KFWB NEWS TALK 980

Thousands run final mile of Boston Marathon

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 21:00:14 +0000

BOSTON (AP) — Thousands of athletes have joined victims of the Boston Marathon bombings to run and walk the last mile of the race, reclaiming the triumph of crossing the finish line.

About 3,000 runners and bombing victims gathered in light rain Saturday morning to run the final mile of the world’s oldest annual marathon. The event, known as OneRun, begun at Kenmore Square and ended at the official finish line.

Explosions near the finish line killed three people and wounded more than 260 on April 15.

Organizer Kathleen McGonagle says OneRun honors victims and emergency workers and allows runners to reclaim the final mile.

The National Anthem was sung by the choir from St. Ann Parish, where 8-year-old victim Martin Richard’s family worshipped.

Feds won’t prosecute wind farm for condor deaths

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 20:30:33 +0000

MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) — Federal authorities say they won’t prosecute a Southern California wind farm if the company’s whirring turbine blades kill any endangered California condors.

The Los Angeles Times reports the Tehachapi Mountain wind farm operated by Alta Windpower Development has been granted a right-of-way by land management and wildlife officials.

That means the 2,300-acre wind farm is protected from prosecution if a condor is fatally killed for the next 30 years.

Officials believe the likelihood of a condor being killed at the wind farm is low because the area is devoid of the type of updrafts that carry the scavengers, which can have a 10-foot wingspan.

The farm also plans to install a detection system to turn off its 456-foot turbines when condors are spotted near them.

Quick and long-term fixes in works for Wash. bridge

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 20:30:09 +0000

SEATTLE (AP) — It’s going to take time to find both short- and long-term fixes for the bridge that collapsed on Interstate 5, Washington state officials said Saturday as federal inspectors scoured for clues that may impact bridge safety across the nation.

First, the National Transportation and Safety Board must finish its inspection. Then debris will be removed from the river. Next, a temporary solution will be put in place to return traffic to Washington state’s most important north-south roadway.

Inspectors are working to find out whether the disintegration on Thursday of the heavily used span over the Skagit River, 60 miles north of Seattle and 40 miles south of the Canadian border, was a fluke or a sign of bigger problems.

“These things take time. We want to make sure it’s done right, done thoroughly,” Washington Transportation Department spokesman Bart Treece said.

A trucker was hauling a load of drilling equipment Thursday evening when his load bumped against the steel framework over the bridge. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the span collapse into the water behind him.

Two vehicles fell into the chilly river. The three people in those vehicles were not seriously hurt.

Motorists should not expect to drive onI-5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington for many weeks and possibly months, Treece said.

Treece asked people to plan for an extra hour to make their way through detours around the collapsed bridge. There are three detour options northbound and two options southbound.

About 71,000 vehicles use that stretch of highway every day. Late Saturday morning, traffic was moving freely through the detours.

“We’re expecting it to get worse as the day progresses,” Treece said, noting that at 11 a.m. cloudy skies and cool weather could be keeping Memorial Day weekend travelers at home.

State transportation officials began working on both a temporary solution and a permanent fix within hours of the bridge collapse, he said.

The goal is to get I-5 open as quickly as possible, while making sure the solution is as safe as possible, he added.

Officials were looking for a temporary, pre-fabricated bridge to replace the 160-foot section that failed, Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday. That option could be in place in weeks. Otherwise, it could be months before a replacement can be built, the governor said.

Inslee said it will cost $15 million to repair the bridge. The federal government has promised $1 million in emergency dollars and more money could come later, according to Washington’s congressional delegation.

Woman killed in San Antonio flooding, was swept away after getting on car roof

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 20:15:58 +0000

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A woman has been killed in flooding in the San Antonio area.

The San Antonio Fire Department says the 29-year-old woman was trapped in her car, got on the roof and was swept away in floodwaters. Her body was later found against a fence.

Fire department spokesman Christian Bove says rescue workers are searching for a second person who’s missing after being trapped in another car.

He says about 130 people have been rescued from their homes and cars in the San Antonio area. He says water is up to 4 feet high in some homes.

The San Antonio International Airport by Saturday afternoon had recorded nearly 10 inches of rain since midnight. It’s caused nearly all streams and rivers to flood.

French soldier stabbed in throat outside Paris

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 19:42:04 +0000

PARIS (AP) — A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris on Saturday, and France’s president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.

