Authorities: Storm blamed for man's death in Texas

The most lethal were the storms of Dec. 24-26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32; and those of Dec. 24-25, 1964, when two people were killed and about 30 people injured by 14 tornadoes in seven states.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant urged residents to have a plan for any severe weather.

Quarter-sized hail reported early Tuesday in western Louisiana was expected to be just the start of a severe weather threat on the Gulf Coast, said meteorologist Mike Efferson at the weather service office in Slidell, La.

Winds toppled a tree onto a pickup truck in the Houston area, killing the driver. Icy roads already were blamed for a 21-vehicle pileup in Oklahoma, where authorities warned would-be travelers to stay home. Fog blanketed highways, including arteries in the Atlanta area where motorists slowed as a precaution. In New Mexico, drivers across the eastern plains had to fight through snow, ice and low visibility.

The storm was moving quickly as it headed into northeast Louisiana and Mississippi into the late afternoon and early evening, said Bill Adams at the weather service's Shreveport, La., office.

No day is good for severe weather, but Faulkner said Christmas adds extra challenges because people are visiting unfamiliar areas and often thinking more of snow than possible twisters.

Some mountainous areas of Arkansas' Ozark Mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, which would make travel "very hazardous or impossible" in the northern tier of the state from near whiteout conditions, the National Weather Service said.

More than 180 flights nationwide were canceled by midday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled by American Airlines and its regional affiliate, American Eagle.

At least three tornadoes were reported in Texas, though only one building was damaged and no injuries were reported, according to the National Weather Service. Tornado watches were in effect across southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

Elsewhere, areas of east Texas and Louisiana braced for possible thunderstorms as forecasters eyed a developing storm front expected to spread across the Gulf Coast to the Florida Panhandle.

"It only takes a few minutes, and it will help everyone have a safe Christmas," Bryant said.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Freezing rain and sleet made for a sloppy Christmas morning trek in parts of the nation's midsection on Tuesday, while residents along the Gulf Coast braced for thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes.

AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington and Associated Press Writer Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston contributed to this report.

American is headquartered and has its biggest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Meanwhile, a blizzard watch was posted for parts of Indiana and western Kentucky for storms expected to unfold Tuesday amid predictions of up to 4 to 7 inches of snow in coming hours. Much of Oklahoma and Arkansas braced under a winter storm warning of an early mix of rain and sleet forecast to eventually turn to snow. About a dozen counties in Missouri were under a blizzard warning from Tuesday night to noon Wednesday.

In Alabama, the director of the Emergency Management Agency, Art Faulkner, said he has briefed both local officials and Gov. Robert Bentley on plans for dealing with a possible outbreak of storms.

Storms along the Gulf Coast could bring winds up to 70 mph, heavy rain, more large hail and dangerous lightning in Louisiana and Mississippi, Efferson said. Furthermore, warm, moist air colliding with a cold front could produce dangerous straight-line winds.

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The holiday may conjure visions of snow and ice, but twisters this time of year are not unheard of. Ten storm systems in the last 50 years have spawned at least one Christmastime tornado with winds of 113 mph or more in the South, said Chris Vaccaro, a National Weather Service spokesman in Washington, via email.

Authorities: Storm blamed for man's death in Texas

Link between pot, psychosis goes both ways in kids

Previous research established links between marijuana and psychosis, but scientists questioned whether pot use increased the risk of mental illness, or whether people were using pot to ease their psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions.

CHICKEN v. EGG

For example, using pot at 16 years old was linked to psychotic symptoms three years later, and psychotic symptoms at age 16 were linked to pot use at age 19.

For the new study, published in the journal Addiction, the researchers wanted to see which came first: pot or psychosis.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Rr63N8 Addiction, online December 7, 2012.

Overall, the researchers found 940 teens, or about 44 percent, reported smoking pot, and there was a bidirectional link between pot use and psychosis.

The teens also took psychosis vulnerability tests that asked - among other things - about their ability to concentrate, their feelings of loneliness and whether they see things other people don't.

Griffith-Lendering said she could not say how much more likely young pot users were to exhibit psychotic symptoms later on.

This was true even when the researchers accounted for mental illness in the kids' families, alcohol use and tobacco use.

"We have focused mainly on temporal order; is it the chicken or the egg? As the study shows, it is a bidirectional relationship," wrote the study's lead author Merel Griffith-Lendering, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University in The Netherlands, in an email to Reuters Health.

Griffith-Lendering agrees.

He told Reuters Health that researchers have been especially concerned about what tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active property in pot, could do to a teenager's growing brain.

"I think the marijuana is not a harmless substance. Especially for teenagers, there should be more of a public health message out there that marijuana has a public health risk," he said.

