Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/pRZMU9E8Bh8/
capitals john edwards conocophillips octomom dan savage new world trade center kellen moore
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Princess Carter! Blue Ivy Gets Her Crown
Beyonce Knowles shares a cute photo of her daughter wearing a purple crown on her personal website.
Wired Space Photo of the Day: Sun in Different Wavelengths
Link Information - Click to View
Wired Space Photo of the Day: Sun in Different WavelengthsThe images of this Sun (Dec. 7, 2011) taken at almost the same time are shown in various wavelengths in various temperatures and layers of the Sun. In addition, we superimposed an illustration of the Sun's magnetic field lines to ...????
Source: Wired
Posted on:
Friday, Jun 28, 2013, 8:32am
Views: 42
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128844/Wired_Space_Photo_of_the_Day__Sun_in_Different_Wavelengths
Katherine Russell Tsarnaev Richie Havens Allan Arbus Jaguars new uniforms jenelle evans jenelle evans glenn beck
Shoptiques: The Perfect Summer Dress for Your Body Type
We have all been "that girl," the delusional dresser, as some may call her. Standing in the mirror of the dressing room, trying on the dress that looked killer on the mannequin, and hey, it kind of looks like that on you, too, right? Next thing you know, you're confidently pulling out your credit card and then slipping into the dress for a night out on the town. The second you step out of your apartment, all of your presumptuous thoughts on this "killer" (so-you-thought) dress are turning into insecurities, as you tug and pull at every hemline and body-hugging area. No one wants to be "that girl," and you don't have to be. Summer is the prime time to wear a dress and show off your favorite parts of your body. It's all about figuring out what looks good on your shape, accentuating what you love about yourself, and feeling confident in what you chose to wear!
Here is our guide to the perfect summer dress for different body types:
Athletic
When you have an athletic build, the greatest thing you can do for your body is to create the illusion of curves. Your straight and narrow shape can be easily feminized with the use of cinches and ruffles. Try choosing a dress that is cinched at the waist or even tie an oversized dress with a belt. The overflow of fabric will create a Marilyn-esque figure. The hemlines are rising with the temperature this summer, show off those athletic legs too!
Full- Figure
A full-figured woman has so many beautiful attributes to play up: a big bust, curvy figure, and a little junk in the trunk. Sometimes, this can make for a difficult time in the dressing room, trying to figure out how to accentuate the right areas while making the waist look small. Finding the perfect summer-time dress for your body should be fairly easy though. Balancing your top half with your bottom half to create an hourglass look is key. Try a dress that nips, or is banded around the waist to form a slim mid-section, while hiding any tummy insecurities you may have. A sexy neckline works wonders for you, especially during the summer. A V-neck will help emphasize your bust, or let your collarbones show with an off-the-shoulder neck.
Petite
5'4' is the magic number that draws the line at 'petite'. Dressing for your petite body doesn't necessarily mean trying to make yourself look tall, it's more about dressing yourself in a way that is ideal for your height and shape. The main rule when it comes to petite women wearing a dress is to make sure you don't chop yourself in half. Always use the 1/3 rule. If there is a belt, cinch, or hem, make sure it is either 1/3 of the way from the top, or 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the dress. Maxis look fabulous on you because they cause the eye to move up and down, creating length. The same thing goes for vertical stripes. In the summer, no one wants a ton of fabric hanging all over them, lucky for you, as a petite woman, you want to stick with the least amount of material you can get away with. Too much causes you to look like you are swimming in fabric.
Hourglass
How lucky are you to have a body that allows you to wear so many different styles! The hourglass shape is what every woman is going for when they are getting dressed. There are only a few rules you need to remember when looking for an amazing summer dress. Steer clear of lots of bulk, embellishments, and heavy patterns. You have such a great bod, but, wearing something really busy can throw off your proportions, and make you look unbalanced or heavier than you actually are. A-lines and bodices are styles that are perfect for you to accentuate your feminine shape. Strapless dresses are made for hourglass figures, which is a major plus for you in the hot months of summer!
Shoptiques.com is your online destination for boutiques from Paris to New York.
By: Rachel Burke
?
Follow Shoptiques on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@Shoptiques
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shoptiques-/how-to-find-the-perfect-s_b_3512686.html
Meteor Hits Russia Dorner Manifesto Valentines Day Quotes nerlens noel Mark Balelo Anne Stringfield paczki
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Senate on verge of historic immigration vote
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate stood poised Thursday to approve historic immigration legislation opening the door to U.S. citizenship to millions and promising a dramatic build-up of manpower and technology along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The vote on final passage of the White House-backed bill was expected as early as Thursday afternoon, after a series of test votes so far this week demonstrated supporters command a bipartisan majority well over the 60 votes needed to secure passage and send the bill to the House. First must come two more procedural tests set for Thursday morning.
"It's landmark legislation that will secure our borders and help 11 million people get right with the law," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said on the Senate floor Thursday ahead of the votes.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., countered that the bill doesn't ensure true border security since people here illegally can obtain a provisional legal status under the legislation before any security goals are accomplished. "This bill may pass the Senate today, but not with my vote. And in its current form, it won't become law," McConnell said.
Supporters posted 67 votes or more on each of three procedural tests Wednesday. More than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats on each, ensuring bipartisan support that the bill's backers hope will change minds in the House.
The outlook there is uncertain. Many House conservatives oppose the pathway to citizenship at the center of the Senate bill. And many prefer a piecemeal approach rather than a sweeping bill like the one the Senate is producing.
The House Judiciary Committee is in the midst of a piece-by-piece effort, turning its attention Thursday to a bill on high-skilled workers.
On Wednesday the committee signed off on legislation establishing a system to require all employers to check their workers' legal status on a faster timeframe than the Senate bill contemplates. And last week it approved two other measures, one establishing a new agricultural guest worker program and a second making illegal presence in the country a federal crime, instead of a civil offense as it is now.
None of the bills weighed by the Judiciary Committee contemplate a path to citizenship or even legalization for the millions already here.
At its core, the legislation in the Senate includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration, while at the same time it offers a chance at citizenship to the 11 million immigrants now living in the country unlawfully.
