Author: Serkadis

GALESBURG, Ill. — The U.S. Army says child pornography charges filed against an Illinois Army National Guard soldier in Afghanistan don’t stem from family photos of a young relative.

But Army spokesman Master Sgt. Thomas Clementson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press today that he can’t say what the charges against Specialist Billy Miller of Galesburg are based on.

Miller is charged with possession of child pornography and is in Bagram, Afghanistan. Miller’s guard unit returned home in August.

Miller’s family has said the charges are based on innocent family photos.

Terri Miller still believes her son didn’t have child porn and complains the Army won’t provide the family with information about the case.

–Associated Press

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The world’s biggest telephone maker, Nokia, has announced on Thursday the introduction of free satellite navigation on its cellphones, preparing to take a second bite out of the satnav producers’ $25 billion market, after the first one had already been swallowed by Google, as Reuters reports.

Google offered Google Maps for mobile since 2005 but the feature was incomplete as drivers were only given a list of driving directions. But in October 2009, the company introduced the Google Maps Navig… (read more)

Journalist David Wilson, 32, began tracing his roots six years ago and encountered some startling information as his journey progressed from his birthplace in Newark, to North Carolina, then to Virginia and finally to Ghana, where his ancestors were put on a slave ship.  Wilson discovered the plantation where his ancestors were once enslaved and he found their modern-day descendants, one of whom had the same name as he: David Wilson.  He decided to “meet this guy” and to make a video chronicle of the trip.

That decision turned into the critically acclaimed documentary Meeting David Wilson, an emotional encounter between these two David Wilsons that explores “the legacy of slavery and the pursuit of racial reconciliation.”  The film’s release coincided with the 40^th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. in April 2008.

Wilson, who is taking time out from the early-February official launch of  his newest project, theGrio.com, a “video-centric” web site devoted to community news about African-Americans, will speak about his documentary at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 8 at Harper College in the J Theatre, Building J, Roselle and Algonquin Roads, Palatine. 

 “In the film, the other David Wilson asks me where I think I’d be if my ancestors hadn’t been brought to America as slaves,” said Wilson.  “I respond this way: America would have been a far different country had it not been for the contributions of African Americans.”  Wilson has remained friends with the other David Wilson, a grandfather in his sixties, who has brought his grandson to New York to meet him. 

Currently managing editor of theGrio.com, Wilson says the site “dives deeper into stories of black interest that mainstream news outlets currently only touch on.  TheGrio.com’s goal is to be the biggest and most reliable aggregator, producer, and distributor of black news online,” he said.

There will be two free showings of the film Meeting David Wilson, at 12:10 p.m. Tuesday, February 2 and at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 3 in Room A242ab, Building A.  Tickets for Wilson’s lecture at 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 8 are $7 for general admission; $5 for Harper faculty/staff/seniors and other students; free for Harper students with current ID.  For tickets and information, call 847.925.6100 or go to http://www.harpercollege.edu/boxoffice

DETROIT — Chrysler Group LLC will recall 24,177 vehicles over a possible defective part that could cause brake failure, according to a filing from the auto maker to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The bulk of the recall applies to 16,872 Dodge Ram pick-up trucks from model years 2009-2010, as well as 2010 model-year Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Nitro, and Jeep Liberty, Commander and Grand Cherokee.

The vehicles were built with an improperly formed or missing part in the braking system. “This could result in brake failure without warning which could cause a crash,” Chrysler said in a letter.

The recall comes as Chrysler tries to refurbish its image after going through bankruptcy last year, changing ownership and receiving federal bailout funds. The company, which was taken over by Fiat SpA, saw its U.S. sales fall 36% in 2009 from a year earlier, the worst performance of any major auto maker in the U.S.

The defective part was first spotted in November at the company’s Toledo North assembly plant.

Chrysler will notify dealers and owners this month of the problem and will replace the part.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

This has been a rough week or a great week, depending which side of the trade you’re on.

Stocks are tanking for the third day in a row amid Obama’s comments on Wall Street taxation, the anti-banker news, mediocre earnings, and concerns over China.

The Dow is currently off 140 180 with about 45 minutes to go.

Meanwhile, commodities sank with oil dropping 2.2% to $74.42 a barrel.

