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MIAMI ? U.S. Rep. David Rivera wants to hold foreign companies that drill for oil off the coast of Cuba liable for any oil spills that reach U.S. shores.
Rivera told a U.S. House transportation subcommittee Monday his bill would triple the liabilities cap for spills that originate from a state sponsor of terrorism, such as Cuba.
Others are expected to speak Monday at the satellite congressional sub-committee hearing in Sunny Isles, north of Miami Beach. They include U.S. Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and fellow Cuban-American U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.
Ros-Lehtinen wants to deny U.S. visas to anyone helping the Cuban government advance its oil drilling plans.
Florida International University Professor John Proni says spills could reach U.S. coastal waters, damaging the ecology and economy.
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Growing inequality, environmental decline and "teetering" economies mean the world must change the way it does business, a UN report concludes.
Health and education must improve, it says. Subsidies on fossil fuels should end, and governments must look beyond the standard economic indicator of GDP.
The High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability was established in 2010 by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Its report will feed into discussions leading to the Rio+20 summit in June.
It is being launched in Addis Ababa by its two co-chairs, Finnish President Tarja Halonen and her South African counterpart Jacob Zuma.
"With the possibility of the world slipping further into recession, policymakers are hungry for ideas that can help them to navigate these difficult times," said Mr Zuma.
"Our report makes clear that sustainable development is more important than ever given the multiple crises now enveloping the world."
Ms Halonen emphasised the theme of equality that runs through the report, in terms of gender and redressing the burgeoning gap between people on high and low incomes.
"Eradication of poverty and improving equity must remain priorities for the world community," she said.
Pushing the boundaries Continue reading the main storyThe panel's 22 members include heads of government and ministers past and present, including Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, Australian Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and India's Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.
They also include Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former Norwegian Prime Minister who led the Brundtland Commission in 1987.
It was that report that coined the most familiar definition of sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
Twenty-five years on, the new report concludes that although substantial progress has been made in many directions, such as reducing poverty, development is anything but sustainable.
"We undertook this report during a period of global volatility and uncertainty," it says.
"Economies are teetering. Inequality is growing. And global temperatures continue to rise.
"We are testing the capacity of the planet to sustain us."
To turn this around, it says: "We need to change dramatically, beginning with how we think about our relationship to each other, to future generations, and to the ecosystems that support us".
Changing trackThe report - Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing - includes 56 recommendations that would, if implemented in full, have profound implications for societies, governments, and businesses.
Governments would build the true environmental costs of products into the prices that people pay to purchase them, leading to an economic system that protects natural resources.
Goods would be labelled with information on their environmental impact, enabling consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.
With UN support, governments would adopt indicators of economic performance that go beyond simple GDP, and measure the sustainability of countries' economies.
Governments would change the regulation of financial markets to promote longer-term, more stable and sustainable investment.
Subsidies that damage environmental integrity would be phased out by 2020. The UN estimates that governments spend more than $400bn each year subsidising fossil fuels, while OECD countries alone spend nearly the same amount on agricultural subsidies.
In parallel, access to energy, clean water, sanitation and food would be increased, meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and going beyond them.
New targets would be established of ensuring "universal access to affordable sustainable energy" by 2030, while universal telecommunications and broadband access should arrive by 2025.
Governments "should consider establishing a global fund for education" in order to meet the existing MDG on universal access to primary education by 2015, and aim for universal access to secondary education by 2030.
These and other targets should be incorporated into a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be drawn up in the next few years, the panel says.
Some of its recommendations parallel the initial draft agreement drawn up for the Rio+20 summit.
"We greatly welcome the report of the panel and its messages," said Farooq Ullah, head of policy and advocacy at Stakeholder Forum, a civil society group involved with preparations for the summit.
"It outlines a vision of the future which is people-centric and which exists within the safe operating space necessary for planetary health and our existence."
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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16775264
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FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2011 file photo, actor Armie Hammer poses for photographers after the Young Hollywood Panel during AFI FEST 2011 in Los Angeles. The town of Sierra Blanca, Texas, which is losing more and more residents every year, is attracting nationwide attention as a magnet for pot-toting celebrities who have been arrested for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town. Hammer was arrested Nov. 20, 2011, at a border patrol checkpoint in West Texas after a drug sniffing dog discovered marijuana in his car. The 25-year-old, who starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in "J. Edgar," spent about a day in jail before paying a $1,000 bond. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)
FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2011 file photo, actor Armie Hammer poses for photographers after the Young Hollywood Panel during AFI FEST 2011 in Los Angeles. The town of Sierra Blanca, Texas, which is losing more and more residents every year, is attracting nationwide attention as a magnet for pot-toting celebrities who have been arrested for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town. Hammer was arrested Nov. 20, 2011, at a border patrol checkpoint in West Texas after a drug sniffing dog discovered marijuana in his car. The 25-year-old, who starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in "J. Edgar," spent about a day in jail before paying a $1,000 bond. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)
SIERRA BLANCA, Texas (AP) ? Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.
Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas' most sparsely populated counties.
"Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, 'That's where Willie Nelson was busted,'" said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.
