WASHINGTON — The Prince William County Police Department will soon allow officers to wear body cameras as they interact with members of the public.
“Our plan is to deploy cameras for every uniformed officer, as well as a number of our investigative staff,” Police Chief Steve Hudson told the Board of County Supervisors earlier this month.
“Citizens are starting to demand this kind of transparency and accountability in their police departments,” he said.
A pilot program could begin as early as July, with the eventual goal of having 500 officers wear cameras.
Hudson says it will have a positive impact on the community.
“Part of that is continuing to build upon the relationships that we have, so that people understand that we truly are doing what we say we’re doing,”
Many communities around the country have launched police body camera programs. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan publicly supported body cameras following the death of Freddie Gray who received fatal injuries while in police custody.
Prince William County supervisors approved the $3 million camera plan last week as part of a new budget.
For two years, the Chipotle chain of restaurants has been labeling which of its menu items may contain genetically modified ingredients, and starting today the company says that all of its food will be GMO-free (while simultaneously acknowledging that GMOs may be completely safe).
“The manufacturers of GMO seeds claim that GMOs are widely considered to be safe, but we don’t believe the scientific community has reached a consensus on the long-term implications of widespread GMO cultivation and consumption,” reads a statement on the Chipotle website, citing a call from 300 scientists for more independent research (i.e., not funded by companies that sell GMO seeds) to prove that these food items are safe for human consumption. “Until such studies are conducted, we believe it is prudent to take a cautious approach toward GMOs.”
Company founder and co-CEO Steve Ells tells the NY Times that not using GMOs is more about using the best available ingredients.
“This is another step toward the visions we have of changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” explained Ells. “Just because food is served fast doesn’t mean it has to be made with cheap raw ingredients, highly processed with preservatives and fillers and stabilizers and artificial colors and flavors.”
According to Ells, Chipotle is able to make the GMO-free promise because its entire menu only includes 68 ingredients.
“The vast majority of our ingredients don’t come in a G.M.O. variety, and we use lots of whole, unprocessed foods, so it was easier for us to do,” he told the Times.
One of the most difficult parts of the menu to source without GMOs were the flour tortillas used for Chipotle burritos.
“The shortening had an oil in it that was derived from soybeans,” said a rep for Chipotle. “We won’t use lard for tortillas because of our vegan and vegetarian customers, and we can’t use palm oil because of the environmental impact.”
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The Navy says a second SEAL has died following a training accident in a swimming pool at a base in Virginia.
Lt. David Lloyd tells media outlets that Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Brett Allen Marihugh of Livonia, Michigan, died Sunday.
The 34-year-old Marihugh and 32-year-old Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Seth Cody Lewis of Queens, New York, were found unresponsive on Friday at the bottom of the Combat Swimming Training Facility at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Lewis died Friday.
Lloyd says both sailors were members of Naval Special Warfare Group 2.
An investigation of the incident is continuing.
Marihugh and Lewis both served in the U.S. Marine Corps before they enlisted in the Navy in 2006.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP) — Kay Ortega has had pets since she was 13. Now 56, she has two greyhounds (Sanford and Scottie) two collies (Meika and Emma) and a little mixed-breed dog named Sweetie.
She said that she thought she knew everything there was to know about owning a pet but that she was lacking one important piece of knowledge: how to perform CPR on them.
“I always wanted to learn how to do CPR just in case something happens,” said Ortega, who works for the FBI and lives in Woodbridge with her adopted senior pups. “I’ve had dogs all my life, and now I will feel more comfortable.”
Ortega and a dozen other animal lovers gathered in a classroom at the Chinn Aquatics and Fitness Center in Woodbridge last month to learn not only how to give big and small animals CPR, but also how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, check gums for oxygen levels, prepare first-aid kits and bandage wounds.
“I’ve always worried if my dog gets in a fight,” said 18-year-old Yofi Stark of Manassas, who works at a doggy day care and owns Laika, an 8-month-old Siberian husky. “My dog is my best friend, and I want to take care of her the way I would my human friend. If my friend fell down and scraped her knee, I’d want to know how to bandage it.”
Kathryn Nestler, 45, a class instructor, began researching the fundamentals of pet CPR a year ago when she realized there was nothing like it in the Prince William County area. The Woodbridge resident has two 10-year-old cats, Prue and Emma. Emma was born with a hole in her heart.
“It’s just definitely good to know how to take care of your animals in the event that you unfortunately would have to,” Nestler said. “How do you check that your animal is breathing? How do you check for it to have a pulse? And then, how can you take care of that animal in the event that it needs your help?”
A dog or cat “can’t tell you what’s wrong” — that’s an important idea repeated in the class.
No real animals were used to practice the techniques. Students performed CPR for large and small pets using stuffed animals that looked like the real thing. They interlocked one hand over the other to give compressions to a faux German shepherd, toy cat or stuffed beagle.
