Life, Interrupted: Brotherly Love

Life, Interrupted

Suleika Jaouad writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer.

There are a lot of things about having cancer in your 20s that feel absurd. One of those instances was when I found myself calling my brother Adam on Skype while he was studying abroad in Argentina to tell him that I had just been diagnosed with leukemia and that — no pressure — he was my only hope for a cure.

Today, my brother and I share almost identical DNA, the result of a successful bone marrow transplant I had last April using his healthy stem cells. But Adam and I couldn’t be more different. Like a lot of siblings, we got along swimmingly at one moment and were in each other’s hair the next. My younger brother by two years, he said I was a bossy older sister. I, of course, thought I knew best for my little brother and wanted him to see the world how I did. My brother is quieter, more reflective. I’m a chronic social butterfly who is probably a bit too impulsive and self-serious. I dreamed of dancing in the New York City Ballet, and he imagined himself playing in the N.B.A. While the sounds of the rapper Mos Def blared from Adam’s room growing up, I practiced for concerto competitions. Friends joked that one of us had to be adopted. We even look different, some people say. But really, we’re just siblings like any others.

When I was diagnosed with cancer at age 22, I learned just how much cancer affects families when it affects individuals. My doctors informed me that I had a high-risk form of leukemia and that a bone marrow transplant was my only shot at a cure. ‘Did I have any siblings?’ the doctors asked immediately. That would be my best chance to find a bone marrow match. Suddenly, everyone in our family was leaning on the little brother. He was in his last semester of college, and while his friends were applying to jobs and partying the final weeks of the school year away, he was soon shuttling from upstate New York to New York City for appointments with the transplant doctors.

I’d heard of organ transplants before, but what was a bone marrow transplant? The extent of my knowledge about bone marrow came from French cuisine: the fancy dish occasionally served with a side of toasted baguette.

Jokes aside, I learned that cancer patients become quick studies in the human body and how cancer treatment works. The thought of going through a bone marrow transplant, which in my case called for a life-threatening dose of chemotherapy followed by a total replacement of my body’s bone marrow, was scary enough. But then I learned that finding a donor can be the scariest part of all.

It turns out that not all transplants are created equal. Without a match, the path to a cure becomes much less certain, in many cases even impossible. This is particularly true for minorities and people from mixed ethnic backgrounds, groups that are severely underrepresented in bone marrow registries. As a first generation American, the child of a Swiss mother and Tunisian father, I suddenly found myself in a scary place. My doctors worried that a global, harried search for a bone marrow match would delay critical treatment for my fast-moving leukemia.

That meant that my younger brother was my best hope — but my doctors were careful to measure hope with reality. Siblings are the best chance for a match, but a match only happens about 25 percent of the time.

To our relief, results showed that my brother was a perfect match: a 10-out-of-10 on the donor scale. It was only then that it struck me how lucky I had been. Doctors never said it this way, but without a match, my chances of living through the next year were low. I have met many people since who, after dozens of efforts to encourage potential bone marrow donors to sign up, still have not found a match. Adding your name to the bone marrow registry is quick, easy and painless — you can sign up at marrow.org — and it just takes a swab of a Q-tip to get your DNA. For cancer patients around the world, it could mean a cure.

The bone marrow transplant procedure itself can be dangerous, but it is swift, which makes it feel strangely anti-climactic. On “Day Zero,” my brother’s stem cells dripped into my veins from a hanging I.V. bag, and it was all over in minutes. Doctors tell me that the hardest part of the transplant is recovering from it. I’ve found that to be true, and I’ve also recognized that the same is true for Adam. As I slowly grow stronger, my little brother has assumed a caretaker role in my life. I carry his blood cells — the ones keeping me alive — and he is carrying the responsibility, and often fear and anxiety, of the loving onlooker. He tells me I’m still a bossy older sister. But our relationship is now changed forever. I have to look to him for support and guidance more than I ever have. He’ll always be my little brother, but he’s growing up fast.


