State legislator wants to arm Minnesota teachers

As loony as that idea might seem to some, Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, "will introduce legislation to arm [Minnesota] teachers after [the Newtown] school shootings."

"It's something that we have to face that all of the laws in the world sometimes aren't just going to work," Cornish said, according to an MPR report. "The cop can't be everywhere so the best person to defend yourself is yourself."

Last session, Cornish authored the Defense of Dwelling and Person Act that was approved by the MNGOP-controlled legislature but ultimately vetoed by Gov. Dayton. But while he's known as a staunch advocate of gun rights, his decision to push a bill arming teachers is still a bit surprising.

During an interview with Chad Hartman last month, Cornish was asked whether he'd reintroduce to the Defense of Dwelling Act in 2013. He said there was "zero" chance.

"It's dead on arrival," Cornish said, alluding to the gun-unfriendly DFL majorities in both chambers. "I'm not going to spin my wheels when I know something isn't going to come to fruition."

You would think the same logic would apply with regard to Cornish's Armed Defense of Classrooms idea, as earlier in the day yesterday Dayton said arming teachers "defies common sense."

"You just increase the danger," Dayton said, according to a Star Tribune report.

But even though he'd likely veto a guns-in-the-classroom bill, Dayton made clear he believes Minnesotans have the right to bear arms.

"My reading of the constitution is that it provides a complete permission for any law abiding citizen to possess firearms, whichever ones he or she chooses, and the ammunition to go with that," Dayton said. "There's a limit on what society can do to protect people from their own follies."

Mike Huckabee: Newtown Shooting No Surprise, We've 'Systematically Removed God' From Schools

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/mike-huckabee-school-shooting_n_2303792.html
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee (R) weighed in on the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. on Friday, saying the crime was no surprise because we have "systematically removed God" from public schools.

"We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools," Huckabee said on Fox News. "Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?"

This line of reasoning isn't new for Huckabee.

Speaking about a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. over the summer, the former GOP presidential candidate claimed that such violent episodes were a function of a nation suffering from the removal of religion from the public sphere.

"We don't have a crime problem, a gun problem or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem," Huckabee said on Fox News. "And since we've ordered God out of our schools, and communities, the military and public conversations, you know we really shouldn't act so surprised ... when all hell breaks loose."

Adam Lanza, 20, is the suspect in a school shooting that left 27 dead Friday, including 20 children. Lanza is reportedly the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred.

A gun control halftime show: Should Bob Costas have spoken out on Belcher suicide?

CNN
There are a few things you can usually expect out of an NFL halftime show. A debate about gun control isn't one of them.

But Sunday wasn't a normal day in the NFL. It was two days after Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and the mother of his child, before killing himself outside the front door of the Chiefs' practice facility.

It was shocking. And it was expected that this tragedy would seep through into Sunday's football coverage.

But many people were not expecting Bob Costas to make a plea for gun control.

During halftime of NBC's "Sunday Night Football," Costas blamed the nation's gun culture for what happened between Belcher and his girlfriend, remarks that set off a heated debate about whether the sportscaster should have launched into what some called a "rant" on gun control.

Here's a transcript of Costas' comments:

"Well, you know that it was coming. In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in Kansas City, that most mindless of sports clichés was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective.

Well, if so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf life since we will inevitably hear about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games. Please, those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective.

You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from a Kansas City based-writer, Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree but who today said it so well today that we may as well as quote or paraphrase from the end of his article.

‘Our current gun culture,' Whitlock wrote, '... ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenaged boys bloody and dead. ...

'Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.'

In the coming days, Jovan Belcher's actions and their possible connections to football will be analyzed. Who knows? But here, wrote Jason Whitlock is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."

Costas' remarks seemed to send the Internet into an immediate feeding frenzy. Was it appropriate for him to talk about a political issue during a sports show? What is the right forum for this kind of discussion? Was he only saying what everyone else was already thinking?

Mankato coach finally cleared of child pornography charges

STAR TRIBUNE by Richard Maryhew
MANKATO - Finally, Todd Hoffner had a Saturday to celebrate.

For the first time in more than three months, the head football coach at Minnesota State University, Mankato woke up clear of the felony child pornography charges that had turned his life upside down.

Hours later, his undefeated Mavericks kept their national championship dreams alive by defeating Missouri Western 17-10 to advance to the NCAA Division II semifinals. But Hoffner wasn't there to see it.

Even though a judge on Friday dismissed criminal charges stemming from two videos Hoffner recorded in June of his three young children dancing naked and touching themselves, an ongoing university investigation kept him off the university campus -- as it has all season. So instead, Hoffner spent the day at home in nearby Eagle Lake, watching his team's victory on a computer.

Although Hoffner was absent from the Blakeslee Stadium sidelines Saturday, he was on the minds of many. As scores of Maverick fans draped in the purple and gold school colors braced against the December chill and readied for the noon kickoff, many expressed sympathy and support for their 46-year-old coach, who hasn't set foot in the stadium or talked with his assistants since he was escorted from the practice field by university officials in August and told he was being put on investigative leave.

The videos, found when Hoffner turned in his malfunctioning, campus-issued cellphone to the school's IT department, were the only evidence presented at the time of his arrest. Subsequent searches of his home computers and video equipment, interviews with his children, and investigations into cell and computer records at other colleges where he had coached turned up nothing to support the charges.

"They screwed up," said John Swenson, a Mavericks fan from Elysian. "I have pictures of my boy when he was young and in the bathtub. Who doesn't have those? It's so inappropriate what they did to the coach."

In her strongly worded ruling, District Judge Krista Jass said the videos of the children performing a skit showed nothing lewd, sexual or pornographic, but merely children "dancing and acting playful after a bath."

Becky Vosburg, a North Mankato resident and 1982 MSU graduate, wondered if prosecutors were influenced by the child sex-abuse scandal at Penn State University that cost head coach Joe Paterno his job and sent former assistant Jerry Sandusky to prison. "If we wouldn't have had the Sandusky thing a year ago, I don't think they would have been as quick to judge him and prosecute him," she said.

Hoffner said Friday that he wants to return to his job. But that can't happen until the university reinstates him. Given Jass' ruling Friday, some fans wondered why that hasn't already happened.

138 points in a game: Where's the embarrassment?

(CNN) by Nicolaus Mills
-- College basketball has a new record holder for most points in a game. Last week, Jack Taylor, a 5-foot, 10-inch guard at Iowa's Grinnell College, scored 138 points to lead Grinnell to a 179-104 blowout win over Faith Baptist Bible College, a nearby Iowa college. In setting his scoring record, Taylor made 52 of 108 shots from the field, including 27 of 71 three-point attempts and shot 7 for 10 from the foul line.

Taylor's coach and teammates were happy to see him go all out. In the 36 minutes he played, Taylor did not have a single assist. Virtually every time he got the ball, he shot it.

Taylor is not the first basketball player to go on such an outsized scoring spree. In the National Basketball Association, the scoring record belongs to the Philadelphia Warriors' Wilt Chamberlain. Fifty years ago, Chamberlain put up 100 points in a March 2, 1962, game against the New York Knicks, who were missing their starting center. Chamberlain, who at 7-foot-1 towered over his opponents, was never much of an outside shooter, but his "Dipper Dunk" was all he needed. He was unstoppable anywhere near the basket.

Taylor's scoring feat is different from that. Chamberlain was playing in a game in which his opponent was outclassed but still in his league. That was not the case in the Grinnell game.

Jack Taylor's scoring binge came against a college that doesn't come close to having his college's resources. What the basketball players at Faith Baptist Bible College must be feeling about losing by 75 points doesn't seem to have entered anyone's head at Grinnell or in the media, which couldn't get enough of Taylor in the days following his scoring feat.

I grew up in the Middle West playing basketball at a prep school that often competed against tiny rural high schools to get ready for our games in an interstate league. When it came to running up the score, there was a code our coaches enforced.

With a big lead, we slowed the game down. We stopped taking long shots that would get our supporters cheering, and with the game in hand, we brought in the second team, and after them, anyone still on the bench.

When we left the gym, we wanted the other team to feel good about having played us. We didn't want their players hanging their heads in embarrassment, especially if we had a game scheduled with them for the following year.

We knew these unspoken rules by 16. How could college players not know as much as we did as teenagers? Maybe it's the times. But I wish that the Grinnell players had had my old coach, who doubled as my math teacher. Coach would have made their ears burn for showing up an opponent as they did.

Obama, Congress, and the fiscal cliff

(CNN) – As negotiations continue over how to thwart the looming crisis known as the fiscal cliff, President Barack Obama will take his case on the road this week, urging Americans to support his push to let tax rates rise on the wealthiest Americans.