President Francois Hollande said the identity of the attacker was unknown and cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the assault on the uniformed soldier in the La Defense shopping area. The life of the 23-year-old soldier was not in danger, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The stabbing follows the slaying Wednesday of a British soldier, who was brutally stabbed on a London street in broad daylight in a suspected terrorist attack that has raised fears of potential copycat strikes.

“There could be a link, but we will look at all the elements,” Hollande said during a news conference in Ethiopia, where he was traveling.

The British soldier, 25-year-old Lee Rigby, was attacked while walking outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolwich area of south London.

The gruesome scene was recorded on witnesses’ cellphones, and a video has emerged in which one of the two suspects — his hands bloodied — boasted of their exploits and warned of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground. Holding bloody knives and a meat cleaver, the suspects waited for the arrival of police, who shot them in the legs, according to witnesses.

In the video, one of the suspects declared, “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you … We must fight them as they fight us.”

Two Muslim hard-liners have identified that suspect as Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam and attended several London demonstrations organized by banned British radical group al-Muhajiroun.

French security forces have been on heightened alert since their country launched a military intervention in the African nation of Mali in January to regain territory seized by Islamic radicals.

10 things to know about the Indianapolis 500

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 19:00:07 +0000

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 is Sunday with a wide-open field and a pair of drivers trying to join the elite list of four-time winners. Two Americans start on the front row, along with Carlos Munoz, an unknown Indy 500 newcomer who grew up idolizing Juan Pablo Montoya — a fellow Colombian who won “The Greatest Spectacle In Racing” as a rookie.

Lurking back in the sixth row are Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato, the three drivers who raced for the win last year.

Here’s 10 things to know about Sunday’s race:

FOUR TIMERS: There are two drivers trying to win their fourth Indianapolis 500 to join an exclusive club that currently only has three members. Rick Mears was the last driver to win a fourth Indy 500, joining A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr. in the group in 1991. Now 22 years later, both Franchitti and Helio Castroneves both have a shot Sunday at grabbing win No. 4. Franchitti is the defending race winner, while Castroneves picked up his third victory in 2009.

FAMILY CURSE? Marco Andretti will start on the front row in third, the highest starting spot of his career. No matter how Andretti starts his season, he always goes into the Indy 500 as a contender because of his race craft at the speedway. It just so happens, though, that Andretti is off to the best start of his career this year and is second in the standings. He also feels far more confident about his chances this year than he did last season when he said the race was “mine to lose.” He’ll be trying to break the “Andretti Curse” that has plagued the family and made Mario Andretti’s 1969 victory their only win.

BAR SET HIGH: Last year’s race was considered one of the best in Indy 500 history as Franchitti, Sato and Dixon raced down the stretch for the win. Sato spun and wrecked as he attempted to pass Franchitti on the final lap, and the Scot sailed o his third victory. Dixon finished second and Tony Kanaan wound up third as three of Dan Wheldon’s closest friends swept the podium on a day dedicated to the late driver. It set the bar high for Sunday, but three different winners in the first four races of the season has raised expectations that this year’s race could be another thriller.

AJ’S GOAL: AJ Allmendinger is making his Indy 500 debut seven years after he left open-wheel racing for NASCAR. He had the best job of his career with Roger Penske when he was suspended last July by NASCAR for failing a random drug test. Penske has given Allmendinger a second chance in IndyCar and there are some who believe he’s got a solid chance to win on Sunday. Allmendinger starts fifth, but his Penske Racing teammates believe he’s got the best car of the group and has deftly handled traffic all month. Allmendinger figures if he wins the race, Penske will have to add more races to his schedule. So far, next week’s doubleheader at Detroit is all Allmendinger has planned this season.

GOOD WILL HUNTING: Will Power went into the Indy 500 last year riding the momentum of three straight victories. He’s not won a race since, though, and said this has been the most low-key month of his career because he’s ranked 18th in the IndyCar standings. His races this year have been plagued by problems no fault of his own. The tone was set in the season-opener at St. Pete, where J.R. Hildebrand hit Power’s car while under caution. Although Power has 16 career victories, he’s never won on an oval and has never won an IndyCar championship — leading him to lament he’s never won anything important. A win Sunday would take care of that.

