PONTIAC, Mich. – Two homeless men beaten to death last year were "easy prey" for a group of teenagers, a prosecutor said Thursday as the murder trial for two of the teens began. But their lawyers said there was no witness or physical evidence linking them to the crimes.
Opening statements were presented Thursday in the trial of Thomas McCloud and Dontez Tillman, both 15 and from Pontiac. They are charged with first-degree felony murder in the death of Wilford "Frenchie" Hamilton, 61, who was found beaten in downtown Pontiac in August 2008.
They face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
McCloud also is charged in the death of Lee Hoffman, 61, another homeless man beaten in Pontiac last year. Prosecutors have said there is not enough evidence to charge Tillman in that case.
Two juries have been seated before Oakland County Circuit Judge Steven Andrews, one to determine Tillman's guilt or innocence and the other for McCloud.
Hoffman and Hamilton "died ... not because of their lifestyle," Gregory Townsend, assisting prosecuting attorney, told jurors. "They died because they were weak, because they were vulnerable, because they were easy prey."
The men were beaten by a group of three or four teenagers, including Tillman and McCloud, Townsend said. He said theft was a motive.
Howard Arnkoff, defense attorney for McCloud, called that a theory that wasn't backed up by hard evidence.
"You won't hear one witness in this trial that says, `I saw Thomas McCloud on the 21st (of August 2008) kill or do anything to Mr. Hamilton," Arnkoff told jurors. "Not one witness. And there won't be any forensics either."
Arnkoff and Marsha Kosmatka, who represents Tillman, said the prosecution's case is based on police interviews with the teenagers, who were 14 at the time of the attacks. Townsend described the interviews as confessions, but Kosmatka and Arnkoff said their clients were confused and believed they were speaking about a pair of unrelated assaults.
"The only thing that will be clear in this case is that nothing is clear," said Kosmatka, who claimed that the prosecution's case was based on "an inaccurate and misleading police report."
The interviews with Pontiac police were videotaped and will be shown to the juries later in the trial.
Prosecutors say a third teenager, Darrin Higgins III, is wanted on a murder warrant in Hoffman's death.
October 2009
ROME – Meryl Streep may have starred as chef-legend Julia Child, but in real life she says she is nothing more than an OK cook.
The American actress says she watched all of the Julia Child cooking shows in preparing for "Julie & Julia," including earlier shows from when Child was not yet the cultural icon that America came to know.
"I cook OK. I cook every night, so every night is not great," Streep said Thursday at the Rome Film Festival. "Every night is OK."
Streep said she can't match Child's dexterity with knives.
"I am really not that adept a cook as she was, especially with that rapid-fire knife," she said. "If I did that in my kitchen everybody would run because there would be a lot of blood probably."
The Nora Ephron movie juxtaposes Child's life with that of a young woman who decides to spend a year cooking all 524 recipes in Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and blog about it.
Streep was scheduled to collect a career achievement award in Rome on Friday. The festival has been showing a retrospective of her work, from her Oscar-winning performances in "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Sophie's Choice" to more recent successes in films such as "The Devil Wears Prada."
Known for being a perfectionist in her work, starting with her legendary mastery of accent, Streep says it's the flaws that most interest her in a character.
"It is the human frailty that most interests me in my work," she said. "To discover what is not perfect."
WASHINGTON – The House Financial Services Committee voted Thursday to create a federal agency devoted to protecting consumers from predatory lending, abusive overdraft fees and unfair rate hikes.
Democrats are hailing the 39-29 vote as a win for the average American. It is a major step forward in enacting President Barack Obama's plan to tighten the rules governing Wall Street, although the measure still faces scrutiny by the full House and Senate.
The legislation has been the target of an aggressive multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign by the financial industry, which contends that the agency would have dangerously broad reach.
Thursday's vote indicates that Democrats were willing to shrug off those concerns and are likely to pass the bill on the floor by the end of the year.
President Barack Obama said the vote "sends an important signal to the American people that we will not stand by and allow big financial firms and their lobbyists to mobilize against change."
Also on Thursday, the committee was set to approve legislation that would impose new rules for credit cards on Dec. 1. A similar bill already passed Congress but won't take effect until mid-February.
Democrats have said the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency would help to reach across various businesses to stop fraud and abusive practices. That regulators didn't monitor nonbank institutions like mortgage brokers was considered a major factor in subprime lending abuses that led to the housing market crash.
But there's plenty of fine print that will limit the new agency's scope.
Under pressure from industry, the Financial Services Committee has carved out numerous exemptions to agency oversight, including retailers, auto dealers, real estate brokers, lawyers, cable companies and accountants.
Banks that help those businesses complete financial transactions would still fall under the agency's purview. For example, a bank that issues a store-brand credit card or provides auto financing would be subject to agency rules.
Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Wisconsin with a major private mortgage insurer in her district, on Wednesday pushed though another exemption for credit, mortgage and title insurers.
Rep. Barney Frank, who chairs the panel, said exceptions were being made to clarify that the agency will monitor financial products and not every financial transaction made by the American public. But he scoffed at several Republican proposals, including one by Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. that would have exempted student loan providers. Frank charged that those provisions were aimed at gutting the bill.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Michael Crabtree stood against a wall in the locker room for his makeshift news conference and spoke for just more than six minutes about his upcoming NFL debut. He sported a red and gold San Francisco 49ers stocking cap.
The 49ers didn't put him at the podium Thursday because that wouldn't have been right for an unproven rookie who missed 71 days — even one as talented and highly touted as Crabtree.
What a change from his over-the-top ordeal for the announcement back in mid-January that he would forgo his final two years of college eligibility at Texas Tech to turn pro.
Crabtree held that event at an upscale hotel in the Dallas suburbs. Deion Sanders played master of ceremonies. In the parking lot outside, Crabtree's car bore the license plate "Crab 5." The same message was attached to both front doors.
San Francisco coach Mike Singletary insists none of that stuff matters now. As far as he's concerned, Crabtree has been far from a diva around the 49ers. They picked him 10th overall in this year's draft.
During his lengthy contract dispute, Crabtree prepared for this moment by reading defenses in his mind and even getting his buddies out on the field to stand in against him as he ran routes.
"I had friends out there playing Cover 2 and all that. We were just having fun," Crabtree said Thursday. "I don't think nothing's easy, man. I think you've just got to watch a lot of film and hopefully I get it by game time."
Whatever he did in that time he was absent, the Niners believe their top draft pick is ready to handle a big role in his long-awaited debut Sunday at Houston.
He might start. If not, offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye still figures on Crabtree playing half of the offensive snaps. He has impressed the coaches and his teammates with how he's caught up after missing all of spring work, training camp and the first five games of the season.
"He is a natural football player, playing wide receiver," Raye said. "He has an uncanny knack to conceptualize the picture quicker than most young guys, so the words that paint the picture of the play, he gets it pretty quickly so far. So I would anticipate that will continue."
Crabtree plans to ignore the hype as best he can once he hits the field, though he knows there will be some 30 friends and family members there watching. He couldn't have scripted it much better: The former Texas Tech star will play his first game in his home state.
His teammates have been razzing him like crazy and Thursday was no exception. Safety Dashon Goldson held his McDonald's drink cup in the media fray like a microphone.
"Gimme a shout out, Mike!" right tackle Tony Pashos hollered.
"Is this Crabtree's locker room?" someone else yelled.
"Leave him alone!" another cried out.
Crabtree knows that's all part of it.
"Every rookie's going to have to do something," he said. "They've been on me wherever I go, 'rookie, rookie.' They're going to do stuff to you every week. You've just got to be prepared."
How prepared is Crabtree for Sunday?
He hasn't played in a game — or taken a hit for that matter — since a 47-34 loss to Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2. He was slowed by an ankle injury that day and held to a career-low 30 yards receiving on four catches.
Crabtree averaged 120.3 yards and 1.6 touchdowns per game during two sensational college seasons. He has all the confidence he can produce those kinds of results against NFL defenses.
"I've been playing football since I was 3 years old. Right now we're at the highest level and all I have to do is go out there every day and do what I know," Crabtree said. "I wouldn't even have any fears or any concerns. I will just worry about my plays and my teammates and make sure we're all up."
Playing Crabtree extensively right away is worth it to Raye so the 49ers get a better idea of what he can do in the pressure of a game situation.
"The obvious risk is that it fails, that he lays an egg, that we lay an egg," Raye said. "I think the rewards outweigh the risks because if we keep putting it on the back burner and giving three plays or four plays, then a month down the road you are looking at the same situation, 'What have you done?'"
Even San Francisco defensive coordinator Greg Manusky was fielding questions about Crabtree and the challenges he presents for a defense.
"He's here. I'm happy. When he catches that first ball I'll be even happier," Manusky said with a smile. "I saw him a little bit during the bye week. It looks like he has some talent and some skills. He should if he is the 10th pick."
Crabtree is more concerned with making sure he's ready to play Sunday than how much his coaches use him on the field or how many catches or chances he gets. There are about 45 to 50 pass plays he must know, so that's a load in itself.
"I can't be disappointed with anything," Crabtree said. "I have to take what they give me and make the most of it."
Pre-paid health plans typically pay for a fixed number of services (for instance, $300 in preventive care, a certain number of days of hospice care or care in a skilled nursing facility, a fixed number of home health visits, a fixed number of spinal manipulation charges, etc.) The services offered are usually at the discretion of a utilization review nurse who is often contracted through the managed care entity providing the subscription health plan. This determination may be made either prior to or after hospital admission (concurrent utilization review).