And the beat for compressions? Nestler told students to think of the Bee Gees’ song “Stayin’ Alive” to help them keep the right pace.
After five compressions, the students were told to cup their hands over the animal’s snout and blow a breath into their lungs.
The class had lots of tips seasoned pet owners have heard before, such as how to know when a dog or cat is angry. But then there were some pet care tidbits many students said they did not know: pressing on an animal’s gum to see whether it turns pink indicates how much oxygen it’s getting; wrapping smaller animals in a towel can create a makeshift muzzle; and the first 20 minutes are critical to saving an animal’s life.
The county offers the class, which is based on techniques used by the American Red Cross, to pet owners 12 and older. Students can take the class for $50 and receive the lesson book for either cats or dogs, or they can get both books for $60. The next class is planned for July.
Although pet CPR might sound like an esoteric branch of pet ownership, Nestler said the techniques can be used to try to keep an animal alive on the way to a veterinarian.
She added that having a pet is like having a child and that every parent should know the basics of emergency care.
“Anything can happen at any time,” Nestler said.
“You can’t just call pet 911 and have an ambulance show up — it’s all going to be on you,” she said.
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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON — Seven firefighters have been hurt after their fire engine rolled over in Prince George’s County. Fire Chief Marc Bashoor Tweets it happened along Branch Avenue near Curtis Drive and the crew is from Morning Side Volunteer Fire.
All of the injuries sustained by firefighters were minor. The firefighters were on their way to the call. No word yet on why the engine overturned.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — NASCAR says three pit road crew members were taken to a hospital after a fire broke out on pit road Friday night during the Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway.
Two of the crew members were working in Brendan Gaughan’s pit, where the fire erupted, and one was in Eric McClure’s pit.
There was no additional information about the extent of their injuries, or what sparked the fire.
Television replays showed a huge ball of flame that appeared to engulf at least one crew member in Gaughan’s pit.
NASCAR identified the three injured as Gaughan’s rear tire changer, Anthony O’Brien, and fueler, Josh Wittman, and Clifford Turner, a crew member from McClure’s team. McClure’s team said later that Turner had been treated and released.
There was no word on the condition of O’Brien or Wittman.
Prince William County crime report Washington Post These were among incidents reported by Prince William County police. For information, call 703-792-7245. DUMFRIES AREA. THEFTS/BREAK-INS. Canton Ct., 3300 block, 12:30 to 10:30 p.m. April 14. Two firearms were stolen from a residence entered by ...
There’s being asleep on the job, and then there’s napping so hard that you apparently don’t notice someone hauling an ice cream cooler past your nose in a 15-minute effort. Police in Florida say a thief managed to drag a cooler filled with Good Humor products out of a gas station store while the clerk snoozed, taking a moment to flip the bird at the security camera.
Surveillance cameras at the gas station show a man walking up at about 4:09 a.m. and finding the clerk asleep behind the window, reports the Sun Sentinel.
The suspect opens the cooler like he’s just another customer with a sweet tooth, before eyeing the clerk carefully for a minute, then flashing his middle finger at the store camera as he realizes
Apparently unable to choose just one treat, he then sets to work for 15 minutes, pushing, pulling and otherwise hauling the cooler out of the store, ever so carefully, as to not wake up the slumbering clerk.
His efforts were rewarded at about 4:25 a.m., when he managed to get the cooler out and away, ostensibly to somewhere he could get the brain freeze of a lifetime. The The suspect was arrested only a few short hours later and charged with grand theft.
Barbie won’t be training whales at SeaWorld anymore, as reportedly Mattel confirmed that it’s ceasing production of all SeaWorld-branded merchandise, which includes its SeaWorld Trainer Barbies.
“We’re not making the dolls anymore,” a Mattel spokesman told the New York Post, saying the decision stemmed partly from concerns from environmentalists like the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has been campaigning against the dolls since at least 2012.
According to the Mattel site, the Barbie wearing a purple-and-pink sparkly wetsuit that came with a baby Shamu was first released in 2009.
SeaWorld has faced increasing criticism since the release of the documentary Blackfish, chronicling alleged mistreatment of orca whales by the park as well as accusing it of violating Occupational Safe and Health Administration laws.
Blackfish‘s narrative focused on the death of SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed in front of park visitors when an orca named Tilikum pulled her into the water and kept her under it during a performance. The documentary created quite a public relations headache for the marine park, landing it in Consumerist’s Worst Company In America contest for the first time in 2014.
Inmates train dogs -- and learn lessons themselves
WTOP's Nick Iannelli reports
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April 24, 2015 8:40 am
WASHINGTON — The bonds people form with their pets can be a positive force in their lives, and a prison in Maryland is trying to harness that energy to foster a more productive atmosphere behind bars.
Inside the sprawling Patuxent Institution, in Jessup, inmates are playing the roles of dog trainers.
