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Circulated Weekly To Cities In Florida Volume 731 Issue 28 Established 1998 July 9, 2012

U S , a l l i e S p r e S S

aSSad aS top Syrian

g e n e r a l f l e e S

pariS (ap) -- atop Syrian general'sdefection is the firstmajor crack in theupper echelons ofpresident Basharassad's regime,buoying a 100-nationconference fridaymeant to intensifypressure for hisremoval, as well as anopposition desperateto bring him downbut frustrated bydiplomatic efforts.

all hoped thedefection of Brig.gen. manaf tlass, anassad confidant andson of a formerdefense minister whohelped ease assad into power, would have asnowball effect on his elite cohorts as Syrianscount their dead - now more than 14,000.

U.S. Secretary of State hillary rodhamclinton said Syrian leaders "are starting to votewith their feet" by abandoning the four-decade-old assad dynasty, which continues to defyinternational efforts for peace. "those with theclosest knowledge of assad's actions and crimesare moving away," she told reporters at the closeof the conference.

french foreign minister laurent fabiuswas more blunt. tlass' defection means thateven the inner circle of Syria's ruler is starting torealize "that you cannot support a butcher likemr. Bashar assad," he declared.

the conference of the so-called "friends ofSyria" group brought together the U.S., itseuropean and arab partners, and the fractiousSyrian opposition, all looking to turn up the heatto force assad from power.

a series of commitments included providingmeans for the opposition on the ground to bettercommunicate among themselves and with theoutside world, and increasing humanitarian aid.

participants vowed to find ways to ensurethat sanctions are enforced and called on theU.n. Security council to urgently adopt a reso-lution that would give force to a six-point planby envoy kofi annan and endorse a transitionplan adopted in geneva - broad enough to getacceptance by russia and china, which haveblocked most action in the Security council.

But the announcement of tlass' defection

in the news this Week

upstaged the declara-tions. it was unclearwhere he was going.fabius initially said hewas headed to france,where his sister lives,then backtracked andsaid his destination wasunknown. it was also notclear whether tlass wasactually joining thestruggle against assad -as was widely assumed.

the news bolsteredhopes and helped allayfrustrations among thevaried oppositiongroups, many of whomwant a concrete plan tooust assad.

"the defection oftlass, 16 months after

the start of Syria's popular uprising, will encour-age a lot of similar people to defect as well,"hassem hashimi, a member of the Syriannational council, predicted in an interview withthe associated press in paris.

the hope that it will inspire others to leaveand open cracks in assad's power base was oneelement that put opposition members on thesame wave length as diplomats.

tlass was a close friend and contemporaryof assad and, as the son of longtime defenseminister mustafa tlass, was a member of theSyrian Baath party aristocracy, part of a privi-leged class that flourished under the assaddynasty.

"i think it's a major blow to assad to seesomebody who's a close confidant defect at thispoint," said abdel Basset Sida, head of theSyrian national council. "this shows us thatthe very heart of the regime is starting to crum-ble."

mustafa tlass and assad's father, hafezassad, had been close friends since their days inthe Syrian military academy in homs andbecame even closer after being posted to cairoin the late 1950s. after hafez assad rose topower in the early 1970s, mustafa tlass becamedefense minister and the Syrian president's mosttrusted lieutenant as he created the repressivesystem that still controls the country.

When hafez assad died of a heart attack in2000, the elder tlass helped engineer Basharassad's succession to the presidency and guided

US, allieS preSS aSSadaS top Syrian general

fleeSa top Syrian general's defection is the first

major crack in the upper echelons of presidentBashar assad's regime, page 1

iraq BomBS, marketattackS leave 40 dead

market bombings and other attacks across iraqkilled at least 40 people on tuesday, and onesenior intelligence figure said he could not ruleout that guards may have taken bribes to allowterrorists to penetrate security. page 2

ill. man leaveS priSonafter mUrder caSe

dropped

a chicago man who spent more than 30 yearsbehind bars before dna evidence helped over-turn his conviction. . page 3

fda approveS firStrapid, take-home hiv

teSt

americans will soon be able to test themselvesin the privacy of their own homes for the virusthat causes aidS. page 3

florida accidentStatiSticS

accident Statistics from florida departmentof highway Safety and motor vehicles. page 4

florida accidentreportS

this Weeks accident reports from variouscountys in florida. page 5

california okS fUnd-ing for high-Speed

rail line

a half year after the U.S. military left iraq, direpredictions seem to be coming true: the countryis mired in violence and the government is onthe verge of collapsing. page 6

rUSSia fearS neW epi-demic of Synthetic

marijUanaexperts say a range of hallucinogens known as"spice" are very hard to kick. page 7

eUreka! phySiciStS cele-Brate evidence

of particleScientists at the world's biggest atom smasherhailed the discovery of "the missing corner-stone of physics". page 8 Continued on page 7

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Baghdad (ap) -- market bombings andother attacks across iraq killed at least 40 peo-ple on tuesday, and one senior intelligence fig-ure said he could not rule out that guards mayhave taken bribes to allow terrorists to penetratesecurity during a Shiite pilgrimage.

the latest attacks added to fears that iraq isdescending further into violence after the lastamerican troops withdrew late last year. morethan 275 people have died in attacks over thepast month, the bloodiest period since immedi-ately after the U.S. withdrawal.

tuesday morning's wave of bombingsstruck six iraqi cities and towns. the worst hitwas diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles)south of Baghdad, where an explosives-ladenvegetable truck detonated in a crowded market.officials said 26 people were killed and about75 wounded.

vegetable seller Salah abbas, 41, describeda scene of chaos after the explosion rippedthrough the crowd.

