Posted: 13 Dec 2009 04:22 AM PST

Sunset today: 4:15 p.m.

Sunrise Monday: 7:12 a.m.

Today: Cloudy with snow and rain. Highs in the mid 30s. Tonight: A chance of snow and freezing rain. Lows in the upper 20s.

Monday: Mostly sunny. Highs around 40. Monday night: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 20s.

Tuesday: Snow and freezing rain likely. Highs in the upper 30s. Tuesday night: A chance of snow showers. Lows around 20.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Colder with highs in the upper 20s. Wednesday night: Mostly clear. Cold. Lows 5 to 10 above.

Thursday: Mostly clear. Highs in the lower 20s. Thursday night: Mostly clear. Cold. Lows 5 to 10 above.

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Almanac: SE Minnesota deer survey contains a few near splits - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 03:25 AM PST

A majority of southeast Minnesota deer hunters -- though not an overwhelming one -- support protecting yearling bucks, according to a Department of Natural Resources survey released last week.

Half of survey respondents also want a regulation change that would require hunters in that part of the state to shoot their own bucks. Presently, southeast Minnesota is governed by the same "party hunting'' regulations for deer that apply to the rest of the state.

The survey was conducted this fall. The full survey report is available at mndnr.gov. Results included:

• 53 percent supported enacting regulations to protect a majority of yearling bucks.

• 54 percent support a four-day youth-only deer hunt over MEA weekend in October.

• 50 percent support requiring hunters to shoot and tag their own bucks.

• 47 percent support an antler point restriction regulation.

• 41 percent support restoring the 3A season to nine days.

• 34 percent support restoring the 3B season to seven days.

• 31 percent support delaying the 3A firearm season one week.

• 18 percent support delaying the 3A firearm season until late November.

Electronic licensing

The DNR is getting a new electronic licensing system. Existing computer terminals at 1,600 retail outlets are being replaced with larger touch-screen units. Clerks won't have to punch in license codes; they'll just swipe your driver's license and then touch the screen to select an item. Hunters and anglers might start seeing the new terminals later this month, though most will be installed by mid-February.

STAFF REPORTS

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

Daily almanac - Columbus Dispatch

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 03:47 AM PST

Today is Sunday, Dec. 13, the 347th day of 2009. There are 18 days left in the year.

HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY

• On Dec. 13, 1862, Union forces suffered a major defeat to the Confederates in the Civil War battle of Fredericksburg.
• In 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sighted present-day New Zealand.
• In 1835, Phillips Brooks, the American Episcopal bishop who wrote the words to O Little Town of Bethlehem, was born in Boston.
• In 1918, President Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first U.S. chief executive to visit Europe while in office.

• In 1928, George Gershwin's musical work An American in Paris had its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in New York.
• In 1981, authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. (Martial law formally ended in 1983.)
• In 1994, an American Eagle commuter plane crashed short of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15 of the 20 people on board.
• In 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole at a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq.
• Ten years ago: In a spirited presidential campaign debate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain fought over tax policy and farm subsidies, while McCain was pushed to defend his campaign-finance proposals.
• Five years ago: A jury in Redwood City, Calif., recommended the death penalty for Scott Peterson for the murders of his wife and unborn child.
• One year ago: University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy after guiding the highest-scoring team in major college-football history to the nationalchampionship game.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few."
- Judge Learned Hand,
American jurist (1872-1961)

Source: Associated Press

The Almanac - OfficialWire

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 01:16 AM PST

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the Florida presidential vote recount, in effect giving the presidency to Republican George W. Bush more than a month after the balloting. Winning Florida meant Bush had enough electoral votes to defeat Democrat Al Gore, who won the popular vote.

In 2001, as the extensive manhunt continued for Osama bin Laden, the U.S. government released a tape of the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in which he spoke of the attacks and voiced pleasure and surprise that so many of the "enemy" had died.

Also in 2001, calling it a Cold War relic, President George W. Bush announced the United States was pulling out of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty, opening the way for the Defense Department to test and deploy a missile defense system without restraints.