It provides for 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, requires the completion of 700 miles of fencing and requires an array of high-tech devices to be deployed to secure the border with Mexico. Those security changes would be accomplished over a decade and would have to be in place before anyone in provisional legal status could obtain a permanent resident green card.
Businesses would be required to check on the legal status of prospective employees. Other provisions would expand the number of visas for highly skilled workers relied upon by the technology industry. A separate program would be established for lower-skilled workers, and farm workers would be admitted under a temporary program.
The basic legislation was drafted by four Democrats and four Republicans who met privately for months to produce a rare bipartisan compromise in a polarized Senate. They fended off unwanted changes in the Senate Judiciary Committee and then were involved in negotiations with Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee on a package of tougher border security provisions that swelled support among Republicans.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-verge-historic-immigration-vote-061838460.html
saint louis university night at the museum pope shenouda bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day
Angry Birds Trilogy slingshots to Nintendo's Wii U and Wii consoles on August 13th
As if its flock of angry fowl weren't already near-ubiquitous, Rovio's today announced an August 13th release date for the Wii and Wii U versions of Angry Birds Trilogy. The Finnish company had previously committed to the two Nintendo ports earlier this year, prompted by the success of the title on the 3DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Rovio's not just pushing out a repackaged redo, either -- this collection bundles the original Angry Birds game with Seasons and Rio, while also adding some new levels. And given the finger-flicking origins of the franchise, gamers will be able to make use of the Wii U's GamePad for that famed asymmetric play (read: GamePad-only) and touch controls. If you haven't already exhausted your lust for flipping Rovio's birds, then the dog days of summer should see you and that Wii U making nice. Of course, by then you could also be flinging zombie-like Pikmin with reckless abandon. What's a Wii U owner to do?
Source: Polygon
bowling green marysville tornados dr. seuss the temptations rush limbaugh sandra fluke green book
Ex-US envoy to Kenya troubled by embassy security
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? As President Barack Obama prepares to visit East Africa nearly 15 years after terrorists bombed two U.S. embassies here, a former United States ambassador to Kenya says he worries that security at the Nairobi embassy has been "complacent" and may not have had adequate priority in the recent past.
Obama is scheduled on Monday to visit Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, which along with Nairobi was the site of near-simultaneous embassy attacks in August 1998. The attacks killed 224 people, mostly Kenyans, but also a dozen Americans. Obama is likely to visit the memorial for the victims of the Tanzania attack.
The threat of terrorism has increased since the Osama bin Laden-masterminded attacks, said a top Kenyan security official who added that intelligence capabilities have also increased and that the situation "is under control."
Scott Gration, the immediate past U.S. ambassador in Nairobi and a retired U.S. Air Force major general, told The Associated Press this week that during one period of his yearlong tenure as ambassador the American security staff saw its personnel numbers cut in half because of things like personnel changeovers, known as gaps.
"When it cuts down to 50 percent, including the head guy, that's a little bit much and to me that indicates there wasn't the sense of urgency that there needs to be, or maybe we've become a little bit complacent and arrogant, and that became an issue for me," said Gration, who still lives in Nairobi and runs a technology and investment consultancy.
"You know what Kenya's like. There are grenades going off, in Mombasa, in Wajir, even in Nairobi," he said.
The period of the 50 percent reduction occurred about four months prior to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, he said, in which four Americans were killed, including the ambassador, on Sept. 11, 2012.
The Nairobi Embassy is ranked as a "critical" threat posting for terrorism and crime by the State Department.
"There are 179 countries (with embassies). Take your gaps other places, but don't take your gaps in a high threat area. So it was surprising to me that we would take a reduced capability in a place like Benghazi, Nairobi and other places, though I think that this has been corrected by the investigations and by the media" scrutiny, said Gration.
Hilary Renner, the State Department spokeswoman for the Bureau of African Affairs, said she could not comment on specific security operations, measures or personnel assigned to the Nairobi Embassy.
"The safety and security of U.S. personnel serving abroad is one of the State Department's highest priorities," she said by email. "We continually assess and evaluate the security of our missions, and make appropriate adjustments, as needed."
Gration also declined to say how many security personnel work in Nairobi. But an official familiar with the security arrangements said the embassy has only about five American security personnel, meaning a reduction of 50 percent would have been two or three people. The embassy also employs Kenya security personnel. The official said he was not allowed to be quoted by name.
Though no major attacks against U.S. interests have occurred in East Africa since 1998, the region has its share of terrorists, including al-Shabab militants in neighboring Somalia, a group with ties to al-Qaida.
Also, Kenyan officials last year arrested two Iranian agents said to be from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, an elite and secretive unit, who were found with 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of the explosive RDX. Kenyan officials have said the two may have been planning attacks on American, British or Israeli interests.
The new U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were built far off the street, with multiple layers of physical security, making a repeat of the truck bomb that tore through the street-side Nairobi embassy in 1998 unlikely.
Renner said the U.S. works closely with host governments on security matters. And the U.S.-Kenya security relationship ? in particular the relationship the FBI has with Kenya's Anti-Terrorism Police Unit ? is seen as strong.
The threat of terrorism is high in East Africa, as a result of decades of instability in Somalia, said a top Kenyan police official. The official, though, said he doesn't think al-Shabab or al-Qaida can carry out large-scale attacks in Kenya, and instead have resorted to small-scale attacks with grenades. The official spoke on condition he wasn't identified because he was not authorized to share the information.
Kenyan police last September said they disrupted a major terrorist attack after they found four suicide vests, two improvised explosive devices, four AK-47 assault rifles and 12 grenades in Nairobi's main ethnic Somali community, Eastleigh.
More than three dozen presumed terrorist incidents were reported in Kenya in 2012, mostly grenade attacks, that were generally attributed to al-Shabab, according to the latest U.S. State Department Country Report on Terrorism for Kenya. It said Kenya showed persistent political will to secure its borders, apprehend terrorists and cooperate in regional and international counterterror efforts.
The report said Tanzania has not experienced a major terror attack since the embassy bombing, but that Tanzania's National Counterterrorism Center said the June 2012 arrest of an al-Shabab associate shows that terror groups have elements inside Tanzania.