“I think it really breeds a sense of ownership and responsibility,” says Assistant Warden James Flood. “Watching the animal grow and develop can also lead to them growing and developing along their way to rehabilitation.”
The Patuxent dog-training program launched in September. Officials with the Washington Animal Rescue League provide the dogs and the guidance that inmates need to be successful.
“We really love it,” says Alexandra Dilley, WARL’s behavior and training director. “It just brings so much joy to everybody involved.”
One dog is trained by a pair of inmates over the course of 10 weeks, learning basic obedience and tricks. The dog then “graduates” from the program and is ready to be adopted.
“We have been very impressed by our trainers’ love and commitment to the animals,” Dilley says. “Animal training helps develop a strong, positive relationship.”
Missing Manassas man found dead Inside NoVA Police on Thursday found the body of a young Manassas man reported missing on April 22. Tyler D. Abt, 23, was found in the 9900 block of Godwin Drive about 2:30 p.m., city police spokeswoman Adrienne Helms said in a news release. She said his death ...
Police Round Up Alleged Gang Members Patch.com Prince William County police arrested and charged six teenagers with gang activity after three recent robberies in the Manassas area. Two of the heists happened in broad daylight near Sudley Road (Route 234) north of Manassas, according to police reports.
Arlington naturalists want to see more Monarch butterflies in the county, and they are hoping residents with green thumbs can help make it happen.
In an email to the Arlington Neighborhood News Exchange, Long Branch Nature Center Naturalist Rachael Tolman wrote that the best way to ensure the butterflies’ presence in the area is to plan milkweed.
“Milkweed provides a critical link in the life cycle of monarch butterflies; they cannot survive without it,” Tolman wrote. “Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed because it is the only food their caterpillars can eat. Unfortunately, the numbers of milkweed plants across vast areas of North America have been declining for decades due to increased land use for crops and widespread herbicide use.”
According to National Geographic, Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains are threatened because where they migrate in the winter in Mexico has been hurt by natural disasters.
Long Branch Nature Center (625 S. Carlin Springs Road) offers milkweed seeds for free. In addition to the seeds, those interested in planting the flower — there are eight species native to Arlington — will need “a seed starter kit, soil, water, a heat mat (optional) and a grow light or sunny spot,” Tolman said.
For more information on planting milkweed and attracting butterflies, email Tolman at Rtolman@arlingtonva.us.
A panel that included scientists took on that question Wednesday night at the Capital Yacht Club, in D.C.
Ghost-hunting TV shows claim to show evidence of such spirits, and people who use Ouija boards think they may be getting messages from “the other side.”
But professor Marc Sebrechts, who chairs the Department of Psychology at Catholic University, says the brain is likely playing tricks on you.
“The power of the mind is incredible,” he said, adding that working as a group toward a common goal, such as trying to communicate with the dead, can be troublesome.
“One of the things we do know is that the frame in which you’re working is very important. That there’s a tendency, for example, for confirmation bias. People who, as a group, come together and think about something — they tend to confirm what they expect to experience.”
Neurologist and best-selling author Dr. Richard Restak explained the concept of the ideomotor response, in which people can make movements they’re not consciously aware of to confirm their beliefs or expectations.
He also says humans give off subtle cues that can influence others.
“We’re doing it all the time — we’re giving off clues about things that we don’t realize.”
Restak recalled going somewhere with his wife, who had mistakenly put on two shoes that were slightly different in color. Restak was sure no one would notice, but when they got to their destination, the host immediately looked down at his wife’s shoes. Restak realized later that he had unconsciously looked at the shoes first, causing the host to follow his cue.
Neither Sebrechts nor Restak believes in ghosts, but the third member of the panel, Las Vegas mentalist Alain Nu, does.
“I really didn’t believe in ghosts, and really didn’t think about it too much until about, maybe, five years ago, when I experienced something really strange,” he said.
“I feel that science tries to explain what it’s all about, and I feel that it’s doing the best that it can, but I feel that there’s something really weird going on, and I’m not sure if that is just our imagination getting the best of us or if it’s something much deeper and maybe more profound.”
As part of the event, Nu demonstrated he can bend a spoon without seemingly touching it.
The event was put together by the Molotov Theatre Group to coincide with their creepy-cool production of “The Margins,” which runs through this weekend at the D.C. Arts Center.
The show is based loosely on The Philip Experiment. Click here to watch a video with more information.
When your doctor wants to find out more about what’s going on inside your body, she orders lab tests, sending you down the street or down the hall to have someone extract your bodily fluids and perform tests on them. Laboratory Corp. of America, known on your medical bills as LabCorp, thinks that Americans want to order these tests themselves and pay for them with cash. Do they?
This is already a growing segment of the medical testing industry. There are companies where you can order up your own blood tests directly, visiting a local lab–the same one your doctor might send you too–and receiving the results confidentially in the mail or in an online dashboard. For example, you can pay WellnessFX $988 and have 18 tubes of blood drawn, which will get you “VIP-level access to every biomarker [they] offer,” checking everything from your cholesterol and thyroid levels to your reproductive hormones.