These plans may provide benefits for hospitalization and surgical, but these benefits will be limited. Scheduled plans are not meant to be effective for catastrophic events. These plans cost much less then comprehensive health insurance. They generally pay limited benefits amounts directly to the service provider, and payments are based upon the plan's "schedule of benefits". Annual benefits maximums for a typical scheduled health insurance plan may range from $1,000 to $25,000.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Dan Forsman reeled off six straight birdies Friday for an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead after the first round of the Champions Tour Administaff Small Business Classic.
John Cook shot a 7-under 65, two better than Jay Don Blake, Mark Wiebe, Nick Price and Bob Tway. Two-time defending champion Bernhard Langer was among five players another shot back at 68.
Starting his round on the back nine at The Woodlands Country Club Tournament Course, Forsman was 1-over after a three-putt bogey at the par-4 12th hole, but got back to par with a tap-in birdie at No. 13. Then he took off with six consecutive birdies beginning at the 15th hole. He reached 8-under with back-to-back birdies at 4 and 5 and coasted home with four consecutive pars.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) –
When he's far away from the bright lights of Hollywood, actor Kevin Bacon spends much of his time in second-rate hotels and hauling his own bags while trudging through airports.
And he wouldn't change it for anything.
For the last 14 years, the star of such movies as "Footloose" and "Apollo 13" has sung alongside his older brother Michael as a member of the Bacon Brothers, a six-member rock group that plays up to 60 shows a year.
"There's a lot of stuff you have to do that's not fun," Bacon told Reuters recently. "Getting places. Airports. You get there, you get the gear, you put the gear on the sidewalk. You stand around. You eat bad food. You stay in crappy hotels.
"The cliches of playing in a rock band are very applicable. There is a certain amount of drudgery.
"But the time that you get to play is still great. It's so much fun. Playing in a band is such a lucky thing to experience. To be able to share music is a rush," he said.
Bacon, who has made more than 40 movies, knew it was risky to become a singer in a rock band. But taking a chance is a fundamental part of living, he said, leaning back, stretching out, and locking his hands behind his head.
"There is a certain element of risk to it," the 51-year-old Bacon said about an actor who turns to music, a transition that usually raises eyebrows, elicits groans, and can do irreparable harm to a hard-earned reputation.
"I knew that going in. So what do you do? Do you say, 'Therefore I'm not going to do it?' Risk is really an essential part of being a creative person.
"If you're not risking, then sing karaoke. You have to be pushing yourself. Doing something outside your wheelhouse, that's what keeps you alive as a creative person," said Bacon who sings, plays guitar and percussion.
The band played recently at the 500-seat Birchmere, a club in suburban Washington. In the opening song of the two-hour set, Bacon delighted the audience with a rousing version of "Only A Good Woman," a single from their 1997 CD Forosoco.
HUMBLE ROOTS
Kevin and Michael Bacon come from humble roots and were encouraged as children to explore their artistic side.
"We always played music in our house. We grew up in a very skinny townhouse in the middle of downtown Philadelphia," said Michael, 60, an award-winning TV and film composer.
"Our parents were sort of hippies, even though there weren't hippies back then. They believed in creativity. Play an instrument, get acting lessons, paint, dance -- that's what they valued. And that's what they gave us."
The brothers began by writing country songs to pitch to other artists when a friend of Kevin's asked them to get a band together and play a show in Philadelphia.
"We just really enjoyed it," recalled Kevin, who is married to actress Kyra Sedgwick, star of TV crime show "The Closer."
"We've been following it ever since. There was never really any kind of master plan. We're just taking it one show, one record, one song at a time."
He concedes, however, that he would love the band to create a top-selling record.
"You'd have to live under a rock if you didn't want a hit record," he said. "You have the dreams that you put in the back of your mind. In your quiet moments, you can fantasize about things like hit records, stadiums, rock stardom."
Perhaps ironically, it's Kevin, despite his often hectic movie schedule, who is the more productive writer.
"He's a really interesting and talented songwriter with no training in music whatsoever," Michael said of his younger brother. "I have all the training.
"But Kevin has a wonderful way of communicating through songs. He has a need to do it. That's what I hear in the songwriting that he does."
GENEVA (AFP) –
Israel urged the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday not to "reward terror" by endorsing a report accusing both the Jewish state and radical Palestinian group Hamas of war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
"The resolution, as proposed, will be a reward for terror and will send a clear message to terrorists everywhere," Aharon Leshno Yaar, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva told the 47-state council.
"They will clearly hear that this new form of warfare, as used by Hamas in Gaza, will offer immunity as countries will be prevented from waging effective responses," he added as the council weighed up the report produced by an independent international fact-finding mission.
"This strategy will be repeated in other places, against other countries fighting terror."
