Thief returns $800 from 1980s Michigan burglary

HASTINGS, Mich. (AP) ? A burglar expressing guilt about stealing $800 from a western Michigan store three decades ago has repaid the money, plus some interest.

The anonymous thief sent a note and $1,200 in $100 bills to the Barry County sheriff's department in Hastings, and they arrived Monday, WOOD-TV reported (http://bit.ly/WzFNjS ).

The writer admitted breaking into the Middle Mart on Michigan 37 in Thornapple Township north of Middleville about 30 years ago.

In a letter packed with emotion and spelling errors, the writer asks for "help in locating a man" to whom the writer owes the money.

"Anyways, I did a very bad thing that I am shamed of and have lived with this guilt," the writer said. "I can't begin to say how sorry iam but have lived with this guilt too long," the letter went on to say. "If you do find him, please tell him that I was afoolish stupid man when I did that and iam sorrie."

The letter was unsigned and had no return address.

The $1,200, while it includes some interest, falls short of making up for the loss in the dollar's purchasing power over the intervening years. The stolen $800 would be worth about $1,800 today, based on changes in the consumer price index.

WOOD-TV said the former owner of the store, now called Greg's Get-N-Go, confirmed it was broken into in the 1980s. The store was sold in 1988.

Undersheriff Bob Baker said the letter and cash came as quite a surprise.

"This doesn't happen every day," Baker said. He said the department isn't interested in reopening the case because of the time that has passed.

___

Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-03-18-Burglar's%20Conscience/id-a205e7f75a8346b6bef766cb5339e88e

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It's Not Just About Marriage Law ? Family Scholars

April DeBoer (second from left) sits with her adopted daughter Ryanne, 3, and Jayne Rowse and her adopted sons Jacob, 3, and Nolan, 4, at their home in Hazel Park, Mich., on Tuesday. (caption by NPR)

We?ve been talking a lot lately about the upcoming DOMA/Prop 8 cases before the Supreme Court and debating the cases for and against marriage equality. Sometimes ?gay marriage? can seem like the only or most important issue for LGBT folks. In fact, many of us have had the experience of talking with someone who assumes that once gay marriage is legal then anti-gay prejudice and marginalization will ? poof! ? be a thing of the past. We?ll be able to put down our ?activist? hats and embrace our mainstream status.

But the marginalization of LGBT individuals and families goes a lot deeper than marriage law. One such example comes from my home state of Michigan, which has some of the most restrictive laws in the nation regarding recognition of same-sex relationships ? including a ban on same-sex partners adopting together. While heterosexual couples and single people are welcomed as prospective adoptive parents, gay and lesbian couples are explicitly denied the ability to provide their children with two legal parents.

A lesbian couple who are parenting three adopted children have sued the state for the right to co-adopt. From the NPR story on their case:

As foster parents, Rowse and DeBoer shared legal guardianship of Jacob. When they decided to adopt the boy, they faced the same decision they?d faced with the two other children: which of them would be the legal parent. They chose Rowse, who is also Nolan?s legal mother. That meant DeBoer actually lost legal rights she had as a foster parent.

?I lose the right to make medical decisions for my boys,? DeBoer says. ?I can?t enroll my boys in school. I am on an emergency card at school ? I am listed as just an emergency contact person. I am not a parent. I am nothing.?

You can read the whole story over at NPR.

There have been a number of people in this space who have expressed varying degrees of concern about the sanctioning of same-sex relationships through marriage because they feel this legitimizes gay and lesbian parents as procreative partners in some way.

What I think gets lost in such abstract discussions ? about same-sex couples somehow, in future, creating new life together ? is the fact that LGBT parents are?already?parenting without the full legal recognition that, in hundreds of little ways, ties parents to their children and ensures kids will have their parents or guardians present for them ? advocating and decision-making as necessary ? throughout their childhood. Statistically speaking, LGBT parents are also generally caring for their own biological children or adopting children who would otherwise spend their lives in the foster system. Parents (straight, gay, lesbian, or otherwise) who have used assisted reproductive strategies, too, are parenting children who ? regardless of their origins ? deserve the security of knowing they will have access to their parent-carers when they need them.

