Beef Jerky News

Truck driver’s mom seeks help freeing son from Mexican jail

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:30:15 +0000

El Paso lawyer Carlos Spector says the U.S. truck driver who was arrested in Juárez with a truckload of ammunition had legitimate deliveries to make in El Paso before he ended up in a wrong southbound lane at the Bridge of the Americas.

Jabin Akeem Bogan, 27, of Dallas, faces serious charges in Mexico, because it is illegal to transport weapons and ammunition across the border without authorization.

The truck driver was arrested April 17 with 268,000 rounds of ammunition, most of them 308 Pakistani rounds, which among other things have commercial uses.

Spector said Bogan’s employer, Demco Inc., said Bogan was supposed to transport the cargo from Johnson City, Tenn., to Phoenix, with intermediate deliveries to three El Paso companies on April 17.

Those companies are:

Siemen Energy and Automation, 1400 Henry Brennan.

Nichirin Coupler Inc., 9600 Plaza Circle.

Care Fusion, 1550 Northwestern Drive.

Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives previously said the manifests for the cargo appeared to be in order and did not suggest any wrongdoing on the truck driver’s part.

Bogan is charged with introducing ammunition that is for the exclusive use of the military, which could net a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

“It was while Mr. Bogan was traveling on the border freeway towards the West side of El Paso, Texas, that he accidentally entered into Juárez, Mexico,” Spector said.

Bogan’s mother, Aletha Smith, and another relative traveled to El Paso to seek help to get her son out of the jail in Veracruz, Mexico. She was at a news conference Wednesday at Spector’s office.

“My son is not a criminal,” said Smith, who broke down in tears. “When you see me, it’s like seeing him. Return my son to me. He only made a mistake.”

Spector said that according to Bogan’s account, an officer wearing a blue uniform at the bridge did not permit Bogan to use the regular turnaround because his truck was blocking traffic. The officer “indicated to (Bogan) to drive further (south) where he could make the turn,” Spector said. but Bogan soon found himself on the Mexican side of the bridge, where officials detained him and seized the cargo.

El Pasoan Kevin Huckabee, whose son had been tortured and imprisoned in Juárez, said Bogan did not have a U.S. passport and therefore had no intention of crossing the border.

A staffer for U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who represents the district where Bogan lives, confirmed that the lawmaker’s staff is looking into the case.

Bogan’s relatives said they went to the bridge Wednesday to see how the truck driver wound up in the wrong lane and took pictures. while they were at the bridge, an officer took away their cellphones and erased the pictures they took.

Roger Maier, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said no one at the agency recalls such an encounter. “We’re not the only ones with blue uniforms at the bridge,” he said.

Spector said an investigation is needed on the U.S. side of the border to determine how Bogan was directed by U.S. officials toward the Mexican side of the border instead of being allowed to turn around before reaching the international boundary.

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.

Call to make drivers pay for breakdowns

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:30:11 +0000

Updated May 14, 2012 10:43:11

The Victorian Transport Association (VTA) says drivers who break down on Melbourne’s freeways are getting a free ride.

The association is calling for motorists who become stranded on freeways because of a mechanical problem or because they have run out of petrol to pay a fee.

VTA spokesman Phil Lovel says two trucks break down on City Link every day and one truck runs out of fuel every week.

He says there is nothing to penalise drivers who simply forget to fill up.

“How can you run out of fuel if you do a pre-check of your truck, which every responsible operator should do and every driver should do,” he told ABC local radio.

“[If] they run out of fuel on one of the middle lanes on City Link, they get pushed to the side. It’s a safety issue.”

He says City Link then goes out and gives them petrol and they drive off with no penalty.

“Why don’t we just charge them for the fuel they’ve got and then also an administration charge for the service vehicle who had to go out and see them?”

Luke Donellan, the Opposition spokesman for road safety says cutting back the incident response teams on Victoria’s arterial roads is going to have a major impact on congestion.

“The real issue here is they’ve cut the incident response units in half, by 50 per cent.

They take care of 11,000 incidences per year on arterials and freeways. That is going to have a major impact.”

first posted May 14, 2012 10:23:03

Yahoo ousts CEO over bogus claims on resume

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:30:16 +0000

Yahoo says it is appointing Ross Levinsohn as interim CEO and Fred Amoroso as chairman of its board, effective immediately.