A 2010 study of 3,800 Australian teenagers found that those who used marijuana were twice as likely to develop psychosis compared to teens who never smoked pot (see Reuters Health article of March 1, 2010 here:).

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Marijuana (cannabis) use may be linked to the development of psychotic symptoms in teens - but the reverse could also be true: psychosis in adolescents may be linked to later pot use, according to a new Dutch study.

"That's a very vulnerable period of time for brain development," and individuals with a family history of schizophrenia and psychosis seem to be more sensitive to the toxic effects of THC, he said.

"Given the severity and impact of psychotic disorders, prevention programs should take this information into consideration," she said.

Seeger, who was also not involved with the new study, said that there needs to be more public awareness of the connection.

Link between pot, psychosis goes both ways in kids

But that study also found that those who suffered from hallucinations and delusions when they were younger were also more likely to use pot early on.

Griffith-Lendering and her colleagues used information on 2,120 Dutch teenagers, who were surveyed about their pot use when they were about 14, 16 and 19 years old.

Also, the new study cannot prove one causes the other. Genetics may also explain the link between pot use and psychosis, said Griffith-Lendering.

Di Forti, who has studied the link between pot and psychosis, told Reuters Health she considers pot a risk factor for psychosis - not a cause.

"What is interesting in this study is that both processes are going on at the same time," said Dr. Gregory Seeger, medical director for addiction services at Rochester General Hospital in upstate New York.

"We can say for some people that cannabis comes first and psychosis comes second, but for some people they have some (undiagnosed) psychosis (and) perhaps cannabis makes them feel better," said Dr. Marta Di Forti, of King's College, London, who was not involved with the new research.

Worshippers rejoice in Jesus' Bethlehem birthplace

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"My wife believes in God, so it's important for her," said Wzork, who described himself as a non-believer. "For me, it's interesting because it's a historical place and famous."

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad…

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,…

Later Tuesday, the world's Christmas focus will shift to Vatican City, where Pope Benedict XVI will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech — Latin for "to the city and the world" — from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered in the piazza below.

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Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.

Overcast skies and a cold wind didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.

On Christmas Eve, thousands of Christians from all over the world packed the square, which was awash in light, resplendent with decorations and adorned by a lavishly decorated, 17-meter (55-foot) fir tree. Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.

Information technology consultant Martin Wzork came to Bethlehem with his wife and young daughter from Krakow, Poland.

Christians from Israel — Arab citizens and others — also boosted the number of visitors.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad…

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day on Tuesday in the ancient Bethlehem church built over the site where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls.

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Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad…

Worshippers rejoice in Jesus' Bethlehem birthplace
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Hardock's girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying "it's like being at Times Square at New Year's."

Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee.

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"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."

The speech traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad…

The cavernous church was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside.

Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.

An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve — up 20 percent from a year earlier. The official, Rula Maia'a, attributed the rise in part to the Church of the Nativity's classification earlier this year as a U.N. World Heritage Site.

India rape victim in Singapore; PM pledges action

"There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population, and this participation simply cannot take place if their security and safety is not assured," he said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters demanding safer public transportation for women and the resignation of Delhi's police commissioner tried to march to the major India Gate traffic circle in central Delhi before being stopped by police in riot gear manning barricades. Protesters carried signs reading, "Immediately end rape culture in India" and "Zero tolerance of violence against women."

An ambulance is parked outside…

Follow Ravi Nessman at twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ravinessman

Protests have shut down the center of the capital for days since the rape. Police quashed some of the demonstrations with tear gas, water cannons and baton charges.

Kashmiri Sikh students protesting…

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Enlarge Photo India rape victim in Singapore; PM pledges action
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The Dec. 16 rape and brutal beating of the 23-year-old student triggered widespread protests, including a march on Thursday, demanding a government crackdown on the daily harassment Indian women face, ranging from groping to severe violence. Some protesters have called for the death penalty or castration for rapists, who under current laws face a maximum punishment of life in prison.

People walk past the Mount Elizabeth…

On Thursday night she remained in "extremely critical condition" as a team of specialists worked to stabilize her, Dr. Kelvin Loh, the hospital's chief executive officer, said in a statement. Before arriving in Singapore, she had already undergone three abdominal surgeries and suffered cardiac arrest, he said.

Singh's government set up two committees in response to the protests. One, looking into speeding up sexual assault trials, has already received 6,100 email suggestions. The second will examine what lapses might have contributed to the rape — which took place on a moving bus that passed through police checkpoints — and suggest measures to improve women's safety.

Associated Press reporter Heather Tan contributed reporting from Singapore and Saurabh Das contributed from New Delhi.

"Let me state categorically that the issue of safety and security of women is of the highest concern to our government," Singh said at a development meeting. He urged officials in India's states to pay special attention to the problem.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged Thursday to take action to protect the nation's women while the young victim of a gang rape on a New Delhi bus was flown to Singapore for treatment of severe internal injuries.

