http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/sears_tower_silver_feb09

Sears Tower Could Be
Painted Silver

CHICAGO – The New York-based owners of Sears Tower want to know if adding silver will bring in some green. Sources said the owners are considering an expensive paint job, recladding the tower in silver. Since its opening in 1973, Chicago’s iconic tower and the nation’s tallest building has been adorned in classic black.

A brighter look could draw fresh attention to the tower, which has struggled to hold tenants against newer generations of office buildings. Silver could figure into a broader effort to “rebrand” the building and highlight its advances in energy efficiency.

The owners, who include New York investors Joseph Chetrit and Joseph Moinian, could seek what’s known as a silver LEED rating, bestowed by a group that promotes environmental advances in buildings. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating is third best after gold and platinum, but nonetheless an achievement for a building that’s 36 years old.

To improve the tower’s energy efficiency, the owners have been working with Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, specialists in both supertall buildings and environmental design. Smith, formerly of the firm Skidmore Owings and Merrill LLP that designed the tower, declined to talk about the project.

A spokesman for the owners said the Sears has a strong record of becoming more ecologically sustainable. “We are actively looking for even more ways to save energy and improve the building,” he said. “We are still examining our options and any details at this point would be speculative.”

Switching to a lighter tint to complement the silver could cost $50 million, “and right now there’s not enough money in the universe for that,” said a source familiar with the tower.

Long-term elements of the Sears work include plans to add a building, perhaps a hotel, next to it at Jackson and Wacker. The tower’s owners have been working with well-connected local partners, including U.S. Equities Realty Chairman Robert Wislow and the zoning law firm of Daley & George, to prepare its plans. Wislow couldn’t be reached Tuesday, and Daley & George partner Jack George declined to comment.

Silver? Really? Between corrupt politicians and the C(r)ook County economy firmly in the crapper, painting the Sears Tower silver and putting in a hotel may not be the smartest idea.

On the bright side, though, it would create jobs for construction and anyone brave/crazy enough to hop on a scaffold and paint that tower.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MO_PARENTS_CHARGED_MOOL-?SITE=MOCOD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Mo. parents charged in son’s starvation death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Murder charges have been filed against the parents of a 4-month-old boy who weighed barely over 5 pounds when he starved to death last year.

Prosecutors on Saturday charged 27-year-old Nicholas Candler and 30-year-old Rebecca Candler with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Their son, Jeremiah Candler, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Nov. 18. At 5.34 pounds, he weighed less at death than he did when he was born at 5 pounds, 12 ounces.

Police say that when they asked Candler at the hospital how the baby died, Candler told them that, “He probably starved to death.”

The Kansas City Star reported on its Web site that court records released Saturday indicate the couple never took the baby for a single checkup after he was born.

Rebecca Candler told police that the boy had never been sick and that she hadn’t been concerned about his health, even though he had not been eating well.

Jeremiah’s death was considered the first homicide of the year in Kansas City because police received the medical examiner’s report on Jan. 5. It concluded that the boy died of chronic malnutrition and dehydration because of neglect.

According to court records, Nicholas Candler worked two jobs while his wife stayed home with the baby and a toddler. Candler received a voicemail from his wife at 11:50 a.m. on Nov. 18 saying the baby was not eating and she didn’t know why.

He called his wife around 1 p.m. that day and she said the baby was still not eating and wasn’t responding to her at all.

Nicholas Candler later told police that he came home and found the baby’s tongue was white and he wasn’t breathing.

After the baby’s death, the couple’s 2-year-old was removed from the home. Police say that child appeared to be in good health.

—

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2009/Jan/20090125News006.asp

Remembering innocents

Inside Jefferson Junior High School, beyond the shouts and shuffling of teenagers, up three flights of stairs, Craig and Susie Adams sit quietly in Room 313.

A ceiling fan hums, and pipes inside the wall clink. She sits behind her computer tucked in the southwest corner of her classroom, and her husband sits at a student’s desk facing the classroom door.

