Colleen Cason: Surf's Up In Senate Contest

Colleen Cason: Surf's Up In Senate Contest.I dare say that would be a guy in SoCal for public office was related to the sport of Jeff Spicoli.

Spicoli, played by Sean Penn in the movie 1982 "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", forever branded as a California surfer always stoned slacker in the eternal pursuit of "tasty waves."

Spicoli also lacked some precision with words, famous with this lesson in civics:

"What Jefferson was saying was," Hey, you know, we left here in England because it was wrong, so if we do not get some cool rules us - pronto - we'll be wrong, too. ““

As political observers may wonder why Jason Hodge is a totally rad to show on his campaign materials paddling his surfboard off the beaches of Ventura County.

The native of Oxnard 37 years is running against fellow Democrat and political heavy Hannah-Beth Jackson, the newly redesigned 19th District in the State Senate. Hodge and Jackson will compete for the seat in the open primary in June is expected to include Republican Mike Stoker. The first two votes are in primary school - even if the same party - will do battle in November.

Campaign website of Michael Jackson shows her wearing the de rigueur red jacket. And most politicians wallpaper of their campaign materials with portraits of themselves with their trophy spouses, children, beautiful and adorable cocker spaniel puppies.

And it's not like Hodge lack of visual options. This is a six-foot-5 Ventura County firefighter who won the election in the Oxnard Harbor District. He recently married well connected Assemblywoman Fiona Ma Bay Area

Choice of image Hodge also puzzled Herb Gooch, a professor at California Lutheran University and longtime watcher of local politics.

"Maybe I'm overanalyzing this way But there are other things that would show, as a woman, his family roots in the community, his work in the EU and -. Overshadow all this - the fight against fires, "said Mr. Gooch.

So I had to ask Jason, brother, what's up with the combination instead of the combination of power?

My answer would be to take some time. The day I phoned him, he was competing in the city of Santa Barbara Fire Department Longboard Surfing Class meet.

"I want people to know that I am a surfer who believes in public service," Hodge said after a morning of riding the waves.

He also wants voters to know who they are, and surfing, he said, works in his DNA. His father moved to Oxnard from Oklahoma in 1965 so he can ride the waves. His father, Hawk, Jason put on a surfboard with 3 or 4, he said.

Before his election to the harbor commission last year, figures from Hodge he surfed twice a week - mostly at the insistence of his father, a former firefighter Oxnard. Now it's down to twice a month because of his duties on the board of the port.

He would like to surf more, he says, because the time spent on the ocean makes appreciation of the environment and help to generate ideas. It recommends that all get a long board on a hot day and experience the thrill of the surf.

I told him he might want to be careful what he wishes. Should he be elected, Sacramento is pretty landlocked and will not be suspended 10 well up there. It is a compromise he is willing to do to represent the district, he said. Especially since it means that he and his wife will see each other.

Yet, the wonders of Gooch if the picture is the rider move to the right.

"My forehead furrows in a question mark," he said. "This would not be my advice."

The race is expected to get heated. Jackson is an experienced campaigner. She lost by just 800 votes four years ago to Tony Strickland in the campaign the most expensive of the legislative history of the state.

So I'm just saying, man. This campaign could gnarlatious.

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Oakland Police Arresting About 300 'Occupy' Protesters

Oakland Police Arresting About 300 'Occupy' Protesters.OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day occupy the protests which saw protestors entering the town hall and burned an American flag, as soon as the police with tear gas and beanbags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw stones and bottles and destroyed fences outside a convention center nearby.

Protesters Occupy Oakland say they will gather outside City Hall on Saturday from March to an undisclosed vacant building and requisition of space as a social center and political headquarters for the movement.

If the police to prevent the seizure, the protesters warned Wednesday, they will take further action. Possibilities include blockade Future of Oakland International Airport, the Port of Oakland or the City Hall, according to a letter to the City of Oakland Occupy.

