Wednesday, November 21, 2007

A former accountant for Oral Roberts University (ORU) has filed a lawsuit against ORU and its Board of Regents claiming he was told by Richard Roberts and his wife Lindsay to “cook the books”, hiding financial wrongdoing from authorities and the public. Trent Huddleston, the accountant, has filed suit against the school and the Robertses claiming he “was improperly and unlawfully directed to perform functions and duties in violation of state and federal law in an effort by the defendants to ‘cook the books’ and hide from the appropriate authorities and the public the continued wrongdoing, improper and illegal conduct of the defendants, and in particular, of Richard and Lindsay Roberts.”

Huddleston said that nearly $123,000 in remodeling fees for their home was paid by Oral Roberts University and Oral Roberts Ministries. In addition the lawsuit alleges $4,000 was spent on a pool table for the Robertses. Previously the Roberts were accused of illegal political and financial wrongdoing, which forced the president to step down from his positison.

Last week at a meeting called by Oral Roberts, founder of the University and former faith healer, a majority of the faculty voted against allowing Richard to serve as president.

An ORU spokesman declined to comment on latest lawsuit and the faculty meeting.

In other news, Tulsa World released emails between Richard and his political adviser and sister-in-law, Stephanie Cantees. The emails given by an anonymous source, show the two plan to gain political influence using ORU students.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Yesterday, Apple Computer revealed the third-generation version of its iPod Shuffle model, which introduces new features including a voice that tells the user what song is playing in their playlist through the user’s headphones. Apple stated that the iPod will have 4 gigabytes of space, which is enough to hold approximately 1,000 songs, twice as much as the second-generation Shuffle.

In the announcement of the device, Apple told the media that the new voice system, called “VoiceOver”, will completely replace all of the button controls on the device, and will allow the user to find information about the current song, playlist, and the current battery life remaining. It will be available in 14 languages, which include English, Japanese, German, and French. The new model is also about two times smaller than the second-generation Shuffle, being described as slightly smaller than the size of a AA Battery.

“You previously couldn’t have multiple playlists on the iPod Shuffle because you couldn’t really switch between them as there was no way to know how you would switch. So now instead of seeing, you get to hear,” said Greg Joswiak, the Vice President of iPod Marketing at Apple.

The new iPod was stated to be available in two colors, silver and black, and is expected to be priced at $79, $10 higher than the previous model. The current second-generation’s 1 gigabyte and 2 gigabyte models will continue to be sold after the release of the device.

“These are exactly the kinds of products you need to come up with in the midst of a recession. It’s not a stripped-down experience. It has a new cool user interface that isn’t even on the high-end iPods. Apple has worked hard not to make this a race to the bottom,” said a market analyst for Jupiter Research.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

One of Kentucky’s newest state lawmakers, who also serves as a high school teacher, sustained a critical head injury Tuesday morning while intervening to break up a fight between two students in the school’s cafeteria.

State Representative DeWayne Bunch (R), 49, was listed in “extremely critical” condition when he was taken to the Baptist Regional Medical Center in Corbin, Kentucky, immediately following the fight between two male teens.

Bunch was reported as being unconscious and bleeding from the ears when emergency responders arrived at Whitley County High School.

The fight, between a fifteen- and sixteen-year-old, was caught by a surveillance camera which showed Bunch being punched by the sixteen-year-old, according to the sheriff. It is not clear what started the fight, which took place in the school’s cafeteria during breakfast.

The teens have been charged with one count of first-degree assault and two counts of third-degree assault. They are both in custody at a juvenile detention center according to the sheriff.

Bunch was later transported to University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. His family has requested no information be publicly released about his condition.

Monday, December 12, 2005California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has denied clemency for gang founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams, a death row inmate in California convicted of four murders in the 1979.

Stanley Williams was the founder of a notorious Crips street gang. He was convicted in 1981 for the four murders — one of a murder of a convenience store clerk and of two Taiwanese-American motel owners and their daughter.

In recent years, Williams has claimed that he has been redeemed. He has become known for his anti-gang efforts, including the brokering of a truce between the major street gang, the Bloods, and the Crips which he founded. These efforts have earned him Nobel peace prize nominations. BBC News has reported Alice Huffman, President of The California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as saying “We believe this is a serious blow to our effort to fight gangs.”