The president will tour a manufacturing facility and give remarks in the southeastern Pennsylvania town of Hatfield on Friday, the White House announced Tuesday. The campaign-style trip comes as another example of the president building pressure on Congress through public support, rather than the behind-closed-doors approach used in last summer's debt talks.

Friday's trip will follow a week of meetings with other constituencies. He'll meet with small-business owners from across the country on Tuesday and host an event at the White House on Wednesday with "middle-class Americans who would be impacted" if Congress fails to reach a deficit-reduction agreement by the year's end. Also Wednesday, Obama is scheduled to meet with business leaders. He took part in similar meetings with labor groups and business heads two weeks ago, shortly before he held a meeting with congressional leaders in the White House.

The clock is ticking as Congress and the White House work to hash out a plan that would prevent an enormous amount or "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts from taking place next year. Both sides are stalemated over how to raise revenue as part of a deficit-reduction package. House Republicans call for changes in the tax code - namely the closing of loopholes and limiting of deductions - while Senate Democrats and Obama argue for the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts for households making more than $250,000.

While talks are ramping back up after the holiday break, a second meeting between the White House and congressional leaders has yet to be scheduled, though the president did reach out on Saturday to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about their efforts to avert the draconian cuts and tax hikes.

Leading cause of accidental death: prescription drugs

(CNN) -- Pete Jackson attended his brother-in-law's funeral along with his daughter, Emily, six years ago. He never dreamed it would be the last day of his daughter's life. "It's so tragic, just not something you would never, ever expect," said Pete Jackson. Instead of going home to the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights after the funeral, Emily Jackson, 18, spent the night with her cousins.

That night, she made a deadly decision. She took an Oxycontin -- a single prescription pill -- that her cousin offered to her while drinking. She went to sleep that night and never woke up. She died of respiratory depression -- she simply stopped breathing.

While taking one pill and dying is rare, dying accidentally after using painkillers inappropriately is common. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one person dies from a drug overdose every 19 minutes. About 37,000 Americans died after accidentally overdosing on legal or illegal drugs in 2009, according to the CDC; about half of those deaths involved prescription painkillers.

Those numbers are significant enough to make prescription drugs the leading cause of accidental death in this county.

"If you asked any guy on the street what the leading cause of accidental death is, they would guess gunshot or car accident," said Tom McLellan, co-founder of the Treatment Research Institute, a nonprofit organization advocating for improvements in substance abuse policies. "They would never imagine it's pharmaceutical opioids (painkillers)."

Emily Jackson and her cousin had done "a bit of drinking" the night she died, Pete Jackson said. But he is sure that had she not taken the Oxycontin, she would still be alive today. "I've never tried to make it sound like Emily is innocent," Jackson said. "What I want people to understand about Emily's tragedy is how easily this can happen, how dangerous these drugs are."

The prescription painkiller Emily Jackson took is a respiratory depressant that slows breathing. That in combination with the alcohol, another respiratory depressant, overwhelmed her brain, which stopped giving her heart and lungs the signal to keep functioning.

"In many ways, you play Russian roulette," said Kathleen Meyers, a senior researcher for the Treatment Research Institute. "You have no idea the (respiratory) consequences of any one group of substances, and then you put all that together and the risks go up exponentially."

It's not just an issue among teenagers. In fact, males in their 40s and 50s who start off with a prescription for back pain and die from an accidental overdose several years later are dying in significant numbers. "Could you imagine, a worker that popped their back, and we started to put them on (pain) medication and three years later they were dead?" Dr. Alex Cahana, the chief of pain medicine at the University of Washington, told CNN. "That's devastating."

The devastation began for Steve Rummler when he got a prescription for nerve pain radiating through his leg and back. It started when he was 28. For the next nine years, the Minneapolis man endured the pain.

It was not until 2005, when Rummler was 37, that a doctor prescribed hydrocodone to address his pain, along with clonazepam, a benzodiazepine and anti-anxiety medication, to relieve his injury-related anxiety. Family members said it was the first time in nearly a decade Rummler felt relief from the life-altering pain he endured.

But that relief was short-lived. In a journal entry, Rummler said of the drugs, "At first they were a lifeline. Now they are a noose around my neck."

It is a common sentiment, and a common scenario, according to Meyers, who says Rummler's case is far too common -- a person genuinely needs opioids but becomes addicted to the relief they provide.

By 2009, Rummler had sunk into dependence and, eventually, into addiction. At the advice of his family, he enrolled in two addiction treatment programs and seemingly had a handle on his addiction. But in July of 2011, just 45 days after completing the final stage of his rehabilitation, Rummler relapsed and died at 43. Like Emily Jackson, Rummler stopped breathing in his sleep.

Pakistani girl shot for wanting an education

(CNN) -- It began with a ride home from school on Tuesday, October 9.
Gunmen halted the van ferrying Malala Yousufzai through her native Swat Valley, one of the most conservative regions in Pakistan. They demanded that other girls on the vehicle identify her. Malala had faced frequent death threats in the past. Some of the girls pointed her out. At least one gunman opened fire, wounding three girls. Two sustained non-life-threatening injuries, but bullets struck Malala in the head and neck.

Now, a month later, it is nothing short of a miracle that the teen blogger, who fights for the right of girls to get an education, is still alive and even more astounding that she suffered no major brain or nerve damage. In hardly more than four weeks, she has gone from an intensive care unit in Pakistan, showing no signs of consciousness, to walking, writing, reading -- and smiling -- again in a hospital in the United Kingdom. And outside her hospital room, a world sympathetic with her ordeal has transformed her into a global symbol for the fight to allow girls everywhere access to an education.

Malala has encouraged girls and their families to resist the Pakistani Taliban, who pushed girls from classrooms, since she was 11. In January 2009, the militants issued an edict ordering that no school should educate girls. Malala wrote in her online diary about intimidation tactics the Taliban used in the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan to coerce girls into not going school.
They included house raids to search for books, and Malala had to hide hers under her bed. "I was scared of being beheaded by the Taliban because of my passion for education," she told CNN last year.

Right after her shooting her family kept a low profile, for fear they could be next. The militants vowed that if Malala survived, they'd go after her again.
"We will certainly kill her," a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said.

The bloodletting sparked outrage inside Pakistan against the radical Islamist group that continues to wield influence in parts of Pakistan. Around the world, the young blogger has become a poster child for a widespread need to permit girls to get an education.

Obama wins second term

STAR TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON - His lease renewed in trying economic times, President Barack Obama claimed a second term from an incredibly divided electorate and immediately braced for daunting challenges and progress that comes only in fits and starts.

"We have fought our way back and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come," Obama said.

The same voters who gave Obama another four years also elected a divided Congress, re-upping the dynamic that has made it so hard for the president to advance his agenda. Democrats retained control of the Senate; Republicans renewed their majority in the House.

It was a sweet victory for Obama, but nothing like the jubilant celebration of four years earlier, when his hope-and-change election as the nation's first black president captivated the world. This time, Obama ground out his win with a stay-the-course pitch that essentially boiled down to a plea for more time to make things right and a hope that Congress will be more accommodating than in the past.

The vanquished Republican, Mitt Romney, tried to set a more conciliatory tone on the way off the stage."At a time like this, we can't risk partisan bickering," Romney said after a campaign filled with it. "Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work."

House Speaker John Boehner spoke of a dual mandate, saying, "If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs."

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had a more harsh assessment. "The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term," McConnell said. "They have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together" with a balanced Congress.

Obama claimed a commanding electoral mandate — at least 303 electoral votes to 206 for Romney — and had a near-sweep of the nine most hotly contested battleground states.

But the close breakdown in the popular vote showed Americans' differences over how best to meet the nation's challenges. With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting, the popular vote went 50 percent for Obama to 48.4 percent for Romney, the businessman-turned-politician who had argued that Obama had failed to turn around the economy and said it was time for a new approach keyed to lower taxes and a less intrusive government.

Obama's re-election assured certainty on some fronts: His signature health-care overhaul will endure, as will the Wall Street reforms enacted after the economic meltdown. The drawdown of troops in Afghanistan will continue apace. And with an aging Supreme Court, the president is likely to have at least one more nomination to the high court.

The challenges immediately ahead for the 44th president are all too familiar: an economy still baby-stepping its way toward full health, 23 million Americans still out of work or in search of better jobs, civil war in Syria, an ominous standoff over Iran's nuclear program, and more.

Sharp differences with Republicans in Congress on taxes, spending, deficit reduction, immigration and more await.

Superstorm Sandy hits East Coast

STAR/TRIBUNE
NEW YORK - As Superstorm Sandy marched slowly inland, millions along the East Coast awoke Tuesday without power or mass transit, with huge swaths of the nation's largest city unusually vacant and dark.

New York was among the hardest hit, with its financial heart in Lower Manhattan shuttered for a second day and seawater cascading into the still-gaping construction pit at the World Trade Center. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the city and Long Island.