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Her family was also being sent to Singapore to be with her during her treatment, which could last weeks, he said.

One police officer died Tuesday after collapsing during a weekend protest. Police said an autopsy showed the officer had a heart attack that could have been caused by injuries suffered during violence at the protest. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the officer was running toward the protesters with a group of police when he collapsed on the ground and began frothing at the mouth and shaking. Two protesters rushed to the officer to try to help him. Police charged eight people with murder in the death of the policeman.

"Despite the best efforts of our doctors, the victim continues to be critical and her fluctuating health remains a big cause of concern to all of us," he said.

People walk past the Mount Elizabeth…

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The rape victim arrived in Singapore on an air ambulance Thursday and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Mount Elizabeth hospital, renowned for multi-organ transplant facilities.

Police said the rape victim was traveling on the evening of Dec. 16 with a male friend on a bus when they were attacked by six men who gang-raped her and beat the couple with iron rods before stripping them and dumping them on a road. All six suspects in the case have been arrested, police said.

India's Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in a statement that the government, which is funding and overseeing the victim's treatment, had decided to send her abroad on the recommendation of her doctors.

Also Thursday, Ratanjit Singh, a junior minister in the home ministry, said the government would create a database of convicted rapists and publish it, along with their photos, on the ministry website to shame them, according to the Press Trust of India.

Rape victims rarely press charges because of social stigma and fear they will be accused of inviting the attack. Many women say they structure their lives around protecting themselves and their daughters from attack.

NASA Launches Telescope-Toting Balloon from Antarctica on Christmas

BLAST's fifth flight will probably last between 12 and 14 days. While Devlin, Netterfield and their colleagues are celebrating Christmans and New Year's Eve, the 4,000-pound (1800 kilograms) stratospheric telescope will observe selected star-forming regions in the constellations Vela and Lupus.

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In 2010, on its fourth mission, BLAST was already equipped with polarimeters. However, accdording to Devlin, "that flight did not do so well because of a melted filter. We have some data, but we know we can do better."

NASA's balloon-carried BLAST sub-millimeter…

Dutch astronomy writer Govert Schilling visited McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station as a selected member of the U.S. National Science Foundation's 2012/2013 media visit program.?Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?and?Google+.

Final mission?

Meanwhile, Devlin has received a $5 million grant from NASA over a period of five years to develop a larger version of BLAST, with a 2.5-meter mirror, as compared to the current 1.8-meter aperture. That would vastly increase the number of stellar nurseries that could be studied. "We could fly SuperBLAST in 2016 or so," he said.

"The detectors are cooled to 0.3 degrees aboven absolute zero, using liquid helium," said Devlin. "If they were any warmer, they wouldn't be able to register the faint submillimeter radiation of cold interstellar dust clouds at just 30 degrees above absolute zero."

Best Launch Photos of 2012 Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth 100 Best Space Photos of 2012: Gallery Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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"Christmas launch!" wrote?officials with NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, which oversees the agency's balloon research program, in a Twitter post yesterday. "BLAST launched today from McMurdo Station, Antarctica."

Star mystery

NASA Launches Telescope-Toting Balloon from Antarctica on Christmas
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After test flights in 2003 in New Mexico and in 2005 in Sweden, BLAST's third flight, in 2006 from Antarctica, was a "mind-boggling" success, Devlin said. The instrument revealed beyond doubt that in most distant galaxies, new stars are born at a prolific rate. By measuring the star formation rate in galaxies more than 7 billion light-years away, the researchers determined that over half of the stars in the uuniverse were born within the first 5 billion years after the Big Bang.

The BLAST balloon-borne telescope…

So why is the stellar birth rate in our Milky Way so low? Astronomers can think of two ways in which a dense cloud of dust is prevented from further contracting into a star: turbulence in the dust, or the collapse-impeding effects of magnetic fields. On its new mission, BLAST should find out which process is to blame. [Images: Life at Antarctica's Concordia Station]

The idea is straightforward: magnetic fields tend to align electrically charged, elongated dust particles. If dust particles have a preferred orientation, they will slightly polarize the submillimeter radiation from the cloud. Using polarimeters, BLAST can detect if the radiation is indeed polarized, and if it is, determine the direction of the magnetic field. "If there's no polarization present," said Netterfield, "turbulence must be the reason" why so few dark cores collapse into new stars.

On Dec. 12, BLAST was still in one of the two giant Payload Assembly Buildings at the LDB facility, a short distance from the U.S. research center McMurdo Station. Principal investigator Mark Devlin of the University of Pennsylvania and a group of graduate students were mounting a giant sunshade on the telescope, to ensure that the ultra-cold detectors won't heat up during the flight.