"there were many charred bodies on theground," said abbas, who rushed to helpwounded fellow merchants before ambulancesarrived. he managed to push one to safety in acart, but he said two others died at the market.

"people screaming and crying - some werecoming in to get their relatives, while otherswere running out. then rumors spread of morecar bombs, and people ran out of the market in

panic," he said.a senior iraqi military

intelligence official saidthere were at least twosecurity lapses intuesday's market attack,and money might havechanged hands.

one guard at a securi-ty checkpoint indiwaniyah failed to prop-erly search the producetruck because he said hecouldn't stand the smellof rotting vegetables andfruit, and another guardlater allowed the truck toenter the market itself

instead of being unloaded outside as securityrules require, the intelligence official said.

he said, "We do not rule out that bribes werepaid to some at the checkpoints." the militaryofficial spoke on condition of anonymity inorder to discuss sensitive matters of security.

tuesday's attacks come as hundreds of thou-sands of Shiite muslim pilgrims were headingto the holy city of karbala this week for reli-gious ceremonies set to peak on friday. Shiitepilgrimages are a favorite target of Sunni insur-gents linked to al-qaida.

attacks timed to strike during a similarmarch in Baghdad last month left 100 dead.

diwaniyah is about 40 kilometers (25 miles)from karbala, which also was hit by two bombshidden in cars parked outside a market in theearly morning, blasts that killed five people andwounded 30.

jubair al-jabouri, chairman of the qadisiyahprovincial council, confirmed the death toll indiwaniyah, a Shiite city and the provincial cap-ital. he blamed al-qaida for the attacks.

"terrorism has no religion," al-jabouri said.

Continued on page 7

By BUSHRA JUHI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press

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judy royal of the center on Wrongfulconvictions at northwestern University, whichrepresented davis, said he was the longest-serv-ing of the 42 people exonerated by dna evi-dence in illinois.

"mr. davis served 32 years in prison for arape and murder he didn't commit," royal said."tamms is a difficult place to do time. he's hop-ing to rebuild his life, with the support of hisfamily."

it wasn't immediately known if davis' fami-ly was at the prison when he walked out. davis'father was traveling to tamms on friday after-noon and couldn't be reached for comment.

reitz said that while she didn't doubt theresults of the dna tests, she decided not to retrydavis because of the difficulty in taking a 32-year-old case to trial - not because of those tests.

"after 30 years, witnesses are eitherdeceased, missing or no longer credible to testi-fy," said rietz, who has been state's attorney inchampaign county since 2004. "Based on theage of the case and the current state of the evi-dence, we elected to dismiss."

She noted that davis was twice convicted byjuries. his first conviction was overturnedbecause of a mistake made by a bailiff duringjury deliberations.

rietz said any further steps in the investiga-tion of Briana's death will be up to police.rantoul police chief paul farber did not returna call regarding the status of the investigation.

davis was arrested shortly after Briana wasfound on aug. 8, 1980, in a house on the streetwhere she lived with her mother and stepfatherin rantoul.

according to trial testimony, davis - whowas 19 at the time - was visiting his father inrantoul. he spent the day the girl died drinkingat the home where she was eventually foundwith the two brothers who lived there. at some

__________________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, July 9, 2012 3

i l l . m a n l e a v e S p r i S o n a f t e r

m U r d e r C a S e d r o p p e dpoint the brothers left, leaving davis therealone.

Briana's stepfather, rand Spragg, said heleft the girl playing in the family's front yardand last saw her sitting under a tree.

the family later searched for her. She wasfound in the brothers' home, naked and underbed clothes in a utility room. She died that nightat a local hospital.

an acquaintance of davis told police thatdavis said he'd killed "a woman" at the home.

dna testing wasn't available in 1980. But in2004, davis requested that evidence gathered atthe scene of Briana's death be dna tested.

according to the tests, blood and semenfound at the scene weren't from davis. that ledto the march appellate court decision.

friday's planned release caught davis' attor-neys off guard. most were on vacation, expect-ing that he might be released next week.

royal, who works closely with davis' leadattorney, jane raley, didn't represent him. Shewasn't sure what plans davis had, but she saidthat after so many years he was fortunate thatfamily members were still alive to greet him andhelp him acclimate to life outside prison.

"a lot of times when people are incarcerat-ed for lengthy periods of time, family membersdie," royal said. "that is one good thing, that hewill have their support."

