Ryan stresses national town halls

GREENFIELD, Wis. — In the last of the four events at Rep. Paul Ryan's "listening tour" of his district Thursday, he sued a man in the front row of a high school auditorium, then instantly recognized him. By Darren Hauck, for USA TODAY

President of the Commission of Parliament's budget, Paul Ryan speaks at Franklin High School, as he in his district on the Easter recess tours, sometimes five stops to make in a day.

By Darren Hauck, for USA TODAY

President of the Commission of Parliament's budget, Paul Ryan speaks at Franklin High School, as he in his district on the Easter recess tours, sometimes five stops to make in a day.

"You changed clothes!" Ryan told Steve Jozefczyk. The 54-year-old seller of Franklin, Wis., had asked Ryan several critical questions from the front row of an event six hours earlier in Waterford, where he wore a shirt and tie. It was in Greenfield, a black "Faux News" parody t-shirt. Josefczyk admitted trying to seduce him that Ryan called again. Yet listened to Ryan. "You should look at the revenue and cost side. And you're afraid to get rid of income, "he told the House Budget Committee Chairman. it is a common question, and Ryan has a common response:" the broadening of the base, "he says. By eliminating tax deductions and shelters for top earners, you can "you reduce or flat tax rates for everyone."With Congress wrapping up a two-week Easter break, legislators across the country have been back home meeting with voters.The budget and especially Medicare is the hot topic everywhere, nowhere more so than in Ryan of southern Wisconsin district. Ryan is the architect of a GOP budget plan that would essentially remake the health care program for seniors.In the neighborhood that the 41-year-old Congressman has chosen seven times, mainly older voters were largely positive. The first comment on the first of four stops Thursday a usually friendly room in the basement of Waterford Village Hall came from Ken Thiede, 68-year-old pensioner from Rochester, Wis. "your opponents use scare-Care," said Thiede. "I'll give you an ' A ' for have cojones."Ryan made on the word, but the audience laughed. "It's a German term," said Thiede.Orphan questionsSome of the most targeted questions were along the lines of those set by Amy Kinosian, a 58-year-old fifth-grade teacher from Eagle, Wis. "Have you voted for both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have you voted for a compensatory cuts in the budget? "She asked. "You voted for Medicare Part d again with no funding."Ryan said he voted for the wars and for Medicare Part d prescription drug program by a Republican Congress passed in 2003. In fact, he said, it should be a model for what he wants to do to Medicare as a whole.Subsidises with Medicare Part D, some competitive prescription drug plans, which are older Americans can choose. The Congressional Budget Office has said that the cost of that plan is 41% lower than expected.Enlargement of that competition on all Medicare of health care costs will, said he especially if health insurers plans across state lines like other types of insurers can sell. "You cannot watch TV for an hour without a gecko lizard thingy is trying to sell your car insurance," he says in an often repeated laugh line.Start in 2022, request Ryan's plan new pensioners to selecting a health insurance plan from a list approved by the Government, which for a grant should provide to the provider. But guaranteed benefits would be lifted.At each stop asks Ryan to a show of hands of those 55 and older. (At least four-fifths were.) She would not be affected, he said. "But what about me! "heckled a prematurely balding young man in the back of the room in Greenfield, Wis. He refused to give his name.Democrats have at times like this as evidence that there is a backlash developing against Ryan budget confiscated. After Ryan was booed at a previous City Hall, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi gave a statement: "President Ryan, the people, including your voters, his talk. Are you listening? "Ryan he said. And while he couldn't any input which lead to him to think about his plan would identify, he said, "I never watch these budgets as a fait accompli." Budget resolution of the not yet gotten to the Senate, and many of the details in follow-up accounts would get worked out.The crowd are reminiscent of the congressional town hall meetings in the summer of 2009, as Democrats health insurance law known as the affordable Care Act. "The size is so high, and the passion is so high," Ryan told United States today.Ryan had 19 public events scheduled for Congress of Easter break much in capacity-filled rooms in his district. They began last week in libraries and senior centers, but by Thursday had to be moved to different high school gymnasiums for larger crowds. In Waterford, were dozens who arrived 20 minutes early rejected. In Oak Creek, 30 people stood in the lobby after a 220-seat courtroom filled. At the last stop, were none of the 800 seats in the Auditorium of a high school are left blank. "Gosh, Waterford, we're lucky if we 12 people here for town hall meetings you can get, "he told a room of 250 people. So many tv stations and networks wanted him to wear wireless microphones that "I look like Batman wearing this," joked Ryan.Even critics more playfulRyan asked crowd to show the national media covering the events that Wisconsinites can discuss issues civilly and they are usually taken into account. He even had to admit that some of the questions were softballs. In Franklin, a man asked how did the GOP budget in comparison with the budget for last year, Pelosi, D-Calif., speaker then. "They do not have a budget last year, "said Ryan. "But I suppose a set-up question was."Even some of his critics were more playful than criticism of him. Kinosian, the fifth-grade teacher, said she supports an alternative budget proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said they "just so gutsy" is like the Ryan plan. "Of course, they are not as boyishly handsome as you," she said.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

70 Belgian sex abuse victims to sue Vatican

Brussels (AP)-brings a group of 70 people claim to be victims of sexual abuse of clergy Vatican and Belgian church officials to Court, claiming that they offered them inadequate protection of pedophile priests.Lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge said Friday that he will be the complaint in about two weeks. He said religious officials, including the Pope, had failed to take appropriate measures to prevent such abuse.The Belgian Church is in a big abuse scandal last year when Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges was forced to resign after he admitted that he abused for 13 years his young nephew. Later, hundreds of victims came forward with stories of abuse by clergy go back decades.

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Study: First stars were massive, fast-spinning

LOS ANGELES — the first stars that littered the universe were not only immense but probably also fast-spinning, according to a new study that light on the nature of stellar evolution raises.These early stars died out long ago, but astronomers can have a glimpse of what they were by later generations of stars to watch.A team of scientists, led by Cristina Chiappini of the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam in Germany were reanalyzed data from the Very Large Telescope of a 12-billion-year-old star of hope. They found high levels of metal in the stars a chemical signature that earlier generations, maybe even suggests the first stars, were massive and rotated much faster than their current counterparts.This is important because a star that rotates faster can live longer and suffer from different fate than slow-spinning.Findings appear in Thursday's Edition of the magazine NatureCurrent theory States that the universe arose from an explosion called the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago. During the next 200 million years, the universe cooled, where the dark and starless.The first stars that formed during the universe of children's shoes were different from stars like our Sun, which is usually hydrogen, but also contains oxygen and carbon. The earliest stars were mainly hydrogen and helium. They also quickly lived and died young.When she died, she as a brilliant Supernova exploded and seeded the universe with fundamental elements of future stars, including our Sun were created.As the first stars were indeed spin machines, some of them probably died as gamma-ray bursts, which means that scientists today would have a better chance of detecting them.Telescopes such as NASA's swift satellite have the ability to spy gamma-ray bursts, but have a much harder time observing supernovas.This "increases the chances we'll see immediately the death of massive stars during that era," said Jason Tumlinson of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, who had no role in the study. Online: Nature: http://nature.com/nature

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Boston hospital conducts 2nd full-face transplant

BOSTON (APOnline)-doctors in a Hospital Boston have performed the nation second full-face transplant, less than a month after the first.A team of more than 30 doctors, nurses and other employees of Brigham and women's Hospital worked for more than 14 hours last week to replace the full face area of 30-year-old Mitch Hunter, of Speedway, Ind. The procedure replaced Hunter's nose, eyelids, lips, face animation muscles and the nerves that power them and sensation. Hunter his injuries of a high-voltage electric wire a 2001 car accident.The donor family requested anonymity.The lead surgeon, Dr Bohdan Pomahac, said the procedure easy and they expect Hunter a successful recovery and new life.A construction worker Texas received a new face in the hospital last month. About a dozen face transplants are worldwide, done in the USA, France, Spain and China. The's world's first face transplant, a partial face transplant, was done in France in 2005 on a woman by her dog mauled. The nation first, even a partial, was at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The Hospital Boston has placed on a waiting list for a face and hands transplantation Charla Nash, the wife of the Connecticut chimpanzee mauled by a friend two years ago.