The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph sustained winds killed at least 17 people in seven states, cut power to more than 7.4 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio, caused scares at two nuclear power plants and stopped the presidential campaign cold.

A levee broke in northern New Jersey and flooded the town of Moonachie, forcing authorities to evacuate as many as 1,000 people early Tuesday, Bergen County official Jeanne Baratta told The Record newspaper. Some people in a trailer park had to climb the roofs of their trailers to await rescue, she said.

The massive storm reached well into the Midwest: Chicago officials warned residents to stay away from the Lake Michigan shore as the city prepares for winds of up to 60 mph and waves exceeding 24 feet well into Wednesday.

"This will be one for the record books," said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at Consolidated Edison, which had more than 670,000 customers without power in and around New York City.

The massive storm caused the worst damage in the 108-year history of New York's extensive subway system, according to Joseph Lhota, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

As Hurricane Sandy closed in on the Northeast, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a monstrous hybrid of rain and high wind — and even snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.

Officials blamed at least 16 deaths on the converging storms — five in New York, three each in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, two in Connecticut, and one each in Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia. Three of the victims were children, one just 8 years old.

NY appeals court strikes down Defense of Marriage Act

New York (CNN) - A federal appeals court in New York became the nation's second to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act, finding that the Clinton-era law's denial of federal benefits to married same-sex couples is unconstitutional.

The divisive act, which was passed in 1996, bars federal recognition of such marriages and says other states cannot be forced to recognize them.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined Thursday that the federal law violates the Constitution's equal protection clause, ruling in favor of a widow named Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old lesbian who sued the federal government for charging her more than $363,000

The case centered on the money Windsor wanted back, but raised the more looming question of whether the federal government can continue to ignore a state's recognition of her marriage and financially penalize her as a result.

"Homosexuals are not in a position to adequately protect themselves from the discriminatory wishes of the majoritarian public," wrote Dennis Jacobs, a conservative judge in New York.

A federal appeals court in Boston made a similar ruling in May, but the moves are considered largely symbolic as the issue is expected to eventually be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Do facts matter in the presidential campaign?

By Julian Zelizer
Princeton, New Jersey (CNN) -- The fact-checkers have been out in force for months. With the presidential and vice presidential debates fully under way, and both parties claiming that their opponents are liars, websites and news shows are inundated with experts and reporters who inform voters about whether candidates are making claims that have little basis in fact.

Like the card game "B.S," in which players call fellow players when they lie about what card has been put into the collective pile, the fact-checkers shout out to Americans when they find that politicians are injecting falsehood into the news cycle.

But it is not clear what impact the fact checkers are having on the public at large or, nearly as important, on the politicians. They keep laying out the facts and the politicians keep stretching the truth. There is little evidence that the public is outraged by any of the revelations nor that it has any real influence on how the politicians conduct themselves, other than to provide more campaign fodder for attacks on their opponents.

What is going on? Why does all the new access to data via the Internet and the cottage industry of fact-checking experts seem to have so little influence on the basic dynamics of the election? Even with live bloggers tracking every word during the debate, the candidates are having no trouble stretching the truth or fabricating facts for their own purposes. At least thus far the polls don't seem to be registering any significant effects when the candidates are called out for doing this. Why isn't there a penalty for lying?

One of the biggest challenges for fact-checkers is that they must work in a political culture that, since the 1970s has been deeply distrustful of government and politicians. Polls consistently show that trust in government has steadily fallen since Vietnam with just a few temporary upticks. The public doesn't think much of politicians, nor do they ever expect them to tell the truth. We live with the ghosts of Watergate.

So when fact-checking organizations try to point out when politicians are stretching the truth, giving them Pinocchio noses for having made claims that have little bearing in fact, the public just isn't surprised. In fact, these revelations just confirm the general impression that the public has of their leaders. As a result, the fact-checkers fade in the noise of the media frenzy over the campaign.

The partisanship that shapes our politics has many costs. Congress has trouble making decisions, tensions among voters over certain issues are often severe, and the quality of our discourse often suffers. Perhaps one of the worst effects of partisanship, however, has been the fact that the truth is much harder to discern and, in many cases, voters don't even expect it.

The public lives in a world where it seems impossible to know what is fact and what is partisan fiction. Fact checkers, many of whom have legitimate and virtuous objectives to get Americans to really understand the choices before them, have trouble gaining much traction. When one of the players calls "B.S." during the political cycle, people might be listening, but it's not clear that there are lasting consequences.

Supreme Court takes new look at affirmative action

NEW YORK TIMES
As the Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case challenging race-conscious admission to public colleges, university officials across the country watched for clues to where the court might go while contemplating what steps schools might take if the court changed the state of the law.
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Schools are bracing for three broad categories of possible outcomes in the case, Fisher v. University of Texas: a complete and history-making ban on race-conscious admissions, a tightening of the current limitations on consideration of race or ethnicity, or a decision that more or less leaves things as they are. The result will turn largely on the court’s reading of its 2003 decision in Grutter v. Bollinger, when the justices, by 5 to 4, ruled that schools may take race into account as one factor among many, as long as they do not use numerical quotas. A decision will be issued next year.

“An outcome a lot of us in higher education are contemplating is that they could affirm Grutter, at least in name, but impose a stricter definition of what it allows,” said John C. Boger, dean of the law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an author of a brief that school submitted to the court in support of the University of Texas. “Then the question becomes, do they make the test for race-conscious action so tough that no one could ever pass it?”

Such a ruling, just as surely as an outright ban on consideration of race, would force the more-selective public colleges to change their admissions practices. (Many of the nation’s public schools have open admissions, meaning that they take anyone whose high school credentials are above a certain threshold; they would not be affected by the ruling.)

Seven states already ban any consideration of race in admission to state schools, and to varying degrees, their colleges have responded with “race-blind” ways to achieve diversity, like distributing admissions among all public high schools, recruiting aggressively in poorer communities and giving some preference to low-income applicants and those from underperforming schools.

A report released last week by the Century Foundation argued that alternatives to affirmative action can work reasonably well in producing ethnic diversity, and much better in producing economic diversity.

In California, whose ban has been in place longest — voters approved it in 1996 — the highly competitive University of California system has tried several approaches, with varying results.

One approach in particular now being used in Texas, California and elsewhere, has won admirers: trying to spread admissions by community rather than race. That can mean giving preference to low-income students and those who go to low-performing schools, recruiting aggressively in poorer areas and, most often, admitting a certain percentage of students from the top of the class at every high school in the state.

“I don’t know anybody who’s opposed to that, in principle, but it has not allowed us to achieve the level of diversity we’d like to see, particularly at our most selective campuses, Berkeley and U.C.L.A.,” said David M. Birnbaum, chief deputy general counsel of the University of California system. “I think most educators believe in the importance and value of diversity, and if some avenues are closed to them to achieve that, they’ll look for others, but it’s not an easy thing to do.”

Mr. Boger said his colleagues had studied how a “percentage plan” would work at the University of North Carolina, and found that while it would admit nearly as many blacks and Hispanics, it would also significantly lower the caliber of students.

In addition, educators noted that if they could not take race into account, there was no guarantee that all public universities would go to the same lengths that California has to achieve diversity. Some even speculated that their states’ lawmakers might block such measures.

Obama, Romney tied in polls

Washington (CNN) - Three new national polls of likely voters released in the past 24 hours indicate the race for the White House is all knotted up and suggest that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got a bounce out of last Wednesday's first presidential debate.

According to a CNN Poll of Polls that averages all three non-partisan, live operator surveys, Romney has the support of 48% of likely voters, with President Barack Obama at 47%. While the CNN Poll of Polls does not have a sampling error, the margin is well within the sampling error of the three surveys averaged into the CNN Poll of Polls.

Cheerleaders With Bible Verses Set Off a Debate

NEW YORK TIMES
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
KOUNTZE, Tex. — The hand-painted red banner created by high school cheerleaders here for Friday night’s football game against Woodville was finished days ago. It contains a passage from the Bible — Hebrews 12:1 — that reads: “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

That banner, and other religious-themed signs made by the high school and middle school cheerleading squads in recent weeks, have embroiled this East Texas town in a heated debate over God, football and cheerleaders’ rights.

School district officials ordered the cheerleaders to stop putting Bible verses on the banners, because they believed doing so violated the law on religious expression at public school events. In response, a group of 15 cheerleaders and their parents sued the Kountze Independent School District and its superintendent, Kevin Weldon, claiming that prohibiting the students from writing Christian banner messages violated their religious liberties and free-speech rights.

On Thursday afternoon, the two sides met in a courtroom on the second floor of the Hardin County Courthouse. It had all the trappings of a high-profile courtroom drama: Lawyers from both sides haggled over the Texas Constitution and the cheerleaders’ own constitution, a police officer with an assault rifle and binoculars was stationed on the roof, reporters filled the jury box, and one witness — Kieara Moffett, an 11th grade cheerleader — teared up on the stand during cross-examination.

