Federal government proposes stricter rules for school food - The ...

By The Associated Press

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2012 file photo, side salads, apple sauce and plums await the students of Eastside Elementary School in Clinton, Miss. The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make school snacks healthier, a move that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

WASHINGTON ? Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government's effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "a la carte" lunch lines, snack bars and any other foods regularly sold around school. They would not apply to in-school fundraisers or bake sales, though states have the power to regulate them. The new guidelines also would not apply to after-school concessions at school games or theater events, goodies brought from home for classroom celebrations, or anything students bring for their own personal consumption.

The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been working for two decades to take junk foods out of schools. He calls the availability of unhealthful foods around campus a "loophole" that undermines the taxpayer money that helps pay for the healthier subsidized lunches. Continued...

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a critical step in closing that loophole and in ensuring that our schools are places that nurture not just the minds of American children but their bodies as well," Harkin said.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conservatives, including some Republicans in Congress, who said the government shouldn't be telling kids what to eat. Mindful of that backlash, the Agriculture Department exempted in-school fundraisers from federal regulation and proposed different options for some parts of the rule, including the calorie limits for drinks in high schools, which would be limited to either 60 calories or 75 calories in a 12-ounce portion.

The department also has shown a willingness to work with schools to resolve complaints that some new requirements are hard to meet. Last year, for example, the government relaxed some limits on meats and grains in subsidized lunches after school nutritionists said they weren't working.

Schools, the food industry, interest groups and other critics or supporters of the new proposal will have 60 days to comment and suggest changes. A final rule could be in place as soon as the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said surveys by her organization show that most parents want changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids are using their lunch money to buy candy bars and a Gatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," she said.

The food industry has been onboard with many of the changes, and several companies worked with Congress on the child nutrition law two years ago. Major beverage companies have already agreed to take the most caloric sodas out of schools. But those same companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, also sell many of the non-soda options, like sports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them in vending machines.

A spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, which represents the soda companies, says they already have greatly reduced the number of calories that kids are consuming at school by pulling out the high-calorie sodas.

Source: http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2013/02/02/news/doc510d558246539554108051.txt

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Shot Armenia presidential hopeful seeks vote delay

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) ? The shooting of a presidential candidate threw Armenia's election into disarray Friday, with the wounded victim saying he will call for a delay of the vote.

Paruir Airikian, 63, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant outside his home in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, on Thursday just before midnight. Airikian said from the hospital after surgery Friday that he would initiate proceedings as allowed by the constitution to delay the vote for 15 days due to his condition, but not longer.

He is one of eight candidates in the Feb. 18 race in this landlocked former Soviet republic and wasn't expected to get more than 1 percent of the vote. But postponing the election could help opponents of President Serge Sarkisian, who was expected to easily win a second five-year term.

Sarkisian said after visiting Airikian in the hospital that the perpetrators of the attack "obviously had an intention to influence the normal election process."

Armenia ? a landlocked nation of 3 million people bordering Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Turkey in the volatile Caucasus ? has been known for its turbulent and often violent politics. A 1999 attack on Parliament by six gunmen killed the prime minister, the speaker and six other officials and lawmakers.

In 2006, a deputy chief of tax police was blown up in his car. Police found the man who placed explosives in the vehicle, but failed to determine who ordered the killing.

In March 2008, clashes between police and supporters of former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, who lost to Sarkisian in a vote the previous month, left 10 people dead and more than 250 injured. Later that year, a deputy police chief was shot and killed in the elevator of his apartment building, a slaying that remains unsolved.

Sarkisian, a conservative, has stolen the opposition's thunder by talking with critics and allowing opposition protests. In 2009, the Parliament granted a sweeping amnesty to hundreds of people detained for taking part in the post-election violence.

Sarkisian also has overseen a return to economic growth after years of stagnation and has managed to reduce the country's endemic poverty. Recent opinion surveys show him getting the support of up to 70 percent of the population.

"Sarkisian has a clear advantage ... and he doesn't need destabilization," said Stepan Grigorian, an independent political analyst.

He said Sarkisian is poised to win the vote anyway, but if he performs worse than initially expected, that could give more leverage to fringe groups. "That could make the president more dependent on such marginal groups," Grigorian said.

Sarkisian's closest rival is Raffi Hovanessian, a former foreign minister who has campaigned on populist promises to sharply increase state salaries and pensions.