And in 2001, 14 people were killed when gunmen tried to storm the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi.

In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law, under fire for allegedly protecting priests accused of abusing minors, resigned as Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston.

Also in 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush, saying he feared terrorists might use the smallpox virus as a weapon, ordered mandatory smallpox vaccinations for all military personnel and offered it to emergency workers on a voluntary basis.

In 2003, a bearded and apparently disoriented Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, was captured by U.S. troops in a small underground hideout southeast of his home town of Tikrit, ending an eight-month manhunt.

In 2004, the Pentagon acknowledged investigations into the death of eight prisoners in Afghanistan, five more than it disclosed in May.

Also in 2004, Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko was said to be convinced government authorities were behind the poisoning attempt on his life during his presidential campaign

In 2005, Indonesian health officials confirmed the country's ninth death from bird flu.

In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush, under pressure to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, said they will stay until "the job is done" and Iraq is democratic and stable, adding, "We're not going to give up."

In 2007, a landmark report implicated 89 U.S. major league baseball players, some of them the most dominant figures of the era, in the use of steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Also in 2007, a federal jury in Miami acquitted one of seven Florida men charged with conspiring to bomb Chicago's Sears Tower and was unable to reach a verdict on the rest. A mistrial was declared for the other six.

In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama said job creation and a stronger economy are the yardsticks against which his economic recovery plan should be measured. He promised "good, smart decisions" on economic recovery and "shovel-ready jobs" in all 50 states.

A thought for the day: Willa Cather said, "The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman."

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger

H1N1 vaccine availability spreads - Observer-Reporter

Posted: 13 Dec 2009 01:23 AM PST

"We continue to get additional allotments of the vaccine, and we continue to provide it," said Stacy Kriedeman, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Kriedeman couldn't confirm times or locations for any of the vaccination clinics. "We're still working out the logistics," she said. Peters Township High School has tentatively settled on Jan. 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to conduct a vaccination clinic in the high school cafeteria, according to Lyn Logelin, assistant superintendent of Peters Township School District.

"It's being made available, so we're doing mass vaccination," Logelin explained.

As cases of the H1N1 virus increased in recent weeks, the vaccine tended to be available on a spotty basis and often limited to such priority groups as pregnant women, people under age 24, those under age 65 with underlying medical conditions and health-care providers.

However, Kriedeman explained that some vaccine remained after all the individuals in the high-priority groups were reached, so it's been opened to the broader public.

The state Department of Health reported Monday that the federal CDC allocated 2.9 million doses of H1N1 flu vaccine to the state so far and they've been distributed to just more than 1,600 certified providers, including family health practitioners, obstetricians, hospitals and schools.

The CDC allocates the vaccine to states based on population, so Pennsylvania is receiving 4 percent of the total available, Kriedeman said. It goes from the manufacturer to a distributor, who then ships it directly to the provider.

Centerville Clinics Inc., which operates family practice offices in Washington, California, Charleroi, Bentleyville and other communities throughout the region, has been offering the vaccine to everyone, according to Karen Spin, the company's director of nursing.

"We were very fortunate. We received a shipment from the state, and it was a very generous supply."

Waterdam Pediatrics in McMurray is offering the vaccine to its patients and "we're almost out," said Susan Cursi, a medical assistant.

Claysville Family Practice has the vaccine in both syringe and nasal forms, but "we're not giving it out to anybody," according to Norma Ward, a medical assistant. It's limited to patients, and "we make sure the high-risk get in."

Monongahela Valley Hospital is providing the vaccine only to employees and physicians and not the general pubic, said spokesman Kurt Weber. That's also the case at Canonsburg General Hospital, said spokeswoman Acacia Svonavec.

Related articles:

Meeting roundup
Burgettstown School Board, Washington School Board & Peters Township School Board

Almanac manager Beale dies

PT surveys parents on H1N1 vaccine

Home

fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger