IFIP News

 In sad news from Frisco, some passengers were hurt when riding in San Francisco’s historic and famous cable car system. According to various reports and statements from a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority spokesperson, the injuries happened during or perhaps immedietly after one of San Francisco’s cable cars derailed.  This tragic and unfortunate cable car derailment was reported at approximately 12:00 a.m. in the vicinity of Washington Street where the rail curves for the cable car to turn onto Powell Street, according to a spokes person Judson True of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority.  Incidentially if you happen to reside in the greater bay area and you have been involved in an injury and therefore need the services of an outstanding San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer
then by all means take a look at the law Offices of Scott Righthand. He is easily one of the leading San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer out there and he serves the city of Oakland too. Alright now back to the story at hand…before this incident occurred the operator of the cable car exited the car and began pushing the cable car.
   According to the authorities, the cable car fishtailed and at least three passengers were injured, one sustained a broken leg and two other passengers sustained minor injuries, sadly enouph. in addition to this, there has also been some degree of speculation at this time that they might have been ejected from the cable car when it fishtailed. All three of the injured victims were transported to the hospital after the accident.  Wow what an awful tragedy to be certain.
   All in all it should be noted that the actual speed of the cable car was unknown at the time of this regrettable accident, according to the relevent authorities that are looking into the case. This particular speed will obviously be under heavy scrutiny and investigation along with factors outside of human control such as the gravitational force and the slope from the hill the cable car happened to be on during the time of the incident. As a matter of fact, these are just several of the relevent factors that will be under the microscope during what will certainly be a thorough investigation, considering the serious injuries that were sustained by the passengers in question. The spokesperson True also went on to later comment that at normal speeds a cable car usually does not derail, only fueling speculation of the obvious suspicion that there was some sort of human erroe involved in the tragic accident.
  The identities of the injured victims have not been released at this point in time and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority has stated that at this particular time all of the cable cars will run on schedule in the foreseeable future.

   It was reported on some mainstream news outlets that the well known community fund raiser Julie Lee was found guilty on five of the seven charges that were filed against her. These seven charges in question against Lee all have their genesis in a half million dollar grant for the Sunset District Community Center which initially looked quite suspicious and later looked criminal the more it was investigated.
   All in all, the charges against Lee were four charges of mail fraud as well as three charges of witness tampering. It should be noted here that on two of the mail fraud charges against her she was in fact acquitted, while a jury in the Sacramento, California United States District Court convicted her of two mail fraud charges and the three seperate witness tampering charges.  More headlines, news and research stories can be found over at Merlins News Weblog  There are numerous similiar stories there.
   it appears that the charges against Lee have basically alleged that in 2002 she had plotted to funnel funds from the state grant money into the California Secretary of State Kevin Shelly and the Sunset District Community Center was not even developed. This all first came to light in 2004 in an article in the Chronicle that centered on the improper ethics of Lees fund raising; this sparked the investigation by the state and federal authorities. This also helped to end the former California Secretary of State Kevin Shelly’s career in politics. Shelly resigned after the Chronicle reported that out of the $500,000 in state grant money approximately $168,750 dollars of it was found in Shelly’s campaign account. Shelly has been cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with the charges filed against Lee.
   September 3rd is the date set for Lee’s sentencing and the sixty-one year old faces up to seventy-odd years in prison along with fines that can go as high as over a million dollars.
  In addition to this, there is also another case pending against Lee in California State Court, the county prosecutors and the state have both filed separate charges of embezzlement, forgery and grand theft.
  The motive according to prosecutors was to have Shelly endorse Lee’s son in his run for San Francisco Board of Supervisors which he ultimately lost ending in fourth place.