LabCorp wants a piece of the direct-to-consumer lab test action. “t’s a growth opportunity for us. It’s something consumers increasingly want to have access to, and it’s something we’re doing already and our capabilities are being utilized without us getting the benefit from a branding perspective,” the company’s CEO, David King, explained to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.
What he’s talking about is that LabCorp already provides lab services for some of the companies that sell tests to consumers, and now they’ll be getting in the direct lab testing business themselves. They already offer a portal where patients can access the results of tests that their doctor ordered: allowing patients to order their own tests online simply removes a step from that process. What the company hopes to do is partner with a drugstore chain, something that competitor Quest Diagnostics tried in the past.
It could be that the Quantified Self movement and increased availability of health information online could make more people interested in these services than in the past…but they could also draw conclusions from these blood tests that an actual medical professional wouldn’t necessarily agree with. Recently, businessman Mark Cuban posted a series of tweets (which have since been deleted) where he recommended that all people have a full panel of health-screening blood tests every three months. The problem, as actual doctors and other experts pointed out, is that such testing is expensive and likely to result in scary false positives, or people being medicated for temporary fluctuations in how their bodies function. If frequent screening tests are good, that doesn’t mean that even more frequent screening tests are necessarily better for your health.
It might be hard to remember a time when getting one’s mug on the Internet involved more than just point, shoot and upload, but it was only 10 years ago that we came stumbling out of the Dark Ages and into the light of web videos for all, where we promptly posted whatever the heck we wanted to YouTube for strangers to watch. To that end: The first video ever uploaded, 10 years ago today, features thrilling commentary on the nature of elephants.
On April 23, 2005, YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim uploaded an 18-second video clip titled “Me at the zoo,” making it the site’s first video. It now has more than 19 million views which is respectable, to be sure, but it’s no “Gangnam Style,” which clocks in at more than 2.3 billion views.
According to CNBC.com, it was shot at the San Diego Zoo by fellow co-founder Yakov Lapitsky.
The year after that fateful upload, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion, which was the company’s second largest acquisition at that time, making its founders multimillionaires.
Spoiler alert: The “cool thing” about elephants will not blow your mind or change your life. But you do have endless hours of cat videos to watch so, it is what it is.
The thing about hotel rooms? They contain all the facilities people have at home — a bed for sleeping, a closet for your clothes, a bathroom with a sink, shower and toilet for hygiene maintenance — meaning you don’t need to go looking elsewhere when nature calls. Unfortunately for fellow guests at one Hard Rock Hotel, someone allegedly went rogue in that last area.
Police in Orlando say a 41-year-old tourist from England was caught urinating into an ice machine at the Hard Rock Hotel, reports the Orlando Sentinel, in the wee hours of the morning.
People in their right mind usually understand the convenience and joy of micturating in the proper place, making it no surprise that the arrest report indicated the man appeared “very intoxicated.”
A security guard approached the man and allegedly found him still at it, making the hotel ice machine’s contents yellow with his efforts. The guard called the police, who said the man had random outbursts and smelled of alcohol.
An officer told the man to stay in his room for the night instead of soiling everyone’s ice supply, but the report says the suspect refused. He was then arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct in a public establishment and booked into the Orange County jail.
He pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge and spent a day in jail and is now on the hook for a $500 fine.
This week’s Reston Pet of the Week is Lina, a special pup in need of a new home. She is currently being fostered by a Reston resident. If she helps get Lina some forever friends, Lina’s new parents will get treats and gifts from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care.
Here is what foster mom Susan has to say about her:
Lina is a female hound mix who loves nothing more than a soft blanket to snuggle in, and she’s looking for her forever family!
She’s about 30 lbs. (but could stand to gain a few more) and very calm, gentle and sweet.
She’s approximately a year or so old and gets along well with other dogs. She’s been spayed and is excellent when crated. Lina especially enjoys poking around the backyard and meeting neighbors – she’s a Reston natural!
Lina was surrendered to a high kill shelter in South Carolina and brought here by Rural Dog Rescue. She’s been stressed by the all moves between foster homes and kennels and is currently being fostered here in Reston. We would love nothing more than for her next move to be into her permanent home we would keep her ourselves but our family raises service dogs for the blind so we don’t have room for another permanent pet.
If you or someone you know might be interested in adopting Lina, please email Susan at smzfuller@comcast.net for more information.
Want your pet to be considered for the Reston Pet of the Week?
Email news@Restonnow.com with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.
Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks.
Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Reston and Northern Virginia.
Prince William County community calendar, April 23 to 29, 2015 Washington Post Manassas farmers market Thursday 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Loy E. Harris Pavilion, 9201 Center St., and Saturday 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Parking Lot B, West Street (next to the train station visitors center), Manassas. 703-361-6599. www.visitmanassas.org. Old Town ...
