Portugal wants U.S. help in euro crisis: source
(Reuters)
ASUNCION (Reuters) ? Portugal asked Mexico on Saturday to tell fellow G20 members next week that the United States should offer "financial help" to resolve the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, describing it as a "systemic and global" problem, a Portuguese government source said.
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon to convey the message during the G20 meeting in Cannes next week, the source told reporters after the two leaders met at the Ibero-American summit in Paraguay.
"The crisis isn't in the euro zone. It is a systemic and global crisis and we hope that other big G20 countries intervene," the source told reporters in the capital Asuncion, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source added that Washington should help resolve the crisis "by boosting trade and also with financial help."
No one from Calderon's delegation in Asuncion could immediately be reached for comment.
Financial markets rallied strongly this week after European leaders hammered out a deal to recapitalize their banks, boost the firepower of a euro zone rescue fund, and impose hefty losses on holders of Greek debt.
However, economic analysts quickly warned that details of the rescue could still take weeks or even months to work out.
Portugal is suffering a deepening recession as it implements painful austerity measures under a 78-billion-euro ($110.3-billion) EU/IMF bailout.
(Reporting by Guido Nejamkis; Writing by Helen Popper; Editing by Paul Simao)
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center cited for safety violations
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center has failed to keep its operating rooms clean and safe and to protect its patients from possible infection, according to federal inspection reports recently released to The Times.
Inspectors found rooms that had holes in the ceilings or that were dusty and cluttered. Operating rooms were kept at the wrong humidity level, which can lead to the spread of germs, the reports said. Hospital staff members also weren't washing their hands according to policy.
"The hospital failed to maintain a sanitary environment for the provision of surgical services," the reports said. "This could lead to contaminated surfaces in the operating room and the spread of infection."
The infection control problems found at the county-run hospital earlier this year were so serious that the federal government sent a letter this summer threatening to revoke Medicare funding, a move that could financially destroy the institution. The county submitted a plan of correction. The federal agency hasn't issued its follow-up report.
"Thank God for the federal inspection," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. "It is necessary for the purposes of accountability and quality of care."
Rufus Arther, director of hospital operations for the California office of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees federal healthcare funding, said the agency never likes to arrive at a place where such a letter has to be sent. "We do not take these matters lightly at all," he said.
Delvecchio Finley, who became the hospital's chief executive earlier this month, said the Torrance-area hospital has addressed all the concerns raised by inspectors. The correction report noted several changes, including weekly audits of infection-control risks and more staff education on hand washing. Nevertheless, Finley said, issues continue to arise because of the age of the hospital, which was built in 1963.
"It's an old building," he said. "Because of that, there are certain challenges."
Los Angeles County is spending nearly $323 million to construct a 190,000-square-foot building at the hospital that will replace both the surgical facilities and the emergency room. Completion is expected in 2013.
Ridley-Thomas said the new building is crucial because high-quality healthcare cannot happen in "decrepit" facilities. "It was known that the current conditions were simply unacceptable," he said.
Miguel Ortiz-Marroquin, former chief executive, said Harbor-UCLA has constantly tried to stay ahead of inspectors and to correct problems as quickly as possible. But, he said, "until we have the new building open that will meet all the standards, we will be out of compliance."
Harbor-UCLA, the only trauma center serving the South Bay, struggles to meet patient demand, especially in the emergency room. The hospital, which is affiliated with the UCLA Medical School, has 538 beds. In the last fiscal year, about 80,600 patients visited the emergency room and 23,000 patients were admitted to the hospital.
Since Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center closed in 2007, the hospital has seen an increase in patients, especially in the emergency room, administrators said.
Healthcare-associated infections are a serious issue nationwide, but there have been several successful efforts to reduce them, including programs to increase hand-washing at hospitals, according to Dr. James I. Cleeman, senior medical officer at the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
"When a patient goes into a hospital, they are entitled to expect that they will not get sicker," he said. "And the vast majority of healthcare-associated infections can be prevented."