Looks like someone needs an attorney. In 1983 there were three murders that all ended with one suspect who was involved in the witness protection program since 1981. The man that has been suspected in the three murders has been identified as Anthony R. Landis who gained entrance into the witness protection program in 9181 when he testified against prison gang members who were planning to murder of a prison official. The testimony moved Landis from a Virginia prison to Denver where he changed his name to Anthony Landis from his real name Anthony R. Rogers. He became a suspect in these murders of Michael Loughrey age 29, Randy Arlin Russom age 19 and Michael D. Ray age 20 after Loughrey filed a police report that rifles were stolen from his home and stated to police he suspected Landis.
After this report a few months later Loughrey disappeared and his body was found seven months later with personal injury from multiple gun wounds in the 8400 block of East Jefferson Avenue.
The other two men worked at as valets at a restaurant by the name of Bobby Magee’s, Landis admitted to selling Randy Russom a stereo that was stolen. Investigators also believe that same evening Landis met Michael Ray. That evening both men were killed, Michael Ray was found shot to death at 10150 E. Harvard Avenue in an apartment building parking lot, which was the former residence of Randy Russom. Randy Russom suffered a similar fate approximately 20 minutes later when he was shot three times while he was in a vehicle. Although he tried to escape he was followed and shot another six times at 7395 E. Eastman Avenue at Shadow Woods Condominium Park. Randy Russom was also known to have been carrying $2,300. from a construction job paycheck at the time of his murder.
Investigators found that Landis had connections with meeting all three of the men that had been shot and all of the bullets recovered from the men had come from the same gun. Russoms car was found within two blocks of the YMCA where Landis was known to have stayed that night instead of going home to his wife. Crimes like these require the person charged to have a criminal as opposed to a San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney not only for their trial but also for appeals and to assist in parole hearings. It is ideal if you live in San Francisco to have San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney.
Detectives found a box of bullets in Landis home that were the same caliber used in the murders. The gun involved in the crime was found years later in the possession of a prostitute; therefore while it can be tied to the murders it cannot be tied to Landis.
Landis was arrested for the sale of the stereo and charged with habitual criminal charges. Landis has been in prison charged with habitual burglary crimes and serving a life sentence. Prosecutors have waited for Landis to talk to another prisoner about the murders so he could be charged Landis seems to be to prison smart to talk to other inmates about the murders.

Which city would you guess has the highest number of DUI arrests year after year? If you guessed Las Vegas, Nevada also known as Sin City, you would be wrong. Las Vegas did not even make the top 20 cities listed by the United States Department of Transportation.

Ranking #1 on the list is Denver, Colorado.

Good criminal lawyers and the person arrested for DUI, need to meet as soon as possible after the arrest. Denver has many qualified criminal lawyer who work hard every day to help the persons charged with DUI. Being arrested for DUI is a serious matter. The fines and penalties for driving under the influence can be steep. The penalty can include jail time, loss of license, your vehicle being impounded and mandatory counseling and probation. A good Denver criminal defense lawyer can make sure your constitutional rights are observed and that you have expert witnesses and scientific evidence is brought forward in your defense.
The person who has been arrested for this serious crime should seek out expert criminal lawyers to defend him in the court of law. If you had submitted to the Breathalyzer test, a knowledgeable criminal defense lawyer can challenge its reliability. A good criminal lawyer understands the scientific techniques used in the Breathalyzer test and will know how to question its accuracy.

DUI arrests do not always end in conviction. Many such cases are challenged and overturned with help of a knowledgeable and experienced DUI criminal defense lawyer. Felony drunk driving involves an accident with serious injuries. A person charged with misdemeanor drunk driving might have been in a accident minor accident with minor injuries having incurred. Naturally, the felony drunk driving arrest can lead to huge fines and incarceration.
In Colorado, the blood alcohol lever to determine drunk driving is 0.08. Along side the DUI laws in Colorado is the DWAI law. DWAI means driving while impaired. The legal limit to determine this in Denver and other cities is 0.05. This stricter law will put the average man or woman as over the limit after two beers. Mandatory penalties are set and must be followed if there is a conviction for DUI or DWAI. Probation is offered for any jail term. The criminal defense attorney can work to ensure your charges are not punished beyond any mandatory sentence. You can find good criminal defense lawyers in your local yellow pages.

