Providing Quick Links to News Stories of Local Interest. Feel FREE to come back and leave comments on any story. Yes, even anonymously.... No Subscription Fees--No Registration!!! Enjoy!!! http://HermannMoNews.blogspot.com/
HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010
HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010 - CLICK ON PHOTO FOR THIS YEARS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Jefferson City, Missouri (AP)-- Missouri drivers could soon be putting their vehicle registration stickers in a different place - inside their windshields instead of on their license plates. Legislation passed by the House would require the state Department of Revenue to begin issuing the windshield stickers next year. Owners of trailers or motorcycles would still receive registration stickers for those license plates. Motorists in many states place the stickers inside their windshields. Missouri requires them to be placed on license plates, where they're easy targets for thieves. House Republican Charlie Denison, of Springfield, says the switch would prevent those thefts and save time for vehicle owners and police. The bill now goes to the Senate. --- Vehicle registration stickers bill is HB291 Online: http://www.moga.mo.gov
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . .
_____________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________ Two bulls and a cow tagged with a radio collar graze on the terraced hillside of a reclaimed surface mine on Jan. 21 in Bell County, Ky. A bill in the Missouri House would make the Missouri Department of Conservation financially responsible for property damage and accidents caused by elk as a result of the department's elk relocation program.¦Jeff Lautenberger _____________________________________________________ Missouri’s first group of restored elk scheduled to arrive April 30
JEFFERSON CITY Mo – The first group of elk that are part of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) elk restoration project are scheduled to arrive in the state on April 30. The 34 elk will complete their 90-day quarantine and final health testing in Kentucky before being transported by a semi-driven livestock trailer to Missouri. The elk will be released from Kentucky pending approval by the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA). The elk also have been fitted with ear tags, microchips and GPS collars.
After their overnight journey, the elk will go into a three-acre, double-fenced holding pen on MDC’s Peck Ranch Conservation Area in southeast Missouri. The pen is divided into four sections with one for young bulls, one for yearling calves, one for cows and one for pregnant cows. Peck Ranch is part of a 346-square-mile elk restoration zone covering parts of Shannon, Carter and Reynolds counties.
MDC will record the elk arrival and unloading into the holding pen through video and photography and post the images on its website (www.MissouriConservation.org) the afternoon of April 30.
“We know Missourians are very excited to have free-ranging elk back in the state and are eager to see them,” said MDC Elk Project Coordinator Ron Dent. “While we would like to allow public viewing of their arrival and while they are in the holding pen, that is not compatible with the animals’ welfare.”
Dent explained that MDC’s first priority is the health and safety of the elk.
“These are wild animals that have a strong natural fear of humans,” he said. “The elk can become very nervous if they hear, see or smell people nearby. Minimizing contact with humans while the elk are in this confined space is vital to keeping them from getting more stressed, and possibly hurting themselves or other elk by trying to flee.”
Dent added that MDC staff caring for the elk will also minimize their contact with the animals.
While the elk are in the holding pen, MDC staff will provide food and water daily and keep daily logs on each animal’s activities. MDC staff will also provide around-the-clock security at the holding pen.
The elk will remain in the holding pen for up to two weeks pending results from the final round of health tests performed in Kentucky. Elk will be released from the pen following approval of the final test results by the MDA.
Once the elk have been approved for release from the holding pen, MDC staff will open the gates and allow the elk to move on their own into the 12,000-acre Refuge Area of Peck Ranch. The Refuge Area will remain closed to the public for a few months to allow the elk to acclimate. During this time, the elk may move on their own into the larger restoration zone where public viewing is unrestricted.
Dent explained that this “soft release” into a temporary holding pen is strongly preferred over a “hard release” where the animals are unloaded from a livestock trailer directly into open country.
“We’ve learned from other states with restored elk, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, that a hard release with a crowd of people around increases stress on the elk,” he said. “A hard release prompts them to bolt from the trailer and immediately spread out into a much larger area as they flee human contact. Our soft release into the holding pen will give the animals time to become more comfortable in their new environment. Allowing them to then leave the holding pen on their own will make them less likely to travel far from the release site.”
He added that catching sight of elk in the restoration zone may be a challenge for people.