U.s. report puts Egypt with the worst offenders of religion

WASHINGTON (AP)-a government agency annual report on the violations of the religious rights of Egypt on Thursday added to the list of 14 worst offenders of the world. By STR, AP

In a demonstration March, Egyptian Copt run a cross, a depiction of Saints put together a banner in Arabic which reads: "God is our refuge and strength, he will help us in difficult times," Egypt is included as one of the 14 countries where religious freedoms at risk.

By STR, AP

In a demonstration March, Egyptian Copt run a cross, a depiction of Saints put together a banner in Arabic which reads: "God is our refuge and strength, he will help us in difficult times," Egypt is included as one of the 14 countries where religious freedoms at risk.

The situation there deteriorated for religious minorities, especially Coptic Christians, significantly, also because the former President Hosni Mubarak resigned in February, says the report.China is also on the list of the worst offenders, compiled by the Commission on international religious freedom, and in his introductory remarks as he released the report, Committee Chairman Leonard Leo accused China of trying to hack into emails from the Commission. "They try very hard to read our private emails, "said Leo. "So let me, if I can, take a brief moment to this esteemed public authorities: you can for your pleasure reading, go to our website and see all our reports on your Government."It has http://www.uscirf.gov ... and I'm sure you will find what you need. "The others on the list of" countries of particular interest "are repeats of last year: Myanmar, also known as Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. The Egypt report said the Commission was" acutely aware that the success of the current political transition Egypt depends on full respect for the rechtsstaatwaaronder respect of fundamental human rights, religious freedom that is critical. "The report said the Government" engaged and tolerated violations of freedom of religion "before and after the Mubarak departure."In its waning months, religious freedom conditions were rapidly deteriorating, and since his departure, we have seen nothing to indicate that these conditions have improved, "the report said.Because featured the new designation, the report that the US aid to Egypt's money earmarked for military use and use it "to the physical protection of Coptic Christians and other religious minorities.The report also includes an annual list of countries that the Commission is of the opinion that requires close monitoring because of violations committed or tolerated by their Governments. List of this year was the same as last year with the exception of the movement of Egypt on the list of "countries of particular concern". Still on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela. Congress created to compile the reports for use by the president, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the House and Senate. As in previous years, the Commission adopted in 1998, the Commission complained that the Obama administration, if the Government ignores Bush, her advice.State Department spokeswoman Heidi Bronke Fulton denied that. "Sure we the USCIRF recommendations into account when we make our own list of countries of particular importance to violations of religious freedom. "

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Buddhists remember the Japan tsunami dead

SOMA, Japan — Buddhist priests burned incense and chanted Thursday for victims of the tsunami of Japan, marking the 49th day since the disaster and the period when the dead were believed to be wandering in limbo via destroyed hometown close.5th Ld-WritethruEds: edits first subparagraph. Pictures added. This story is part of AP's General news andfinancial services. By Junji Kurokawa, AP

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama offers a Buddhist prayer during a special prayer for the victims of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo,

By Junji Kurokawa, AP

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama offers a Buddhist prayer during a special prayer for the victims of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami Gokokuji Temple in Tokyo,

Approximately 1,200 mourners filled a Hall for flooding, with many standing outside a gate, for a ceremony organized by 170 priests in the northeastern city of Soma, where much of the coast buried in the mountains of rubble of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.Many carried framed photos of lost loved ones, and cried. Some clutched wooden tablets with Buddhist names assigned to the dead to help them find their way into their next stage of existence. "There are so many still missing. There are people who lost at the bottom of the sea which will never be found. But this is the day that they are Buddhas. We pray for all of them, and for all sentient beings, "Buddhist priest Kojin Sato said.The earthquake and tsunami is generally believed to have killed nearly 26,000 people, although only about 14,500 bodies have been found. Many probably swept from the sea and will never be found.Kiyoshi Sakurai fears that the case with his older brother, missing since the disaster will be. "It is very difficult because we couldn't have a proper funeral. But this gives us a sense of closure, "Sakurai said, clutching a blurry photo of his brother."It is comforting to have so many priests come to pray for our family. Maybe someday my brother found. Maybe not. But at least he has this, "he said.Many Japanese parts Buddhist beliefs with the native Japanese religion of Shinto, spirits in nature and dead ancestors worship. Almost all rites related death are Buddhist, and in many Japanese schools of Buddhist thought, the dead wander near their homes for 49 days before heading into their next stage of the existence on the 50th day.The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, Japan on Thursday was visiting and planned to join in another Memorial in Tokyo later this week. Spokesmen for the religious leader said that his schedule in Japan for the 49th day since the disaster had changed.Seven weeks after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck, life some 130,000 people still in about 2,500 shelters. The Government has promised to build 30,000 temporary houses for them by the end of May and after that another 70,000.The head of the American Red Cross, wrapping up a four-day visit to Japan, said the 187 million dollars in gifts and pledges for Japanese tsunami relief received essential household appliances such as rice cookers buy for people living in temporary housing.Gail McGovern said she had trouble getting the processing of the "miles and miles" of destruction she saw along the northeast coast of Japan. "The (power of the) Ocean was just furious. Everything we saw was strewn into small pieces, "she said in an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. "When you start to walk around, you can create a pop or a kid's bike or a teacup. It just seems that this home is so personal. "Sato said that In Soma said that local temples invited everyone to come to the ceremony and told the family not to worry about dressing in black, since many people had lost their formal dress. The priest added that instead of the usual gifts passed out after funerals, the families got pockets with bottled water, tea and SOAP — things they need in shelters or temporary housing.The ceremony is concluded with a procession before an altar. The only sound was singing and occasional crying.

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Gadhafi offers truce if NATO strikes in Tripoli

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — NATO bombs hit a Libyan Government complex before dawn Saturday, damaging two buildings, like the Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi called for a ceasefire and negotiations with NATO powers in a live speech on State TV. By Darko Bandic, AP

In this photo made on a Government-organized tour, is an official building damaged after an air attack early Saturday in Tripoli, Libya.

By Darko Bandic, AP

In this photo made on a Government-organized tour, is an official building damaged after an air attack early Saturday in Tripoli, Libya.

The targeted compound included the State television building, and an official from the Libyan claimed that the strikes were meant to kill Gadhafi. "We believe that the goal was the leader," said the spokesman of the Government Moussa Ibrahim. However, the TV building was not damaged, and Gadhafi spoke of a secret location.A visit to the scene of the strikes of told reporters that the damaged buildings housed a Commission for women and children and offices of Parliament's staff. One of at least three bombs or missiles knocked in a large part of a two-story Italianate style building. In another, doors and ceiling tiles were blown to the ground. A police officer said three people were injured, one seriously.Gadhafi, meanwhile, called for a ceasefire in a speech that is both restrained and defiant and lasted more than an hour. "The door to peace is open," said the Libyan leader, sitting behind a desk and repeatedly flipping through handwritten notes. "You are the aggressors. We will negotiate with you, "he said. "Come, France, Italy, United Kingdom, America, come, we will negotiate with you. Why you fall us? "He said Libyans have the right to choose their own political system, but not under the threat of NATO bombing. "Why are you killing our children? Why are you destroy our infrastructure, "he said, denying that his troops had slain Libyan citizens.Rebel leaders have said they would negotiate a truce only after Gadhafi has stepped aside, something the Libyan leader has refused to do. The revolt against Gadhafi, Libya the ruler of 42 years, broke out in mid-February, and has claimed hundreds of lives. Rebels controlling the East of the country, while Gadhafi has retained most of the West.A few hours before the speech, Gadhafi of forces shell the besieged rebel city of Misrata, killing 15 people, including a 9-year-old boy, hospital doctors said. The city of 300,000 is the main rebel stronghold in western Libya, and has been under siege for two months, with the port are only connection to the outside world.NATO on Friday foiled attempts by regime loyalists to close the only access route to Misrata, intercept boats that anti-ship mines in the waters around the port to were.The Gadhafi regime signaled Friday that it is trying to block access to Misrata on sea.Ibrahim, the Libyan official, said he was not aware of the attempt to lay mines. However, he said that the Government tries to prevent arms shipments from reaching the rebels by sea. Asked if support ships also blocked would be, he said any aid consignments should be coordinated with the authorities and preferably overland.Gadhafi's forces have repeatedly shelled the port area in the past. Libyan forces deployed on the edge of Misrata, after having driven out of the Centre by the rebels last week.