Note, some of the following has been quoted from the elite news sources at Mercury News 2008 and the Los Angeles Daily News (Alex Doobuzinskis). Thanks to these tip top news firms and their premier writers as well as the Prison legal News Website. For a number of celebrity or well-off non-violent offenders, a prison cell at Los Angeles area city jail is just a credit card number or stack of bills away, with Glendale’s facility gaining a reputation as an island of decency in a sea of the inhumanity known as the Los Angeles County jail system. Most recently,
 convicted celebrities Kiefer Sutherland and Gary Collins chose the location to lock down in. According to the news reports, some experts have stated that the golden state’s twelve or so “boutique jails” like the aforementioned one at Glendale have the downside of being expensive and mandate that the inmates there to serve their full sentence
 as opposed to staying free of charge in the overcrowded county lock up and possibly being released early for good behavior. Nonetheless, it is an attractive option for many who do not wish to go to county prisons
where inmates are packed in like rats in a cage. Having said all of that, though, it should be noted that
these smaller city jails are not really what you would call country clubs. In Glendale, for example, the floors are concrete, the walls brick and even the cells are very small, with bunk beds to hold 2 inmates in a cell when things get more crowded. Just as a side note to this article, if you require an elite los angeles criminal defense attorney then be sure to consider the law offices of Jeffery Rubenstein.
They are among the best los angeles criminal defense attorney firms around
And yet, this is nonetheless much different than the Los Angeles County prison system, where some two thousand, five hundred assaults happened in a recent twelve month time period, according to a county report.
As if this were not enouph, these places have additionally been hit by both riots and staph infections. Despite it’s costs,
hundreds of prisoners decide on the pay-to-stay programs at city facilities in the greater Los Angeles area year. In addition,
those numbers appear to be growing. For example, the city of Pasadena has seen the overall number of prisoners using their particular facilities leap to over 2,000 last year from only 1,548 the previous year before.
Also, while the cities of Burbank and Fullerton process a smaller number of pay-to-stay inmates than Pasadena, they have also seen a steady stream of them, according to the reports. The Los Angeles Police Department as well as the Ventura County police agencies do not have such programs, however

The city/Port of Seattle is now engaged in a major criminal
investigation from the United States Justice Department. The city
is essentially being accused of throwing away taxpayers funds via fraud
concerning various construction contracts. Furthermore, this
criminal investigation could be conducted by not one
but even a few federal agencies. It seems that much of the
investigation thus far has been focused on focused
certain contracts pertaining to construction of the
3rd runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Seattle is a city of about 700,00 individuals, while
the greater puget sound areaa, which includes other
urban centers such as Tacoma and Bellevue, has around
3 million or thereabouts.
All in all, various commissioners will possibly take
up proposals aimed at increasing their general control
over the Port.

To make sure that the “criminal investigation is not
compromised,” Sullivan’s letter requested a
refraining from disclosing any pertinent info. that is not
already included in the December 20 audit report in question.
The Former Port Chief Executive Officer Mic Dinsmore,
who was responsible for most of the period
examined, was traveling and was thus not immedietly
available for commentary, according to an
assistant at the investment company where he is
currently employed. I hope has a good lawyer up there.

And In an interview recently prior to learning of the
criminal investigation, he stated that the various
problems encountered by auditors were not because of
corruption necessarily but instead to an aggresive
culture which occasionaly flaunted it’s defiance of
the Port’s own policies. By the way, if you require a great Seattle Criminal lawyer then I must recommend the Law offices of Kirk Davis. He is top drawer all the way. You cannot go wrong with him. And in addition to being a fine Seattle Criminal lawyer he is also an excellent dui, dwi and drug law lawyer so by all means give him a call for a free consultation, you will be glad that you did.

The Justice Dept. has been searching extensively,
especially of late, for informers and it may in fact
begin with the Port managers and consultants who gave
information to the auditors. I guess this kind of of criminal activity does not just happen on the East Coast, as in ‘The Departed’ starring Mark Wahlberg. It is a good time for lawyers though I guess.

   For a long time now, antioxidants have been the focus of various extensive scientific studies and it has been discovered that the combination of fruits & vegetables have distinct effects on the activity of antioxidants in the body. The combination of fruits and vegetables and the effect they have tends to ead to a larger reduction of risk for chronic disease and two that have been proven to be reduced by this are cancer and heart disease.
   To this end the American Heart Association has publicized that a diet of five or more servings a day of fruits and vegetables are what a body needs to stay healthy. The American Cancer Society also agrees with the five a day rule of fruit and vegetables in their publications.
   These two organizations believe that the research has proven the effects of properties in some fruits and vegetables that have antioxidants that they have run complete campaigns to promote their eating five a day of these foods for good health. This is their way of educating the common person who may not have an avid interest in reading about nutrition.
   While health is important and the five fruits and vegetables are important according to research there is also the added benefits that these organizations do not publicize such as clear skin, healthy hair and finger nails as well as slowing the effects of the aging process.
   Antioxidants can be found in many foods and fruits, it can also be taken in supplements and it can be found in tea. Both black tea and green tea has antioxidants that can be beneficial to the body by drinking a cup of tea at anytime of the day.
   When it comes to tea many people believe that green tea is better for health than black tea which is made from Orange Pekoe and Black Pekoe and touts it amount of antioxidants at 175 mg per serving.
   Green tea comes from the plant Camellia Sinensis and is processed differently than black tea; the leaves are dried; however they are not fermented. This is what gives green tea its lighter color and flavor and it also leaves more of the natural antioxidants that is found in tea leaves.
   By drinking tea there is approximately eight to ten times the power of eating fruits and vegetables and this amount of antioxidants attacks the free radicals in the body, along with detoxifying toxic chemicals in the body.   Himilayan Goji Juice is also very high in free radical busting antioxidants. In addition, Proprietary technology for extracting the juice without destroying the goji berries’ very powerful nutrients, goji juice is more potent than ever these days…..Himilayan goji, also referred to as wolf berries, have been an integral part of the nutritional basis for some of the longest living people on Earth.