The rally noon and 1:00 p.m. March "signal a new direction to take Oakland, with vacant buildings to serve the community, not banks," Leo Ritz-Barr, 21, said during a conference Press on the steps of City Hall.

Deputy Chief Jeff Israel said that his department will take its usual method of protesters, waiting to see exactly what they do.

"If their intention is to occupy a building with the owner's permission, which is legal and of course we would not get involved," said Israel. "Any other option would require a response from law enforcement, because they violate the law, and they know it."

Original Oakland hold camp was removed from the site outside City Hall on October 25 and again on November 14. Since then, activists have sought to establish a new home where they can meet and revive the dormitories, a kitchen, a library and an aid station, but they were booted from a series of vacant lots.

Some demonstrators began rallying antipolice weekly. City officials and some activists have criticized Occupy Oakland, saying that the conflict with the police looking drained local resources and disables people from the central theme of the Wall Street Occupy movement to counter the economic inequality.

Occupy the Oakland General Assembly approved the purchase of building Dec. 21. It is not clear if a site was chosen.

Each vacant building in the study, they said, is either a public building or is owned by a bank or an investor, and is empty because of the incompetence, corruption and greed.

"The city does not guarantee the 99 percent that we need for a healthy community, such as housing, education and basic health care," said Martha Lincoln, a graduate student of 34 years, reading a statement by a group of doctors occupy Oakland. "So we claim for ourselves."


Dozens of police remained on guard outside the town hall at midnight the day after the most turbulent protests since November, when the Oakland Police forcefully occupy a camp dismantled. An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called the movement to occupy "stop using Oakland as his playground."

"People in the community and people in the movement occupy must stop making excuses for this behavior," said Quan.

MORE: Full coverage of the protests Occupy

Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, sometimes throwing stones, bottles and other objects of the officers. And the police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Administrator Deanna Santanta said.

"These protesters have declared their intention was to provoke the officers and to engage in illegal activities, and that's exactly what happened today," said Santana.

Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan said about 300 arrests were made.

The group assembled outside City Hall in the late morning on Saturday and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The demonstrators marched to the convention center vacancies, where some have begun to demolish a perimeter fence and "destroy construction equipment," shortly before 15 hours, police said.

Police said they issued order dispersion and used tear gas and smoke after some protesters threw their bottles, stones, burning flares and other objects.

The number of protesters swelled as the day wore on, with estimates ranging from afternoon about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

The majority of arrests were made after police took dozens of protesters into custody as they marched through the city center, with some entering a YMCA building, said Sgt. Jeff Thomason, a spokesman for the police.

Around the same time police were taking people into custody near the YMCA, about dozens of officers surrounded City Hall, while others swept the interior of the building in search of demonstrators who had broken into the building, then ran out of the building with American flags before the police arrived.

The protest group has issued an e-mail criticizing the police, saying that "the occupation occupy the building in Oakland, an act of civil disobedience protected by the Constitution was disrupted by a brutal police response today."

Michael Davis, 32, a native of Ohio and was in the movement occupy in Cincinnati, said Saturday was an eventful day that originally started calm but escalated when police started using "flash bangs, and tear gas, smoke grenades and bags of beans. "

"It was very moving. I thought it was a very good day for the movement, because it brought us back together, "Davis said." We were all there in spirit and everyone was helping everyone today. "

"It could have been handled differently is the way the Oakland Police came to us," Davis said.”We were peaceful."

Quan blamed the destruction on a small "very radical, violent" Occupy small group in Oakland.

"It's not a situation where we had one thousand peaceful people and a few violent people. If you look at what is happening today in terms of property destruction, and throwing the burden of police, c ' is almost as if they are begging for attention and hoping that the police will make a mistake. "

Quan said that at some point, many broke into the town hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several structures of the art, including an art exhibition Recycled created by children.

