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Illini prepare for unusual schedule

2011-10-18T03:14:00.000-07:00

Usually the Illini volleyball team takes a day of rest following a match.

But after defeating No. 20 Michigan 3-1 on Wednesday night, No. 1 Illinois immediately hit the gym Thursday, preparing for Michigan State’s trip to Huff Hall on Saturday.

“We’ve played three matches in six days, and our bodies are taking a toll,” senior Michelle Bartsch said after Illinois’ win over Michigan. “I think it will be good not to play a match (Thursday), but it will be weird actually going to class and practicing on Friday, which will be a change.”

Wednesday was the Illini’s (18-0, 7-0 Big Ten) first midweek match, opposed to their normal weekend matches.

Instead of taking a day off to restore their bodies and evaluate tape recordings of the match against the Wolverines, the Illini will have light practices until Saturday.

“It’s interesting; we’re not used to this,” head coach Kevin Hambly said of the short preparation time. “We’ve done it twice a year before. We actually have four matches with some time in between (this season), and that’s different for us. I think three matches in six days is a lot.”

Though they hadn’t scouted the Spartans (14-4, 3-3)until late in the week, the Illini have a few expectations based on the last time they faced each other.

“They’re big and fast, and I think they’re one of the most physical teams in the Big Ten,” Bartsch said. “Be prepared for a big block like Penn State.”

Illinois defeated Michigan State in both matches last season.

Michigan State leads the conference in blocks, with 2.72 per set. Penn State ranks third with 2.66, while Illinois is fourth with 2.65.

Lately, redshirt freshman Anna Dorn has made her presence known on the block for the Illini, posting double-digit block assists in the last two matches.

Together with freshman Liz McMahon, Dorn had 17 team blocks to stop Michigan.

“Communication is key for us,” Dorn said. “We call out the hitters. I think we’re finding a really good rhythm, especially when you go up and block together.”

“They have a middle that’s giant, that’s really, really high, and it’s going to be hard to adjust to that,” Dorn added about Michigan State.

While Dorn has been on fire at the block, the Spartans have their own defensive weapon with sophomore Alexis Mathews, who ranks fourth in the Big Ten in blocks per set with 1.33. Mathews is behind Dorn, who has 1.34.

The Illini said they will have to bring the same defensive effort from Wednesday night into Saturday.

“They’re dangerous, and they’re really physical,” Hambly said of Michigan State. “That’s the cornerstone of our team, is applying defense. It’s what we focus on in practice. It’s what we spend the most time on.”

Source http://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2011/10/illini_prepare_for_unusual_schedule#

U.S. court's Taser liability verdict stuns distributor

2011-07-28T23:11:00.001-07:00

A U.S. court's decision to punish an electronic stun gun manufacturer in the death of a North Carolina teen could send shockwaves through an industry that brands its product as a tool that protects life.

Stun gun distributor Taser International has been asked to pay $10-million in damages to the family of Darryl Turner, a 17-year-old North Carolina boy who died after he was tasered by a police officer in 2008.

The court ruled that the manufacturer created an unreasonable danger by not telling its customers what the weapon was capable of, a decision that raises questions about stun gun accountability for all who use them.

Taser International rebuked the verdict in a written statement, saying that it believes the jury's "deep compassion" for the Turner family "may have overwhelmed the scientific evidence presented in this case."

Arizona-based Taser International plans to appeal the verdict.

In March 2008, police were called to a North Carolina convenience store where Turner was an employee when the teen got into a fight with his boss and pushed a display over.

The responding officer chose to use his stun gun on Turner though there is no evidence that he was threatened. Surveillance footage captured the officer shocking the boy for 37 seconds, more than the typical five-second limit.

Turner went into cardiac arrest and died shortly after.

Lawyer John Burton, however, said the jury was right to discipline the manufacturer.

"Tasers when they're shot in the chest can kill people," said Burton who is lead counsel for Turner's parents.

"What they're selling is a dangerous product that is more dangerous because they don't explain what the real risks of the product are."

A man died after a Taser was deployed on him by police on the same day the court's decision was announced, prompting police in Charlotte to shelve Tasers for up to 45 days while they conduct a review.

The safety the devices was a major point of contention during a B.C. inquiry between 2008 and 2009.

During the Braidwood Inquiry, which questioned the safety of stun guns, former B.C. judge Thomas Braidwood found that tasers "do have the capacity to cause serious injury or death."

Source http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110724/taser-stun-gun-liability-110724/

Man's shoulder dislocated after tasering

2011-04-11T21:34:00.001-07:00

An Aboriginal man who was dragged out of his cell and tasered repeatedly had a dislocated shoulder, cracked rib and collapsed lung when he was taken to a Perth hospital the next day.