“This is not a zoo-type environment,” Dent said. “These several dozen animals will have more than 221,500 acres in the rugged terrain of the restoration zone to call home. It will take some time to figure out where they congregate and where good viewing locations are. As we learn more and as the herd grows, viewing will get better and better.”
For more information on Missouri’s elk restoration efforts, visit www.MissouriConservation.org and search “elk restoration.”
JEFFERSON CITY — It’s a simple piece of legislation intended to address an unusual problem. That’s how state Rep. Rodney Schad, R-Versailles, presented a bill to the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee that would hold the Missouri Department of Conservation responsible for damage caused by the wild elk it will bring to the state beginning this spring. By the end of the committee’s two-hour hearing Monday at the Missouri State Capitol, however, it was clear his colleagues saw some complications. “I think the bill is simple enough on the surface,” said committee member and state Rep. Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City. “But there are so many things within it.” Schad, who normally chairs the committee, stepped down to present his bill. More than 30 people showed up for the hearing, and about 12 officials and residents testified. So many people wanted to speak that the committee didn’t have time to hear them all. It asked for written statements instead. Some who testified argued that residents of the targeted restoration zone, a 346-square-mile area of Shannon, Carter and Reynolds counties, don’t want the elk and shouldn’t be forced to pay for damage they cause. Others said the nature of the land will minimize the danger of elk migration or destruction of farmland. The Conservation Department chose the area because it has a suitable habitat, lots of public land and few farms or roads. The Conservation Department plans to bring its first group of elk to Missouri in April. Thirty-eight elk have been trapped in a holding pen in eastern Kentucky’s Bell County, where they are being screened for disease. The elk will be placed in a holding pen in Peck Ranch Conservation Area once they arrive in the state, and they will be released into the wild shortly thereafter. Plans call for bringing a total of about 150 elk to Missouri over the next three years. READ MORE _______________________________________________________
(Watch Video to See Map)
Under the plan, up to 150 elk will be released in Shannon, Reynolds, and Carter counties in early 2011. Click Here for Full Details
Apr. 11, 2011
by Jim Low mdc.mo.gov___________________________________________________________________________________
JEFFERSON CITY–Fortune smiled on young hunters during Missouri’s spring youth firearms turkey season April 9 and 10, enabling them to shoot an impressive 3,898 turkeys.
This was the second year in a row of warm, sunny weather for the youth season, encouraging hunters age 6 through 15 to spend plenty of time pursuing gobblers. This year’s harvest was nearly identical to last year’s figure of 3,945. Top counties for this year’s youth season were Franklin with 101 turkeys checked, Wright and Callaway with 77 each and Polk County with 75.
Male turkeys gobble most on warm, sunny days with moderate wind. Weather across most of the state closely matched this description this year, paving the way for an excellent hunt. Youth harvests prior to 2010 ranged from 3,894 in 2005 to 2,530 in 2001, the first year of the youth hunt.
The youth season provides an opportunity for adults to focus on mentoring young hunters. The impact on the state’s wild turkey flock is minimal, since the youth harvest usually accounts for approximately 5 percent of the annual harvest.
___________________________________________ _____________________________________ . . Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . .
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cops Confirm New Remains Human; Skull Also Found Along Ocean Parkway
April 11, 2011
.
. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Police have confirmed that the latest set of bones found Monday morning at Jones Beach State Park are human remains.
Those remains, potentially those of a 9th victim, were discovered near Zach’s Bay at the park, which is about a mile and a half east of the Jones Beach water tower.
Later Monday afternoon, authorities also said that a 10th set of human remains and a human skull may have been discovered at a bird sanctuary off of Ocean Parkway, CBS 2′s Jennifer McLogan reported.
Investigators expanded their search for a serial killer into Nassau County Monday after investigators recovered eight bodies on Suffolk County beaches.
Police and sanitation vehicles blocked off all traffic on Ocean Parkway. A mobile sign advised drivers of a beach search that will shut down the Parkway all day.
About 125 searchers, some with dogs and others on horseback, hit Tobay Beach and Jones Beach State Park to scour the area for evidence.
Police were also searching a nearby 550-acre wildlife preserve and a 30-acre pond. They’re using cherry pickers supplied by the Fire Department to peer above the heavy brush to look for any evidence. Residents near Gilgo Beach, where the search originated, were shocked by the recent gruesome discoveries.
