Star-Telegram.com: Nation

691,000 children in U.S. suffered hunger in 2007, USDA says

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:12 CST

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN

WASHINGTON — Some 691,000 children went hungry in the U.S. sometime in 2007, while close to 1 in 8 Americans struggled to feed themselves adequately even before this year’s sharp economic downturn, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.

The department’s annual report on food security showed that last year, the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than 50 percent above the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.

Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who faced hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn’t have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.

Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."

The number of adults and children with "low food security" — those who avoided substantial food disruptions but still struggled to eat — fell slightly since 2000, from 24.7 million to 24.3 million.

The government said these people have several ways of coping: eating less varied diets; obtaining food from emergency kitchens or community food charities; or participating in federal aid programs such as food stamps, the school lunch program or the Women, Infants and Children program.

Among other findings:

The families with the highest rates of food insecurity were headed by single mothers (30.2 percent), black households (22.2 percent), Hispanic households (20.1 percent), and households with incomes below the official poverty line (37.7 percent).

States with families reporting the highest prevalence of food insecurity during 2005-07 were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15 percent), Texas (14.8 percent) and Arkansas (14.4 percent).

The highest growth in food insecurity over the last nine years came in Alaska and Iowa, both of which saw a 3.7 percent increase in families who struggled to eat adequately or had substantial food disruptions.

Inferno destroys nearly 500 units in Los Angeles mobile home park

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:27 CST

By AMY TAXIN

LOS ANGELES — Stacks of charred bricks, blackened shells of cars and burned tree trunks are all that remained Monday in much of the community some residents once called the "Beverly Hills of mobile home parks."

The mostly retired residents returned to see what was left of their homes at Oakridge Mobile Home Park, where winds with hurricane intensity blew a wall of fire through nearly 500 manufactured homes and set them ablaze so quickly that even firefighters had to drop their hoses and run.

"It looks like a war zone — no trees, no buildings," said Michele Warneck, 54, who burst into tears after returning from the park. She had watched her two-bedroom home burn on the television news. "Everything that was porcelain just blew up."

Once considered a paradise, the park was roamed Monday by cadaver-sniffing dogs in search of victims. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that the search ended in the afternoon with officials finding no evidence that anyone perished.

The inferno destroyed 484 homes in the park Saturday. Firefighters saved about 120 homes, but many were badly damaged.

The fire was one of three that have destroyed about 1,000 homes and apartments and scorched 41,000 acres, or 64 square miles, forcing thousands to flee.

Most evacuation orders were lifted by Monday, when clear skies and calm winds allowed firefighters to make some gains, but officials warned of another bad air day and classes were canceled at dozens of schools near fire zones in Orange County.

In Sylmar, scores of residents stood in line outside a high school gymnasium for tours of the charred mobile home park where retirees once played tennis, took a dip in a hot tub and played mah-jongg and poker.

Those whose homes were destroyed were shuttled through the neighborhood in a black van. Police were still investigating the fire, so people weren’t allowed to get out and sift through the ashes for belongings.

A separate set of white police vans ferried residents whose homes were still standing so they could gather medication and other essentials.

Neighbors huddled together inside the gymnasium, which has been turned into a Red Cross shelter for evacuees, hugging each other and comparing notes about what they saw and what they were able to salvage.

The fire also knocked out power to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar.

Obama, McCain meet

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:45 CST

CHICAGO — With a fierce campaign less than two weeks behind them, President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain met Monday to talk about ways to work together on government reform, fiscal responsibility and boosting the economy.

It was one of the earliest postelection meetings to take place between presidential rivals in recent history and reflected a desire on the part of both men to show bipartisanship as the nation confronts challenges.

By meeting with McCain so quickly after the election, Obama demonstrated magnanimity and practicality.

Despite gains by Democrats in Congress, the future president will still need Republican support for many of his initiatives, and McCain can be more helpful as a friend than a foe.

Obama’s transition staff released a joint statement, describing the meeting as a "productive conversation" that opened the possibility for cooperation in the days and months ahead.

Obama has said he expects to pick at least one Republican to serve on his Cabinet, but it is unlikely to be McCain, who can return to the Senate as a leader of his party.

The two men met for about 90 minutes on the 38th floor of the Kluczynski Federal Building, where Obama has his transition office. They were joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Democrat who will be Obama’s chief of staff.