In addition to the federal reports, the California Department of Public Health also fined the hospital four times in 2008 and '09 for medical errors that put patients at risk of serious injury or death. In one of those cases, a mix-up in labeling caused the wrong patient to have his prostate removed. In another, a sponge was inadvertently left in a patient's abdomen during an operation.
The state also cited the hospital for not quickly screening and stabilizing two patients who went to the emergency room complaining of chest pain. Another patient who had been hit by a car died after nurses failed to closely monitor his condition, according to the state.
The hospital has remained accredited by the Joint Commission, though it had 21 complaints that met the criteria for review by the agency.
Health advocate Lark Galloway-Gilliam said the issues are alarming and the county must ensure that patients can receive safe, high-quality medical care at Harbor-UCLA and the county's three other hospitals.
"You don't want to be that family member of someone who comes down with an infection because someone didn't follow protocol," said Galloway-Gilliam, executive director of Community Health Councils in South Los Angeles.
Katarina del Valle Thompson, a union representative for the nurses at Harbor-UCLA, said she believes inadequate staffing has contributed to the problems. "The best thing we could do to minimize the chances of errors would be to staff adequately," she said.
Several lawsuits also have been filed against the hospital in recent years, alleging medical malpractice and negligence. In January, the county settled a case for $1.175 million involving a woman whose blood vessel was injured during a procedure at the hospital. She had gone to Harbor-UCLA after being in a car accident.
All hospitals face some issues with patient safety and quality, but the problems at Harbor-UCLA should be taken very seriously, said James Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Assn. of Southern California. The reports should put Harbor-UCLA on alert that it needs to improve ? quickly.
"We only have to recall what happened with the former King/Drew Medical Center," he said. "The downfall of that hospital started with these types of alerts."
Obama Has Dinner with Ordinary Americans
(ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Sitting down for dinner across from the president of the United States is a tremendous honor for anyone, and four carefully selected ordinary Americans had a chance to do that Thursday night with Barack Obama thanks to the campaign team charged with raising money for his re-election.
Associated Press said Obama spent an hour with the group, engaging in small talk about the Chicago White Sox and other topics before the press was escorted out of the room. What they talked about afterward is anyone's guess.
I'm just an ordinary American too, and I'd love a chance to sit across from the president. I wouldn't want to talk about baseball -- but if we did, it would need to be about the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals for sure. I would want to talk about jobs. I'd like to know why his jobs bill only targeted certain categories of people inclined to support his re-election.
Congressional gridlock is another topic I'd love to hear the president address. He was a senator and a state legislator for years before that. He knows the legislative game and how it is played. Why has he been victim to a year of stymied attempts to pass any meaningful legislation?
Obama doesn't want that kind of questioning from someone who is inclined not to vote for him. He doesn't want to hear from people who are opposed to his policies -- that's why the lucky people were selected only from his campaign donor lists. He doesn't want to be sitting across from a family that just lost their home to foreclosure because of bad banking policies or, as MSNBC reported, the delay in a presidential solution to the problem.
Associated Press reported the White House announced two new executive initiatives that target American businesses and help speed products to market. But Obama doesn't want to spend any personal time with a small businesswoman to explain why it took until the third year of his presidency to begin doing something to help business and manufacturing.
Obama likes to keep himself insulated from the real issues affecting average Americans. That's exactly why is campaign will carefully choreograph those sitting across the table from him.
Hey, Mr. President: give me a call. Let's have dinner. I'll even buy.
Dan McGinnis is a freelance writer, published author and former newspaper publisher. He has been a candidate, campaign manager and press secretary for state and local political campaigns for more than 30 years.
Governments must plan for migration in response to climate change, researchers say
Governments must plan for migration in response to climate change, researchers sayPublic release date: 27-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anthony Oliver-Smith aros@ufl.edu 352-377-8359 University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Governments around the world must be prepared for mass migrations caused by rising global temperatures or face the possibility of calamitous results, say University of Florida scientists on a research team reporting in the Oct. 28 edition of Science.