Suleika Jaouad (pronounced su-LAKE-uh ja-WAD) is a 24-year-old writer who lives in New York City. Her column, “Life, Interrupted,” chronicling her experiences as a young adult with cancer, appears regularly on Well. Follow @suleikajaouad on Twitter.

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Wrigley Field: Hotel planned near Cubs' ball park








The owners of the Chicago Cubs said Thursday that they plan to develop a hotel on property they own across the street from Wrigley Field that they acquired from McDonald's Corp. more than a year ago.

But the development will be contingent on striking a deal with local governments to renovate Wrigley Field.

"Once we know how we can save Wrigley Field, the Ricketts Family is looking forward to the opportunity to build a hotel across the street.  It could complement the neighborhood and its establishments while also serving fans and tourists," said family spokesman Dennis Culloton.

The family said it has an agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to develop a boutique hotel.

In November 2011, the owners of the Chicago Cubs bought property across the street from Wrigley Field from McDonald's Corp. for $20 million, expanding their opportunities to redevelop areas around the stadium. It included a McDonald's restauranton the northwest corner of Clark and Addison, as well as a large parking lot north of the restaurant. 

The Ricketts family also owns a triangle parcel next to Wrigley Field but said the development of that property also hinges on a proposal to renovate Wrigley Field.


The family has been seeking state and local taxpayer incentives to help finance more than $200 million in renovations to Wrigley Field, which will be 100 years old in 2014.

Their original plan, which included the use of amusement taxes paid on Cubs tickets, received little political support. But the family continues to have conversations about public financing with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and members of the General Assembly.

Until a deal is reached, McDonald's will continue to own and operate the restaurant on the property. The agreement with the Ricketts family calls for a McDonald's restaurant to be included in any future redevelopment of the property.

The Ricketts family bought the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and related assets from Tribune Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, in 2009.

asachdev@tribune.com






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AT&T Offers $100 Off HSPA+ Nexus 7 for a Limited Time






The Nexus 7, made by Asus in partnership with Google, was the first really successful Android tablet that wasn’t made by a bookseller. It brought the hundreds of thousands of games and apps on Google Play (formerly the Android Market) to a wide audience, and it did so at an unheard-of price point: Only $ 199, for a device packing a Tegra 3 processor which made it much more powerful (and better for gaming) than Amazon‘s Kindle Fire.


When the Nexus 7 launched, it was Wi-Fi only and had as little as 8 GB of storage space. Google and Asus have fixed both of those problems, and from now until Feb. 14, AT&T is offering $ 100 worth of credit towards your wireless bill with the purchase of a new Nexus 7 and the signing of a two-year wireless contract.






The tablet itself


The Nexus 7 isn’t designed as a book-reader, but is more of a competitor to the iPad Mini. It lacks exclusive Amazon services like Amazon Instant Video, and many of the best iPad games and apps either aren’t available for it or aren’t available yet. It has far more games and apps for it than the Kindle, though, and can actually read Kindle books and run games and apps that you previously bought for the Kindle.


Its Tegra 3 processor allows it to play “THD”-enhanced games, which are roughly comparable in graphics quality to modern iPad or Xbox games. Finally, the model that AT&T is offering a discount on has both HSPA+ (a slower version of 4G) wireless Internet and 32 GB of storage, a combination which costs $ 559 on a similarly palm-sized iPad Mini. The Nexus 7 is only $ 299, and that’s before the $ 100 credit.


AT&T’s plans


The cheapest plan available is the $ 10 Mobile Share plan, which allows you to add the tablet to a plan that you already have. The next cheapest is AT&T’s $ 15 plan, which offers only 250 MB per month — okay for occasional email and web surfing, but completely inadequate for streaming videos regularly. Its $ 30 plan offers 3 GB of data, which still won’t stand up to constant Netflix viewing but will hold up much better than the $ 15 one.


What else is there?