The superintendent’s decision has outraged many students and their parents, and has brought national attention upon a small town about two hours outside Houston. The cheerleaders’ supporters have put up lawn signs and started a Facebook page called Support Kountze Kids Faith that, with nearly 50,000 members, far exceeds the town’s population of 2,100.

The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, offered to defend the cheerleaders’ First Amendment rights and wrote a letter to the superintendent saying that the decision to ban the religious messages was based on erroneous legal advice. Representatives of the newly formed Concerned East Texans for Separation of Church and State have taken action as well, delivering a gift basket to the district’s central office that included coffee, chocolates and a thank-you card.

Each side’s lawyers cast their clients as courageous: The teenage cheerleaders, for standing up to the school district to protect their religious views, and Mr. Weldon, himself a Christian and a former football coach, for taking an unpopular position in a largely conservative Christian town in order to, as he sees it, uphold the law.

After a daylong hearing that included the testimony of two cheerleaders, District Judge Steven Thomas of Hardin County decided to extend for an additional 14 days more a temporary restraining order that he had put in place two weeks ago. The move prevents district officials from enforcing the ban on religious signs for 14 days and allows the cheerleaders to continue to create and display the banners at the home game on Friday night as well as other coming games. It seemed likely that the judge would hold another hearing in two weeks.

“I feel like it’s getting God’s word out to those that need it,” Kieara, 16, said of the banners.

California governor OKs ban on gay conversion therapy

(CNN) -- Therapy aimed at turning gay kids straight will soon be illegal in California, with the state's governor declaring he hopes a new law will relegate such efforts "to the dustbin of quackery." The legislation -- which the state Senate passed in May, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law this weekend and will take effect January 1 -- prohibits attempts to change the sexual orientation of patients under age 18.

"This bill bans non-scientific 'therapies' that have driven young people to depression and suicide," Brown tweeted. "These practices have no basis in science or medicine."

But practitioners of so-called "reparative therapy" say the assertions of the governor and gay rights advocates "just are not true," according to David Pickup, a spokesman for the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.

Joined by "individual therapists and individual minor clients," his group will file a "major lawsuit" this week to challenge the law," Pickup said. The Pacific Justice Institute separately told CNN it will file its own lawsuit Monday, alleging the law violates the First Amendment.

"We do competent therapy, therapy that truly works," Pickup, who himself underwent such therapy and now administers it to others, said Monday on CNN. "For them to have a bill that says, 'No, we can't even talk about these issues, we can't do anything to help these children resolve their homosexual feelings and maximize their heterosexual potential' -- that's the height of political and therapeutic irresponsibility."

Pickup alluded to a report by the American Psychiatric Association that, he says, doesn't find any "proof that (the therapy) causes harm." But the psychiatric organization -- which is the world's largest of its kind, with more than 36,000 members -- determined, in fact, that reparative therapy poses a great risk, including increasing the likelihood or severity of depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior for those undergoing therapy. Therapists' alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already felt by patients, the association says.

"The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality per se is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation," the association says.

UND Hockey Knuckleheads

GRAND FORKS HERALD
The call to UND police earlier this month that resulted in four UND freshman hockey players cited for underage drinking and seven other players suspended, came in as a request for medical assistance.

The responding officer, Cheryl Sevigny, reported that paramedics suggested two of the freshmen be watched overnight and took another to the emergency room on suspicion of alcohol poisoning.

On Friday, Grand Forks County prosecutors charged the four freshmen players with underage drinking, a Class B misdemeanor. They are Jordan Schmaltz, 18; Bryn Chyzyk, 19; Zane Gothberg, 20; and Drake Caggiula, 18. All four are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 30. UND says it will handle their discipline internally.

In her report, Sevigny said she received a call from the 911 dispatch center around 8 p.m. Sept. 15 about “a highly intoxicated male subject passed out in room 102B Walsh Hall and the RAs were unable to wake him.” Nicholas Garfield, the resident assistant in Walsh, made the 911 call. He said he’s confident he kept one or more of the freshmen from a possibly critical problem, he said.

Just as Garfield was going on duty that evening, he told the Herald, “I saw members of the hockey team being brought in.” Freshman members of the hockey team live in Walsh Hall, Garfield said, and older team members were carrying in obviously intoxicated freshmen who could not walk on their own.

When he asked what was going on, Garfield said, “a few of the hockey members told me they have it taken care of and I should just go back to doing what I was doing.”

But he was concerned about the welfare of the freshmen and called 911, he said. “In the process of making the call, I deemed it morally weird and unethical if I did not go and check on them, either way. It didn’t matter what they said.”

Officer Sevigny said in her report that, when she arrived at Walsh Hall on the call about the one intoxicated player, Garfield told her there also was “another highly-intoxicated male subject passed out in room 202B Walsh.”

Gothberg, who had a strong odor of alcohol, was passed out face down on the floor and Chyzyk was lying on the futon. Sevigny shook Gothberg, and he responded, but Chyzyk did not, even though she “shook him, tapped his face and spoke to him,” Sevigny said. He had vomit on the front of his shirt.

“While I was trying to wake Chyzyk, someone mentioned that he had taken a lot of shots that night,” she said. “I then used a pressure point behind his right ear, Chyzyk started to move and I asked Chyzyk to speak with me. Chyzyk then mumbled he’s sleeping and swung his arm at me.”

Caggiula meanwhile, was taken to Altru Hospital for possible alcohol poisoning, Sevigny said.

Derek Forbort, a junior, and other older members of the team gathered in the hallway to find out what was happening, Sevigny said. Told that another officer was trying to call Athletic Director Brian Faison, Forbort asked why he “had to contact Faison.”

Forbort also told her “it wasn’t an initiation party but a party that had gotten a little out of hand,” Sevigny said. Once Faison heard about the party, the four senior captains on the team — Andrew MacWilliam, Corban Knight, Danny Kristo and Carter Rowney — were suspended for the Oct. 19 game against the University of Alaska Anchorage.

A few days later, it was announced that three sophomores, all 21 or older — Connor Gaarder, Andrew Panzarella and Stephane Pattyn — will be suspended for the Oct. 20 game against the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Both games, part of a tournament, will be played in Fairbanks.

Middle Schools Add a Team Rule: Get a Drug Test

NEW YORK TIMESBy MARY PILON
MILFORD, Pa. — As a 12-year-old seventh grader, Glenn and Kathy Kiederer’s older daughter wanted to play sports at Delaware Valley Middle School here. She also wanted to join the scrapbooking club. One day she took home a permission slip. It said that to participate in the club or any school sport, she would have to consent to drug testing. “They were asking a 12-year-old to pee in a cup,” Kathy Kiederer said. “I have a problem with that. They’re violating her right to privacy over scrapbooking? Sports?”

Olympic athletes must submit urine samples to prove they are not doping. The same is true for Tour de France cyclists, N.F.L. players, college athletes and even some high school athletes. Now, children in grades as low as middle school are being told that providing a urine sample is required to play sports or participate in extracurricular activities like drama and choir.

Such drug testing at the middle school level is confounding students and stirring objections from parents and proponents of civil liberties. The Kiederers, whose two daughters are now in high school, are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Delaware Valley School District, with the daughters identified only by their first initials, A. and M. The parents said that mandatory drug testing was unnecessary and that it infringed on their daughters’ rights.

It is difficult to gauge how many middle schools conduct drug tests on students. States with middle schools that conduct drug testing include Florida, Alabama, Missouri, West Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio, New Jersey and Texas. Some coaches, teachers and school administrators said drug-testing programs served as a deterrent for middle school students encountering drugs of all kinds, including steroids, marijuana and alcohol. “We wanted to do it to create a general awareness of drug prevention,” said Steve Klotz, assistant superintendent at Maryville School District in Missouri. “We’re no different than any other community. We have kids who are making those decisions.”

There are no known instances of a middle school student testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs like steroids or human growth hormone. The few positive results among middle school students have been attributed to marijuana, officials said, and even those cases are rare.

Maryville’s drug-testing program, which includes most of its middle and high school students, begins this fall after officials spent 18 months reviewing other programs in the state, Mr. Klotz said. In the fall of 2011, Mr. Klotz said, the school board conducted a survey of parents, and 72 percent said that a drug-testing program was necessary.

Drug testing for high school athletes, which has been around for years, was deemed constitutional in a 1995 United States Supreme Court ruling. Some districts have expanded their drug-testing programs in recent years to include middle school students.

But some experts doubt the effectiveness of such testing. “There’s little evidence these programs work,” Dr. Goldberg said. “Drug testing has never been shown to have a deterrent effect.” In 2007, Dr. Goldberg published the results of a study of athletes at five high schools with drug testing and six schools that had deferred implementing a testing policy. He found that athletes from the two groups did not differ in their recent use of drugs or alcohol.

