You have to crawl before you can walk—be you a baby or an asteroid-blasting space cannon. Now, after a successful test-fire here on Earth, Japan's specially made cannon for its Hayabusa 2 spacecraft
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — It took months of tortured talks, two strikes and the deaths of two workers for San Francisco's transit rail workers and their employer to finally agree on a contract that got trains running again Tuesday.
The saga left commuters fuming and both sides bruised. A state lawmaker is considering introducing a bill that would ban public transit strikes, an idea seemingly anathema to a Democrat-controlled Legislature friendly to unions but perhaps a possibility because of the anger over the strike.
The tentative agreement between unions and Bay Area Rapid Transit came together quickly late Monday, just two days after a pair of transit workers were killed by a train operated by a BART employee being trained. The deaths shook both sides and helped get them back to a negotiating table they had deserted Friday.
The accident made it "more difficult for BART management to maintain a very hard line and not accept any kind of compromise," said John Logan, an invited observer to the bargaining sessions who is director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University.
Logan added that the unions "did not want this strike to go on and did not see it as in their interest," partly because the public seemed to be blaming workers rather than management for the disruption to their lives.
Commuters who had faced traffic jams, crammed buses and crowded ferries gave a collective sigh of relief as train service resumed, carrying passengers across the sprawling region.
Hayward resident Meshe Harris, who has no car, was among the thousands of commuters who closely followed the talks. She had a job interview Tuesday and needed service to resume so she could get there.
"I was hoping, thank God, that it was going to be running soon," she said.
The tentative deal, announced by BART and its two largest unions, requires approval from the rank and file and BART's board of directors. Both sides said they had made concessions.
"This deal is more than we wanted to pay," said BART general manager Grace Crunican, declining to elaborate.
A third union, representing about 200 workers including financial analysts and people who monitor trains from a command center, is still negotiating with BART.
"We seem to be moving toward a solution," said Melissa Miller, secretary of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 3993.
The BART dispute has prompted two area Democrats to weigh in against transit strikes. State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said he was looking into legislation to prevent future walkouts. And Orinda City Councilman Steve Glazer, a candidate for state Assembly and former adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, is calling for a transit strike prohibition because such labor actions "cripple our economy, hurt workers getting to their jobs, limit access to schools and health care, and damage our environment."
Strikes at major public transit systems are rare, in part because some states have laws prohibiting them. Those laws aren't always effective, however. In 2005, for example, New York City transit workers staged a three-day walkout despite a New York law that forbids public employees from striking.
BART workers represented by its two largest unions, including more than 2,300 mechanics, custodians, station agents, train operators and clerical staff, average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually, the transit agency said. The workers currently pay $92 a month for health care and contribute nothing toward their pensions.
Negotiations began in April, but there was little progress and two strikes followed, the first in July.
After reaching agreement on pay and benefits, the talks stalled last week after BART demanded changes to workplace rules, including how schedules are made, when overtime is paid and a move from paper to electronic record keeping.
The breakthrough came after the worker deaths in Walnut Creek on Saturday.
"When that happened over the weekend, they realized this thing had to end," said Amalgamated Transit Union international president Larry Hanley, whose union represents BART train drivers and station agents.
Hanley said that during Monday's negotiations, "management backed off the vast majority of the work rules" and settled on minor changes allowing new technology.
He said that the final economic package — involving salaries, pensions and health care — was essentially the same as a framework both sides has ostensibly agreed to. Final details on those issues have not been released, but BART had offered a 12 percent pay raise over four years and a requirement that workers contribute 4 percent toward their pension and 9.5 percent toward medical benefits.
The deaths of the two workers who were checking tracks are being investigated by the National Transportation and Safety Board, which says the driver was an operator trainee and held other positions at BART.
Jim Southworth, the NTSB's lead investigator, said at a briefing Tuesday that under BART rules, the workers on the tracks were responsible for their own safety.
The approval they received to go onto the tracks required them to make sure they remained out of danger as they worked, he said. One of the two workers was to be a lookout to warn the other of an approaching train.
The two workers should have known "to expect the train in either direction at any time," Southworth said.
Meanwhile, with BART's labor dispute winding down, a local bus issue was heating up, and the governor said Tuesday he was seeking a cooling off period in the labor dispute between a major San Francisco Bay Area bus system and its drivers.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge planned to hear the request Wednesday morning. If the judge grants a cooling-off period, it would halt any strike activities for 60 days.