The iPad and iPad Mini are also available (and much more expensive) from AT&T, as is a new Lenovo IdeaTab. It’s available for $ 199 off-contract and $ 99 on a two-year contract, but it’s not as fast or powerful as the Nexus 7, can’t play the same games, and has much less storage space.


Finally, if you like the Nexus 7 but aren’t sure you’ll still want it in two years (especially since the hardware is half a year old already), AT&T offers month-to-month wireless plans, which can be canceled at any time without paying an early termination fee. You just won’t get the $ 100 discount unless you sign a two-year contract.


Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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FAA grounds all Dreamliners

Federal officials say they are temporarily grounding Boeing's 787 Dreamliners until the risk of possible battery fires is addressed. (Jan. 16)








The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday it would temporarily ground Boeing Co's 787s after a second incident involving battery failures caused one of the Dreamliner passenger jets to make an emergency landing in Japan.

The FAA said airlines would have to demonstrate that the lithium ion batteries involved were safe before they could resume flying Boeing's newest commercial airliner, but gave no details on when that could occur.

Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Its shares fell 2 percent in after-hours trading to $72.75 after the FAA announcement. The shares of GS Yuasa Corp, a Japanese company that makes batteries for the Dreamliner, fell sharply in early trading there.

"Ultimately, you can view it as a positive thing if they can resolve what the issues are and give people confidence in the safety of the aircraft. In the near-term, though, it's a negative. It's going to force the company to make significant investments," said Ken Herbert, an analyst at Imperial Capital in San Francisco.

The 787, which has a list price of $207 million, represents a leap in the way planes are designed and built, but the project has been plagued by cost overruns and years of delays. Some have suggested Boeing's rush to get planes built after those delays resulted in the recent problems, a charge the company denies.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, some seven Dreamliners were in the air Wednesday night as the FAA order came down, including a United Airlines flight that left Los Angeles for Houston just a few minutes before the order. United could not be immediately reached for comment.

The use of new battery technology is among the cost-saving features of the 787, which Boeing says burns 20 percent less fuel than rival jetliners using older technology.

Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if they are overcharged and, once alight, they are difficult to put out as the chemicals produce oxygen, Boeing's chief engineer for the 787, Mike Sinnett, told reporters last week. He said lithium-ion was not the only battery choice, but "it was the right choice".

In Asia, only the Japanese and Air India have the Dreamliner in service, but other airlines are among those globally to have ordered around 850 of the new aircraft.

Boeing has said it will at least break even on the cost of building the 1,100 new 787s it expects to deliver over the next decade. Some analysts, however, say Boeing may never make money from the aircraft, given its enormous development cost.

Any additional cost from fixing problems discovered by the string of recent incidents would affect those forecasts and could hit Boeing's bottom line more quickly if it has to stop delivering planes, analysts said.

BATTERY PROBLEMS

In the latest incident, All Nippon Airways Co Ltd said instruments aboard a domestic flight indicated a battery error, triggering emergency warnings. The incident was described by a transport ministry official as "highly serious" - language used in international safety circles as indicating there could have been an accident.

That led ANA and Japan Airlines Co Ltd to ground their 24 Dreamliners pending checks. Japanese transportation officials said they could not immediately comment on the FAA decision, as did a spokesman for JAL. An ANA spokeswoman said the FAA's order meant the airline could not use its 787s on its U.S. routes.

But barring a prolonged grounding or a severe and uncontained crisis, aircraft industry sources say there is no immediate threat of cancellations for the plane, even after the FAA's decision to halt 787 flights.

Among other reasons, they cite the heavy costs of retraining and investing in new infrastructure, as well as a shortage of alternatives in an industry dominated by just two large jet suppliers.

The Dreamliner's problems could sharpen competition between Boeing and its European rival Airbus, which itself experienced a dip in sales for its A380 superjumbo following problems with wing cracks a year ago. The A380 crisis has since eased and most airlines report the aircraft are flying full.






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“American Idol” returns with feuds, fame, fortune






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “American Idol” returns on Wednesday with the tantalizing promise of fame, fortune and feuds – and that’s just among the celebrity panel hired to find the next pop music sensation.