Global trade deals are kind of arcane stuff. Diplomats spend years or decades negotiating them, in an endless series of meetings around the world. Not only do all the i’s need to be dotted and t’s crossed, but every a, an, and, if, then, and but needs to be reviewed, revised, discussed, and agreed upon ten times over. It’s a laborious process.
You might think, with something so detailed, specific, and important, that the authors would want as many eyes on it as possible — but you would think wrong. Trade negotiations are 100% secret. They happen behind doors so closed that even Congress doesn’t get to read the document they’re eventually supposed to sign off on.
Here’s how the U.S. enters into trade agreements:
The United States Trade Representative, who reports up to the President, negotiates the agreement with other nations.
The Senate votes on the completed treaty. 67 senators — a ⅔ majority — have to approve it.
The President ratifies (signs) the approved trade agreement.
The agreement becomes national and international law.
There’s also something called fast-tracking, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a short-cut through the approval process. If Congress grants the President fast-track authority, that means the fully-negotiated, finished treaty goes straight to the Senate for a vote: no amendments, no filibusters, no changes or negotiations. It’s a wholesale yes/no, binary option.
Fast-track authority has more or less been the default since 1974, with a series of bills extending it. The most recent was in 2002 but expired in 2007 and has not been renewed since. And that’s where today’s conflict comes in.
The White House is asking Congress to pass another bill granting fast-track authority. At stake is the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an enormous, sprawling, high-stakes Pacific Rim agreement spanning everything from agriculture to healthcare to copyright law.
At least, we think that’s what it spans. Because negotiations are so secret — despite pleas from advocacy groups and politicians — nobody’s 100% sure what the TPP actually encompasses. A few draft segments hit WikiLeaks a year back, and outside of that it remains a locked-door mystery.
The reauthorization bills in the House and Senate are creating strange sets of political bedfellows to say the least, in the current hyper-partisan environment. Republican committee heads in both the House and Senate are moving to get the bills through committee quickly. The New York Times reports this week that lawmakers have agreed on a version of the authorization bill that would give the President fast-track authority — but in slow-motion. As the NYT explains:
The president would have to notify Congress of the accord’s completion 90 days before he intends to sign it, a delay similar to past requirements. But in a new twist, the full agreement would have to be made public for 60 days before the president gives his final assent and sends it to Congress. Congress could not begin considering it for 30 days after that.
The oxymoron of slow-motion fast-tracking means that Congress would have a period of time to review the negotiated treaty before signing off on it… and that the delay period would carry the process of authorizing the TPP straight through the 2016 election season and into a new administration.
However, the White House is facing significant push-back on the attempt to get fast-track authorization moving… from members of the same party. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has become particularly outspoken on the issue, saying this week in a blog post: “We’ve all seen the tricks and traps that corporations hide in the fine print of contracts. We’ve all seen the provisions they slip into legislation to rig the game in their favor. Now just imagine what they have done working behind closed doors with TPP.” She also created a petition for anyone leery of the TPP to sign on to.
Is the TPP terrible? We don’t know. Maybe it promises unicorns and candy to every child int he 12 signatory nations, and free iPhones for all. But that seems pretty dang unlikely. More probably, it promises corporate loopholes and concessions that benefit a very few shareholders at the expense of many ordinary citizens. If the leaked IP chapters are anything to go on, it also stands to make a very bad copyright situation even worse.
But as long as it’s in the dark, nobody really knows.
In the modern, digital economy, there are a whole lot of things you buy but still technically don’t own. Nearly all entertainment, for example: digital books, video games, music, and so on. Other software, too. But as basically everything continues to become some kind of computer in a specialized body, plenty of other goods are starting to be subject to licensing, copyright law, and non-ownership problems, too. Like tractors.
Famous farming machinery company John Deere is making the case that you don’t own your vehicles, Wired reports this week. In filings with the copyright office (PDF), the maker of the ubiquitous green and yellow tractor argues that because your tractor has a chip and some code in it, you don’t actually own it. You’ve just got an “implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.”
We’ve been through this song and dance before — really, we’re still going through it right now — with specifically high-tech items. You might own the plastic, glass, and aluminum casing of your iPad but everything that runs on it, every single line of code that makes it go, is just something you have paid for the right to access until someone else takes it away or changes it. That affects your ability to unlock your phone, resell your used tablet, or in fact act in any way like you actually own the thing you went and bought and paid for.
Software is more like an event than like a thing, in many ways: You pay for a ticket that gets you into the rock concert, and you get to watch and participate and enjoy it, but you don’t own the musician, the concert, or any recordings made of it. You paid for the time-limited experience of using it, basically.
So it goes with your digital book, or your video game, or that song or movie you downloaded. You’re paying for access to the experience, on the company’s terms. And with digital goods, culturally speaking, we’ve pretty much gotten used to that. They’re not tangible, and they’ve been subject to strict licensing for a long time. Overall we’ve more or less accepted that you can’t sell a used Steam game or Kindle book or iTunes song.