Hudspeth County cameos aren't only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who's already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show "Steven Seagal Lawman" on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.
Locals already have found ways to rub shoulders with their celebrity guests.
Deputies posed for pictures with Snoop Dogg after authorities said they found several joints on his bus earlier this month. When Nelson was busted here in 2010, the county's lead prosecutor suggested the singer settle his marijuana charges by performing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" for the court. Nelson paid a fine instead, but not before county commissioner Wayne West played one of his own songs for the country music legend.
West acknowledged he's a big fan of Nelson and wanted to capitalize on a golden chance to perform for such a noted "captive audience."
"Willie loved the song, he is a real outgoing individual" he added.
The once-thriving town of Sierra Blanca began to shrink to its current 1,000-person population after the construction of nearby Interstate 10 ? a main artery linking cities from California to Florida ? offered an easy way to bypass the community.
Now the highway is sending thousands of drug bust cases Sierra Blanca's way, courtesy of a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of town where drug-sniffing dogs inspect more than 17,000 trucks, travelers ? and tour buses ? daily for whiffs of contraband that may have made its way inland from the border.
Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, younger brother of the musically inclined commissioner, said his office handled about 2,000 cases last year, most of them having to do with drugs seized at the checkpoint.
Border Patrol agents say people busted with small amounts of pot often say they have medical marijuana licenses from California, Arizona or New Mexico ? three states along I-10 that, unlike Texas, allow for medicinal pot prescriptions ? and claim to believe the licenses were valid nationwide.
Nelson's publicists declined to comment about the specifics of the singer's case. Representatives for Snoop Dogg, who will pay a fine and court costs after being cited for possession of marijuana paraphernalia, did not return several messages seeking comment.
County authorities have not yet decided whether to prosecute or issue a citation for Hammer, who starred in the 2010 film "The Social Network" and more recently played FBI's number two man in "J. Edgar" He was arrested in November on his way to his wife's bakery in San Antonio after authorities said they found marijuana-laced brownies and cookies. His attorney Kent Schaffer has called the case a "total non-issue."
Local officials say they're not on a celebrity witch hunt, but some residents are enjoying the publicity from the high-profile arrests. They say the once forgotten town of Sierra Blanca should take pride in not pandering to famous people caught breaking the law.
"We get attention because something is being done right," resident Adolfo Gonzalez said while shopping at a local convenience store. "It'd be worse if we'd let them go because they are celebrities."
That's not expected to change when Seagal comes to town. Sheriff West insists the "Under Siege" star hasn't indicated any plans to film his show here ? but the sheriff isn't ruling it out.
"If he wants to, we can do it but that's not what he said this was about," West said.
West's spokesman, Rusty Flemming, said Seagal will patrol the area and train colleagues in martial arts and weapons techniques. The actor is expected to arrive in Hudspeth County within months, once he's done filming a new movie in Canada.
Seagal's management agency did not return calls and emails seeking comment about his plans in Texas.
Commissioner West, meanwhile, is keeping his musical skills sharp ? just in case another performer pays a surprise visit to the county jail. The lead guitarist and vocalist of a local band, West said he regrets not having a chance to sing for Snoop Dogg, but wasn't sure if the rapper would have enjoyed the performance anyway.
"Our stuff is laid back," he said. "Mas o menos (more or less) country."
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CHICAGO -- In most interviews Phil Davis comes off as a reserved young man. He's not out to ruffle any feathers, but those of us who've had a chance to speak to him repeatedly always knew there was a potential media darling behind that conservative facade.
In the lead-up to Saturday's UFC on Fox 2 card, Rashad Evans has brought out the beast in Davis and the former UFC light heavyweight hasn't reacted too well.
It started last week when Evans flipped out on Davis calling him a "boy." Yesterday during the UFC on Fox 2 prefight press conference, Evans shook his head, appeared annoyed and even looked flustered on several occasions.
As the banter began, Evans tried to play it cool.
"For the most part, I've got nothing against Phil, but you we've got a fight so I've got a lot against him right now. It's personal, but not really PERSONAL personal," said Evans, who had heated prefight words with previous opponents like Tito Ortiz and Quinton Jackson.
Evans got irked when the issue of college wrestling came up. Phil Davis, a more accomplished NCAA star at Penn State than Evans was at Michigan State, laughed when someone asked if his opponent could beat him in a straight wrestling match. Evans kept saying "your technique is trash."
Then Davis was asked about missing the opportunity to face Evans back in August in Philadelphia. Davis quickly pointed out that he didn't get to fight in front of his friends and family from nearby Harrisburg, Pa. Evans took issue with the fact that Davis didn't say he was sad to lose out on the opportunity to fight him. Davis fired back, "Nobody heard me say that!"
Evans snapped again when Davis explained his understanding of what the result of a win could be, a possible title shot against Jon Jones.
"The winner of this fight will fight for the title, but in the event that I hit him too hard and break my hand ... it might lead to somebody else getting the title shot first," said Davis.
"You don't punch nobody hard. Phil can't hit. Phil punches with his hands open and everything," Evans said. "He couldn't bust a grape. You look like Arsenio Hall."
Davis laughed.
"Give him a hand y'all. Give him a hand," said Davis.