Singer Mariah Carey, rapper Nicki Minaj and country artist Keith Urban make their debut as judges when the TV talent contest begins its 12th season on Fox.






“All three judges are eminently qualified. It’s a good spectrum in terms of embracing hip-hop, country and pop,” HitFix.com music blogger Melinda Newman said.


“What everyone is going to be looking at, sadly, is how Mariah and Nicki Minaj get along, instead of focusing on the contestants,” she said.


Carey, with more than 200 million album sales, the outspoken Minaj, one of the most exciting voices in rap, and Urban are expected to revive interest in the contest. Last year average audiences dipped below 20 million, and “Idol” lost its eight-year crown as the most watched show on U.S. television to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”


The three newcomers replace departing judges Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler who quit last year after two seasons.


The new panel, rounded out by old hand record producer Randy Jackson, didn’t come cheap. Carey is reported to be earning approximately $ 18 million for the season, Minaj about $ 12 million and Urban $ 8 million.


But industry watchers say “Idol” needs more than big names to bring in audiences at a time of cutthroat competition from talent contests like “The Voice,” “The X Factor,” and “America’s Got Talent.”


“While shaking up the show can initially provide curiosity tune in, at the end of the day, the panel needs to click with each other and with fans,” Entertainment Weekly’s James Hibberd said.


“‘Idol’ used to have the playground all to itself. After four months of ‘The Voice’ and ‘ X Factor’ last fall, are audiences still going to be excited by ‘Idol’?” Hibberd asked.


The new season of “Idol” was making headlines in September, when video of Carey and Minaj arguing during early auditions was leaked online.


Minaj also was reported to have threatened to shoot Carey, who said in a TV interview last week that she had hired extra security while filming the show.


FOCUS ON CONTESTANTS


In a tense media appearance last week, the two divas claimed they had put their feud behind them, attributing the fight to passionate differences of opinion about the contestants auditioning for a chance to make it through to later rounds.


Newman said it would be a shame if the fight overshadows the show’s original mission of finding new talent, an achievement that could prove the biggest boost to “Idol” ratings.


“All these shows have become more about the contestants than the judges. It would be nice if ‘American Idol,’ as the one that started it all, got the focus back on the contestants.


“Ten years ago, people were really excited when they were voting for (‘Idol’ winners) Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood. There needs to be a powerhouse group of contestants who really capture people’s interest, and who you want to root for,” Newman said.


The new judges say that’s what they want too.


“When I watch these shows and someone says yes to a person who clearly doesn’t deserve it, it bothers me,” Minaj told TV reporters last week. “And I want to jump through the TV because I feel like, for the people who are talented, it kind of minimizes how talented they really are. So when I came on, I didn’t really have a problem with saying no, because I kind of felt like we’re looking for the best of the best.”


Aspiring rappers – never a group that has been embraced by “Idol” producers or fans – will get short shrift.


“I definitely don’t think a rapper should be in this competition … When I got involved in the competition, I specifically said, I hope they didn’t try to do that because I was on the show, because I think America loves that it’s an honest singing competition,” Minaj said.


American Idol” kicks off on Wednesday on Fox with a two-hour premiere, followed by a one-hour show on Thursday. Fox is a unit of News Corp.


(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Study Confirms Benefits of Flu Vaccine for Pregnant Women


While everyone is being urged to get the flu vaccine as soon as possible, some pregnant women avoid it in the belief that it may harm their babies. A large new study confirms that they should be much more afraid of the flu than the vaccine.


Norwegian researchers studied fetal death among 113,331 women pregnant during the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009-2010. Some 54,065 women were unvaccinated, 31,912 were vaccinated during pregnancy, and 27,354 were vaccinated after delivery. The scientists then reviewed hospitalizations and doctor visits for the flu among the women.


The results were published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.