A giant helium balloon is slowly drifting above Antarctica, about 22 miles (36 kilometers) up. Launched on Tuesday (Dec. 25) from the National Science Foundation's Long Duration Balloon (LDB) facility on Earth's southernmost continent, it carries a sensitive telescope that measures submillimeter light waves from stellar nurseries in our Milky Way.

This is the fifth and final mission for BLAST, short for the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope, and mission designers hope it will reveal why so few stars are born in our galaxy.

And if senior graduate student Tristan Matthews of Northwestern University Illinois has his way, this may not be BLAST's final mission after all. Depending on the results and the recovery success of the current flight, Matthews hopes to fly BLAST in its present configuration for a sixth time, in the Arctic. "That would give us access to a well-studied and nearby star-forming region in Taurus," he said.

"But there's an unsolved problem," added co-principal investifator Barth Netterfield of the University of Toronto, Canada, who was assisting the BLAST team with the launch preparations. "BLAST found lots of so-called dark cores in our own Milky Way — dense clouds of cold dust that are supposed to be stars-in-the-making. Based on the number of dark cores, you would expect our galaxy to spawn dozens of new stars each year on average. Yet, the galactic star formation rate is only some four solar masses per year."

Scientists prepare the BLAST balloon-borne…

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Luckily, repeating a balloon-borne experiment is much easier and much cheaper than re-launching a scientific satellite. After each flight, most of the payload is recovered and can be used again. In particular, the BLAST camera with its sensitive and expensive detectors has been recovered every single time.

New laws address gays, children, immigration_1

New laws address gays, children, immigration

The measure passed over the objection of many female lawmakers, including Sen. Valencia Seay, who said the bill's passage and signing was "unconscionable, but not surprising" and typical of the male-dominated General Assembly.

Supporters say the Montana law will prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining services and prevent them from taking jobs at a time of high unemployment. Opponents argued there is no proof illegal immigrants are using state services in Montana.

— A California law bans the use of dogs when hunting bobcats or bears, while Wisconsin's expansion of its hunting seasons in state parks to a month in autumn and another in April was a scaled-back version of a proposal that would have allowed hunting across a seven-month period from mid-October to late May. Residents reacted to the longer proposal with thousands of angry letters and emails.

In Maryland, parents will be able to freeze their child's credit at any time if the child becomes a victim of identity theft. "This just freezes the information to ensure that it's not used for ill purposes," said Delegate Craig Zucker, a Democrat who sponsored the bill in the Maryland House of Delegates.

In Delaware, state officials must request an annual credit report for every child in foster care.

In many states, new laws take effect on Jan. 1, while in others they do so 90 days after a governor's signature.

A number of laws seek to protect children from bullying and abuse. Pennsylvania school employees in contact with children, who already must report suspected abuse, must now be trained to recognize the warning signs, their legal obligations and what are considered appropriate relationships with children.

— Alabama begins cracking down on the state's 900,000 uninsured drivers with a new system that allows instant checks by police, license plate offices and the state Revenue Department.

"Today, we are reaffirming Georgia's commitment to preserving the sanctity of all human life," Gov. Nathan Deal said in a statement released shortly after he signed the bill in May.

Measures on gay rights and child safety are among the top state laws taking effect at the start of 2013, along with attempts to prevent identity theft and perennial efforts to restrict abortion and illegal immigration.

Among other new laws:

— In New Mexico, drivers registering their car or truck will be able to donate $1 or $5 to a state fund that supports programs and services to veterans, such as assistance in finding a job or treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In Utah, U.S. military personnel will be exempted from having to pay a full year's property taxes after their return from 200 days of active duty in any calendar year.

Voter-approved laws allowing same-sex couples to marry take effect in Maryland in January and in Maine on Saturday. California also approved a law exempting clergy members opposed to gay marriage from performing same-sex marriage ceremonies.

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California coaches and administrators in K-12 schools, as well as higher education employees who have regular contact with children, will be required to report suspected child sexual abuse. Oregon will require schools to adopt a policy on teen dating violence, a law that follows state legislation earlier this year requiring school employees to report acts of bullying, harassment and online bullying.

In Florida, the Safe Harbor Act includes provisions that require police to turn over to the Department of Children and Families any children who are alleged to be sexually exploited or dependent for assessment and possible shelter.

That law was being debated and voted on in June as a jury was finding former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty of 45 counts for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

Also in Montana, voters overwhelmingly passed a measure requiring parental notification for minors' abortions, while in Georgia a new law will prohibit doctors from performing an abortion 20 weeks after an egg is fertilized unless a pregnancy is determined to be medically futile, meaning it would result in the birth of a child unlikely to survive because of a serious defect. Georgia became the seventh state in the country to approve the so-called fetal pain act.