Amoroso was the board member leading the investigation into inaccuracies on Thompson’s resume. Levinsohn is Yahoo’s head of global media.

Third Point, the hedge fund that owns a 6 percent stake in Yahoo, has pushed for the changes. third Point CEO Dan Loeb and two of his nominees will join Yahoo’s board. four directors who had planned to retire at the annual meeting will step down immediately.

At various times, published summaries of Thompson’s academic background have included a computer science degree from Stonehill College. Thompson earned an accounting degree from Stonehill, a Catholic school near Boston, in 1979. He did not earn a computer science degree. Yahoo correctly lists that information in his biography.

Yahoo hired Thompson, the former head of eBay’s PayPal, in January to help orchestrate a turnaround. Though Yahoo is one of the Internet’s most-visited websites, the company has struggled to grow in face of competition from the likes of Google and Facebook. The company’s difficulties have irked investors. Thompson took the helm as Yahoo’s fourth chief executive in less than five years.

Carlos Kirjner, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, declined to comment on whether Yahoo’s board would be wise to oust Thompson. but he did suggest that Thompson’s previous job, as president of the fast-growing PayPal, hadn’t prepared him for Yahoo.

“It is very different to be CEO of a growth company, making choices between opportunities, and to be CEO of a company in turnaround mode, whose parts are declining or losing share,” Kirjner said.

The associated Press previously reported that Thompson told his colleagues that he didn’t supply the incorrect information. The Wall Street Journal said Sunday that the Chicago headhunting firm, Heidrick & Struggles, which Thompson blamed for the bogus information, has denied the claim in an internal memo. Officials from Heidrick & Struggles didn’t immediately return calls for comment.

The flap over Thompson’s inaccurate bio earlier claimed as its first casualty Patti Hart, the Yahoo director who oversaw the search that culminated in Thompson’s hiring. Hart is to step down at Yahoo’s still-unscheduled annual meeting later this year.

Thompson’s resume’ discrepancy might have been more forgivable at a company that was making money for shareholders, said James Post, a management professor at Boston University.

“Yahoo has been embattled for such a long time that there are a lot of people prepared to believe the worst about that company,” said Post, who specializes in corporate governance and professional ethics. “When you’re angry at the management and the board, when nothing’s going right and you’re losing money, it’s understandable that shareholders would adopt an ‘off with their head’ attitude.”

Soldiers wary as residents rage in Syria’s Idlib

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:30:16 +0000

May 10, 2012|Mariam Karouny | Reuters

ARIHA, Syria (Reuters) – the Syrian army checkpoints around the northern town of Ariha are in such a dangerous spot that even food for the soldiers is brought in by tank.

the soldiers at one position outside Ariha say they have not ventured inside the town for months, fearing for their safety in an area where hostility to President Bashar al-Assad has reached boiling point.

“We just stay here,” one soldier told reporters who visited Idlib this week. “Today there was an attack on the checkpoints around us – if we go inside Ariha they will slice us up”.

Ariha is in Idlib province, a hotbed for an uprising against Assad’s rule that broke out in March last year.

it has also borne the brunt of a military crackdown on the revolt, which began with peaceful protests but developed into an armed insurgency, with activists reporting shelling of towns, mass arrests and widespread killing by security forces.

the violence by security forces has fueled resentment among many residents even if some of them are also disenchanted by the militarization of the opposition movement.

“When the first drop of blood was spilt the regime lost,” said Mahmoud, a 29-year-old resident of Idlib city.

“We are a very close society and in cities and towns we know each other…so with every martyr falling, more people will go out to the street and there is no way to bring them back.”

Soldiers were on high alert on Tuesday evening when a group of United Nations officers, trying to monitor a ceasefire which has been violated by both government forces and rebels, approached Idlib.

as their convoy left the highway to enter the city, two armored vehicles filled with soldiers arrived as escort. There were three checkpoints on the road, each manned by dozens of soldiers and approached by a single lane lined by sand barriers.

