knew it was for escorting and prostitution,” according to a misdemeanor criminal complaint.
As for her child’s role in the illegal activity, Ostolaza remarked, “I thought my daughter was just going to do the fetish stuff.”
Undercover vice detectives, who initially contacted the teen via an online ad, arranged to pay $200 for a sexual encounter at a Manhattan hotel. When officers later took the girl into custody, she told them her age and said that her mother was waiting for her at a nearby hotel.
Ostolaza, pictured above, was subsequently charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. She remains locked up in lieu of $2000 bail. Her daughter has been placed in the custody of child welfare officials.
Forget about rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain or any other objects that might be falling down over the next few days in New Jersey. The real forecast is that the sky is falling on Governor Chris Christie and he has little time, and no room for error, if he wants to regain his reputation as a bully leader anytime soon.
The problem isn’t that he’s an able politician, because he is whether you disagree with him or not, or that he can get the Democrats to sign on to what will be his signature accomplishment, which was to raid public employees’ pockets and blame them for the recession enact a pension and benefits bill that made public employees pay more for their pensions and benefits (discovered the strike through key, didn’t I? OK, I’ll stop).
No, the problem with Chris Christie is that his style finally caught up to him. He is a big guy with a big personality who doesn’t suffer people whom he considers fools very patiently. Now his main personal strategy has him gasping for clean political air, which is usually in short supply in this state, and it’s choking him.
The latest example is a memo the Governor’s Office released in response to former Port Authority official and main player in the GW Bridge traffic scandal, David Wildstein, who said that he had evidence, still unreleased, that shows Christie knowing about the lane closings as they happened. That contrasts with what the governor told the public at his two hour news conference after the scandal broke.
Now, I understand that both parties play the blame game and the strategy has always been that if you’re accused of something to deny it, either truthfully or to stonewall and hope the investigation shows nothing, and to attack your opponents. This memo, though, is officially in the Hall of Fame for its vacuous and lame attempt at slurring Wildstein. From the article:
The memo listed five incidents as evidence, saying that “as a 16-year-old kid,” Mr. Wildstein had sued over a school board election; that he had been “publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior”; that he had a controversial tenure as mayor of Livingston, N.J.; that he had been an anonymous blogger; and that he “had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them.”
I’m assuming that you’ve stopped laughing.
Suing over a school board election? Doesn’t that qualify you to be in the He-Man Government Hater’s Club? What about being accused of deceptive behavior in social studies class? As a social studies teacher, I now have ultimate political power over most of the approximately 2,500 students who have sat in my classes over the years. Can’t wait for some of them to run for office. Controversial politician? Like you, Governor? Anonymous blogger? Not anymore.
In sum, the governor has bupkis on this guy. If he did, he would have released it weeks ago and would have gone on the offensive as he did in most other cases. If he wanted to play hardball, he would have offered to pay Wildstein’s legal fees so he could defend himself without having to out Christie with what they both know is true. Firing Wildstein, and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, has now opened the governor to all kinds of problems, because those people are now trying to save their lives. Some of what they say will be wrong, but much of it will be true. And Christie knows that.
The Bridge is not the only problem the governor has because there are reports that he didn’t implement the reconstruction aid program from Sandy until a full 10 months after the money was delivered to NJ. My sense is that this is going to be a bigger problem than lane closures. That was done for political payback; stalling aid to people whose houses were now in the Atlantic is far worse.
And pundits said the President had a rough fifth year. Christie’s win in 2013 will be his final election victory.
New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio took his family to 42nd Street today – renamed Super Bowl Ave – and unleashed a series of taunts on his high afro son Dante after the two took a slide down the 6 stories Toboggan Run.
“Score one for the older generation,” the mayor said in excitement after the two raced down the slide and what appeared to be a win. “Victory for the parents! You got nothing! You got height and you got hair, but you got nothing else!”
The family, along with members of de Blasio’s administration took multiple rides on the slide with the mayor taunting all the way.
A former TSA officer has confirmed many of the worst suspicions about airport security screeners: they stop passengers for having an attitude, they confiscate snow globes from children and nail clippers from pilots, they profile passengers based on their nationality.
And yes, they do see travelers naked in the X-ray photos.
In a confessional piece for Politico, former TSA agent-turned-writer Jason Harrington spills the secrets on the ways that the security workers pass the time during their long shifts.
‘I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilots—the implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying,’ he wrote.
One of the most coveted rotations while he worked at Chicago’s O’Hare airport while Harrington worked there from 2007 through 2013 was the secretive Image Operator room where guards took turns sitting in the windowless room- that also lacked security cameras- viewing the pictures of passengers that the x-ray machines took.
‘Many of the images we gawked at were of overweight people, their every fold and dimple on full awful display. Piercings of every kind were visible. Women who’d had mastectomies were easy to discern—their chests showed up on our screens as dull, pixelated regions. Hernias appeared as bulging, blistery growths in the crotch area,’ he wrote in the Politico article.