A senior Obama aide briefed by Emanuel described the session as "very cooperative and cordial," with all four men remaining in the room for the whole meeting.

"The general sense was that these guys could get some work done together," the aide said.

Gulf War illness is real, government panel finds

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:45 CST

By DAVID GOLDSTEIN

WASHINGTON — Gulf War illness is a real medical condition that has affected at least 175,000 combat veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, according to a report released Monday.

However, federal research into the causes behind the mysterious malady has "not been effective," and the report by the congressionally mandated panel suggested that politics or financial concerns might have played a role.

"There is also a common perception that federal policymakers have not vigorously pursued key research in this area and that federal agencies have disincentives — whether political or fiscal — for providing definitive answers to Gulf War health questions," said the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses.

The report compared the foot-dragging and denials with the treatment of troops who said they’d been dangerously exposed to Agent Orange and other toxic herbicides in Vietnam and radiation during World War II.

In both cases, the claims turned out to be true.

"Government has been very slow to accept what the research shows," said James Binns, the committee’s chairman and a former top Defense Department official.

"These problems have for too long been denied or trivialized," said Binns, speaking at the committee meeting where the report was made public.

Members said troops were exposed to a "toxic soup" of chemicals. However, they laid the blame for Gulf War illness primarily on two causes: pesticides sprayed on the troops during deployment and pyridostigmine bromide, a pill used as an anti-nerve agent.

The pills hadn’t been approved for nerve-agent protection at the time, but the Food and Drug Administration had given the military a temporary waiver for their use to protect troops in case they were exposed to nerve gas.

The Veterans Affairs Department didn’t respond to the committee’s criticism but said that VA Secretary James Peake had directed the agency "to review and respond to the committee’s recommendations in the near future."

The report, six years in the making, should be a boon to Gulf War veterans who for years have been trying to persuade the VA to recognize their medical problems.

Michael Jackson sued by sheik over $7 million

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:37 CST

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER

LONDON — The son of an Arab monarch took Michael Jackson to court Monday, charging that the singer took $7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced.

Lawyers for Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa say their client paid Jackson expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheik, who is an amateur songwriter. Jackson claims that the money was a gift.

Al Khalifa, 33, is scheduled to testify at London’s Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday. Jackson’s attorney Robert Englehart said he was seeking permission to have Jackson testify by video link from Los Angeles.

A lawyer for Al Khalifa said the royal first spoke to Jackson, 50, by telephone while the singer was on trial in California after his 2003 arrest on child molestation charges. Lawyer Bankim Thanki said Al Khalifa wanted to work with Jackson on rebuilding his career. Jackson’s finances fell apart after his arrest, and he was desperately short of cash.

Jackson’s attorneys say that the pair never entered a valid agreement and that Al Khalifa’s money was given freely.

The trial is expected to be concluded by the end of November.

Marine accused of faking his disappearance is arrested

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:37 CST

BOULDER, Colo. — A Marine accused of fa- king his disappearance to avoid returning to his unit has been arrested in Washington state.

Police in Port Angeles arrested Lance Hering, 23, on Sunday at the airport. He is being held on a warrant for contempt of court on a burglary charge and a Marine Corps warrant for desertion.

Hering is a lance corporal and Iraq war veteran who was on leave from California’s Camp Pendleton when he disappeared in 2006.

A friend told authorities that Hering was hurt in a rock-climbing accident in Colorado and wandered off.

The friend later admitted that his story was a hoax.

Washington state police were acting on a tip from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

Boat owners abandon vessels in bad economy

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:17 CST

By MALIA WOLLAN

SAN FRANCISCO — From Southern California to Maine, the foundering economy, high fuel prices and poor fishing have driven boat owners to abandon perhaps thousands of vessels on the waterfront, where they are beginning to break up and sink, leaking oil and other pollutants.

Boats have long been a barometer of consumer confidence, disposable income and the overall state of the economy. Now, marina and harbor officials are reporting a sudden increase in the past year in the number of deserted pleasure boats and working vessels.

In Antioch, a town about 45 miles east of San Francisco, harbormaster John Cruger-Hansen showed up at his marina one day last spring to find that the horizon had changed overnight. On the San Joaquin River, he saw an old crane, a rusted barge, a tugboat and an assortment of other junked boats, all of which had been hauled in and left illegally.