That opened the door for a female fan to ask Davis whether he looked more like Hall or NBA star Dwight Howard? Davis handled it gracefully as he done throughout the lead-up to Saturday's tilt. We'll see if his poise remains intact in the fight. Either way, this week showed he'll be a valuable asset on main cards for years to come in the UFC.
Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/round-1-war-words-phil-davis-10-8-154948395.html
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Most commodities rallied for a second day Thursday on the latest signs that the U.S. economy is building momentum.
Investors were encouraged by an increase in orders for long-lasting manufactured goods. But a primary driver of the rally was the Federal Reserve's announcement Wednesday that it will keep interest rates near zero until 2014 to aid the economic recovery.
The policy is expected to cause the dollar to weaken against other currencies. Commodities are priced in dollars so a weaker dollar makes them cheaper for investors who use other currencies.
Metals, wheat, beans and most energy products rose. Natural gas fell 4.2 percent.
The Commerce Department said orders for products expected to last at least three years rose 3 percent in December. That could mean stronger demand for materials used to manufacture products, including copper, platinum and palladium.
In addition, the department said its index of leading economic indicators, a gauge of future economic activity, rose 0.4 percent last month, compared with a 0.2 percent increase in November.
However, the U.S. economy still faces challenges related to Europe's debt crisis and slower growth in Asia. The Federal Reserve expects the U.S. economic recovery to continue at a slow pace.
Country Hedging LLC analyst Sterling Smith said the central bank's policy will prompt investors to step up their search for ways to make profits because low-interest rates typically push bond yields lower. That should benefit commodities.
"It appears if we can avoid any major financial hiccups, we could be looking at a strong (commodities) market for throughout the balance of the year," he said.
In metals trading, gold for February delivery rose $26.60 to finish at $1,726.70 an ounce. April platinum increased $37.20 to end at $1,616.80 an ounce.
In March metals contracts, silver rose 62.2 cents to $33.743 an ounce, copper increased 7.2 cents to $3.9015 per pound and palladium ended up $1.10 at $694.45 an ounce.
Benchmark oil increased 30 cents to end at $99.70 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil rose 3.42 cents to finish at $3.0446 per gallon, gasoline futures rose 1.34 cents to $2.8508 per gallon and natural gas fell 11.5 cents to $2.654 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In March agriculture contracts, wheat rose 12.25 cents to end at $6.535 per bushel, corn was unchanged at $6.345 per bushel and soybeans increased 9.25 cents to $12.2275 per bushel.
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NASA / NOAA / Suomi VPP / VIRS / Norman Kuring
This new "Blue Marble" image of Earth was produced by the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite: Suomi NPP. The composite image was assembled from image data captured from a number of swaths of Earth's surface on Jan. 4. The NPP satellite was renamed "Suomi NPP" on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin, who is considered the father of satellite meteorology.
NASA's "Blue Marble" image is one of the best-known high-resolution pictures of our planet. It's even included as one of the default images for Apple's iPhone. Now NASA has released a brand-new "Blue Marble 2012," based on image data from the VIIRS instrument aboard Suomi NPP, the most recently launched Earth-observing satellite.
The Suomi spacecraft was known as the NPOESS Preparatory Project, or NPP, when it was launched last October. This week it was renamed the Suomi NPP ? or Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership ? to honor the late Verner. E. Suomi, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who became known as the father of satellite meteorology. The $1.5 billion mission is a partnership involving NASA as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Air Force.
Suomi is the first of a new generation of satellites that will provide data for climate research as well as weather prediction. It carries five instruments on board, and the biggest and most important of the five is the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite, or VIIRS. This composite image was built up from swaths of surface image data collected on Jan. 4.
To learn more about Suomi, check out the mission's website. For a huge 8,000-by-8,000-pixel version of Blue Marble 2012, go to the NASA Goddard Photo and Video Flickr gallery. And for a daily dose of Earth imagery, including more pictures from VIIRS, click on over to NASA's Earth Observatory.
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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer points at President Barack Obama after he arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. Brewer greeted Obama and what she got was a book critique. Of her book. The two leaders engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One?s steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time. Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book." Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir that describes her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona?s controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes. Brewer also handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation for Obama to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer points at President Barack Obama after he arrived at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. Brewer greeted Obama and what she got was a book critique. Of her book. The two leaders engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One?s steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time. Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book." Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir that describes her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona?s controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes. Brewer also handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation for Obama to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama arrives at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
President Barack Obama talks with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer after arriving at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. Brewer greeted Obama and what she got was a book critique. Of her book. The two leaders engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One?s steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time. Asked what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book." Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir that describes her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona?s controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes. Brewer also handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation for Obama to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama arrives at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
President Barack Obama signs autographs after arriving at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
MESA, Ariz. (AP) ? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.
The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.
Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."
Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.
Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.
She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."
On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.
"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.
"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."
A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.
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It was a very slippery slope outside of Rhee Braby?s house in Boutiful, Utah. He began shooting the snow fall, then focused on drivers sliding down the hill. Police say there were nearly a dozen crashes, but fortunately no injuries.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years was forecast to hit Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.