“To find all these bodies here, we’re shocked. We’re a close community, leave our doors unlocked,” one neighbor said.
None of the four most recently recovered bodies have been identified.
“We have no information on the sex, or age or any other information on the four remains we found,” said Richard Dormer, Suffolk Police Commissioner.
Police, however, have ruled out the remains are those of 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert of Jersey City. She disappeared May 1 after running from a client’s house in Oak Beach.
The initial search for Gilbert back in December led police to the bodies of four women wrapped in burlap, unburied in the thick brush.
All four worked as escorts who advertised on Craigslist and worked in various Nassau hotels.
Police have been troubled by a lack of clues, despite an extensive number of crime scenes to investigate.
Police told CBS 2 they were getting closer to finding the killer, but declined to provide further details.
However, Det. Lt. Kevin Smith told 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera that reports suggesting a suspect may soon be identified and that such a suspect could be in law enforcement are not true.
“For anyone to come out and say that it’s a specific person, a specific occupation, or a specific type is unfair and I think it’s mere suspicion, it’s mere speculation,” Smith said. “Right now, it could be anybody.”
Lawrence Kobilinsky, professor of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, suspects the killer may be familiar with police procedures.
“Either he knows what he’s doing and understands what crime scene investigation is all about or he has just been lucky up until now,” said Kobilinsky. “He is very comfortable working here or else he would never have used this site. He knows this area, knows it is relatively deserted.”
Authorities reportedly are considering that a former cop or someone familiar with law enforcement procedure is behind the killings of four online escorts whose bodies were found on a remote New York beach.
Police say evidence suggests that whoever dumped the women -- all in their 20s and found wrapped in burlap bags -- is knowledgeable of police investigative tactics and familiar with the area of Long Island where the bodies were found, according to multiple press reports.
Authorities have found a total of eight bodies in thick brush along a remote stretch of parkway between Ocean Beach and Gilgo Beach. The New York Post reports that investigators found a ninth set of remains Monday but Nassau County Police would not confirm that the bones discovered at New York's Jones Beach State Park are human.
A spokeswoman with the Suffolk County Police Department told FoxNews.com that police have not determined whether the four additional bodies found in the last two weeks are linked to the women found in December.
The most recent remains, found several miles away from the escorts, included the body of an infant or child, the New York Post reports, leading police to consider that the bodies were victims of multiple killers.
Police expanded their search for more possible victims into Nassau County on Monday. About 125 searchers, some with dogs and others on horseback, scoured Jones Beach State Park for more possible victims.
Investigators are also exploring possible links to the suspected serial killer who murdered prostitutes in New Jersey, officials have said.
The New York Post and the New York Times, citing unnamed sources, have reported that the killer may be a former cop or someone familiar with law enforcement procedure.
The person believed to be the killer had reportedly made taunting phone calls to the teen sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy shortly after she disappeared in July 2009. The calls were difficult for police to investigate because they were all under three minutes and made from crowded places, like Madison Square Garden and Times Square.
An official with the Suffolk County Police Department would not confirm to FoxNews.com that authorities are eyeing an ex-cop in the investigation.
"We haven’t said if we think it’s someone in law enforcement," the official said.
Criminal profilers say serial killers are often social and would appear to have a normal life with family and friends as opposed to being a loner.
The disappearance of 24-year-old N.J. resident and Craigslist escort Shannan Gilbert led investigators to the Suffolk County beach spot late last year where they found four skeletal bodies of female prostitutes. Four more bodies that have yet to be identified were found when officers returned to the area in the past two weeks, but all eight were found within a three-mile radius on the north side of the parkway.
None of the found victims, however, is Gilbert, whose case remains open.
A Suffolk County investigator who declined to be identified because of the ongoing case told The Associated Press that detectives are taking a methodical approach to finding the suspect, poring over credit card records of the victims to track their movements and where they spent their money in the area, MyFoxNY.com reports.
Cell phone calls made by the women are also being tracked, and computer records of their communications and appointment records have also been viewed.
"These kinds of investigations have to take slow steps; you don't want to jump to conclusions," Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa., and author of "The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation," told MyFoxNY.
