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Blog and Media Roundup - Monday, March 1, 2010; News Roundup
Topic Started: Mar 1 2010, 04:59 AM (425 Views)
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http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 1, 2010
Woman charged with filing false rape report
Once again, it appears to be a case of crying rape to get out of trouble for another crime.

Amy Leann Bryant charged for filing false rape accusation.

A woman who claimed her boyfriend raped her is charged with fabricating the story, according to an affidavit filed in Sumner County General Sessions Court.

Amy Leann Bryant, 28, of Lebanon, was pulled over by Gallatin police on Jan. 21 for DUI. At that time, she told officers that her boyfriend had raped her.

She was transported to Sumner Regional Medical Center, where she submitted to a rape kit. According to the affidavit, Bryant then went to the Gallatin Police Department, where she allegedly admitted that she might have lied about being raped. According to police, the investigation determined that no rape occurred.

Bryant was charged with filing a false report. Her bond was set at $1,000. She is scheduled to appear in Sumner County General Sessions Court on March 16.

Link:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100203/GALLATIN01/100202074/2138/Woman+charged+with+filing+false+rape+report
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http://gearino.com/index.php/2010/02/28/the-wrong-bag-gets-punched/

The wrong bag gets punched

Occasionally, I read something in the newspaper that leaves me wondering why it was even published. Sunday was one of those days, when I read a story in the News & Observer headlined, “For tabloids, Edwards saga was tailor-made.”

The article was a first-person account by political columnist Rob Christensen of the difficulty he and his colleagues faced in confirming the particulars of the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter scandal. It’s not a mea culpa, exactly, nor does it truly pull back the curtain on the reporting process. What’s more, I don’t get the timing: Why does the N&O offer, in February 2010, a quasi-explanation of how it got beat by the National Enquirer in 2008?

The unintended result of the piece is to offer up Christensen as a punching bag to a certain segment of readers. Lots of them availed themselves of the opportunity. The article has sparked a healthy number of comments, almost all of which pile scorn on the paper in general and Christensen in particular. OK, it wasn’t the N&O’s finest moment, but Christensen deserves better than this. I’ve known Rob for a long time, and call him a friend. He’s a fine reporter, scrupulously fair and nonpartisan, well-mannered in a profession where social grace is rare, generous in his judgments of others, and a guy more interested in understanding issues than adding a scalp to his belt. (Again, a rare quality in the news business.)

In short, the notion that Christensen was in the tank for Edwards is absurdly, totally wrong. But as I read his piece Sunday, I realized there is something conspicuously missing from the article. What do you notice, for instance, about this passage:

As early as 2003, I asked Edwards about a rumored affair from his days as a big-time trial lawyer. Edwards denied it. His campaign spokeswoman called my boss to complain that in all of the years of working in the Clinton White House she had never heard such off-base questions. One of his chief political advisers threw me out of his office the next day.

Or this one:

The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer pursued the story from the beginning, sending reporters to New Jersey and California to follow leads. But the story was a dead end because no one was talking, and Edwards and his staff were denying everything.

I’ll tell you what I notice: None of Edwards’ staffers and advisers — who either knew their boss was philandering or strongly suspected it — is named. That’s a mistake. Whoever those people are, they aided or tolerated a coverup. Why do they now get the courtesy of anonymity?
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http://dukechronicle.com/article/late-rally-sends-duke-past-penn

Late rally sends Duke past Penn
By Danny Vinik
March 1, 2010


After a disappointing loss to Notre Dame last weekend, Duke needed a strong performance from senior Max Quinzani to avoid the team’s second straight defeat.

Duke trailed Pennsylvania 4-1 after the first quarter and 7-4 at halftime before outscoring the Quakers 12-4 in the final 30 minutes to earn a 16-11 victory. The No. 8 Blue Devils (2-1) entered the fourth quarter down a goal, but two quick strikes by Josh Offit and a man-up goal by Jonathan Livadas gave the Blue Devils an 11-9 lead. Penn (0-1) refused to give up, though, and the Quakers rallied for two goals to tie the game at 11 before Duke scored the final five goals of the game to get the victory Saturday at Koskinen Stadium.

Quinzani led the way for the Blue Devils with six goals and two assists, including three goals in 62 seconds near the end of the fourth quarter. Quinzani’s scoring spurt began with Duke up just a single tally, 12-11, and his late play secured the victory.

“I only remember the first three,” Quinzani said of his six-goal haul. “Really, I couldn’t tell you what happened there. I went unconscious.”

“[Max is] just a tough-minded individual,” head coach John Danowski said. “I was really happy for him. He’s a senior, and seniors are supposed to be making those plays.”