A coronal mass ejection - a big chunk of the Sun's atmosphere - was hurled toward Earth on Sunday, driving energized solar particles at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), about five times faster than solar particles normally travel, the center's Terry Onsager said.
"When it hits us, it's like a big battering ram that pushes into Earth's magnetic field," Onsager said from Boulder, Colorado. "That energy causes Earth's magnetic field to fluctuate."
This energy can interfere with high frequency radio communications used by airlines to navigate close to the North Pole in flights between North America, Europe and Asia, so some routes may need to be shifted, Onsager said.
It could also affect power grids and satellite operations, the center said in a statement. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may be advised to shield themselves in specific parts of the spacecraft to avoid a heightened dose of solar radiation, Onsager said.
The space weather center said the geomagnetic storm's intensity would probably be moderate or strong, levels two and three on a five-level scale, five being the most extreme.
(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/sc_nm/us_sun_storm
The house at the end of the block was fast taking on the feel of a shrine when Joe Paterno stepped into the crisp November night with his wife, Sue, by his side. Students had gathered on the lawn, some carrying hand-lettered signs, many near tears and all of them confused, sad and angry.
For the first time in nearly half a century, Paterno was no longer Penn State's head coach, fired moments earlier by university trustees desperate to contain the damage caused by a child sex-abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator and one-time heir apparent Jerry Sandusky.
An era was ending, Paterno acknowledged.
"Right now, I'm not the coach. And I've got to get used to that," he said.
A mere 74 days later, Paterno was dead.
___
Paterno's 46th season in charge at Penn State began with a blindside hit ? an omen, perhaps, of the trouble to come.
As the Nittany Lions ran drills during a preseason practice Aug. 7, Paterno was watching the defense when wide receiver Devon Smith slammed into the then-84-year-old coach, injuring his shoulder and pelvis. Paterno spent two nights in the hospital, and the injuries would keep him in the pressbox during games for much of the season.
But he returned to practice three days after the collision, insisting the injuries would not force him into retirement.
"The day I wake up in the morning and say, `Hey, do I have to go to practice again?' then I'll know it's time to get out," Paterno said.
The Nittany Lions began the year as unsettled at quarterback as they had been the previous season, when their 7-6 record was their worst since going 4-7 in 2004. But Penn State's resounding 41-7 victory over FCS opponent Indiana State in the season-opener returned the Nittany Lions to the Top 25 for the first time in 11 months ? just in time for a visit from then-No. 3 Alabama, a rare showdown between two of the country's most storied programs.
With Beaver Stadium rocking, Penn State took the lead with a field goal on its first possession. But the Nittany Lions would manage only one more first down the rest of the first half as the Tide rolled to a 27-11 win.
"We certainly deserved a whooping today," Paterno said. "I think we've just got a lot of work ahead of us."
That became even more evident in the following weeks, as the Nittany Lions barely scraped out wins against Temple and lowly Indiana.
But the quarterback debate was eventually resolved ? enough, at least, so that the bruising running game and ferocious defense that had been Paterno's formula for success could take over once again. By the time Penn State headed to Northwestern, where Paterno would equal Eddie Robinson's record for most coaching victories, the Nittany Lions were tied with Wisconsin atop their Big Ten division and eligible for a bowl game at 6-1.
"Joe's always talked about Eddie with a great deal of respect, nothing but admiration for him," Paterno's son Jay, Penn State's quarterbacks coach, said then. "When you're in that kind of company, that's pretty elite company."
A week later, on Oct. 29, Penn State slogged out historic victory No. 409 in the snow against Illinois. The Nittany Lions fumbled six times, losing two of them, but Silas Redd scored on a 3-yard run with just over a minute to play to make Paterno the winningest coach in major college football.
The electronic sign boards lit up with congratulations, and fans braved the cold and snow to stick around after the game and celebrate their beloved "JoePa." At the postgame ceremony, Penn State president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley presented Paterno with a plaque that read, "Joe Paterno. Educator of Men. Winningest Coach. Division One Football."
"It really is something I've very proud of, to be associated with Eddie Robinson," Paterno said. "Something like this means a lot to me, an awful lot."
The victory improved Penn State to 8-1 and bumped the Lions up to No. 16 in the AP poll. As the lone unbeaten left in Big Ten play, with a two-game lead in the loss column in its division, Penn State had the inside track to the conference championship game.
Get there and win, and Paterno and Penn State would be headed to the Rose Bowl.
And then came the concussive blow that only a very few saw coming.
Sandusky, the architect of Penn State's ferocious defenses, was arrested Nov. 5 on charges of sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. The details in the grand jury report were graphic and lurid, a shocking rebuttal of Sandusky's reputation as someone devoted to helping at-risk kids. Worse, some of the alleged assaults were placed at the Penn State football complex.
Then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary testified he saw one of those assaults in 2002 and reported it to Paterno, who in turn told his superiors, Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz, who was head of campus security. Paterno insisted McQueary did not use the same graphic descriptions he has in court, where McQueary has said he saw what he believed was Sandusky raping a boy of about 10 or 12 in the Penn State showers. And Paterno swore he had no idea until then that Sandusky was a danger, despite a 1998 incident that was investigated by campus police.