"They are looking at the evidence to determine what may be similar about the victims, but they also want to look at dissimilarities," she said.
This undated photo taken from a Jersey City Police Department missing persons poster shows 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert (AP).
Searchers looking for more victims of a suspected serial killer along a remote New York beach area have now found a total of eight sets of human remains.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced Monday that the remains of three more people had been found on Long Island.
A spokeswoman with the Suffolk County Police Department told FoxNews.com that the remains were discovered Monday morning, while searchers climbed fire truck ladders to get aerial views of a dense thicket that stretches for miles along the highway that leads to Jones Beach.. The remains were found in an area between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach, the spokeswoman said.
Five dead people were found previously along the same stretch of deserted ocean highway, about 45 miles east of New York City.
Authorities discovered the latest set of human remains while searching for missing online escort Shannan Gilbert, though police said later that Gilbert was not among the latest remains found.
Gilbert, 24, of Jersey City, N.J., was last seen May 2010 in a shorefront community nearby. Police searching for her in December discovered the bodies of four women who advertised themselves as escorts on the Craigslist website.
The bodies, all wrapped in burlap bags, were identified as 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, of Norwich, Conn.; 24-year-old Melissa Barthelmey, of Bronx, New York; 27-year-old Amber Lynn Costello, of Long Island, N.Y.; and 22-year-old Megan Waterman of Maine. All four women were escorts who advertised themselves on Craigslist.
No suspects have been identified in the deaths of the women.
Police theorize a serial killer may have been responsible for the deaths.
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . . _____________________________________________________________________________
Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.
"Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.
Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!"
Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?"
At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.
Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.
"Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."
Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.
A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.
"While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments," Monique Bond wrote in an email. "In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom."
Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.
At Little Village, most students must take the meals served in the cafeteria or go hungry or both. During a recent visit to the school, dozens of students took the lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. Though CPS has improved the nutritional quality of its meals this year, it also has seen a drop-off in meal participation among students, many of whom say the food tastes bad.
"Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast," said Little Village parent Erica Martinez. "So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something."
"(My grandson) is really picky about what he eats," said Anna Torrez, who was picking up the boy from school. "I think they should be able to bring their lunch. Other schools let them. But at this school, they don't."
But parent Miguel Medina said he thinks the "no home lunch policy" is a good one. "The school food is very healthy," he said, "and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food."
At Claremont Academy Elementary School on the South Side, officials allow packed lunches but confiscate any snacks loaded with sugar or salt. (They often are returned after school.) Principal Rebecca Stinson said that though students may not like it, she has yet to hear a parent complain.
"The kids may have money or earn money and (buy junk food) without their parents' knowledge," Stinson said, adding that most parents expect that the school will look out for their children.
Such discussions over school lunches and healthy eating echo a larger national debate about the role government should play in individual food choices.
"This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility," said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry.
"Would the school balk if the parent wanted to prepare a healthier meal?" Wilson said. "This is the perfect illustration of how the government's one-size-fits-all mandate on nutrition fails time and time again. Some parents may want to pack a gluten-free meal for a child, and others may have no problem with a child enjoying soda."
For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like.
"We don't spend anywhere close to that on my son's daily intake of a sandwich (lovingly cut into the shape of a Star Wars ship), Goldfish crackers and milk," education policy professor Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach wrote in an email. Her son attends Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lakeview. "Not only would mandatory school lunches worsen the dietary quality of most kids' lunches at Nettelhorst, but it would also cost more out of pocket to most parents! There is no chance the parents would stand for that."
Many Little Village students claim that, given the opportunity, they would make sound choices.
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . . _____________________________________________________________________________
Pakistan has privately demanded the Central Intelligence Agency suspend drone strikes against militants on its territory, one of the U.S.'s most effective weapons against al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, officials said.
Pakistan has also asked the U.S. to reduce the number of U.S. intelligence and Special Operations personnel in the country, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
The U.S. strategy in the war in Afghanistan hinges on going after militants taking refuge in Pakistan. The breakdown in intelligence cooperation has cast a pall over U.S.-Pakistani relations, with some officials in both countries saying intelligence ties are at their lowest point since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks spurred the alliance.