USA, USA: The field of 33 cars has a red, white and blue feel this year with 11 Americans in the race. Leading the charge is Ed Carpenter, the local guy who starts on the pole for Sunday’s race. An American driver has not won this race since Sam Hornish Jr. in 2006. Four-time winner Foyt has an American in the field with newcomer Conor Daly, and believes an American winner would give the race and the series a boost. “I think what made Indy as great as it was before (was) that 90% of the drivers were American drivers,” Foyt said. “I think that’s where everybody builds a big fan base. Our hero is going to Indianapolis, and we want to follow him.”

HONDA vs CHEVY: It seems to be deja vu for engine manufacturer Chevrolet, which dominated all the practice sessions for a second consecutive year. But it was Honda who claimed the big prize last season, with signs that it had some more speed on Carburation Day. It happened again this year as Honda driver Simon Pagenaud shot to the top of the speed chart in the final practice session, and Honda drivers claimed six of the top 10 spots.

PRIDE OF JAPAN: Among the Honda drivers who has a chance to win Sunday is Sato, the current IndyCar points leader. He became the first Japanese-born driver to win an IndyCar race last month at Long Beach, and he nearly won Brazil until James Hinchcliffe snatched the victory away with a pass in the final turn. Sato is trying to overcome last year’s nightmare finish in which he went for the win on the final lap but spun as he tried to pass Franchitti.

GIRL POWER: There are a series-tying four women in Sunday’s field after Katherine Legge arrived last week, pieced together a deal to drive a third car for Sam Schmidt and qualified it in the field on her first day back in an Indy car since last September’s season finale. It remains to be seen just how competitive the women are on race day. Legge was eighth fastest on Carb Day, but it’s Simona de Silvestro who may have the best chance to run up front. Driving for KV Racing this year, she’s shown speed with a Chevrolet engine and nearly scored a podium finish at St. Pete. Ana Beatriz and Pippa Mann are the other two women in the field. The stakes were raised by Danica Patrick, who qualified fourth in her 2005 debut and became the first woman to lead laps at Indy.

HOME SWEET HOME: There’s a familiar feel to the Indy 500 this year as Jim Nabors returns to sing “Back Home Again in Indiana” a year after missing the race because of heart surgery. A video was shown of him performing the song at his home in Hawaii was aired instead. Florence Henderson, an Indiana native who played Carol Brady on TV’s “Brady Bunch,” traditionally sings “God Bless America” is skipping the race because of illness. Indiana singer-songwriter Jon McLaughlin will perform instead. Christian music singer Sandi Patty will perform the national anthem for a record sixth time, and San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, a former Colts quarterback who is part-time owner of Panther Racing, will drive the pace car.

Can Tornado Alley become safer? Yes, within limits

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 16:00:36 +0000

(AP) – In the wind-swept prairie called Tornado Alley, the scene is eerily familiar: Homes smashed to splinters. Trees and telephone poles snapped like twigs. Piles of bricks, overturned cars and dazed survivors sifting through rubble in search of a precious photo or heirloom. A town in ruins.

On Monday, it was Moore, Okla. Two years ago, it was Joplin, Mo. There’s a pattern to the aftermath of these deadly disasters: Clean-up. A steely determination. Vows to rebuild. And urgent questions about what can be done to shield tornado-prone communities from the worst ravages of the next monster storm that comes calling.

The ferocious tornado in Moore that killed 24 people and carved a nearly 17-mile path of destruction is bound to revive talk of beefed-up building codes, spur new construction of shelters and send architects and engineers back to the drawing board for ways to make Tornado Alley safer. Some experts are urging more of the tools used to protect hurricane zones; others say there are limits, financial and practical, to what a community can do to protect itself from the kind of horrific super-twisters that leveled Moore and Joplin.

“You can design for 250 mph winds but you can’t design for it economically,” says Steve Cope, Joplin’s building and neighborhood improvement supervisor. “It’s got to be something that can withstand the impact of a car going 250 miles an hour into a wall and roof because that’s what happened here. … To build a truly tornado-proof home, people wouldn’t be able to afford to live in it.”

After 161 people died in Joplin in an EF-5 tornado in May 2011, the city strengthened its building codes. It now requires, for example, more mechanical fasteners at the roof and foundation to better keep intact the shell of the house, Cope says. “We did what we felt was economical and easily achievable and we know would make an impact,” he adds.

But Joplin stopped short of mandating safe rooms, largely for financial reasons. “We’re talking about an additional $3,000 to $4,000,” Cope says. “Many people thought that additional cost should be up to them to decide. We have folks who don’t want government to tell them they had to do it.”