Paterno's failure to call State College police, or even follow up with Curley and Schultz, initially sparked outrage outside Happy Valley.
With the university engulfed in turmoil, Paterno announced on Nov. 9 that he would retire at the end of the season.
"This is a tragedy," Paterno said. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."
The trustees would have none of it. Following a two-hour meeting that same night, vice chair John Surma instructed an assistant athletic director relay a message to Paterno's home to call him.
According to The Washington Post, Surma told Paterno, "In the best interests of the university, you are terminated." Paterno hung up and repeated the words to his wife, who redialed the number.
"After 61 years he deserved better," Sue Paterno said into the phone. "He deserved better." Then she hung up.
"Obviously Joe Paterno is a worldwide icon and has done a tremendous amount for the university," trustee Joel Myers said this week, explaining the board's decision to fire the coach. "We have sorrow and all kinds of emotions, empathy, sympathy for what has occurred. That's universal.
"But the university, this institution is greater than one person."
Enraged students flooded State College streets in protest of Paterno's firing, some throwing rocks and bottles and tipping over a TV news van. But tempers had calmed by Saturday, when Penn State hosted Nebraska in the Nittany Lions' first game in 46 years without Paterno in charge.
Though tailgates parties went on as usual under sunny skies, a sense of surreal surrounded the stadium, as if fans weren't quite sure how to react to Paterno's absence and the events that caused it. Beaver Stadium was awash in blue ? the color associated with child-abuse prevention ? and public-service announcements flashed on the scoreboard throughout the game. Fans wore shirts and carried signs in support of Paterno, and several students came dressed as JoePa in rolled-up khakis, white socks and thick, dark glasses.
Finally, when Paterno's image was shown in a video montage before the second-half kick-off, the student section let loose with chants of "Joe Paterno! Joe Paterno!"
The joy would be short-lived. The following Friday, Paterno's son Scott announced that his father was being treated for lung cancer, diagnosed the previous weekend. The cancer was treatable, Scott Paterno said, and doctors were optimistic his father would make a full recovery.
But it was apparent Paterno's decline was accelerating. A fall at his home Dec. 10 left him with a fractured pelvis, and he was hospitalized for a week to make it easier to receive his chemotherapy and radiation treatments while he recovered.
The cancer had clearly taken a toll. A picture of a frail Paterno showed him wearing a wig, his thick, dark hair gone. Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins, who landed Paterno's only interview after the firing, wrote that his gravelly voice was now a soft rasp, "like wind blowing across a field of winter stalks, rattling the husks." The second part of the interview was done at his bedside; later that day, Jan. 13, he was re-admitted to the hospital, where he died nine days later.
"You know, I'm not as concerned about me," Paterno told Jenkins. "What's happened to me has been great. I got five great kids. Seventeen great grandchildren. I've had a wonderful experience here at Penn State. I don't want to walk away from this thing bitter."
Walking away at all was hard for Paterno to imagine. Football, along with family, was his life, and he saw what happened to his friend and rival, Paul "Bear" Bryant.
"Quit coaching?" Bryant once said. "I'd croak in a week."
He died less than a month after he retired at Alabama.
Bobby Bowden, the longtime Florida State coach and a contemporary of both Paterno and Bryant, said it was more than coincidence.
"I thought the same thing about Coach Bryant," Bowden told the Tallahassee Democrat on Sunday. "He stopped coaching and Coach Bryant died a month later. Here with Joe, he stops coaching and he dies a few weeks later."
___(equals)
Follow Nancy Armour at http://www.twitter.com/nrarmour
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. ? A Marine sergeant who told his troops to "shoot first, ask questions later" in a raid that killed unarmed Iraqi women, children and elderly pleaded guilty Monday in a deal that will carry no more than three months confinement and end the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops from the Iraq War.
The agreement marked a stunning and muted end to the case once described as the Iraq War's version of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The government failed to get one manslaughter conviction in the case that implicated eight Marines in the deaths of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha in 2005.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, 31, of Meriden, Conn., who was originally accused of unpremeditated murder, pleaded guilty to negligent dereliction of duty for leading his troops to disregard rules of combat when they raided homes after a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others.
The Haditha incident is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.
"The case doesn't end with a bang, it ends with a whimper and a pretty weak whimper at that," said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge. "When you have 24 dead bodies and you get dereliction of duty, that's pretty good defense work."
Wuterich, his family and his attorneys declined to comment after he entered the plea that halted his manslaughter trial at Camp Pendleton before a jury of combat Marines who served in Iraq.
Prosecutors also declined to comment on the plea deal. Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said the deal was not a reflection or in any way connected to how the prosecution felt their case was going in the trial.
Wuterich, the father of three children, had faced the possibility of life behind bars when he was charged with nine counts of manslaughter, among other charges.
The prosecution implicated him in 19 of the 24 deaths.
The manslaughter charges will be dropped now that Wuterich has pleaded guilty to the minor dereliction of duty charge. As a result, he faces a maximum of three months in confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a rank demotion to private when he's sentenced.