The Benghazi attack has greatly increased security on overseas embassies. The State Department's diplomatic security budget increased from about $200 million in 1998 to $1.8 billion in 2008. But a recent Government Accountability Office report found that there has been little long-range strategic planning for embassy security.
Gration said he was in the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia during the 1996 bombing that killed 19 Americans. He was also in the Pentagon when it was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.
Despite the criticism of the U.S. security posture during a two-month period in Nairobi, he said: "I truly believe the State Department is doing a great job. They're working hard. There was some small aspects of things that I disagreed with."
Gration was a national security adviser to Obama's first presidential campaign and resigned his job as ambassador in June 2012 ahead of a U.S. government audit critical of his leadership.
Gration said that as he's thought about security over the years, he's concluded that it's impossible to protect oneself completely.
"So yes we're still vulnerable when we're overseas or in America to an attack, and it can be well organized, or it can be disorganized and they can still do a lot of damage," Gration said. "So it's a false security to think we can ever be free of attacks against our interests overseas or even in the homeland."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-us-envoy-kenya-troubled-embassy-security-155112503.html
1930 census nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village dallas fort worth tornado dallas tornadoes
"Game" Consoles Are the Final Key to Digital Domination
Google might be building
     |
earth day Luis Suarez Earth Day 2013 westboro baptist church meteor shower Al Michaels Canelo vs Trout
Friday, June 28, 2013
Paparazzo sues Justin Bieber for alleged assault
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Justin Bieber has been sued by a paparazzo who claims the singer kicked and punched him last year at a Southern California shopping center.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges the "Baby" crooner attacked Jose Osmin Hernandez Duran after Bieber and his then-girlfriend went to the movies at The Commons in Calabasas.
Bieber's representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Duran claims Bieber started to leave the shopping center in his Mercedes, but got out of his car and sprinted toward him.
Duran says Bieber jumped into the air from 6 to 8 feet away to deliver a martial-arts-type kick to the photographer's gut before punching him in the face.
The suit seeks unspecified damages for "severe and extreme emotional distress" and negligence.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paparazzo-sues-justin-bieber-alleged-assault-023647768.html
Dana Vollmer Ryan Dempster Phelps NBC Olympics Live Olympic medal count Medal Count 2012 London 2012 Fencing
Twitter #Music for iOS adds genres for more targeted filtering, thankfully omits rap-rock
Twitter's still tweaking its #Music app for iOS, currently the only mobile platform that's privy to the discovery service. Previously, users could only toggle through four categories (i.e., Popular, Emerging, Suggested and #NowPlaying) to stumble upon artists and tracks of interest. But as of today, Twitter's updating the app's filter, adding genres, like Metal, Country, Dance and all the predictably labeled rest to Charts so you can "get hip-hoppy" (it's in the changelog) or get your Bieb on or make jazz hands to the sounds of that Rihanna. The new version 1.1 update also lets users now authenticate Rdio from within the app -- no more linking out to Safari -- and irons out some known bugs, too. If you've already downloaded the app, then just sit back and wait for it to update. First timers can head to the source below for to test out the Twitter-made music assist.
Via: The Next Web
Source: iTunes Preview
Jason Terry Steubenville rape Beyonce Bow Down Jason Molina UCF Pigeon Forge Fire cyprus
Futures rise on strong jobs, consumer numbers
FILE - In this Tuesday, May 28, 2013, file photo, trader William McInerney works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Global stock markets were mostly higher Thursday June 27, 2013 after the U.S. said quarterly growth may be weaker than expected, raising investors' hopes that the Federal Reserve would delay plans to wind down its stimulus program. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? U.S. stock futures rose Thursday on strong jobs numbers and consumer spending, a big factor in the sluggish economic growth seen during the first three months of the year.
Dow Jones industrial futures tacked on 61 points to 14,885. S&P futures added 8.5 points to 1604. Nasdaq futures rose 14.5 points to 2,897.50.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 346,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.
And consumers spent more in May as their income increased at the fastest pace in three months.
That's critical for any recovery as consumer spending drives 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
The jobs picture must improve, however, and the U.S Federal Reserve has pegged its aggressive stimulus program to unemployment, saying in December that it would leave the short-term rate unchanged at least until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent. It's now 7.6 percent.
Two major gravitational forces have pulled investors in different directions this year. Many are pouring money into the market as the economy recovers, seeing stock gains as imminent. At the same time, market investments are being driven by the belief that the economy has a long way to go, and that the Fed will continue a massive bond-buying program that has driven down interest rates and kept money flowing globally.
Pending home sales figures are also due Thursday.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-rise-strong-jobs-consumer-numbers-131048057.html
Yasiel Puig henry cavill tony parker LA Kings The Purge Esther Williams French Open
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Anchor is like Facebook for the workplace, launches today on iOS and the web (video)
We don't usually cover business software around these parts, but Anchor, a social networking app launching today on iOS, goes out of its way to look like a regular app. The brain child of a former GM of Flickr and ex-VP at AOL, it's sort of like Facebook, in that it allows coworkers to join groups, post status updates, upload photos (complete with filters) and like each other's activity. (In lieu of a thumbs up, you give someone a rock-on sign.) It also has built-in chat and contact cards, so in theory you could use it as a one-stop shop for communicating with coworkers instead of cobbling together various other apps.
You could even compare it to Yammer, the social network eventually bought by Microsoft, except Anchor's co-founders say the app is more about coworkers bonding with each other, than necessarily being productive. (Imagine that!) Again, it's available today for iOS (and the web too), with free lifetime membership if you get it before September 25th. It's also coming soon to Android and Google Glass, we're told. With no commitment you should give it a try -- the UI is extremely slick -- though we have to wonder if it's really that big a faux pas to friend your coworkers on Facebook. After all, who's afraid of the occasional like from Tim Stevens?
Source: iOS app, web version
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0ZGNWDGWZX4/
j cole MAC Cosmetics The Voice Results Miss USA 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards 2013 Danielle Bradbery kate spade
Stocks gone wild: Why are investors so panicked?
wall-street 
June 24, 2013 at 3:25 PM ET
Richard Drew / AP
Traders gather at the post of specialist Patrick Murphy, right, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Traders in the U.S. dumped stocks, bonds and commodities, prompted by signs of distress in China's economy and worries about the end of the Federal Reserve bank's easy money policies.