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Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Terrence Chea in Oakland contributed to this report.
Samsung has acquired a 7.4 percent share in smartphone Gorilla Glass maker Corning, as part of a "strengthening" in the partnership between the two companies. The deal will also see Corning taking full control of Samsung Corning Precision Materials, an LCD panel joint venture in which Samsung currently holds a 43 percent stake. Samsung will make an additional investment of $400 million in Corning by subscribing to new convertible preferred shares, today's press release states.
In return, Samsung will get $1.9 billion worth of convertible preferred shares in Corning, equal to a 7.4 percent stake in the company. At the same time a ten-year new supply agreement between the two has been inked, adding around $2 billion to Corning's annual sales.
Corning's Gorilla Glass is used in many high-end mobile devices, including those of Samsung's competitors — and today's news may be of concern to the company's smartphone rivals, many of whom are already reliant on Samsung for other components.
Source: Corning; via: Engadget
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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) throws a pass as he is hit by New York Giants' Antrel Rolle (26) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks Josh Freeman, left, Matt Cassell, center, and Christian Ponder, right, practice at Winter Park in Eden Prairie, Minn., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Freeman practiced with the Vikings for the first time since being claimed off waivers with the hopes of starting sooner rather than later. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — The quarterback carousel hasn't stopped turning for the Vikings and it seems to spin more wildly out of control each week.
After an awful debut on Monday night, Josh Freeman reported to team headquarters this week with concussion-like symptoms. The short week will make it difficult for him to gain clearance to play Sunday night against Green Bay.
Step right up, Christian Ponder. It's your turn to hop on for another ride when the Vikings (1-5) host the Packers (4-2) .
Ponder started the first three games of the season, was injured and then lost his job to backup Matt Cassel. Cassel played well in a victory over Pittsburgh and poorly in a loss to Carolina two weeks ago, prompting coach Leslie Frazier to turn to the newly signed Freeman against the New York Giants on Monday.
Freeman went 20 for 53 for 190 yards and one interception in the loss to the Giants, but coach Leslie Frazier said Tuesday that he would stick with Freeman going forward as the starter.
Then Freeman was diagnosed with the concussion symptoms, thrusting Ponder back into the middle of the action.
"At the quarterback position, you want to know who is going to be lining up week-in and week-out," Frazier said Wednesday. "But that's the circumstance where we are and Christian will do a good job for us on Sunday night."
When the season started, it was Ponder who was cast as the franchise quarterback. He had been inconsistent in his first two seasons in the league after being taken 12th overall in 2011. But GM Rick Spielman and Frazier were confident that he would follow the path of Eli Manning and have a breakout season in Year 3.
Then they watched Ponder complete just 59 percent of his passes and throw five interceptions to just two touchdown passes in three straight losses to open the season and made the decision that his time as the team's starting quarterback had come to an end. Ponder was clearly disappointed with the decision, and he didn't get a lot of help from a lackluster offensive line in the process, but he bit his tongue and moved forward as Freeman was brought in to take over.
"He's a competitor and he wants to be out there for sure. But he's handled it well," Frazier said. "Our conversations have been positive. We even talked last week about the possibility of something like this happening, just being ready. When you're in a backup role it takes one play for you to have to be the starter so you've got to make sure your mind is right and you're doing what you've got to do to prepare to go out and play and play well. So he's been good. It's tough though, but he's a competitor and he wants to be out there. And he will be, it looks that way."
Veteran receiver Greg Jennings, who will be facing his former team for the first time this week, said he hopes Ponder has learned from his time on the sideline.
"Any time you have to take a backseat, any time you have to sit down for a minute, it gives you time to reflect and I think he's done that," Jennings said. "He's seen how important it is to play at a high level at that position. But even more importantly, how important that position is to the overall success of the team and what it takes to actually hold that position.
"It's not just about your quarterback play, it's about how you lead off the field as well and on the field, how you command the huddle, how you demand things of your teammates. I think he's had the opportunity to see that."
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Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Terra satellite flew over Lekima after it became a super-typhoon in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and captured visible and infrared data on the storm.
Early on Oct. 23 at 00:25 UTC/Oct. 22 at 8:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite was busy capturing data on Lekima. The MODIS image clearly showed Lekima's 20 nautical mile/23 mile/37 km-wide-eye with bands of thunderstorms wrapping tightly into the center of circulation.
On Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC, Lekima's powerful sustained winds were near 140 knots/161.1 mph/259.3 kph. Typhoon-force winds extended 55 nautical miles/63.2 miles/101.9 km from the center, while tropical storm force winds extended 125 nautical miles/143.8 miles/231.5 km from the center. Lekima's eye was located near 19.7 north latitude and 149.2 east longitude, about 443 nautical miles/509 miles/820.4 km northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Lekima was moving to the west-northwest at 11 knots/12.6 mph/20.3 kph.
Lekima is expected to move northwest for the next day and a half before it is pushed to the north and then northeast from an approaching trough (elongated area of low pressure) moving toward it from the west.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Terra satellite flew over Lekima after it became a super-typhoon in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and captured visible and infrared data on the storm.
Early on Oct. 23 at 00:25 UTC/Oct. 22 at 8:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite was busy capturing data on Lekima. The MODIS image clearly showed Lekima's 20 nautical mile/23 mile/37 km-wide-eye with bands of thunderstorms wrapping tightly into the center of circulation.
On Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC, Lekima's powerful sustained winds were near 140 knots/161.1 mph/259.3 kph. Typhoon-force winds extended 55 nautical miles/63.2 miles/101.9 km from the center, while tropical storm force winds extended 125 nautical miles/143.8 miles/231.5 km from the center. Lekima's eye was located near 19.7 north latitude and 149.2 east longitude, about 443 nautical miles/509 miles/820.4 km northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Lekima was moving to the west-northwest at 11 knots/12.6 mph/20.3 kph.
Lekima is expected to move northwest for the next day and a half before it is pushed to the north and then northeast from an approaching trough (elongated area of low pressure) moving toward it from the west.
###
Share
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts authorities on Wednesday charged a 14-year-old high school student in the murder of a math teacher after finding the teacher's body in woods near the school.
The student, Philip Chism, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and was ordered held without bail in a brief proceeding at Salem District Court, according to the clerk's office.
Chism has been charged as an adult, which could subject him to a longer prison sentence in an adult facility if he is found guilty of killing Colleen Ritzer, 24.
Massachusetts law allows people as young as 14 to be charged as adults when the crime is murder.
Police in Danvers, Massachusetts, began an investigation late on Tuesday after receiving calls that a student at the school and a teacher had not gone home, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett told reporters on Wednesday.
After discovering blood in a second-floor bathroom, police extended their search to the woods behind the school, where they found Ritzer's body.
"It was apparent that she was a homicide victim," Blodgett said. "This is a terrible tragedy."
Prosecutors said in court papers that an interview of Chism and surveillance video from the school showed that Chism murdered Ritzer and dumped her body behind the school.
Chism stood quietly, stooping slightly and dressed in a white shirt as he was charged on Wednesday.
Ritzer is the second U.S. educator this week to die in an incident involving a student after a Nevada middle school teacher was shot dead by a 12-year-old student on Monday.
Investigators from the local medical examiner's office on Wednesday carried a stretcher out of the woods where Ritzer's body was found.
Police on Tuesday had issued a missing-child report for Chism, who had recently moved to the area from Tennessee. A photo posted on the Danvers Police Department's Facebook page at the time of the search showed a tall, lanky, short-haired Chism wearing a red and black soccer uniform.
He was found walking along a highway about 12:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (0430 GMT).
Students from the school left bouquets of flowers, a teddy bear and a note reading "Rest in peace, Ms. Ritzer, you will be missed" in front of the school.
SCHOOLS CLOSED
All public schools in Danvers, which is about 20 miles north of Boston, were closed on Wednesday, although police believed there was no continuing threat to public safety.
"We have no reason to believe there were any other suspects involved," Blodgett said. He declined to comment on how Ritzer was killed or if she might have had any type of relationship with the student.
Ritzer's family issued a brief statement to The Salem News asking for privacy.
"At this time we are mourning the tragic death of our amazing daughter and sister," the family said. "Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion, her teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students."
Ritzer described herself as a "Math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching" on her Twitter account, @msritzermath, where she also posted homework assignments and links to math problems.
In the shooting incident in Nevada on Monday, teacher Michael Landsberry, 45, was shot and killed when he tried to stop the 12-year-old student armed with a handgun after he wounded two fellow students, then later turned the gun on himself.