Both sides will present arguments Tuesday during a sentencing hearing. Seven other Marines were acquitted or had charges dismissed in the case.
The killings still fuel anger in Iraq after becoming the primary reason behind demands that U.S. troops not be given immunity from their court system.
Kamil al-Dulaimi, a Sunni lawmaker from the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, called the plea deal a travesty of justice for the victims and their families.
"It's just another barbaric act of Americans against Iraqis," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "They spill the blood of Iraqis and get this worthless sentence for the savage crime against innocent civilians."
News of the plea agreement came late in the evening in Iraq, just hours before curfew most cities still impose, producing no noticeable public reaction. Government officials didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The issue at the court martial was whether Wuterich reacted appropriately as a Marine squad leader in protecting his troops in the midst of a chaotic war or disregarded combat rules and ordered his men to shoot and blast indiscriminately at Iraqi civilians.
Prosecutors said he lost control after seeing the body of his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead was a man in a wheelchair.
Wuterich has said he regretted the loss of civilian lives but believed he was operating within military combat rules.
During Monday's hearing, he acknowledged he told the squad before the raids to shoot without hesitation, leading them to believe they could ignore the rules of combat. He told the judge that caused "tragic events."
"I think we all understood what we were doing so I probably just should have said nothing," Wuterich told the judge, Lt. Col. David Jones.
He admitted he did not positively identify his targets, as he had been trained to do. He also said he ordered his troops to assault the homes based on the guidance of his platoon commander at the time.
Wuterich also acknowledged in his plea that the squad did not take any gunfire during the 45-minute raid on the homes or find any weapons.
After Haditha, Marine commanders ordered troops to try and distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The prosecution had several squad members testify, but many said they do not believe to this day that they did anything wrong because they feared insurgents were inside hiding. Several also acknowledged lying to investigators in the past, leaving doubt about their credibility.
The prosecution was further hurt by the testimony of former Lt. William T. Kallop, Wuterich's former platoon commander, who said the squad was justified in its actions because the house was declared hostile. From what was understood of the rules of combat at the time, that meant Marines could attack without hesitation, Kallop said.
Legal experts say the prosecution had an uphill battle because of the delay caused by six years of pre-trial wrangling between the defense and prosecution, including over whether the military could use unaired outtakes from an interview Wuterich gave in 2007 to the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes."
Prosecutors eventually won that right but overestimated its value, analysts say.
Solis, the former military prosecutor, said the military should have pushed for an earlier trial to ensure witnesses' memories were fresh.
"Six years for a trial is unacceptable," said Solis, who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center. "Delay is always to the benefit of the accused."
He said prosecutors may have been cowed by the Army's missteps in its handling of the death of former NFL star and Ranger Pat Tillman from friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.
___
Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Mazin Yahya in Baghdad, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON ? Early results of exit polls in South Carolina show that for most voters, the economy was the top issue when picking a Republican presidential candidate.
Around a third of them said Saturday that someone in their household has been laid off in the last three years.
The preliminary data also show that when it comes to the qualities of their candidate, nearly half want someone who can defeat President Barack Obama in this fall's elections.
The conservative viewpoint of many of the state's GOP voters was also clear. Solid majorities consider themselves conservative and around the same number support the tea party. And well more than half say they are born again or evangelical Christians.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics
The median amount of time it's taking for unemployed people to find new jobs is about 21 weeks.
Here?s the good news: Employers are hiring more workers than they are firing these days, a welcome turnaround from the darkest days of the Great Recession.
Here?s the bad news: If you are among those unlucky enough to lose your job now, you'd better prepare for a long job search.
The median duration of unemployment was 21 weeks or about five months as of December. That means half of all unemployed workers had been without a job for more than five months.
That?s actually an improvement from mid-2010, when the median duration of unemployment peaked at 25 weeks. But it?s still nearly three times what it was before the recession began and much higher than in previous tough job markets.
The main problem: There just aren?t enough jobs to go around.
Last year the economy added an average of about 137,000 jobs a month. While that?s better than when the economy was shedding jobs, it wasn?t nearly enough to absorb the millions of unemployed and new workers entering the market, said Sylvia Allegretto, an economist with the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.
?That rate of job growth is simply not fast enough to really soak up all those who are unemployed and underemployed, and those who have left the labor market and will be coming back to the labor market,? Allegretto said.
?
Allegretto doesn?t expect the situation to improve?much soon for the long-term unemployed.
That?s partly because there are still 13 million people who are unemployed and seeking work. It?s also because there are many other Americans out there who may have stopped looking for a job because the market was so bad, and will start looking again if the market improves.
Those excruciatingly long job searches are an especially big problem for older workers. The median duration of unemployment for 20- to 24-year-olds was 16.3 weeks in December, compared with 31.4 weeks for 55- to 64-year-olds.
Related:
Many Americans still not prepared for a job loss?????
Five years without work: Labor department will now track it
How long do you think it would take you to find a new job?
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Nokia has launched a new budget Windows phone. So how does the Lumia 710 fare against its competitors??