The Federal Reserve thinks the economy is improving, so much so that it has hinted it may throttle back a bit on easy money policies in place since the financial crisis. So why are the financial markets acting like the sky is falling?
Stock markets have been in turmoil since Fed chairman Ben Bernanke last week suggested that if the economy continues to perk up the central bank will remove a least some of the low interest rate punch bowls that banks and businesses have been drinking from for years. And while part of Monday's stock drop could be blamed on worries about China's economy, the world's second largest, it came against a backdrop of fears about what the Fed may do later this year.
Stocks dropped again Monday, though the markets recovered some of their losses later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed nearly 250 points before making up some of that lost ground, closing 140 points lower, nearly 1 percent down. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also finished off their lows. So far this month, the S&P has shed about 3.5 percent.
Several Fed officials spent the day trying to talk the financial markets off a ledge, and they partly succeeded. But investors remain jittery. They have have good reasons to be concerned. They hate uncertainty, and few people alive today have ever lived through an economic and financial cycle like this one. That?s because the financial panic of 2008 was deeper than any since the Great Depression. And the remedies applied by the Federal Reserve have never been tried on such a giant scale.
But causes of the gut-wrenching market plunge of the last week are pretty easy to spot. Here are the big ones:
Why are interest rates moving higher?
Soon after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the flow of capital around the planet seized up as banks and investment firms feared lending to one another. No one knew which bank might be the next Lehman. The global credit machine completely froze.
To restart lending, the central banks around the world began pumping trillions of dollars into the financial system. Since then, the Fed has continued pumping $85 billion a month of surplus into the credit markets to keep rates low.
But at its regular policy meeting last week, central bankers said they?re getting ready to ?taper off? that flow of cash. With less money sloshing around the system, the cost of borrowing will begin rising.
That means I?ll get a higher return on my savings account, right? What?s wrong with that?
Nothing, as long as the economy keeps humming along and employers keep creating new jobs. But the worry is that those higher rates could make consumers more reluctant to use their credit cards, or potential home buyers think twice about taking out a mortgage to buy a house.
The Fed, though, thinks the economy may be nearly ready to sustain those higher rates. Consumer confidence and spending have been gathering momentum ? partly because house prices have begun recovering and the job market continues to improve, albeit slowly. And while stock prices have fallen nearly 5 percent in just the last four days trading days, prices are still 20 percent higher than they were a year ago. That extra stock market wealth has also helped fill in the $7 trillion crater in household wealth that was created by the twin collapses of the housing and financial markets five years ago.
Is the market going lower?
Yes, and then higher. But we have no idea when. Or how far. This is a website, not a psychic hotline.
If the folks at the Fed spooked the markets, can?t they calm them down again?
Yes and no. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has made it clear that as central bankers begin slowing the flow of the money fountain, they can always restore full pressure if the economy falters or the markets begin to tank. And the Fed hasn?t actually started to taper off the flow of money ? they?re just telling the world they?re beginning to think about how and when to do so.
But while the Fed?s money machine is the biggest in the world, and the dollar is the closest thing to a global currency, the U.S. central bank isn't the only game in town.
The latest market jitters have been heightened by a much more immediate ? and severe ? credit clampdown in China. On Friday, the People's Bank of China (the country's central bank) tried to cut off the financial oxygen of a loose network of speculators and informal lenders who have been inflating a bubble in stocks and real estate. In doing so, the People's Bank let short term interest rates spike as high as 25 percent.
That sounds a lot like the kind of credit crunch that started this whole mess five years ago.
It certainly spooked investors around the world ? that?s why stocks markets have fallen in unison over the last few week.
But there?s a big difference between the panic-induced collapse of Lehman Brothers and the People's Bank- engineered Chinese credit crunch. China?s central bankers can restore the flow of credit with the click of a mouse (or two).
That makes the Chinese crunch more like the U.S. interest rate spike of the early 1980s, when then Fed chairman Paul Volcker all but strangled the U.S. bond market. Volcker?s move was designed to snap a decade of runaway inflation and reignite growth. It worked. Once inflation subsided, the Fed let rates fall, and the economy and stock market roared back to life.
China faces a very different set of problems, and the Chinese state-owned banking system is very different than the U.S. But the current credit crunch that is rippling through Asia could easily be reversed.
Chinese officials are betting that a short-term credit squeeze will throw enough cold water on the speculators and show banking lenders to prevent another bubble-bust cycle.
But there?s not a lot that Fed Chairman Bernanke and his Fed colleagues can do if the People's Bank made the wrong bet.
More business news:
Follow NBCNews.com business onTwitter and Facebook
? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved
tax day freebies madison bumgarner wnba draft tax day april 17 tu pac hologram shuttle
Pardoned financier Marc Rich dies in Switzerland
GENEVA (AP) -- He was a wheeler-dealer pardoned by another consummate dealmaker, a working-class Jewish boy who left Belgium to escape the Nazis and rose to become the billionaire "King of Commodities."
Marc Rich's connections to the rich and powerful not only made him fabulously wealthy but when he was indicted for fraud, racketeering and tax evasion on a grand scale, they helped secure him a pardon from Bill Clinton, hours before the U.S. president left office.
That triggered a political firestorm from critics who alleged Rich bought his pardon through donations that his ex-wife had made to the Democratic Party.
Rich died Wednesday of a stroke at a hospital in Lucerne, near his home for decades. He was 78, and his Israel-based spokesman Avner Azulay said he would be buried Thursday in a kibbutz in Israel.
Throughout his storied career at the pinnacle of high finance, Rich was known as a man who could deliver the big deals thanks to personal relationships he had forged with powerful figures around the world.
In a rare 1992 interview with NBC, Rich said that in his business, "we're not political...That's just the philosophy of our company."
Yet Rich cultivated contacts with powerful politicians ? in the Middle East as well as the United States ? and used those ties to make billions, often when it seemed all doors were closed.
During the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, Rich used his Middle East contacts to purchase crude oil from Iran and Iraq and made a fortune selling it to American companies.