Gold is down $14 to $1089/ounce with silver down nearly 3% at $17/ounce.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Prechter: This Is It, The New Bear Market Has Begun
• Felix Zulauf: We’re In A Secular Bear Market Like Japan, The Rally In Financials Is Over, So Here’s What To Buy
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The International Home + Housewares Show, a Chicago mainstay since 1939, will make a serious assessment of rival venues in Las Vegas and Orlando for 2012, the Rosemont-based show sponsor disclosed Tuesday afternoon.

The show joins a growing chorus of discontent over the high costs of putting on a trade show at McCormick Place, which lost two big shows last fall. The exhibition hall is at risk of losing several others in coming months, sources say.

The International Housewares Association’s board of directors applauded the city and state’s current push to cut trade show costs, but asked its staff to conduct the review of alternative sites in case

Chicago failed to make adequate progress in time for a 2012 decision. The March show is booked here for the next two years.

“Our board members represent our exhibitors, who are critically concerned about the costs relating to labor, food and the operational aspects involved in exhibiting or attending our show at McCormick Place,” said Phil Brandl, president of the association.

The high-profile show draws 60,000 attendees and generates an estimated $75 million in local spending.

The association shopped around several years ago as well, but decided to stay put after some cost adjustments at that time. But since then, costs have risen and “the economy certainly has put pressure on the whole picture,” Brandl said.

Among the other trade groups weighing a move, sources say, is the National Restaurant Association, which has not yet made a commitment for its 2012 show.

The restaurant show is among the city’s most well-known.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Disaster zone Spain is a bear’s paradise.

One of the loudest voices is the University of Barcelona’s Niño Becerra, author of El crash del 2010.

In an interview on Euronews he predicted a market crash within two months and a possible destruction of the Union by high summer.

Euronews [trans.]:

“Europe since the Treaty of Rome has been running around in circles trying to get things done. It has achieved some things, like the Single Market, but now the situation is very serious. There is too much production capacity and overcapacity in the labour force, and this has to be coordinated. From my point of view, when it was going well for Europe, it didn’t manage to unite; when things went wrong it couldn’t get it together either. I think that when things get really very bad, that will be Europe’s final test, it will be Europe’s last chance. Europe either unites now or it never will.”

Watch the video at Euronews.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Did The EU Just Kill The Volcker Rule?
• Everyone’s Freaked Out That Spain Has The EU Presidency
• The PIIGS Get Slaughtered, As Greek Bond Situation Deteriorates

The Federal Housing Administration is scheduled to announce Wednesday a series of changes that would put homeownership out of reach for some consumers.

The Federal Housing Administration is scheduled to announce Wednesday morning a series of changes that would put homeownership out of reach for some consumers.

The proposals, intended to shore up the agency’s loan portfolio, formalize a multipronged strategy it outlined last month.

In order to make a down payment of just 3.5 percent on an FHA-insured loan, homebuyers would have to have a minimum FICO credit score of 580, as opposed to 500 now.

New borrowers with less than a 580 score would have to put down 10 percent on a home purchase.

However, the change may not affect many homebuyers because most participating lenders require borrowers to have a score of 620 or higher.

Some legislators had called for all FHA-backed mortgages to require a 10 percent down payment.

In addition, the FHA seeks to increase the upfront mortgage insurance premium to 2.25 percent of the total loan amount from 1.75 percent. The agency also will ask Congress for permission to boost the maximum annual mortgage insurance premium it can charge.

If that authority is given, some of the premium increase would be shifted from the upfront premium to an annual one.

As disclosed last month, the FHA also said that sellers would be able to pay closing costs of up to only 3 percent of a home’s sales price, rather than the current 6 percent.

The increased upfront mortgage-insurance requirement would go into effect in the spring. The new FICO score requirement and the change in seller-contributed closing costs would take effect in early summer, the agency said.

[email protected]

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

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The multiplatform action-RPG title Nier is apparently Square Enix’s “next great story”, or so this new trailer proclaims. Is it really? All I know is that it shows a lot of stringy monsters die in pools of

A woman is suing the River Oaks 6 Movie Theater in Calumet City, claiming she suffered “great pain and anguish” after slipping on butter.

Sonya Williams says the theater “allowed the premises to remain in a dangerous and unsafe condition, causing [her] to fall on butter on the floor in the walk-way of said premises” in January of 2008.

In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Wednesday, Williams contends the theater failed to “post proper warnings of the dangerous condition that existed.”

She said she “suffered great pain and anguish, both in mind and body” and is now “liable for large sums of money for medical care.”

The theater had no immediate comment.