Residents of Tornado Alley have proven time and again their resilience when their communities are flattened and all seems lost. There’s a sense that if dust storms, droughts and Depression have been unable to break their spirit, neither will twisters. That’s especially true in Moore, which has been battered by three big tornados in the last 14 years.

When twister season arrives in Oklahoma, there’s a sense that “this is the time of year when things happen, but it’s not a cowering attitude, it’s not, ‘I’m so afraid,’” says Caleb Lack, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Central Oklahoma who has studied PTSD in tornado survivors. One conclusion of his research: PTSD is more likely to occur among those who’ve experienced man-made disasters, such as a bombing or a school shooting, than among survivors of natural disasters.

Folks in Oklahoma understand no place is safe, he says. “You adopt an attitude that matches the environment,” Lack explains. “Here we have massive storms but the positive vastly outweighs the negative. People say, ‘I could live in places where there are no tornadoes’ but then there are hurricanes, there are earthquakes and there are blizzards. You have to choose your poison.”

Joplin hasn’t seen any great exodus since its disaster. There also haven’t been dramatic differences in construction and the same kinds of houses are being built with relatively minor modifications, such as extra concrete in the foundations and roof fasteners, says Crystal Harrington, head of the Home Builders Association of Southwest Missouri.

“That will make a difference for a normal disaster,” she says. “Ours was an extraordinary disaster.”

Harrington says there might have more calls for different construction methods if the twister had been less severe and some particular kinds of building remained standing. But “when you saw all this destruction, all anybody could think was nobody could survive this,” she says. “A concrete house would but people don’t want that.”

Instead, more people are opting for in-house safe rooms or shelters.

That’s the route Lloyd Parker and his wife, Janie, took after they lost almost everything in the Joplin twister. Parker says his wife, who suffered a punctured lung and three broken ribs in the storm, insisted on the safe room. It has 8-inch-thick concrete walls with reinforced steel rods and a steel door that can withstand almost 300 mph winds.

“Short of an atom bomb,” he says, “nothing will get into it. The whole house could fall down and we’re going to be fine.”

They equipped the room with cable TV and recliners. Parker and his wife hunkered down there during a spare of recent storms and stayed informed by watching The Weather Channel.

“It cost $4,000 to $5,000 but it was worth it,” Parker says. “I would recommend everybody do it.”

But they’re still in the minority. Only about 20 percent of homes built after the tornado have above-ground, in-house safe rooms, says Cope, the Joplin official. Some folks, he says, are choosing backyard shelters, instead.

Money remains a big obstacle for building storm shelters and basements, according to Curtis McCarty, an Oklahoma custom builder. Homes in the state are generally built on slabs.

McCarty expects there will be increased demand for shelters now as the Moore tornado dominates headlines, but as the news fades, that might change. “When people cut from their costs, usually that’s the first thing to go,” he says.

In Moore, Mayor Glenn Lewis wants to propose a city ordinance to require all new homes have storm shelters but because of the expense, he says it’s more realistic any requirement will be limited to new assisted-living facilities and apartment complexes.

But shelters are just one option. Engineering experts say residents of Tornado Alley can fortify their homes for a relatively modest price by using construction designs common in hurricane zones.

“The tornadoes that get a lot of press — Moore or Joplin — the sheer destruction is so severe there’s a feeling there’s nothing you can do about it,” says Fred Haan, an engineering professor at the Rose-Human Institute of Technology in Indiana. But, he says, about 90 percent of storms are in the EF-2 category or lower — they carry a maximum 135 mph wind gusts. For those, “raising the level of construction, a lot of the destruction can be significantly reduced,” he says.

Some of the more common items used are ‘hurricane clips,’ steel fasteners that connect the roof to walls and walls to the foundation. They cost a few dollars each and a couple hundred of them greatly increase the resilience of the house and can double the strength of the roof, he says.

Other possible tools include ring shank nails that also can reinforce the roof, windows that are resistant to debris and reinforced house and garage doors.

For schools and hospitals, more dramatic measures have been taken. In Joplin, St. John’s Regional Medical Center, which was ravaged by the storm, is being rebuilt with siding made of precast, reinforced concrete atop another layer of reinforced masonry. The windows will be made of safety laminated glass capable of withstanding winds of up to 250 mph in the most vulnerable areas, such as intensive care units, according to officials.

Joplin may be able to provide some lessons as Moore recovers. While city officials in the Oklahoma town face many decisions Jennifer Walker already has made up her mind.