"Boating is a pure luxury and one of the first things to go when the economy turns south," said Cruger-Hansen, who expects to see more abandoned boats by year’s end. "If it comes to the point of putting food on the table or paying the boat slip fee, it’s the boat that goes."

What’s happening

Unlike cars, wooden and fiberglass boats have virtually no scrap value. So rather than pay the high cost of hauling them to the dump, people ditch them or sell them for as little as $1 to anyone who will take them. The boats often break up and go under, or pass into the underground economy of nighttime scuttlers — who, for a fee, remove identification numbers, strip out salvageable items and sink the vessels.

"Oil, gasoline and sewage from these boat leaks into the aquatic environment," said Sejal Choksi, program director at San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental organization. Boat paint often contains chromium, lead, mercury and other toxic chemicals, and as a vessel deteriorates, the coating flakes off and settles on the sea floor or river bottom, where fish swallow it, Choksi said.

Government officials and environmental groups are calling for more programs and funding to prevent and clean up the junkyard flotillas.

Paying the price

Removing just one sunken sailboat can cost upwards of $12,000, and taking away larger commercial vessels is even more expensive.

With nearly a million registered boats, California — the second-largest boating state, behind Florida — spends about $500,000 each year removing deserted recreational boats. The state has no money to remove commercial boats, and unless they are leaking oil or blocking a navigation channel, the Coast Guard is not required to take them away.

"At the state and federal level, something needs to be done with these derelict commercial vessels. They just sit there, falling apart," said Contra Costa County sheriff’s Sgt. Doug Powell. Nearly 30 decaying tugboats, fishing boats, cranes and barges make up the aquatic junkyard in Powell’s county.

High fuel prices and several disastrous years in the nation’s fishing industry have led fishermen to desert salmon boats in Washington state, crab boats in Maryland, trawlers in Oregon and lobster boats in Florida.

Obama resigns Senate seat, taps White House counsel

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:52 CST

By MICHAEL A. FLETCHER

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama officially resigned from the Senate on Sunday, removing himself from any official role in the lame-duck session of Congress that will convene this week. He also laid more groundwork for the start of his administration by deciding on additional members of his senior staff, including a White House counsel, and preparing to meet with another one-time political rival.

Obama is scheduled to meet today with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at his transition offices in downtown Chicago.

Obama and McCain clashed sharply during the hard-fought presidential campaign, but they agreed on several issues, including the urgency of combating climate change and the general need to tone down the intense partisanship that often paralyzes official Washington.

The president-elect announced his resignation from the Senate in a letter published in Illinois newspapers, telling his constituents, "I will never forget, and will forever be grateful, to the men and women of this great state who made my life in public service possible."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, has said he will appoint a replacement by the end of the year.

The action means Obama will not be part of the congressional debate this week over a stimulus package to jump-start the nation’s struggling economy.

While Congress debates how best to help the economy, Obama is expected to continue building his governing team. On Sunday, the top tier of his White House staff came further into focus with several new selections.

Washington lawyer Gregory Craig, 63, will be White House counsel, according to an individual involved in the transition, and Obama’s Senate chief of staff Peter Rouse, 62, was officially announced as a senior White House adviser. Two deputy chiefs of staff were also announced: Jim Messina and Mona Sutphen.

Thus far, Obama’s selections have been mostly a mix of Washington veterans — many with ties to the Clinton administration — and trusted campaign aides. Late last week, he named close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett as a senior White House aide. Campaign strategist David Axelrod will also hold a senior advisory role.

In turning to Craig, Obama is tapping the lawyer who defended President Bill Clinton against impeachment charges.

As winds calm, firefighters go on the offensive

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:22 CST

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. — More Southern California residents were urged to leave their homes Sunday despite calming winds that allowed a major aerial attack on wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and blanketed the region in smoke.

Fires burned in Los Angeles County, to the east in Riverside and Orange counties, and to the northwest in Santa Barbara County. More than 800 houses, mobile homes and apartments have been destroyed by fires that have scorched more than 34 square miles since breaking out Thursday.

No deaths have been reported, but police brought in trained dogs Sunday to search the rubble of a mobile home park where nearly 500 homes were destroyed. No bodies had been found by midday.

"This has been a very tough few days for the people of Southern California," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said after touring damage.