"i think it's difficult for him to know exact-ly what to do," she added, noting that the centeron Wrongful convictions works with the peopleit helps free to aid in their adjustment. "i knowthat he's very intelligent and he has been assist-ing in the preparation of his appeal for years andgiving some good suggestions in that regard."

attempts to reach members of Briana's fam-ily were not successful.

champaign, ill. (ap) -- a chicago manwho spent more than 30 years behind barsbefore dna evidence helped overturn his con-viction in the rape and killing of a 3-year-oldgirl was released from prison late friday, justhours after prosecutors dropped the case againsthim.

an illinois appeals court in march hadordered a new trial for 50-year-old andre davisafter tests found that dna taken from the sceneof the 1980 killing of Brianna Stickle wasn't his.the girl was attacked in rantoul, about 20 milesnorth of champaign.

davis was released from the super-maxi-mum security prison in tamms in far southernillinois around 7:30 p.m., said illinoisdepartment of corrections spokeswomankayce ataiyero. champaign county State'sattorney julia rietz had decided earlier in theday not to pursue charges against him.

HAMZA HENDAWI Associated Press

fda approveS firSt rapid, take-Home Hiv teStWASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans will

soon be able to test themselves in the pri-vacy of their own homes for the virus thatcauses AIDS, now that the Food and DrugAdministration has approved the first rapid,over-the-counter HIV test.

The OraQuick test detects the presenceof HIV antibodies using a mouth swab andreturns a result in 20 to 40 minutes.

Government officials estimate thatabout 240,000 people, or one-fifth of theroughly 1.2 million people carrying HIV inthe U.S., don't know they are infected.Testing is a chief means of slowing newinfections, which have held steady at about50,000 per year for two decades.

FDA officials said the test is designedfor people who might not otherwise get test-ed.

"The availability of a home-use HIV testkit provides another option for individuals toget tested so that they can seek medicalcare, if appropriate," said Dr. KarenMidthun, director of the FDA's Center forBiologics Evaluation and Research.

Orasure plans to start selling the test inOctober, both online and through retailerslike Walgreens, CVS and Walmart. It hasn'tset a price yet but expects the consumerversion to cost less than $60 but more thanthe one marketed to health professionals,which costs about $17.50. CEO DougMichels said the price increase will help payfor a toll-free call center to provide counsel-ing and medical referrals to test users.

"Each of the call-center operators isbilingual in English and Spanish, they'vegone through 160 hours of training on HIVcounseling and testing," Michels said in aninterview with the Associated Press. "Sothey are highly trained professionals andthey'll be there to support the consumer."

Michels said the company's marketingefforts will focus on populations at greatestrisk of being infected with HIV, includinggay and bisexual men, African Americansand Hispanics.

FDA stressed in its approval announce-ment that the test is not 100 percent accu-rate in identifying people with the virus. Atrial conducted by test maker Orasure

showed OraQuick detected HIV in thosecarrying the virus only 92 percent of thetime, though it was 99.9 percent accurate inruling out HIV in patients not carrying thevirus.

That means the test could miss one in12 HIV-infected people who use it but wouldincorrectly identify only one patient as hav-ing HIV for every 5,000 HIV-negative peo-ple tested, the FDA said.

People who test negative should get re-tested after three months, because it cantake several weeks for detectable antibod-ies to HIV to appear, according to Dr.Jonathan Mermin, director of the Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention's HIVunit.

The FDA has approved several otherHIV test kits designed for home use, butthey usually require a blood sample thatmust be sent to a laboratory for develop-ment.

HIV awareness groups hailed theapproval as an important step in expandingtesting for the virus.

Continued on page 7

4 Legal Street News Monday July 9, 2012 ___________________________________________________________

f l o r i d a a C C i d e n t S t a t i S t i C SData From the Official Website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. www.flhsmv.gov

__________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, July 9, 2012 5

a U t o a C C i d e n t S i n S o U t H f l o r i d atHiS Week

http://www.worldwildlife.org http://www.aging-research.org

Crashes and incidents being reported on area road-ways by the Florida Highway Patrol and FloridaDepartment of Transportationinclude:

7:37 a.m., disabled vehicle near the 1700 block ofeastbound Cypress Creek Road, blocking a leftlane;

7:24 a.m., disabled vehicle on U.S. 1 at I-595;

7:23 a.m., crash on southbound I-95 afterHallandale Beach Boulevard, blocking a left lane;7:11 a.m., I-595 eastbound crash at the exit ramp tonorthbound I-95, no travel lanes blocked;

7:08 a.m., disabled vehicle on southbound I-95 nearthe exit ramp to Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach.

The incident having the biggest affect on SouthFlorida's roadways early Monday happened innorthwest Miami-Dade where a lunch truck over-turned in the northbound lanes of Interstate 75 nearMiami Gardens Drive (Northwest 186th Street).

Shortly before 7 a.m., the incident had most of thenorthbound lanes closed and was causing signifi-cant delays.

By 7:30 a.m., all travel lanes were reopened butnorthbound travel was extremely slow.

The crash site is just south of the Broward Countyline and was causing some southbound delaysbecause of onlookers.

Additionally, outside Fort Pierce, all the southboundlanes of Interstate 95 were closed because of a trac-tor trailer fire. Southbound I-95 motorists werebeing detoured off the roadway at OkeechobeeRoad.