But the Department of Corrective Services officer responsible for removing the man from his cell at the Perth Watchhouse has told a West Australian corruption hearing there didn't appear to be anything wrong with him when he took him back to prison.

The Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) hearing into Kevin Spratt, who was tasered by WA police and Corrective Services staff up to 41 times between August 31 and September 6, 2008, resumed on Monday after a four-month adjournment.

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Footage was shown at the hearing for the first time of Mr Spratt being taken to the infirmary at Casuarina prison on September 6, after having been forcibly removed from his cell at Perth Watchhouse earlier that day.

As he is being led to the infirmary surrounded by six Corrective Services officers clad in anti-riot gear as well prison staff and medics, someone is heard saying: "It's a bit of overkill, isn't it?"

When Mr Spratt arrives at the infirmary, the footage shows he is placed on a bed shirtless and appears to be sobbing and screaming: "My arm, my arm."

A nurse at the infirmary tells him: "We need to sort out if your arm is broken or not .... we need you to shoosh and you've got to listen to these guys, okay."

She added: "Be really still, otherwise everyone will have to jump on you."

An X-ray of Mr Spratt's arm was then ordered.

Counsel assisting the CCC Peter Quinlan SC told the hearing nurses and medical practitioners would give evidence later in the week that when Mr Spratt was taken to Royal Perth Hospital the next day, it was determined he had a dislocated shoulder, fractured rib and collapsed lung.

However, the Corrective Services officer who was in charge of getting Mr Spratt out of his watchhouse cell told the CCC that when he went to the hospital to return Mr Spratt to prison, there was no sign of any injuries.

"I sat on him at Royal Perth (Hospital) and he never had a plaster or a brace or a strap of anything on his arm, even after hospital staff dealt with him," said the officer, whose name has been suppressed.

"I never read the medical reports ... but I know when we took him back he certainly put up a good fight when he didn't want to leave and there was no sign of restriction either to his arms or legs."

In trying to get Mr Spratt out of his cell at the watchhouse, the officer use the Taser twice on Mr Spratt before he dragged him out. Six Corrective Services officers in helmets and carrying shields then helped restrain Mr Spratt with handcuffs and waist chains, pinning him to the ground and tasering him up to nine more times.

Earlier in the hearing Sergeant Nicholas Rowe, who was working at the admissions desk at the time, contradicted evidence by the senior officer in which he said he introduced himself to Mr Spratt outside the cell door.

The hearing into whether WA Police or the Department of Corrective Services engaged in misconduct continues before acting commissioner Mark Herron.

Source http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/mans-shoulder-dislocated-after-tasering-20110411-1daot.html

Police Taser violent Hartlepool drunk Mark Howe

2011-03-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

A POLICE Taser gun twice stopped a knifeman in his tracks after he threatened terrified women, a court heard.

Violent drunk Mark Howe used kitchen knives to terrorise his partner and his mother, but surrendered when Cleveland officers responded with their electric shock weapon.

The 25-year-old realised the futility of what he was doing and dropped the knife on each occasion, prosecutor Richard Parsell, told Teesside Crown Court on Friday.

Howe’s partner Kate Williamson rang police on February 21 when he threatened her with a large kitchen knife after a heavy drinking session, Teesside Crown Court was told.

The couple, who had been in a long relationship, had been out socialising with friends when he turned nasty.

Miss Williamson went to bed at her home in Innes Road, Hartlepool, but she was wakened by Howe screaming abuse and pouring cold water over her. He pulled her out of bed by her hair and then dragged her around.

He then went downstairs and, as she called police, she saw him on the landing holding a large kitchen knife.

The next day, when Howe was interviewed, he lost his temper and he refused to answer any more questions.

Mr Parsell said the defendant was then subject to a 26-week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, imposed on December 20 for an affray involving similar circumstances.

Howe was armed with a knife and shouting threats against his mother at her home.

Mr Parsell added the Taser was used on that occasion as well.

Interviewed the following day, Howes said he could recall little about it due to drink.

Robin Denny, defending, said Howe expected to be jailed. He had been on anger management courses but lost control again after drinking.

Mr Denny added: “He realises that he has got to do something to sort out his drinking.”

Recorder Michael Slater told Howe jailed Howe, of St Oswald’s Street, Hartlepool, for nine months after he pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article and common assault.

Source http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2011/03/28/police-taser-violent-hartlepool-drunk-mark-howe-84229-28415668/

Protest in Haringey against death sentence for Mumia Abu Jamal

2011-03-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

A lone protester set up outside Wood Geen Underground station to demand justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal who is on death row in America. According to Wikipedia,"Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an American who was found guilty of and sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as "perhaps the best known Death-Row prisoner in the world", and his sentence is one of the most debated today. Before his arrest, he was an activist, radio journalist, and part-time cab driver. He was a member of the Black Panther Party until October 1970.