The argument that legalizing same-sex marriage gives social approval to all manner of assisted reproductive practices glosses over the fact that by supporting restrictive adoption laws, marriage laws, and other legal restrictions on the recognition of same-sex families, those who oppose recognition of same-sex relationships ?are actively marginalizing?existing children and their parents. ? You aren?t stopping future families from being created; people of all sexual orientations have, and will continue, to create families irrespective of the law. Instead, you?re stopping already-established families from accessing the full range of social supports that, as a nation, we?ve decided interdependent couples and parents with dependent children need to thrive.

Maybe your concerns regarding reproductive ethics are strong enough that such a cost is worth it to you. But I don?t think it?s honest or responsible to simply ignore the human cost of such discriminatory practices.

Tags: Adoption, Queer Families
Categories: Childhood, Motherhood

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Source: http://familyscholars.org/2013/03/16/its-not-just-about-marriage-law/

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Apple's Forward Stance

Apple doesn't need a miracle, but clearly the marketing department thinks the company needs to step things up. To wit: Apple's latest iPhone web page which touts "There's iPhone. And then there's everything else." It's a brassy, ballsy statement worthy of Steve Jobs himself and it seems to show an Apple undaunted yet clearly aware that it can't just say nothing about the competition.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/OCxW3fdzshM/

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Los Angeles to replace women's pickup shot up in Dorner manhunt

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The city of Los Angeles will pay $40,000 to replace the truck of a mother and daughter who were caught in a hail of bullets after police mistook their pickup for one belonging to renegade ex-policeman Christopher Dorner, officials said on Thursday.

Emma Hernandez, 71, was shot twice in the back and her daughter Margie Carranza, 47, suffered hand injuries from flying debris when they came under fire while delivering newspapers on February 7 in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance.

The shooting of the two women and their truck was an embarrassment for the Los Angeles Police Department as it was widening a manhunt for Dorner that turned into the largest ever in southern California.

Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer accused of having killed four people in a vendetta against the Los Angeles Police Department, died on February 12 in a fiery standoff with police in the mountains above Los Angeles.

The settlement only covers the loss of the two women's pick-up truck, not any claims for compensation they might make against the city for their wounds, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the City Attorney's Office.

"We wanted to do what was right by the two women involved in this incident, as well as by the city," Mateljan said.

Galpin Ford, a Los Angeles auto dealer and supporter of Los Angeles police, had offered to give the two women a new truck but that was delayed because of tax liabilities for both the women and the company, said the women's attorney, Glen Jonas.

The $40,000 financial settlement from the city absolves them of tax liability, Mateljan said.

Jonas said that he sent a confidential letter last week to city officials outlining the position of his clients and naming a figure they are seeking in total compensation, which the attorney declined to disclose.

"They are in fear of the police and they're having a hard time understanding the context in which it happened," Jonas said.

The two officers who opened fire on the women remain on administrative duty as authorities investigate the shooting, said Los Angeles police spokeswoman Officer Norma Eisenman.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has apologized to the two women over the shooting. He has also opened a probe into Dorner's 2008 firing from the LAPD, which the former policeman cited as his motivation for targeting officers and the family of people in the department he felt had wronged him.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/los-angeles-replace-womens-pickup-shot-dorner-manhunt-010349157.html

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Galaxy S4 Photos: Samsung's Newest Smartphone Revealed

After much speculation as to what the phone will actually look like after a sexy, shadowy preview, we finally have photos of Samsung's new Galaxy S4 to show you. The S4 was released Thursday evening at an event at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Read about the phone's features here.)

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is the followup to the hugely successful S3, which hit 100 million sales in January 2013. The Galaxy S4 has some features that really make it stand out, including a 5-inch display and a 13 megapixel camera (as compared with the iPhone 5's 8 megapixel camera). Now you can finally see the new Galaxy for yourself.