“I think you have to look at the reason for testing,” Dr. Goldberg said. “With Olympic testing, it’s to weed out the people who are cheating. If you’re using drug testing to weed out a problem in kids, you need to get them in therapy. But it doesn’t reduce whether or not kids use drugs.”

Some coaches and school administrators, however, say the dearth of positive tests is an indication that testing is working effectively as a deterrent. “We don’t want to catch students,” said Jerry Cecil, assistant superintendent of the Greenwood School District in Arkansas. “We want them not to be using.”

Romney's "47 Percent" remark stirs controversy

(CBS News)
In a video unearthed recently, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was captured making some inflammatory comments about people who don't pay income tax in America - the people he says will vote for President Obama "no matter what."

The Quote "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Chicago teachers' strike

(CNN) -- The Chicago teachers strike drags into a second week, after a representative group of the Chicago Teachers Union decided over the weekend not to end the walkout even though union leaders and school officials had reached a tentative contract deal.
The strike in the third-largest school system in the country is affecting more than 350,000 children.
A quick primer:
Q. What's the sticking point?
A. Among the major issues, the teachers are negotiating over the length of the school day, objecting to their evaluations being tied to performance and fretting about potential job losses.
Q. How would the length of school days change?
A. Elementary students would gain 75 minutes to create a seven-hour school day. High school students would gain 30 minutes to create a seven-and-a-half-hour school day. Teachers wants additional money to teach the additional hours.
Chicago mayor takes strike fight to court
Q. Why are teachers objecting to evaluations tied to performance?
A. The union says student performance is directly linked to conditions in the home or neighborhood, making it unfair for teachers to be punished if students don't do well in the the classroom for those reasons.
Q. How many jobs will be lost under the evaluation plan?
A. As many as 6,000 teachers could lose their jobs under the evaluation system, according to CTU President Karen Lewis, who has called the system "unacceptable." The mayor's office, the city and school officials have questioned that job-loss figure.
Q. What's next?
A. The House of Delegates, a group of 800 union representatives, will reconvene Tuesday afternoon, at which point delegates could decide to end the strike. If they do, classes would resume no earlier than Wednesday. The rank-and-file of the Chicago Teachers Union would still have the opportunity at some point to accept, or reject, the proposed contract.
But as of Sunday, Lewis said a "clear majority" of union delegates did not want to suspend the strike given the proposed contract, saying "they are not happy with the agreement."
Q. How many teachers are in the union and how much do Chicago teachers make?
A. The Chicago Teachers Union represents 26,000 teachers. Chicago has the nation's third-largest school system with some 35,000 students, and its teachers are among the highest paid in the country. The median base salary for teachers in the Chicago public schools in 2011 was $67,974, according to the system's annual financial report.
Q. What sort of raise are they being offered?
A. The pay structure would change with a 3% pay hike for the first year of the contract, 2% for the second year and 2% for the third year. If a trigger extends the contract to four years, teachers would get a 3% pay increase. Union members would no longer be compensated for unused personal days, health insurance contribution rates will be frozen and the "enhanced pension program" is being eliminated.
Q. How is the public reacting to the strike?
A. The reaction is predictably mixed in the pro-union town. Parents have had to juggle work schedules and lay out money for child care, but many remain supportive of the union's action.

U.S. ambassador to Libya killed

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday strongly condemned the killing of the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, in a rocket attack on the U.S. Consulate in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday. He called the attack "outrageous," and confirmed that four Americans, including Stevens, were killed.

"Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States," Obama said. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979.
Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya
Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls Protesters storm U.S. Embassy walls

Libya's Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib apologized "to the American people and the government, and also to the rest of the world" for the "cowardly criminal act."

An "angry crowd" marched on the consulate on Tuesday, furious about an online film considered offensive to Islam, Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said Wednesday. The U.S. mission in Egypt was also attacked Tuesday in response to the film.

Al-Sharif said that consulate security staff opened fire when they heard gunfire outside the mission. "This led to more anger and this is when the consulate was stormed," he said, suggesting that there were elements loyal to the regime of deposed dictator Moammar Gadhafi aiming to create chaos among the protesters.

"Criminals managed to get in and they burned and ransacked the consulate," he said. The U.S. mission is very badly damaged and was being looted on Wednesday, said a contractor working at the mission, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

He said he saw the bodies of all four Americans on the street Wednesday morning.

Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur said Stevens was "a friend of Libya, and we are shocked at the the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi." "I condemn these barbaric acts in the strongest possible terms. This is an attack on America, Libya and free people everywhere," Abushagur said on Twitter.

Poll shows most Minnesotans favor Marriage Amendment

Pioneer Press
A poll of likely Minnesota voters showed a 15 percent lead in favor of the constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, according to a SurveyUSA and KSTP-TV poll released Sunday, July 22.

The poll by SurveyUSA, a public polling firm that partners with local TV stations, had 52 percent of voters saying they would vote for the amendment to 37 percent against it. Six percent were unsure; 5 percent would not vote.

A previous SurveyUSA poll in February showed 47 percent would vote for the amendment to 39 percent against it.

Other recent polls display different numbers. Public Policy Polling showed 49 percent oppose the amendment and 43 percent in support in early June. A Gallup poll of about 1,000 Americans in May had 50 percent in favor of recognizing same-sex marriages with the same rights of traditional marriage.

-- Andy Greder

Obama's report card

Washington (CNN) -- An energized electorate inspired by a groundbreaking election and expectations as high as Mount Everest had grown accustomed to greeting him with spontaneous chants of "yes we can."

He promised to take "bold, swift action" on the ailing economy and break the partisan grip on Washington by ending what he called "petty grievances and false promises."

"There are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans," the president told the nation during his inaugural address in 2009. "Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done."

This high bar assured there would be a very long to-do-list, and some Republicans were quick to publicly admit they would not make his job easy. But some political observers make the case that pushing a lot of promises was a necessity for an unproven freshman senator.

"He really needed to prove himself to a lot of individual Democratic constituencies," said Bill Adair, the creator and editor of PolitiFact, an online site best known for rating the truth in campaign advertisements. "He made dozens and dozens of small but very narrow promises."

PolitiFact evaluated 508 promises and concluded that the president has kept 37% of them, compromised on 14% of them, has broken 16% of them, has gotten stalled on 10% of them and 22% are still "in the works."

One big stumble came soon after the president took office. During an interview on the CBS program "60 Minutes," Obama had said he intended to "close Guantanamo" and vowed to "follow through on that."

But legal hurdles and resistance in Congress neutralized his executive order to close the detention facility within a year.

Another promise that ran into a wall on Capitol Hill was the vow to repeal Bush-era tax cuts for the very rich.

And with homeowners trying to recover from a crippling mortgage crisis, especially in states such as Nevada and Florida, a promised $10 billion dollar foreclosure prevention fund never materialized.

"He made some really sweeping promises about changing the culture of Washington, about bringing the parties together, about being more transparent in how he runs the White House," Adair said. "He ran into trouble there. There's been a real realization on the part of the White House that some of the things he said during the 2008 campaign were just not realistic given the way Washington really works."

The very long list goes on: No comprehensive immigration reform. No cap and trade system that regulates pollution emissions.

Some of these broken promises provide critics with plenty of fodder to argue he has been ineffective. But the White House views his bucket of promises as half-full.

Health care reform. Check. Auto industry bailout. Check. "Don't ask don't tell," the policy that banned openly gays and lesbians from serving in the military, repealed. Check.

The Obameter Scorecard also gives the president a thumbs up on national security.

In 2008 while visiting Jordan, the president vowed to end the war in Iraq. "My goal is to no longer have U.S. troops engaged in combat in Iraq." That promise was fulfilled in December.

Added to that is that the conflict in Afghanistan is winding down and the world's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead. "The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda" the president said as he broke the news in a hastily arranged late-night Sunday address to the nation in May 2011.

Between now and Election Day, it's possible other promises stuck in the works could go either way, although campaigning has consumed much of the oxygen. Adair said there is plenty of blame to go around.

Congress has created some impassable barriers but at the same time, he argues other promises were "low-hanging fruit" that the president could have accomplished through executive action but so far hasn't delivered.

Iranian rapper faces death sentence from Ayatollah

CNN
An Iranian rapper is facing death threats and has a $100,000 bounty on his head for a song that some say insults an Islamic Shiite imam.

Shahin Najafi, who sings in Farsi and lives in Germany, told the German website Qantara that the song "Naghi" is not about a religious figure but about the state of society in Iran.

"The story with 'Naghi' was just a pretext," Najafi said in an interview with Qantara, which the German Foreign Office funds to promote dialogue with the Islamic world.

