WGBH News: News

For Joplin's Children, Tornado's Effects Persist

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

The tornado that hit Joplin, Mo., in May destroyed a third of the town and killed 162 people. While the storm lasted just minutes, the psychological damage continues, and the community is mobilizing to cope with continuing trauma. The city's children are dealing with both the unsettling effects of the tornado and what the loss, disruption and heartache is doing to their parents.

Just months ago, 3-year-old Allie Stout was cowering in a hallway beneath her parents — and a violently flapping mattress — as the monster tornado ripped her house apart. In seconds, Allie's world flipped upside down: room gone, toys gone, parents hurt, dog missing. Weeks ago, she was still "playing tornado" all the time.

"We spin around in circles," she says, "and we get in a house, and we lie down, and it's blasting off, and we have to lie on the ground."

Allie's mother, Tiffany Stout, says her daughter slips into this grim play in groups and alone, here in the family's freshly furnished, but sparsely decorated, new house.

"It's nothing for us to go back into her room and hear her telling her 'babies' that it's time to take cover," Stout says, "and they have to lay down on the floor and put their hands over their heads and hold on tight, pray — pray for God's protection and pray that they make it through the storm."

It's not easy, Stout says, seeing your daughter relive the worst moments of her life, over and over and over again. But apparently, it's normal.

"As adults we often talk things through. A child, particularly younger children, will play things through," says Charles Graves, a psychiatrist who's treating kids in Joplin.

"Mostly, you see signs and symptoms of fear," he says. "So they may be agitated, angry."

Most children shake it off in a few weeks; others struggle with mental illness. Either way, Graves says, early trauma undermines a child's ability to cope with stress later.

"The more bad things that have happened to you, the worse off you are," he says. "The pump has been primed."

That goes for adults, too. Some here have lost almost everything — homes, jobs, loved ones. Most are holding up OK, but not all. And when they don't, children can get hurt.

In Joplin, there's been an increase in drug and alcohol abuse. There's also been an increase in serious gambling issues — like taking your insurance check and losing it in one night at a casino, something which has happened multiple times.

As a result, even some children who have managed to cope well with the tornado are being traumatized by adults who have not.

"There's been a fairly significant increase in sexual trauma to children," says Vicky Mieseler, vice president for clinical services at the Ozark Center, which offers mental health services for children and adults.

Mieseler figures that maybe 700-800 children here will need therapy. And she's building just the place for it.

On a ridge overlooking miles of splintered trees and the beaten shell of a hospital, workers are turning a tornado-hammered building into a children's trauma center.

"This is a healing place," Mieseler says, "a place where you come to feel better."

But that healing can be slow to come.

Fifty-four years ago, when Carolyn Brewer was 7, an F-5 tornado obliterated her neighborhood in Ruskin Heights, Mo.

"It only takes 30 seconds to destroy your life and your home and your community and the outlines of everything that you know, but it stays with you forever," she says.

Ruskin Heights shows virtually no sign of the catastrophe today. But the memories are still raw, Brewer says. She interviewed dozens of her childhood neighbors for a book called Caught Ever After.

"Many of them are still afraid," she says. "In fact, a woman sent me an email a couple of weeks ago that said, 'I still have nightmares that the tornado is chasing me, and it has eyes, and it's looking for me specifically.'"

That's after more than half a century. Back in Joplin, not four months have passed since the tornado. Allie's turned 4, and Tiffany Stout says both her children are getting better, although it doesn't take much to set them off.

"It can be anything — from being outside and the wind blowing hard, or the sky getting dark," she says. "Instantly they ask if the tornado is coming back and if our house is going to get blown away again, if we're going to get hurt."

Stout says that while her family will never be the same, their post-tornado life is better in many ways, with more gratitude, more time for each other.

Even the lucky ones are continuing to grapple with psychological fallout that often remains long after the twister moves on. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

China Tells Others To Put Financial House In Order

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

As gloom mounts over Europe's debt crisis, some are looking to China to play a leading role in stabilizing the shaky world economy.

But China made clear its reluctance to take on the role of the global economic savior as it hosted the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

Polite applause greeted Premier Wen Jiabao as he stepped onto the stage Wednesday in the northeastern Chinese city Dalian, but his words depressed markets in Europe, a sign of the shift in the center of financial gravity.