The flu vaccine was not associated with an increased risk for fetal death, the researchers found, and getting the shot during pregnancy reduced the risk of the mother getting the flu by about 70 percent. That was important, because fetuses whose mothers got the flu were much more likely to die.


Unvaccinated women had a 25 percent higher risk of fetal death during the pandemic than those who had had the shot. Among pregnant women with a clinical diagnosis of influenza, the risk of fetal death was nearly doubled. In all, there were 16 fetal deaths among the 2,278 women who were diagnosed with influenza during pregnancy.


Dr. Marian Knight, a professor at the perinatal epidemiology unit of the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the research, called it “a high-quality national study” that shows “there is no evidence of an increased risk of fetal death in women who have been immunized. Clinicians and women can be reassured about the safety of the vaccine in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.”


The Norwegian health system records vaccinations of individuals and maintains linked registries to track effects and side effects. The lead author, Dr. Camilla Stoltenberg, director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, said that there are few countries with such complete records.


“This is a great study,” said Dr. Denise J. Jamieson, an obstetrician and a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who was not involved in the work. “It’s nicely done, with good data, and it’s additional information about the importance of the flu vaccine for pregnant women. It shows that it’s effective and might reduce the risk for fetal death.”


In Norway, the vaccine is recommended only in the second and third trimesters, so the study includes little data on vaccination in the first trimester. The C.D.C. recommends the vaccine for all pregnant women, regardless of trimester.


“We knew from other studies that the vaccine protects the woman and the newborn,” Dr. Stoltenberg said. “This study clearly indicates that it protects fetuses as well. I seriously suggest that pregnant women get vaccinated during every flu season.”


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FAA grounds all Dreamliners

Federal officials say they are temporarily grounding Boeing's 787 Dreamliners until the risk of possible battery fires is addressed. (Jan. 16)








The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday it would temporarily ground Boeing Co's 787s after a second incident involving battery failures caused one of the Dreamliner passenger jets to make an emergency landing in Japan.

The FAA said airlines would have to demonstrate that the lithium ion batteries involved were safe before they could resume flying Boeing's newest commercial airliner, but gave no details on when that could occur.

Boeing did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Its shares fell 2 percent in after-hours trading to $72.75 after the FAA announcement. The shares of GS Yuasa Corp, a Japanese company that makes batteries for the Dreamliner, fell sharply in early trading there.

"Ultimately, you can view it as a positive thing if they can resolve what the issues are and give people confidence in the safety of the aircraft. In the near-term, though, it's a negative. It's going to force the company to make significant investments," said Ken Herbert, an analyst at Imperial Capital in San Francisco.

The 787, which has a list price of $207 million, represents a leap in the way planes are designed and built, but the project has been plagued by cost overruns and years of delays. Some have suggested Boeing's rush to get planes built after those delays resulted in the recent problems, a charge the company denies.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, some seven Dreamliners were in the air Wednesday night as the FAA order came down, including a United Airlines flight that left Los Angeles for Houston just a few minutes before the order. United could not be immediately reached for comment.

The use of new battery technology is among the cost-saving features of the 787, which Boeing says burns 20 percent less fuel than rival jetliners using older technology.

Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if they are overcharged and, once alight, they are difficult to put out as the chemicals produce oxygen, Boeing's chief engineer for the 787, Mike Sinnett, told reporters last week. He said lithium-ion was not the only battery choice, but "it was the right choice".

In Asia, only the Japanese and Air India have the Dreamliner in service, but other airlines are among those globally to have ordered around 850 of the new aircraft.

Boeing has said it will at least break even on the cost of building the 1,100 new 787s it expects to deliver over the next decade. Some analysts, however, say Boeing may never make money from the aircraft, given its enormous development cost.

Any additional cost from fixing problems discovered by the string of recent incidents would affect those forecasts and could hit Boeing's bottom line more quickly if it has to stop delivering planes, analysts said.

BATTERY PROBLEMS

In the latest incident, All Nippon Airways Co Ltd said instruments aboard a domestic flight indicated a battery error, triggering emergency warnings. The incident was described by a transport ministry official as "highly serious" - language used in international safety circles as indicating there could have been an accident.