"For me it is more of an excuse to talk about completely different things. I criticize Iranian society in the song. It seems as though people are just concentrating on the word 'imam,' " Najafi is quoted as saying.

Religious figures in Iran see it differently. "Following the affront by rap singer Shahin Najafi against Imam Hadi (7th Imam of Shias) in a song called 'Naghi', his apostasy sentence has been issued by Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani," Iran's official Fars News Agency said in a website posting in Farsi.

Golpayegani is a grand ayatollah, which means the highest- ranking authority in Shiite Islam after prophets and imams. Being an apostate, or someone who forsakes Islam, is punishable by death under Iranian law. "If the song contains any insults or indecency towards Imam Naghi, then it is blasphemy, and God knows what to do," Golpayegani, a 92-year-old Iranian cleric, is quoted as saying by Qantara.

A post on the blog entegham says Najafi should be sentenced to death. "According to article 513 of Islam’s penal code: Anyone who insults the sanctity of Islam, anyone of the great prophets, the Imams, and Sadigheh Tahereh (the prophet’s daughter) should be executed," the post says.

The Iranian website Shia-Online.ir is offering $100,000 to anyone who kills Najafi. The money is being put up by "a philanthropist" in a Persian Gulf state, the website says.

In a blog post on Najafi, The Guardian in the UK calls Najafi "the Salman Rushdie of music," a reference to the author of "The Satanic Verses," who was given a religious death sentence by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 after Khomeini said Rushie's book was blasphemous.

Romney criticized for bullying while in high school

Washington (CNN) –
Phillip Maxwell wishes he had done something to stop it.

Maxwell, a Michigan attorney, is still haunted by what he claims he witnessed on the campus of the state's elite Cranbrook School in 1965: a young Mitt Romney and a group of friends holding down a classmate named John Lauber and cutting off chunks of his long hair. "It was not an event you take a lot of pride in. And it was that way for all of us," Maxwell told CNN.

Maxwell confirmed the story, first reported in the Washington Post. However, he insisted the incident was far worse than a high school prank. "I'm a lawyer. I know what an assault is. This kid was scared. He was terrified. That's an assault," Maxwell said.

Romney said in an interview with Fox News Radio he does not recall the incident described in the Post article. But the former Massachusetts governor acknowledged he engaged in pranks that "might have gone too far" and apologized for any harm done during his time at Cranbrook. "Back in high school, I did some dumb things, and if anybody was hurt by that or offended, obviously I apologize for that," Romney said.

Maxwell told CNN he is disappointed in Romney's response to the story."He says he doesn't remember it and I find it difficult to believe," Maxwell said in a telephone interview. "It's unfortunate that Mitt simply hasn't owned up to his behavior," he added.

Maxwell, who told ABC News he is a registered independent who has voted for both Democrats and Republicans, said the episode is "relevant" in the campaign as a window into Romney's character."I guess you have to take it into account. Are you the kind of person who would stop the abuse of an innocent person?" Maxwell asked.

In an interview on a separate topic for the June issue of Automobile Magazine, however, Maxwell said he will not be casting his ballot for Romney, though added praise for the candidate. "I'm a Democrat, so I won't vote for him," says Maxwell. "But he'd probably make a pretty good president. He's very smart, very principled.

To this day, Maxwell regrets he will never have the chance to make amends with Lauber who, according to the Post, died in 2004. "I wish I could have apologized to him," Maxwell said.

Late Thursday, the Romney campaign provided statements from other former classmates of the GOP contender. "Mitt was a thoughtful guy with a great sense of humor who cared about his classmates. He had a good perspective on how to balance all the pressures high school students face. He would never go out and do anything mean spirited. Clownish, yes. Never mean," Richard Moon, one ex-classmate said in the statement furnished by the campaign.

"Mitt never had a malicious bone in his body – trying to imply or characterize him as a bully is absurd," John French, another former classmate, said in another statement released by Romney's staff.

Obama announces support for same-sex marriage

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday he supports same-sex marriage, raising the political stakes on an issue in which Americans are evenly split.

The announcement, long sought by supporters of same-sex marriage, puts Obama squarely at odds with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

"At a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

Obama once opposed same-sex marriage. He later indicated his views were "evolving." His announcement Wednesday in support of same-sex marriage was the first by a sitting president.

A Gallup Poll released Tuesday indicated 50% of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law as valid, with 48% saying such marriages should not be legal.

Obama was "disappointed" by Tuesday's vote on the issue in North Carolina, which he described as discriminatory against gays and lesbians, a spokesman said earlier Wednesday.

North Carolina voted to implement a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which was already prohibited by state law. Supporters of the measure pushed for the constitutional amendment, arguing that it was needed to ward off future legal challenges.

The president said he supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own, ABC News reported.

Obama spoke Wednesday with ABC's Robin Roberts. The interview will appear on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday. Excerpts were to air Wednesday evening on "World News With Diane Sawyer." His interview followed recent comments by other key administration figures. Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on NBC he was "absolutely comfortable" with couples of the same gender marrying, leading observers to wonder when Obama would again address the issue.

Obama told Roberts that first lady Michelle Obama was involved in his decision. "This is something that, you know, we've talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do," Obama said.

The president's stance will be among many key differences with Romney, but it is not expected to be a key talking point in his campaign.

In comments Wednesday to CNN Denver affiliate KDVR, Romney reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Minnesota will vote on a state constitutional amendment similar to the one in North Carolina. Maine will have a referendum on allowing same-sex marriage.

Arizona bans funding of Planned Parenthood because of abortions

(CNN) -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed off on a bill that will prevent abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving public funds in most cases, her office said.

"This is a common sense law that tightens existing state regulations and closes loopholes in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to fund abortions, whether directly or indirectly," the governor said in a statement.

"By signing this measure into law, I stand with the majority of Americans who oppose the use of taxpayer funds for abortion," Brewer said.

Kansas, North Carolina and Texas have enacted similar legislation, while Indiana, New Jersey and Wisconsin have used their budget processes to bar funding for abortion providers, according to her office.

Before Brewer signed the bill into law, the political arm of Planned Parenthood Arizona slammed the measure, which it says will put the health of thousands at risk.

Besides operating clinics where abortions are performed, Planned Parenthood provides a range of health services including cancer screenings, birth control, vaccinations, sexual health education and health counseling.

"Many in the legislature will never know what it's like to feel a lump in their breast and have to worry about the cost of a doctor's visit," said Bryan Howard, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Arizona.

"This is the reality with which many Arizona women are faced, at the hands of a legislature determined to reduce access to prevention care while pursuing its ideological political agenda," he said.

Stay-at-home Dads: More men choosing kids over career

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Before Jessica and Lance Somerfeld had their baby, they decided it would make the most financial sense for one of them to stay home to raise him. Since Lance made a fraction of Jessica's earnings, he was the obvious choice.

With wages at a standstill and child care costs skyrocketing, Somerfeld is just one of a growing number of dads who are staying home with the kids.

Among fathers with a wife in the workforce, 32% took care of their kids at least one day a week in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which looked at families with children under 15 years old. That's up from 26% in 2002.

Of those with kids under the age of 5, 20% of dads in 2010 were the primary caretaker.

Not only has it become more necessary for men to pitch in at home, but fathers have also become more available to do so. "It's a combination of mothers going to work and fathers being out of work as a result of the recession," said Lynda Laughlin, a family demographer at the Census Bureau.

Men were particularly hard hit by the steep job losses during that time, losing 4 million jobs since 2007, while women lost just over 2 million during the same time period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While men have since gained back a majority of those jobs during the recovery, their unemployment rate -- at 8.3% in March -- is still above the national average of 8.2%.

Many find that having one parent at home does have its advantages, especially as child care costs continue to climb.

Couples do the math and realize that it makes more financial sense for one spouse to stay home with the kids. And while it's often the woman who decides to drop out of the workforce, more men are taking on the responsibility of child care as well.

A lot of that has to do with who makes the most money in the household. Even though the wage gap between the sexes persist, a growing number of women are out-earning their husbands. In 2008, 26% of women living in dual-income households had annual earnings that were at least 10 percentage points higher than their spouse, up from 15% in 1997, according to the Families and Work Institute's latest data.

Social Security running out of money faster than expected

ABC
Social Security’s retirement and disability programs have enough funds to cover the next 20 years, but that could change come 2033.

Every year the Social Security Board of Trustees releases its report outlining the stability and financial security of the two biggest federal programs in the United States, Social Security and Medicare.

This year’s report says that because of an increase in pressure on these programs — Americans are living longer and the baby boomers are beginning to collect — funds could run out sooner than expected. In addition, the slow-rebound of the economy and high energy prices are leading to a quicker deterioration of the trusts that fund Social Security.

