In the Center of Reflection

from NASA

The dust is so thick in the center of NGC 1333 that you can hardly see the stars forming. Conversely, the very dust clouds that hide the stars also reflects their optical light, giving it a predominantly blue glow the general designation of a reflection nebua. Visible near the image top are vast blue regions of dust predominantly reflecting the light from bright massive stars. Visible in the thick central dust are not only newly formed stars but red jets and red-glowing gas energized by the light and winds from recently formed young stars. The nebula contains hundreds of newly formed stars that are less than one million years old. It lies about 1,000 light years away, toward the constellation of Perseus.

Text Messaging Bans Becoming Popular

from KOMO Seattle TV 4

Hang up or pay up: Using your hands to talk on the phone or tap out a text message while behind the wheel of a car will be illegal next year, in Washington State. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed measures into law, flanked by children who suffered serious injuries after being hit by distracted drivers. Under the new laws, drivers who read and compose text messages or talk on a cell phone without a hands-free device could face a $101 ticket.

The text-messaging ban takes effect in Washington, on Jan. 1; the cell-phone law will be enforced starting in July 2008. Drivers are exempt in some situations, including emergencies, and neither offense will be enough to get a driver pulled over by the police.

from WCAU Greater Phila. TV 10

New Jersey legislators pushed forward a plan to make it illegal to text message while driving.
The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee voted unanimously to release the proposal after several legislators admitted frequently firing off text messages while behind the wheel, even though they know doing so is dangerous.

The proposed bill would fine drivers up to $250 if caught using mobile devices to send text messages. Unlike the state's ban on using a hand-held cell phone while driving, police would be able to stop anyone they see sending text messages while driving. Police can only give tickets for using a hand-held cell phone while driving if they pull over a driver for another reason.

Arizona and Connecticut are among the states considering similar laws to ban text messaging while driving.

Mother Indicted for Selling Daughter

from KDFW Dallas-Fort Worth TV 4

A 37 year old woman was indicted Monday on charges that she sold her teenage daughter for $3000. Tina Valdez is accused of selling the 15 year old girl to a man last August. At first, Valdez saif that her daughter had run away. She even gave police a note that she said her 15 year old daughter had written about going to look for her father.

But Valdez admitted last month that she sold the girl to 35 year old Jason Carlile who took her to Mexico. Carlile was already facing charges of indecency with a child and possession of child pornography. Valdez and Carlile are being held on $150,000 bond each. The girl is back in Texas and has been placed in foster care.

LOCAL Police Officer Baked Magic Brownies

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Police commanders in Dearborn are taking heat for not prosecuting a police officer caught spiking brownies with marijuana. Cpl. Edward Sanchez was allowed to resign last year after admitting he and his wife baked brownies with marijuana he had taken from a drug suspect.

The officer's troubles began with an April 2006 call to 911. On the tape, he's heard saying, "I think we're dying. We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do." He also asked the 911 dispatcher what the score was on the Detroit Red Wings hockey game being televised that night, explaining, "I just want to make sure this isn't some type of, like, hallucination that I'm having."

Roseanne Barr in Talks to Replace Rosie

from the New York Post

Roseanne Barr has emerged as the top contender to replace Rosie O'Donnell next year on The View.

Since last week's announcement when Rosie said she planned to leave the show in June, several names have surfaced as possible replacements. Among them are Joan Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg, Kathie Lee Gifford and Connie Chung. Out of all of them, Roseanne seems to be the best fit.

The open chair is the No. 1 seat on the show, requiring a star who can, in effect, be the show's quarterback - moving the discussion along, introducing guests and other duties that a TV neophyte might not be able to pull off believably.

O'Donnell said Wednesday that she's leaving "The View" after one year because she and ABC could not agree on a new deal. Insiders have said she wanted more control over the show and decided to quit when that was denied. O'Donnell had replaced former co-host Meredith Vieira. Starr Jones, who also left the show last year, has yet to be replaced.

Philadelphia Stops Psychics

from The Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia's fortune-tellers didn't see it coming. Suddenly they're facing a very unhappy future. Alerted to an obscure state law banning fortune-telling "for gain or lucre," the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections is closing storefront psychics, astrologers, phrenologists and tarot-card readers who charge money for their services. Inspectors had closed 16 shops since Tuesday.