Northbound I-95 crashthrough Pompano Beach

Crashes and incidents being reported Tuesdaymorning on South Florida's roadways by the FloridaHighway Patrol and Florida Department ofTransportation include:

6:47 a.m., northbound I-95 injury crash near CopansRoad in Pompano Beach, slowdowns through thecrash scene;

6:25 a.m., southbound crash I-95 approachingSheridan Street;

6:14 a.m., northbound I-95 near Hallandale BeachBoulevard, debris reported in the roadway;

5:58 a.m., northbound injury crash on I-95 nearHollywood Boulevard, travel lanes now clear;

Northbound I-95, hit-and-run crash near theentrance ramp to Hallandale Beach Boulevard.

July 3, 2012

Motorcycle in I-95 Crash:

June25, 2012

WEST PALM BEACH — A motorcyclist was struckby a white Toyota Tacoma on the northboundBelvedere Road exit ramp of Interstate 95 this morn-ingAccording to the Florida Highway Patrol, around 9a.m. today, a man in his 20s driving a blackKawasaki motorcycle attempted to make a lanechange when he struck the Toyota and was thrownfrom his motorcycle.The man - whose name has not been released - wastaken to St. Mary's Medical Center and treated forminor injuries.

Fort Pierce motoristaccused in high-speed

chase, accident after roadrage incident

All but one lane reopenson I-95 near Boynton after

crash

July 6, 2012

PORT ST. LUCIE — A Fort Pierce motorist sped upto 120 mph through the city as law enforcement offi-cers pursed him in a road rage case late Thursdaynight, according to arrest affidavits.Michael Hicks, 23, of the 3100 block of NaylorTerrace, finally was apprehended after he ran into apickup truck, spinning it almost 180 degrees.When Hicks was hospitalized for injuries, a deputyquoted him as telling medical staff he had takenXanax.He was arrested by sheriff’s deputies and police onfour felony charges: aggravated battery, aggravatedfleeing from a law enforcement officer and tamper-ing with evidence tampering by allegedly throwing abeer can out of the window of his 2002 Buick. Healso was charged with driving while intoxicated,reports show.The pursuit started when Port St. Lucie police got a911 call from a motorist complaining Hicks was pur-suing him after they talked at a gas station on St.Lucie West Boulevard. The caller said Hicks wasupset about a breakup with a girlfriend. The girlfriendalleged Hicks was holding the caller as a hostage atthe gas station, the report states.However, the caller said he shook hands with Hicksbefore driving off — then Hicks reportedly startedclosely following the car and bumping it, accordingto arrest reports.Hicks is accused of speeding on Airoso Boulevard,St. James Drive and 25th Street until finally strikingthe pickup truck at Oleander Avenue at 11:48 p.m.Along the way, he ran a red light and stop signs inalleged attempts to escape law enforcement,according to the reports.In a report, a deputy wrote that at one point, “Ireached a speed of almost 120 mph ... (and) thedefendant began (pulling) away from me. I estimat-ed his speed to be 120 to 130 mph” on South 25thStreet.

July 5, 2012

A work trailer full of nails and carpentry overturned inthe southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in the BoyntonBeach area this morning, temporarily blocking threelanes of traffic as crews worked to clear the debrisfrom the road, Florida Highway Patrol reports.All but one lane of the interstate is now open, FHPspokesman Lt. Tim Frith said.“It overturned and nails were all over thre or fourlanes,” he said.The crash happened about 7:27 a.m. near BoyntonBeach Boulevard. At one point, three southboundlanes were closed and the traffic backed up to 6thAvenue South in the Lake Worth area.

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One person taken to trau-ma center after wreck on

U.S. 1

July 7, 2012One person was air lifted to Shands JacksonvilleMedical Center after a two-car accident on U.S. 1South, said St. Johns County Fire Rescuespokesman Lt. Andrew O’Quinn.The accident happened around 5:05 p.m. at U.S. 1South and State Road 206, according to theFlorida Highway Patrol.The crash involved a Nissan and a dump truck,said Ron Cooper, Florida Highway Patrol communi-cations center supervisor.John Begley, 42, was the driver of the Nissan,Cooper said. David Allen Hicks, 33, drove thedump truck.The driver of the Nissan was taken to the hospitalin serious condition, O’Quinn said.Further details about the crash and the drivers’hometowns were not available as of Fridayevening.Part of U.S. 1 South was blocked for more than anhour.

I-95 injury crash throughPompano Beach

Among the crashes and incidents being reportedFriday morning by the Florida Highway Patrol andFlorida Department of Transportation on area road-ways:8:59 a.m., injury crash on I-95 northbound nearSample Road inPompano Beach, no travel lanesblocked;Hit-and-run crash on the I-95 northbound entranceramp to Griffin Road in Dania Beach, no travellanes blocked;8:31 a.m., crash in the northbound lanes of I-95after Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach, notravlel lanes blocked.

July 6, 2012

Broward County CrashsJuly 2, I-95

6 Legal Street News Monday July 9, 2012_____________________________________________________________

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Sacramento, calif. (ap) -- californialawmakers approved billions of dollars fridayin construction financing for the initial segmentof the nation's first dedicated high-speed railline connecting los angeles and San francisco.

the move marked a major political victoryfor democratic gov. jerry Brown and theobama administration. Both have promotedbullet trains as job generators and clean trans-portation alternatives.