‘All the old, crass stereotypes about race and genitalia size thrived on our secure government radio channels.’
The I.O. room turned into its own experiment in explicit behavior as agents would use it as a secret meeting point for mid0-work rendez-vous since the lack of security cameras kept them from being busted.
The TSA issued a statement in response to MailOnline, saying: ‘Many of the TSA procedures and policies referenced in this article are no longer in place or are characterized inaccurately.’
‘Every passenger deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and Transportation Security Administration policy upholds this standard. TSA does not tolerate any form of unethical or unlawful behavior by its employees and takes swift disciplinary action if discovered.
‘Since November 2011, TSA has aggressively implemented risk-based security procedures to move away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.
‘TSA has installed Automated Target Recognition software on every Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) unit in use, eliminating the analyzed images referenced in the article.
It concluded by reporting that the agency ‘has instituted one-step removal procedures in many cases for employees behaving unethically or unlawfully’.
Harrington, who went on to take a graduate course in creative writing after leaving the TSA, even translated the underhanded code-words used by the agents to alert their friends to an attractive passenger approaching the line.
Fanny Pack Lane 2 and Alfalfa are both used to give a heads-up about an attractive woman headed towards the agents. Code Red and Code Yellow are also used in the same way- depending on the color of her shirt.
While the overly-detailed pictures provided entertainment for the screeners, Harrington writes that the expensive machines did little else.
Even when a representative from the machine manufacturer came to give the TSA agents a tutorial on the $150,000 machines, he admitted that they barely worked.
‘He said we wouldn’t be able to distinguish plastic explosives from body fat and that guns were practically invisible if they were turned sideways in a pocket,’ Harrington wrote.
A number of agents became concerned about the amount of secondary radiation they were being put through by working next to the machines day-in and day-out, even though they regularly towed the party line that it was safe when passengers asked them the same question.
While he expressed empathy for alarmed pregnant women who were told to go through the machine anyway, there were also lighter moments that came as a result.
One of his code words listed on the blog that he started to vent about life behind the TSA shield, called Taking Sense Away, was the ‘baby-shower-opt-out’: when a woman opts out and explains that she is pregnant to the surprise of the friends she is traveling with, who shriek and yell and have an impromptu celebration.
The more serious allegations that came through in his piece came to his description of the not-so-random security checks of ‘suspicious’ passengers.
A number of boarding passes have a code- SSSS- printed on them based on the passenger’s name, indicating that they are on a watch list or have been flagged up for whatever reason.
Beyond that, a passenger’s nationality could also automatically prove reason for an extra-thorough check and each TSA agent is given a list of a dozen countries that they should memorize (or pin to the back of their shield badge for safe keeping): Syria, Algeria, Afghanistan, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan.
Conspicuously absent from that list? Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, two countries with a history of harboring terrorists. Harrington explained that the slip was not accidental but political.
Political posturing and possible security threats were not the only reasons that you could be selected for an extra search, however, as he also explained that ‘retaliatory wait time’ was a common practice, as agents regularly made the process more difficult when they simply didn’t like your attitude.
‘Pretending that something in your bag or on your full body image needs to be resolved- the punitive possibilities are endless, and there are many tricks in the screener’s bag,’ he wrote.
Harrington began voicing his concerns about TSA practices well into his time there, first writing a letter that was published in The New York Times in 2010.
His supervisor had ‘a chat’ with him about it, but didn’t fire him, and so he continued to write about his complaints but this time on an anonymous blog.
That blog, Taking Sense Away, eventually went viral and his fear of being caught and desire to leave a job that he never intended to be long-term led to his decision to leave and go to graduate school in 2013.
He is now working on a book about his time in uniform.
A New York man allegedly found sitting in a car with a loaded rifle, machete and a container of gasoline was charged on Friday with threatening to kill George W. Bush after professing a romantic interest in the former president’s oldest daughter, prosecutors said.
Benjamin Smith, 44, of upstate New York was arrested in Manhattan by the U.S. Secret Service, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
‘Bush will get his,’ Smith screamed as he was taken into custody, according to the complaint.
Later, when asked about his marital status, he told agents he was divorced and ‘working on a relationship with Barbara Bush.’
At a preliminary hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold told U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman the government believes Smith was referring to the former president’s daughter and not Bush’s mother, who shares the same name.
It is a crime under federal law to threaten a current or former president.
On Thursday, the man’s mother called police to report she had found a threatening note in the home she shares with her son and that a rifle was also missing, the complaint said.
‘I’m going to work for George W. Bush and the Pentagon,’ the note said, according to the government. ‘I have to slay a dragon and then Barbara Bush is mine.’
The Prince of Wales has launched an attack on climate change sceptics, describing them as the “headless chicken brigade” and accusing “powerful groups of deniers” of engaging in intimidation.