Wen said China is willing to extend a helping hand, but developed countries must do their bit. From Europe, he asked for recognition as a market economy. From the U.S., he hoped for more access for Chinese companies and moves to reduce the budget deficit.

"The fluctuation in the value of the U.S. dollar has resulted in the instability of commodity prices on international markets. New emerging markets are under inflationary pressure," Wen said. "Under these circumstances, the Chinese economy is closely linked with the global economy. Countries must first put their own house in order."

Focus On U.S. Treasury Bills

Another high-powered panel put Chinese investments in U.S. Treasury debt under the spotlight. In the U.S. corner was the new ambassador to Beijing, former Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.

He's developed a reputation for modesty after being spotted trying to buy coffee with a discount voucher. This act sparked an online discussion about just how poorly the U.S. economy must be doing.

On stage, the moderator, a famous television anchor called Rui Chenggang, was determined to bring this up.

"My colleagues told me that you flew coach — economy class — from Beijing to Dalian. Is that a reminder that the U.S. still owes China money?" he asked.

Locke parried that shot by saying it was U.S. government policy. But the other panelists — such as adviser to the Chinese central bank, Li Daokui — were determined to remind him Washington owes Beijing a bundle.

"The Chinese authorities — we — are the most patient, the most cooperative investors in the world. Imagine if the $3.2 trillion currency reserves is being controlled by Mr. George Soros," he said. "I'm sure he'd already be underselling U.S. Treasury bonds. Your financial markets would be in much bigger chaos than it is."

Chinese Eyeing U.S. Assets

Still, Li said Beijing is waiting for reform of the U.S. highway, railway and postal sectors, so it can invest in those, too. Another panel member was even more blunt in his advice, and as one of China's richest men, the opinion of real estate mogul Wang Jianlian carries weight.

"Given the de facto devaluation of both the U.S. dollar and the euro, I'd stop buying treasury bonds. I'd start buying natural resources or other physical investments," he said.

He complained about lack of market access to Chinese investors, saying seven or eight American hotel groups had refused attempts by his company to buy equity stakes. Criticism appears to be mounting — even among these elites — of China's investments.

But that doesn't seem to have changed buying behavior, says Kenneth Jarrett, former U.S. consul general in Shanghai and now chairman of the greater China region for communications firm APCO Worldwide.

"You have the irony of when these calls to stop buying treasury bills [are] peaking, you also have peak periods of China buying treasury bills," he said.

But on his recent trip to China, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden repeatedly compared American holdings of 69 percent of treasury bonds, to Chinese holdings of just 8 percent. This could be a new strategy of downplaying Beijing's role as America's banker. But so far, that new narrative doesn't fit Beijing's playbook. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

For A Marine Hero, A Medal Of Honor

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

Shortly after dawn on a September morning in 2009, American and Afghan troops set out on patrol along a rocky mile-long stretch in eastern Afghanistan. They were heading to a small village for a routine meeting with tribal elders.

Suddenly, everything went wrong.

Cpl. Dakota Meyer and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, who had stayed behind with the vehicles, heard small arms fire in the distance and knew instantly it was an ambush. Rodriguez-Chavez then heard an officer yelling for help on the radio.

"He said, 'I have wounded here. I need to get them out of here. If I don't get (backup) fires we're all going to die here,'" Rodriguez-Chavez recalled.

So the Marines had to act. Meyer, then age 21, kept asking for permission to help the stranded troops, but the officers said no.

"And then finally, I requested one last time," he said.

Again, the answer was no.

So Meyer and Rodriguez-Chavez decided on the spot to disobey orders.

"He looks at me and says, 'Let's do it,'" Meyer said.

That decision was the start of a long day — a six-hour fight to save the trapped men.

Going Back, Again And Again

Rodriguez-Chavez hopped behind the wheel of a Humvee and drove straight into the ambush. Meyer climbed into the vehicle's gun turret and tried to pinpoint the elusive enemy.

But he said it was hard to identify the Taliban. "They look like normal people and the next thing you know they're shooting at you," Meyer said.

The Taliban fired mortars, and then rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as the two Marines got closer. There were explosions and ricochets. The Humvee's side mirror was ripped off by the fire. The noise was deafening.

"Imagine one of those real loud firecrackers blowing up next to your ear," Rodriguez-Chavez said.

Yet Meyer kept firing back, with the shell casings from his machine gun spilling into the Humvee.