New Hampshire enacts a ban on a type of late-term abortion procedure sometimes called "partial birth abortion" after lawmakers overrode the veto of Gov. John Lynch, who said the measure was unnecessary because federal law already prohibits such procedures. Supporters of the ban say they don't trust the government to prosecute the law.

Welsh-Huggins reported from Columbus, Ohio.

Most people who opposed the measure said they would stop bringing their families to state parks if there were a chance of being struck by a stray bullet or of a pet straying into an animal trap. Supporters countered that hunting has long been a Wisconsin tradition and that hunters were well-versed in practicing safe techniques.

— A pair of laws in Georgia and Pennsylvania address the shortfalls faced by some states from the cost of unemployment benefits by raising employers' contributions to unemployment compensation trust funds.

— In Florida, it will no longer be illegal to flash your headlights to warn oncoming drivers that police are lurking on the roadside ahead. The legislation was introduced after drivers were ticketed for warning other motorists that officers may be trying to catch speeders on the highway.

States continue to wrestle with illegal immigration. Pennsylvania will include a requirement that contractors on public works projects make sure through the federal E-Verify system that their employees are legal U.S. residents, while a Montana ballot measure taking effect denies illegal immigrants of state services.

In California, a first-of-its-kind law bans a form of psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight but is on hold during a court challenge. The law would ban what is known as reparative or conversion therapy for minors; such therapies are widely discredited by medical professionals.

Motive a mystery in NY ambush deaths of 2 firemen_0

Emergency radio communications capture someone saying he "could see the muzzle flash coming at me" as Spengler carried out his ambush. The audio posted on the website RadioReference.com has someone reporting "firefighters are down" and saying "got to be rifle or shotgun - high powered ... semi or fully auto."

Authorities did not offer a possible motive.

Hofstetter, also a full-timer with the Rochester Fire Department, was hit once in the pelvis, and the bullet lodged in his spine, authorities said. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.

Authorities said Spengler hadn't done anything to bring himself to their attention since his parole. As a convicted felon, he wasn't allowed to possess weapons. Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said Spengler led a very quiet life after he got out of prison.

Pickering described Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" with nearly 20 years in the department, and he called Kaczowka a "tremendous young man."

The shooting and fires were in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes set close together across the road from the lakeshore. The area is popular with recreational boaters but is normally quiet this time of year.

Spengler set a car and a house in his neighborhood ablaze early Monday, and then killed two responding firefighters, wounded two others and injured a police officer while several homes burned around him, police said. Spengler then killed himself. His sister, Cheryl, was missing.

Motive a mystery in NY ambush deaths of 2 firemen Related Content

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About 100 people attended an impromptu memorial vigil Monday evening in Webster, a suburb of Rochester. Dozens of bouquets were left at the fire station, along with a handwritten sign that said, "Thanks for protecting us. RIP."

But two months ago, William Spengler's mother died, leaving the 62-year-old ex-con in a Lake Ontario house with his sister, who he "couldn't stand," a friend said.

A friend said Spengler hated his sister. Roger Vercruysse lived next door to Spengler and recalled a man who doted on his mother, whose obituary suggested contributions to the West Webster Fire Department.

The two wounded firefighters, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, remained in guarded condition Tuesday at Strong Memorial Hospital, authorities said. Both were awake and alert and are expected to recover.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the State Police and Office of Emergency Management were working with local authorities.

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Spengler lay in wait outdoors for the firefighters' arrival, then opened fire probably with a rifle and from atop an earthen berm, Pickering said. "It does appear it was a trap," he said.

A police armored vehicle was used to recover two men, and eventually it removed 33 people from nearby homes, the police chief said. The gunfire initially kept firefighters from battling the blazes.

On Monday, Spengler fired at the four firefighters when they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. at the blaze, town police Chief Gerald Pickering said. The first police officer who arrived chased the gunman and exchanged shots.

The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.

Cathy Bartlett was there with her teenage son, who was good friends with Kaczowka. Bartlett's husband, Mark Bartlett, has been a firefighter there for 25 years but missed the call this morning.

The police officer who exchanged gunfire with Spengler "in all likelihood saved many lives," Pickering said.

"Volunteer firefighters and police officers were injured and two were taken from us as they once again answered the call of duty," Cuomo said in a statement. "We as the community of New York mourn their loss as now two more families must spend the holidays without their loved ones."

Grieving firefighters declined to talk to reporters. At an impromptu memorial vigil Monday evening, about 100 people stood in the cold night air, some holding candles. A fire department spokesman made a brief appearance, thanked them all and told them to go home and appreciate their families.

A handwritten sign says, "Thanks for protecting us, RIP." Two candles were lit to honor the dead.

The dead men were identified as police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, the Webster Police Department's public information officer; and 19-year-old Tomasz Kaczowka, also a 911 dispatcher.