"no economy can grow faster than its trans-portation network allows," U.S. transportationSecretary ray lahood said in a statementapplauding the legislative vote. "With highwaysbetween california cities congested and air-space at a premium, californians desperatelyneed an alternative."

the bill authorizes the state to begin selling$4.5 billion in voter-approved bonds thatincludes $2.6 billion to build an initial 130-milestretch of the high-speed rail line in the centralvalley. that will allow the state to collect anoth-er $3.2 billion in federal funding that could havebeen rescinded if lawmakers failed to act friday.

Brown pushed for the massive infrastructureproject to accommodate expected growth in thenation's most populous state, which now has 37million people. he said the project is sorelyneeded to create jobs in a region with higher-than-average unemployment.

members of the state Senate voted 21-16along party lines after intense lobbying byBrown, democratic leaders and labor groups.the bill, which passed the state assembly onthursday, now heads to Brown for his signa-ture.

"the legislature took bold action today thatgets californians back to work and putscalifornia out in front once again," Brown saidin a statement. the governor celebrated withSenate president pro tem darrell Steinberg ofSacramento, a fellow democrat, in the lawmak-er's office right after the vote.

the first segment of the line will run frommadera to Bakersfield. the final cost of thecompleted project from los angeles to Sanfrancisco would be $68 billion.

republicans blasted the Senate decision, cit-ing the state's ongoing budget problems.

"it's unfortunate that the majority wouldrather spend billions of dollars that we don'thave for a train to nowhere than keep schoolsopen and harmless from budget cuts," Sen. tomharman, r-huntington Beach, said in a state-ment.

Sen. ted gaines, r-granite Bay, said theproject would push california over a fiscal cliff.

"it will require endless subsidies and willblast a massive hole into our budget," gaines

said in a statement.the Bay area council, a group of business

leaders from the San francisco Bay and Siliconvalley areas, cheered the vote. the councilbacked the 2008 statewide bond measureregarding the rail line and had been working tosway legislators in support of the project inrecent weeks.

"this is a courageous step forward forcalifornia's future," said its president and ceo,jim Wunderman.

in recent days, democratic leaders includedmore funding to improve existing rail systemsin an effort to entice support for the bullet train.

the bill now allocates a total of $1.9 billionin bonds for regional rail improvements innorthern and Southern california. theupgrades include electrifying caltrain, a Sanjose-San francisco commuter line, and improv-ing metrolink commuter lines in Southerncalifornia.

dan richard, chairman of the californiahigh-Speed rail authority, which is managingthe project, said california would have lost bil-lions of dollars in federal aid if the Senate failsto pass the bill before adjourning friday for amonthlong recess. california entered a contractthat called for the federal government to providemoney for building the central valley segmentif the state also put up its share, he said.

"not only will california be the first state inthe nation to build a high-speed rail system toconnect our urban centers, we will also modern-ize and improve rail systems at the local andregional level," richard said.

california was able to secure more federalaid than expected after florida, ohio andWisconsin turned down money.

Steinberg, the Senate leader, said the votesignaled the "biggest, boldest public works proj-ect in decades in california." he likened it tothe state water project that was first undertakenby Brown's father, gov. pat Brown, in the late1950s. the massive network of dams, reservoirsand canals is still used today.

the bill approved friday authorizes the stateto sell a portion of a $10 billion high-speed railbond that voters approved in 2008 under

f d i C C l o s e s

S m a l l b a n k

i n g e o r g i a

By JUDY LIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulatorshave closed a small bank in Georgia,bringing the number of U.S. banks thathave failed so far this year to 32.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. saidFriday that it seized Montgomery Bank &Trust, based in Ailey. The bank, which hadtwo branches, had about $173.6 million inassets and $164.4 million in deposits as ofMarch 31.

Montgomery Bank & Trust is the sixthFDIC-insured institution in Georgia to failthis year. Ameris Bank of Moultrie, Ga.,agreed to take over the failed bank'sdeposits and purchase $12.4 million of itsassets.

The FDIC said it will retain Montgomery'sremaining assets for later sale. Regulatorsestimate that the bank's failure will cost theinsurance fund $75.2 million.

The pace of bank closures has slowedsharply since peaking in 2010 in the wakeof the financial crisis. In 2007 just threebanks went under. That number jumped to25 in 2008, after the meltdown, and bal-looned to 140 in 2009. In 2010, regulatorsseized 157 banks, the most in any yearsince the savings and loan crisis twodecades ago. The FDIC has said 2010likely was the high-water mark for bankfailures from the Great Recession. By thistime last year, 86 banks had failed.

From 2008 through 2011, bank failurescost the fund an estimated $88 billion. Thedeposit insurance fund fell into the red in2009. But with failures slowing, the fund'sbalance turned positive in the secondquarter of last year. By Dec. 31, it stood at$11.8 billion, according to the FDIC

__________________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, July 9, 2012 7

"the terrorists targeted the innocents today inkarbala and diwaniyah."

no one immediately claimed responsibilityfor the bombings.

last month, no more than three days passedwithout a major attack, signaling the insur-gency's ability to regroup quickly, as opposed toearlier patterns, when militants took severalweeks to coordinate and gather material for anoccasional, if spectacular, wave of bombings.

despite their extra measures, security forcesappear powerless to stop the violence. that hasdamaged the government's already shaky credi-bility with the iraqi people and fanned fears thecountry may be spiraling out of control withoutrecourse to american troops to restore order.the last american soldiers withdrew lastdecember after nearly nine years of war.

iraqi officials and experts also say the Sunniinsurgents have been emboldened by a months-long sectarian-based political crisis that has allbut paralyzed the government, and they nowseek to exploit tensions among the country'sethnic factions.

