Girdwood (EON) - The Alaska home of Senator Ted Stevens was raided on Monday by the FBI.
The reports coming out are stating that they were looking into a bribery investigation and believed that there would be evidence found at his home in Alaska.
FBI and IRS agents had a search warrant which they used to their fullest power. The Republican Senator Stevens is in a lot of trouble in relation to a corruption scandal which claims that he and various lawmakers took bribes.
Stevens stated “I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence the outcome. I urge Alaskans not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media.”
Stevens and his son Senate President Ben Stevens had improves made to their home by contractor Bill Allen who has pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers.
Sacramento (EON) - County election officials are stating that they want to keep using the electronic voting machines in the future.
This came after a state review showed that the possibility is there that hackers could potentially break into the electronic voting machines and ruin an election. Regardless though the county election officials put out an urgent claim to Secretary of State Debra Bowen yesterday stating they want to continue to use the machines.
A review was done on electronic voting machines which was released just last week. It showed that the machines could be manipulated using “tools that can be found in a typical office and could be executed by a very low-skilled attacker.”
A deadline is set for Friday for Bowen to make a decision if the electronic voting machines will be used in the February 5th presidential primary.
Washington (EON) - Governor Eliot Spitzer has released records to the state Ethics Commission in regards to the investigation which is ongoing as the GOP wants an independent prosecutor to come in and take over.
Republicans are pushing for an independent prosecutor without any ties to the Democrats or Republicans which can give Spitzer a fair trial. Thus far though Spitzer has refused an independent prosecutor.
Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson stated that “We’re cooperating and voluntarily handing them over.” She was referring to the records. The investigation continues into a plot by the aides of Spitzer to use state police to spy on Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno.
Spitzer continues to state that he had no idea about the plot.
Washington (EON) - The House passed a new resolution on Monday calling for an apology from Japan in regards to “comfort women” forced into World War II for sex slavery.
Representative Mike Honda, a Democrat from San Jose, helped by sponsoring the new resolution. Many surviving women from many countries in Asia and Europe have been pushing for this for years now.
This stares Prime Minister Shinzo Abe right in the face as he is already in trouble for losing elections in the parliament upper house on Sunday and losing control of it with his Liberal Democratic Party.
Now it appears that 62 years after Japan surrendered in World War II that they may have to apologize for forcing women into prostitution.
Boston (EON) - Football coach and NFL legend Bill Walsh passed away from leukemia at the age of 75.
Many friends and supporters of the former San Francisco 49ers, as well as Stanford coach came to pay final tributes to one of the greatest NFL coaches in history.
He died late Monday afternoon at his home in Woodside. He was battling leukemia for the past 9 months but unfortunately lost the fight.
Former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana visited Walsh just Friday. On Sunday Walsh was presented with the famous Stagg Award by Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham and Stanford benefactor John Arrillaga.
Walsh is known for creating what is called the west coast offense and redefining football for the future and the way in which it is played today.
Boston (EON) - Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge has struck a deal which brings Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Al Jefferson, four others, and two draft picks which will go to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kevin Garnett is a 10-time all-star and one of the top 10 players in the NBA. The vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale has agreed to a trade which will send Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics in exchange for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Sebastian telfair, Theo Ratliff, Ryan Gomes, and two No. 1 picks.
This will allow McHale to start over once again with young players and get rid of Garnett who was there for 12 years in Minnesota.
The Celtics already have a restructured deal in place for Garnett.
Garnett was the NBA MVP in 2004 and is a 10-time All-Star. Now with Kevin Garnett playing alongside Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtics have gone from last place to one of the top teams to beat in the Eastern Conference as Boston once again has a high quality upper echelon Celtics team gunning for a championship.
New York - Researchers from Rutgers University have recently reported that the combination of exercise and caffeine in mice increased apoptosis, a cell’s self-destruction, in precancerous cells that were damaged by the sun’s ultraviolet-B radiation.
According to Dr. Allan H. Conney, there is a protective effect observed from either exercise or caffeine, but combined, this protection is even more than the sum of the two.
The mice who drank caffeine had a 95 percent increase in apoptosis of damaged cells and the mice who exercised showed a 120 percent increase. However, the mice that did both saw a 400 percent increase in cell death of damaged cells.
Conney expects that this will apply to humans and not just mice, but cautions that it must be tested first and people should continue to use sunscreen.
image source: www.donotgiveup.net
Washington -
Washington - The chief justice of the top US court was hospitalized Monday after suffering a seizure at his vacation home.
John Roberts, who heads the US Supreme Court in Washington, was to remain in a hospital in the state of Maine overnight after experiencing a seizure and falling near his summer home, a court statement said.
The statement said Roberts, 52, had “fully recovered” from what doctors called a benign idiopathic seizure. He had also suffered from a seizure in 1993.
The conservative justice was nominated by President George W Bush to lead the nine-member court.
Toronto - A U.S.-led international team of scientists has used a large-scale genomic study to identify new genetic variations associated with multiple sclerosis.
The study — the first comprehensive investigation of the genetic basis of MS — suggests a possible link between MS and other autoimmune diseases.
“Scientists are increasingly finding genetic links between autoimmune diseases that affect different tissues in the body, including type one diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis,” Harvard Medical School Professor David Hafler said.
Researchers said the new findings are among a series of recent whole-genome association studies that have begun to uncover the genetic basis of complex diseases such as diabetes, schizophrenia and coronary artery disease. Unlike diseases caused by a mutation in a single gene, those conditions seem to arise from a combination of genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. Scientists believe a host of genetic variations may contribute to a person’s susceptibility.
The study involving scientists at the University of California-San Francisco, the University of Cambridge, Vanderbilt University and the University of Miami is reported in the current online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Boston (EON) - A new study has revealed that global warming has cause dthe number of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean over the past century to double.
The US scientists stated that global warming has a major effect on the wind patterns as well as sea temperatures and because of that it has managed to greatly increase the number of occuring hurricanes.
Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Peter Webster of the Georgia Institute of Technology spoke on the matter on Sunday.
They found that between 1900 and 1930 six Atlantic tropical cyclones took place. Four were hurricanes and two were tropical storms.
From 1930 to 1940 this average went up to 10. From 1995 to 2005 the average managed to reach 15 where 8 were hurricanes and seven tropical storms on average.
The trend is alarming because it shows that the occurance of hurricanes could continue to increase. Holland stated to the AP that “These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes.”