This wonderful article initially appeared in the January 2008 issue of the Trilogy health and Wellness newsletter. I hope that you find it as informative as I did.
According to the United States Surgeon General, some forty percent of grown adults do not participate in any leisure time physical activity.  You could be among the lucky minority with a slim figure even though you live a sedentary lifestyle.  However if you are like most of us, physical activity is an important part of achieving a slim and healthy body.   Exercise can help to increase your body’s metabolic rate and increase your fitness level.  If the word “exercise” seems daunting, start out on a relatively small scale and then begin moving.  Dust off the bike and take a ride through your neighborhoods.   You might even work up to thirty or more minutes per day of physical activity.  Did you know that physically active individuals usually live longer those who are inactive?  Certainly, you might have read this before, but did you actually do something about it?

Less Stress

Nowadays, stress is a way of life.  It is an accepted state of being.  It doesn’t matter where it comes from … the kids, your spouse or your job.  Stress is an equal opportunity weight-loss enemy.  Constant or chronic stress can cause your body to release adrenaline and cortisol hormones.  These hormones tell the body it’s time to refuel, a kind of “biological permission” to consume foods laden with carbohydrates and fats.  Make an effort to break the cycle of stress in your life.  Appreciate the fact that you cannot to do everything.  Set realistic goals at home and at work.  Enlist family members to help.  During particularly stressful moments, you can try stretching or yawning.  Sign up for a yoga class in your community.  Make an effort to set aside some time every day to appreciate what you have and to re-set your mental attitude.

Feed the Body

In order to get all the nutrients necessary for a healthy mind and fit body, eat a variety of the following foods daily.  Choose lean meats and poultry.  Fish (and fish oil, of course), beans, peas, seeds and nuts are good.  Eat a moderate amount of fruit … fresh, frozen and canned are better than juices.  Choose a variety of vegetables.  Calcium-rich foods are important, but opt for no-fat or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheeses.  Whole grains are best so when it comes to cereals, breads, pastas and the like, make sure the word “whole” is listed in the ingredients.  A good way to get enouph of the vital omega-3 fatty acids that you need is to take a pharmaceutical grade fish oil  supplement. Did you know that it takes 100 gallons of health food grade fish oil to produce a single gallon of pharmaceutical grade fish oil?  Naturally, limit your intake of fats, sugars and salt.  If you don’t have enough time to prepare three healthy meals a day, you can substitute one or two with a meal-replacement drink. 

Visitors from the United States in general and California in particular are becoming increasingly reluctant to visit Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, especially without a secure hotel room. The Reuters online news network has reported that weddings have been canceled. Lobster houses are nearly empty on the normally well traveled New Year’s weekend.
While the Mexican Government has reportedly been handing out maps of trails for immigrants to enter the U.S. illegally, it is somewhat ironic that many Americans are deliberately avoiding mexico.
Americans have long tolerated shakedowns by law enforcement authorities south of the border who all too routinely supplement their income by pulling over drivers for supposed traffic violations, and visitors have long realized that some sections of Baja California are a hotbed of narcotic-driven violence. Yet a number of assaults in the last few months by masked and armed bandits,
a few of which have been using flashing lights in order to look like the police, seems to symbolize a whole new low which has scared even veteran visitors.

Lori Hoffman, for example, who happens to be a San Diego nurse, stated that she was sexually assaulted on October 23 by 2 masked men right in front of her boyfriend, San Diego Surfing Academy owner Pat Weber, who was forced to kneel at gunpoint for some forty five long minutes while they raped her. They were at a campground with at least thirty tents, about two hundred miles or so south of the California border.

The masked Mexican men shot out windows of their trailer and forced their way inside, ransacked the cupboards and left with about $7,000 worth of merchandise such as computers, video equipment and even a guitar.