The couple is waiting to share the story of three young relatives they loved in Scranton, Kan., who were killed Jan. 14 by their father.

News reports of the tragedy say that when Susie Adams’ sister, Amy Shirley, left for work that morning, Michael Shirley killed their three offspring – Ethan, Ashten and Jackson – before setting fire to the living room and shooting himself.

When the Adamses at Jeff Junior heard the news in Columbia, they stopped what they were doing, reminded themselves to breathe and set off to join Amy Shirley and other relatives in Kansas.

“The school took care of everything,” said Craig Adams, who teaches engineering to ninth-graders.

The Columbia couple have tried to move past the anger family members have expressed and the tears that were shed. Now they’re focusing on remembering the lives of three children. They said they want to share their memories so everyone remembers them for their personalities instead of how their lives ended.

“What’s important to us is who they were and what they did,” Craig Adams said. They were “normal, good kids.”

Fourteen-year-old Ethan was a mature, fun, young man, they said.

At age 5, Ethan complimented another uncle for his landscaping work and the nice job he had done with his yard. “I was just always in awe of him because he dealt with things so maturely,” Craig Adams said.

He told his middle school students that Ethan “is the kind of kid you’d want as a partner.”

In a letter read aloud at the children’s funeral, the Shirleys’ Scranton neighbor, Tony Roberts, described Ethan as a person who “spoke with the maturity and wisdom of someone well beyond his years. He was a hard worker and would do chores for me and not expect a dime in return.”

Ethan also helped build a shed near the track at his school, Carbondale Attendance Center. Plans are in the works to name it Ethan’s Shed.

Ashten, 11, was beautiful from the day she was born, Susie Adams said.

She loved reading. The fifth-grader had just finished “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, which gave her the most reading points of anyone in her middle school. Ashten accumulated as many points as most kids get by the time they’re in the eighth grade, Susie Adams said.

“She was always so sweet,” the aunt said. “She was always worried about other people.”

Roberts’ letter described Ashten as “Scranton’s little sweetheart. She gave me my first bouquet of flowers. She had picked weeds, pulled flowers up by their roots; there were clumps of grass, and some were just stems. It was the most beautiful bouquet.”

Scranton, a town of 725, has no library, but there’s talk of building one and naming it after Ashten, the town’s favorite reader.

Jackson, or Action Jackson, was ornery, Craig Adams said. “He’d always do something to mess up the picture,” he said.

Jackson always had a running joke that he would tell everyone, and he was always trying to create his next joke or gimmick. “You could tell that he was always thinking,” Craig Adams said. “He was so smart.”

“Action Jackson had quite the personality,” Roberts wrote. “He kept me entertained with his superhero costumes. You never knew which superhero you were going to encounter when you went outside.”

The Adams family is grateful for the many people who have helped them. They returned from Scranton to a clean house, and someone prepared food for them all last week. A group from Jeff Junior made the 200-mile drive to Scranton for the children’s funeral, though many of them had never met the kids.

“We appreciate all the support our community has given us,” Susie Adams said.

On Tuesday, on the Adamses’ first day back at school since Jan. 14, the couple walked into the building with their heads down.

The first to greet them was a student.

“I am very sorry for your loss,” he said.

“That one person made a tremendous difference,” Craig Adams said.

The Adamses have stopped wondering why they’ve lost their nephews and niece, and they’re ready to embrace the lives that were and appreciate the time they had with them. “I think it’s important that their lives are not determined by the end,” Susie Adams said.

“You couldn’t have asked for better neighbors,” Roberts wrote. “I will miss their antics, hearing their laughter, seeing their smiles, watching them sled down my mountain. I am sure they will be missed by many. My heart goes out to Amy and her family.”

---

Reach Jonathon Braden at (573) 815-1711 or jbraden@columbiatribune.com.

So many people killed by those who are supposed to love and protect them. Seriously, what is wrong with people?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/3866797/Real-life-Mowgli-kept-alive-by-cats.html

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Dec/20081214News010.asp

City eyes land for museum
Eminent domain could play role in new Historical Society home.