Read the complaint at Chicago Bar-Tender.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

The theme for the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade will be “Building Dreams, Friendships and Memories,” organizers of the New Year’s Day event announced today.

They also named Pasadena native Jeffrey L. Throop as president of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn.’s board of directors.

“Involvement with this organization leads to building friendships and memories that last a lifetime,” Throop, a longtime volunteer member of the association, said in a statement. "The 2011 Tournament of Roses will celebrate builders, who put our parade and game together, and the dreams, friendships and memories that ensue from it.”

Throughout his Tournament career, which spans almost four decades, Throop has chaired and served on various committees, including float entries, post parade, membership, university entertainment, Hall of Fame and parade operations, among others.

Throop attended Pasadena City College and served in the U.S. Army as a military policeman and stockade security. The father of five lives in Sierra Madre with his wife, Angel.

— Ann M. Simmons

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Former Los Alamitos charity assistant sentenced to 4 years for embezzlement

Fire crews trying to save dog trapped in L.A. River

Evacuations lifted in some foothill communities; snow blankets mountains

Green jobs initiative to help community college students

Storms leave blanket of snow on Southern California mountains

False report of teen swept into Santa Ana River prompted massive rescue effort

Antelope Valley Hospital seeks type O-negative blood donors to replenish diminishing supply

Storms shut portion of Gold Line, leave thousands without power

A priest who authorities say hurled himself from a church balcony after he was accused of molesting a boy was charged Wednesday with seven felonies, including predatory criminal sexual assault.

The Rev. Alejandro Flores, 37, was also charged with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and two counts of criminal sexual assault for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old boy at a West Chicago church where Flores was posted as a seminarian, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office.

The state’s attorney’s office said Flores abused a St. Charles child over a five-year period between Jan. 1, 2005 and Jan 1, 2010. The child was younger than 13 when the abuse started, authorities said.

Flores was released from the hospital Wednesday and was in the custody of Kane County authorities, according to the state’s attorney’s office. He was expected to be booked into the county jail Wednesday afternoon and to appear before a judge Thursday afternoon.

A Kane County grand jury indicted Flores last week, though the indictment remained sealed until local authorities took him into custody.

His bond was set at $1 million, State’s Atty. John Barsanti said. Flores must surrender his passport should he post bond.

The Bolivian-born priest had been hospitalized after reportedly trying to kill himself by leaping from the balcony

On Jan. 6, two days after the Joliet diocese placed Flores on leave from a Shorewood church when the abuse allegations surfaced, Flores fell 20 feet to the floor at St. Mary’s Carmelite Church in Joliet.

He was found unconscious, lying on the floor between a row of pews and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Both police and church officials characterized it as a suicide attempt.

Flores was ordained in June. The abuse allegations stemmed from Flores’ time as a seminarian at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Chicago, authorities said.

The church’s pastor, the Rev. John Balluff, addressed the issue in the parish’s weekly bulletin last Sunday, urging any parishioner with additional abuse allegations to immediately contact law enforcement.

“We will always be committed to doing everything possible to protect children, to help this child and his family and to help bring about healing for our families and the people of the diocese,” Balluff wrote.

At a news conference earlier this month, Joliet Bishop J. Peter Sartain publicly apologized to the alleged victim and his family. There were no previous abuse allegations against Flores, the bishop said.

The state’s attorney’s office also asked anyone with possible information to contact the Kane County Child Advocacy Center at (630) 208-5160.

– Clifford Ward

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

The Sun-Times reports: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection dog named Rambo discovered more than 35 kilograms of opium-saturated twigs and leaves which arrived at O’Hare International Airport from Laos on Tuesday night.

Get the full story: suntimes.com.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Electronic Arts says its Tiger Woods game franchise grew over the past year, and holiday sales didn’t suffer even as the golfer’s personal life did.

Woods’ self-described extramarital “transgressions” and subsequent media fallout led other companies to drop him.

EA, however, has stood by him. EA Sports president Peter Moore said Thursday it would be “unimaginable” not to have Woods at the masthead of the company’s “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” games.

Moore says there has been no softening in sales, but he did not give specifics.

EA is launching an online version of the game in an “open beta” test on Thursday for anyone to play. It’s free, but added content comes at a cost.

“Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11″ launches in June for game consoles and the iPhone.

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

Not everyone is freaking about the sovereign debt meltdown and the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Greece, Spain).

In his latest investor letter, Nigel Hart of Reach Capital (which returned 47.5% last year) says the status quo will remain and that the PIIGS are nothing to freak out about.