When she moved into her single-story brick house in Moore eight years ago, she considered installing a safe room or bunker to shield her family. She decided against it.

This week as she stood in the rubble and watched two National Guardsmen dig through the wreckage of her home to retrieve her two-week-old washer and dryer, she made a vow: She’ll build an underground bunker, even if she has to shell out $10,000.

“Oh yeah, I would forego the granite, whirlpool tub,” she says. “I would forego all that just to have the shelter, for sure. Now.”

Wis. farmers, firefighters partner on hazards maps

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 15:00:17 +0000

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Without even thinking, Joe Ortner rattles off a list of items on his family’s dairy farm that could kill you: 1,000 gallons of diesel, 500 gallons of gas, cleaning chemicals in the milking parlor, oil and lubricant for repair work and a 6-foot-deep manure pond in which you could drown.

He pauses and adds three bulls to the list.

Agriculture remains one of the nation’s most dangerous professions; accidents on farms kill hundreds and injure thousands each year. While the deadly blast at a Texas fertilizer plant last month was a sharp reminder of the risks posed by agricultural chemicals, tractors, stored grain, animals and power lines are threats, too.

To help rescuers reach people quickly and safely, a handful of Wisconsin farmers — Ortner included — have been working with researchers and firefighters on an online program that maps farm hazards. The recently completed pilot project built upon earlier work done with paper maps, and researchers at the National Farm Medicine Center hope the project can expand, with the online program eventually being used nationwide.

The concept is simple: Farmers enter information into a password-protected database. A Quick Response, or QR, code is posted on the farm’s mailbox or in another prominent location. Arriving firefighters scan the code with their smartphones or tablets and receive information about stored chemicals and other hazards, where to disconnect power and potential sources of water.

Firefighters responding to emergencies face the same risks as farmers themselves, said Jerry Minor, chief of the Pittsville Fire Department in central Wisconsin. His department has worked for decades with the nearby National Farm Medicine Center to train rural firefighters.

“We don’t have a lot of incidents on farms,” Minor said. “But when we do, they pose a real high threat to rescue personnel because of unfamiliarity with farms and all the hazards that are present.”

State law requires many industries and public places to let firefighters in for inspections, but most farms are not part of that list. The program that Minor’s department is developing with the National Farm Medicine Center helps bridge that gap.

Farm mapping projects aren’t new. An Illinois program creates paper maps of farms and places them in tubes secured to power poles. Similar projects exist in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

“The downside to that is, it’s readable to anyone who comes along,” said Dr. Matt Keifer, director of the National Farm Medicine Center. “But we can secure the QR code.”

Another advantage to having the information in a database is that firefighters can access it before they reach the farm. They might scan a farm’s QR code from a manual kept in their truck, or eventually, tie the information into the dispatch system, so they receive it as soon as a call comes in, Keifer said.

Ortner, 50, is one of about a half-dozen farmers who have used the program so far. He said it would have been helpful for firefighters to have that kind of quick access to information in 1989, when the house on his 700-acre farm outside Pittsville caught fire. The line carrying power to the house burned and fell away from the building, but remained live. Firefighters had to figure out how to shut off the power before tackling the blaze.

The house was a complete loss, Ortner said, but he also knows he was lucky the fire didn’t spread to fuel barrels sitting 60 to 70 feet away.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which collects data for farms with 11 or more workers, says between 430 and 560 workers in crop and livestock production and support services for those industries were killed on the job each year from 2003 to 2011. But the bureau says those numbers are likely on the low end, since many farms are family-run or have only a few employees.

Bruce Wayerski, another Pittsville dairy farmer who helped test the mapping program, knows that seconds can count in saving a life. His 16-year-old nephew was overcome by gas in a grain silo on Wayerski’s brother-in-law’s farm and died before rescuers could get to him.

Wayerski, 59, listed numerous hazards on his map for firefighters, but noted that one of the things that can make their job tougher is the size of his farm. The buildings are spread out over 10 of the 800 acres where he milks 195 cows and grows crops.

“I live in a small community here, a lot of people know where my farm is,” he said. “But they don’t know where the shop is, or where the storage is for chemicals or gasoline, diesel fuel.”

Tractor rollovers have long been the leading cause of deaths on farms and many more farmworkers are caught in equipment than killed by fires or explosions, so the National Farm Medicine Center has asked some farmers to start entering their tractors and other implements into the database as well.