"It's kind of crazy because everything slows down. It seems like it was forever and ever," he said. "And it starts running through your head, I'm never going to see my family again."

Finally, they found a group of Afghan soldiers, the first men who'd been cut off. The two Americans piled the Afghans into the Humvee, including some who had been wounded.

As they dropped off the Afghan soldiers in a safe place, the Afghans warned the Americans, "don't go back, don't go back."

But the two Marines did go back — again and again.

And Thursday at the White House, President Obama is awarding Cpl. Dakota Meyer with the Medal of Honor, making him the first living Marine to receive the award since the Vietnam War.

Rodriguez-Chavez already has been awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for valor.

Surrounded By Taliban

Both men thought they were probably going to die that day. They remember having this exchange.

"Hey man, we'll probably get stuck out here," Rodriguez-Chavez said.

"We'll just die with them because I can tell you right now they're not going to get out of here without us," said Meyer.

They drove back and forth five times, and Meyer in particular took chances, exposing himself repeatedly to enemy fire. At one point, he was hit in the right arm.

On the final run, it got worse. Rodriguez-Chavez heard a report over the radio.

"Like, hey man, you're getting surrounded," he was told.

And they were. Taliban fighters swarmed toward them — firing AK-47s.

Meyer shot at the Taliban, hitting one in the head and others in the body, Rodriguez-Chavez said. "From the front of the Humvee, they were maybe two or three feet," he said.

The Marines drove on to try to rescue the final group of troops. Nothing had been heard from them for hours. Meyer hoped they'd just lost radio contact.

"What I thought was they had probably pushed up in to a house and lost (communications) and they were just waiting or us to get in there," Meyer said.

A Dozen Marines, Two Dozen Afghan Soldiers Saved

It turned out these American troops were dead. But that didn't stop Meyer, who ran to retrieve the bodies. Taliban gunfire kicked up dirt around him.

Eventually they brought the bodies back to base. Meyer helped place his dead comrades on a helicopter.

After six hours, it was over. Meyer kept thinking one thing.

"You feel like a failure. Why isn't that you being carried on that bird? Why are you standing here and they're not?" Meyer said.

Meyer was anything but a failure. His actions, say military officials, saved more than a dozen Marines and two dozen Afghan soldiers.

Meyer was promoted to sergeant before he left the Marines, and is now living in his native Kentucky, where he is a construction worker. Rodriguez-Chavez is now a gunnery sergeant stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri, where he teaches troops how to drive Humvees and trucks. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Making It In The U.S.: More Than Just Hard Work

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

First of a two-part report.

Here's a startling figure: The typical white family has 20 times the wealth of the median black family. That's the largest gap in 25 years. The recession widened the racial wealth gap, but experts say it's also due to deeply ingrained differences in things such as inheritance, home ownership, taxes and even expectations.

Take the example of two California women, Dametra Williams and Stephanie Upp, who aren't that different in many ways. Both were raised by single mothers who struggled financially. Both worked hard to get where they are today.

But how they describe basically the same thing about how they got to where they are today differs.

Williams is 40, black and a single mother of one. She just started her own business.

"It's funny, the American dream is sort of steeped in this myth of work hard, be self sufficient and push yourself forward, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, that kind of thing. But much of the wealth in this country was not built on that, in no way, fashion or form," Williams says.

Upp, 43, is white, a mother of two and a part-time consultant.

"I think about the little things, like when I went to college. When I graduated, my mom had enough resources to give me her car so that I had a car to get to work so that I could earn money that I could then save to help put me into the next position," Upp says. "I could then save more money and have opportunities. So it wasn't like we had a lot, but there was enough. I didn't do it all by myself."

And that's the difference. Study after study shows that white families are more likely than blacks and Hispanics to enjoy certain economic advantages — even when their incomes are similar. Often it's the subtle things: help from Mom and Dad with a down payment on a home or college tuition, or a tax break on money passed from one generation to the next.

Tom Shapiro of Brandeis University has tracked hundreds of families for almost 30 years and says the gap perpetuates itself.

"The larger the amount of financial wealth a family starts with, the more financial wealth it accumulated over that period of time," he says.

In other words, it's easier to get richer if you already are. Since blacks and Hispanics are less likely to have much wealth to begin with, they're less likely to have money to invest in the stepping stones to success — a small business, college or home.