In 1981, Rich and a partner bought 20th Century Fox and three years later he sold his interest to Rupert Murdoch for $250 million.
But in 1983, while he was in Switzerland, Rich was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury on more than 50 counts of fraud, racketeering, trading with Iran during the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and evading more than $48 million in income taxes.
At the time it was the largest tax evasion case in U.S. history and could have earned him more than 300 years in prison.
Although the Swiss refused to arrest or extradite Rich, he stayed on the FBI's Most Wanted List, narrowly escaping capture in Finland, Germany, Britain and Jamaica, until Clinton granted him a pardon on Jan. 20, 2001 ? the day he handed over the keys to the White House to George W. Bush.
Last-minute presidential pardons are not uncommon in the United States, but this one raised a furor. Critics believed the case showed that justice means one thing for ordinary people and another for powerful insiders.
Rich had other advocates, however.
For years influential Israelis, including ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the former chief of the Mossad spy agency, Shabtai Shavit, had been urging Clinton to pardon Rich, who over two decades had contributed up to $80 million to Israeli hospitals, museums, symphonies and to the absorption of immigrants.
Moreover, Federal Election Commission records showed that Rich's ex-wife, songwriter Denise Rich, had donated $201,000 to the Democratic Party in 2000.
At the time, Rich's lawyers were urging the U.S. to drop the tax evasion case. When the Justice Department refused to negotiate, Rich's attorneys turned to Clinton.
Federal authorities investigated but found no evidence of wrongdoing. Election officials also dismissed a complaint accusing Denise Rich of donating campaign money and furniture to Hillary Clinton in exchange for the pardon.
Bill Clinton also denied any wrongdoing and said he acted on advice by prominent legal experts not connected to the trader.
Nevertheless, the current U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, who was deputy attorney general under Clinton, told a House committee weeks after the president's decree that if he had known all the facts of the case, "I would not have recommended to the president that he grant the pardon."
Rich was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on Dec. 18, 1934. His Jewish family fled from the Nazis to the United States, where he went to school and college in New York.
After dropping out of college, Rich went to work for the commodity traders Phillips Brothers, now called Phibro, in New York. He quickly got the knack of trading and in 1967 was sent by the company to work in Madrid, where he met Pincus "Pinky" Green, his future partner.
In 1973, Rich and Green left the company after arguing over the size of their bonuses. They set up Marc Rich and Co., based in the Swiss town of Zug, whose low taxes have made it one of the world's oil trading centers.
Business boomed. Rich specialized in acting as a middle man for purchases in global trouble spots ? such as Iran, apartheid-era South Africa or Cuba and Libya during U.S. trade embargoes.
Rich and Green were the first traders to use short-term purchases, now known as the spot market, to make big money, quickly. Buying large volumes when the price was low, they were able to control the market when prices rose.
With Rich in Switzerland, his companies pleaded guilty to the U.S. charges, paying fines of about $130 million.
"It's an unfortunate situation," Rich told NBC. "But the question is, was there crime? And I'm saying I don't think so."
He added that as Marc Rich and Co. was a Swiss company, it was legal for the firm to do business with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Iran.
Rich worked on making himself popular by becoming a major philanthropist, giving money to the arts and charities in the hope of building good contacts and guarding against extradition. He renounced his U.S. citizenship and became a citizen both of Israel and Spain.
But he earned the hatred of U.S. labor unions during the 1990-92 Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. strike in West Virginia.
His company was a part-owner of Ravenswood Aluminum, whose workers accused Rich of locking 1,500 steelworkers out of the plant when their contract expired and hiring replacement workers without negotiating.
The union won the 20-month labor battle, but not before union members picketed outside Rich's Swiss offices.
In 1993, Rich sold his own company ? which was then renamed Glencore, now the world's largest commodity trader ? and set up a new firm, Marc Rich and Co. Holding, also based in Zug.
Although a Russian firm, Crown Resources, tried to buy its commodities unit in 2001, the buyout fell through and Rich remained active in the trading business.
After spending several years in Zug, Rich moved to "La Villa Rose" on the shores of Lake Lucerne in nearby Meggen. He also owned property in the swish ski resort of St. Moritz and in Marbella, on the south coast of Spain.
Rich married for a second time, to German-born Gisela Rossi, in 1998. They divorced in 2005. Rich had two daughters, Ilona Schachter-Rich and Danielle Kilstock Rich.
___
Reid reported from Berlin. Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pardoned-financier-marc-rich-dies-114643030.html
12/12/12 manny pacquiao Chopper Live jerry brown michael buble michael buble Jenni Rivera Alive
Massachusetts Senate race: Politician defeats ex-SEAL
Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward?Markey has won the U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry, now US Secretary of State. Markey defeated?Republican political newcomer and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez.
Massachusetts Senate Democratic candidate Ed Markey, right, meets and greets grassroots volunteers and supporters at the Pickle Barrel Restaurant & Deli, in Worcester, Mass., Monday, June 24, 2013, in the final hours before Tuesday's election.
John Ferrarone / Worcester Telegram & Gazette / AP
EnlargeLongtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward?Markey?defeated Republican political newcomer Gabriel Gomez in a special election on Tuesday for the state's U.S. Senate seat long held by John Kerry, a race that failed to draw the attention that the state's 2010 special Senate election did.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Markey, 66, won the early backing of Kerry and much of the state's Democratic political establishment, which was set on avoiding a repeat of the stunning loss it suffered three years ago, when Republican state Sen. Scott Brown upset Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley in the election to replace the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Gomez, a 47-year-old businessman and former Navy SEAL, positioned himself as a moderate and Washington outsider who would challenge partisan gridlock, contrasting himself with?Markey, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976.
Markey?had an advantage of about 8 percentage points over Gomez with most precincts reporting late Tuesday, according to unofficial returns. He took to Twitter to thank voters after his victory.
"Thank you Massachusetts!" he tweeted. "I am deeply honored for the opportunity to serve you in the United States Senate."
Gomez said he called?Markey?to congratulate him and wished him "nothing but the best."
In a concession speech to supporters, Gomez said he was a better person as a result of the campaign and believed?Markey?would be a better senator having gone through the election.