When Julie Rader thinks of eminent domain, the example that comes to mind is the state or federal government taking a farmer’s land for a highway.

Unfortunately for Rader, the city of Columbia is considering acquiring downtown property that includes her family’s business, Bengals Bar & Grill, managed by two of her children and owned by Rader and her husband, Jack Rader.

The proposed government use of the land would be done to clear space for a new building to house the State Historical Society of Missouri.

“This is so crazy, I can hardly believe it,” she said. “This is two of my children’s livelihood.”

An ordinance declaring “the need to acquire land for the construction and operation of a historical museum” and “authorizing acquisition by negotiation or, if necessary, by condemnation” is on the Columbia City Council agenda for a Monday night meeting, and a public hearing is proposed for Jan. 5.

The proposed ordinance states the property needed includes the bar and grill, U.S. Cleaners – also owned by the Raders – and a private residence. According to a staff memo, the historical society has asked for city assistance if the society is unable to negotiate the purchase.

Rader said Friday she had not been in contact with the city but about a month ago received a phone call from a representative of the historical society. The caller asked whether the family is interested in selling, but that person did not suggest any dollar amounts.

Rader and her husband recently gutted the entire facility housing Bengals. They remodeled it, expanded the patio and did exterior work. They have no intention of selling the property at 227 S. Sixth St., which is near the heart of the University of Missouri campus.

There have been rumors that the historical society and city were considering using the government’s power to take over private land for public good, Rader said, but she didn’t think it was likely. “I thought this whole thing would go away,” she said. “There are so many other things that need to be done, and I don’t see how the city would come up with the money.”

Rader said she was perplexed by several aspects of the situation, including how their land was chosen for the project instead of other nearby vacant properties. She also wondered why the option of moving the society to Jefferson City, where the Missouri State Archives are located, isn’t moving forward.

Historical Society Director Gary Kremer said the society wants to keep the facility in Columbia, and he said city officials also have expressed that desire. The society’s existing quarters in the Ellis Library at MU are too small and hard to access, he said.

“We want to be close enough to the campus to be able to teach classes – for example, Missouri history and culture – in the facility where historical documents are located,” Kremer said. “We want to be close enough to campus to allow professors and students to move back and forth from the core campus.”

Another attractive aspect of the site is that MU representatives have orally indicated they would be agreeable to leasing a parking lot on the north half of the block to the society for a low cost, Kremer said.

Columbia’s “City-Campus Opportunity Study,” also known as the Sasaki plan, identifies a “reimagined” Elm Street extending to College Avenue that would be lined with green space, museums and other projects.

Kremer said other sites were considered, declining to elaborate. He called the site off Elm Street the society’s “No. 1 location.”

But Rader said the Sasaki plan “doesn’t say, ‘Let’s take private property to make a museum,’ ” adding that her property is in a prime location.

“We can’t replace the property,” she said. “The location is valuable, and it’s impossible to provide an alternate location. It can’t be done.”

Rader said she is having the property reappraised to get a better picture of its value.

“Beyond that, we’ll still take steps to fight it by getting public support and get people talking to the council against it,” she said. “The main line of defense is to try to get public support on your side.”

While I am a history buff and firmly believe in perserving history, I can’t see any justification for destroying a local small business, especially in our current economic climate. There are other places where the Missouri State Historical Society can be located–it’s not as if there is no land available anywhere.

I resolve to post more…after I get a new keyboard.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081218/en_nm/us_roddenberry_2

Sci-fi icon Majel Barrett Roddenberry dies at 76

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and a member of the show’s cast, has died. She was 76.

Barrett Roddenberry died of leukemia on Thursday at her home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air, her family said in a statement.

Her relationship with Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991 after the two had been married for 22 years, earned Barrett Roddenberry the nickname “The First Lady of Star Trek.”