"We will probably never know all the factors that accumulate to unleash this kind of violence, but we must commit to doing all we can to make sure students and educators are safe in our schools," Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, a labor union for school teachers, said in reaction to this week's incidents.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Gunna Dickson and Cynthia Osterman)
A childhood teddy bear designer Jean Paul Gaultier used as his first model, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
A childhood teddy bear designer Jean Paul Gaultier used as his first model, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier speaks during an interview about the installation of his Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
A design from Jean Paul Gaultier worn by Madonna, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Designs from Jean Paul Gaultier's Africa collection, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier speaks during an interview about the installation of his Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Paul Gaultier can barely contain his enthusiasm to be in Brooklyn. Make that his enthusiasm for New York. And life, in general.
In a single conversation, seemingly a single breath, he covers the Chrysler Building; the 1940s film "Falbalas" that started his love affair with fashion; his beloved grandmother who inspired his fascination with corsetry; and the Broadway production of "Nine" that reminded him of it. A joie de vivre oozes with each word.
It leaves one wondering, is there anything Gaultier — he of the famous cone bras, tongue-in-cheek catwalks and rock-star collaborations — isn't exploding to talk about?
But back to Brooklyn. Until he arrived this week to christen the Brooklyn Museum exhibit "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," he had visited the now-hipster borough twice: once to a fish restaurant that was "very good," he says, and once to visit the nightclub where John Travolta wore his sharp white suit in the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever."
"I'm so impressed with Brooklyn," he says in his thick French accent and occasionally broken English, "and this museum is absolutely fabulous. Voila!"
This is no static fashion exhibition with gowns behind glass.
It seems there was no other way to put Gaultier's 30-plus-year career on display than on mannequins that cry, laugh and speak. They do it so realistically that passers-by surely will do a double take. They'll probably drive the security guards crazy at night.
Some of the outfits, including the "cancan" bustier dress lined with photo-printed legs that gives the illusion that an entire dance line is hiding under the full skirt, are on a revolving runway that aims to mimic the models on parade at a fashion show.
"Fashion is not clothes on the hanger, it was always about dressing somebody. Somebody has to be inside," the 61-year-old Gaultier says.
Seeing the childhood teddy bear that he used as his first model, complete with its bra top and red lipstick, in the same space as the iconic concert costumes he created for Madonna, Beyonce and Kylie Minogue "is a privilege of age," Gaultier says. "It's a very strong sensation."
Yet, Gaultier wasn't completely sold on a retrospective when Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, presented the idea in 2010. "My god, at first I thought this was only for people that were dead, like a monument! I am not an artist like the painter or something like that, so I feel a little humbled. ... Do I deserve it?"
His only experience in creating exhibits at that point was participating in a challenge to craft fashion out of croissants, brioche and other French baked treats. "It was funny!"
Now, though, Loriot has produced this show in Montreal, Dallas, San Francisco, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden. The Brooklyn exhibit runs Friday through Feb. 23.
Each time the pieces are packed and unpacked, Loriot says he's impressed by Gaultier's craftsmanship and creativity.
Loriot is eager to show off the mermaid-shaped gown that Marion Cotillard wore to the 2008 Oscars — it took 180 hours to make by hand — and Madonna's "Blond Ambition" bustier made of a vintage 1930s metallic fabric that now has added patina from body heat and sweat.
Loriot says the designer isn't some sort of style shock jock. Gaultier roots everything in tailoring and execution, but he's not confined by any conventional rules, he says.
The high-tech, projection-beamed version of Gaultier that greets visitors is, not by coincidence, wearing his signature men's trouser-skirt. "It's one leg of a pant, one half-skirt. It was inspired by the long aprons at a Paris cafe, but it looks like pants from the back. It's sort of very 'him,'" Loriot says.
New to the exhibit in Brooklyn is a section dedicated to Gaultier's muses. There's the fishnet-covered floral gown made for model Crystal Renn, the bronze-beaded catsuit for Naomi Campbell and the floral tulle leotard for Beth Ditto. Also on display is the Amy Winehouse-inspired gown that male model Andrej Pejic wore in a 2012 couture show.
"I always wanted to show there is more than one kind of beauty," Gaultier says.
Voila, indeed!
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Follow Samantha Critchell and AP fashion coverage on Twitter at @AP_Fashion and @Sam_Critchell
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Online: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/jean_paul_gaultier/
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-23-Fashion-Gaultier/id-2558e3ec0cae44e6addf84d4dfb4f34b