Weber, who has taught dozens of students in Mexico over the last ten years, will not be returning. “No more Mexico,” stated Lori Hoffman, who reported the attack to the Mexican authorities. perhaps not surprisingly, there have been no arrests.

The Baja California peninsula is popular with surfers, fishermen and other visitors. Food and hotels are cheap in some areas.

News of these horrible assaults on U.S. tourists has begun to overwhelm this appeal, especially in the northern region of Baja California, which is a haven for lawless narcotic gangs. The relatively isolated southern tip of Baja, meanwhile, with several popular resourts, remains safer, relatively speaking and is still quite popular with many celebrities, anglers and visitors fromother countries as well.

Local media and also various surfing sites which promoted Baja California previously have reported a number of horrific crimes which U.S. and Mexican officials alike consider to be credible. Some Longtime visitors are especially wary of a toll road near the border which runs through Playas de Rosarito, also known as Rosarito Beach.

At the end of November, for example, as they returned from the Baja 1000 off-road race, a San Diegofamily was pulled over on the toll road by a vcehicle with flashing lights. A number of heavily armed men then held the whole family hostage for about 2 hours. They finally released them but stole their vehicle, leaving them stranded and in shock.

Before dawn on Aug. 31, three surfers were carjacked on the same stretch of highway. Gunmen pulled them over in a car with flashing lights, forced them out of their vehicles and ordered one to kneel. They took the trucks and left the surfers.

Aqua Adventures of San Diego scrapped its annual three-day kayak trip to scout for whales in January, ending a run of about 10 years. Customers had already been complaining about longer waits to return to the U.S.; crime gave them another reason to stay away.

Charles Smith, spokesman for the American consulate in Tijuana,  acknowledged many crimes go unreported. The State Dept has long warned visitors on Mexico’s border to watch for people following them, though no new warnings have been issued.

Mexican officials acknowledge crime has threatened a lifeblood of Baja’s economy. In Playas de Rosarito, a city of 130,000, police were forced to surrender their weapons last month for testing to determine links to any crimes. Heavily armed men have patrolled City Hall since a failed assassination attempt on the new police chief left one officer dead. On Thursday the bullet-riddled bodies of a Tijuana police official and another man were found dumped near the beach.

“We cannot minimize what’s happening to public safety,” said Oscar Escobedo Carignan, Baja’s new secretary of tourism. “We’re going to impose order … We’re indignant about what’s happening.”

Tourist visits to Baja totaled about 18 million in 2007, down from 21 million the previous year, Escobedo said. Hotel occupancy dropped about 5 percentage points to 53 percent.

Hugo Torres, owner of the storied Rosarito Beach Hotel and the city’s new mayor, estimates the number of visitors to Rosarito Beach since summer is down some thirty percent.

According to an article by leading journalist Tom Searls of the Sunday Gazette, both
Legislative leaders as well as West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin are gradually pushing towards a battle involving the right way to regulate workers’ compensation insurance benefits in that state.

Lawmakers have made their intent clear that they wish, at an absolute minimum, to be informed of any modifications in workers’ compensation rules, like earlier moves to cut off widows’ benefits at the age of their late husband’s retirement, for example.  Meanwhile, in

minimum wage news, the wages of salaried workers will go up by some fifty cents to $8 per hour on the first of January,  in the state of California (particularly in the city of Los Angeles),
making  workers there the 2nd highest paid earners overall in the nation, with Massachusetts being the other such state.
 The Massachusetts minimum wage will likewise reach the $8 an hour plateau on the first of the month, according to the U.S. Dept of Labor.
The state of Washington meanwhile, which automatically adjusts their minimum wage each year so as to keep up with inflation rates, will have the highest overall such wage at $8.07 per hour. As a side note to this story, By the way if you live in Los Angeles and you are looking for a first class Los Angeles Workers Comp attorney then I highly suggest that you take a look at the Law offices of Peyman and Rahnama. They serve the greater Los Angeles area

The Governor and the attorney general tends to think that if lawmakers interfere with the various rules and regulations for workers’ compensation, it may in fact damage the state’s plan to ultimately privatize the whole system.
 Insurance companies may then potentially wrongly presume that as a move to bring the program back under government control, he was quoted as stating.
BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Company., which was formed from the Workers’ Comp division  about 2 years ago, at this time is the only such firm selling workers’ compensation insurance in the state. Any good Workers Comp attorney out there?
However, this will change on the first of July when the state opens workers’ comp to private firms  across the whole country in an effort to maximise market effeciency.