Minor said the tools used to extricate people from car accidents don’t work on heavier farm machinery; the fastest way to free someone can be to take the equipment apart. Keifer said he’d like to eventually see firefighters scan QR codes on tractors and other equipment and immediately receive directions for disassembly. The information could be added to the database later, but right now, anything beyond the pilot project is on hold while the federal budget is worked out.

President Barack Obama eliminated money for the center and eight similar programs overseen by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in his budget plan. It’s unclear what Congress will do, but the centers have been previously threatened with budget cuts and saw the money restored.

Wayerski said he believes the mapping program is important because it saves firefighters time.

“Especially if there’s somebody’s life involved, if you could add a few seconds here or there, that would be real helpful,” he said. “I think it’s a good program.”

National Farm Medicine Center: http://www3.marshfieldclinic.org/NFMC/

Hurricane center: Beware of the storm surge

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 14:00:40 +0000

MIAMI (AP) — During a hurricane, storm surge is one of the greatest threats to life and land, yet many people don’t understand the dire warnings from forecasters to get out of its way. So this season, they hope to offer easy-to-understand, color-coded maps and change the way they talk to the public.

Simply put, storm surge is the abnormal rise of sea water. Predicting it is far more complicated, and so is explaining it, as forecasters at the National Hurricane Center discovered, again, during a review of Superstorm Sandy.

“Scientists by their very nature use very sophisticated language, technical language,” said Jamie Rhome, leader of the hurricane center’s storm surge team. “It turns out that nobody else understands what we’re talking about. So once we figured that out, we started using more plain language.”

Forecasts during Sandy were exceptionally accurate, but often confusing. Perhaps because so many things contribute to storm surge: intensity, pressure, forward speed, size, where it makes landfall and other factors.

Most people believe storm surge is a wall of water, similar to a tsunami, but it’s actually just sea water being pushed toward the shore by winds. It can happen quickly and move miles inland, flooding areas not accustomed to being inundated with sea water.

Large death tolls have been blamed storm surge. At least 1,500 people died during Hurricane Katrina either directly or indirectly because of storm surge, the hurricane center said.

To better explain the danger, forecasters talked to focus groups consisting of local and state officials, law enforcement and hospital associations and other people from Maine to New Orleans. One thing they found out is that when they talk about storm surge, they should say “height” instead of “depth” when explaining how water levels might change.

“We were using ‘depth,’ thinking this was very clear. It turns out that nobody else does,” Rhome said. “They’re waiting for height, how high it is, and I would never have guessed in a million years that one word — one word — makes a difference in how people interpret something.”

Forecasters also will try to stress that the storm surge isn’t just from the ocean and can come from other bodies of water such as sounds, bays and lakes, sometimes well inland.

The hurricane center also plans to show people where to expect storm surge with high-resolution, color-coded maps, much like a radar map on the local news showing rain and severe weather. If forecasters can’t post the maps on the hurricane center’s website this storm season, which begins June 1, the plan is to have the maps ready in 2014.

The storm season is expected to be a busy one, with federal forecasters predicting 13 to 20 named Atlantic storms, seven to 11 of which will strengthen to hurricanes. Three to six of those are forecast to become major hurricanes.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration evaluation of the weather service’s performance during Sandy also recommended increasing the number of storm surge forecasters at the hurricane center, and providing potential storm surge hazards at least 48 hours before the onset of tropical storm or gale-force winds.

Miami-Dade Emergency Management Director Curt Sommerhoff said his priority is getting the public to understand that the county’s evacuation zones are based on storm surge, not hurricane winds.

New data from the hurricane center’s storm surge models prompted the county to redraw its storm surge planning zones to include inland areas along canals and rivers that previously weren’t identified as being at risk for storm surge.

“That’s the new message, the surge danger well inland, well in from the coast,” Sommerhoff said.

Separate storm surge warnings, similar to current tropical storm or hurricane warnings, will be rolled out in 2015.

The hurricane center dropped estimates for storm surge and inland flooding from its wind scale three years ago because the predictions often didn’t match what actually happened. For example, Hurricane Ike was a Category 2 with winds of at least 96 mph when it hit the Texas coast in 2008, but its storm surges was much greater than a typical Category 2 storm.

“Storm surges can behave so differently from storm to storm that you can’t just apply a single number or use a scale like you can with the wind. That’s been tough, trying to get people to understand that every storm is different,” Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist who has taken the lead on social science at the hurricane center.