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NASA abruptly cancels shuttle launch; Monday liftoff scheduled

CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA abruptly cancelled the launch of the Space shuttle Endeavour on Friday, ruining what was a historic day filled with the emotion of critically injured Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords as she saw her husband command of the Shuttle program next-to-last flight into space. By John Raoux, AP

The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour leaves the operations and Checkout building aboard the orbiter before the launch was scrubbed due to technical problems.

By John Raoux, AP

The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour leaves the operations and Checkout building aboard the orbiter before the launch was scrubbed due to technical problems.

A faulty thermostat on an auxiliary power unit delayed the launch for at least 72 hours. In the most optimistic scenario, launch Director Mike Leinbach said the earliest a shuttle could launch would 2: 33 pm Monday. NASA has until Wednesday to launch. If the attempt fails to start, by that time, the mission will be delayed until May 9 or 10 so that it does not conflict with other missions, including the launch of the Atlas V, a commercial rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, and detach from the Soyuz, Mike Moses, President of the shuttle mission management team.Giffords is disappointed by the delay, but realizes mission safety is a priority, her office said in a statement. "Launch delays are not uncommon with the space shuttle, "said the statement. "We look forward to the rapid redeployment of this scientific important mission."Giffords a meeting with President Obama and the first family, who toured Kennedy Space Center and a meeting with the crew and their families on Friday. By Charles Dharapak, AP

President Obama and his family member Astronaut Janet Kavandi under the undercarriage of Space Shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida

"Hopefully we can lure him back" for another launch, Kennedy Space Center Director Robert Cabana said.The astronauts remain in quarantine in their crew quarters or at a Beach House crew to a rescheduled launch. They can spend time family members who are medically cleared, said Cabana. It is unclear whether Giffords resides in Florida. her Office said that her travel plans are "Undetermined".Giffords, who is from a gunshot wound to the head, is recovering since Wednesday at the launch of the shuttle, which her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly command, in Cape Canaveral. Giffords not appeared in public since the attack of 8 January, and she left her Houston rehabilitation hospital for the first time to travel to Florida. They had expected to watch the liftoff in private, like the other astronaut families were.Friday scrubbing dramatically came close to liftoff on what looked like a near-flawless launch day: the crew of the space shuttle departed with a helicopter overhead and a SWAT vehicle in chase, NASA's operations center in an airstream trailer for the 10-minute trip to the launch pad when word: Launch of Endeavour is scrubbed.The shuttle had planned to start at 3: 47 p.m.Mission Board at 12: 16 pm decided to cancel the launch. The astronauts, fully clothed in their orange flight suits and a few minutes from aboard the shuttle, had their operations center only 11 minutes earlier abandoned.Obama and his family, travel of the destruction of the storm in Alabama to Florida for the launch, landed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, less than an hour later. Instead of watching the launch, she toured the Orbiter Processing Facility and had a close-up look at the shuttle Atlantis. The Atlantis will launch on the last mission of the space Shuttle program on June 28. The Endeavour astronauts, in an Airstream trailer called the Astrovan, were seconds of effort and less than three hours before a scheduled liftoff a 14-day mission to the International Space Station, when Friday launch was cancelled. The Astrovan abruptly turned around, making for the crew for at least 72 hours of hurry-up-and-wait. "You're bored, you're anxious, you've done all your training, and you're ready to go, "astronaut Rick Mastracchio says of the lead-up to the launch. "It is a slow time."A thermostat, one of the two used to have a fuel line to keep from freezing, is the culprit, Leinbach said. The auxiliary power units are fueled with hydrazine in orbit, which can freeze. The thermostats should feel the decrease of the temperature and stoves activate. "It was a hard failure. We couldn't get it to come to life regardless of what we did, "said Leinbach. another heater further along the line" funny behaviour was also exhibiting are, "he said."We do not want to commit to flight with only one stove, "who let the shuttle at risk for a frozen fuel line as the other thermostat failed, Leinbach said.Laying down the thermostat and ramping up again for the launch will take a minimum of three days, Leinbach said. If the problem is more extensive and includes a replacement of the switchbox that the powers of the lines, the launch would be faced additional delays, he said. Testing a replacement switch box includes two full days of tests, he said.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

Quietly on the coasts; Central USA is in for a wet weekend

While both East and west coast a fairly quiet, mild weekend will, will the central United States under the gun again for heavy rain and some severe thunderstorms, especially on Sunday. By Aaron Hardin, AP

Mike Yates takes a break from recovery of the flood in his Office at counter solutions in Jackson, Tennessee on Friday. More heavy rains in the central United States this weekend may lead to additional flooding.

By Aaron Hardin, AP

Mike Yates takes a break from recovery of the flood in his Office at counter solutions in Jackson, Tennessee on Friday. More heavy rains in the central United States this weekend may lead to additional flooding.

Central storm: Saturday, rain and Thunder will extend from the Northern Plains and upper Midwest South Northeast Texas, Eastern Oklahoma and Western Arkansas. Some severe thunderstorms can rattle northern Texas and southern Oklahoma. Large hail is the biggest threat.The heaviest rain is expected Saturday in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. What light snow is also possible in the northern Rockies and far northern North Dakota On Sunday, rain and thunderstorms will stretch from the Eastern Great Lakes southwest to Texas. Drenching rain is likely in the Ohio Valley already soaked and mid Mississippi Valley, which will aggravate flooding along the Mississippi River all the way from Illinois to Louisiana. Snow is forecast in the high elevations of the Central Rockies in Colorado and far northern New Mexico.Wildfire worries: Little will as rain about dried out sections of the South West this weekend will fall, so favourable conditions for forest fires. Today, could strong, gusty winds and low humidity help fan fires in west Texas, Southern New Mexico and southern Arizona.Mild coastlines, cool center: Temperatures will be well above average along the Gulf Coast, East Coast and West Coast Saturday and Sunday, but the showers and clouds temperatures below average in the Rockies, Plains, Midwest and Great Lakes regions.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

College campuses add language immersion programs

Next fall, a group of 10-12 students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison together will live in a dormitory dubbed the Russian Parliament. By Fall Horvath Davidson, AP

Pauline Turpin, Lille, France, working on the decoration speaks for her dorm room at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. everyone in a wing of the dormitory exclusively French.

By Fall Horvath Davidson, AP

Pauline Turpin, Lille, France, working on the decoration speaks for her dorm room at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. everyone in a wing of the dormitory exclusively French.

During the semester, she will speak, read, watch TV and pretty much do all their communicate in Russian. "The idea is that we create a little bubble for them of Russia on the Madison campus in a supportive environment, "says Diana Murphy, associate director of the Russian flagship Center and Language Institute. Colleges and universities nationwide creating and extending existing language immersion programs, under which students live together while learning a language around the clock.Dustin Cowell, who teaches Arabic in Wisconsin-Madison and is Chairman of the Department of African languages and literature, says foreign language immersion programs are effective, because the language is a part of the students when they use it to express their feelings or to talk about gewonedagelijkse activities. "It has language outside the classroom and increase your vocabulary," Cowell says. "To try to tell your friends about something that happened that day is much more personal. " By Greg Pearson, the (Shreveport, La.) Times

Jackson Hall, at Centenary College in Shreveport, La., houses Le Quartier Fran? ais, a wing dedicated to the French language and culture.