We expect economic rebound; higher inflation should dominate the global markets to create
investment opportunities for us, both long and short.  We continue to like Europe given its
operating leverage to recovery in global economies without huge fiscal stimulus boosting
inflation.  Good companies with good business models, trustworthy mangers, little or no debt
and strong cash generation can be found at this stage of the cycle.  We continue to expect money
to remain cheap — free to certain players, and governments to continue to issue IOUs.  We like
Asia also but for different reasons.  We continue to feel that if any region in the world can
produce a new “stock market bubble” it will be Asia led by China, India and Indonesia where the
fund has concentrated its exposure.  Equities at this stage also provide protection from
governments in that they provide a share of ownership of something tangible and a share of
future profits and assets despite the outlook for inflation.
 
“Pragmatically bullish” does not mean that all will be good forever.  The news flow during this
global recovery will not be all supportive.  We will continue to periodically witness sovereign
risk concerns such as we experienced in Dubai during the recent holidays.  By now, most
investors should be aware of the difficult economic outlook the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy,
Greece and Spain) are facing.  We do not believe, however, that any one of these factors is large
enough to disrupt the momentum that has been building in the global economy for the past 9
months.  Moreover, these are the building blocks to the market’s “wall of worry”; markets need
such walls to climb to continue an upward course.  While we expect stocks to continue an
upward course, we are mindful of the short-term disruptions that the next Dubai or Greece will
cause.  Accordingly, expect us to maintain our index short position to protect the portfolio during
market drawdowns.  Uncertainty and disagreements about the state of play from country to
country in Europe and Asia creates a landscape of widely varying stock performance records,
valuations and opportunities.  This environment suits us well.  Stock picking is back and it is our
forte.
 

ReachCapital Int’l Funds Update December 2009 –

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The U.K. Is About To Crash Along With The Sovereign-Default PIIGS
• The PIIGS Get Slaughtered, As Greek Bond Situation Deteriorates

Breezy’s Awkward Photo Op: What was Chris Brown thinking posing with bruised and bloody designer Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris on Thursday? It turns out Gaultier covered his face with makeup to look like blood and bruises in order to match his new boxing-themed collection, which debuted yesterday as part of Paris Menswear Week.

A 15-year-old boy who made national headlines last year for impersonating a Chicago police officer has been arrested again, this time for shoving his mother during an argument after he allegedly stole a relative’s car, authorities said.

On Thursday, he was ordered held in youth custody by Cook County Juvenile Court Judge Andrew Berman and charged as a juvenile with domestic battery, aggravated battery in a public way and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

The teen, whose name was not being released because he is a juvenile, was seen by police outdoors near West 79th Street and South Vincennes Avenue Wednesday night shoving his mother during an argument about the stolen car, police said.

Daly said police then learned he took the car, a Cadillac, earlier in the day without the other relative’s permission.

The teen was then taken into custody.

He will remain in custody until at least Monday, when his next court date is scheduled on the current charges.

In January 2009, the boy received national media attention when he was arrested for masquerading as a Chicago cop. The boy, then 14, showed up at the Grand Crossing (3rd) District station in uniform and rode the streets with an officer.

Seven Chicago police officers were disciplined as a result. A City Council committee also grilled Supt. Jody Weis about how the boy got into the station and passed himself off as an officer.

When reporters last March asked Weis how the teen’s incomplete uniform, without a star or gun, was missed by so many officers, he said: “I don’t know. They weren’t paying attention perhaps. Maybe they were lax.”

Weis also said the teen likely learned the lingo of the department from once belonging to the department’s ”explorer’s program,” run by department’s Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program that facilitates interaction between youths and police officers.

The boy was part of the explorer program in 2008 in the Englewood (7th) District.

Last May, he was arrested again for posing as a buyer at a South Side car dealership and led police on a chase with a luxury car.

The boy was sentenced in Cook County Juvenile Court last July to 3 years probation and one month of home confinement for the two cases. But he has since finished serving nearly four months in youth custody after violating his home confinement.

Upon his release from custody in December, Berman warned the teen to follow the rules of his probation and stay out of trouble.”Surprise me,” Berman told the teen at the time. “Make me not see you for a while.”

–Jeremy Gorner

Read the original article from Tribune News Services.

The authors evaluate promising process flowsheets for bioethanol production from different feedstocks along with current and promising technologies for bioethanol production. Case studies illustrate how process synthesis allows for the …