"City Hall is closed for the weekend. There is no excuse for behavior that we saw tonight," City Council President Larry Reid said Saturday at a news conference. "It is simply unacceptable and has absolutely no meaning for the type of behavior we saw in the streets of the city of Oakland today."

Councilor Oakland Ignacio De La Fuente, echoes the feelings of Reid and said that what was happening on the amounts of "domestic terrorism".

"It's domestic terrorism and we cannot allow this to continue because something even worse could really happen," said De La Fuente.

The demonstration comes after protesters occupy said earlier this week they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a center of social and political center. They also threatened to try to close the port, occupying the airport and take over the town hall.

Oakland officials said Friday that since the camp Occupy Oakland was created in late October, police arrested about 300 people.

Nationals occupy Wall Street movement, denouncing inequality and economic excesses of companies, started in New York in the fall, but have been largely dormant in recent times.

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities where the most important events and voice occupy soon. The protests ebbed after these cities used force to move hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

In Oakland, the police department has received strong criticism for the use of force to disperse demonstrations earlier. Among the critics was Mayor Jean Quan, who said she was not informed of the plans of the ministry.

On Saturday, Quan seemed to have changed its height about how the police were handling the demonstrations and protests.

"Our officers were very measured," said Quan. "Are there some mistakes made? There may be. I would say that the Oakland Police and our allies, to a small percentage of errors. But frankly, a majority of protesters who are in charge of the police were clearly not be peaceful. "

Earlier this month, a monitor appointed by the court submitted a report to a federal judge that included "serious concerns" about the handling of the Ministry of events occupy.

Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan said Saturday night that he was in "close contact" with the federal monitor during the demonstrations.

Quan said: "If the protesters believe that because we work more closely with the monitor, now that we will not do what we have to do to comply with the law and try to keep people safe in this city, they are wrong. "

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Parents Of Babies With Trisomy 18 Saying Goodbye To Support Group

Parents Of Babies With Trisomy 18 Saying Goodbye To Support Group.For nearly two years, five families Bryan-College Station would probably have remained strangers to the group met monthly to play Baby Play support sponsored by Hospice Brazos Valley.

The group, which was formed to help families with children born with a rare chromosomal defect trisomy 18, will meet for the last time Feb. 15.

Families have undergone several changes during this period - some encouraging, some heartbreaking - but one constant remains: Two years later, there is still no definitive answer on what may have caused the cluster of birth defects confirmed in the Brazos County.

History

Between August 2009 and February 2010, five families in the Brazos County designed for children who are born with trisomy 18. The defect occurs in the design and causes the baby to have three copies of chromosome number 18 instead of the usual two.

The prognosis is poor. Half of the babies with the defect are stillborn. Half of those born alive die within the first week - less than 10 percent live to see their first birthday.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the higher number than usual of trisomy 18 births in the county of Brazos is a confirmed cluster and deserves investigation.

The data from the register of birth defects in Texas indicates that in the decade before, only eight babies were born with trisomy 18 in Brazos County.

In a preliminary report released by the DSHS in March 2011, the El Dorado Chemical Co. fire that caused Bryan to evacuate July 30, 2009, was listed as a possible factor of the environment to be studied with respect to cluster. More of the five families believe exposure to the chemical release may have played a role in their children with defects.

Separate research by the DSHS, Anne Sweeney, professor of epidemiology at Texas A & M Health Science Center School of Public Health in rural areas, also focuses on the cluster.

A New Hope

Nate and Holly Sharp had three children happy and healthy and were delighted with the arrival of their fourth child, Kate Austyn, in June 2010. Tests carried out before his birth said she was healthy, but she was born with Trisomy 18 and lived only one month.

The loss was devastating for the family, but after much prayer, the couple decided their family was not complete and they wanted to have another child.

"We wanted to wait for some of the studies to be complete, but we knew we could not," Holly Sharp said, adding that research can take years to be released. "We talked to our doctor and some other specialists and they said 34 were not too old to try again and chances are nothing will go wrong.”