Within hours of the two karbala bombings,authorities banned vehicles from entering theholy city through friday, a new step to protectthe pilgrims. karbala, 80 kilometers (50 miles)south of Baghdad, is the destination for annualShiite rituals on the anniversary of the birth ofthe ninth-century Shiite leader known as thehidden imam.

"al-qaida groups are trying to stop Shiitepeople from practicing their rituals of the pil-grimage," said karbala gov. amal-din al-hir."But we are confident that the Shiite pilgrimswill be undaunted by these explosions."

Bombs also struck three other cities in cen-tral iraq, and a gunmen attacked security forcesin a fourth.

in the Sunni city of taji, two bomb blastskilled three people and wounded 15. a police-man was among the dead, said security andhealth officials who confirmed the casualties.taji is home to a military base and is 20 kilo-meters (12 miles) north of Baghdad.

in the capital itself, two roadside bombsexploded next to security patrols in separateneighborhoods, killing a policeman and a pass-er-by, and wounding 14 other people, officialssaid.

and in Sunni-dominated diyala province,just northeast of Baghdad, a bombing left twofarmers dead, and a drive-by shooting killedtwo security officers and wounded two others.

the casualties were in Baghdad, taji anddiyala were confirmed by police and healthofficials who spoke on condition of anonymityas they were not authorized to release the infor-mation.

Continued from page 2

HANDICAP PERMITS

Broke your leg? Had Surgery? A

new state law enables you to get a

90-day temporary permit to use

handicapped parking spaces.

The cost is $15.00 from county tagoffice locations, and the permit

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windshield.

Applicants must have a physi-cian’s statement attesting to theirdisability. For more information,

visit or call your county tag office.

the new leader, an inexperienced young doctor.tlass was the leader of a coterie of old regimefigures that critics blamed for reining in movesto liberalize the Syrian regime.

"these defections send a message to assad,but perhaps more importantly they send a mes-sage to those still left, which i hope they hearand heed," clinton told reporters. "We have nodoubt about the outcome here. We know that theassad regime will fall. the question is howmany more people will have to die before thathappens. We want to see those on the inside has-ten the day when a new transition can begin."

the gathering in france's capital aimed towin wider support for a transition plan unveiledby annan last week. joined by america's allies,

Continued from page 1

clinton called for "real and immediate conse-quences for non-compliance, including sanc-tions," against the assad regime.

But with neither moscow nor Beijing inattendance, much remained dependent on per-suading the two U.n. veto-wielding powers toforce assad into abiding by a cease-fire and thetransition strategy. ministers urged govern-ments around the world to direct their pressuretoward russia and china.

russia and china have twice blocked U.n.condemnations of Syria's government and justlast weekend worked to water down annan'stransition plan.

the kremlin rejected the anti-assad call onfriday, with deputy foreign minister gennadygatilov quoted by the interfax news agency assaying that clinton's comments contradictedannan's plan, which Washington and moscowagreed to.

"there is no way of sitting on the side lineson this," British foreign Secretary Williamhague told the meeting. "if you don't imposesanctions and implement them thoroughly youare allowing ... the assad regime the means togo on killing the Syrian people and we see thetragic results every day."

he urged nations to immediately stop buy-ing Syrian oil and end cooperation with compa-nies tied to its oil industry.

fabius, france's foreign minister, main-tained that events were bearing down on assad.Besides the defection, he noted a resolutionvoted friday by the United nations' top humanrights body condemning the violence in Syriaand demanding authorities cooperate with aU.n. investigation into "widespread, systematicand gross violations of human rights."

approved by a 41-3 vote in the 47-nationhuman rights council, the resolution also callson assad's regime to release all political prison-ers and allow independent monitors to visitdetention facilities.

at the paris conference, hashimi and othermembers of the Syrian opposition pressed for ano-fly zone, similar to that imposed on libyalast year, to prevent assad's forces from "flyingover defected soldiers and civilians and bom-barding them."

there was no letup in violence friday. atleast 25 people were killed by Syrian forceswho torched more than 100 homes while seizingthe northern city of khan Sheikhoun fromrebels.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's leading anti-drug crusader says the abuse of syntheticmarijuana is turning into a "horrible" epi-demic in his country.

Experts say a range of hallucinogensknown as "spice" are very hard to kick, andaddicts lose sleep, weight and get kidneyand brain disorders from them.

Evgeny Roizman, who spokeWednesday, heads a rehabilitation clinic inthe central city of Ekaterinburg.

Concerned about the spread of "spice,"Russian drug enforcement agencies havebanned several of its chemical ingredients.But producers can easily change the chem-ical makeup to come up with new brands,which are advertised online and widely soldacross Russia.