Cowell says that the immersion program can students to their antennae up and thinking about what they say. "The first time you might not have said it very well, but you start to think about different ways to say it, "he says. "Every time you say something, you are focusing on that speaking manner."Among the other programs nationwide: • Centenary College in Shreveport, La., a French immersion program launched in 2010 on a floor of a dormitory calls it Le Quartier Francais. • Emory University in Atlanta has a Spanish home and a smaller German program. • the University of Virginia has a French home House House Spanish, German, Russian House and the House Shea, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Italian, Japanese, and Persian. • the Thatcher language House on the University of Massachusetts-Amherst provides students with an opportunity to live in a residence hall dedicated to learning ChineesFranse, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. A designated floor you will find for each language. • to Middlebury College in Vermont, the Department of language contains a School of Hebrew. "We always add languages when we feel there is a need, "says Michael Geisler, vice president for the Middlebury language schools. "We have Arabic for a while and we have a thriving and growing Middle East program. Arabic is one of the languages spoken in that region and Hebrew is the other. "Andy Wilson, Director of residence life at Emory, says that there are some native speakers in the House, as well as people who are trying to acquire fluency live or proficiency. "The programme varies from year to year as to community standards on speaking Spanish in the home, "says Wilson. "A few years, Spanish is the only language that is spoken in the House and then there are other years where English is permitted during certain hours."Among the students take part in the Centenary French program is senior Alexandria Pittman, who wants to travel to France and teach English after graduation. "It is difficult, "she says only speak French in the students home. "It's like splitting up my brain in half."Despite that, Pittman says, she loves the dormitory and both her French and her knowledge of French culture have improved. She attributes much of her roommate, Pauline Turpin. Turpin is an exchange student at the Catholic University of Lille. They logged on to come to school in Louisiana through a partnership which Centenary with her school has. "Every time I said that I was going to Louisiana, people said ' they speak French there, ' "she says with a smile."But they don ' speak French. "Wisconsin-Madison also has an Arabic, Persian and Turkish language immersion Institute. It runs an eight-week summer program from mid-June to August. Arabic was the first language of the programme in 2004. Persian was added in 2005 and Turkish in 2010. "Students are not supposed to use a language other than the language they for the period of eight weeks study, "says Cowell," on Friday nights, they are of the complex for about 12 hours released and they can use English. "At Emory, Wilson says, the more immersed students receive, the more they get from the program. "The more prepared to restrictions on their ability to speak their first language, the more likely they are to leave the program with more fluent and more knowledge about the culture, "he says.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

Career-ending videos of professors are unfairly edited, University officials say

 Videos posted by the conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart appear to have ended the teaching career of an adjunct at the University of Missouri -- even as university officials issued a statement backing the contention of the two instructors of the labor studies course that their comments in the class had been edited to present an "inaccurate and distorted" picture of what was said.

Breitbart posted the videos (here and here) on his Big Government blog and, based on the recordings, called the course "advanced thuggery." In the video, the two instructors can be heard making numerous seemingly positive statements about the use of violence or threatened violence in labor-management relations. The course is taught by one instructor at the university's Kansas City campus, Judy Ancel, and another at the St. Louis campus, Don Giljum. With a video link, the professors and students at the two campuses interact in class -- and the recordings have been available to students through the learning management system used in the course. The videos posted by Breitbart are clearly from different class sessions, as the professors appear in different clothing.

In interviews Thursday, both Ancel and Giljum said that their statements in the videos were a mixture of different teaching techniques, including describing how labor leaders felt during certain periods of time, directly quoting specific individuals (whose views they did not necessarily share), and intentionally taking an extreme position to prompt class discussion.

They said that the full recordings would make this clear, and that they would like the complete class sessions released. The problem, they said, was that the recordings show identifiable students as well as the instructors (which is the case in the excerpts posted by Breitbart, too), so the university can't just post the recordings without violating student privacy rights.

Late Thursday afternoon, Gail Hackett, provost of the Kansas City campus, issued a statement that backed the instructors' description of the class, based on administrators' review so far of the 18 hours of available video (of which Breitbart's two excerpts are together under 15 minutes). "From the review completed to date, it is clear that edited videos posted on the Internet depict statements from the instructors in an inaccurate and distorted manner by taking their statements out of context and reordering the sequence in which those statements were actually made so as to change their meaning," Hackett said. "Such selective editing is disturbing and the release of students' images without their permission is a violation of their privacy rights." (University officials assume that a student either gave Breitbart a copy of the video of the class or provided access.)

Hackett's statement went on to "underscore our commitment to the importance of academic freedom, freedom of speech and the free-flowing discussion of challenging topics in our courses," as well as "the serious responsibilities this places on us to ensure a balanced perspective is offered to our students within our curriculum."

And Hackett said that "[i]n this particular case, we also affirm our belief that studying labor unions, their history, and their role in society is an important subject given the role they have played and continue to play in the United States and the world. As a result, we continue to review the appropriate place for such an offering within our curriculum."

Breitbart did not respond to a request from Inside Higher Ed for a response to the allegation that the videos he posted are distorted.

This is not the first time that he has been accused of selective editing. It was Breitbart who posted the excerpt of a talk by Shirley Sherrod, then an Agriculture Department official, purporting to show her expressing anti-white racial attitudes, setting off a furor that led to her resignation. The subsequently released video of her complete talk showed how she was referencing long-ago attitudes and in fact gave a moving call for racial reconciliation.

Breitbart may be on the lookout for other academics. Appearing on Sean Hannity's show on Fox last week, he said that "we're going to take on education next, and go after the teachers and union organizers."

The American Association of University Professors released a statement late Thursday denouncing Breitbart's tactics, and contrasting the alleged calls to violence in the videos with the damage that the association said is really taking place. "The violence that is being done ... is to the academic freedom and employment security of the instructors, and to the privacy and safe classroom environment of the students, some of whom speak on the video clip," said the AAUP statement. "When students voice their views in class, they should not have to fear that their comments will be spread all over the Internet. When faculty members rightly explore difficult topics in class, they should not have to fear for their jobs or their lives."

While the university's statement endorsed academic freedom, it also noted that during "the course of our review the past couple days, UMSL has accepted the resignation of its lecturer." The St. Louis campus declined to elaborate on that resignation, but Giljum said that he was told by a dean that she needed him to resign, and had been told by her higher-ups to get his resignation.

Noting that he is an adjunct, Giljum said that "they could care less about me. I am an at-will employee, and they are focused on preserving funding for the university."

He said that the university sent a message by asking him to resign in the wake of the videos. "Teachers here are no longer going to be able to express comments, theories or counter-positions or make statements to force students to push back and critically challenge the comments and statements of the teacher," he said.

Teaching in such an environment, he said, "I would be guarded about what I would say, and students would be guarded as well."

Ancel, the other instructor, said in an interview that she works on annual contracts and that the university has not taken any action against her. She also released a statement in which she explained the context behind some of the quotes shown in the video.

For example, she noted that one of her quotes in the Breitbart video is: "violence is a tactic and it's to be used when it's the appropriate tactic." Here is what she said really happened: "After students had watched a film on the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King, they were discussing nonviolence. I said, 'One guy in the film ... said 'violence is a tactic, and it's to be used when it's the appropriate tactic.' " In this instance, she said, "Breitbart's editing has literally put words in my mouth that were not mine, and they never were mine."

Both Ancel and Giljum said that a course about the history of the labor movement would of necessity discuss violence. Ancel said in her statement: "Any examination of labor's past would be incomplete without discussion of violence (which for the most part was directed at workers), and analysis of its roots. At no time did my co-instructor, Don Giljum, nor I advocate violence."

While Ancel's statement said that complete review of the tapes would vindicate both instructors, she added that the videos had caused real pain, "ugly" threats and the loss of Giljum's job. "These videos are no idle prank. They do real harm," she said.

She also stressed that the invasion of privacy extended to her students -- some of whom want to learn about labor without telling their bosses, and who are visible in the videos. "These videos are an attack on higher education and its mission to working adults, putting labor education programs at risk. They create fear and have an enormously chilling effect on freedom of thought and expression," her statement said. "Sadly, they have already shattered the very positive atmosphere of trust and openness that we worked so hard to create in this class. One of my students told me, with some discomfort, 'My boss watches Fox News.'

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

Study: trade name Avastin, Lucentis is equally effective for eyes

A new study shows that a cheaper drug for a common eye disease as effective as a more expensive an approved for the condition. By Genentech

Trade name Avastin, a drug that is used in the treatment of macular degeneration.

By Genentech

Trade name Avastin, a drug that is used in the treatment of macular degeneration.