The smell of smoke pervaded metropolitan Los Angeles. Downtown skyscrapers were silhouettes in an opaque sky, and air-quality concerns prompted organizers to cancel a marathon in suburban Pasadena.

Fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the fires on Saturday weakened Sunday morning, allowing firefighters to set backfires to prevent flames from advancing to hillside neighborhoods. Air tankers swooped low over suburbs, red fire retardant billowing from their bellies as they painted defensive lines between brushlands and homes. Big helicopters shuttled back and forth on water drops.

The most threatening blaze had scorched more than 16 square miles in Orange and Riverside counties after erupting Saturday and shooting through subdivisions entwined with wilderness parkland. By midday Sunday, multimillion-dollar homes were being threatened in Diamond Bar in Los Angeles County as the fire pushed northward.

Fire officials ordered 1,400 more residents to evacuate Sunday morning. Schwarzenegger said 26,500 people remained under evacuation orders for that fire alone.

Retired aerospace engineer Joe Gomez, who has lived in his palm-tree-lined Diamond Bar neighborhood for 45 years, stayed put despite the mandatory evacuation.

"I’m trying to use some logic here," said Gomez, 72, trying to gauge the direction of the wind and flames. "I don’t think it’s going to come down this way."

Gomez packed a bag with important documents in case he decided to leave. His wife, a stroke victim, left with their daughters earlier in the day.

"My daughters were really thinking I was nuts. They said, 'These are mandatory evacuations.’ I said, 'You guys just relax.’ "

In the early morning, winds pushed flames dangerously close to a church and adjacent mobile home park in the Olinda Village area north of Yorba Linda, but firefighters were able to beat it back. Only one mobile home was lost.

The legacy of Jonestown, 30 years later

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:27 CST

By TIM REITERMAN

Dark clouds tumbled overhead on that afternoon 30 years ago in the last hours of the congressman’s mission deep in the jungle of Guyana.

With a small entourage, Rep. Leo Ryan had arrived to investigate a remote agricultural settlement built by a California-based church. But while he was there, more than a dozen people had stepped forward: We want to return to the United States, they said fearfully.

Suddenly a powerful wind tore through the central pavilion, riffling pages of my notebook, and the skies dumped torrents. People scrambled for cover as I interviewed the founder of Peoples Temple.

"I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within," intoned the Rev. Jim Jones, stunned that members of his flock wanted to abandon the place he called the Promised Land.

That freakish storm and the mood seemed ominous — and not just to me. "I felt evil itself blow into Jonestown when that storm hit," said Tim Carter, one of the few settlers to survive that day.

Within hours, Carter would see his wife and son die of cyanide poisoning, two of the more than 900 people Jones led in a murder and suicide ritual of epic proportions.

And I would be wounded when a team of temple assassins killed Ryan — the first congressman slain in the line of duty — and four others, including three newsmen.

But by their wiles or happenstance, scores of temple members escaped the events of Nov. 18, 1978. Some would commit suicide, die at the hands of others or fall victim to drugs. But many more moved on to new careers, spouses and even churches. They are, as they were before joining the temple, mostly ordinary people who wanted to help others and be part of something larger than themselves.

Peoples Temple sprang from the heartland in the 1950s. Jones built an interracial congregation in Indianapolis. Moving his flock to California, the minister transformed his church into a leftist social movement with programs for the poor. He was head of San Francisco’s public housing commission when media scrutiny and legal problems spurred his retreat to Jonestown for what would be his last stand.

The preacher, who once charmed U.S. politicians and met with future first lady Rosalynn Carter, had turned into a pill-popping dictator who sadistically presided over harsh discipline.

Thirty years later, dozens of surviving members gather for private reunions. "I go because I feel so strongly about the need for and power of forgiveness and understanding," said Stephan Jones, the minister’s son. He was 19 and in Georgetown with other basketball team members on the temple’s last day.

Today, he is the father of three girls and vice president of a small Bay Area office-installation and -services company.

In Jonestown’s aftermath, Stephan hated his father. But he has come to recognize that the capacity for good and evil, and mental sickness, coexisted in Jones.

"We don’t want to face our own responsibility or part in what happened and feel ashamed for being duped or manipulated," he said. "We look for someone else to blame. I realized over time that there was a great need to forgive him; then I could forgive myself."

Tim Reiterman, San Francisco news editor for The Associated Press, covered Jonestown for the San Francisco Examiner.