"Thank God my husband slept through the first alarm and didn't get up until the second one went off," she said.

"It's sad to see that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation," O'Flynn said.

A Monroe County Sheriff's Department…

Kaczowka's brother, reached at the family home Monday night, said he didn't want to talk.

At West Webster Fire Station 1, there were at least 20 bouquets on a bench in front and a bouquet of roses with three gold-and-white ribbons saying, "May they rest in peace," ''In the line of duty" and "In memory of our fallen brothers."

O'Flynn lamented the violence, which comes on the heels of other shootings including the massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Authorities used an armored vehicle to help residents flee dozens of homes on the shore of Lake Ontario a day before Christmas. Police restricted access to the neighborhood, and officials said it was unclear whether there were other bodies in the seven houses left to burn.

"He loved his mama to death," said Vercruysse, who last saw his friend about six months ago.

Last Dec. 7, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, 16 and 12. His mother and 13-year-old sister escaped with injuries. He is being prosecuted as an adult.

Spengler had been living in the home in Webster, a suburb of Rochester, with his mother and sister since his parole in 1998. He had served 17 years in prison in the beating death of his 92-year-old grandmother in 1980, for which he had originally been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter. His mother, Arline, died in October.

Associated Press writers Chris Carola, George Walsh and Mary Esch in Albany contributed to this report.

Lake Rd. residents are evacuated…

"We have very few calls for service in that location," Pickering said. "Webster is a tremendous community. We are a safe community, and to have a tragedy befall us like this is just horrendous."

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Webster, a middle-class suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.

Two of the firefighters arrived on a fire engine and two in their own vehicles, Pickering said. After Spengler fired, one of the wounded men fled, but the other three couldn't because of flying gunfire.

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — A man who set his house on fire, then lured firefighters to their deaths in a blaze of flames and bullets, had attracted little attention since he got out of prison in the 1990s for killing his grandmother, authorities said.

The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.

Vercruysse also said Spengler "couldn't stand his sister" and "stayed on one side of the house and she stayed on the other."

U.N. approves new debate on arms treaty opposed by U.S. gun lobby

U.N. approves new debate on arms treaty opposed by U.S. gun lobby
(Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Monday to restart negotiations on a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global trade in conventional arms, a pact the powerful U.S. National Rifle Association has been lobbying hard against.

U.N. delegates and gun control activists have complained that talks collapsed in July largely because U.S. President Barack Obama feared attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney before the November 6 election if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, a charge U.S. officials have denied.

The NRA, which has come under intense criticism for its reaction to the December 15 shooting massacre of 20 children and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, opposes the idea of an arms trade treaty and has pressured Obama to reject it.

But after Obama's re-election last month, his administration joined other members of a U.N. committee in supporting the resumption of negotiations on the treaty.

That move was set in stone on Monday when the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly voted to hold a final round of negotiations on March 18-28 in New York.

The foreign ministers of Argentina, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United Kingdom - the countries that drafted the resolution - issued a joint statement welcoming the decision to resume negotiations on the pact.

"This was a clear sign that the vast majority of U.N. member states support a strong, balanced and effective treaty, which would set the highest possible common global standards for the international transfer of conventional arms," they said.

There were 133 votes in favor, none against and 17 abstentions. A number of countries did not attend, which U.N. diplomats said was due to the Christmas Eve holiday.

The exact voting record was not immediately available, though diplomats said the United States voted 'yes,' as it did in the U.N. disarmament committee last month. Countries that abstained from last month's vote included Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Belarus, Cuba and Iran.

Among the top six arms-exporting nations, Russia cast the only abstention in last month's vote. Britain, France and Germany joined China and the United States in the disarmament committee in support of the same resolution approved by the General Assembly on Monday.

NRA THREATENS "GREATEST FORCE OF OPPOSITION"

The main reason the arms trade talks are taking place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms trader, which accounts for more than 40 percent of global transfers in conventional arms - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.

Obama administration officials have tried to explain to U.S. opponents of the arms trade pact that the treaty under discussion would have no effect on gun sales and ownership inside the United States because it would apply only to exports.

But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre told U.N. delegations in July that his group opposed the pact and there are no indications that

it has changed that position.

"Any treaty that includes civilian firearms ownership in its scope will be met with the NRA's greatest force of opposition," LaPierre said, according to the website of the NRA's lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

LaPierre's speech to the U.N. delegations in July was later supported by letters from a majority of U.S. senators and 130 congressional representatives, who told Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they opposed the treaty, according to the NRA-ILA.

It is not clear whether the NRA would have the same level of support from U.S. legislators after the Newtown massacre.

U.S. officials say they want a treaty that contributes to international security by fighting illicit arms trafficking and proliferation but protects the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade.