For the third game in a row, Duke found itself trailing at halftime, but the team refused to let the slow start affect its performance.

“It’s a 60-minute game,” Danowski said. “You just have got to keep playing, keep hustling. When things aren’t going your way, you just have to get back to your fundamentals, whether on offense it’s ball possession and ground balls or defensively individual technique on the ball. I thought our kids did a great job of just continuing to play hard. Nobody was freaking out—no yelling or gnashing of teeth or anything.”

So far this season, every game has been a nail-biter for the Blue Devils. Duke won the season opener in overtime against then-No. 19 Bucknell and lost to current No. 3 Notre Dame by four goals last weekend. Saturday proved no different for Danowski’s squad, which is becoming more and more comfortable in tight situations.

“[The close games are] great,” Danowski said. “It is what it is. These are the games that you figure out what kind of team you’re going to become. No matter what you do in practice, it is not like a game. Once you put the uniforms on, and there are officials and the other team, and Mom and Dad are in town and your girlfriend perhaps, it’s different. You have to learn how to play with all those distractions.”

Duke will face a lot more distractions when it hits the road for the first time this season. The Blue Devils travel to Baltimore next Saturday to take on No. 6 Maryland in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic.
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http://dukechronicle.com/article/trustees-approve-k4-tuition-hikes

Trustees approve K4, tuition hikes
By Emmeline Zhao
March 1, 2010
Subtitle:
Undergrad fees rise above $50K with 3.9% increase

During its weekend meeting, the Board of Trustees approved the construction of a new dorm, discussed the University’s financial state and raised the total cost of a Duke undergraduate education past the $50,000 mark for next year.

The Board approved a 3.9 percent increase in tuition, room and board for undergraduates, bumping the total cost of attending Duke up to $51,865 from $49,895. The new price includes a 4 percent increase in tuition to $38,985, which is $1,500 more than the current academic year. It also ties in a 5.2 percent increase for all dining plans, but whether that amount will be added as a fee or as additional food points is yet to be determined, said DSG President Awa Nur, a senior. Nur sits on the Board’s Business and Finance Committee.

“We’re not trying to close the budget deficit on the back of our students,” President Richard Brodhead said. “There are things here that enrich the students, and that investment is reflected in the increase, but we also try to keep it as low as we can.”

Tuition increased by 3.9 percent last year and by 5 percent in 2008. Duke’s tuition hike comes at a time when peer institutions are raising their prices as well. The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors signed off on a 5.2 percent increase in undergraduate tuition Feb. 12, pending legislative approval. Yale University announced a 4.8 percent tuition increase Feb. 23, Stanford University has approved a 3.5 percent increase and Brown University will see a 4.9 percent jump.

Financial aid will not expand this year, but officials emphasized the University’s commitment to need-blind admissions. Board Chair and Democratic state Sen. Dan Blue, Law ’73, said that between 30 and 40 percent of the tuition increase will go toward funding financial aid.

University officials are also working to balance increases in revenue from tuition with budget cuts by the Duke Administrative Reform Team, Provost Peter Lange said. Duke has consistently stayed below the median in tuition hikes among its peer institutions, Lange added.

“That’s not a relief for our parents, but that does give you some sense of the context,” he said. “We recognize that when we raise tuition, it’s an added cost for our families. We recognize that we are being very rigorous in sustaining our financial aid program—we’re trying to strike the right balance.”

This weekend, the Trustees also approved increases in next year’s tuition for the University’s graduate and professional schools.

The Pratt School of Engineering’s Master of Engineering Management program, School of Nursing and Law School will each see tuition increases of 5.5 percent or more. Tuition for the Sanford School of Public Policy, School of Medicine and Graduate School will all increase by 4 percent. The Divinity School’s tuition will increase 3.5 percent, the Fuqua School of Business will see an increase of 4.6 percent and the Nicholas School of the Environment will see the lowest increase of 2.8 percent.

The Trustees also heard an update on the University’s overall financial situation.

Duke has reduced its approximately $100 million deficit by half, one year into its three-year track, and Blue attributed the University’s progress partly to voluntary retirements. He reiterated that substantial layoffs are not a part of the budget cutting plan.

“We don’t anticipate any large-scale mass layoffs to adjust to what’s happening financially,” Blue said. “The feeling is that we’re about halfway home with DART, the challenge is to get the other half way.... The University is in a sound position financially but looking for more opportunities to be more efficient.”

In other business:

The Board approved the construction of K4, a fourth building that will complete Keohane Quadrangle. The 150-bed dormitory will be split into two houses and consist of single rooms, doubles and two-story suites. The building is expected to be completed by January 2012. It will serve as a precursor to New Campus, testing the housing model that will be the basis for that long-term initiative.