Fortune-telling for profit is a third-degree misdemeanor. The law has been on the books for more than 30 years. Inspectors are not imposing fines, and police are not making arrests, but they will if these people try to return to work.

LOCAL CRIMESTOPPERS

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

A $6,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in a school threat case in the Rochester Community School District. For the second time in two weeks, four Rochester schools were closed because of anonymous threats.

Classes were canceled Friday at Rochester High School, Adams High School, West Middle School and Van Hoosen Middle School.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Department is not releasing any details about the threat, but they said a search of the schools found nothing. For more information, go to the Rochester Community School district Web site at www.rochester.k12.mi.us.

LOCAL Toyota Exceeds GM in Sales

from WDIV Detroit TV 4


General Motors, after more than 75 years as the No. 1 automaker in the U.S. and the world, has been surpassed by Toyota. In the first quarter, Toyota sold 2.35 million vehicles, while GM sold 2.26 million.

This is something analysts had predicted but weren't expecting these changes until later on in the year -- not in the first quarter. Toyota has had the No. 1 selling car for the last several years in the Toyota Camry. And Toyota has built a reputation for quality and for building better fuel efficient vehicles.

GM announced a restructuring plan in November of 2005 that called for closing 12 plants by 2008, slashing its workforce, reducing capacity and cutting costs.

LOCAL CRIMESTOPPERS

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Detroit Police said they need help to catch a group of burglars who have robbed the same store more than a dozen times. In fact, according to police, the Dollar Discount store was broken into twice in the the past two days. Surveillance video of the latest robbery showed a man loading up a sack of electronics behind the counter. He looked directly into the surveillance camera and police released video of the break-in, hoping someone will recognize the burglar.

The Dollar Discount store was broken into seven times in 2005, several times last year, and has been robbed three times so far in 2007. Those who have any information about the robberies are being asked to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 800-SPEAK-UP.

Also, a man seen flashing small children and others at suburban shops was spotted again. Two years ago, he hit the Borders in Rochester Hills, and on April 12 he hit Borders, on April 21 he appeared at Marshalls and on April 22 he was reported in the Sears store. The Oakland County Sheriff's Department said it's time to put this man in jail.

The man targets specific stores like Marshalls and Borders, all in Rochester Hills and all within two miles of each other. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the man looks for young boys or girls once he enters a store.

Investigators believe he could be the same man who approached children who stepped away from their parents and flashed them in 2005. In the most recent incident, a child alerted their mother who, along with store personnel, chased the man outside and obtained partial license plate information.

Police are looking for a red burgundy pickup truck with a partial Michigan license plate of 054.

Those who have any information about the man are being asked to call 888-TURN-1-IN. Police said there is a significant reward for information leading to the arrest of the man.

LOCAL Farmer Jack Sells

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

It's selling time for Farmer Jack, a chain of grocery stores that have been in metro Detroit for decades. A & P Company, Inc., the company that owns Farmer Jack, announced that it is in negotiations for the potential sale of its operations in the Midwest. The company cited unsatisfactory operating trends in that market, and the need to devote resources to its expanding Northeast core business, as the reason for the action.

A&P has informed its employees in the Midwest and their union representatives that it anticipates the sale of groups of stores to selected bidders. The company said that it cannot release additional details concerning the ongoing process until definitive acquisition agreements are reached over the next few months.

A&P acquired the Farmer Jack chain in 1989 and at present operates 66 stores in southeast Michigan.

Mexico City Passes Abortion Bill

from MyWay News

Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion, a decision likely to influence policies and health practices across Mexico and other parts of heavily Roman Catholic Latin America. The proposal, approved 46-19, with one abstention, will take effect with the expected signing by the city's leftist mayor. Abortion opponents have already vowed to appeal the law to the Supreme Court, a move likely to extend the bitter and emotional debate in this predominantly Catholic nation.

Nationally, Mexico allows abortion only in cases of rape, severe birth defects or if the woman's life is at risk. Doctors sometimes refuse to perform the procedure even under those circumstances. The new law will require city hospitals to provide the procedure in the first trimester and opens the way for private abortion clinics. Girls under 18 would have to get their parents' consent.