The results are expected by many doctors and patients turn away from the more expensive Lucentis and instead use $ 50 shots of trade name Avastin for wet age-related condition called macular degeneration.Vision improvement after one year was the same for that particular monthly shots of trade name Avastin or Lucentis, the 1 200-patient study found.A concern: more serious side effects occurred under trade name Avastin users. But they are not the type that usually seen with these drugs, and only wider use and more study will tell whether a safer than the other, eye experts said.The results are a blow to the Roche Genentech unit, which sells both medicines. Trade name Avastin is a cancer drug that doctors have used for many years for the treatment of the eye disease, although it is not approved for that purpose. Lucentis Genetech later developed for the eye disease, and it was approved in 2006. A company spokesman said Thursday that the company had no plans to sell trade name Avastin approval for eyes use search.Yet the results are a blessing for patients and insurers because nothing prevents them from using the cheaper trade name Avastin, eye specialists said. Doctors who use it for the eye disease should be a pharmacist to prepare lower doses injection instead of the intravenous route is used to get cancer. "It is always good news for patients if there is more than one option for a condition. It is good news for the country. Now we have the potential for significant savings at a time when healthcare costs skyrocketing is out, "had said Dr. Paul Sternberg, Chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute. Hey no role in the study, which was led by Maureen Maguire at the University of Pennsylvania. Results were published online Thursday by the New England Journal of Medicine and will be presented on an examination of the eye Conference on Sunday. Anyone want to now use Lucentis will have to justify its costs to insurers and policymakers, Dr. Philip Rosenfeld of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami wrote in a main article with the study. He has no ties with Genentech but has consulted for several other companies developing eye treatments.More than 250,000 Americans are treated every year for macular degeneration, "said Dr. Paul Sieving, Director of the Institute for the national eye, the Federal agency that paid for the study. The disease occurs when the growth of abnormal blood vessels is damaging the part of the retina responsible for central vision, and the two drugs are targeted to a protein that spurs growth of blood vessels.The drugs injected by the white part of the eye in the central cavity. Numbing drops are used and patients generally feels pressure more than pain, Sternberg explained. "The first time that you tell a patient they are going to have to receive they are taken aback and anxious, but they are remarkably tolerated, "he said of the shots.In the study, patients received one of four treatments: trade name Avastin or Lucentis every four weeks, or trade name Avastin or Lucentis on a variable depending on the response to the drug for one year plans.Vision improvement was almost identical for both drug monthly given, and no differences were seen in how many got significantly better or worse. The drugs are less likely to inject on an as-needed basis, no differences between the drugs but produced less vision improvement than monthly dosage did.Approximately 24% of the trade name Avastin users and 19% of the on Lucentis had a serious adverse reaction, usually a necessity for hospitalization. The study is too small to clear security questions to answer, and these differences require more study, researchers said.A statement by a spokesman for trade name Avastin from Genentech said that advantage for the eye disease evidence would take "considerable resources and years of clinical development", and that the best interests of patients are better served by exploring new medicines.Although Genentech both drugs does not sell, PDL BioPharma Inc. gets royalties on Lucentis, and Novartis AG has exclusive rights to the outside of the US

Copyright 2011 the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. View our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Tornadoes kill dozens South 215in

PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. (AP) — dozens of Tornadoes ripped through the South, flattening homes and businesses and at least 215 dead in six States in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years. As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit Alabama surveyed flattened, debris-strewn neighborhoods and told of pulling bodies from rubble after the storms passed Wednesday afternoon and evening. By Butch Dill, AP

A resident searches what remains of his home Thursday after a tornado Wednesday in Pleasant Grove, just west of the Centre of Birmingham, Ala. hit

By Butch Dill, AP

A resident searches what remains of his home Thursday after a tornado Wednesday in Pleasant Grove, just west of the Centre of Birmingham, Ala. hit

"It happened so fast it was incredible," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's home wrecked in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here. "He and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their veranda. Friends in the street that did the same were not as lucky Stewart said that he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose house was ripped off its foundation.Alabama's state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 131 deaths, while there are 32 in Mississippi, Tennessee, registration bonus, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia were and one in Kentucky. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said that the 137 tornado reports received in Wednesday night.Some of the worst damage was in Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 that is home to the University of Alabama. Neighborhoods were leveled by a massive tornado caught on video by a tower mounted news-camera that barreled through Wednesday afternoon. "When I looked back, I saw trees and stuff coming through, "said Mike Whitt, a resident on VERY Regional Medical Center, which ran from the hospital's parking deck when the wind started swirling and he heard a roar.On Thursday morning, he ran through the neighbourhood next to the hospital, home to a mix of students and townspeople, watching dozens of houses without roofs. Household items were scattered on the ground a drum, running shoes, insulation, towels and a bottle of shampoo. Streets were impassable, the sidewalk strewn with pieces of trees, houses and cars with their windows blown out. Dr. David Hinson was employed in the hospital when the tornado hit. He and his wife had to walk several blocks to go to their House, which was destroyed. Different houses down, he helped pull three students from the rubble. One was dead and two were badly injured. He and others used bits of rubble as improvised stretchers to carry them to an ambulance. "We just did the best we could get them out and stabilized them and to help them get, "he said. "I don't know what happened to them."University officials said there did not appear to be substantial damage on campus, and dozens of students and the local population resided in a 125-bed in the campus recreation center.The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The Governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia issued emergency declarations for parts of their States. Dave Imy, a meteorologist with the weather service, said that the death were that most in a tornado outbreak killed 315 people in Alabama, In 1974., where as many as one million people without power, Governor Robert Bentley said 2,000 National Guard troops were activated and helped had devastated areas to search for people still missing. He said the National Weather Service forecasters and does a good job of alerting people, but there is only so much that can be done to deal with powerful Tornadoes a mile wide.President Barack Obama said that he had spoken with Bentley and his request for federal emergency aid approved. "Our thoughts go out to all those who are affected by this devastation, and we recommend the use of the heroic efforts of those who have worked tirelessly to respond to this disaster, "Obama said in a statement.The storm came on the heels of another system that killed 10 people in Arkansas and one in Mississippi earlier this week. Less than two weeks earlier, a smaller batch of twisters rode through Alabama, touching off warning sirens, harmful for businesses and downing power lines in Tuscaloosa, but there were no deaths there then.In Kemper County, Miss., in the East Central part of the State, died sisters Florrie green and Maxine McDonald, and their sister-in-law Johnnie Green, all in a mobile home that was destroyed by a storm. "They were thrown in that pines there, "said Mary Green, Johnnie Green's daughter-in-law, pointing to a wooded area. "They had to go look for their bodies."And in Pleasant Grove, Samantha nagel examined the damage in the blue-collar Subdivision where hers the only House was still intact. The storm struck heavy pick-up trucks in ditches and blotted out tidy brick houses, leaving behind a mess of mattresses, electronics and toys scattered on a grassy plain where dozens of used to live. "We were in the bathroom stick to each other and stick to the dear life, "said nail. "If it wasn't for our concrete walls, our home would have gone if the rest of them."//

In a pinch to take off pounds in the summer? Experts will tell you how

You pile on a few unwanted pounds during the winter months? It's not too late to shed them in time for swimsuit season-and-shorts.Start now and you would drop 5 pounds or so before Memorial Day. You could double that loss of 4 July and even better in shape by August. To help you meet your goal, of the United States today nanci hellmich asked different diet book authors and leading experts to provide their best food and exercise exercise tips: handout

Dawn Jackson Blatner is a nutritionist who advises the simple ask question "am I hungry?"

Handout

Dawn Jackson Blatner is a nutritionist who advises the simple ask question "am I hungry?"

Dawn Jackson BlatnerAuthor of The Flexitarian Diet: •ask yourself these three magic words for eating everything: "am I hungry?" It's a quick way more connected to what is causing you to eat — whether it's physical hunger or emotions such as stress or boredom. •Write your calorie intake. It can help keep you honest and increase weight loss. •want a combination of products and protein are snacks. Products has water and fiber to fill you, and protein has stamina. So try a peer and string cheese or eat peanut butter on celery or apple. •satisfy your sweet tooth with tasty trade-offs. Choose individual servings of desserts such as dark chocolate-covered frozen bananas or try dessert-flavored tea as English toffee.Bob GreeneBest-selling author, Oprah's personal trainer and one of the authors of the life you want: get motivated, Lose Weight, andBe Happy: • free 30 to 60 minutes per day to exercise. "I have heard every excuse on the planet — except a good one," he says. •distract yourself while exercising. While watching TV show or a movie or listening to music to work out. And social people must walk or work with a buddy. •organize your food in three meals and one or two snacks per day. And when you find yourself eating outside these times, look at the possibility of such food is emotional nature. Write in your journal what could be the source of the emotion which enables you to eat. •Write ways you can enjoy that do not relate to food, as well as ways that you could improve your life. Handout

Author of transformation and the best-selling body-for-Life

Bill PhillipsAuthor of transformation and the best-selling body-for-Life: •weight-train intensely for about 45 minutes, three times per week, as Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Run 20 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sunday takeoff.• Alternative training the major muscles of upper and lower body. For example, the first week, train the upper body Monday, the lower body upper body Wednesday and Friday. The second week, the lower body upper body Monday, Wednesday, and the lower body workout Friday.Liver plan your training. Plan some time you exercise goes, what specific exercises you are doing, how much weight you will lift and how long does it take you to finish the session. Keep accurate records. by Norman y. Lono

Author of reading before you eat it.