A week or so back, Nokia?introduced?the Lumia 710, a budget smartphone equipped with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango software, a?3.7-inch screen, and a $50 price tag. Today, the Lumia 710 made news again ? this time thanks to Wal-Mart, which is literally giving away 710 handsets, provided consumers sign a two-year voice and data contract.?So how does the Lumia 710 stack up? Let's go to the scorecards.?
Skip to next paragraphThe opening assessment?
"After a week of testing the Lumia 710, my verdict is that it's a good value for the money, and a good choice for people moving up to their first smartphone, or those looking for an alternative to Android and Apple," Walt Mossberg writes in The Wall Street Journal.?"It has some notable weaknesses and drawbacks, and it doesn't compare with the iPhone 4S or elite Android models like the Samsung Galaxy S II. But it's a decent phone that gets the most common smartphone tasks done."
The hardware
"The Lumia 710 looks and feels like a decent device,"?writes?Todd Haselton at Boy Genius Report. "The back cover is plastic but it has a nice soft-touch rubber feel and the entire face is glossy black, although a white version is also available from T-Mobile. There are three hardware buttons below the phone?s 3.7-inch display, which actually isn?t that impressive. While the curved glass AMOLED ClearBlack display on the Lumia 800 was very impressive, the standard ClearBlack display on T-Mobile?s?Lumia 710 is not. Colors are washed out and the brightness is not where it needs to be, but this was likely required in order to keep the cost of the phone down."?
The hardware, part two
"One differentiator I liked is the fact that, unlike on other Windows Phones I've tried, the main navigation bar beneath the display uses physical keys," writes Paul McDougall at Information Week. "Call me a sucker for tactile feedback. What I didn't like is that the side buttons, for power, volume, and camera, are virtually flush to the casing. This was particular irksome when trying to depress the camera button for a quick pic."
The camera?
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/j-Ij39NtcJg/Nokia-Lumia-710-review-roundup
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Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, producers of the documentary film "West of Memphis," are interviewed at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- for the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, producers of the documentary film "West of Memphis," are interviewed at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- for the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Damien Echols, left, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Damien Echols, center, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Pam Hobbs, left, and Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher and Hobbs' son Stevie. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering a plea that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowleding that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Amy Berg, left, director and screenwriter of the documentary film "West of Memphis," poses with, from left, producers Damien Echols and his wife Lorri Davis, and producer Peter Jackson at the premiere of the film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The film uncovers new evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of three men -- Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. -- in the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Damien Echols, left, a producer of the film "West of Memphis," mingles with Mark Byers at the premiere of the documentary film at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Echols spent 18 years on death row in Arkansas after being accused, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., of the murders of three eight-year-old boys including Byers' son Christopher. In August 2011 the three men were released from prison after entering pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence, while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Peter Jackson believes Damien Echols would be dead now if not for a 1996 documentary that cast doubt on the man's guilt in three child murders.
And Amy Berg, Jackson's colleague on the Sundance Film Festival premiere "West of Memphis," believes former Death Row inmate Echols and two other men might still be in prison if not for the independent investigation launched by "The Lord of the Rings" filmmaker and his wife, Fran Walsh.
There's no better testament at Sundance to the power of art and artists than "West of Memphis," which premiered Friday night at Robert Redford's independent-film showcase. Sundance films often come from mavericks who challenge the establishment. "West of Memphis" is a tale of artists not only challenging the system, but also beating it.
Jackson, Walsh and Berg said "West of Memphis" amounts to the fair trial Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley ? known as the West Memphis Three ? never got as Arkansas teenagers when they were convicted in 1994.
"We went into this case believing that they didn't do it, and the facts and the evidence we came out with at the end completely supported that," Jackson said in an interview. "So is the documentary sort of providing the prosecution's point of view? No, it's not. We're not interested in that. They had their go back in 1994. ... The documentary, it's the case against the state, really."
The case was a shocker in the rural Arkansas community where 8-year-old Cub Scouts Michael Moore, Steve Branch and Christopher Byers were slain in 1993. Found naked and hogtied, two of the boys drowned in a drainage ditch, while the third bled to death, his genitals mutilated, evidence prosecutors used to claim the children were killed in a satanic ritual.
The defendants were convicted based in part on a confession Misskelley later recanted. Misskelley and Baldwin were sentenced to life in prison, while Echols was condemned to death and once came within weeks of execution.
The case became a cause after Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's documentary "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," which premiered at Sundance in 1996 and questioned whether justice or misguided public opinion was served in the trial. Over the years, celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks joined the effort to free the men.
Jackson and Walsh watched "Paradise Lost" in 2005 and were outraged over the case. From their home base in New Zealand, they got in touch with Lorri Davis, who had met and married Echols while he was on Death Row and was leading the fight to free the men.
"Justice should be beyond popular opinion, and in this case, it wasn't," Walsh said. "The popular opinion was these guys were guilty, therefore, they're going down. It really was a done deal."
Over the next six years, Jackson and Walsh financed their own investigation, hiring forensics experts, gathering DNA evidence and tracking down witnesses to show that the prosecution had convicted innocent men.
"The way Peter and Fran just attacked the case, it made us feel like we had hope for the very first time," Echols, 37, said in an interview alongside Davis.