The procedure will be almost free for poor or insured city residents, but is unlikely to attract patients from the United States, where later-term abortion is legal in many states. Under the Mexico City law, abortion after 12 weeks would be punished by three to six months in jail.

The proposal has created an emotional confrontation in a country where the majority of people are Roman Catholic.

An estimated 200,000 women have illegal abortions each year in Mexico, based on the number who show up at hospitals later seeking treatment for complications. Botched abortions using herbal remedies, black-market medications and quasi-medical procedures kill about 1,500 women each year and are the third-leading cause of death for pregnant women in the capital.

$4 Gasoline

from Bloomberg

Whether it's $50 to fill up your Prius or $130 for the Ford Expedition, $4-a-gallon gasoline is coming to a pump near you. Fuel prices are rising at a pace not seen since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out a third of the U.S. oil refining industry in 2005. Gasoline consumption is climbing twice as fast as last year and will accelerate when summer travel begins late next month.

Population gains and U.S. economic growth are causing an increase in fuel purchases. The U.S. economy will expand at a 2.4 percent annual pace in the second quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the first three months. Gasoline use is rising almost 5 percent above the five-year average.

Gasoline inventories, measured by the days of demand they will cover, are at the lowest level in two decades for this time of year because of refinery fires, power failures and maintenance work oil companies failed to complete in 2006. No new U.S. refinery has been built in three decades, increasing the strain on existing plants. Pump prices in the U.S. may increase to $4 a gallon from a nationwide average of $2.87 today, especially if hurricanes threaten Gulf of Mexico refineries.

Prices rose 33 percent in the past 11 weeks, the fastest rate of gain since a six-week, 34 percent rally to the record $3.069 in September 2005, Energy Department data show.

LOCAL HEADLINE STORY

Northwest Pilot on Cocaine
from CNN

An off-duty Northwest Airlines pilot was suspected of driving under the influence of cocaine when he headed the wrong way on an interstate to avoid the U.S.-Canada border and led deputies on a chase. Walter L. Dinalko, a veteran pilot of 20 years, had flown to Detroit Metropolitan Airport Saturday afternoon and then rented a Hummer that he drove about 70 miles to Port Huron.

Dinalko turned around three times on the Blue Water Bridge, apparently changing his mind about heading into Sarnia, Ontario. He then drove on the wrong side of the bridge and Interstate 94. U.S. Customs agents alerted sheriff's deputies, who closed down the expressway and gave chase.

Deputies laid down stop sticks, which flattened the Hummer's tires. Dinalko stopped but refused to surrender to deputies.

Dinalko, 50, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was taken to a hospital for a drug test before he was taken to jail. A user's quantity of a substance suspected to be cocaine was found in the vehicle, including one opened package and one sealed package. Toxicology tests on a sample of the pilot's blood were pending.

Dinalko was arraigned Sunday on charges of cocaine possession, eluding police, resisting officers and operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs. He was released Sunday after posting $10,000 bond.

HEADLINE STORY

Cell Phones May Be Wiping Out Bees

from The Independent (UK)

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other electronics is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast. CCD has since spread throughout Europe.

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left". No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and genetically engineered crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines. Now a limited study has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby.

LOCAL Inmates Released Early

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

The Washtenaw County Jail released inmates on Thursday because of overcrowding. In order to comply with the state jail overcrowding statue, which requires the reduction of inmates sentenced by up to 30 percent to help relieve overcrowding at the jail, the county has released 12 inmates.

The jail has been in a state of overcrowding since March 5 and remains overcrowded.

The jail has 332 beds available, and at last check on Friday morning, there were 357 inmates. The jail is currently closed to new arrests of minor crimes but will accept suspects of certain crimes, like assault, drugs and weapons crimes.

Sheriff's officials believe the overcrowding issue will be resolved by mid-May.

LOCAL Boy Robbed of Puppy at Gunpoint

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Detroit police are investigating after a 14-year-old boy was robbed of his 3 week old pitbull labrador puppy at gunpoint. The boy was in the backyard of his westside Detroit home when an unknown man approached him and presented a handgun.

The man demanded the boy give up the dog.