Check out the Galaxy S4 below:

• The Galaxy S4 Lockscreen

  The lockscreen on the Galaxy S4. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• The Galaxy S4 Homescreen

  The homescreen of the Galaxy S4. Here you can see that Samsung has reduced the "bezel" of the display, meaning that the glass stops closer to the horizontal edges of the phone. This allowed the screen to balloon to 5.0 inches from 4.8 inches without the device getting too much larger. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 Back

  The back of the Galaxy S4, with the 13 megapixel camera and flash. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 vs. Galaxy S3

  A Galaxy S4 on the left in white, and a Galaxy S3 in blue on the right. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 vs. Galaxy S3

  Another look; the Galaxy S4 is slightly larger than the Galaxy S3. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 vs. Galaxy S3

  Another view. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5

  Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5

  The display on the Galaxy S4 is now a full inch larger (in diagonal) than the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 has a 4.0-inch display, while the Galaxy S4 has a 5.0-inch display. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• S Health

  The Galaxy S4 has a new app called S Health, which acts as a health diary for the owner. The phone can track your steps and you can input each meal, and the phone will calculate your calorie intake. Optional accessories -- like a fitness wristband, digital scale and sleep belt -- can also measure your blood pressure, weight and glucose levels for a total health diary. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• S Health

  Logging my morning coffee with the S Health app. No calories! Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 Side View

  The Galaxy S4 from the side. The S4 is 7.9 mm thick, or 0.3 mm thicker than the iPhone 5. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 Camera

  The 13 megapixel camera ships with a load of new features, including an option to simultaneously snap a photo of yourself with the front camera overlaid onto your subject taken with the rear camera. You can choose what shape your floating head appears as; here, I am inside a heart with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 Camera

  The software of the Galaxy S4 camera has been overhauled to mimic the Samsung digital cameras shooting modes (on bottom). One new mode is called Eraser, in which the camera can detect an unwanted photobomber in the background by his or her movement and then automatically delete that person from that photo using other shots. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• S Translator

  Another new feature is S Translator, which can translate between 10 different languages. You can either input text via the keyboard or speak what you want translated into the microphone. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S Translator

  A big <em>ni hao</em> to all of my Chinese readers. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Hover View

  Borrowing form the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy S4 can now detect when your finger is hovering over certain content and provide a preview of that content. Here, my finger hovers over an email and a preview of that email pops up on screen. Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

• Galaxy S4 Remote Control

  The Galaxy S4 contains an IR sensor to control the basic functions of your television. It also contains a channel grid so that you can tune to channels on your TV.<a href="http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/02/22/htc-one-ir-blaster-sdk/" target="_blank">A similar feature was introduced on the HTC One earlier this year</a>.

• Samsung's Galaxy S4

  Image credit: HuffPost/Jason Gilbert

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/galaxy-s4-photos_n_2877410.html

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Kobe getting day of treatment on sprained ankle

Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard reaches down to help up teammate Kobe Bryant after he was injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard reaches down to help up teammate Kobe Bryant after he was injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Los Angeles Lakers' Dwight Howard leans over teammate Kobe Bryant lays on the floor after being injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Los Angeles Lakers' Steve Blake, from left, Steve Nash, Metta World Peace and Dwight Howard gather around Kobe Bryant as he lays on the floor after being injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant lays on the floor after being injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant lays on the floor after being injured in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, in Atlanta. The Hawks defeated the Lakers 96-92. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton)

Kobe Bryant got several hours of treatment on his sprained left ankle Thursday in hopes of staying on the court to continue the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff push.

The fifth-leading scorer in NBA history was hurt when he landed on the foot of Atlanta's Dahntay Jones with 3 seconds left in the Lakers' 96-92 loss to the Hawks on Wednesday night. Bryant rolled on the ground and left the court in anger and pain, later calling it the worst sprained ankle of his 17 NBA seasons.