Components of "spice" have beenbanned in several European nations and inparts of the United States.

rUSSia fearS neW

e p i d e m i C o f

S y n t H e t i C

m a r i j U a n a

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Authorities saythey've busted an elaborate drug traffickingcell in Arizona that's linked to the deadlySinaloa Cartel from Mexico.

Tempe police announced Friday that 20people have been arrested and $2.4 millionwas found after a six-month investigationinvolving local and federal authorities.Police say they obtained 15 search war-rants and seized an airplane, 14 weapons,30 pounds of methamphetamine and 3 tonsof marijuana.

Drug Enforcement Administration offi-cials say the bust was part of "OperationNayarit Stampede" aimed at attacking adrug trafficking organization that stretchedacross the Mexico border and into Arizona.

Officials say the operation sent drugs toNew York, Alabama, California andthroughout other parts of the country. Thedrugs were transported through hiddencompartments in commercial tractor-trailerscrossing the Mexican border.

a r i z o n a d r U g

C e l l l i n k e d to

Sinaloa Cartel

b U S t e d

"This test will allow anyone to empowerthemselves to know their HIV status when,how and with whom they want to," said TomDonohue, founding director of Who'sPositive.

Experts say it's difficult to predict howwidely the test will be used.

According to the Orasure's study, 41percent of people who discovered theywere HIV-positive using OraQuick hadnever been tested. The company estimatesthat 9,000 new HIV carriers would be iden-tified for every 1 million people who use thetest.

Continued from page 3

S a n d i e g o f i r e W o r k S m a l f U n C t i o n

i n b i g , f a S t f l a S H

San diego (ap) -- the San diego trolley was packed.hotel rooms facing the bay were sold out. and local radio wasset to simulcast a patriotic score for the fourth of july show.

But instead of 20 minutes of fireworks, the crowd in Sandiego got about 20 seconds of giant, deafening booms after acomputer mishap sent multiple bulb-shaped explosions overthe bay.

the show's producer blamed a "technical glitch"thursday, saying an error in its computer system caused tensof thousands of fireworks on four barges to go off simultane-ously with a single command.

"it was like a giant, serious bomb went off," said mikenewton, 29, a photographer who watched from a friend's 28th-floor apartment. "that's what it looked like and felt like. it hityou right in the chest."

there were no reported injuries and garden Statefireworks, based in millington, n.j., apologized and vowed todetermine precisely what went wrong. the 122-year-old com-pany produced hundreds of other shows across the countryWednesday night.

august Santore, part-owner of garden State fireworks,said the company felt terrible, but the mood was unforgivingamong many of the hundreds of thousands of people who wit-nessed the explosions before they could get off their first"ooh" or "ah."

a patriotic score was set to be simulcast on a local radiostation. the show was set to stream live on the Web.

the crowd stood in quiet disbelief, with many wonderingwhat just happened to a show billed as the Big Bay Boom.Word went out on the radio about 20 minutes later that it wasover.

Bre nelson, a 26-year-old wedding planner, watchedfrom a hillside street packed with "tons and tons of people andcars."

"it was really neat to see the entire sky light up but thenwe just waited there," said nelson. "everyone was just sittingaround."

By late thursday afternoon, the fireworks flop hadbecome a hit online with about 2 million views of the footageon youtube.

Sponsors contributed about $380,000 to host the show,said Sandy purdon, owner of a bay marina and the chief organ-izer. the port of San diego contributed $145,000 as title spon-sor, with hotels and restaurants giving much of the rest.

the port district gave an additional $50,000 worth ofservices, including traffic control, portable toilets and cleanup.

the fireworks cost $125,000 and the barges and tugs cost$45,000, purdon said. after permits, publicity, buses and othercosts, there was about $50,000 left, which was earmarked tohelp young military families though the San diego armedServices ymca.

the port district said in a statement that it was "very dis-appointed" in what it described as an apparent technical error.

it was unclear if anyone will get reimbursed. purdon, whowitnessed the explosions from his home with his sponsors,said he had discussed with garden State fireworks the possi-bility that it foots the bill for next year's fourth of july show.

garden State fireworks has staged pyrotechnic displaysfor the 1988 Winter olympics, the Statue of libertyBicentennial celebration and new year's eve in central parkin new york.

"We are a good strong company, and we rely on technol-ogy. We'll take the ridicule as long as no one was injured,"Santore said.

the debacle will likely fuel a long-running controversy inSan diego about damage that fireworks displays inflict onmarine life. environmental attorney marco gonzalez hasrepeatedly challenged shows that take place over water, invit-ing ire and ridicule from critics including San diego mayorjerry Sanders.

gonzalez recently prevailed in court decisions but decid-ed against trying to block this year's show in la jolla cove.Still, organizers of a fireworks show over San diego's lakemurray canceled this year's show, saying they feared a lawsuit.

"the notion that fireworks are critical to independenceday celebrations has just been blown out of proportion withthese large shows," gonzalez said.