The hope was well-founded. Helped by evidence Jackson and Walsh's investigation collected, the case seemed headed toward a retrial.
Then last August, both sides agreed to a rare legal maneuver in which Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley entered guilty pleas that allowed them to maintain their innocence and gain their freedom for prison time already served.
Some people in Arkansas, including the family of one of the murdered boys, still believe the three men are guilty. Yet as the years passed, even the families of the other two dead boys became convinced that prosecutors went after the wrong suspects. The mother of one boy and stepfather of another came to Sundance, sharing hugs at the premiere with Echols, who said he's "happy to call them friends now."
Three years into their investigation, Jackson and Walsh contacted director Berg, whose 2006 priest-molestation documentary "Deliver Us from Evil" earned an Academy Award nomination. Berg signed on to direct "West of Memphis," which traces the 18-year history of the case and features interviews with Jackson and many witnesses and experts he and Walsh worked with.
"I would submit this film to court, so that's how strongly I feel about it," said Davis, a producer on the film along with Echols, Jackson and Walsh.
The film also builds a case that a stepfather of one of the murdered boys should be investigated.
Jackson said that without "Paradise Lost," ''Damien would be dead by now, so I do believe that film saved his life. And I'm hoping that our movie goes some way toward exoneration and catching the person that killed those three kids."
Walsh and Jackson stop short of saying their efforts led to the release of Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley. Yet Berg thinks the evidence brought to light by Jackson and Walsh was crucial.
"Without the discovery of the DNA, there's no way that these guys would be walking free, and that came so much from Peter and Fran and their investigation," Berg said.
Since his release, Echols has lived a nomadic life with Davis. He went to New Zealand to visit the set of Jackson and Walsh's upcoming "Lord of the Rings" prequel "The Hobbit" and has been staying with other friends while trying to decide on his future.
Sitting with his arm entwined around Davis', Echols said the hardships he endured were worth it because of the life he now has ahead of him.
"If I had to go through everything I did in the last 18 years to be with Lorri and to be in this situation, no, I wouldn't change it," Echols said. "I would go through it again if it meant being with Lorri."
___
Online:
http://www.sundance.org
Associated Pressweather gina carano al green at last burger king delivery etta james at last obama sings al green
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? A scientific panel backed a U.S. government finding that electronic software played no role in sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles, but the group questioned the ability of regulators to investigate similar, complex cases on their own in the future without improving their technical expertise.
The National Research Council's Transportation Research Board report released on Wednesday effectively concluded the sweeping federal investigation into the recalls of 8 million Toyota and Lexus cars and trucks in 2009 and 2010.
"I think it does close the book. I think it sustains the work that we did and verifies the work that we did," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on the sidelines of a conference in Washington.
LaHood sought the independent report from academic, industry, scientific and regulatory experts as a follow-up to the overarching Toyota investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with help from technical experts at NASA.
NHTSA came under fire in 2010 from Congress and consumer and safety groups, who complained that it for years underreacted to complaints about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles and pressed for recalls only after a deadly California crash and other questions surfaced about oversight.
NHTSA investigators tied sudden acceleration recalls to loose floormats that could jam the accelerator and gas pedals that did not spring back as designed. However, questions persisted about whether potential faults in Toyota electronic throttles were also a factor.
NHTSA and NASA subsequently determined jointly last February that throttles played no role in the Toyota case and said driver error would likely explain most sudden acceleration incidents beyond the already identified equipment and mechanical flaws.
The conclusion spared Toyota from the possibility of new recalls and additional questions about the safety of its products.
The Research Council review supported the thoroughness and conclusions of the joint agency investigation based on the information that was available to analyze.
"The committee finds NHTSA's decision to close its investigation justified on the basis of the agency's initial defect investigations, which were corroborated by its follow-up analyses of thousands of consumer complaints, examinations of event data recorders in vehicles suspected to have crashed because of unintended acceleration, and the results of NASA's study," the research council members said in their final report.
But the scientific group did not dismiss the possibility of safety related glitches occurring in electronic systems now ubiquitous in car design industrywide, saying such events would leave no evidence that they occurred.
Moreover, the researchers said it was troubling that NHTSA could not answer questions about sudden acceleration without outside help and said it was crucial it develop the expertise to do so on its own.
"As more complex and interacting electronics systems are deployed, the prospect that vehicle electronics will be suspected and possibly implicated in unsafe vehicle behaviors increases," the panel said.
The group recommended that NHTSA convene a standing technical committee to advise on issues involving electronics and review its technological needs for new resources.
Toyota did not address the research council findings directly, but said in a statement the group's work was valuable.
The company said it would work with regulators and Congress to address the report's recommendations to strengthen NHTSA understanding of vehicle systems and its oversight of the industry.
The panel also supported NHTSA's efforts to make electronic recording devices mandatory on all new cars and trucks and its research on new accelerator pedal designs and keyless ignitions. All were factors in the Toyota investigation.
Toyota still faces hundreds of lawsuits in the recall cases.
(Reporting By John Crawley; editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Andre Grenon)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/us_nm/us_toyota_panel
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