Trustees agreed Saturday that the building’s external appearance should match the rest of Keohane, said Steve Nowicki, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education.

“We can’t wait for New Campus. We have to start doing things now to make the residential experience of Duke students now tangibly better, and that’s what part of K4 is about,” he said.

University officials also presented and reviewed the strategic plans of Duke and its individual schools, highlighting interdisciplinary education and globalization.

“We need to build the infrastructure on campus that acknowledges we’re an international institution, making sure there’s an international component within those programs, but truly international in its scope and its approach to analyzing where we’re supposed to be,” Blue said. “It’s just a question of implementing the general plan once we fully identify it.”

The Board discussed extensively the financial state of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Blue said, pointing to challenges with soliciting donations for the school.

The Trustees also approved an 18-month Master of Engineering degree program that will begin this Fall. The program will incorporate an internship along with business and management-based coursework.

A $20 million chilled water plant was approved to serve the Duke Medicine Pavilion and the Cancer Center, both currently under construction. The system will include two large chillers and be located on Circuit Drive.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/01/364044/for-duke-professors-family-its.html


Published Mon, Mar 01, 2010 04:47 AM
Modified Mon, Mar 01, 2010 04:53 AM
Duke professor's family lives on campus

DURHAM Maeve Cook-Deegan will have plenty of new experiences when she heads off to college this fall. But dorm life won't be one of them.

Maeve, a 17-year-old Durham Academy senior, has already spent six years living in a Duke University residence hall as the daughter of one of the university's 13 faculty-in-residence professors.

Which means she's already had a few "crazy college kids" moments.

Exhibit A: "I walked out the door yesterday and there was a guy with his shirt off," Maeve recounted recently. "And his friend was reading what people had written on him the day before."

Such is life in Alspaugh dorm on Duke's East Campus, Maeve's home since she was 12. She lives there with her parents, Bob and Kathryn, and their dog, Oshie, a friendly mutt named for a Swiss lake.

For Maeve, Duke dorm life was a dramatic change from the suburban bliss of Annapolis, Md., where the family lived before Bob Cook-Deegan was recruited away from a Stanford University program in Washington. She left a neighborhood where her best friend lived next door and moved into a cramped room at the back of the Cook-Deegan compound, a retrofitted apartment fashioned from several standard dorm rooms.

The apartment is long and narrow, with a spacious kitchen, a cozy living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a giant dog bed for Oshie.

For Maeve, life has been one slow transition. When she moved in at age 12, she got funny looks from students who may have mistaken her for a resident's little sister. As she grew, she began to fit in more. Now 17, she's just a year or two younger than the students.

Still, she doesn't mix with them much. In fact, the most interaction she has with students is during fire drills, which often come on weekends or late at night.

"This year hasn't been so bad," said Maeve, who will enroll at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland this fall. "They've learned how to use the microwave."

Dorm life can be frustrating at times. It's hard to direct friends to her dorm, which is tucked away in the back of the campus. And when they do visit, they risk a parking ticket from the campus cops.

A few suite perks

But there are bonuses, though, such as campus arts events, use of the campus gym and the quiet that comes with winter break. That's when Maeve has the run of the place, so she and her friends can enjoy the rec room and its flat-screen television - and pool and foosball tables.

Bob Cook-Deegan is a public policy professor and director of Duke's Center for Genome Ethics. When he was recruited to Duke, he insisted on living with his family in a dorm, in an attempt to recapture the experience he had as an undergrad at Harvard, where faculty members live in "houses" with students and act as advisers. The idea is to eliminate barriers between faculty and students and enhance the academic experience.

"I figured this would be the most efficient way to learn this new universe," he said. "I learn a whole lot more about the students hanging out with them and then eating breakfast with them."

The faculty-in-residence model is not common at Triangle universities, though N.C. State started a program this year aimed at bringing a faculty member to live in a residence hall.

Round-the-clock job

In exchange for free housing, utilities and wi-fi, Cook-Deegan is both a formal and informal adviser to the 120 students who live in Alspaugh. The formal: He helps organize dorm events, outings and educational activities, though he has no official disciplinary duties. The informal: He becomes a crisis counselor on occasion when an overstressed student bangs on the door in the middle of the night.

It's an arrangement he likes. He routinely chats with his students, and when they camp out in Krzyzewskiville for weeks to score coveted basketball tickets, he brings them coffee and doughnuts. But while he's a familiar enough presence in the dorm that students refer to him simply as "BCD," there are boundaries.

"I'm not one of the gang," he said. "There's a definite disconnect between the student and the faculty. Every year, I do have very close friendships with students, but it's not the expectation."