If global temperatures increase by only a few of degrees by 2100, as predicted by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, people around the world will be forced to migrate. But transplanting populations from one location to another is a complicated proposition that has left millions of people impoverished in recent years. The researchers say that a word of caution is in order and that governments should take care to understand the ramifications of forced migration.
A consortium of 12 scientists from around the world, including two UF researchers, gathered last year at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center to review 50 years of research related to population resettlement following natural disasters or the installation of infrastructure development projects such as dams and pipelines. The group determined that resettlement efforts in the past have left communities in ruin, and that policy makers need to use lessons from the past to protect people who are forced to relocate because of climate change.
"The effects of climate change are likely to be experienced by as many people as disasters," UF anthropologist Anthony Oliver-Smith said. "More people than ever may be moving in response to intense storms, increased flooding and drought that makes living untenable in their current location."
"Sometimes the problem is simply a lack of regard for the people ostensibly in the way of progress," said Oliver-Smith, an emeritus professor who has researched issues surrounding forced migration for more than 30 years. But resettlements frequently fail because the complexity of the task is underestimated. "Transplanting a population and its culture from one location to another is a complex process -- as complicated as brain surgery," he said.
"It's going to be a matter of planning ahead now," said Burt Singer, a courtesy faculty member at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute who worked with the research group. He too has studied issues related to population resettlement for decades.
Singer said that regulatory efforts promoted by the International Finance Corporation, the corporate lending arm of the World Bank, are helping to ensure the well-being of resettled communities in some cases. But as more people are relocated -- especially very poor people with no resources -- financing resettlement operations in the wake of a changing climate could become a real challenge.
Planning and paying for resettlement is only part of the challenge, Oliver-Smith said. "You need informed, capable decision makers to carry out these plans," he said. A lack of training and information can derail the best-laid plans. He said the World Bank increasingly turns to anthropologists to help them evaluate projects and outcomes of resettlement.
"It is a moral imperative," Oliver-Smith said. Also, a simple cost-benefit analysis shows that doing resettlement poorly adds to costs in the future. Wasted resources and the costs of malnutrition, declining health, infant and elder mortality, and the destruction of families and social networks should be included in the total cost of a failed resettlement, he said.
Oliver-Smith said the cautionary tales of past failures yield valuable lessons for future policy makers, namely because they point out many of the potential pitfalls than can beset resettlement projects. But they also underscore the fact that there is a heavy price paid by resettled people, even in the best-case scenarios.
In the coming years, he said, many projects such as hydroelectric dams and biofuel plantations will be proposed in the name of climate change, but moving people to accommodate these projects may not be the simple solution that policy makers sometimes assume.
A clear-eyed review of the true costs of forced migration could alert governments to the complexities and risks of resettlement.
"If brain surgeons had the sort of success rate that we have had with resettling populations, very few people would opt for brain surgery," he said.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Governments must plan for migration in response to climate change, researchers sayPublic release date: 27-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anthony Oliver-Smith aros@ufl.edu 352-377-8359 University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Governments around the world must be prepared for mass migrations caused by rising global temperatures or face the possibility of calamitous results, say University of Florida scientists on a research team reporting in the Oct. 28 edition of Science.
If global temperatures increase by only a few of degrees by 2100, as predicted by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, people around the world will be forced to migrate. But transplanting populations from one location to another is a complicated proposition that has left millions of people impoverished in recent years. The researchers say that a word of caution is in order and that governments should take care to understand the ramifications of forced migration.
A consortium of 12 scientists from around the world, including two UF researchers, gathered last year at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center to review 50 years of research related to population resettlement following natural disasters or the installation of infrastructure development projects such as dams and pipelines. The group determined that resettlement efforts in the past have left communities in ruin, and that policy makers need to use lessons from the past to protect people who are forced to relocate because of climate change.
"The effects of climate change are likely to be experienced by as many people as disasters," UF anthropologist Anthony Oliver-Smith said. "More people than ever may be moving in response to intense storms, increased flooding and drought that makes living untenable in their current location."