Stephanie Upp: 'A Richer Life'

Upp, her husband Ben Corson and their two children live in a small bungalow in Oakland. This family is well on its way to achieving the American dream. Corson works in software. Upp consults for nonprofits.

Upp credits her success, in part, to something that happened a long time ago. When her parents divorced, her mother insisted on keeping their home in suburban Kansas. They didn't have much money, but they had stability and good schools, where college was a given and expectations were high.

"In my mind, there wasn't a question that I would have a richer life than I grew up with both financially and then also in terms of experience," Upp says.

College led to graduate school, then a career, then Corson. They started a family, and when they wanted to buy their first house, they got an unexpected boost.

"We were able to have a down payment for this house, thanks to my great aunt," says Corson. "So that definitely helped us."

His great aunt left the couple $60,000 in her will.

Shapiro says inheritance is a big factor when it comes to the racial wealth gap. White families are four times more likely than blacks to inherit. When they do, the median inheritance is 10 times greater.

Now, Upp and Corson plan to leverage their house into a new and bigger one, which will mean better public schools.

Stephanie says they aren't rich by any means, but they have options.

Their 6-year-old daughter, Clare, reads a poem from the Dr. Seuss book Oh! The Places You'll Go that is painted on the wall above her bed: "You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose."

Experts say choices and expectations can make all the difference.

Dametra Williams: Making Things Work

"When you don't have enough money to make any mistakes, the bottom line is you just don't, there's no room," Williams says.

Today, Williams thinks she finally has choices. Her home health care business in Berkeley is getting off the ground. She beams when her 18-year-old daughter, Yvonne, talks about getting into Mount Holyoke for college.

"I applied to so many [schools]," Yvonne says.

Williams says Yvonne applied to about 23 or 24 schools. "And she was offered admission and scholarships to about 18 of them, so I'm very, very proud," she says.

But it's been a tough journey. Only 12 years ago, Williams and her daughter were poor and homeless. She says that in her family, growing up in Texas, education wasn't a priority and college wasn't in the cards.

"My plan was to work and start my family," she says.

Unlike Upp's mother, Williams' didn't own a home. That's not uncommon among black and Hispanic families. In fact, about a third have no assets at all or are in debt, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. That's double the rate for white families. This means no home equity to draw upon and no mortgage interest deduction to ease the cost of housing. Williams knew when she left home at 17, she was on her own.

"There was no cushion for me to go back to, so the reality for me was either make things work [or] be homeless," she says. "I remember my grandmother telling us we could do anything we wanted to do." But, she adds, she doesn't remember getting advice on how to do it.

Like inheritance, financial know-how is key to closing the racial wealth gap, says Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation. He says families that don't expect to climb the economic ladder often don't acquire the skills to do so. After decades of discrimination, he adds, blacks especially can be discouraged about their prospects.

"If somebody thinks they will not succeed, there's a high probability that they won't succeed. Because if they don't expect to go to college, if they don't expect to be affluent, they start doing things with that in mind," he says.

'A Formula For It'

At the urging of a school counselor, Williams attended the University of California at Berkeley, but she says she dropped out when she realized she didn't have the right skills. Instead, she started a family. When she and Yvonne's father split, though, her one income as a youth counselor wasn't enough. Williams and her daughter wound up homeless, then in public housing.

"It was really hard," Williams says.

But here's where her story takes a turn. Williams was poor but smart. With the help of a housing authority savings program she eventually returned to college and got her degree.

She also got Yvonne into private schools through a special program for inner-city youth. A San Francisco nonprofit called EARN helped her save money for tutors and a business. Today, she thinks she might be breaking the cycle that have kept so many others in poverty.

"Families of color in particular are becoming much more knowledgeable and much more aware of how to create wealth here in America," she says. "I think there is a formula for it, and it's not work hard and do well. Most poor people work really hard."

Williams says she's still trying to figure out the formula and working hard to catch up. But, she thinks that Yvonne at least is going into the world with the head start she never had. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Mortgage Savings: Leaders Seek Refinancing Options

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

In his jobs speech last week, President Obama also took time to say he wants to help more Americans save money on their mortgages.

"To help responsible homeowners, we're going to work with federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4 percent," he said to applause from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Millions of American homeowners don't qualify for those low rates. If they did, they'd be saving hundreds of dollars a month on their home loans, which might give them more money to spend elsewhere and help boost the economy.