Gomez said he'd waged the campaign with honor and integrity but was "massively outspent" by Democrats in the five-month election and was facing the might of the national Democratic Party.
Markey?outspent Gomez throughout the race, and Republicans were unable to match a well-oiled Democratic field organization in an election that saw relatively light turnout in much of the heavily Democratic state.
Kerry left the Senate this year after being confirmed as U.S. secretary of state.?Markey?will fill out the remainder of Kerry's term, which expires in January 2015, meaning that another Senate election will be held a year from November.
Though?Markey?has a lengthy career in Congress, he will become the state's junior senator to Elizabeth Warren, who has been in office less than six months after defeating Brown last November.
Psy Gentleman Angel Cabrera Jay Z Open Letter glee glee masters live frozen four
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
South Africa: Emotion builds over Mandela
Lebani Sirinje, a Zimbabwean artist paints a portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela, outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 26, 2013. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday urged his compatriots to show their appreciation for Nelson Mandela, who is in critical condition in a hospital, by marking his 95th birthday next month with acts of goodness that honor the legacy of the anti-apartheid leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Lebani Sirinje, a Zimbabwean artist paints a portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela, outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 26, 2013. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday urged his compatriots to show their appreciation for Nelson Mandela, who is in critical condition in a hospital, by marking his 95th birthday next month with acts of goodness that honor the legacy of the anti-apartheid leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
A get well card hangs on the wall outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 26, 2013. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday urged his compatriots to show their appreciation for Nelson Mandela, who is in critical condition in a hospital, by marking his 95th birthday next month with acts of goodness that honor the legacy of the anti-apartheid leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Reflected in the window of a media van, television crews and notes, drawings and photos wishing former South African President Nelson Mandela a prompt recovery are posted at the entrance of the Pretoria hospital where he is being treated, Wednesday June 26, 2013. Nelson Mandela?s condition in a Pretoria hospital remained critical. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Children from Thanduxolo day care sing outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 26, 2013. South Africa's president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday urged his compatriots to show their appreciation for Nelson Mandela, who is in critical condition in a hospital, by marking his 95th birthday next month with acts of goodness that honor the legacy of the anti-apartheid leader. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, center, arrives at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 26, 2013. There was no word early Wednesday on 94-year-old Mandela's condition, which was critical a day earlier, according to the government. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africans were torn on Wednesday between the desire not to lose a critically ill Nelson Mandela, who defined the aspirations of so many of his compatriots, and resignation that the beloved former prisoner and president is approaching the end of his life.
The sense of anticipation and foreboding about 94-year-old Mandela's fate has grown since late Sunday, when the South African government declared that the condition of the statesman, who was rushed to a hospital in Pretoria on June 8, had deteriorated.
A tide of emotional tributes has built on social media and in hand-written messages and flowers laid outside the hospital and Mandela's home. On Wednesday, about 20 children from a day care center posted a hand-made card outside the hospital and recited a poem.
"Hold on, old man," was one of the lines in the Zulu poem, according to the South African Press Association.
In recent days, international leaders, celebrities, athletes and others have praised Mandela, not just as the man who steered South Africa through its tense transition from white racist rule to democracy two decades ago, but as a universal symbol of sacrifice and reconciliation.
In South Africa's Eastern Cape province, where Mandela grew up, a traditional leader said the time was near for Mandela, who is also known by his clan name, Madiba.
"I am of the view that if Madiba is no longer enjoying life, and is on life support systems, and is not appreciating what is happening around him, I think the good Lord should take the decision to put him out of his suffering," said the tribal chief, Phathekile Holomisa.
"I did speak to two of his family members, and of course, they are in a lot of pain, and wish that a miracle might happen, that he recovers again, and he becomes his old self again," he said. "But at the same time they are aware there is a limit what miracles you can have."
For many South Africans, Mandela's decline is a far more personal matter, echoing the protracted and emotionally draining process of losing one of their own elderly relatives.
One nugget of wisdom about the arc of life and death came from Matthew Rusznyah, a 9-year-old boy who stopped outside Mandela's home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton to show his appreciation.
"We came because we care about Mandela being sick, and we wish we could put a stop to it, like snap our fingers," he said. "But we can't. It's how life works."
His mother, Lee Rusznyah, said Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison under apartheid before becoming South Africa's first black president in all-race elections in 1994, had made the world a better place.
On Tuesday, a South African archbishop who visited Mandela offered a prayer in which he wished for a "peaceful, perfect, end" for the anti-apartheid leader, who was taken to the Pretoria hospital to be treated for what the government said was a recurring lung infection.
In the prayer, Thabo Makgoba, the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, asked for courage to be granted to Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, and others who love him "at this hard time of watching and waiting," and he appealed for divine help for the medical team treating Mandela.
"May your blessing rest upon Madiba now and always," Makgoba said in the prayer. "Grant him, we pray, a quiet night and a peaceful, perfect, end."
He wished that Mandela would be granted relief from pain and suffering, and also said: "Uphold all of us with your steadfast love so that we may be filled with gratitude for all the good that he has done for us and for our nation, and may honor his legacy through our lives."
Visitors to the hospital on Wednesday included Mandela's former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The couple divorced in 1996.
Mandela, whose 95th birthday is on July 18, served a single five-year term as president and afterward focused on charitable causes, but he withdrew from public life years ago and became increasingly frail in recent years. He last made a public appearance in 2010 at the World Cup soccer tournament, which was hosted by South Africa. At that time, he did not speak to the crowd and was bundled against the cold in a stadium full of fans.
On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by President Jacob Zuma and other leaders of the ruling party, the African National Congress, to Mandela's home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage ? the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year ? showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.
Before the weekend announcement that Mandela was in critical condition, the South African government, former leader Thabo Mbeki and at least two members of Mandela's family had said his health was improving. The divergence between such upbeat reports and what appears to be a more dire reality has contributed to a sense of uncertainty, even as the government says the privacy of Mandela and his family must be respected.
"Let's accept instead of crying," said Lucas Aedwaba, a security officer in Pretoria who described Mandela as a hero. "Let's celebrate that the old man lived and left his legacy."