"Sometimes the problem is simply a lack of regard for the people ostensibly in the way of progress," said Oliver-Smith, an emeritus professor who has researched issues surrounding forced migration for more than 30 years. But resettlements frequently fail because the complexity of the task is underestimated. "Transplanting a population and its culture from one location to another is a complex process -- as complicated as brain surgery," he said.
"It's going to be a matter of planning ahead now," said Burt Singer, a courtesy faculty member at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute who worked with the research group. He too has studied issues related to population resettlement for decades.
Singer said that regulatory efforts promoted by the International Finance Corporation, the corporate lending arm of the World Bank, are helping to ensure the well-being of resettled communities in some cases. But as more people are relocated -- especially very poor people with no resources -- financing resettlement operations in the wake of a changing climate could become a real challenge.
Planning and paying for resettlement is only part of the challenge, Oliver-Smith said. "You need informed, capable decision makers to carry out these plans," he said. A lack of training and information can derail the best-laid plans. He said the World Bank increasingly turns to anthropologists to help them evaluate projects and outcomes of resettlement.
"It is a moral imperative," Oliver-Smith said. Also, a simple cost-benefit analysis shows that doing resettlement poorly adds to costs in the future. Wasted resources and the costs of malnutrition, declining health, infant and elder mortality, and the destruction of families and social networks should be included in the total cost of a failed resettlement, he said.
Oliver-Smith said the cautionary tales of past failures yield valuable lessons for future policy makers, namely because they point out many of the potential pitfalls than can beset resettlement projects. But they also underscore the fact that there is a heavy price paid by resettled people, even in the best-case scenarios.
In the coming years, he said, many projects such as hydroelectric dams and biofuel plantations will be proposed in the name of climate change, but moving people to accommodate these projects may not be the simple solution that policy makers sometimes assume.
A clear-eyed review of the true costs of forced migration could alert governments to the complexities and risks of resettlement.
"If brain surgeons had the sort of success rate that we have had with resettling populations, very few people would opt for brain surgery," he said.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK (AP) ? NBA owners and players ended a marathon negotiation session early Thursday after meeting for more than 15 hours in talks aimed at ending the lockout.
They'll return to the table Thursday afternoon.
"We were able to work through a number of different issues today regarding our system," union president Derek Fisher said. "We can't say that major progress was made in any way, but some progress was made on system issues. Obviously enough for us to come back at 2 p.m. (Thursday)."
Union executive director Billy Hunter said the two sides did not discuss the distribution of basketball revenue, which has been one of the biggest obstacles to a deal.
The revenue split emerged as such a roadblock last week that Hunter said they should "park" the issue and turn the discussions back to the system, saying that players might be willing to take a lower number if they found the system rules more favorable.
The sides returned to bargaining with a small group meeting less than a week after three intense days of mediation didn't produce a new labor deal. Wednesday's negotiations marked the second-longest bargaining session since the lockout began July 1. The talks stretched into early Thursday morning, the first time bargaining has gone past 3 a.m.
The first two weeks of the season already have been canceled, and there's little time left to save any basketball in November.
Both Fisher and Hunter expressed hope that a full 82-game schedule could still be played if a deal is reached by Sunday or Monday.
Talks broke down last Thursday when players said owners insisted they agree to a 50-50 split of revenues as a condition to further discuss the salary cap system.
The players have lowered their proposal to 52.5 percent of basketball-related income, leaving the sides about $100 million apart annually, based on last season's revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent of BRI under the previous collective bargaining agreement.
Seeking greater parity among their 30 teams, owners are looking to reduce the ways that teams can exceed the salary cap so that big markets won't have a significant payroll advantage. Players have feared that changes owners have been seeking would result in what would essentially be a hard salary cap, restricting player movement and perhaps even eliminating most guaranteed contracts.