That led ANA and Japan Airlines Co Ltd to ground their 24 Dreamliners pending checks. Japanese transportation officials said they could not immediately comment on the FAA decision, as did a spokesman for JAL. An ANA spokeswoman said the FAA's order meant the airline could not use its 787s on its U.S. routes.

But barring a prolonged grounding or a severe and uncontained crisis, aircraft industry sources say there is no immediate threat of cancellations for the plane, even after the FAA's decision to halt 787 flights.

Among other reasons, they cite the heavy costs of retraining and investing in new infrastructure, as well as a shortage of alternatives in an industry dominated by just two large jet suppliers.

The Dreamliner's problems could sharpen competition between Boeing and its European rival Airbus, which itself experienced a dip in sales for its A380 superjumbo following problems with wing cracks a year ago. The A380 crisis has since eased and most airlines report the aircraft are flying full.






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“GameStick” and NVIDIA “Project SHIELD” Consoles-in-a-Controller on Their Way






Both GameStick and NVIDIA’s Project Shield are upcoming game consoles the size of a game controller, which can hook up to a larger display. Both are powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally used on smartphones and tablets. And both have working hardware prototypes already. But one is a $ 99 Kickstarter project by an indie group, while the other has the backing of two major companies in the PC gaming world — and will probably be a lot more expensive when it comes out.


Here’s a look at two upcoming TV game consoles that you’ll be able to fit in your pocket or handbag.






GameStick: Exactly what it sounds like


Imagine a tiny, rectangular game controller, sort of like a Wii Remote with more buttons and twin analog sticks. On one side is a plastic bump, that when you pull it off it becomes this gadget the size of a USB memory stick that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. That’s GameStick, and with 19 days left to go in its Kickstarter fund-raiser it’s managed to raise more than three times the $ 100,000 its creators asked for.


GameStick will have 8 GB of flash memory, and a processor capable of handling modern AAA Android games like Shadowgun, plus 1080p video. If you don’t like the controller it comes with, you’ll be able to connect up to four of your own via Bluetooth, or even use your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet as a controller.


Project SHIELD: A controller that can stop bullets


Maybe it can’t literally serve as a shield. But at about the size of the original Xbox’s controller, the “portable” console NVIDIA showed off at this year’s CES sure looks like it can. It’s powered by a next-generation Tegra 4 processor, and features its own built-in 5-inch multitouch screen for gaming on the go. But it can also connect to a TV, and can even stream PC games via Steam’s Big Picture mode, which was designed for controller games.


A not-so-silver lining?


GameStick’s biggest weakness may be its developer support. Its Kickstarter page mentions the hundreds of thousands of Android games out there, but most of those are only on Google Play, which (unlike most of the rest of Android) is proprietary to Google. Time will tell whether its creators can get enough developers to write games for the platform by the time of its planned April launch, or enough gamers to buy games they might already have on their tablets.


In contrast, between full support for the Google Play store and PC game streaming from Steam, Project SHIELD will have thousands and thousands of games, and there will be no need to repurchase titles you’ve already bought from either store. There’s no word from NVIDIA yet, though, on how much its game console will cost or even when it will launch.


Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.


Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Obama to unveil gun violence measures

Facing powerful opposition to sweeping gun regulations, President Barack Obama will unveil his proposals Wednesday, barely over a month since the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (Jan. 15)










WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will propose an assault weapons ban and better background checks for gun buyers on Wednesday as part of a package of proposals to curb gun violence one month after the Newtown school massacre.

The proposals will include executive and legislative measures, with the latter sure to face an uphill battle in Congress, where appetite for renewing an assault weapons ban is low.






Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who led a task force that made recommendations on the issue, will present the measures at a White House event attended by children from around the country who wrote letters to the president about gun violence and school safety.

Obama will urge lawmakers to act quickly, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"The president has made clear that he intends to take a comprehensive approach," Carney said at a briefing.