"I know you guys must be for this because that's a step that can put more than $2,000 a year in a family's pocket and give a lift to an economy still burdened by the drop in housing prices," Obama said.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, lawmakers from both parties spoke out in favor of the idea.

Democrat Barbara Boxer has introduced legislation with the same aim: allowing millions more Americans to refinance. Homeowners would be able to refinance even if they owe more than their homes are worth. They could also do so regardless of their credit scores.

Boxer said people with high interest rates who never missed a mortgage payment as the value of their homes went "down and down and down" should have a chance to refinance at current levels.

Proponents say there's a way to do that without more government spending. The crux of idea is this: The government-backed firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on the hook for millions of loans. They guarantee them. Millions of those homeowners are stuck at higher interest rates.

However, if Fannie and Freddie could extend their guarantee to cover a new, cheaper, refinanced loan, the private sector would make those loans.

"I think there are ways to do things here that don't cost taxpayers money — at all, any money," Moody's economist Mark Zandi testified at the hearing. "I think this is one of those things."

In fact, since the federal government is propping up Fannie and Freddie, letting so many people refinance could save the government money.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis found Fannie and Freddie would actually make money, Boxer said, "about $100 million, because it would stop many people from defaulting. Right away."

Basically, fewer foreclosures could mean less taxpayer bailout money for Fannie and Freddie.

Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, a co-sponsor of the bill, said allowing people to qualify for today's low-interest-rate loans would mean fewer people deciding to walk away from their houses.

"It does make it less likely that people will use strategic foreclosure as a mechanism to deal with their financial situation, and it should help to stabilize home prices in the long run and the short run," Isakson said. "I think it's something Fannie and Freddie ought to do. If they'll do it tomorrow we're ready for them to do it."

Fannie and Freddie don't need an act of Congress to do this, and the Obama administration is pursuing the idea without any new legislation. It would do so by expanding a current federal refinancing program called the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP.

Some economists at the hearing had reservations, however.

"The question I have in my mind: A mortgage is one person's liability, it's somebody else's asset," Mark Calabria with the conservative-leaning Cato Institute said.

In other words, the homeowner would be saving money with a lower interest rate, but an investor in mortgage bonds somewhere was making money off that higher interest rate, so those bondholders would lose money.

"So you're increasing somebody's wealth by decreasing their monthly payment; your decreasing somebody else's wealth by reducing their bond payment," Calabria says. "It's not clear to me as an economist that the effect will be any less than zero."

But other analysts say the move would take billions of dollars from investors around the world and put that money in the pockets of middle-class Americans, who would go out and spend it. They say that would be stimulative.

"This plan would function like a long-term, middle-class tax cut without impacting the budget deficit," said Columbia Business School economist Chris Mayer, who has been proposing the idea for some time.

Some critics say the move still wouldn't be fair to those bond investors. It's also still unclear how many people the plan would reach. Everything depends on how it's implemented, Mayer said; you might reach fewer than 1 million people or you might reach 20 million, depending on the details. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

For Afghan Female Pilot, A Long, Turbulent Journey

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT

Col. Latifa Nabizada, the only female pilot in the history of Afghan aviation, travels to some of the most remote and dangerous corners of her country with a devoted partner next to her in the cockpit – her 5-year-old daughter Malalai.

They walk hand-in-hand as they head into the hangar at Kabul's Military Airport, and then board a chopper. They have flown together on more than 300 missions over the past few years, and Col. Nabizada acknowledges the risks of having her daughter on board.

But she says she has no choice. The air force has no child care facility.

"Trust me, when I have my daughter with me on the flight, I am really worried from the moment we take off to the moment we land," says Col. Nabizada. "For me, it's my profession to go to dangerous areas. So if anything happens to me, it is expected. But why should something happen to my daughter? I am really worried."

U.S. military advisers have asked her not bring Malalai on missions — or at least move her out of the cockpit. But the little girl won't stand for it.

"As soon as they moved her, Malalai would throw a tantrum," Col. Nabizada said. "She would grab my uniform and cry. Anyhow, I am confident of my abilities to control the helicopter while my daughter sits next to me."

The colonel says things could change next year when her daughter turns 6 and can start school.