She had roles in nearly every “Star Trek” television show and movie, playing Nurse Chapel in the original series and lending her voice to the starship’s computer in nearly every incarnation of the saga.

She recently finished her role as the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in director J.J. Abrams’ movie “Star Trek,” which is due out in May, 2009, her family said.

Barrett Roddenberry is survived by her only son, Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr. A public memorial is expected to be scheduled for sometime after Christmas.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited

Wow. I can’t even begin to describe what Majel Barrett Roddenberry meant to me, both as a woman and as an aspiring actress. Like Lucille Ball, Majel shattered barriers–Lucille in the business end of television comedy, and Majel in the arena of powerful female characters. Without Ball or Barrett-Roddenberry, I doubt Star Trek ever would have survived long enough to have been more than a long-forgotten single-season series.

To better express my feelings about Majel’s life and legacy, I would like to post a poem by Maya Angelou:

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Men themselves have wondered What they see in me. They try so much But they can’t touch My inner mystery. When I try to show them They say they still can’t see. I say, It’s in the arch of my back, The sun of my smile, The ride of my breasts, The grace of my style. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need of my care, ‘Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. Copyright © Maya Angelou

Goodbye, Majel. The starship computers won’t be the same without your voice.

As stated before, I am trying to post more often, but sometimes life really does get in the way.

This blog didn’t start out with a purpose, but it’s slowly heading towards one…

One of my passions is journalism. I have always loved the news, and I probably always will. What I’m going to do here, what this blog will probably continue evolving into, is commentary on various news stories that catch my interest.

Anyway, I own a business, have a very young child, and work full-time as a technical support monkey, so my time is very limited. I would love to transition into a job writing, editing, or proofreading full-time, provided that the work is stimulating and profitable. After all, I do have a family to feed.

Re: My blog about the VS bras rash case, which can be found here:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=9101154&postID=2291265645509140476

I’m getting a lot of Anonymous comments from people who claim to have been VS bra wearers who washed the bra in question and still broke out in a rash. They are INCENSED that I would even IMPLY that the rash would be their fault…

Apparently, all of these Anonymous “ladies” failed their literacy check, because I clearly stated “If she did wash her bras before wearing them, she may have a case.” I guess the minute someone reads “moron,” his or her brain shuts off until he or she can post a comment calling me “outspokenly arrogant.”

For all of you who stopped reading after you saw the word “moron” and are morally outraged, let me translate my stance:

Since the woman did WASH her bras BEFORE wearing them, her case is JUSTIFIED, I agree with her lawsuit 100%, and I hope she WINS her CASE. In fact, I hope that there is a class-action lawsuit in place that will compensate everyone who had to visit a doctor and pay for the visits and any treatments out of their own pockets after washing their bras per the washing instructions. Maybe if we’re lucky, it’ll drive VS out of business.

And no, you are not a moron if you washed your bra according to the washing instructions before wearing it and got the rash.

If I get any more Anonymous comments on the previous blog, they will be deleted. If you are going to have the nerve to bitch at me without fully reading my blog, you damned well better give me a way to contact you so that you can get my reply and see clearly where you were mistaken.

ETA: I have disabled Anonymous commenting. If you want to exercise your free speech to criticize my free speech, I will exercise my free speech to clarify or defend my position directly to you.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081027/sc_mcclatchy/3082054_1

Evidence found of solar system around nearby star

By Robert S. Boyd, McClatchy Newspapers Robert S. Boyd, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Mon Oct 27, 11:01 am ET

WASHINGTON — For the first time, astronomers think that they’ve found evidence of an alien solar system around a star close enough to Earth to be visible to the naked eye.

They say that at least one and probably three or more planets are orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 light-years — about 63 trillion miles — from Earth. Only eight stars are closer.

The host star, slightly smaller and cooler than our sun, is in the constellation Eridanus — the name of a mythological river — near Orion in the northern sky.

Epsilon Eridani is much younger than the sun, about 850 million years old compared with 4.5 billion years for our system.