Commissioner David Stern rejoined the talks Wednesday after missing last Thursday's session with the flu. He was joined by Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, owners Peter Holt of San Antonio, Glen Taylor of Minnesota and James Dolan of New York, and a pair of league office attorneys.
The union was represented by Hunter, president Derek Fisher of the Lakers and vice president Maurice Evans of the Wizards, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.
The sides also are struggling over items such as the length of the deal, players' contract lengths and the size of their raises.
FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, actor Bruce Willis arrives with his wife Emma Heming at the Weinstein Company Golden Globes after party in Beverly Hills, Calif. A representative for Willis says he is expecting a baby with wife Emma Heming Willis. Publicist Samantha Mast says this is the first child for the couple, who were married in March, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)
FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2011 file photo, actor Bruce Willis arrives with his wife Emma Heming at the Weinstein Company Golden Globes after party in Beverly Hills, Calif. A representative for Willis says he is expecting a baby with wife Emma Heming Willis. Publicist Samantha Mast says this is the first child for the couple, who were married in March, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Bruce Willis is adding to his brood.
A representative for the 56-year-old actor says he is expecting a baby with wife Emma Heming Willis. Publicist Samantha Mast says this is the first child for the couple, who were married in March, 2009.
Willis and his wife are "overjoyed with this news and they look forward to welcoming this newest addition into their family," according to a statement released Wednesday.
Willis has three daughters ? 23-year-old Rumer, 20-year-old Scout and 17-year-old Tallulah Belle ? from his previous marriage to Demi Moore.
Android Rules Report On Ad Impressions
(NewsFactor)
Adding to a fusillade of good news for Google as it pushes its Android operating system, a mobile-advertising company said Android devices accounted for more than half its traffic in the third quarter.
Millennial Media said that while Apple devices comprised the largest percentage of ad impressions for any one manufacturer, 23.09 percent, devices by Samsung (16.48), HTC (15.50) and Motorola (10.70) that run Android collectively steered 56 percent of the connected-device and smartphone impressions to the platform. (HTC and Samsung also make devices using Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system.)
Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices ranked fourth, with 11.5 percent of traffic.
Of the iOS devices detected by Millennial Media, 54 percent were iPhones, while iPod Touch and iPad devices combined made up the other 46 percent.
Dominating the Top 20
Of the top 20 phones detected by the company, 15 were Android-based, and six of those were made by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, showing 100 percent growth year-over-year. The iPhone was the No. 1 phone with 12.55 percent of impressions, followed by LG's Android-based Optimus at 6.3 percent and the BlackBerry Curve, with 4.7 percent. No Windows-based phone made Millennial's top 20.
Impressions by Windows-based devices made up just 1 percent of the total, as did Symbian-based phones.
Android apps also showed impressive power, with a 49 percent share of impressions coming from apps, a 20 percent growth quarter-over-quarter, with gaming making up the top app category for ads, up 26 percent from the prior quarter.
But Apple's iOS was no slouch in the report, either, with a 60 percent rise in impressions over the last year and a whopping 456 percent rise in iPad impressions over last year.
Smartphones made up the largest share of impressions by far, 72 percent, compared with 14 percent each for feature phones and connected devices, including tablets.
One vs. Many
As in any smartphone comparison of Android to Apple, it should be noted that Apple's numbers are impressive given that it only makes one phone (with several models) compared to the dozens that run Android.
The news comes as mobile-research firm Research2Guidance reported that the application market for Android devices reached 319,000 (though some of those may be later removed) and that developer interest in the platform is skyrocketing. At the same time, ABI Research found that Android-based phones were downloading more apps than iPhones. Additionally, Strategy Analytics found that Android-based tablets have risen to 27 percent of the market, up from just over 2 percent at the end of last year.
The ad impression statistics came during a quarter when many premium Android devices were released, such as Motorola's Droid Bionic, but before the release of Apple's iPhone 4S this month.
"I think it's reasonable to say that Android has profited from RIM's continuing, overall weakness," said Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT.