But we still have an expectation of ownership for physical, tangible goods. I can resell this paperback, or this CD, or this DVD, or this car. We still have a (rapidly fading) second-hand market for disc-based video games. There’s an expectation that an actual object I can hold in my hands or park in my driveway is mine to do with as I please after I’ve legally paid for it with my money.
Except, well, maybe you can’t.
Copyright law controls basically everything, thanks to the pervasiveness of software. Everything has a chip and some code telling it how to act, from your coffeemaker to your TV to your car. And as John Deere so unsubtly points out, for farmers, that includes tractors and other farm equipment.
Lest you think it’s just the agriculturally-employed who need to worry, it’s not. GM is right there with John Deere explaining to the Copyright Office that drivers might own the frames and windows and trunks of their cars, but that because everything under the hood and in the dash is driven by a computer chip, General Motors retains a claim on every car they sell. If you decide to go get some aftermarket mods done on your Chevy, you might be a software pirate.
Congress has gotten involved with the YODA proposal (yes, really) to protect the consumer’s right to resell goods they own even if they have software in them, but that seems unlikely even to limp through committee and even less likely ever to see the light of day as law.
The Copyright Office will be holding hearings on the matter in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. in May, and they are expected to issue a ruling in July saying just what you can and can’t do with the things you thought you paid for.
Millions of financially struggling consumers who work with qualified nonprofit counseling agencies now have access to free credit scores and credit reports with the expansion of the FICO Score Open Access program.
FICO announced today that it reached an agreement with Experian – one of the three major credit reporting agencies (CRAs) along with Equifax and TransUnion – to allow millions of consumers who receive nonprofit credit counseling, housing counseling, and other services to obtain a copy of the FICO score that these organizations have purchased.
Under the current program, counseling organizations have been generally prohibited by contracts with CRAs to give their consumers the credit report or score that was purchased on the client’s behalf.
According to the CFPB, the no-sharing policy is common practice by business users of credit reports and scores, but when applied to consumer counseling it limits a consumer’s ability to manager or improve their credit standing.
The expanded program – now known as FICO Score Open Access for Credit & Financial Counseling – aims to aid consumers who have credit management problems by providing their credit scores along with credit education materials designed to help consumers understand credit scoring and learn about responsible financial health management.
FICO says it began exploring the expansion of the program after being approached by the CFPB about concerns regarding restrictions on consumers’ access to credit information and urged the company and CRAs remove restrictions.
“Because of FICO’s longstanding commitment to consumer financial education, when the CFPB approached us about enabling credit and financial counselors to share FICO Scores they purchase with their clients, we recognized the importance of working with our data partners to make it happen,” the company says in a statement.
While the CFPB says in a statement that it is “encouraged by this positive step,” the policy change has no affect on individual contracts between CRAs and counseling organizations that still prohibit the sharing of credit reports with clients.
“Ending restrictions on sharing credit scores and reports by consumer financial counseling organizations will empower consumers to take more control of managing their credit and help counselors to do their jobs more effectively,” the CFPB says.
In the midst of a major avian flu outbreak, Hormel says the fallout from the virus will mean it sells fewer turkeys this year, after losing 1.7 million birds on 28 farms in Minnesota.
Minnesota is the nation’s largest turkey producer, reports the Minnesota Star-Tribune, and has been the epicenter for the H5N2 outbreak that’s seriously crippling Hormel’s operation, which relies on birds in that state and Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency.
Out of those 28 farms hit by the flu, 18 have been suppliers to Hormel’s Jenni-O turkey division. A Hormel-owned farm in Wisconsin with 126,700 turkey was added to the rolls of bird flu-infected farms last week.
All this boils down to reduced production by Hormel, the country’s second-largest turkey processor, the company says.
“We are experiencing significant challenges in our turkey supply chain due to the recent [highly pathogenic avian flu] outbreaks in Minnesota and Wisconsin,” Hormel CEO Jeffrey Ettinger said in a statement. “While Jennie-O Turkey Store has delivered strong financial performance so far in the first half [of Hormel’s fiscal year], tight meat supplies and operational challenges will pressure earnings in the back half of our fiscal year.”
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Hormel aren’t suffering alone: Yesterday morning, an Iowa egg-laying operation confirmed that the flu will kill off 5.3 million hens, in a first for that state’s egg industry.
While the virus can take down a barn filled with thousands of birds in short order, most are euthanized out of precaution to keep the disease from spreading.
Officer who shot Washington farmworker dragged him from fire Washington Times In this Jan. 22, 2015 photo, Pasco firefighters and Dean Perry, right, a Pasco police officer, help Antonio Zambrano-Montes, second from right, to an ambulance following a house fire in Pasco, Wash. On Feb. 10, 2015, Zambrano-Montes was fatally shot ...