Source http://www.demotix.com/news/626125/protest-haringey-against-death-sentence-mumia-abu-jamal

Isringhausen Plays a Numbers Game

2011-02-16T23:31:00.000-08:00

Jason Isringhausen was given his first Mets uniform in a dozen years and a locker across from his familiar old one in the Mets’ facility Wednesday, a day after signing a minor league contract with the team.

“It’s weird to be back in here,” he said. “It’s very weird.”

Now 38, Isringhausen will be given a chance to pitch in the Mets’ first spring training game, against the Braves on Feb. 26, as he attempts to make it back to the big leagues for the first time since he had Tommy John surgery in June 2009.

But when he does pitch, it will be wearing jersey No. 45, one digit higher than the only number he has ever worn in the big leagues. Isringhausen wore No. 44 with the Mets, Athletics, Cardinals and Rays. But on the Mets. Jason Bay has that number … for now.

Bay never wore No. 44 until he joined the Red Sox in 2008, and now with the Mets. So Isringhausen thinks there is room to negotiate.

“Let’s see if I make the team first,” he said with a smile. “We’ll talk about it then.”

Source http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/isringhausen-plays-a-numbers-game/

ACLU staffer said she witnessed deputies beating inmate at Twin Towers

2011-02-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

A civilian monitor was visiting the jail on another matter on Jan. 24, when she saw two deputies punch and use a Taser on an inmate who lay unconscious. A department log confirms the incident but offers different details.

A civilian jail monitor said she witnessed two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies treat an inmate like "a punching bag," unjustifiably beating him as he lay unconscious for at least two minutes, according to a court declaration filed Monday by the ACLU.

The representative for the civil liberties organization was at Twin Towers jail for an unrelated meeting with another inmate when, according to her declaration, she heard thuds from outside the room she was in. Through a window, she said, she saw two deputies punching, kicking and Tasering an inmate.

Esther Lim, the ACLU observer, said the inmate never resisted, and his body was limp "like he was a mannequin" throughout the assault. In an interview with The Times, Lim said the deputies did not realize she was watching until after the beating stopped. A declaration from another inmate supports her account.

An internal sheriff's log also appears to confirm the Jan. 24 incident, but offers a different narrative. The log states that the inmate punched a deputy and charged at him. When another deputy tried to help, the inmate punched him as well and remained combative until he was Tasered, according to the sheriff's log.

Lim called the deputies' account a fabrication, saying inmate James Parker was so still while being beaten that she worried he was dead. During the incident, she said the deputies monotonously repeated "stop resisting" and "stop fighting" as though they "were reading from a script."

Lim said the ACLU commonly receives complaints from inmates who say deputies beat them while repeating "stop resisting" commands, even when the inmates aren't resisting. Lim said she suspects the deputies involved in this incident recited the commands as a ruse to later justify their actions with the help of a jailhouse recording or other deputies who may have heard their commands.

A sheriff's spokesman said the matter is being investigated, though "initial findings" indicate the inmate was combative, and one of the deputies injured his hand and had swelling on his face.

Allegations of deputy brutality in county jails are common but hard to substantiate. Aside from other deputies, usually the only witnesses are inmates, whose accounts are inherently considered less credible, experts say. This incident offers an especially rare instance in which a third party was there to observe.

One of the deputies involved in the incident was identified in court records as Ryan Hirsch. The other was identified by the ACLU by his last name, Ochoa. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore declined to confirm their names. Both, he said, declined requests from The Times for an interview. The deputies remain on active duty, Whitmore said.

Parker, 35, was charged Monday with felony counts of battery and resisting an officer in connection with the incident. According to Lim's account, Parker was lying on his stomach, looking "unconscious" or "even dead." Hirsch and Ochoa, she said, simultaneously punched him and kneed him. Parker, she said, never put up his hands to protect his head, which Lim took as a sign that he had lost consciousness.

The deputies Tasered Parker's leg up to four times, she said, and his torso up to three times. A minute into the beating, Ochoa motioned to the other deputy, bringing his index finger to his lips, Lim recalled. Hirsch yelled "stop resisting" and "stop fighting" just once more after Ochoa motioned, she said.

Soon after the incident, Ochoa looked at Lim through the window and signaled for her to move away from the window, she said.

During another visit the next day, she said, she recognized Ochoa and at one point noticed him "staring at me in an aggressive manner."

Parker received stitches to his face, pain in his ribs and a swollen cheek and eye, according to the ACLU.