Bryant tweeted Thursday that his ankle was "still very swollen. Treatment all day." The Lakers had the day off Thursday in Indianapolis, the final stop on their three-game road trip.

Bryant is still angry at Jones' questionable defensive tactics, too. Thursday's tweet included a hashtag: "cleanupthegame."

Lakers trainer Gary Vitti was scheduled to treat Bryant in the afternoon and again in the evening. Team spokesman John Black said the Lakers wouldn't have an update on his condition until Friday, although Bryant tweeted a photo of his swollen ankle.

Although the team announced Bryant was out "indefinitely," those familiar with Bryant's toughness won't assume he's missing any games until Kobe says so.

Los Angeles faces the Central Division-leading Pacers on Friday before returning home to host Sacramento on Sunday. With 17 wins in 23 games before their loss to Atlanta, the Lakers (34-32) are a half-game ahead of Utah (33-32) for the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Bryant is an uncommonly durable player who hasn't missed a game this season. He is the NBA's third-leading scorer with 27.5 points per game, keeping the Lakers afloat during a tumultuous year including the early firing of coach Mike Brown, a prolonged skid, All-Star center Dwight Howard's struggles to fit in with his new team, and the death of owner Jerry Buss.

Although Bryant has played through countless minor injuries to his ankles in recent years, he was particularly upset at Jones' tactics after this fall. Bryant thought Jones moved underneath him while Bryant was in the air for a potential game-tying fadeaway jumper, leaving Bryant with nowhere to land.

Bryant coined another hashtag for it ? "dangerousplay" ? and later tweeted: "He knows what he did and anyone with half a brain can see it. I don't want it to happen to anyone else!"

Bryant and Jones have a history, too: Jones blatantly stuck out his leg to trip Bryant during Game 4 of the 2009 Western Conference finals while Jones played for the Denver Nuggets.

Bryant's new injury even got him thinking about an infamous foul by Jalen Rose 13 years ago. The Indiana guard purposely stepped underneath Bryant on a jumper and injured Bryant on the landing in Game 2 of the 2000 NBA finals.

When Jones tweeted that Bryant was partly to blame for sticking out his legs on his jumper, Bryant responded with his own interpretation of his style: "17yrs. Countless fades. This has happened TWICE. Jalen and now."

Later Thursday, Bryant ? a relatively new arrival on Twitter, only seriously joining the site earlier this year ? reverted to his usual game face.

"I've cried foul play enough Big boy pants time for me," Bryant tweeted, recalling the phrase he used earlier this year to encourage teammate Pau Gasol to get tough. "what else is this thing for? Political correctness? Ha."

Bryant has an almost preternatural ability to play through pain, shrugging off strained knees, tweaked ankles and broken fingers to play with his usual artistry and grace while becoming the leading scorer in Lakers history. Bryant even got a concussion and a broken nose in the 2012 All-Star game, but returned for the Lakers' next game with a mask.

Bryant routinely plays with sprained fingers, still hitting his array of creative outside shots. Although his teammates usually laugh at the idea any injury could sideline Bryant for a significant length of time, he's not impermeable to pain.

Bryant sat out eight of the Lakers' final 10 games of the regular season last spring in an effort to rest a bruised shin for the playoffs. He also missed five games with a sprained left ankle in February 2010, and missed four more late in the season to rest an assortment of injuries.

Bryant isn't the Lakers' only injury concern. Starting forward Earl Clark also sprained his right ankle during the first half in Atlanta, but the Lakers said Clark didn't break any bones, and he expects to play Friday.

Gasol has missed 17 games for the Lakers while sitting out since Feb. 7 with an injured foot. The four-time All-Star is tentatively expected to return next week, likely reclaiming a starting spot from Clark.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-14-BKN-Lakers-Kobe's-Ankle/id-a3a23ad1c1a94b89b55b80c04fd0444a

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