A Long Journey

This is just one of the many challenges Col. Nabizada has faced on her long journey to becoming a military pilot. It began in the late 1980s, when she and her sister, Lailuma, were the first female graduates of the Afghan Air Force Academy. Lailuma later died during childbirth.

After the Taliban seized control of the country in 1996, Col. Nabizada fled to Pakistan. She later returned and rejoined the air force after the Taliban were ousted and the Afghan government began rebuilding the military.

Today, Col. Nabizada's missions often involve supplying troops in remote areas or flying to disaster zones to help provide assistance.

Being a woman in the Afghan military is still not easy, but it has toughened her, she says. She is no longer harassed, she says, citing an Afghan saying that translates roughly as "steel gets harder with the hammering."

The Afghan Air Force still uses Russian helicopters, a legacy of the Soviet military occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Soviets helped train a relatively large Afghan Air Force. But it was reduced to a few rickety planes and choppers in the 1990s, when the country was locked in a brutal civil war.

Rebuilding an air force is a tough task, says U.S. Brig. Gen. David Allvin, commander of the NATO Air Training Command in Afghanistan.

"Compared to the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police, it appears the progress has been much slower in the Air Force," he said. "To tell the truth, an air force takes longer to build."

Today, about 120 Afghan pilots are being trained outside the country, including 40 in the United States. Four Afghan women are among those training in America, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Col. Nabizada. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Sheriff: White House Gatecrasher, Michaele Salahi, Not Kidnapped

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:50:00 GMT

You'd be excused if you didn't lose sleep over the news that made its way across the blogosphere overnight: Tareq Salahi, who is better known as the husband in the duo who snuck into a White House state dinner last year, called the cops and the media to say his wife Michaele was kidnapped.

CNN ran a story, as well as ABC and Fox News.

Well, the Warren County Sheriff's Office said today they spoke to Michaele and she said she's fine and she didn't want her husband to know where she was. Here's their release via the Washington City Paper:

The Warren County Sheriff's Office received a call from Mr. Tareq Salahi on Tuesday evening September 13, 2011 at 11:55 p.m. Mr. Salahi advised us that he last heard from his wife about 6 hours ago. He was concerned because she had contacted him from an Oregon area code and she was supposed to be back in Northern Virginia today.

Deputy Mike Glavis subsequently spoke with Mrs. Salahi by telephone a few moments later. Deputy Glavis was able to identify Mrs. Salahi by having previous conversations with her in the past. She seemed calm, was engaged in conversation, and assured the deputy that she had left the residence with a good friend and was where she wanted to be. Mrs. Salahi advised that she did not want Mr. Salahi to know where she was.

Mrs. Salahi advised Deputy Glavis that she was very sorry that the Sheriff's Office had to be involved, but she did not want to be home right now.

[Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Rockies Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo Suspended 100 Games After Positive Test

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:57:00 GMT

The Colorado Rockies Eliezer Alfonzo is joining some ignominious company: Today Major League Baseball announced it was suspending the catcher for 100 games, after failing a drug test for the second time. Alfonzo tested positive for PED in 2008, when he was in the minor leagues.

The Denver Post reports:

Alfonzo joins disgraced slugger Manny Ramirez as the only other two-time offender. Ramirez retired in April from the Tampa Bay Rays rather than serve his suspension. Alfonzo, 32, plans to contest the latest findings.

...

Until recently, the Venezuelan native had been serving as the Rockies' backup catcher behind Chris Iannetta. However, he hasn't started since Sept. 4 because of the arrival of rookie Wilin Rosario.

A Rockies club official said Alfonzo has not been released. Alfonzo pinch hit in Tuesday's loss to the Brewers. He's batting .267 with one home run, a grand slam against the Padres on the night of the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, in 25 games.

According to USA Today, Alfonzo issued a statement denying that he had taken any performance-enhacing drugs.

"I am surprised by this positive test," said Alfonzo. "I learned my lesson in 2008 and have not taken any prohibited substances since then. With the Union's help, I intend to fight this suspension and look forward to appearing before the arbitrator in the near future." [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Political Divide At Congressional Hearing On Solyndra

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:39:00 GMT

A congressional hearing on Tuesday over a company called Solyndra became a politically charged referendum on the administration's effort to promote green energy.

Until recently, Solyndra made solar panels. It received more than half a billion dollars in government loan guarantees back in 2009. Now, the company is in bankruptcy and is being investigated by the FBI.