“This really is a system like our solar system was when it was five times younger than it is now,” said one of the discoverers, Massimo Marengo , an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. “It’s like a time machine for our solar system.”

“This system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth,” said Dana Backman , of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. , the lead author of a report to be published Jan. 10 in The Astrophysical Journal .

SETI chose Epsilon Eridani as one of the first targets in its long — but so far vain — search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence in 1960.

The suspected planets are too far away to be detected directly, so their presence has to be inferred by indirect measurements. Their star is so near, however, that some astronomers think that they may be able to see its planets with better telescopes within the next decade.

One of the planets, a gas giant 1 { times heavier than Jupiter, was discovered in 2000 by Barbara McArthur , an astronomer at the University of Texas in Austin . She measured the slight wobble in the star’s position as the planet swung around it. Further observations by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2006 confirmed its existence, McArthur said at the time.

Now Backman’s team has deduced the presence of at least two more planets, after space- and ground-based telescopes separately revealed two belts of rocky asteroids and an outer icy ring circling Epsilon Eridani.

The inner asteroid belt is about 280 million miles from its host star, the same distance as our own ring of asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. The second belt is about the same distance as Uranus is in our system.

Finally, a wide, third ring of icy objects extends billions of miles beyond Epsilon Eridani, resembling the so-called Kuiper Belt of mini-planets outside Pluto.

In 2002, Alice Quillen , an astronomer at the University of Rochester in New York state , reported that unusual clumps of material in the outer ring probably indicated the presence of a Saturn -size planet in a Pluto-like orbit. Her finding hasn’t been confirmed, but “I still think there is a planet out there of this size,” Quillen said in an e-mail.

According to Marengo, the gaps between these belts were created when clouds of dust and rocks consolidated into planets, as happened in the early days of our solar system. He likened the process to the formation of Saturn’s famous rings, which are separated by spaces cleared out by little moons.

“The easiest way to explain the gaps is to say there are planets there,” Marengo said. “It’s the same way as the rings of Saturn are kept stable by the moons of Saturn .”

“I think these rings are probably telling us about how systems clear out after planets have formed,” Quillen said. “It’s pretty exciting to catch such a nearby system in this critical stage.”

Marengo raised the possibility that more Earthlike planets might exist in the space between Epsilon Eridani and the inner dust ring.

“The inside belt is cleared, like in our solar system,” he said. “There could be terrestrial planets inside, but we can’t detect them yet.”

Geez, isn’t this always the way–the MINUTE we put a system around OUR sun, all of these other stars in our neighborhood just HAVE to copy us.

In all seriousness, it’s awesome to learn that there are other stars with systems of their own. Who knows? One day, we may learn that there is other intelligent life in the universe, and maybe they’ll humor us and communicate. The various science fiction universes that have humans in contact with and cooperating with intelligent life from other worlds in order to help create the best universe possible may be a reality one day. Until then, we will still look to the stars and dream.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1257262,milwaukee-son-kills-father110308.article

Son kills father to protect mother in Milwaukee

November 3, 2008

FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police say a knife-wielding man who violated a restraining order to attack his estranged wife has been shot to death by the couple’s son.

Police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz says the 49-year-old woman had a restraining order against her husband, who broke into the house Monday about 5 a.m.

Schwartz says the 55-year-old husband began stabbing his wife and the couple’s 23-year-old son shot him. Police say the man continued the attack and was shot again by the son.

The woman died from her wounds.

Schwartz says the son has been released. She says even though the shooting will likely be ruled self-defense, the case will be reviewed by the district attorney’s office because a death was involved.

It’s a pity the mom died, too. At least the father won’t be rotting in prison, serving a life sentence or appealing the death penalty.

What pisses me off, though, is that the mother had a restraining order against her ex, and, as per usual, the police weren’t able to protect her. Instead, her son had to take the law into his own hands and try and protect his mother from the attack. The poor man has to live knowing that he killed his father to protect his mother, but he still wasn’t quick enough to save her life.

On a more humorous note, family reunions are going to be awkward.