"We will not accept any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of our citizens to bear arms," a U.S. official told Reuters last month.

The United States, like all other U.N. member states, can effectively veto the treaty since the negotiations will be conducted on the basis of consensus. That means the treaty must receive unanimous support in order to be approved in March.

Arms control activists say it is far from clear that the Obama administration truly wants a strong treaty. Any treaty agreed in March would also need to be ratified by the parliaments of individual signatory nations before it could come into force.

After Another Blowout, Giants’ Playoff Hopes Teeter

After Another Blowout, Giants’ Playoff Hopes Teeter
BALTIMORE ― Early in the fourth quarter, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco smoothly arced a pass toward the Giants’ sideline, where Dennis Pitta easily pulled the ball in for a 6-yard gain. The play, which came on a third-and-1, gave the Ravens what surely felt like their 50th first down and prompted Giants Coach Tom Coughlin, standing just a few feet away, to spin away in disgust. It was as if he no longer wanted to watch.
Couglin surely was not alone Sunday. Three weeks ago, the Giants (8-7) were a first-place team. They were a force in the N.F.C. They were a legitimate threat to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

Now, after another disastrous performance and another blowout loss, they are on the verge of being irrelevant. The Ravens (10-5) throttled them, 33-14, embarrassing the Giants and sending them to the precipice of elimination. If the Giants hope to sneak into the postseason, they will need a victory next week against Philadelphia and some help from a handful of other hopefuls in the final game of the season.

Of course, at this point it is difficult to imagine the Giants beating the sad-sack Eagles anyway. Over the last two weeks, their offense has been nonexistent, their defense has been constantly punctured and they have been outscored by an incredible 67-14 margin.

Through it all, the Giants’ players and coaches have frequently talked about how they are reassured by the fact that they have been here before, ostensibly referring to their late-season resurgence and run to the Super Bowl title in 2011. In truth, Sunday’s performance was more reminiscent of 2004 ― when the Giants were also blasted by the Ravens here, 37-14, on their way to a 6-10 record.

That season was Coughlin’s first with the Giants and it seems difficult to think of a more disappointing sequence for the Giants since then. Yes, there have been swoons ― with Coughlin’s teams, that happens often ― but the Giants have bordered on noncompetitive the last two games, a damning reality considering the circumstances and the stakes.

On Sunday, they allowed the Ravens to rack up 533 total yards. Flacco passed for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce combined to rush for 230 yards. Baltimore converted on a staggering 11 of 18 third downs, many of them seemingly by using a simple strategy: find cornerback Corey Webster and throw in his direction.

Webster, an eight-year veteran, has had an erratic season but has never been exposed quite as badly as he was Sunday. Flacco burned him for a 43-yard pass to Torrey Smith and a 36-yard pass to Pitta, not to mention two other downfield plays in which Webster was called for pass interference. At times, it seemed like he could do nothing right.

That was a common problem for the Giants, though. Manning led them on their December run last season with pinpoint passing in high-pressure moments, but he has been inconsistent ― if not downright awful ― in this season’s collapse. One week after passing for just 161 yards (to go with two interceptions), he mustered just 150 and a quarterback rating of 78.0. To be fair, Manning also spent much of his time trying to avoid the Ravens’ behemoth linemen, who were constantly chasing him in the backfield. Manning was sacked three times and knocked down nine times, leaving his uniform streaked with mud.

Flacco’s jersey, on the other hand, looked as if it was still starched from the dry cleaner’s. Perry Fewell, the Giants’ defensive coordinator, often had the Giants in a new 4-4-3 formation, with four linebackers and three defensive backs on the field, and it was wholly ineffective. If 16 weeks into the season seemed like an odd time to go with an unfamiliar strategy, it was, perhaps, mitigated by the fact that the Giants were battling injuries; both defensive end Justin Tuck and safety Kenny Phillips were inactive for the game.

Regardless, whatever formation a team uses, the importance of tackling remains a basic skill in the N.F.L., and the Giants continued to be poor at bringing down ball carriers. In the days leading up to the game, the players and coaches bemoaned 18 missed tackles against the Falcons and vowed things would be different. When Will Hill and Stevie Brown both dived ― and came up empty ― as Rice zoomed past them for a 27-yard touchdown late in the second quarter, it seemed as if the only difference was that this week the black jerseys that the Giants couldn’t tackle had purple piping instead of red.

There were other mental miscues, too. Penalties doomed the Giants in a bad loss to the Redskins earlier this month and Coughlin hammered his players afterward about how costly unforced errors can be.

One can only imagine what Coughlin said at halftime Sunday, then, after watching his team have Ahmad Bradshaw’s 13-yard run brought back because of a hold on Chris Snee and Domenik Hixon’s long completion negated because Hixon blatantly pushed off before catching the pass. In what was a fitting ignominy, the Giants couldn’t even defend a kneel-down cleanly; they were flagged for having 12 men on the field on the final play of the half as the Ravens were simply trying to run out the clock.