However the violent nature of Williams crimes has also been raised. In denying clemency Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said “Without apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption,”. Despite claims of redemption and renunciation of the gang lifestyle, Willams has not provided authorities with information on the gang he founded, and has maintained his innocence of the murders. According to the statement released by the governor, Williams’ stance was a factor in denial of clemency.

Williams will be executed by lethal injection at 12:01 AM local time (0801 UTC) on Tuesday.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

As gas prices have risen in the United States, the regional transport authority for southeastern Pennsylvania, SEPTA, has seen a sharp increase in ridership, which has caused overcrowding on the trains.

“As fuel prices have continued to rise, SEPTA ridership has steadily increased and is the highest in 18 years,” said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey. Monthly ridership was 22 percent higher last month than a year ago.

“They have crushed loads on their rail lines, already where people are standing, and there’s not enough seats,” said Rich Bickel, the director of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission.

“At peak times some railcars are standing room only and commuter parking lots are nearly full. All Regional Rail lines are running near full capacity and the train station parking lots are at about 90 percent capacity or more,” SEPTA spokesperson Felipe Suarez said.

While SEPTA awaits new Silverliner V trains from Hyundai Rotem, which begin arriving in 2009, it had hoped to lease eight rail cars from New Jersey Transit, at an agreed-upon rate of US$10,000 per month. However, due to problems with insurance and liability indemnification, the deal fell through, according to Casey.

SEPTA has entered a new agreement to purchase the eight rail cars from NJ Transit. The transit authority will pay US$670,000 for the cars and assorted supplies plus one additional inoperative car which will be used for spare parts. The rail cars will be operated using a SEPTA provided locomotive as they are not self-propelled.

The cars are being disposed of by NJ Transit because it has switched from single-floor cars to double-decker cars.

SEPTA is expecting to raise US$3.1 million by selling rail that has been out of service since 1981 at auction.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A man missing from a camping ground in southern Utah in the Western US since July 30 was found in Australia. His automobile was found in a campground of Dixie National Forest with a note that he would be back in a few hours. An extensive search and rescue operation was conducted to try to locate this hiker by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Utah.

Investigators in the Sheriff’s Office were able to track him down to Cairns, Queensland. Apparently before he was “missing”, he bought a one-way ticket to Australia. Bryan Butas, the missing hiker, apparently had been under a great deal of stress and “got sick of it all”, according to a telephone interview by the Associated Press.

Butas has been charged with insurance fraud, a second-degree felony, by Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap. This was because Butas plotted to obtain a $250,000 life insurance policy before faking his own disappearance. He has also been given a bill for $20,000 by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for their search and rescue operations on his behalf.

His wife and children have since his disappearance moved to the wife’s parent’s home in Ohio. Butas’s parents came to Southern Utah to help in the search and were “embarrassed and shocked” to learn their son had merely run away from marital and financial difficulties, Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said.

Washington County Sheriff Sgt. Jake Adams said his investigation included tracing an application Butas made for a passport, his purchase of a one-way airline ticket to Australia, and the life insurance policy that names his wife and children as beneficiaries. On August 18, Adams said Butas’s mother called him to say her son had called home the evening of August 11, several days after the search was officially called off for the missing man. Butas asked his mother for money and an airline ticket home, which she sent.

Butas has since been checked into the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Brecksville, Ohio, according to Adams, but will shortly return to Utah.

Tuesday, April 5, 2005Terry Vo, the 10-year old Australian boy who had two hands and a foot reattached by surgeons after losing them in an accident, has had to have the foot re-amputated. He will be given a prosthetic foot in its place.

The operation to re-attach three limbs was thought to have been a first – but was ultimately unsuccessful, with the foot having died inside, and receiving insufficient blood supply following the surgery to reattach it.

“That would lead to the small muscles in the foot actually constricting, the toes bending over and a deformed …. foot that is sort of clawed over and doesn’t have good sensation,” said plastic surgeon, Mr Robert Love today, on Australia’s ABC Radio.

“Even if you can get all of that to survive, he [would be] worse off than having had an amputation.”

“What is very disappointing is that for the first two days after [the operation] the foot looked absolutely magnificent,” he said.

Terry’s hands were healing well, said the surgeon. The prosthetic foot would allow him to walk normally, since his knee was intact.