Bonnie Taub-DixAuthor Read It before you eat It: •motivate yourself. Get a pair of jeans or pants too tight and hang them in the kitchen instead of the Cabinet to keep yourself inspired.• Let enough sleep. The scientists have found that sleep deprivation levels of a hormone hunger increases and decreases levels of a hormone that makes you feel full. The effects can lead to overeating and weight gain. Try a late afternoon nap instead of cookies.• Have attention benefits. A 3-ounce portion of meat, poultry or fish is about the size of the palm of your hand or a deck of cards; 1 teaspoon butter or margarine, a standard postage stamp; a cup of cold cereal, berries or popcorn, a baseball.• Eat out without expanding out. Take a look at the menu online in advance. Salad dressing on the side. by Todd Plitt, USA TODAY

Co-author of the Skinny on weight loss without hunger.

Louis AronneCo-author of The Skinny on losing weight without being hungry:• Eat a high-protein breakfast as Greek yogurt, protein or cottage cheese. It helps you hunger and cravings later in the day. •eat as much raw or cooked vegetables if you can. During meals and in between meals, it will help fill you, if you eat them first.• Try to drink water, unsweetened tea, green tea or plain or flavored seltzer for each meal. •food from appetizer-size plates. Research shows that small plates make food appear larger and can help you eat less. •slowly eating. That fullness signals time to reach more of your brain. Firstly, the lowest calorie food such as vegetables, will have the same effect.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. View our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

High-schoolers who are less likely to complete college work

Students who work more than 15 hours per week in high school Show lower rates of college completion, suggests a new study assessment of the damage of high school work intensity. Photodisc/Getty Images

Researchers found that by age 29 or 30, more than half of high school students who are less than 15 hours per week had a Bachelor's degree completed had worked.

Photodisc/Getty Images

Researchers found that by age 29 or 30, more than half of high school students who are less than 15 hours per week had a Bachelor's degree completed had worked.

The study, which is published in last month's issue of the journal developmental psychology, supports other recent research that high school students who work long hours are probably to show increased problem behavior and reduced school involvement has found.The new study, conducted at the University of Michigan, used data from a national survey of high school seniors called Monitoring the Future Project. The survey has followed more than 68,000 students, beginning with the class of 1976. Researchers found that by age 29 or 30, more than half of high school students who are less than 15 hours per week had a Bachelor's degree completed had worked. But for every five additional hours worked more than 15 hours per week, students experienced an 8% decline in college completion. Only about 20% of those who had worked 31 hours or more per week in high school completed college.But other factors in addition to long hours of work would be to blame? "There Is a debate about whether all these things linked to more hours working the debt of the work or the debt of other previous things that drug use forecasting, do badly in school and longer working hours "says lead researcher Jerald Bachman, a professor and research scientist at the University of Michigan. For some students, work can be an escape an already not academic record, says Steve Schneider, a school counselor at Sheboygan High School in Sheboygan, Wis. Students that intense work hours "are those students who usually have not been successful in the classroom anyway" he says.The ability to start making money also seems seductive but could hurt students later says Julie Hartline, a school counselor at Campbell High School in Smyrna, GA. She says that her responsibility to beyond that adolescent mind-set to her students that they can make more money later if they "stick this out."But keeping a routine filled with six or seven hours at school, time spent on sports and extracurricular activities, and then for another five or six hours on a job, followed by homework, a substantial pressure on students who then feel tired and have trouble focusing the next morning. "It is more than just attitudinal withdrawal, it becomes almost a physical withdrawal, "Schneider says. "The ultimate withdrawal would," I'm just not come to school tomorrow. " "Although part-time work a beneficial learning experience for students, counselors can say it is important to help students priority to keep them from falling behind, and parents and employers both message must take as a student seems to be slipping."There may be times when the children do not make wise choices, "said Schneider. He says that if a student wants to suddenly more hours at work, it's OK for parents and employers to step in and ask "what are you to have these hours?" and "are you sure you want to do that?"For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. View our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Live-Action of anti-abortion ' sting ' videos raise moral questions

WASHINGTON — anti-abortion activist Lila Rose has shared the stage with Sarah Palin, given its exploits praised on Fox News and comparisons drawn to heroic Gentiles who sheltered Jews during the Holocaust. By Live-Action, religion news service

Anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, which utilizes undercover ruses film sting videos on Planned Parenthood clinics, addresses of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

By Live Action, religion news service

Anti-abortion activist Lila Rose, which utilizes undercover ruses film sting videos on Planned Parenthood clinics, addresses of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

So why are some conservative Christians so worried about her work?Telegenieke the 22-year-old will handle that the seventh annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Wednesday, along with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell. Rose, who two years ago to Catholicism, is founder and President of Live Action, which she calls "a new media pro-life organization." The Group has released dozens of secretly taped videos in which Rose and other activists posing as pimps or underage girls seeking abortions, contraception or exams of ignorant Planned Parenthood clinics.Joseph Cella, a conservative political consultant who founded the prayer breakfast, called rose a poster child for Jesus counsel that Christians are "cunning as serpents and as harmless as doves." "Lila is one of the bright young leaders of the pro-life movement," said Cella. "They will be around for a long time."Cella acknowledged, though, that rose's work a "family" bickering between the conservative Christians. In fact provoked, the Live Action debate seems less an internal spat than a university seminar, with philosophers and political scientists consumed by a clear but complex question: Is it ever moral to lie?Rose said Live Action the deceptive tactics serve a larger truth. "The goal of all our visual investigative work is to abuse and injustice against those who are defenceless, "she said.Its purpose, Planned Parenthood, receives about $ 360 million in federal funding. By law, none of that money can be used for abortions, the nationwide group says 3% of its services.Rose's brand of activism is similar to that of James O'Keefe, the conservative provocateur whose work led to the Federal defunding of the community group ACORN and the dismissal of two staff members of the National Public Radio. Rose and O'Keefe worked together on similar video projects several years ago at the University of California, Los Angeles. In Live Action videos released in February, Planned Parenthood workers seem willing to help deemed pimps obtaining medical care and abortions for underage prostitutes.Attachment of the videos, House Republicans — and 11 Democrats — to defund Planned Parenthood voted in February; the resolution later died in the Senate. Planned Parenthood calls the tapes "hoaxes" that are "clearly doctored and cannot be trusted. But also a New Jersey employee layoffs and promised to retrain staff on rules for reporting hazards to young girls.Many conservative Christians rejoiced on the hit for Planned Parenthood, but Princeton University scholar Robert p. George was not among them.The "sting" videos are a form of lying, which the Catholic Church teaches "everywhere and always wrong", wrote George in a blog post February. "We must not allow our business to be compromised by lying, "continued to George, a leading intellectual who advises the u.s. Catholic Bishops. "We should not believe in the power of the truth to those who are against us in the great battle on the protection of human life at all stages and conditions transform abandoned."Ensure that other Catholic scholars defending rose's deceptions means joining the Western trend toward moral relativism, which church leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, hotly contested.A recent editorial in the flagship that Evangelical magazine Christianity today said "turbulence" on methods of Live action "has embittered what could have been included in a sweet victory." The magazine also questioned whether rose's "ethical shortcuts" to rely heavily on scandal against abortion legalized.Discussing the morality of undercover work is actually an old Christian tradition, according to Christopher Tollefsen, a professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. St. Augustine tried to settle the argument back in the fourth century: he wanted to stop Christians from rival sects eradicating heresy spying.Rose said she with her spiritual director has consulted and other Catholics, who offered reassurance that the history is also full of Saints who cheats for charities.Take, for example, the Hebrew midwives lied to protect children from a murderous Pharaoh and priests who forged baptismal certificates to save Jews during the Holocaust. "The bottom line is this, "said Rose. "It is a tradition in our Church, and we expose the truth to instruct and enlighten, posing as genuine cases that happen every day."Peter Kreeft, a Catholic philosopher at Boston College, agrees with Rose. "The closest analogy I can think of ... is spying, "Lobster wrote in a recent column."If Live Action is wrong, then so is all espionage, including espionage Nazi atomic bomb projects and saving the world from a nuclear holocaust. "Rose's lawyer, Peter Breen of the Thomas more Society, calls the debate Live Action "much ado about nothing." "Their behavior seems no different than what a Police Department would participate, or ' 60 minutes ', or ' Dateline, '" said Breen. "They engage in investigative journalism to learn the truth. "For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. Our corrections, go to corrections. usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines for the conversation. Changes include a brief overview of the monitoring process and an explanation about how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

Obama releases long form birth certificate

WASHINGTON — President Obama, trying to squelch an escalating and distracting controversy, released on Wednesday a long-form birth certificate from 1961 that showed just what he has always insisted: He was born at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu.