Connie Chai lived in Alspaugh as a freshman and enjoyed having a faculty member living among the students. Chai, now a senior, said it was nice to have an adult adviser close by, and seeing a professor outside the classroom set students at ease.

"You're seeing him in a different setting, and you meet his family and his dog," she said. "We'd be eating pizza in the common room, and Oshie would come in and try to get a piece of pizza."
eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com or 919-932-2008
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http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2010/02/mike-nifong-does-texas.html

Sunday, February 28, 2010
Mike Nifong Does Texas

"A Texas nurse who was brought up on criminal charges for filing an anonymous complaint accusing a doctor of unethical conduct was acquitted by a jury Thurday in a case that watchdog groups warned could have a chilling effect on health care workers and patients. ... After the jury returned its verdict, [Anne] Mitchell siad her complaint 'had nothing to do with perosnal feelings,' and she would continue to report doctors if she believes they are not gicing patients proper care. ... Dozens of nurses filled the courtroom throughout this week's trial, and many wept when the verdict was announced. ... 'Whether Ms. Mitchell was convicted or exonerated, was largely irrelvant to the long-term impact her prosecution will have on Texas patients,' [Allen Winslow of Texas Watch] said in a statement. 'The very fact that she was prosecuted will make individuals who could have information that could save lives wuill think twice before speaking up, putting Texas patients at risk.' ... Mitchell's complaint filed in April acused [Rolando] Arafiles of improperly encouraging patients to buy herbal medicines and wanting to use hospital supplies to perform a procedure at a patient's home", Betsy Blaney at the Houston Chronicle, 12 February 2010, link:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6862938.html.

"Now it's time for the sherriff who investigated her and the district attorney [DA] wwho prosecuted her to be brought to justice. We can only fantasize. ... The Medical Board [MB] already knew Arafiles. In 2007 it had placed him under certain restrictions for three years. Two days after receiving the anonymous letter, the board notified him of the complaint and some of its details. ... In addition, according to testimony at trial, he joined in pushing doc's $40 bottles of herbal supplement, even holding meeting at Pizza Hut to recruit other salesmen. ... [MB] offficials assumed he was investigating the doctor, according to a spokeswoman. In a letter to him, they said that under the law the letter could not be released except to a law enforcement official 'conducting a criminal investigation of a license holder of the TMB.' Nurses are not licensed by the [MB]. ... Instead of coorrecting the board's assumptions, the sherriff used the letter to identify the nurse who was over 50 and had been with the hospital since the 1980s. He obtained a search warrant of her computers and found a copy of the letter. ... Within weeks however, [DA] Mike Fostel offered a deal: The indictment would be dropped if the women agreed not to sue the county or its hospital. Smart man, but it didn't work. The nurses filed a federal lawsuit. ... Meanwhile the Texas [MB] has expressed its 'grave concern' about the indictments to Fostel and Tidwell. And national nursing organizations, outraged, raised $40,000 for the women's defense according to the [New York] Times", my emphasis, Rick Casey at the Houston Chronicle, 12 February 2010, link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/6863319.html

"A West Texas jury took but an hour Thursday to acquit a nurse who had been charged with a felony after alerting the state [MB] that a doctor at her hostpital was practising unsafe medicine. ... The jury foreman said the panel of six men and six women voted unanimously on the first ballot, and questioned why Mrs. Mitchell had ever been arrested. ... The prosecution has so polarized the small town of Kermit, where the hospital is located, that the judge moved the trial to a neighboring county. The case was investigated by Sherriff Robert L. Roberts Jr. a friend and admiring patient ot Dr. Arafiles, and tried by the county attorney, Scott M. Tidwell, a political ally of the sherriff and, according to testimony, Dr. Arafile's personal lawyer", Kevin Sack at the NYT, 12 February 2010: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/us/12nurses.html.

This case shows why we need juries. The jury deliberated less than an hour to acquit Mitchell.

Amazing. A 2009 version of a "traveling medicine show". Well, how about an indictment of Fostel and Tidwell for "extortion under color of right", 18 USC 1951?
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Quasimodo

Quote:
 
During its weekend meeting, the Board of Trustees approved the construction of a new dorm, discussed the University’s financial state and raised the total cost of a Duke undergraduate education past the $50,000 mark for next year.


How much did the Trustees actually debate or consider any of these moves; and how much did they simply APPROVE (rubber stamp) what their Chairman and a few inside members had already decided upon and just presented to them for approval?

Have they really grappled with and researched Duke's problems they way they would if their own businesses were concerned-or do their busy schedules allow them only time to think about Duke on three or four weekends a year?