When the convoy stopped, soldiers jumped out the vehicle and took up defensive positions, scanning the fields on either side watching for gunmen.

in the city itself, gunfire could be heard almost constantly on Tuesday night and at least one explosion shook buildings.

Provincial governor Yasser al-Shoufi blamed the violence on “external incitement”, a reference to neighboring Turkey which shares a border with Idlib and harbors Free Syrian Army rebels carrying out attacks inside Syria.

“If it were not for the external provocation that is coming to us from across the border the situation in Syria would have been fine,” he said.

Schools and shops were open as usual in Idlib on Tuesday and Wednesday. But signs of recent attacks and clashes were visible. Bullet holes scarred some buildings and concrete barriers blocked roads leading to administrative offices.

At the Carlton Hotel, which was shut last summer after the uprising began but reopened to host U.N. monitors, shattered windows and a badly damaged restaurant hall were evidence of shooting which soldiers said happened every night.

“We are fighting gunmen who are destroying the country,” said a soldier in the hotel who gave his name as Asaad. “We do not know what they want – I am a soldier doing my job protecting my country”.

in the middle of the road south from Idlib on Wednesday were the scorched remains of a tank, destroyed in the 24 hours since journalists passed the same spot on Tuesday. There appeared to be no soldiers in a military post on a bridge overlooking the burnt out wreckage.

But in the villages on Idlib’s outskirts, residents vented their rage less than one kilometer (half a mile) from an army checkpoint.

“The army still comes and fires at us, they are killing us,” said a resident called Hilal. “Yes, since the observers arrived it has declined, but it is still happening.”

Another person shouted: “If we are killed a million times, we will not be silenced. Anyone who kills our children cannot be our president”.

a 10-year-old boy said soldiers raided his house two weeks ago.

“One of them was carrying a gun and asked me if my father had a one like it, I said no. so they took my computer.”

the soldiers said daily clashes took place with gunmen that sometimes turned into pitched battles. they often had to call for reinforcements.

“The city of Idlib is safe,” said one. “But all of the surrounding areas are boiling.”

Most soldiers were from the eastern province of Deir al-Zor and the Mediterranean coast, while residents said at least some of the fighters in the countryside around Idlib were foreigners – a point which Syrian authorities have repeatedly stressed as part of their argument that they face a foreign-backed insurgency rather than domestic discontent.

“There are Libyans fighting here for sure. we know that and everybody in the city knows that,” said Issam, who said he backed the revolt but was unhappy that it was more militarized.

“I could leave to Aleppo, but if I leave the security will burn my house. they are doing that to those who leave,” he said.

(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Link – Android Apps – Best Android Apps, News and Reviews

admin — Sun, 13 May 2012 19:30:18 +0000

Full trip planning for NSW trains, buses and ferries.

** Please try Link Express before purchasing Link to ensure it works alright on your phone.Link gets you from where you are to where you want to go by public transport in new South Wales. good for locals and pretty much essential for travellers looking to get around Sydney and NSW on a budget.

Here are some of Link’s features:

• look like a badass. Rock up at the right platform at the right time without looking at the scrolly screens on the concourse. Link shows you which platform or bus stand to be at. everyone will want to be your friend – trust me.

• Great for bus noobs. Stop using StreetView to look for landmarks when you’re riding an unfamiliar bus route. Link shows you a map of where you need to get off and where you currently are so you know when to press the buzzer. not too early so that the bus stops at the preceding stop and everyone behind you shoots lasers from their eyes into the back of your head, and not too late so that someone gets in on the button-pressing action before you.

• Why should you be awake on public transport while your phone sleeps? Technology should be working for us! That’s why we invented robots slaves, right? Link can monitor your location and wake you up when you get close to your destination either by distance or time. Just don’t blame us when the machines become sentient and you miss your stop.

• ever wake up and not know where you are? It happens to me all the time! That’s why Link can detect your location and plan your trip home, or to Stanmore Maccas.

• too many lunatics on buses? Siderodromophobic? Link lets you exclude modes of travel from your plan. you can also exclude ferries but who wouldn’t want ride a ferry? Nobody. That’s who.