"This makes me feel even more strongly that these kinds of incidents go on a lot," said Peter J. Eliasberg, managing attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "And every time we bring them to the Sheriff's Department, they consistently say, 'They're all false, they're all false, prisoners lie.' "

Whitmore said investigators will interview all the witnesses.

"It's rare that you have a civilian eyewitness, and what we don't understand is she never mentioned this to us," Whitmore said. "Why didn't she come forward? Why didn't she talk to us?"

Eliasberg said the ACLU did not notify the Sheriff's Department immediately because in the past officials there have been quick to deny any complaints.

A court declaration from the inmate who was meeting with Lim at the time of the incident also disputed the deputies' telling. Lim said inmate Christopher Brown had seen the altercation develop before she did. Brown said Parker was not resisting.

"I saw him stumbling forward, towards me, falling to the ground," Brown said in a court declaration. "He looked like he was knocked out." After the incident, Brown said, another inmate had to mop up what appeared to be blood.

Brown said he was interviewed by deputies about the incident afterward. He said Ochoa was present at first. "As I was telling the sergeant that I saw Deputy Ochoa punching Parker, Deputy Ochoa stared at me in an aggressive manner, so I asked him 'What?' He aggressively said 'What' back at me.' "

Michael Gennaco, who heads the Office of Independent Review, the department's official watchdog, said involved deputies should not be present during interviews. Whitmore said the deputy was not present and that Brown's allegation was a "fabrication."

After Ochoa was escorted away, Brown said, he saw the other involved deputy, Hirsch, who warned him not to get involved.

"My advice," he said the deputy told him, "is to stay out of it. It doesn't have anything to do with you."

Source http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jail-assault-20110208,0,427671.story

Combustível deve seguir aumentando

2011-01-20T00:24:00.000-08:00

Problemas com a safra de cana-de-açúcar devem manter a tendência de alta do etanol e da gasolina
O gasto com combustíveis deve ser mais pesado neste início de ano aos motoristas cearenses. O etanol deverá continuar sua tendência de alta, já observada desde o final de 2010. O preço da gasolina corre o risco também de ser onerado. O quadro nada otimista é previsto pelo presidente do Sindicato de Revendedores de Combustíveis do Ceará (Sindipostos), Guilherme Meireles. Problemas relacionados à safra da cana-de-açúcar seriam responsáveis pelo pessimismo.

"O etanol já subiu muito desde o fim do ano até agora. De lá pra cá, já houve um aumento de cerca de 15 centavos, e a previsão é de que ele continue aumentando", avalia. De acordo com levantamento semanal da Agência Nacional de Petróleo (ANP), o valor médio do álcool combustível, comercializado na última semana nos postos da capital, era de R$ 1,844, variando entre R$ 1,740 e R$ 1,950.

Apesar de estar em alta, abastecer com etanol ainda é vantajoso em Fortaleza, já que o valor é inferior a 70% do preço da gasolina (percentual de equivalência estabelecido entre os dois combustíveis), que estava sendo comercializado a R$ 2,642 médios, variando entre R$ 2,610 e R$ 2,699. Além de Fortaleza, somente outros dois municípios, entre os 17 pesquisados pela ANP, também apresentam vantagem no álcool: Maracanaú e Pedra Branca.

O aumento no preço do etanol é explicado pela quebra na safra dos dois principais produtores de cana-de-açúcar do Nordeste: Alagoas e Pernambuco. Por motivos climáticos, o Sindicato da Indústria do Açúcar e do Álcool no Estado de Pernambuco (Sindaçúcar), por exemplo, informou que a safra deste ano encolherá cerca de 8% ante a 2009/2010. Por esses motivos, agravados pelo aumento da demanda, o produto está sendo, em parte, trazido do Centro-Oeste e do Sudeste, chegando mais caro por aqui, por conta do frete, explica Meireles.

O presidente do Sindipostos reclama da falta de estoque regulador de etanol, que deveria impedir que situações como estas prejudicassem o consumidor, gerando volatilidade nos preços. Segundo ele, o governo federal financiou este estoque, mas que, mesmo assim, ele não está existindo.

Gasolina influenciada
Como a gasolina revendida conta com um percentual de 25% de mistura de álcool, a permanência das altas no preço do etanol poderá vir a elevar também o preço da gasolina. "Até agora, essa alta não foi repassada. Os postos já estão com uma gasolina mais cara em quatro ou cinco centavos, mas se esse preço continuar a crescer, não vamos ter como segurar", diz. A solução, aponta, para evitar a inflação da gasolina pode ser reduzir a mistura com o álcool de 25% para 20%, como já ocorreu no ano passado.

Source http://diariodonordeste.globo.com/materia.asp?codigo=920215