But in the back of her mind, she says, was the thought that the same complications affect the next child.

On Mother's Day last year, she discovered she was pregnant. She and Nate kept a secret for 14 weeks.

On January 5, the couple welcomed young Austin Sharp 8 pounds, 10 ounces - the largest of their four children at birth.

"I was just in awe of the miracle of life - all things that could go wrong and many times it is just out OK," Holly Sharp said. "I just remember being so recognizing that we had a healthy baby that we can see grow and love and cherish, but it is not a replacement. It felt like a new beginning of hope and healing. "

Other families in the support group for news of the birth of Austin meant the same thing for them.

Wendy Contreras - whose daughter Ella Rose was born September 30, 2010, with trisomy 18 and died less than a month later, Oct. 24 - said the birth was reported that healing finally was closer than grief.

"Obviously this was a huge blessing to their families, but for the rest of the group, I think it meant that there was a possibility that permanent damage has not been done for us," she said. "Healing is coming and I think we are all in better shape than we were a year ago."

Still the fight against

Stevie Avendano is the only baby born with trisomy 18 in Brazos County alive. In May, there will be 2 years. When he was born at 4 pounds, 14 ounces, doctors told his mother he would not live long enough to get back the results of genetic tests, or even long enough to be discharged from the hospital.

Now he is 20 months, and his mother, Michelle Suniga said his progress was a "roller coaster ride."

"There have been ups and downs," she said. "Just after he turned a year he started having seizures. But now it also develops their motor skills more than anyone thought he would be able to. "

Suniga says Stevie is on four different medications to keep seizures under control and still gets visits three times a week from a dietitian, a speech therapist and a physiotherapist. It is now 16 pounds, 9 ounces and 28 inches tall, but his hopes dietitian to provide more weight to improve his strength.

"I know we have our little complications, but it is actually very good health, his doctors say," Suniga said. "For us, it is more of just a normal baby - it begins to grow and it's amazing to watch."

Suniga said when approached its first anniversary, the family as celebrating early because no one knew whether he would live to see it.

"But now our mentality has changed - it's not, 'Oh my God, how do we get out of this," she said. "Because we know that there are obstacles on the way and we'll go through them."

Crève-heart

Maria Casares was the first Brazos County mother to give birth to a child with trisomy 18 in the cluster the most recent. His son, Hayden, lived with the default for seven months before his death in November 2010.

Cazares speaks little English, but her teenage daughter, Barbara Soto, translated for her during interviews with the eagle. Soto said her mother discovered she was pregnant again around the same time Holly Sharp does. Her pregnancy, however, ended in a miscarriage in July of last year.

"She really wanted another baby," said Soto. "We all hoped that we would be able to see Hayden through it, but thought it might have the same problems was almost as difficult as having the miscarriage.”

Researchers estimate that 95 percent of trisomy 18 due to an error in the design, although it remains uncertain whether this was the case when Cazares.

Soto said his mother is no longer considering having more children and spoke to the doctors to have surgery to ensure it will not.

Listen baby

Thanks to happier times and the most difficult of the journey of five families, "the only constant was the baby Play meetings the third Wednesday of each month.

Lynn Davis, a social worker who facilitates the group, said he is among the most durable support groups Hospice Brazos Valley sponsored.

At its last meeting on February 15, families will be able to meet young Austin Sharp for the first time.

"I do not know if there really ever a good time to stop a group of grief, because the parents will always be in mourning," Davis said. "But now they are in a place where they want give back and help others, and we are concerned, it is a good place to stop the group.”

Davis said the birth of Austin helped the group leaders and members come to the conclusion that families can continue to meet on their own without the help of play Baby Play.