The special session on the human rights situation in the Palestinian Territories and East Jerusalem is to decide whether to endorse the report from the team led by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.
The probe said both Israel and Hamas, Gaza's rulers, committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during a 22-day conflict ending in January that Israel launched in response to rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
The conflict left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
The Goldstone report recommends referral of its conclusions to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague, if Israel and the Islamist group Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.
It also recommends the UN Security Council set up a team of experts to monitor and report on any investigations undertaken by Israel on the allegations.
The draft resolution debated by the Human Rights Council seeks endorsement of "the recommendations contained in the report ... and calls upon all concerned parties including United Nations bodies, to ensure their implementation."
The council had already held a debate two weeks ago on the report, but it decided then to postpone by six months a decision on its recommendations.
The delay mooted by the United States and European states was meant to help buy some time amid attempts by Washington to relaunch the Middle East peace process.
However, the Palestinian Authority reversed its stance in recent days and called for a new session of the Council with the backing of Egypt and Pakistan, non-aligned countries and the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC).
Israel reiterated its belief that the report was "biased" and a warning that endorsement would damage the peace process.
"Action taken here today will set back hopes for peace," Leshno Yaar said.
Thursday's session comes a day after a UN Security Council debate in New York on the Middle East, during which the United Nations pressed Israel and the Palestinians to comply with the damning report.
Addressing the Geneva session, the UN human rights chief Navi Pillay also reiterated her support for the Goldstone report, "including its call for urgent action to counter impunity."
Speaking on behalf of the OIC, Pakistan urged the council to endorse the findings.
"The mission has presented an objective, impartial and comprehensive report which has been welcomed, widely praised and appreciated by the UN member states and international civil society," the Pakistani envoy said.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Shimon Peres criticised the Human Rights Council's special meeting.
"We cannot accept being judged by a majority that is hostile against Israel, as is the case in the Human Rights Council," he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also urged the Council to reject the report.
"Responsible nations have to vote against this decision that supports terror and harms peace," Netanyahu told reporters late on Thursday.
The two-day Human Rights Council session is due to continue on Friday.
LAGOS (AFP) –
The rebel group that has brought chaos to Nigeria's oil producing region on Friday ended a 90-day ceasefire and warned the oil industry and military to brace for attacks.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has waged a three-year campaign demanding a bigger share of the oil wealth for the local population, severely cutting daily production. But the government says many of its fighters have laid down their arms in a recent amnesty.
MEND "resumes its hostilities against the Nigerian oil industry, the Nigerian armed forces and its collaborators with effect from 00:00hrs, Friday, October 16, 2009," the group said in a terse e-mail statement.
MEND ordered a ceasefire in July to allow for possible talks with President Umaru Yar'Adua's government. It set up a committee -- which included 1986 Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka -- to run negotiations, but no formal talks were held.
The group rejected a government amnesty offer describing it as a "charade", saying it failed to address the key issues of under-development and injustice in the Niger Delta.
The authorities say, however, that more than 8,000 militants laid down their arms and accepted the amnesty offer which ran from August 6 to October 4.
In the past three years Nigeria's oil output has been cut from 2.6 million barrels a day to 1.7 million currently. It has now been equalled by Angola as Africa's top exporter.
Dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped by MEND and other groups in the Delta region. It has attacked pipelines and offshore facilities and even Lagos harbour.
But despite MEND's rejection of the amnesty, the government says there has been a good response.
Yar'Adua told an OPEC delegation on Wednesday that the amnesty had resulted in a return to peace to the south of the country. The government has faced severe pressure over the conflict because 90 percent of the country's earnings come from oil.
"The general amnesty I extended to all militants in the Niger Delta has led to the laying down of arms and a return of peace. Agitations are now over," he said.
But MEND said in a statement last week that the next phase of its struggle would be the most critical as it planned "to end 50 years of slavery of the people of the Niger Delta by the Nigerian government, a few individuals and the western oil companies once and for all."
It warned that future operations would be more destructive.
"In this next phase, we will burn down all attacked installations and no longer limit our attacks to the destruction of pipelines," it said in the statement.
The US embassy in Nigeria has called for restraint and dialogue to resolve the Niger Delta conflict.
"We note the efforts to date to advance dialogue in the Niger Delta. We hope that these efforts will continue and that restraint is exercised during this delicate period," a statement said on Tuesday.
Early technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, who already had a reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of its harpsichords. Broadwood constructed instruments that were progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. They sent pianos to both Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, and were the first firm to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the 1790s, six octaves by 1810 (Beethoven used the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820. The Viennese makers similarly followed these trends, however the two schools used different piano actions: Broadwoods were more robust, Viennese instruments were more sensitive.
Modern upright and grand pianos attained their present forms by the end of the 19th century. Improvements have been made in manufacturing processes, and many individual details of the instrument continue to receive attention.