Beyond the Afghan battlefield, officials believe that without a robust counterterrorism relationship with Pakistan, al Qaeda and other groups can operate with far greater impunity when planning attacks on the U.S. and Europe. The vast majority of attacks against the West in the last decade originated in Pakistan.
Relations have been under heightened strain since Pakistan's arrest in January of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who was jailed after killing two armed Pakistani men in Lahore on Jan. 27. Mr. Davis was released last month, but the case fueled Pakistani resentment over the presence of U.S. operatives in their country.
Pakistani officials complained that Mr. Davis and potentially dozens of other CIA operatives were working without Islamabad's full knowledge.
Drone strikes are opposed by an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis, and are widely seen as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty.
The CIA's covert drone program has operated under an arrangement in which Pakistani officials deny involvement in the strikes and criticize them publicly, even as Pakistan's intelligence agency secretly relays targeting information to the CIA and allowed the agency to operate from its territory.
That arrangement appears to be unraveling. Pakistani civilian, military and intelligence officials have sent private messages in recent weeks objecting to the strikes, complaining they have gone too far and undercut the government's public standing.
Pakistani officials say the drones are responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths since the program was greatly expanded in the last half of 2008. Their U.S. counterparts say the number of civilians killed is at most a few dozen.
U.S. officials on Monday publicly sought to play down the tensions. CIA Director Leon Panetta met with the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha at CIA headquarters. After the meeting, CIA spokesman George Little said the intelligence relationship "remains on solid footing."
Some U.S. officials believe Pakistan is using the threat to cut off intelligence cooperation to get greater oversight of covert U.S. activities on its territory. Of special concern to Pakistanis are American efforts to gather intelligence on a number of militant groups with ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani network. Lashkar was responsible for the 2008 attack on Mumbai; the Haqqani network is one of the pillars of the Taliban insurgency and is based in North Waziristan, a border tribal area frequently targeted by CIA drones.
"The Pakistanis have asked for more visibility into some things, and that request is being talked about," a U.S. official said. "The bottom line is that joint cooperation is essential to the security of the two nations. The stakes are too high."
The official added: "The United States expects to continue its aggressive counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, and it would be unfortunate if the Pakistanis somehow stepped back from counterterrorism efforts that protect Americans and their citizens alike."
Some U.S. officials say the breakdown in relations can be linked, in addition to the Davis case, to a civil court case brought in New York in November in which Lt. Gen. Pasha was named as a defendant. The case accuses the ISI of complicity in the assault on Mumbai. The ISI denies any involvement.
U.S. officials provided assurances to Lt. Gen. Pasha that he wouldn't be summoned for questioning in the case during his visit this week.
The CIA has been caught off guard by Islamabad's recent actions, including a rare public statement by Pakistan's Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, condemning a March 17 U.S. drone strike that Pakistan said killed up to 40 people in North Waziristan. The strike came a day after Mr. Davis's release; some Pakistani officials saw the strike as a provocation.
Mr. Kayani said the U.S. had "carelessly and callously targeted" a peaceful meeting of elders in North Waziristan. U.S. officials say they believe the dead were militants and dispute the high death toll.
Officials say Gen. Kayani's public condemnation has been matched with a series of private messages from Islamabad asking the Obama administration to curtail the drone strikes, and demanding a fuller accounting of the March 17 incident.
The U.S. hasn't committed to adjusting the drone program in response to Pakistan's request. The CIA operates covertly, meaning the program doesn't require Islamabad's support, under U.S. law. Some officials say the CIA operates with relative autonomy in the tribal areas. They played down the level of support they now receive from Pakistani intelligence.
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . . _____________________________________________________________________________
I noticed this google graphic today on their search page. I am curious as to why they chose to depict an old soviet astronaut? What message are they trying to convey?????????????
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . . _____________________________________________________________________________
Infowars.com
April 11, 2011
As hard as the above video is to believe, the same thing happened to Infowars.com employee Michelle, her 8 year old and newborn. This whole TSA revolt started back in November of last year when DrudgeReport.com picked up Michelle’s account. Their coverage prompted others to share stories of abuse at the hands of TSA. This stuff really happens. . . Click Here to Read More.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Donate To Keep This Site Alive
______________________________________________________ ___________________________ . . . . _____________________________________________________________________________