"There are specific legislative actions that he will continue to call on Congress to take, including the assault weapons ban, including a measure to ban high-capacity magazine clips, including an effort to close the very big loopholes in the background check system in our country," he said.

The proposals will be Obama's first major foray into gun control, despite several mass shootings that have occurred during his four years in office. Gun restrictions are a divisive issue in the United States, which constitutionally protects a citizen's right to bear arms.

Biden delivered his recommendations to Obama after a series of meetings with representatives from the weapons and entertainment industries requested by the president after the December 14 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed.

The proposals are likely to touch on mental health and could address violence portrayed in video games.

Obama, who has said the day of the shooting was the worst of his presidency, said on Monday he would study the panel's ideas and then move forward "vigorously" on those that he endorsed, including some actions he could take without congressional approval.

A White House official said Obama had not endorsed all of the ideas put forward by Biden's team but declined to lay out specifics on what would be announced.

Obama has signaled his plan would include elements that did not require congressional approval. The president could take action to ban certain gun imports and bolster oversight of dealers.

A spokeswoman for Representative Jackie Speier, a lawmaker from California who was one of a group of Democrats who met with Biden about the issue on Monday, said his task force had identified 19 different options Obama could choose to implement through executive action.

"(Biden) did not indicate which or how many of those options the president will take up or present to the nation tomorrow," said the spokeswoman, Jenny Werwa.

NRA CLASH

The president's move is not the only action being taken on gun control nationwide. New York State lawmakers on Tuesday approved one of the toughest gun control bills in the United States and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it into law.

The proposals are likely to draw ire from the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying group that is traditionally associated with Republicans. The NRA proposed having armed officials in schools throughout the country and has said the media and violent video games shared blame for the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

There is little on which the Obama administration and NRA officials agree.

The White House is also pushing for the Senate to confirm a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an agency that has been without a Senate-confirmed director since 2006.

Obama nominated Andrew Traver, a Navy veteran who ran the agency's Chicago division, for the job in November 2010, and again early in 2011. The NRA opposed Traver's nomination.

The Senate is in recess, and Obama could choose to make a recess appointment to fill the job. Such an appointment would likely rankle lawmakers, whose support Obama will need to get his proposals passed.

Though the chances of getting a ban on assault weapons appear low, the White House seems set on getting Obama's support of such a ban solidified in a legislative draft.

Gun control advocates are pressing the administration to keep up the pressure on the issue in the face of other policy priorities, including deficit reduction and immigration reform.

"In three months are we going to be talking about these issues? Because that's the only way you make any progress," said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a progressive-leaning advocacy group.

The organization, whose officials have close ties to the White House, released a report suggesting 14 legislative proposals and executive actions to reduce gun violence, including requiring a background check for all gun sales.

(additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Mark Felsenthal, Matt Spetalnick and David Lawder; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Lindsay Lohan pleads not guilty to car crash charges






LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lindsay Lohan pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three charges related to a June traffic accident that led a judge to revoke the troubled actress’ probation last month.


Lohan, 26, who did not attend the hearing, was arraigned on misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, lying to police and obstructing police when she said she was not behind the wheel of her sports car, which smashed into a truck in Santa Monica, California.






Lohan’s not guilty plea was entered in a Los Angeles court by her attorney.


The “Liz & Dick” actress is on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft and could be sent to jail if she is found to have violated the terms of her probation.


Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Jane Godfrey, who will also preside over Lohan’s probation hearing, on Tuesday ordered the actress to attend a January 30 pretrial hearing. A date for Lohan’s probation hearing will be set at that time.


Lohan has been in and out of rehab and jail since a 2007 arrest for drunk driving and cocaine possession.


The former “Parent Trap” child star was arrested in New York on a misdemeanor assault charge on the same day that the Santa Monica car crash charges were filed.


The Manhattan district attorney’s office has not filed a criminal complaint in the assault case.


(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)


Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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