At the hearing, Republicans raised questions over whether the administration rushed the loan process for political or private reasons, while officials from the Department of Energy defended the decision to invest in the technology.

Questions For The Administration

President Obama spoke at the company's Fremont, Calif., headquarters 15 months ago, saying that "companies like Solyndra are leading the way to a brighter and more prosperous future."

The president held it up as a shining example of a company that created jobs while saving the environment and freeing the country of its dependence on foreign oil.

Two weeks ago, Solyndra laid off more than 1,000 workers when it failed.

At the congressional hearing on Tuesday, Republicans said the administration had cozy ties to the company and its investors, and that it was overeager to promote its environmental policies at the expense of taxpayers.

"Only after the Obama administration took control and the stimulus passed was the Solyndra deal pushed through," said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican.

Republicans accused the administration of pressuring the Department of Energy to approve the loan. They called its motives venal, noting that even as the company was failing, the department renegotiated the loans in a way that advantaged private investors in Solyndra — including a big Obama fundraiser.

And there was more: Michigan Republican Fred Upton called it an example of government trying to pick winners and losers.

"Was Solyndra just one bad bet by an administration rushing to claim credit for the first loan guarantee? Or was it the tip of the iceberg?" he asked.

Department Of Energy Responds

Jonathan Silver, executive director of the Energy Department's loan program, said the U.S. is rapidly losing out to China in solar technology, and that addressing this decline was the administration's motivation.

"This isn't picking winners and losers. It's helping ensure that we have winners here at all," he said. "We invented this technology and we should produce it here. The question is whether we are willing to take on this challenge or whether we will simply cede leadership in this vital sector to other nations, and watch as tens of thousands of jobs are created overseas. The administration believes this is a battle we must fight and win."

Silver said one big reason for Solyndra's failure was that China offered its companies far more subsidies, undercutting the whole market.

Democratic lawmakers said they felt misled by Solyndra's executives about the company's rapidly disintegrating financial condition. But they fought the accusation that the White House acted in the interest of George Kaiser, an Obama fundraiser.

California Democrat Henry Waxman questioned Silver, asking if he or his staff had any interaction with Kaiser relating to the Solyndra loan guarantee.

Silver responded: "I was not here at that time, but no, I've had – never h[ad] — never met or spoken to the man and as I understand from my staff, neither have they."

Waxman also noted that attacking green energy programs conveniently plays into the interests of big oil — a large Republican campaign donor.

Republicans came back at the witnesses, saying they missed signs the company was in trouble.

"I have heard not a single person stand up and take any accountability for a single dollar of taxpayer money that's gone," said Kansas congressman Mike Pompeo. "We ask who made decisions, we ask who was responsible, and the two of you stand here and point to other people and take no accountability to the taxpayers in America and in Kansas for having lost half a billion of their dollars."

Solyndra executives are expected to testify before the committee again, as early as next week. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Why You Should Wash A Melon Before Chowing Down

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:12:00 GMT

Have you ever heeded the advice to wash and dry a melon before digging in? Does anyone actually eat the skin of a honeydew or a cantaloupe anyway?

Well, even if you're not planning on a mega-dose of fibrous skin and rind, there is a good reason to rinse off that melon: germs. The knife that cuts through the melon's tough exterior can transfer nasty bugs to the sweet flesh you do consume.

That's why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health agencies are reminding people to wash produce, including cantaloupes, amid an investigation into an outbreak of listeriosis reported in a half-dozen states that so far has been linked to the deaths of four people.

Interviews with people who got sick "strongly suggest that illnesses are linked to consumption of cantaloupes," the CDC said. Most of the cases have occurred in Colorado and New Mexico.

Some of the people recalled that the cantaloupes they ate came from the Rocky Ford area of Colorado. Colorado health officials warned people especially vulnerable to listeriosis, a bacterial infection marked by fever and muscle aches, to avoid the suspected melons:

Although washing and drying produce is a good practice, it does not reduce the chance of listeriosis for those who are at high risk. If you are at high risk for listeriosis, do not eat Rocky Ford cantaloupe.

Who's at risk? Pregnant women, newborns, people with weak immune systems, including those with AIDS. The elderly are also at greater risk.

For help with washing technique, check out this handy NPR guide from few years back. The experts and a mom give their two cents. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]