Charles, who has long campaigned to raise awareness of global warming and has hit out at sceptics in the past, unleashed his latest salvo during an awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace for green entrepreneurs.
“It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything – until, that is, it comes to climate science,” the prince said in a speech on Thursday evening.
“All of a sudden, and with a barrage of sheer intimidation, we are told by powerful groups of deniers that the scientists are wrong and we must abandon all our faith in so much overwhelming scientific evidence.
“So, thank goodness for our young entrepreneurs here this evening, who have the far-sightedness and confidence in what they know is happening to ignore the headless chicken brigade and do something practical to help.”
Charles made his comments as the inaugural Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize was awarded to Gamal Albinsaid, who founded the Indonesian social enterprise Garbage Clinical Insurance, which helps the poor gain access to health services and education through the collection and recycling of rubbish.
Dedicated surgeon: Dr Zenko Hrynkiw walked six miles through a snow storm to perform brain surgery in Birmingham, Alabama
A brain surgeon walked six miles through a snowstorm in Alabama on Tuesday to perform life-saving surgery.
Dr Zenko Hrynkiw was at Brookwood Medical Center in Tuesday morning when he was needed for emergency brain surgery miles away at Trinity Medical Center.
The problem was the sudden snowstorm had locked down traffic, and the neurosurgeon didn’t get farther than a few blocks by vehicle.
‘The cell service was bad so we were fading in and out,’ said Steve Davis, charge nurse in the neuro intensive care unit at Trinity. ‘At one point, I heard him say, “I’m walking.”‘
Davis had alerted authorities, and they were looking for him. There were supposed sightings, but no one could find him.
‘The police were looking for him,’ Davis said.
Hours had gone by since the initial contact in the morning.
‘He finally called me and said, “Where’s the patient? What’s the status?”‘ Davis said. ‘He spoke to the family and went off to surgery.’
It was an emergency surgery for a traumatic brain injury. Hrynkiw is Trinity’s only brain surgeon, Davis said.
‘Without the surgery, the patient would have most likely died,’ Davis said. ‘But he is doing well.’
Traffic nightmare: Weather conditions in the South left many commuters trudging home after abandoning their cars
Local hospital: As the only brain surgeon at Trinity Hospital (pictured), Dr Hrynkiw decided to walk the six miles there after a snow storm caused huge traffic jams
Local hospital: As the only brain surgeon at Trinity Hospital (pictured), Dr Hrynkiw decided to walk the six miles there after a snow storm caused huge traffic jams
Davis said he and colleagues at Trinity were estimating the hike to the Montclair Road hospital at about eight miles, although Google Maps puts it at about six. The extreme weather Tuesday has been blamed for five deaths statewide and it stranded untold thousands away from their homes.
‘This just speaks volumes to the dedication of the man,’ Davis said. ‘When I saw him, all I could say was “You are a good man.”‘
Davis said Hrynkiw takes good care of himself and frequently walks for exercise.
The doctor was hardly the only person to talk miles through the storm. Roads around metro Birmingham were still lined with thousands of abandoned cars and trucks on Thursday.
George Zimmerman, acquitted in the high-profile killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, arrives in court Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013, in Sanford, Fla., for his hearing on charges including aggravated assault stemming from a fight with his girlfriend. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)
There are many people who would relish the opportunity to take a swing at unconvicted killer George Zimmerman, and at least one lucky person will get that chance.
Zimmerman, who was found not guilty on murder charges after he followed and eventually gunned down 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, will participate in a “celebrity” boxing match that will be aired online and on Pay-Per-View on March 1, 2014.
“It was my idea,” Zimmerman, 30, said in an interview with Radar Online.
“Prior to the incident I was actually going to the gym for weight loss and doing boxing-type training for weight loss and a mutual friend put me in contact with Damon and provided me with an opportunity and motivation to get back in shape and continue with my weight loss goals and also be able to help a charity out.”
The “incident,” of course, is his killing of an unarmed teenager.
“Boxing isn’t new to me. It’s something I had picked up well before the incident and it’s something that I liked, I enjoyed, and I kept up with it and I was able to lose a tremendous amount of weight and get a healthy lifestyle,” he told Radar.
“So it’s not a new hobby, it’s something I have been doing and wanting to pursue to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
…
“I don’t have a preference [on opponent] as long as it goes to charity, doesn’t matter to me. Hopefully someone that won’t hurt me too bad!” Zimmerman said, but after thinking about it a minute told Radar, “If I had my top three I’d say Papa Smurf, the Easter Bunny and maybe the Michelin Man.”
Zimmerman, who has taken full advantage of his notoriety, shared the news on his Twitter page.
Only in America can you become famous for killing a Black child in cold blood.
If you’d like the chance to fight George Zimmerman, email here: fightgeorge@hotmail.com.
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