“In 2033, incoming revenue and trust fund resources will be insufficient to maintain payment of full benefits,” . Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, said, referring to Social Security. “At that point there will only be enough money to cover about three-fourths of full benefits.”

Social Security is broken into two arms: Retirement, and its disability program, which aids 11 million Americans and will be exhausted two years earlier than last year’s estimate.

In 2011, the report estimated that funds would last until 2036.

Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund maintained the same projection as last year, with sufficient resources to maintain benefits through 2024. This is attributed to the 2 percent cut in Medicare that Congress enacted last year.

“Please, please remember that ‘exhaustion’ is an actuarial term of art and it does not mean there will be no money left to pay any benefits,” Commissioner of Social Security Michael Astrue cautioned. “After 2033, even if congress does nothing there will still be sufficient assets to pay about 75 percent of the current level of benefits.”

According to Public Trustee Charles Blahous, the bleak projections for these two programs, which accounted for 36 percent of federal expenditures in fiscal year 2011, signifies the largest actuarial deficit seen in Social Security since the 1983 reforms and the “second largest single year deterioration in all trustee reports since the last major reforms.”

“Never since the 1983 reforms have we come as close to the point of trust fund depletion as we are right now,” Blahous said. “Our window for dealing with it without substantially destructive consequences is closing fairly rapidly.”

The Affordable Care Act has offered some stabilization to the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund that finances Medicare. Originally the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund was set to expire in 2016.

“As a result of the law, we’ve added another eight years to its life, putting Medicare on much more solid ground,” Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, said.

She said that the law does this “through a range or reforms, from cracking down on fraud to helping providers prevent costly medical errors to reducing excess payments to Medicare advantage plans.”

Both Sebelius and Geithner emphasized the importance of quick action to solve the problem facing the giant retirement and disability programs.

Moms: 'I can't afford to work'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- After factoring in the rising cost of child care, the daily commute and other work-related expenses, a growing number of mothers are figuring out that having a job just doesn't pay.

"It comes down to a cost analysis and I have several clients that have taken the route of quitting," said Anna Behnam, a financial advisor at Ameriprise Financial in Rockville, Md. "Factor in taxes, transportation costs, clothing and lunch -- what is the true net that you bring home after salary?"

Over the past few years, the debate over which lifestyle is more financially feasible -- working and paying for child care versus staying at home -- has come up more often among Behnam's clients than ever before. For most working parents, child care is by far the greatest expense. In 2010, the cost of putting two children in child care exceeded median annual rent payments in every state, according to a report by Child Care Aware of America.

The recent run up in gas prices has only drained paychecks further, shaving 8.7% off of the average worker's annual income, according to the Oil Price Information Service. And then there are the rest of the expenses that add up for workers, including clothing and dining out during the day, which are also on the rise.

Andrea Hayken, 34, made about $45,000 a year as a third grade teacher in the Fairfax, Va. county public school system. But licensed daycare for her now four-year-old son would have cost $2,000 a month, eating up nearly half of her before-tax income.

Since her husband, an attorney, earned more money than she did, it made more sense for Hayken to be the one to stay home.
"When all was said and done, there just wasn't enough money to make [working] worth it," she said.

Hayken, who now also has a two-year-old daughter, says she is ultimately very happy with her decision. But other moms are more conflicted. "It's a complex decision where you are weighing all sorts of factors," said Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of non-profit Families and Work Institute. "It's your current costs and your future earnings and your desire to be at home, in combination with the desire for your children to have early educational experiences."

In the end, many lower- and middle-class mothers just don't make enough money to afford to work, she said. Either as a result of layoffs, dismissals or voluntary exits, roughly 177,000 women left the labor force in March, bringing their participation rate to a level not seen since 1993, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Even though women surpass men in educational attainment, they earn an average income of $35,776 a year, about 20% less than their male counterparts, according to the Labor Department.

Florida rep labels congressional Democrats as communists

(CNN) – Florida Rep. Allen West's controversial comments have once again landed him in the headlines – this time with the sort of accusation not seen in Congress since the 1950s.

At a town hall meeting with constituents in Jensen Beach, West was asked how many members of Congress are "card-carrying Marxists."

According to CNN affiliate WPEC, West responded, "I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party."

West's campaign manager, Tim Edison, pointed reporters to West's next comments, when he says the members in question belong to the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "This group advocates for state control over industries, redistribution of wealth, reduced individual economic freedom and the destruction of free markets," Edison added in a statement. "These members of Congress advocate the type of policies that have put Europe on the brink of economic and fiscal collapse, and are driving the United States in the same direction. It is interesting that amid the swirl of feigned outrage and media misreporting of the Congressman’s remarks, all the attention is focused on the semantics, but no one is disputing the Progressive Caucus’s support for policies central to socialist and even Marxist systems."

The Congressional Progressive Caucus responded to West's comments with a statement calling the comment and others like it "personal attacks." "Calling fellow Members of Congress 'communists' is reminiscent of the days when Joe McCarthy divided Americans with name-calling and modern-day witch hunts that don't advance policies to benefit people's lives," the statement, by caucus co chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva and Keith Ellison, read.

A spokesman for the Communist Party USA said Wednesday that the remarks are "not the epithet it once was." "We think it's ridiculous statement and totally untrue. It's clear he's trying to give the impression that there are people with a secret agenda in the Congress," party vice chair Libero Della Piana said. "We don't take offense at it. Really it wasn't a statement about us at all," he added, but rather a myth about Democrats.

Last summer, West wrote an email to Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz describing her as "the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the US House of Representatives." Last February, he described a fellow member of Congress who is Muslim as "someone that really does represent the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established."

West was suggested as a possible GOP vice presidential nominee last week by the party's most recent nominee, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The first term congressman said on CNN's "Newsroom" that he is open to the possibility.

"(My family) has always stepped up to the plate to serve our country, and if it's the right thing, then I will do so. But I really doubt that would ever happen," he said. But, he has said, Romney has yet to call.

Board recommends dismissal of anti-Obama Marine

(CNN) -- A Marine Corps board has recommended that a politically active Marine sergeant who questioned President Barack Obama's authority be dismissed from service with an "other than honorable" discharge.

Sgt. Gary Stein, 26, who posted anti-Obama comments on his Facebook page, stands accused of violating a catch-all military justice provision against conduct endangering "good order and discipline." He is also accused of violating a Department of Defense policy limiting the political activities of service members. The case has raised First Amendment issues.

The recommendation for dismissal, made late Thursday after a 13-hour hearing, will now go to a separation authority headed by Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, commander of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, said Maj. Michael Armistead, the public affairs director for the installation.

If he leaves the Marines with an other than honorable discharge, Stein will be demoted a rank to lance corporal. One of Stein's lawyers, Capt. James Baehr, said Stein would also lose benefits and his uniform.

Baehr said his client was extremely disappointed. "I don't think any law was violated by Gary Stein," he said. "The reason we have this reticence in the military to get engaged in politics is that we were afraid a long time ago of military dictatorship," Baehr said. "We are so far from that in suggesting that on a private Facebook page, you can't say something about politics."

Stein came under scrutiny from Marine officials after saying he would not obey Obama's orders.

In a January 26 post to the Armed Forces Tea Party Facebook page, Stein called Obama a liar. Two days later, he said the president is "the 'Domestic Enemy' our oath speaks about."

In a March 4 posting, he questioned Obama's birth certificate. Another discussion on the site in March said he would refuse to obey orders given by Obama. He later clarified to say he meant illegal orders, which he has explained as orders such as sending the military to Syria without congressional approval.

"The allegations drummed up against me are no more than an agenda by the Marine Corps to use me as an example," Stein said in a statement posted to his page. "If I am guilty of anything it would be that I am American, a freedom loving Conservative, hell bent on defending the constitution and preserving Americas greatness."

Study finds dramatic increase in skin cancer in young adults

By Alexandra Sifferlin
HEALTHLAND
As a young adult with porcelain skin — I prefer that term to “pale” — I get it. Bronzed skin is perpetually “in” and nobody likes going to the beach only to have to sit under an umbrella and shield their eyes from the glare of their own upper thighs. But a new study from the Mayo Clinic finds an alarming increase in skin cancer among young adults, and the reason may be their persistent efforts to tan.

Published in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the study reports that between the years 1970 to 2009, the incidence of melanoma increased eightfold among young women and fourfold among young men aged 18 to 39. Although men generally have a higher lifetime risk of melanoma than women do, the researchers found the opposite trend to be true among the young adults. “We knew we would see an increase in rates among young women, but we were surprised we saw such a dramatic increase. This seems to be higher than what has been reported previously,” said Mayo Clinic dermatologist Dr. Jerry Brewer in a teleconference.

The researchers looked at first-time melanoma diagnoses for all patients. Based on previous studies on tanning behavior, the authors suggest that the rise of melanoma among young women is linked to their penchant for indoor tanning.