AP

The White House handed out a copy of the long form of President Obama's birth certificate Wednesday morning.

AP

The White House handed out a copy of the long form of President Obama's birth certificate Wednesday morning.

So is the issue settled?

Even Obama doesn't think the signed-and-sealed document will convince some "birthers" who suspect he was born abroad and therefore might be ineligible to be president.

"I know that there's going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest," the president said in an extraordinary morning appearance in the White House briefing room. "But I'm speaking to the vast majority of the American people as well as to the press: We do not have time for this kind of silliness. … We've got big problems to solve. And I'm confident we can solve them, but we're going to have to focus on them ? not on this."

In New Hampshire, real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has used the birther issue to fuel a possible presidential campaign, bragged that he had "accomplished something that nobody else was able to accomplish" in forcing the document's release.

The notion that Obama lied about his birthplace has become one of those persistent conspiracy theories in American political life, from who-shot-JFK to the forces behind the 9/11 attacks.

"There is fertile ground for these kind of charges" about Obama, says Robert Goldberg, a historian at the University of Utah and author of Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. "Knowing how Americans love conspiracy theories, this plays into American fears and anxieties, whether about black people or about the world around them."

Such controversies are stoked by skepticism about information from the government and other institutions, the vitriol and polarization in American politics, the echo chamber of cable news and the Internet, and even the profusion of movies and TV shows that depict governmental and global conspiracies, Goldberg says.

The release of official documents or reports by commissions rarely settle such issues for everyone.

Joseph Farah, CEO of the conservative website WorldNetDaily and publisher of a new book that investigates whether Obama is eligible to be president, says the issue isn't over.

"Assuming it is completely legitimate and the real deal, I think it raises more questions than it answers," he says of the birth certificate, saying the fact that Obama's father wasn't a U.S. citizen also could raise questions about his eligibility for the presidency. And Farah says he wants to see "the original document."

It remains in a bound volume at the state Department of Health in Hawaii in files that aren't open to public view.

Gaining traction

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday indicated the issue has been gaining traction.

Only 38% of Americans said they thought the president was "definitely" born in the United States; 18% said he "probably" was. Nearly one in four, 24%, said he was probably or definitely born in another country. Nineteen percent said they didn't know enough to say.

Those who think the president was born outside the United States tend to be among his fiercest critics. Most are Republicans, conservatives and supporters of the Tea Party movement. Three of four disapprove of the job he is doing as president.

Trump raised the "decibel level" so high that the White House couldn't ignore it, says Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union.

"I think he had somewhat of an arrogance before, in thinking he wasn't going to respond to an accusation of this nature, but obviously if it warranted that much national attention he should have dispensed with it and moved on," he says. "You scratch your head wondering why it took the president so long to put this to rest, if indeed that long form puts it rest."

Democratic consultant Phil Singer says the White House release was smart.

"This is a non-issue that, for whatever reason, takes up space that would otherwise be dedicated to the good things that the president is doing. So it makes every piece of sense in the world to try to take the issue off the table," says Singer, a spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton when she ran against Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries.

"It probably would have been a good thing if they'd done it when the issue first surfaced," he says, "but better late than never."

During the 2008 campaign, when initial questions were raised about where Obama was born, he requested a copy of his birth certificate from Hawaii and posted it on his campaign's website.

The "Certification of Live Birth" answered the questions then, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer says.

That changed in recent weeks, as the issue was revived by Trump and others who questioned why Obama hadn't released the longer "Certificate of Live Birth" from Hawaii. It includes some additional information, such as the name of the hospital, and is signed by the mother, the doctor and the local registrar.

The White House had tried to ignore the issue, dismiss it and use humor to ridicule it. When Obama was introduced at the annual Gridiron Dinner last month in Washington, the president stopped the band as it played Hail to the Chief and said, "Can we go with that song we talked about?"

A refrain of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA followed, to laughter from the audience of journalists and officials. "Some things just bear repeating," Obama quipped.

But the issue seemed to be gaining velocity. "Essentially the discussion transcended from the nether regions of the Internet into mainstream political debate in the country," Pfeiffer says.

Obama said he decided it was time to respond when the debate over the deficit-reduction plans advanced this month by the White House and House Republicans was overshadowed by the birther debate. Getting the long-form certificate required Obama to write a letter to Hawaian officials seeking a waiver for its release.

His personal attorney, Judy Corley, flew to Honolulu to pick up two copies of the certificate, returning to Washington on Tuesday.

"We're going to have to make a series of very difficult decisions" on federal spending and deficits, Obama said. "But we're not going to be able to do it if … we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."

Actually, a weekly analysis of leading news outlets by Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that the economy commanded 39% of coverage the week the deficit plans were released, compared with 4% on the Obama administration and the birther issue.

On the other hand, last week Trump ranked second only to Obama as a newsmaker.

'A strong lineage of race'

Civil rights leaders see what Jesse Jackson calls "a strong lineage of race" in the questions raised about Obama, the nation's first African-American president.

"This was a bogus issue and untrue accusations designed to take away President Barack Obama's legitimacy, the heart of his integrity," Jackson says, adding that birthers' message to the president is that "you are not born here, you are not one of us, you are a liar."

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the highest-ranking African American in Congress, also sees a racial overtone, likening it to the scrutiny Jackie Robinson faced when he became the first black player in major league baseball in 1947.

Obama "has not put the issue to bed," Clyburn says. "All he did was lay out the truth for everyone to see."

Farah denies a racism is a factor, calling the allegation "the last refuge for scoundrels who have run out of arguments."

In its politics, the birther issue was a bigger problem for Republicans than for Obama, Pfeiffer argues. It has divided GOP ranks and put the spotlight on an issue that is secondary for most Americans.

Some Republican presidential hopefuls, including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, have steered clear of the birther issue. But former House speaker Newt Gingrich took a skeptical tone when told of the document's release.

"All I would say is, why did it take so long?" he told a reporter for TPM.com. "The whole thing is strange."

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin posted a mocking tweet that read, "Media: admit it, Trump forced the issue."

"If that's as good as it gets on the Republican side to run a candidate for president, I can't wait for this election," says Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat close to Obama. "It is almost a comic variety of political campaigning when you consider the serious issues facing our nation, that that's the best they can do."

Obama portrayed himself as trying to address the big challenges facing the country on jobs and the economy while his critics engage in a sideshow.

He and first lady Michelle Obama then flew to Chicago to tape an appearance on Oprah and headlined political fundraisers in New York before returning to the White House late Wednesday night.

Still, the birther issue was a distraction for him, too.

"The fact that the president of the United States has to bend toward these conspiracy theorists, has to accept on some level their premise and take valuable time out of his schedule to confront this ? that's startling," Goldberg says. "My sense is that is only going to entice them and energize them."

Trump sounded like a candidate undeterred by the loss of the issue that had drawn him attention, saying he would announce his decision whether to run for president later this month on the finale of his TV reality show, Celebrity Apprentice.

"I think if I do run, I'll do very well," Trump said. "I think I'd beat Obama."

Then he pivoted to another issue involving Obama's personal qualifications, saying he had read that Obama was a poor student at Occidental College and asking how he had won admission to Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

"I don't know why he doesn't release his records" from his school days, Trump said.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

Friday shuttle launch drawing Tower high interest

. The nation's eyes are on the space shuttle launch Friday as gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords sends her strapping astronaut husband Mark Kelly into space.

By Chris O'Meara, AP

Mark Kelly, commander of the space shuttle Endeavour, arrives at Kennedy Space Center with his fellow crew members in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday. Kelly's wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left Houston for Cape Canaveral late Wednesday morning.

By Chris O'Meara, AP

Mark Kelly, commander of the space shuttle Endeavour, arrives at Kennedy Space Center with his fellow crew members in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday. Kelly's wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left Houston for Cape Canaveral late Wednesday morning.