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A woman who used a turkey baster to impregnate herself is on the losing side of a legal battle over parental rights.
The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the child’s biological father is more than a sperm donor and is entitled to be a part of his son’s life.
The case hinged on an informal agreement between two longtime friends: a woman who wanted to get pregnant and a man willing to supply the sperm to make it happen. According to court filings, Joyce Rosemary Bruce impregnated herself with a turkey baster, believing that Robert Preston Boardwine would not have any parental rights — including a say in the boy’s education and other decisions — because they did not have intercourse.
The appeals court said she was wrong.
“The path to fatherhood may have been unconventional,” the court said, but it doesn’t remove Boardwine’s parental rights.
Bruce could appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. Neither her attorney nor Boardwine’s returned telephone messages seeking comment.
The appeals court’s narrative recounts a woman’s quest for single motherhood, the crumbling of a friendship and a man’s persistence in seeking involvement in his child’s upbringing. It also shows what can happen when two people, even trusting friends, do business without putting it in writing.
It began with Bruce’s desire to have a child to raise on her own. She turned to her friend Boardwine, who agreed after some trepidation to provide the sperm. They discussed a written contract but never signed one.
Boardwine would stop by Bruce’s home and give her a plastic container of his sperm.
“Bruce used an ordinary turkey baster to inseminate herself,” the court said. “No other person was involved. They did not go to a doctor’s office or to a medical facility.”
It didn’t work. Bruce turned to a fertility doctor, and two inseminations with sperm from anonymous donors also failed.
So it was back to Boardwine and the turkey baster. After several visits from Boardwine in June 2010, Bruce learned the next month that she was pregnant.
Everything went well for a while, with Boardwine visiting and bringing a stuffed bear and baby clothes. But their expectations for the future were different. Bruce testified in the lower court that she wanted Boardwine to be only as involved as her other friends. He envisioned a more active role — attendance at the boy’s sporting events someday, and a voice in major decisions.
The relationship soured when Bruce rejected Boardwine’s suggested name for the child. They didn’t speak for about five months, until the boy was born and Boardwine showed up at the hospital. Later visits to Bruce’s home were “sort of strained,” the woman said, and she eventually told Boardwine to stay away.
That’s when the father went to court.
Bruce argued that Boardwine had no rights because, under the state’s assisted conception law, he was merely a sperm donor. But the law defines assisted conception as a pregnancy resulting from “medical technology,” and that definition doomed her argument.
“The plain meaning of the term ‘medical technology’ does not encompass a kitchen implement such as a turkey baster,” Judge Stephen R. McCullough wrote for the appeals court.
Manassas emergency workers used a hearse to respond to calls for help PotomacLocal.com Starting May 1, the Manassas Museum will debut their newest exhibit on the fire, rescue and police equipment used in the community. The museum will be hosting a reception at 6 p.m. and serve refreshments to residents looking to learn more about public ...
WASHINGTON — As a strain of canine influenza spreads through the Midwest, local dog owners are perking their ears and wondering: Will it come here?
“I think it’s a distinct possibility that it could get here,” says veterinarian Katy Nelson, also known as Dr. Pawz.
While there aren’t local reports yet, the strain, which appears to have started in Chicago, is reason for dog owners to pay attention and consider their options.
“The virus that we’re seeing is different than any one that we’ve had here in the U.S. before. They’ve traced it back to South Korean and Chinese populations. [We’re not] 100 percent sure how it got here. But we have to think Chicago O’Hare had to have something to do with it and people who travel with their pets,” says Nelson.
So far the virus, identified as H3N2, has sickened more than 1,100 dogs in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Like with the flu in humans, the canine version causes cough, runny nose and fever. In more severe cases, a small number of dogs have died.
While a canine flu vaccine is available, it doesn’t include this new strain. Nelson says it’s possible a vaccinated dog could still benefit from cross immunity and better fight the virus if they become exposed, similarly to people.
A canine flu vaccine isn’t a typical vaccine given to dogs, like rabies or parvo/distemper. Pet owners in the D.C. area should specifically bring it up with their veterinarians to discuss whether it’s appropriate.
High traffic pet areas, where lots of dogs are going in and out, are more likely to be of concern during an outbreak. In Chicago, Nelson says, dog owners are being told not to take their dogs places unless it’s necessary.
The good news is, this flu hasn’t been shown to transmit to humans. It’s a dog’s illness. But Nelson reiterates that good hygiene with pets will help keep them safe as well as keep owners safe from zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases can be transmitted from animal to human.
Examples of parasites and bacteria that animals can transmit include:
“So, just washing your hands, not making out with your pets. Don’t let your dog who just licked his bum stick his tongue in your mouth. These are just common sense things, but using really good hygiene is always highly encouraged.”