In 2009, the International Agency of Research on Cancer declared tanning beds a human carcinogen, moving them into the top cancer-risk category alongside cigarettes. According to Dr. Brewer, tanning beds and cigarettes have the same cancer risk, but teens are ignoring the warnings. He says there is a disconnect in education about the dangers of tanning-bed use that needs to be acknowledged.

“Tanning beds can give you seven times the dose of UV radiation as the sun,” says Dr. Brewer, “but young adults are still going.”

It’s important to note that although melanoma rates are on the rise, mortality rates have improved. Researchers credit this to improved early detection methods and prompt medical procedures. “People are now more aware of their skin and of the need to see a doctor when they see changes. As a result, many cases can be caught before the cancer advances to a deep melanoma, which is harder to treat,” said Dr. Brewer in a statement.

Dr. Brewer and his fellow researchers support bans on tanning booth use — especially for teens and young adults, who are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of early and frequent tanning — but they recognize the difficulty of enforcing them. “It’s like trying to ban cigarettes, it’s very hard. Should we be limiting tanning beds? Absolutely. Is it easy? Absolutely not. Many states do have bans, but kids are smart. We say, ‘You need a parent’s signature,’ and the kids write the signature themselves,” said Dr. Brewer in the teleconference.

The study group was predominately caucasian, but the researchers say the findings are valid and applicable to similar U.S. populations of the same age range. “There is currently a melanoma epidemic in the U.S., particularly in young women and middle-aged men. This has been documented by various large population based studies, with our study confirming that trend in young women,” says Dr. Brewer.

But if people know what to look for, they can prevent melanoma. It only takes about three minutes to do a skin exam. “Simply look at your skin,” says Dr. Brewer. “This includes getting mirrors and looking at your back and other hard to see areas. It takes a bit of education to get young people to start performing this initial first step, but once they do, the simple act of looking over your skin can significantly decrease chances of dying from skin cancer.”

Supreme Court set to debate heart of health care law

Washington (CNN) -- On day one of the Supreme Court's epic examination of the constitutionality of health care reform, the justices could not help looking ahead to Tuesday's arguments and the more significant questions over the power of Congress.

It signals the overall look at health care in this presidential election year will really be about the individual mandate -- the law's central requirement that most Americans purchase health insurance or face a financial penalty.

At issue: May the federal government, under the Constitution's commerce clause, regulate economic "inactivity"? Three federal appeals courts have found the Affordable Care Act to be constitutional, while another has said it is not, labeling it "breathtaking in its expansive scope." That "circuit split" all but assured the Supreme Court would step in and decide the matter.

A coalition of 26 states, led by Florida, argues individuals cannot be forced to buy insurance, a "product" they may neither want nor need.

The Justice Department has countered that since every American will need medical care at some point in their lives, individuals do not "choose" to participate in the health care market.

Federal officials cite 2008 figures of $43 billion in uncompensated costs from the millions of uninsured people who receive health services, costs that are shifted to insurance companies and passed on to consumers.

"This is such an extraordinary case and why you have so many states that have joined in this one lawsuit," said attorney Paul Clement, who will argue for the states. "These issues are really central to whether the federal government can really regulate anything it wants to, or whether there are some things that only the state governments can regulate."

But supporters of the law say the federal government had to get involved.

"Congress thought it necessary to regulate the nearly 20% of our nation's economy that makes up the health care industry and to make sure insurance companies did not discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, for example, and pass the minimum coverage provision. That is squarely within Congress' authority," said Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel of Constitutional Accountability Center. "No one says that there is a right to freeload off one's neighbors when you decide not to choose health care."

It is the individual mandate that has sparked the most controversy. It requires nearly every American to purchase some level of insurance or face a tax penalty of up to about $700 a year.

Typical of the ideological divide, the opposing sides do not even agree on what the individual mandate was designed to accomplish. Supporters see it a way of spreading health care costs to a larger pool of individuals, ensuring affordable, quality medical care. They say regulating commerce and the economy has long been a federal prerogative.

But opponents see a fundamental constitutional violation: an intrusion into a citizen's personal lives, forcing Americans to purchase a commercial product they may not want or need. The states equate such a requirement to a burdensome regulation of "inactivity."

Obama: North Korea will achieve nothing with provocation

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- President Barack Obama warned North Korea Sunday that if it moves forward with a planned test-firing of a long-range missile, it will further deepen its isolation, damage relations with its neighbors and face additional sanctions that have already strangled the country.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations," Obama said during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on the eve of an international nuclear security summit. "North Korea knows its obligation."

Obama's strong words follow last week's announcement by North Korea that it is planning to carry out a rocket-powered satellite launch in April.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said during the news conference that he considers the launch a direct violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that bans the testing of the technology being used in the rocket-powered satellite. South Korea has said it considers the satellite launch an attempt to develop a nuclear-armed missile, while the United States has warned the move would jeopardize a food-aid agreement reached with Pyongyang in early March. "Bad behavior will not be rewarded," Obama said.

North Korea says it has a right to a peaceful space program and has invited international space experts and journalists to witness the launch. North Korea announced this month it would carry out a "satellite launch" in mid-April to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the country's founder.

Using ballistic missile technology, however, is in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874 and against a deal struck with the United States earlier this month that it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests in return for food aid.

Prior to the news conference, Obama made his first visit to the demilitarized zone that splits the Korean peninsula. Obama peered through binoculars into North Korea where flags flew at half-staff to mark the 100-day anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il. "It's like you are in a time warp. It's like you are looking across 50 years into a country that has missed 40 or 50 years of progress," Obama said during the news conference.

The president said the real consequence for North Korea, should it go through with the launch, is that the country's leaders will miss an opportunity "to take a different path than the one they have been taking."

"I hope that at some point the North Koreans make the decision that it is in their interests to figure out how to feed their people and improve their economy rather than have big parades where they show off weapons," Obama said.

The purpose of Obama's visit to the demilitarized zone was to meet with some of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

Southern Miss takes disciplinary action against students for derogatory chant

(CNN) -- Five members of the University of Southern Mississippi pep band have had their scholarships revoked and have been removed from the band after they yelled a derogatory chant at a Puerto Rican player during an NCAA basketball tournament game last week.

The school announced the disciplinary action in a statement Tuesday, saying the five "have been forthcoming, cooperative, contrite and sincerely remorseful."

"They acted rashly and inappropriately, and now see the gravity of their words and actions," Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said. "This is a teachable moment, not only for these students but for our entire student body and those who work with them." The students will also be required to complete a two-hour training course on cultural sensitivity, the school said. The school has not identified the students.

TV cameras captured the incident during the University of Southern Mississippi-Kansas State University game at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on Thursday. As Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez shot free throws, several people could clearly be heard chanting, "where's your green card."

The university's president apologized to Rodriguez, saying the chant wasn't representative of the university.

Rodriguez said Friday, "I heard it. I don't pay attention to that nonsense, especially because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, so we don't need no type of papers." "Their athletic director and personnel from their school came to apologize, and I accepted it," he said. Rodriguez said he realized that there are "ignorant people, and I know that is not how they want to represent their university."

The eighth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats beat the ninth-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles 70-64, knocking them out of the tournament. Kansas State advanced to the next round, but lost to Syracuse.

Neighborhood watchman kills unarmed teen

KSDK
The controversial case of an unarmed teen shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain in a Sanford, Florida neighborhood has been handed over to the State Attorney's Office.

The State Attorney will decide whether to criminally charge neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in the teen's death.

"In this case, Mr. Zimmerman has made the argument of self-defense," Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee said. "We don't have the grounds to arrest him."

Attorney Natalie Jackson, who is representing Martin's family, said Zimmerman, 25, should be arrested and charged with the 17-year-old's death.

The family says they want justice.

"My son left Sanford, Florida in a body bag," said Martin's father, Tracy Martin. "While George Zimmerman went home to to go to sleep in his own bed. It's senseless and the police in Sanford, isn't giving any answers and we actually feel that justice hasn't been served and isn't being served."

Jackson said Martin was unarmed while walking back to his father's home from a convenience store.

He was carrying a bag with Skittles and iced tea inside.

When Zimmerman spotted him, he called 911 to report a "suspicious-looking" person.

According to the family's attorney, Zimmerman then disregarded a 911 operator's instructions not to approach the teen.

Martin was shot and killed in ensuing the confrontation.

"I don't know if the whole thing was a racial issue, it may have been a 'Zimmerman wants to be a hero' issue. It becomes racial because Zimmerman thought that black males with hoodies are criminals," Jackson said.

Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for resisting an officer with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

The case was dismissed because no evidence could be found.

Zimmerman attended a pre-trial diversion program and a deal was made with his attorney to get the case dropped.

It's unclear whether the State Attorney's Office will pursue charges in Martin's death.