Hovanessian also has pledged to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, a stance favored by nationalists. The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and some adjacent territory have been under the control of Armenian troops and local ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year war ended with a truce in 1994.

Armenia has faced severe economic challenges caused by the closing of its borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey because of the conflict and international efforts to mediate a settlement have produced no result. Sarkisian, like his predecessors, has stopped short of recognizing the territory as independent.

At the same time, he has taken a tough stance on other foreign policy issues, pushing strongly for international recognition that the killings of some 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 constituted genocide. Turkey has furiously opposed that.

Armenian Parliament Speaker Ovik Abramian, who visited the wounded candidate in the hospital, said Friday that the attack was a "blow to the Armenian statehood" and that the election could now be delayed. The nation's election chief, however, has not commented on the possibility.

Armenia's constitution requires the vote to be postponed for two weeks if one of the candidates is unable to take part due to circumstances beyond his control. A further 40-day delay beyond that is also possible.

"I have no intention to seek a 40-day delay as I realize that we are in a process that needs to be finalized," Airikian said in televised remarks from the hospital. "But I will have to choose the option of postponing the vote by 15 days."

Yerevan Clinical Hospital's chief doctor, Ara Minasian, said Airikian was being treated for a single gunshot wound and remained in stable condition. Doctors successfully operated to remove a bullet in his shoulder.

Airikian, an also-ran in three previous Armenian presidential elections, was a dissident during Soviet times. He was first arrested by the KGB when he was 20, and spent 17 years in prison, according to his party.

In 1987, after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched his liberal reforms, Airikian created the National Self-Determination Party. When the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted the next year, he accused the Soviet authorities of stirring up violence and was evicted from the country.

Airikian soon returned to his homeland and in the 1990s had senior positions in Armenia's parliament and government.

On Friday, Airikian blamed ex-Soviet KGB agents of launching the attack.

"I would sincerely say that I see the style of special services of a foreign state, which haunted me for so long, not Russia, but its predecessor," Airikian said. He added that they could have been worried by his push for Armenia's closer integration into Europe.

Armenia has an economic and security pact with Russia and also hosts a Russian military base.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the shooting of Airikian, adding that Washington expects the Armenian government to ensure a fair vote in line with the law.

"If he's unable to campaign, we obviously call on Armenians to settle this constitutionally in a way that assures that these elections go forward in a way that is free and fair and protects the rights of all candidates," she said.

____

Bradley Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shot-armenia-presidential-hopeful-seeks-vote-delay-205339989.html

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Facebook Unveils The ?Facebook Card,? A Reusable Gift Card That Holds Multiple Balances From Different Stores

Facebook Gifts were one of the lower points of Facebook's earnings yesterday, but that doesn't mean the company isn't continuing to innovate on the gifting front. Today, Facebook announced?the "Facebook Card," which is a new way for people to give their friends gifts to places like?Jamba Juice, Olive Garden, Sephora, and Target, all on one reusable gift card purchased from Facebook.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/GYV6CW5rqV0/

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Windows Phone 7.8 Is Finally Available For Stranded Lumia Owners

If you got in on Windows Phone early ? in which case, bless you, brave one ? you may have been a little miffed when you found out that your shiny old Lumia wasn?t going qualify for Windows Phone 8. Lucky for you, the next best thing is finally here: Windows Phone 7.8. Here?s how to get it.

Okay, so it may be a decent amount of hurry up and wait; the tiny live-tile toting update will be rolling out through February. Still, better late than never, you dozens of proud Lumia 900 owners, you. [Nokia]

Source: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/01/windows-phone-7-8-is-finally-available-for-stranded-lumia-owners/

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Routes towards defect-free graphene

Feb. 1, 2013 ? A new way of growing graphene without the defects that weaken it and prevent electrons from flowing freely within it could open the way to large-scale manufacturing of graphene-based devices with applications in fields such as electronics, energy, and healthcare.

A team led by Oxford University scientists has overcome a key problem of growing graphene -- a one atom-thick layer of carbon -- when using an established technique called chemical vapour deposition, that the tiny flakes of graphene form with random orientations, leaving defects or 'seams' between flakes that grow together.

The discovery, reported in a paper published in ACS Nano, reveals how these graphene flakes, known as 'domains', can be lined up by manipulating the alignment of carbon atoms on a relatively cheap copper foil -- the atomic structure of the copper surface acts as a 'guide' that controls the orientation of the carbon atoms growing on top of them.