The bright orange color of your childhood will no longer come from a synthetic source: After removing controversial dyes from some kid-targeted macaroni and cheese products, Kraft is following suit by nixing synthetic colors and artificial preservatives from its Original Macaroni & Cheese in the United States, with Canada to follow later.
Starting in January 2016, Original Kraft Macaroni & Cheese will get its familiar orange hue and cheese-ish flavor from ingredients like paprika, annatto and turmeric, Kraft says in a statement, instead of Yellow 5 and Yellow 6. Shapes Cups, Original Cups, Premium Flavors and Easy Mac will have no artificial flavors, preservatives or synthetic colors later next year.
The company says the change comes in response to what customers want, after apparently sitting around watching people make boxed dinners at home.
“We’ve met with families in their homes and watched them prepare Kraft Mac & Cheese in their kitchens. They told us they want to feel good about the foods they eat and serve their families, including everything from improved nutrition to simpler ingredients,” said Triona Schmelter, Vice President of Marketing, Meals, in the prepared statement.
So why the gap between removing dyes from three kid-targeted meals to the original box in blue? Kraft says it had to work out a recipe that would still taste same, which is always a battle for companies that want to update their products but don’t want to inspire the wrath of loyal customers who may be resistant to any changes.
“We weren’t ready to change the product until we were confident that Kraft Macaroni & Cheese tastes like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese,” Kraft said, according to the Associated Press.
Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, welcomed Kraft’s announcement.
“As consumers increasingly try to find dye-free foods, it’s increasingly going to be in the economic self-interest of Kraft and other food manufacturers to get rid of artificial dyes,” he says. “Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese isn’t a health food. But replacing its Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 with natural colorings is a step in the right direction that will help families with children avoid the hyperactivity and other behavioral problems triggered or exacerbated by the chemicals.”
WASHINGTON — Say hello to Scruffy, this week’s Pet of the Week.
Scruffy is a Brussells Griffon mix available for adoption at WARL.
Scruffy is a fun-loving 4-year-old Brussells Griffon mix, a somewhat rare breed in the shelter world. He is a small dog, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in love for his human.
Scruffy loves to socialize, but only with people, so he needs to be in a home where he is the only dog. He’s also not a big fan of cats, but loves people and is eager to please.
Be ready to laugh if you adopt Scruffy — he’s a goofy pup. One of our longest tenured residents, this little guy needs to find his forever home and a caring family. Visit him at the Washington Animal Rescue League or see him online at www.warl.org.
About WARL: Founded in 1914, the Washington Animal Rescue League is the oldest animal shelter in Washington D.C. Its mission includes rescuing, rehabilitating and finding homes for animals who have no where else to go. The League also supports animals through affordable veterinary care, community outreach and education. Learn more about the Washington Animal Rescue League at www.warl.org.
If you are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, check out these other great shelters in the area:
Maryland
Humane Society of Charles County
(301) 645-8181
71 Industrial Park Dr. PO Box 1015 Waldorf, Md. 20604
Humane Society of Charles County offers a low cost spay/neuter program to the public. Please call or visit our website for more information. The shelter is also looking for more foster parents to help its animals.
Prince George’s County Humane Society
(301) 262-5625
P.O. Box 925 Bowie, Md. 20718
Prince George’s County Humane Society is also looking for foster parents. For more information, contact the organization.
Montgomery County Humane Society
(240) 773-5960
14645 Rothgeb Dr. Rockville, Md. 20850
The Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County
(301) 740-2511
12 Park Ave. Gaithersburg, Md. 20877
D.C.
Washington Humane Society
(202) 576-6664
1201 New York Ave. NE 20002
ASAP – Alliance for Stray Animals and People
(202) 331-1330
P.O. Box 65438 Washington, D.C. 20035-5438
Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue
(202) 575-2210
Approved applicants may attend monthly adoption meets that are usually held at the house of a volunteer in either Northern Virginia or Southern Maryland.
Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
(202) 741-5428
Lucky Dog is a foster home organization and does not run a dedicated housing facility.
Northern Virginia
A Forever Home
(703) 961-8690
A Forever-Home is a non-profit dog rescue group that operates in the Northern Virginia/Washington Metropolitan area.
Lab Rescue of L.R.C.P.
(301) 299-6756
Lab Rescue of the LRCP is a volunteer driven, non-profit organization that rescues, fosters and places homeless, abused, and/or abandoned Labrador Retrievers.
FOHA – Friends of Homeless Animals
(703) 385-0224
All visitors must speak to a Friends representative prior to receiving directions to their shelter location.
SPCA of Northern Virginia
P.O. Box 100220 Arlington, Va. 22210-3220
Animal Welfare League of Alexandria
(703) 746-4774
4101 Eisenhower Ave. Alexandria, Va. 22304
Animal Welfare League of Arlington
(703) 931-9241
2650 S. Arlington Mill Dr. Arlington, Va.
Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation
(703) 295-3647
P.O. Box 223953 Chantilly, Va. 20153