Battle Lines Drawn Over Stricter Gun Laws

WASHINGTON—Congressional battle lines hardened Sunday over firearms restrictions, laying the foundation for what will likely be a fight over any proposed new gun laws. Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said he owned an AR-15, an assault-style rifle, at his home and suggested that the solution isn't to take his firearm away but to provide better school security and focus more on mental health as a way to cut gun violence. "I don't suggest you take my right to buy an AR-15 away from me, because I don't think that it will work," he said. Map: Gun Laws by State View Interactive Timeline: Gun Control in the U.S. Since the American Revolution, when colonists went to war against Great Britain, the right to bear arms has been central to – and controversial in – American culture. View Interactive Take a look back over milestones in America's relationship with and regulation of firearms. Gun-control proposals, nonstarters in recent years, have drawn renewed interest in the aftermath of the Dec. 14 shootings in Newtown, Conn., where suspected gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Law-enforcement officials said he also killed his mother and himself. Authorities said a version of the AR-15 was one of the weapons used in the school assault. More Fear of New Restrictions Drives Crowds to Gun Shows The incident has sparked calls for a ban on assault weapons and ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 shots. The National Rifle Association entered the fray on Friday, calling for armed security at all of the nation's schools. Speaking Sunday on "Meet the Press," the organization's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, adamantly opposed new restrictions and faulted federal authorities for failing to adequately enforce existing ones. "One more law on top of 20,000 laws" already on the books would do no good, he said. Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), appearing later on the same show, said the country can't reduce gun violence without considering access to firearms and ammunition. That would be "like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," he said. Gun-control advocates, speaking in interviews, said President Barack Obama has authority to tighten access to certain guns and bolster the background-check system, even with no action from Congress. The White House took the first steps last week toward drawing up its list of proposed changes to gun laws. The White House has acknowledged it has options beyond congressional action but has declined to specify what those might be. Mr. Obama has administrative powers under a 1968 law to ban the import of certain assault weapons. In 1989, former President George H.W. Bush used that law in issuing an executive order to ban the importation of assault weapons not used for sport. His action was superseded by congressional passage of a 10-year ban on assault weapons in 1994. The importation of assault weapons could be "cut off tomorrow," said Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, which backs tighter gun controls. "We argue that is the single most important thing they could do under their administrative authority." Opponents of an importation ban say assault weapons are no more likely to be used in crimes than are other guns. Other steps Mr. Obama can take include bolstering the background-check system used in gun purchases by ordering that local law enforcement be notified when someone fails a background check. That action has found broad support before. A federal program created in the 1990s in Richmond, Va., became a model that was emulated by federal prosecutors elsewhere. Called Project Exile, the program toughened prosecutions of gun offenses and was widely credited with lowering Richmond's violent crime rate. Some state officials said they too would press for tougher regulations. Last week, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said his administration would focus on restricting access to certain firearms. But with porous lines between the states, Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, said federal action would be more effective. In his remarks Sunday, Mr. LaPierre reiterated the NRA's support for the Project Exile initiative, "where every time you catch a criminal with a gun … you prosecute them 100% of the time," he said. The NRA also supports efforts to speed records into the background-check system. After the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, it emerged that the mental-health records of the assailant, Seung-Hui Cho, hadn't been entered into the federal background-check system. The omission allowed Mr. Cho to pass background checks. With NRA support, Congress passed a law to strengthen the system by giving states financial incentives to send in records. In the 14 years the background-check system has operated, some 9,877 attempted gun purchases from federally licensed dealers have been stopped for mental-health reasons. More than one-third have come in the past two years, as states have increased their participation. Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the administration could support the confirmation of a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and shift resources to the agency. The ATF, which has been embroiled in the fallout of an ill-fated federal gun-trafficking probe, has been without a confirmed director for six years and its budget has been relatively stagnant. At $1.15 billion, the 2012 budget was $39 million higher than the 2011 budget. The proposed budget request from the Justice Department for 2013 amounts to a $1.3 million increase.

Cory Booker reportedly leaning toward Senate run

Political junkies salivating over a potential showdown between New Jersey Gov. Chris Chrisie and Cory Booker in next year's New Jersey's gubernatorial race might not get their wish.

Booker, the rising-star Democratic mayor of Newark, N.J., is leaning toward running for U.S. Senate in 2014 instead, sources tell the Wall Street Journal.

Booker's office did not respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News, but the Journal reports the mayor is eyeing the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who, at 88, is widely expected to retire.

Booker, who has repeatedly said he will decide by this month about his political future, could make an announcement via Twitter as soon as this week.