"So, let's all together one last time in celebration of this amazing little baby," she said. "And I'm sure the families who are like family now, will continue their bonding. This is a good time to go and celebrate this new beginning. "

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Good and Better IRS News For Abuse Victims

Good and Better IRS News For Abuse Victims.The Internal Revenue Service urges low to average income in Ventura County to see if they qualify for a tax credit which could put thousands of dollars in their pockets.

The tax credit on income is intended to help those who work hard but do not have much money, reporters said Friday by Paul Verlinde from the IRS.

An estimated one in five workers nationwide fails to claim the credit.

A major reason Americans do not apply to credit because they do not know this, says Paul. The director of the tax credit on earned income to the IRS, she spoke to reporters in a conference call.

Ironically, many who may be eligible earn so little that they are not required to file a tax return yet, to claim the credit, a tax return must be filed and the credit requested.

The program is a refundable tax credit, which means those who qualify can receive money even if they did not have the income tax withheld.

Eligibility is based on factors such as income, marital status and number of children and if someone works full time or part-time.

Workers earning less than $ 49,078 on wages, self-employment or farm income last year may qualify. A number of valid Social Security is necessary for the applicant and his spouse and children, and more generally the applicants must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien.

Anyone who has been a change in employment, housing or family in the past year may have become eligible for the tax credit as a result of these changes, even if they are not eligible in the past, says Paul.

Credit up to $ 464 for an individual and as much as $ 5.751 for families with three or more qualifying.

"This money can make a real difference to pay the rent, put food on the table or to put something away for a rainy day," says Paul.

In the 2010 tax year, 50,531 people in Ventura County have claimed the credit and about $ 105.2 million was issued to residents of the county. More than 26.8 million families in the U.S. last year received a total of $ 59.5 billion, and the average amount of the tax credit was paid $ 2,200.

It is also possible for people to claim up to three years for paying back the credit if it turns out they were eligible but did not claim it.

"The EITC filing requirements can be complex, but there are a lot of help available for free," said Paul. "We want everyone who qualifies to take advantage of this credit."

Free tax preparation software will ask for information to determine whether a taxpayer may be eligible, the IRS said.

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Facebook IPO Could Value It Among Top Companies

Facebook IPO Could Value It Among Top Companies.Facebook Inc. could file the papers for its initial public offering next week, people familiar with the matter said, as anticipation mounts for what is likely to be one of the biggest debuts for an American company.

The deal, seen as a defining moment for the last Web boom invest, could raise up to $ 10 billion and the value of social networks between 75 billion to $ 100 billion, said people familiar with the subject. A valuation of $ 75 billion would be below previous forecasts.

The site, in less than eight years, has attracted more than 800 million members, has changed the way people communicate around the world, to organize political demonstrations to share baby photos.

The Internet giant is close to picking Morgan Stanley to lead the case, these people said. The Wall Street banks, many of them are struggling amid a setting of business profits, were jostling for a lead role in the case, which could yield tens of millions of dollars in bank charges, the potential for new business and bragging rights.

A glance at Morgan Stanley would mark a disappointment for rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which a year ago was considered to have an edge to conduct the case. A person familiar with the matter said that while Morgan Stanley would probably land the coveted "lead-left" a stain on deposit IPO Financial, Goldman would also likely play a significant role.

The spokesman for Facebook, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Facebook could file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, said a person familiar with the matter. But the timing is just a scenario Facebook executives are considering, such person. Managers are also considering filing a few weeks later, the person said.

People familiar with the matter said the company is targeting an IPO between April and June

An offer of $ 10 billion Facebook is the fourth largest initial public offerings for U.S. companies, behind Visa Inc., General Motors Co. and AT & T Wireless, according to Dialogic. It would rank as the internet Facebook great American to date to replace Google Inc., which raised $ 1.9 billion in 2004 to an evaluation of 23 billion.

At a value of 100 billion, Facebook would be worth about the same as McDonald's and nearly half of Google.