A combination of control of this copper guide and the pressure applied during growth makes it possible to control the thickness of these domains, the geometry of their edges and the grain boundaries where they meet -- 'seams' that act as obstacles to the smooth progress of electrons necessary to create efficient graphene-based electrical and electronic devices.

'Current methods of growing flakes of graphene often suffer from graphene domains not lining up,' said Professor Nicole Grobert of Oxford University's Department of Materials who led the work. 'Our discovery shows that it is possible to produce large sheets of graphene where these flakes, called 'domains', are well-aligned, which will create a neater, stronger, and more 'electron-friendly' material.'

In principle the size of the sheet of graphene that can be created is only limited by the size of the copper base sheet.

The Oxford-led team, which includes researchers from Forschungszentrum Juelich Germany, the University of Ioannina Greece, and Renishaw plc, has shown that it is also possible using the new technique to selectively grow bilayer domains of graphene -- a double layer of closely packed carbon atoms -- which are of particular interest for their unusual electrical properties.

'People have used copper as a base material before, but this is the first time anyone has shown that the many different types of copper surfaces can indeed strongly control the structure of graphene,' said Professor Grobert. 'It's an important step towards finding a way of manufacturing graphene in a controlled fashion at an industrial scale, something that is essential if we are to bridge the gap between fundamental research and building useful graphene-based technologies.'

The team filed a UK patent application on the work in 2012 with the help of Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford's technology transfer firm.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford.

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Journal Reference:

1. Adrian T. Murdock, Antal Koos, T. Ben Britton, Lothar Houben, Tim Batten, Tong Zhang, Angus J. Wilkinson, Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski, Christina E. Lekka, Nicole Grobert. Controlling the Orientation, Edge Geometry, and Thickness of Chemical Vapor Deposition Graphene. ACS Nano, 2013; : 130201091736003 DOI: 10.1021/nn3049297

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/nF2IPQIzE8s/130201132332.htm

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Gunman opens fire in Arizona office building, one dead

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire in an Arizona office building following a legal mediation meeting on Wednesday, shooting dead one man and wounding two other people including a prominent Phoenix lawyer before fleeing in a car, officials said.

Phoenix Police Sergeant Tommy Thompson said the shooting erupted after a morning meeting involving a legal dispute, and police were looking for a 70-year-old suspected gunman described as "armed and dangerous."

"He was involved in some type of litigation meeting," Thompson told a news conference of the suspect, giving his name as Arthur Douglas Harmon. "After that meeting, he got into an altercation with some of the individuals and actually shot two of those individuals."

Police said two men wounded in the shooting may have been the gunman's intended victims. A third victim, a woman, was not believed to have been intentionally targeted.

After fleeing the scene in a white Kia rental car, Harmon also fired at a witness who pursued him, but that person was not hurt.

The shooting comes amid heightened U.S. concern about gun violence after a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut school last month, sparking a heated national debate over gun control.

It also coincided with the start of U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings in Washington on possible gun control measures.

Police in Phoenix said that Steve Singer, 48, was killed and another man was in critical condition. A 32-year-old woman was being treated for a non-life threatening injury.

Two other people were taken to a hospital for "stress related symptoms," although there were no immediate details of their condition.

PROMINENT LITIGATOR

Law firm Osborn Maledon confirmed that litigator Mark Hummels - who is president of the Federal Bar Association's Phoenix chapter - had been shot.

"Our partner, Mark Hummels, was representing a client in a mediation today when he was shot. We understand that other people also were injured," the firm said in a statement.

Hummels' practice focuses on business disputes, real estate litigation and legal malpractice defense, according to the firm's website.

The New York Times said the mediation session was over a lawsuit the suspect had filed against a call center based in Scottsdale, Arizona. A police spokesman was unable to confirm the newspaper's report.

Police later surrounded and searched Harmon's house in Phoenix. The suspect's son was at the home, although Harmon remains at large.

Frank Kirby, a financial planner who works in an office near the scene of the shooting, told Reuters he was outside his building immediately after the incident and heard the gunman fire at someone in a white car.

That person then sped away in reverse as he sought to escape the gunfire, Kirby said, adding he was close enough to smell the gunpowder in the air.

(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio, Philip Barbara and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunman-opens-fire-arizona-office-building-one-dead-011521658.html

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Dan Marino Admits to Fathering Child with CBS Employee

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/dan-marino-admits-to-fathering-child-with-cbs-employee/

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