8 Legal Street News Monday, July 9, 2012 ___________________________________________________________

eureka! physicists celebrate evidence of particle

GENEVA (AP) -- Scientists at the world'sbiggest atom smasher hailed the discovery of"the missing cornerstone of physics"Wednesday, cheering the apparent end of adecades-long quest for a new subatomic parti-cle called the Higgs boson, or "God particle,"which could help explain why all matter hasmass and crack open a new realm of subatom-ic science.

First proposed as a theory in the 1960s, themaddeningly elusive Higgs had been hunted byat least two generations of physicists whobelieved it would help shape our understandingof how the universe began and how its mostelemental pieces fit together.

As the highly technical findings wereannounced by two independent teams involvingmore than 5,000 researchers, the usuallysedate corridors of the European Center forNuclear Research, or CERN, erupted in fre-quent applause and standing ovations.Physicists who spent their careers in pursuit ofthe particle shed tears.

The new particle appears to share many ofthe same qualities as the one predicted byScottish physicist Peter Higgs and others and isperhaps the biggest accomplishment at CERNsince its founding in 1954 outside Genevaalong the Swiss-French border.

Rolf Heuer, director of CERN, said thenewly discovered particle is a boson, but hestopped just shy of claiming outright that it is theHiggs boson itself - an extremely fine distinc-tion.

"As a layman, I think we did it," he told theelated crowd. "We have a discovery. We haveobserved a new particle that is consistent witha Higgs boson."

The Higgs, which until now had been pure-ly theoretical, is regarded as key to under-standing why matter has mass, which com-bines with gravity to give all objects weight.

The idea is much like gravity and IsaacNewton's early theories. Gravity was there allthe time before Newton explained it. The Higgsboson was believed to be there, too. And nowthat scientists have actually seen somethingmuch like it, they can put that knowledge to fur-ther use.

The center's atom smasher, the $10 billionLarge Hadron Collider, sends protons whizzingaround a circular 27-kilometer (17-mile) under-ground tunnel at nearly the speed of light to cre-ate high-energy collisions. The aftermath ofthose impacts can offer clues about dark mat-ter, antimatter and the creation of the universe,which many theorize occurred in a massiveexplosion known as the Big Bang.

Most of the particles that result from the col-lisions exist for only the smallest fractions of asecond. But finding a Higgs-like boson was oneof the biggest challenges in physics: Out ofsome 500 trillion collisions, just several dozenproduced "events" with significant data, saidJoe Incandela of the University of California atSanta Barbara, leader of the team known asCMS, with 2,100 scientists.

Each of the teams confirmed Wednesdaythat they had "observed" a new subatomic par-ticle - a boson. Heuer said the discovery was"most probably a Higgs boson, but we have tofind out what kind of Higgs boson it is." Hereferred to the discovery as a missing corner-stone of science.

As the leaders of the two teams presentedtheir evidence, applause punctuated their talks.

"Thanks, nature!" joked Fabiola Gianotti,the Italian physicist who heads the team calledATLAS, with 3,000 scientists, drawing laughterfrom the crowd.

Later, she told reporters that the standardmodel of physics is still incomplete because"the dream is to find an ultimate theory thatexplains everything. We are far from that."

Incandela said it was too soon to say defin-itively whether the particle was exactly thesame as envisioned by Higgs and others, whoproposed the existence of an energy fieldwhere all particles interact with a key particle,the Higgs boson.

Higgs, who was invited to be in the audi-ence, said Wednesday's discovery appears tobe close to what he predicted.

"It is an incredible thing that it has hap-pened in my lifetime," he said, calling the dis-covery a huge achievement for the proton-smashing collider.

Outside CERN, the announcement seemedto ricochet around the world with some of the

speed and energy of the particle itself.In an interview with the BBC, the world's

most famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, saidHiggs deserved the Nobel Prize. Hawking saidhe had placed a wager with another scientistthat the Higgs boson would never be found.

"It seems I have just lost $100," he said.Marc Sher, a professor of physics at William

& Mary College, said most observers conclud-ed in December that the Higgs boson wouldsoon be discovered, but he was "still somewhatstunned by the results."

The phrase "God particle" was coined byNobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman,but it's used mostly by laymen as an easier wayof explaining the theory.

Wednesday's celebration was mainly forresearchers who explore the deepest, mostesoteric levels of particle science. But the parti-cle-hunting effort has paid off in other ways fornon-scientists, including contributing to thedevelopment of the World Wide Web.

CERN scientists used the early Web toexchange information, and the vast computingpower needed to crunch all of the data pro-duced by the atom smasher also boosteddevelopment of cloud computing, which is nowmaking its way into mainstream services.

Advances in solar energy, medical imagingand proton therapy used in the fight againstcancer have also resulted from the work of par-ticle physicists at CERN and elsewhere.

The last undiscovered piece of the standardmodel of physics could be a variant of the Higgsthat was predicted or something else thatentirely changes the way scientists think abouthow matter is formed, Incandela said.

"This boson is a very profound thing wehave found," he said. "We're reaching into thefabric of the universe in a way we never havedone before. We've kind of completed one par-ticle's story. ... Now we're way out on the edgeof exploration."

The discovery is so fundamental to the lawsof nature, Incandela said, that it could spawn anew era of technology and development in thesame way that Newton's laws of gravity led tobasic equations of mechanics that made theindustrial revolution possible.

By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press