King said the continued momentum of Android made him wonder about Apple's "insistence on owning and controlling virtually every aspect of its products, from the development process through sales to customers, as compared to the OEM model that Android phones and Wintel PCs leverage."
"That's been great from an overall profit standpoint," King said, "but it's also tended to limit Apple's ability to grow or even -- in the case of PCs and servers -- to compete effectively ."
Wanna Boost Your Wireless Network by... 1.5 Miles? [Wireless]
O, first world problems! Of all your dreadful variants, the Wi-Fi Dead Zone has to be among the worst—how am I going to finish this Netflix stream now? If only my wireless network stretched for miles. It can. More »
Dr. Conrad Murray sits in a courtroom during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, Pool)
Dr. Conrad Murray sits in a courtroom during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, Pool)
In this Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, photo, J. Michael Flanagan, a defense attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray, looks on during Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. Attorneys for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson?s death are expected to begin their case on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, after they finish grilling a key prosecution expert. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, Pool)
Anesthesiology expert Dr. Steven Shafer holds an intravenous line as he is cross examined by Ed Chernoff, a defense attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray, background right, during Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, Pool)
Ed Chernoff, left, a defense attorney for Dr. Conrad Murray, holds up an intravenous line as he cross examines anesthesiology expert Dr. Steven Shafer, background right, during Dr. Conrad Murray's involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical license if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, Pool)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Defense attorneys for the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death are expected to begin calling witnesses in their case Monday after they finish grilling a key prosecution expert.
The defense case will be Dr. Conrad Murray's opportunity to counter four weeks of damaging testimony about him from 33 prosecution witnesses who have cast him as an inept, distracted and opportunistic doctor who repeatedly broke legal, ethical and professional guidelines.
The defense case is expected to comprise of 15 witnesses, although Murray's attorneys have not publicly revealed whether they will call the Houston-based cardiologist to testify on his own behalf. Jurors have heard from the doctor through a more than two-hour interview with police, and it seems unlikely that Murray's attorneys would subject their client to what would be blistering questioning from prosecutors.
Monday will begin with lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff questioning Dr. Steven Shafer, the prosecution's final witness and an expert in the anesthetic propofol, which Murray had been giving Jackson as a sleep aid. Chernoff's questioning on Friday challenged Shafer's conclusions and comments he had made about colleague Dr. Paul White, who will testify for the defense team.
So far, Shafer has not retreated from his position that Murray is solely responsible for Jackson's death and that the cardiologist committed 17 egregious violations of medical practices that each could have either led to Jackson's serious injury or death.
After Shafer is done testifying, Murray's attorneys will likely ask a judge to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter case against the cardiologist. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor will rule on the oral motion immediately and if he rejects it, the defense case will begin.
Defense attorneys have said they will call police detectives who prosecutors did not call, several character witnesses, White and possibly other experts. They expect their case will last through Thursday.
Murray has pleaded not guilty, and faces up to four years behind bars and the loss of his medical license if convicted.
The defense will have its work cut out for them to try to sway jurors to acquit Murray.
"He will have to change the landscape here and show some reasonable doubt, said Marcellus McRae, a former federal prosecutor and trial attorney who has been following the case closely. "The question is will this be enough."
McRae said calling Shafer as the prosecution's final witness was a master stroke.
"Brick by evidentiary brick, Shafer has built a wall of scientific reasons for the jury to conclude that Dr. Murray was criminally negligent," he said. "It allows the prosecution to tell the jury that their case is built on science rather than shifting theories."
Out of sight of the jury, the defense's theory has shifted in recent months from arguing that Jackson swallowed propofol and gave himself the fatal dose and more recently that the singer had swallowed several pills of the sedative lorazepam, which led to his death.
They may also argue that Jackson somehow gave himself a shot of propofol after Murray left the room, killing him quickly.
Prosecutors have sought to discredit all those theories through Shafer, who himself drank propofol before the trial in an attempt to confirm that it wouldn't induce sedation or other ill effects. He called the amount of lorazepam in Jackson's stomach "trivial" and last week said the only possible explanation for Jackson's death based on the evidence was that Murray put the singer on IV drip of propofol and left the room after the singer appeared to be asleep.