Berg said Hurricane Irene didn’t produce the storm surge in 2011 that some expected, and the following year, many people were surprised by Sandy’s extreme tides and flooding.

Still, the advisories for Sandy were dramatically improved from the ones for Ike, explaining storm surge in layman’s terms and easy-to-read bullet points instead of long pages of jargon that required meteorologists and emergency officials to make their own calculations.

The progress may seem subtle, but Berg believes it’s helping emergency managers make better decisions about whether to order evacuations.

“For as bad as Sandy was, it almost makes you wonder what would have happened had we not made some of these changes since Ike,” Berg said. “I would hope that because of these new changes, they’re more educated and they’re more prepared to make those evacuation decisions when needed.”

National Hurricane Center: www.nhc.noaa.gov

Facts and figures of the 97th Indianapolis 500

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 13:00:25 +0000

(AP) – Facts and figures of the 97th Indianapolis 500-mile race Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

EVENT — The 97th Indianapolis 500.

DISTANCE — 500 miles; 200 laps around the asphalt-on-brick Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, a 2.5-mile rectangular oval.

SANCTIONING BODY — IndyCar.

RACE CARS — Open-cockpit, open-wheel and single-seat, with 2.2-liter, 550-700 horsepower turbocharged V-6 engines.

ENGINE MANUFACTURERS — Chevrolet, Honda.

CHASSIS — All cars use Dallaras.

PACE CAR — 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray driven by Jim Harbaugh, the San Francisco 49ers coach and former Colts quarterback.

START — Noon EDT from a flying start, following warm-up, parade and pace laps.

FINISH — Standings are unofficial until posted by the IndyCar Series.

NUMBER OF STARTERS — 33 cars; three abreast in each of 11 rows.

POLE POSITION — Ed Carpenter, the Indianapolis native and stepson of IndyCar founder Tony George won Indy’s pole with a four-lap qualifying average of 228.762 mph. He will be the first member of the track-owning family to start from the inside of the front row.

SLOWEST QUALIFIER — Katherine Legge, who averaged 223.176. Will start 33rd, the outside of the 11th row.

FASTEST ROOKIE — Carlos Munoz, 228.342 mph. Will start second, the middle of the front row — the first rookie on the front row since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.

2012 WINNER — Dario Franchitti, who averaged 167.734 mph for his third win at Indianapolis.

FORMER WINNERS IN RACE (4) — Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009), Dario Franchitti (2007, 2010 and 2012), Scott Dixon (2008), Buddy Lazier (1996).

ROOKIES IN RACE (4) — Carlos Munoz, AJ Allmendinger, Tristan Vautier and Conor Daly.

YOUNGEST IN RACE — Carlos Munoz (Born Feb. 2, 1992)

OLDEST IN RACE — Buddy Lazier, 45 (Oct. 31, 1967)

MOST PREVIOUS RACES — Buddy Lazier (16).

FOREIGN BORN (22) — Ana Beatriz, Brazil; Sebastien Bourdais, France; Ryan Briscoe, Australia; Helio Castroneves, Brazil; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; James Hinchcliffe, Canada; James Jakes, England; Tony Kanaan, Brazil; Katherine Legge, England; Pippa Mann, England; Carlos Munoz, Colombia; Simon Pagenaud, France; Will Power, Australia; Sebastian Saavedra, Colombia; Takuma Sato, Japan; Oriol Servia, Spain; Simona De Silvestro, Switzerland; Alex Tagliani, Canada; Tristan Vautier, France; E.J. Viso, Venezuela; Justin Wilson, England.

FIELD AVERAGE IN QUALIFICATIONS — 226.176 mph (Record 228.648 mph, 2002)

QUALIFICATION RECORD — 236.986 mph, Arie Luyendyk, 1996.

RACE RECORD — 185.981 mph, Arie Luyendyk, 1990.

CLOSEST FINISHES — 0.043 seconds, Al Unser Jr. over Scott Goodyear, 1992; 0.0635 seconds, Sam Hornish Jr. over Marco Andretti, 2006.

PURSE — Depends on attendance and accessory awards; 2012 payoff was $13.28 million, of which winner Dario Franchitti received $2.47 million for Bryan Herta Autosport.

CROWD — Estimated at up to 400,000. Speedway never discloses attendance but admits to more than 250,000 reserved seats in permanent stands and room for 100,000 or more in the infield.