• see trackwork and service disruptions. Keep up to date so you know to call your mate and say that you can’t go to the party because you’re seeing your grandmother (but actually because you don’t want to ride a trackwork bus or change buses at 1 AM at Mount Druitt station).

• quick reference to network diagrams. no need to visit the 131500 website and download a 7MB PDF that takes 30 seconds to zoom and scroll just to see if you can take the 461 instead of the 483.

• Pick your destination from your contacts! Now you can ask for someone’s address when you get their number. Strangely, I haven’t been able to test this on anyone yet…

• Copy your trips to clip board as text so you can send it to all your friends who don’t have this app.

• Press on a bus stop to send that bus stop number to 0488 TXT BUS! Older phones need to manually paste the number though. Lame!

What does Link have that Link Express does not?• Location search history so you don’t have to search each time you go somewhere other than work.• History and favourites to see your searches without internet access or quickly plan a new trip based on an existing one.• Fast proximity alarm mode for all your previous locations for when you know your route but still want to doze off on the bus.

What does Link Express have that Link does not?• It’s free! Spend your money on a Son of Mac at Maccas instead if they ever bring it back. Otherwise you might have to settle for a cheeseburger, but at least you still get the gherkin.

Gang expert: Suspects in Vacaville murder trial went ‘hunting Norteños’

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:30:28 +0000

Three suspects charged with the shooting death of a Vacaville teen in 2010 were Sureño gang members “actively hunting Norteños,” a gang expert testified Thursday in Solano County Superior Court.

Prosecutors allege that murder defendants Adrian Torres, 22, Rudolfo Raymond Ortega Jr., 23, and Jesus Vidrio, 24, traveled to the Rocky Hill area of Vacaville on March 5, 2010, looking to settle a score with Humberto “Beto” Padilla over a fight Beto was involved in earlier that day with Ortega’s cousin. Prosecutors also believe it was Ortega and Torres who approached Beto and his friends on Meadows Drive that evening, exchanged some words and then opened fire with semi-automatic handguns.

Beto was killed and then-16-year-old Ray Estrada Jr. was seriously wounded.

Vacaville police Detective Andy Stefenoni, testifying as a gang expert, previously told jurors that it was his opinion that Ortega and Torres were members of the Sureño criminal street gang. On Thursday, he was back on the witness stand and offered the same opinion of Vidrio, who is believed to have acted as the getaway driver.

Stefenoni also said that the trio’s actions were for the benefit of a gang.

Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Terry Ray asked Stefenoni a hypothetical question as to why three Sureño gang members would travel into known Norteño territory.

It was Stefenoni’s opinion that they were “actively hunting Norteños.”

Cross-examination of Stefenoni by defense attorneys was put on hold so that Vidrio’s defense counsel, Bay Area attorney Tim a. Pori, could call his own gang expert, Dr. Rahn Y. Minagawa, to testify.

The San Diego-based clinical and forensic psychologist testified that Vidrio lacked the “risk factors,” such as family members that are gang members, substance abuse and a criminal history, that would lead him to be involved in a gang. Minagawa also said that many people begin to distance themselves from gang culture by age 18 or 19 due to things such as jobs and girlfriends. Vidrio was 21 years old at the time of the shootings and had been working, according to testimony.

“It would be very unrealistic at that time to be trying to join a gang or ‘put in work,’ ” Minagawa testified.

Ultimately, it was Minagawa’s opinion that Vidrio was not a gang member.

Ray’s cross-examination of Minagawa began with the doctor’s admission that he did not receive about 400 pages of police reports related to the case, nor did he talk to any local gang detectives prior to forming his opinion of Vidrio.

Ray also questioned him about his “risk factors,” beginning with Vidrio’s family members.

Minagawa said that Vidrio admitted to him that he had family members who were “identified” as gang members, but denied that they were involved in a gang.

The doctor appeared undeterred when Ray posed a hypothetical question as to whether leading police on a high-speed pursuit with two known gang members qualified as benefiting a gang.

“They (Ortega and Torres) may be benefiting from it, but it’s not necessarily him doing it for the benefit of the gang,” Minagawa testified.

The defendants are charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the shootings. Each faces assault with a deadly weapon charges and a special allegation that the crimes were committed in furtherance of a gang. The trial is set to resume at 10 a.m. on Monday in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Harry S. Kinnicutt.