(How many days have the Trustees spent in NC during the last year? More than Elizabeth Dole spent when she was a Senator?)

And since Trustee business should be transparent, how about a press conference at which ALL of the Trustees are present and can be asked questions about anything and everything to do with how they are handling Duke and its funds?

Stockholders of a corporation are allowed to do this; how about the beneficiaries of a charitable trust?
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Quasimodo


Feb 28, 2010

Colleges enlist parents to curb problem drinking



At Virginia Tech, where tailgating and raucous apartment complex parties are time-honored rituals, university officials are turning increasingly to Mom and Dad to curb problem underage drinking.

(snip)

After a spate of alcohol-related deaths on college campuses, Congress in the late 1990s changed student privacy laws to lower barriers to parental notification in cases involving students under 21.

(snip)

Parents of Generation X students were often reluctant to get involved when the school invoked an emergency clause in privacy laws and alerted them of alcohol problems, he said.

[ If a school can interpret an "emergency clause" so as to notify parents about a student's alcohol violation, how about notifying parents after students were accused of a drunken gang-rape?

In fact, did Duke ever officially notify parents that team members had been charged? Did it ever make any statements at all to the parents? Was it afraid of the legal ramifications if it did so?

Without any question, it could have notified them if the players had agreed; ergo, did Duke ever ask any of the players if they wanted their parents notified that they might be charged with gang rape? (insert sarcasm smiley)]


But today, parents of millennials tend to be tethered by cell phone to children who studies show often idolize their parents - so it makes sense to go a step further in parental involvement, he said.

"We'd like to strike a happy medium," Spencer said. "We're grateful for the positive involvement of parents. We find it difficult when their involvement is over-involvement."

(snip)

Some universities already have found success alerting parents earlier. The University at Albany, State University of New York has seen a decline in repeat offenders since it began notifying parents of under-21 students of minor alcohol violations four years ago, said Laurie Garafola, director of residential life.

"I don't send many second letters out to parents," she said.

At the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the philosophy is different. The school - which like many others stresses shared responsibility to parents and students during summer orientation - does not notify parents of minor offenses. Parents, however, are notified before any under-21 student is suspended.

[Just as Duke immediately wanted the parents notified? ] :SarC:

"Part of students coming to college is to learn how to be a responsible adult - and hopefully learn from their mistakes," said Patricia Leonard, vice chancellor for student affairs.
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http://www.wdsu.com/news/22686159/detail.html

Letten Promises Office Moving Forward With Case

POSTED: 3:58 pm CST February 26, 2010
UPDATED: 11:56 am CST February 27, 2010
NEW ORLEANS -- U.S. Attorney Jim Letten promised his office is moving forward with a case that is very much open, and active.

Sources told WDSU on Friday that communication is fast and furious among key players.

While the initial probe of officer conduct focused on the so-called Danziger Seven, the seven officers who took part in the post-Katrina shooting on the Danziger bridge, this week's guilty plea has broadened the spotlight to include those who "investigated" the incident.

Former New Orleans Police Department Lt. Michael Lohman never drew his weapon. He wasn't there to see the gunfire, but his admitted actions after the fact point to a wide-ranging conspiracy.

Former U.S. Attorney Julian Murray said it appears that federal investigators are now honing their sights on the alleged cover-up.

"They could charge them with conspiracy, just like they did Lohman, but he's already got the deal," Murray said. "They could charge them with obstruction. They could get 20 years for that. The false statement, you could get five years for that, and you could get 20 years on the false filing of the documents. So you're looking at 45 years just for the cover-up."

Sgt. Arthur Kaufman was another investigator sent to the scene. His attorneys have said that Kaufman received a letter indicating federal prosecutors are studying his role.

Though not mentioned directly by name, the bill of information against Lohman appears to make reference to Kaufman and to two other sergeants who actually took part in the shooting.

Robert Gisevius is one of those sergeants, and he -- like Kaufman -- has been notified that his actions are being studied. To date, Kaufman and Giseveus are the only officers known to receive target letters from the U.S. Attorney.

Investigators have confiscated files tied to others, such as Sgt. Gerard Dugue, who was also assigned to the Danziger probe.

Dugue's attorney told WDSU that no plea deal has been entered, but he has met with federal prosecutors, and he believes other defendants have also had recent meetings.

Meanwhile, NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley delivered a harsh message for the second time to those officers in question saying, “All I can tell you is that, if there are any other officers involved in this, they need to go to jail. That is all I can tell you. I have no sympathy for them. Suffer the consequences, period.”

Some legal experts said federal investigators are kicking the probe into high gear because the statute of limitations for charges runs out in September.
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