Facebook revenue is driven by its advertising business, as the leading brands on the site to interact with consumers through display ads and fan pages. Facebook has been able to increase its advertising revenue worldwide from $ 738 million in 2009 to $ 3.8 billion in 2011, according to estimates from research firm eMarketer. We do not know if Facebook is profitable.

Final evaluation of Facebook will be determined by a variety of factors, people familiar with the matter said, as investor demand for social media, the IPO market and the health of the European economy.
[FBOOK]

The IPO mint a new generation of millionaires in Silicon Valley on the level not seen since Google's offering. Some 3,000 people work at Facebook.

An IPO will also test the capacity of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, 27, managing a global company whose financial performance will be reviewed every three months by investors. Mr. Zuckerberg started the company in 2004 from his dorm room at Harvard University. Overall, about 500 million users now connect to the site daily, according to Facebook.

Mr. Zuckerberg was reluctant to proceed with an IPO. People familiar with his thinking said he was afraid to damage it could do an IPO for the company culture. He wants employees are to make good products, not stock prices, they said.

But outside forces are partly pushing his hand. Facebook executives have begun to realize in 2010 that Facebook had more than 500 shareholders at the end of 2011, triggering a regulatory requirement that Facebook started publicly denounce financial information.

Zuckerberg decided it made more sense for Facebook to publicize and raise financial benefits of an IPO, rather than remain private, but to release its financial results, said people familiar with his thinking.

Direct selling Facebook would be a great victory for Morgan Stanley, which last year cemented its position as the leading underwriter of shares in leading Internet IPOs of LinkedIn Corp., Inc. Groupon and Zynga Inc. Global investment bank technology banking team, led by Michael Grimes and Paul Chamberlain, is also based in Menlo Park.

Facebook is a cap of the recent wave of initial public offerings on the Web, some of which have struggled amid increasing investor consideration of new Internet companies. But investors and analysts now believe could be a good time for an offer from Facebook.

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this year, the overall market rose on Friday and other Internet stocks rallied on the news that Facebook would soon apply for a transaction. "The excitement around Facebook is still huge," said Max Wolff, an analyst at Capital Green crest, which looks for companies in progress.

Climate recent IPO "was not particularly strong," said Peter Falvey, co-head of technology banking group at Morgan Keegan & Co. But Mr. Falvey said that "the strength of the recent stock market and can be some green shoots economy, there may be a window for Facebook chance.”

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Science Erin Brockovich: Cause Of Rare Teen Syndrome May Be Cyanide

Science Erin Brockovich: Cause Of Rare Teen Syndrome May Be Cyanide.Erin Brockovich has announced that it will look into an outbreak of Tourette's like symptoms among a group of high school students in western New York to see if they have environmental causes.

About 15 girls in high school Le Roy have developed strange symptoms since last fall: uncontrollable outbursts of verbal and physical tics so debilitating that a student interviewed by ABC must use a wheelchair.

New York Department of Health authorities studying the issue have found no evidence of environmental causes or infectious agents. Some have been diagnosed with the disease as a type of conversion disorder in which psychological stress can cause a variety of physical symptoms.

Although the causes may be in the mind, the effects can be very disabling. According to the Mayo Clinic, they may include difficulty swallowing, deafness, convulsions and even paralysis.

Since more than a dozen girls in the same school came down with symptoms in a short period of time, this case was labeled as mass hysteria, which is when a conversion disorder occurs in a large group of people.

However, warns the NYU Langone Medical Center, the symptoms are very real and should not be taken lightly. "It is important to understand that the symptoms of conversion disorder are involuntary, that is, the person does not consciously act, or pretend they have symptoms," according to the center page on the subject. "A characteristic of these symptoms is their lack of connection to any known organic medical diagnoses."

But Brockovich, whose pursuit of a cover-up industrial contamination in a small town in California inspired the Oscar-nominated film, named after her, out of chemical spill four-decade-old as a suspect potential, and said she will investigate to see if it could be the culprit or be expelled for good.

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