Dan Lehman, an American academic, chose a jogging route on Wednesday morning that passed by the hospital where Mandela is being treated.
"I was just going out for my morning run down here and come to pay my respects to the greatest man in the world," Lehman said. Then he began to cry.
Associated Pressgodaddy did the groundhog see his shadow Ray Lewis Murder UFC 156 my bloody valentine Super Bowl Winners what time does the superbowl start
New 'Pacific Rim' Trailer Will Leave You Catching Your Breath
If, by some terrible miracle, you remain unconvinced that "Pacific Rim" is the movie to look forward to for the rest of the summer, there's a new trailer to wipe that stupid, stupid idea from your head. The new preview from the monster-robot beat-'em-up focuses more on the characters than any trailer before it, and [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/06/25/pacific-rim-trailer-3/
delmon young dallas mavericks washington capitals amare stoudemire tallest building in the world the pitch brandon inge
What Rick Santorum's New Career as a Christian Movie Producer Looks Like
If there was someone out there who put $100 in Vegas on Rick Santorum someday becoming the CEO of a movie studio, that person is now a millionaire. In an appearance on Mike Huckabee's Fox show Saturday, the former presidential candidate and recently retired?World Net Daily contributor?announced that he's taking the helm of EchoLight Studios. If you want to place a bet on the type of movies the studio produces, you probably won't get as good of odds.
RELATED: GOP Debate: Perry Tried, and Failed, to Wing It
EchoLight, founded last year, focuses on producing and distributing "high-quality movies for families of faith." Its existing line-up of films features a number of professional-looking posters and trailers. And the studio has lined up some legitimate-if-not-quite-A-list names: Corbin Bernsen stars in 25 Hill; Seinfeld's David Puddy, Patrick Warburton, is in Hoovey, which is about a basketball player with a brain tumor. (Seinfeld is not listed in Warburton's prior credits, despite the frequent suggestion that EchoLight's new CEO resembles that show's star.)
RELATED: Oh, the Things You'll Eat: A Culinary History of the Iowa Campaign
Santorum's experience with the media appears to be fairly limited, including a brief stint as a Fox News contributor and a recurring role on the very popular show, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Debates. But he's long expressed an interest in film. In 2011, he spoke with the Heritage Foundation, describing his Hollywood ideal.
?The problem in the past is that you have these people who create these Christian films ? great message, terrible acting, horrible editing,? Santorum said. ?They are not entertaining, they?re preachy.?So how can conservatives entertain an audience while still promoting a principled message? Send your children to Hollywood. ?I want people who see the world the way conservatives see the world in Hollywood,? Santorum declared.
While Santorum won't be headed to Hollywood (EchoLight is based ion Dallas), at least part of Santorum's filmmaking vision is coming true. But it means giving something up: Santorum's only other post-campaign job, writing columns for the archconservative World Net Daily has come to an abrupt end after six months, given his new role. In his final column, he writes:
[R]ather than using our pen for this weekly column, we?re going to be using our feet and our voices more going forward. We?ll use our feet to cover as much of the country as we can to meet you and listen to you. And we?ll use our voices to take your message back to Washington and out into the media so that you too can be heard.
EchoLight appears to be a more substantive venture than the production house of another former 2012 candidate, Newt Gingrich. Gingrich's eponymous firm?mixes its movie offerings with a broad sampling of Gingrichian politics. Which is probably for the best; in 2010, a company that tracks movie sales labeled Gingrich Productions' films as failures.
RELATED: The Would-Be Also-Rans Make South Carolina Interesting
Santorum has a little more to work with. The studio's newest release is a Western called The Redemption of Henry Myers Trailer. It is about an outlaw who is somehow redeemed.
RELATED: Santorum Now Has to Slay Two Monsters
RELATED: Republican Women Like Santorum Just Fine, Thank You
From the film's description:
Henry begins to question the choices he's made in his life. Just when things begin to make sense again, it's all ripped away from him when his old partners show up. Will he seek the revenge he desires or finally find his Redemption?
This is not intended as an allegory for Santorum's failed presidential bid, we don't think.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rick-santorums-career-christian-movie-producer-looks-184121444.html
Alexis Wright knaidel amelia earhart heat Julius Richard Petri Prancercise kfor
Floodwaters force 100s to evacuate NE Iowa town
NEW HARTFORD, Iowa (AP) ? The northeast Iowa town of New Hartford was mostly deserted Tuesday after authorities went door-to-door before dawn, warning residents a flooded stream would inundate most of the small community.
"Everybody was notified and told to evacuate," said Butler County emergency management coordinator Mitch Nordmeyer as he surveyed the town, about 90 miles northeast of Des Moines. "If they stayed they were staying at their own risk."
Although most of New Hartford's 500-plus residents heeded warnings and left town, some stayed behind and there was no sense of panic.
Residents had seen the normally placid Beaver Creek flood before. And after some areas upstream received more than 7 inches of rain on Monday, few seemed surprised the stream was surging out of its banks again.
Jim Johnson, 49, rowed down Main Street just before noon. He's lived in town since the 1960s and said he's been through it before.
"I have about 8 inches of water in my basement," he said after getting out of the flat-bottom aluminum boat and tying it to a small tree.
He said a flood in 2008 was worse. That one flooded his home with about 4 feet of water.
"I've got this boat and another one with a motor," he said. "I usually stay until everything is lost."
But Johnson and authorities said most people had left, especially elderly people and residents with young children.
Residents were notified via a telephone emergency system on Monday about the danger, and an evacuation order came early Tuesday.
Up to 50 emergency services workers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters began to help townspeople flee at 3 a.m., before the water got too high and when boats and high-centered vehicles would have been required for rescues. Nordmeyer estimated about a third of the town's residents remained, but the town was largely silent by afternoon.
"Pretty much everyone who wants out is out, at this point," Nordmeyer said, adding that a sandbagged road to the north presented the only remaining route out of town. An emergency shelter was set up six miles away in Shell Rock.
Sue Ragsdale, 60, said she evacuated her home in the early hours but returned later in the day. She found a flooded barn but a dry home.
"I've seen it a lot worse," she said.