The boy and his mother are evacuees of Hurricane Katrina and were unable to provide police with pictures of the dog.

LOCAL UPDATE: Troy Shooting Suspect in Custody

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Police have announced they have Anthony Lacalamita, 38, in custody in connection with the workplace shooting inside Gordon Advisors Accounting Firm in Troy. A resident driving a pickup truck spotted the silver 2007 Ford Fusion that police were searching for and called 911. The Genessee County Sheriff's Department followed the car through Saginaw and pulled him over in Bay City. They said the rifle was found in the car, and the driver matched the shooter's description.

Lacalamita is being transported to the Genessee County jail.

One woman has died and two men are injured. Witnesses inside the building said there are armed police officers and guards outside. Officials have secured the basement and first floor and are working to secure the other floors. Employees were removed from the building in sections and taken to a neighboring building.

LOCAL BREAKING NEWS - CRIMESTOPPERS

Troy Workplace Shooting: 1 Dead, 2 Injured
from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Troy police are at the scene of a workplace shooting inside Gordon Advisors Accounting Firm.

Police received a tip call on Monday morning stating there was a shooting on the second floor of the 1301 Long Lake Crossings building on Long Lake Road.

The shooter has been identified as Anthony Lacalamita, 38. He is about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has short dark hair and was wearing a dark-colored sweater. He is still armed with either a rifle or shotgun.

One woman has died and two men are injured. Some employees have barricaded themselves inside their offices, while others have been evacuated and taken to a nearby building. Witnesses inside the building said there are armed police officers and guards outside. Officials have secured the basement and first floor and are working to secure the other floors.

Ten members of the SWAT team entered the building in full gear but have not come out yet. Employees are being removed from the building in sections and taken to a neighboring building. There were injuries reported, but how many people were involved and the extent are not known at this time.

Police are searching for a silver 2007 Ford Fusion and said it may be related to the shooting. The license plate is BEY 0843.

If you have any information regarding this incident, or believe you know the whereabouts of Lacalamita please call Troy police at (248) 689-4455.

HEADLINE STORY

Girl Had Suspected 'Boyfriend' That Was a Woman
from ABC News

A 14-year-old girl authorities allege was sexually abused by a 30-year-old woman who posed as a teenage boy said she didn't know about the ruse but eventually suspected it. Lorelei Corpuz posed as a 17-year-old orphan to gain the trust of the girl's family, then beat and molested her. She was charged this week with child rape and child molestation and was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Corpuz, who called herself Mark, met the girl at a mall and moved in with her. It started out as a regular teenage girlfriend-boyfriend thing, like holding hands, hugging, kissing, but over time it developed into something sexual. The suspect, however, never let victim see her private parts and victim always thought that suspect was male until a police officer informed her otherwise.

Corpuz was found out after an officer checked the suspect's vehicle, parked at an Everett gas station, to see whether it was stolen. The officer arrested Corpuz after the check pulled up an outstanding traffic warrant under an alias, Mark Villanueva.

Authorities allege Corpuz had sex with the girl, beat her and bit her twice on the back, leaving a scar. Snohomish County prosecutors have filed charges in District Court against Corpuz, but expected to refile them in Superior Court.

Disney to Allow Same Sex Ceremonies

from CNN

Same-sex couples who want to exchange vows in front of Cinderella's Castle now have the chance. The Walt Disney Co. had limited its Fairy Tale Wedding program to couples with valid marriage licenses, but it is now making ceremonies at its parks available to gay couples as well.

The company said it made the change after being contacted by a gay couple who wanted to use the wedding service, which offers ceremonies at Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disney's cruise ships. The service offers flowers, dining, music and many optional Disney touches, from ceremonies in front of the parks' iconic attractions to having Mickey and Minnie Mouse in formal wear as guests. The packages start at $8,000 and can cost more than $45,000.

Groups not affiliated with Disney have held annual "gay days" celebrations at Disney parks for years. Company officials have taken a tolerant attitude to the weekend, allowing party promoters to rent out parks after hours and rebuffing religious groups that condemned Disney. In 2005, Southern Baptists ended an eight-year boycott of the Walt Disney Co. for violating "moral righteousness and traditional family values."