TELEVISION — Televised live and in high definition by ESPN on ABC starting at 11 a.m. EDT, one hour before the race, with host Lindsay Czarniak, the first woman to serve as host, lead announcer Marty Reid, analysts Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear, and pit reporters Rick DeBruhl, Jamie Little, Jerry Punch and Vince Welch.

RADIO — More than 350 affiliate IMS Radio Network stations throughout the United States and Canada, plus Sirius XM 211, the Verizon IndyCar13 app, LeSea Broadcasting on shortwave radio worldwide, American Forces Radio Network, shortwave radio worldwide and the Internet, with Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network anchor Mike King, driver analyst Davey Hamilton, IMS historian Donald Davidson, Jerry Baker and Paul Page in the booth; Jake Query, Mark Jaynes and Chris Denari in the turns; Nick Yeoman, Michael Young and Dave Furst in the pits and Dave Wilson in the garage and medical center.

MORTALITY — There have been 68 deaths at the Speedway, including pre-500 races of 1909-10. Last death was Aug. 30, 2010, when motorcycle rider Peter Lenz of Vancouver, Wash., was killed in a preliminary race to the Indianapolis MotoGP.

THE TROPHY — Sterling silver Borg-Warner Trophy, 5-feet, 4 3/4-inches, 110-pounds, with bas-relief bust of each winner. Valued at more than $1 million, on permanent display at Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Each winner receives an 18-inch sterling silver replica.

Molester found slain in Corcoran prison cell

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:15:39 +0000

CORCORAN, Calif. (AP) — Investigators at California State Prison-Corcoran are investigating as a homicide the death of an inmate who was a convicted child molester.

On Thursday corrections officials found the 63-year-old unresponsive in his cell. They have not released his name.

He was serving a six-year sentence out of Los Angeles County for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, among other crimes.

The inmate’s cellmate, 48-year-old Allen Duane Queen, is the suspect. Queen is serving 259 years for convictions in San Joaquin County including attempted murder of a government officer, possession of a weapon by a prisoner, assault with a deadly weapon of a custody officer and making terrorist threats.

Prison investigators are being assisted by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

Corcoran houses 4,395 inmates.

Bill would require correct ID in debt-collections

Cyndee Maxwell — Sat, 25 May 2013 05:15:29 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Debt collectors would have to make sure they are going after the right person under a bill approved by the state Senate on Friday.

Democratic Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco said some unscrupulous debt-buyers don’t care who they target.

They might lure innocent parties into court to obtain default judgments that let them seize property or garnish wages — including from consumers who never owed the debt to begin with.

“They are not required to have any documentation that the person they’re trying to collect from is actually the right person,” Leno said. “The business model is that they just want to get you into court because it’s likely you’re not going to show up if you know it’s not your debt … They can take control of your life and make things miserable, and these are oftentimes innocent, if not in fact the wrong people altogether.”

Even a Southern California state lawmaker found himself a victim of mistaken identity when a collection agency arranged to have his Senate salary garnished to pay off a debt that wasn’t his.

Sen. Lou Correa, D-Anaheim, said he was able to correct the problem, but said other consumers are falling victim to improperly obtained court orders.

The bill requires debt-buyers to have proper documentation and provide it to the targeted consumers upon request, among other protections.

“Simply what it says is, you need to prove that the debt that is owed is actually legitimate debt,” said Correa.

“If it can happen to Lou Correa, it can happen to you,” warned Leno.

Senators passed SB233 unanimously, sending it to the Assembly.

Attorney General Kamala Harris sought the measure, which applies to a debt buyer who purchases what is known as charged-off consumer debt for collection purposes. Charged-off debt is consumer debt that the creditor writes off as a loss or expense, then sells to a third party.

The debt buyer would be prohibited from sending a written collection notice to the consumer without having the full history of the debt, the contract that created the debt, and identifying information on the debtor, including the name, address and account number. The debt buyer would have to provide all that information to the consumer within 15 days, upon request, or stop trying to collect the debt.

Consumers Union and the Center for Responsible Lending, which are backing the bill, said some agencies try to collect old debt, debt that has already been paid, or go to court seeking default judgments with robo-signed affidavits instead of actual documentation.

Harris’ office says a high percentage of those debt collection lawsuits result in default judgments because the consumers don’t show up to defend themselves.

The measure has no listed opposition.

Leno said banks and legitimate debt collection companies aren’t fighting the bill because they recognize that slip-shod operations are harming their industry.