| CES Dispatch--Toshiba's HD DVD Response
I'm in Las Vegas, doing the rounds of press conferences that kick off the annual Consumer Electronics Shows. Everyone lined up early for the most-anticipated one—Toshiba Corp.'s. If gadgets could look forlorn, Toshiba's three new HD DVD players looked just that sitting on stage ahead of the executives' speeches. Jody Sally, vice president of digital audio/visual equipment, which includes Toshiba HD DVD player lineup, looked on the verge of tears during her truncated three-minute presentation in which reports of HD DVD's sales progress became moot following Warner Brothers decision to exclusively support the rival Blu-ray high definition DVD format later this year. Sally tried to put on a good game face, though, noting that HD DVD unit sales over the holiday shopping period accounted for 49.3% of the market.
Georgia House of Representatives
An amendment was offered in committee that set forth an additional vessel exemption from the titling process if the boat is motorized but the motor does not exceed 10 horsepower. The bill follows the titling process that exists with
automobiles in Georgia. The bills also refers to new boats and does not require that previously purchased vessel be titled.
- Authored By: Rep. John Heard of the 104th
- House Committee: Game, Fish, & Parks
- Rule: Open
- Amendment (s): N/A
- This bill was committed back to Rules
HB 1020 - Civil and criminal cases; minors; certain sexually explicit or obscene evidence; restrict access
- BILL SUMMARY: Requires that any property or material prohibited under Chapter 12 of Title 16 Offenses Related to Minors will remain in the custody of a law enforcement agency, prosecuting attorneys office or the court in both criminal and civil cases; This includes obscene material and computer or electronic pornography; A court will not allow a defendant to copy the material but will permit the defendant to inspect the materials no later than ten days prior to trial; In civil cases the materials will not be subject to copying; Amends the Open Records Act to provide that these materials will not be subject to public inspection unless approved by the judge in writing designating where the evidence may be inspected.
THE WEEK IN PICTURES
Children who helped collect pennies play with them during a ceremony to unveil the 'Penny Harvest Field' in New York. The approximately 100 million pennies, gathered by school children across the five boroughs of New York City, filled a 165-by-30-foot 'Penny Harvest Field' in Rockefeller Center. The funds were to be donated to various charities. Dec. 10: Wade Sumpter of Fowler, Colo., competes during the fifth go-round of steer wrestling at the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. AIDS victim Ryan White of Kokomo, Ind., and his mother, Jeanne White, enter U.S. District Court in Indianapolis in this Aug. 16, 1985 photo. Jeanne White-Ginder on Monday said she wants to meet with Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee over his statement 15 years ago that AIDS patients should have been isolated.
Testimony ends on UW firebombing
The three-week trial of a violin teacher charged in a notorious 2001 firebombing at the University of Washington came to a close Thursday in Tacoma. Briana Waters, 32, faces a mandatory minimum of 35 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy, arson and use and possession of a destructive device. The fire, which destroyed the university's Center for Urban Horticulture, was one of at least 17 fires set by radical activists with the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front from 1996 to 2001. Waters, who lives in Oakland, maintained her innocence on the stand Wednesday, despite the testimony of two women convicted in the fire and records suggesting that she obtained a rental car used in the crime. Her lawyer, Robert Bloom, insisted during closing arguments Thursday that the women, Lacey Phillabaum and Jennifer Kolar, lied on the witness stand in an attempt to frame her and win lighter sentences.
Can GPS beat speed trap's radar gun?
WINDSOR, Calif. -- Given the option of contesting a traffic ticket, most motorists -- 19 out of 20 by some estimates -- would rather pay up than pit their word against a police officer's in court. But a retired sheriff's deputy hopes to beat the long odds of the law by setting the performance of a police officer's radar gun against the accuracy of the GPS tracking device he installed in his teenage stepson's car. The retired deputy, Roger Rude, readily admits his 17-year-old stepson, Shaun Malone, enjoys putting the pedal to the metal. That's why he and Shaun's mother insisted on putting a global positioning system that monitors the location and speed of the boy's car. Shaun complained bitterly about his electronic chaperone until it became his best friend on July 4, when he was pulled over and cited for going 62 mph in a 45 mph zone.
A renter's dilemma: Foreclosures can hit those who don't own
It happened to Shari Torigian of Patterson three times in three years. Cheryl Vrba of Los Banos said it happened to her four times in four years. It is happening now to Alexis Grijalza of Modesto and her three children. Renters are being forced out of houses every day in the Northern San Joaquin Valley after homeowners default on mortgages and lenders foreclose. The result often is financial hardship for renters who had no clue their shelter was in jeopardy. "It is stressful. Where are we going to stay now? We have three kids, and my baby was just born Oct. 3," lamented Grijalza, who recently learned the Vernon Avenue house she's been renting for more than a year was repossessed by lenders. The lenders insist she move, but Grijalza doesn't have a car or good credit.
Luntz falsely claimed Obama has no foreign policy experience
He hasn't run a government, he hasn't run a business. Doesn't that concern you?" In fact, Obama is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has traveled to numerous countries while senator, and sponsored foreign policy-related bills. During the 10 p.m. ET hour of the March 2 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ, Republican pollster Frank Luntz said to the studio audience regarding Sen. Barack Obama: "But let's face it. He doesn't have foreign policy experience. He hasn't run a government, he hasn't run a business. Doesn't that concern you?" Luntz then asked the audience, whom he had earlier described as "30 uncommitted people here, come from all different places, different backgrounds": "How many of you are concerned about that?" The cameras then panned the studio to show people with their hands up.
Terrorists launch 21/7 appeal bid
The four, all jailed for life for plotting to detonate ruscksack bombs on the capital's transport network, are seeking leave to appeal against their convictions. Muktar Said Ibrahim, Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussain Osman were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to murder at Woolwich Crown Court last year. They were filmed trying to blow up three Underground trains at Shepherd's Bush, Oval station and Warren Street stations and a bus in Hackney Road just two weeks after 52 commuters died in the 7/7 terror attacks. The four claimed the plot was an elaborate hoax to protest against anti-Muslim foreign policy and said their home made chapatti-flour bombs were designed to go off without causing injury. George Carter-Stephenson QC, for Muktar Said Ibrahim, the alleged leader of the conspiracy, said the trial judge should not have let jurors hear what Ibrahim told police in "safety" interviews conducted immediately after he was seized in July 2005.
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