Nordmeyer estimated that the water was already 3 feet deep on the east side of town, and said floodwaters were pouring into the west side of town as well. The creek has topped a levy that surrounds the town on the east side near the elementary school, Nordmeyer said. He also suspected a breach had occurred Tuesday morning on a gravel road about three miles west of town that works as a makeshift levy. Officials couldn't get there to confirm his suspicions, he said.
Beaver Creek rose 3 feet above flood stage and crested at 15.15 feet by 7:45 a.m. Tuesday. The National Weather Service said most of New Hartford floods when the creek rises to 14 feet. The weather service said the creek was at 14.8 feet as of noon Tuesday and the water continues to recede. It is expected to return to the creek by Wednesday evening.
The crest is about half a foot short of the record of 15.7 feet set in June 2008, and it is two feet higher than when the creek caused flooding last month.
The rest of Butler County is under a flash flood watch until Wednesday morning. The weather service said New Hartford is along a path in northern Iowa that may experience showers and thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon into the overnight hours. Meteorologist Kevin Skow said between 2 and 3 inches of rain could fall per hour from the systems moving through the area.
Any rain that falls over the town will flow back into Beaver Creek because the ground is saturated, said Skow, resulting in standing water possibly staying around for a bit longer than expected.
___
Associated Press writer Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/floodwaters-force-100s-evacuate-ne-iowa-town-143602963.html
California Propositions Electoral College chuck pagano A Gay Lesbian daylight savings time 2012 Where To Vote james harden
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
An Artist Got 16 Bucks for a Song That Pandora Streamed a Million Times
A million of anything is pretty much always an insanely impossible number. Winning a million dollars, having a million Twitter followers, selling a million products?anything done a million times is something to be proud of. But maybe not getting your song streamed on Pandora a million times. All you get sometimes is 16 measly dollars. Or $16.89 to be exact.
| |
Apple Pie Recipe black friday How long to cook a turkey green bean casserole green bean casserole recipe red dawn sweet potato pie
What?s in Obama?s Climate Plan?
DEAR ABBY: I was taken away from my parents at 13 and placed into foster care, where I stayed until I aged out at 21. My biological mother is a drug addict who abandoned me to my father when I was 11. She never tried to contact me while I was in care.I am now 24 and she won't leave me alone. She sends Facebook messages that alternate between begging me to let her get to know me, and condemning me for being vindictive and not having forgiveness in my heart. Abby, this woman exposed me to drugs and all manner of seedy people and situations. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-climate-plan-060024445.html
Kevin Ware Injury Video Richard Griffiths FGCU Reid Flair tony romo Good Friday 2013 good friday
$84-million removal of a dam on Carmel River set to begin
More than 90 years ago the San Clemente Dam rose on what John Steinbeck called in a novel "a lovely little river" that "has everything a river should have."
These days, that's not so true of the Carmel River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean just south of Carmel. The river is overpumped. Flood plain has been lost to development, and the silted-up San Clemente is vulnerable to collapse in an earthquake, threatening 1,500 downstream structures.
But next month, in what officials say is the state's largest-ever dam removal, work will begin on a three-year project to dismantle the 106-foot-tall concrete dam and reroute half a mile of the river.
The demolition will open up 25 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for a threatened population of steelhead trout, help replenish sand on Carmel Beach and eliminate a huge headache for the utility that owns the dam.
"I can't tell you I know anyone who wants San Clemente to stay," said Robert MacLean, president of California American Water, an investor-owned utility that provides water to about 100,000 people on the Monterey Peninsula.
Built in 1921 about 18 miles from the river's mouth, the dam hasn't been used as a water source for years. Deemed seismically unfit by the state in the early 1990s, it also has suffered the ultimate fate of dams.
It filled up with sediment. Most of what San Clemente now holds back is dirt and gravel, not water.
There is enough sediment piled behind the dam's arch to fill 250,000 dump trucks. Figuring out what to do with it was a major challenge. Letting the dirt wash downstream would increase the flood risk. Trucking it out would be expensive and disruptive. Filling up a canyon was an environmental no-no.
So project managers decided to leave it where it is. Instead of moving the dirt, they are going to move the river channel, diverting half a mile of the Carmel into the bed of a nearby creek that flows into the river just above the dam.
"It really is innovative," said Joyce Ambrosius, Central Coast supervisor of the federal National Marine Fisheries Service, which has worked with the utility and the California State Coastal Conservancy on the dam removal.
An official groundbreaking ceremony was held Friday for the project, which will cost about $84 million. American Water is putting up $49 million. The state is contributing $25 million from previously authorized bonds, and the federal government is providing $2.4 million.
The rest will have to be raised from foundations and private sources, including the Nature Conservancy, which has committed $1 million to the effort.
"We saw this as part of a bigger-picture effort to restore the Carmel River and bring it back to life," said Trish Chapman of the coastal conservancy.
American Water is also under state order to stop pumping from downstream wells that are drawing from the lower reaches of the 36-mile river. That is forcing the utility to develop new supplies, which, along with the dam removal, will add about $30 to the average monthly residential water bill.
Although the dam has a fish ladder for migrating steelhead, it's not a very good one. Fishery managers hope that free passage will increase spawning and boost the dwindling number of south Central Coast steelhead.
Biologists estimate that there are only about 500 steelhead on the river, which provides some of the region's best habitat for the fish. Like salmon, steelhead are born in fresh water, spend several years in the ocean and then return to their native rivers and streams to spawn.
Getting rid of the dam will also help another threatened species, the California red-legged frog, by eliminating the reservoir ? a breeding ground for bullfrogs that eat the red-leggeds.
The dam property includes 928 acres of chaparral and oak woodlands that American Water will donate to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management ? the federal government's largest landowner ? when the demolition is complete. Neither the state nor the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the nearby Los Padres National Forest, wanted the land.
The river will not be dam free when the San Clemente structure is gone. The Los Padres Dam lies about five miles upstream. It too is filling up with sediment. But it is still used for water supply, and MacLean said his company is just beginning to evaluate its options for the Carmel's last dam.
bettina.boxall@latimes.com
Keyshawn Johnson Mara Wilson Cullen Finnerty maria menounos Mermaids New Evidence Raspberry Pi memorial day
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)