This next-to-last shuttle flight, unremarkable but for an endearing love story of a congresswoman and an astronaut, is drawing unparalleled public and media interest. Even President Obama and his family will travel to Florida's Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch.

Space program analysts say the flurry of interest is an aberrant blip destined to fade as NASA spends the next decade focused on engineering instead of derring do. After the last space shuttle flies its last mission in June and all four shuttle vehicles are mothballed, manned spaceflight ? NASA's most dramatic program ? takes a long hiatus while NASA scientists and engineers attempt the next big thing on a tight budget.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., an astronaut who served as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Columbia, says NASA's potential is unlimited.

"We're going to Mars," he says.

In a speech last year, Obama said NASA's astronauts will go first to an asteroid and then to Mars. Congress in October authorized money for National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop a heavy lift rocket with the goal of sending astronauts to Mars in 2030.

"The destination and the timetable are still very much in the air," says veteran space analyst Marcia Smith, editor of SpacePolicyOnline.com and former director of the Space Studies Board at the National Academy of Sciences.

The space shuttle Endeavour will leave earth for the last time at 3:47 p.m. Friday under Kelly's command. The crew's most important task on its 14-day mission to the International Space Station is to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, a particle physics detector that searches for unusual sub-atomic matter.

Gabrielle Giffords U.S. Congresswoman, D-Ariz.

Office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Endeavour will also deliver spare parts to the space station, including antennae, circuit breaker boxes and an extra arm for the Dextre robot. Crewmembers will take four spacewalks and complete a long list of chores, including swapping out experiments and doing maintenance on the station.

The experiments are exciting, Nelson says. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will conduct "one of the most sophisticated astronomical experiments around," he says. "It'll absorb cosmic rays. As a result of this, we think we will have a chance of understanding the origins of the universe."

Still, he concedes that it's not the spectrometer that has captured the public's imagination.

The mission "is getting an enormous amount of attention because of Mark Kelly and Gabby Giffords, as it should be," Nelson says.

Giffords has been hospitalized since she was shot in the head Jan. 8 while meeting constituents at a Tucson supermarket. Kelly spent weeks at her bedside in a Tucson hospital. Giffords transferred to a rehabilitation hospital in Houston in part so Kelly could resume his mission training.

The couple met on a fellowship to China in 2003 and married in November 2007. Their relationship had often been long distance, as Kelly trained in Houston for his shuttle missions and Giffords traveled between her Arizona congressional district and her duties in Washington. Since they met, she has never missed his launches.

Giffords will attend the launch Friday, watching from a private viewing area inaccessible to the public and media. Kelly, who arrived at Kennedy Space Center Tuesday to prepare for the launch, said he was happy his wife could be there for his last shuttle flight. Kelly has flown three previous missions, twice as a pilot and one as commander.

Media requests are up 70% ? to about 1,500 ? from the previous launch, says NASA spokesman Allard Beutel. He attributes the increased media focus to a number of factors: Giffords, the second-to-last shuttle launch and the president's visit.

The public has also shown interest in the launch, which is scheduled at a family-friendly afterschool time. Kennedy Space Center can accommodate 40,000 people, he said.

"We expect a large crowd outside the gates," Beutel said. "Kids love coming to see the space shuttle."

Giffords is happy about any attention to the space program, says her spokesman C.J. Karamargin.

Karamargin visited with Giffords last week at the Houston rehabilitation hospital. While there, Karamargin received the email confirming that Obama and his family would attend the launch. Karamargin charged into Giffords' hospital room to announce the news.

"It was a great moment," he said. "She smiled broadly and said, 'Awesome.' The president has the power to draw national attention to the space program."

"The congresswoman is one of the most ardent champions of the space program in Congress because of the power it has shown through its history to ignite the curiosity and imagination of America's school children," Karamargin said.

The shuttle program, however, has not ignited the American passion for space the way the Apollo missions once did.

"The shuttle's whole purpose was to make spaceflight routine. It's not jazzy," Smith says. "People don't pay attention until there's some big discovery or some sort of tragedy."

The final space shuttle mission, the launch of Atlantis, is June 28. It, too, will deliver supplies and spare parts to the space station. After that, the shuttles will be delivered to museums. U.S. astronauts will hitch rides to the space station on Russian vehicles, while commercial companies, with seed money from NASA, develop new rockets to transport astronauts into low earth orbit.

"NASA will still have astronauts full time off the planet and on the space station" conducting more than 150 experiments, Beutel said.

It's not at all clear where U.S. manned space program will go next and how it will get there.

The moon, Obama said a year ago in a speech at the Kennedy Space Center, is off the table. "We've been there before," Obama said then. "There's a lot more space to explore."

Obama challenged NASA to design a new "heavy lift" rocket tht can send a crew capsule, propulsion system and large quantities of supplies into deep space by 2016

"By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space," he said. "We'll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the first time in history."

Obama's timetable sends humans to orbit Mars and return safely to earth by the mid-2030s, followed by landing on Mars.

The Mars plan "will rekindle the interest in doing superhuman things like the excitement generated" by the Apollo missions, Nelson said.

The plans are ambitious and will be costly.

The U.S. Human Spaceflight Committee, convened by the White House in 2009 to consider the future of human spaceflight and headed by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine, concluded the resources allocated to U.S. space exploration fell short of the national aspirations.

"There's no way we're going to have the budget we had during the Apollo era," Beutel says. "We'd love to accelerate the technology, but we've got work within the reality of the budget. It may take us a while to get there, but we're going to get there."

Congress authorized $19 billion for the space program in 2011, $19.45 billion in 2012 and $19.96 billion in 2013.

"People like the shuttle program, they like human spaceflight, they like NASA, they just don't like to pay for it," says Roger Launius, senior curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum who served as chief NASA historian from 1990 to 2002.

The human drama of manned spaceflight helps draw the public to the space program, Launius says. Without a narrative, Launius says, it's hard for people to make a connection.

The combination of Giffords' extraordinary story and the end of the shuttle program has swelled interest and may ultimately help boost political support, said John Logsdon of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute.

"It's going to cause a lot of attention," he said. "It almost forces the president to say something about space."

For Giffords, the launch marks a personal milestone.

"She did not want to miss this event. This is something she must do," Karamargin said. "It's a goal she's been working toward. We're hopeful that the great strides she has made since Jan. 8 will get a great boost from this."

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

New checklist could detect autism by age 1

An early screening test for autism, designed to detect signs of the disorder in babies not older than 1 year old, could revolutionize the care of autistic children, experts say, diagnosed and treated by them years earlier than usual.The 24-item checklist takes just five minutes to complete and can be filled out in a pediatrician's waiting room, when parents children for their routine 12-month checkup, says a study of more than 10,000 infants, published today in the Journal of Pediatrics. The checklist — online now available — ask parents or other carers about their child communication skills, babbling and first words to contact with the eyes. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and others.Doctors referred to children who are not screening for more definitive tests and, if necessary, treatment. Researchers followed them up to 3 years. The screening accurately diagnosed about 75% of the children.On average, people started with autism therapy by age of 17 months.That's a huge progress, experts say. About 1 in 110 children have autism or autism-like condition, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, says most autistic children are not diagnosed until 5 years, the CDC.Children diagnosed late miss opportunities to therapy while their brains are growing and most simply furnished, says Geraldine Dawson of the non-profit organization Autism Speaks, who also helped finance the research.Intensive behavioral therapy offers the best hope for autistic children help improve language and behavior, a recent analysis found in the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends screening of all children of Autism at 18 to 24 months, relatively few doctors Pediatrics. Although doenDawson says.

• No big smile or other joyous expressions with 6 months.

• Do not back-and-forth exchange of sounds, smiles, or other facial expressions by 9 months.

• No babbling by 12 months.

• No words by 16 months.

• No two-word meaningful sentences (without imitating or repeating) by 24 months.

• Loss of speech or social skills at any age.

Source: Autism Speaks

That could change, thanks to the success of this study, says Alison Singer, the President of the Autism Science Foundation, an advocacy group.Authors of the study note that the checklist not all catch cases of autism, such as those for the first time in older children appear.But because it is free and easy to use, all pediatricians should be able to quickly begin using it, says the singer, who wishes her daughter, Jodie, now 13, had been screened early. "We lost a lot of time wondering and waiting before they get a diagnosis on 2, "says the singer. "I can't help but wonder where my daughter would be today if she is fixed at 1 year old."For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ 's. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for authentication. View our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.