Follow Staff Writer Ryan Chalk at Twitter.com/RyanChalk1883.

Wisconsin Ag Connection -

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:30:04 +0000

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines Article not FoundSorry, the requested article could not be found. Please click here to return to our home page. Other Wisconsin Headlines Copyright

Pickup truck driver crashes into Sylmar motel; 3 injured, arrested

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:30:19 +0000

Three people were injured when a 62-year-old man lost control of his pickup truck and accidentally rammed into a motel in Sylmar on Wednesday. | See photo gallery.

Two of the injured people decided to walk out of the hospital because they were wanted on outstanding felony warrants, according to Sgt. Larry Jones, with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division. Officers eventually arrested them.

The incident began around 9:20 a.m., when the driver of a Toyota Tundra experienced a “medical issue.”

“He was apparently stopped at the curb, lost control, and his truck jumped the curb and went right into the motel,” Jones said. “It went all the way in – we’re so lucky nobody got killed.”

Two men and a woman inside the Roxford Motel sustained injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken leg, and were taken to a hospital.

Jones said both men later walked out of the hospital without being released, but police arrested them. He said the woman was also detained in connection with traffic violations.

christina.villacorte@dailynews.com

213-974-8985

twitter.com/LADNvillacorte

Alameda soldier killed after month in Afghanistan

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:30:14 +0000

an Army solider remembered as a “regular kid” from Alameda was killed Sunday in Afghanistan, where he had been posted just a month ago after eight years in the military, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Fogarty, 30, a married father of two young sons, was killed in Ahmad-Kheyl when enemy forces attacked his unit, officials said.

Fogarty was commanding a vehicle when it was attacked, officials said. three other soldiers were wounded.

A graduate of Alameda High School, Fogarty joined the Army in January 2004 and deployed to Afghanistan in April. before his deployment, he had been a recruiter for the military, the Pentagon said.

He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.

Fogarty’s family left for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday to receive his remains, neighbors said.

Fogarty’s stepfather is Mike Fisher, a former interim chief of the Alameda Fire Department. The family’s home on Alameda’s Bay Farm Island is down the street from a fire station.

Fogarty leaves behind his wife, Vanessa, and their two sons, ages 2 and 5.

A car belonging to Fogarty’s mother sat in her driveway Tuesday, its license-plate frame reading, “Army mom.”

Fogarty’s father, also named Thomas Fogarty, lives elsewhere in Alameda.

“I’m really saddened by it,” neighbor Jackie Curry, 38, said of Staff Sgt. Fogarty’s death. “I just think he needs to be remembered as a brave man who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”

Margie Sherratt, former counselor and principal at Alameda High School, said Tuesday, “He was just a regular kid who loved to have a good time. he was known to have a sense of humor. he was a quiet kind of guy. We’re very proud of what he did for our country.”

This article appeared on page C – 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Watch: Soldier returns home from Afghanistan, surprises kids before Diamondbacks game

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:30:10 +0000

(CBS News) the Arizona Diamondbacks lost at home to the St. Louis Cardinals Monday night but for the Aguirre family, it was a homecoming to remember.

As CBS affiliate KPHO reports, the family has come to every Diamondbacks home opener for years but the tradition was broken this season. That’s because Lt. Col. Paul Aguirre has been serving in Kandahar, Afghanistan with the Arizona National Guard for the past eight months. his children – 6-year-old Jackson and 5-year-old Alanna – were told he would finally be returning home at the end of this week.

On Monday night at Chase Field, Aguirre delivered a pre-game message to his kids on the stadium’s giant video screen, telling them he loved them and promising to be home from Afghanistan in a few days. but in reality, Aguirre was not in military fatigues thousands of miles away – he was in a Diamondbacks uniform just a few feet away.

After the video message, Jackson and Alanna were invited to throw out first pitches to the Diamondbacks catcher at home plate. little did they know the man behind the catcher’s mask was actually their dad. As the children walked toward home plate, they embraced their father in a tearful reunion as the 26,447 fans in attendance applauded.

Said Paul: “When I started walking out there, I was welling up with emotion.”