This week, it will be the defense's turn to either offer alternate theories or somehow pick apart the prosecution's case.
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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
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McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent is now believed to be heading toward Niger, a desert nation just south of Libya where his brother and dozens of Gadhafi loyalists already have sought refuge, a government official said Tuesday.
Rissa ag Boula, an adviser to Niger's president and an elected member of the regional council of the northern Nigerien town of Agadez, spoke to The Associated Press by telephone. He said he was in touch with the ethnic Tuaregs who are helping guide Seif al-Islam Gadhafi across the ocean of dunes that mark the path from Libya to next-door Algeria and finally to Niger.
The ethnic Tuaregs were among Gadhafi's strongest supporters that fought to keep him in power and one of his other sons as well as several of his generals relied on Tuareg guides to reach Niger in September.
"If he comes here, the government will accept him, but the government will also need to respect its international obligations. It's up to him to decide (whether to stay on the run or come to Niger)," Boula said, referring to the fact that Seif al-Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Boula, who is Tuareg himself and earlier led a rebellion against the Nigerien government that was reportedly funded by Gadhafi, said that Seif al-Islam appeared to be poised to cross into Algeria in order to make his way to Niger. It would be the same route that his brother al-Saadi Gadhafi and more than 30 other Gadhafi loyalists had used in September.
Niger's government has said that members of the Gadhafi regime wanted by the International Criminal will be turned over to the world body.
Al-Saadi Gadhafi, who is not wanted by the the world court but is the subject of a United Nations sanction, and several others considered key regime figures have been placed under house arrest in Niger's capital in a gated compound. The others are also under surveillance but are allowed to leave their villas, Niger's government said.
Seif al-Islam is one of two surviving regime figures that is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity committed during Libya's protracted battle for power.
Because of its large Tuareg population, Niger was among the last countries to recognize the country's new leaders. Mosques and hotels throughout Niger were built by Gadhafi and he remains deeply popular in the nation, making it a natural sanctuary for fleeing members of his inner circle.
Monday morning KO: A reminder of Matt Mitrione?s power
With Matt Mitrione taking on Cheick Kongo this Saturday at UFC 137, it's a good time to take a look back at how Mitrione ended his last fight. Here is a snippet of his bout with Christian Morecraft at UFC on Versus 4.
This fight will be Mitrione's toughest test yet. He is undefeated, with all of his fights have? in the UFC after a career in the NFL. Will Mitrione handle Kongo's striking? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.
Fraud case leaves California Democrats scrambling
(Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Stunning accusations that a top California Democratic campaign treasurer looted the war chests of her big-name clients have left candidates across the state scrambling to raise more money as election season looms.
Kinde Durkee, who controlled the funds of roughly 400 candidates and groups, ranging from Senator Dianne Feinstein to local Democratic youth clubs, was arrested in September and charged with fraud.
While the extent of the losses isn't yet clear, the coffers of dozens of Democratic politicians have been frozen, prompting the crippled campaigns to ask the California Fair Political Practices Commission to permit further donations from contributors who have already given the maximum.
Feinstein, seeking re-election in 2012, has been forced to start from "square one" to raise campaign money, said Bill Carrick, political strategist and consultant to the Senator.
But a commission official said it wasn't that simple.
"It's quite clear that we can't just say 'the contribution limit is set aside'," California Fair Political Practices Commission chair Ann Ravel said, adding that the commission's legal team was researching what options were permissible by law.
Feinstein donated $5 million of her own money to her re-election bid after the campaign lost access to an estimated $5.2 million, Carrick said. The senator has sued Durkee for fraud and breach of contract in a lawsuit that also accused First California Bank of aiding that fraud.
Durkee, the 58-year-old daughter of a Hollywood pastor, is accused of co-mingling money in the roughly 400 accounts she controlled at the bank, making it unclear to whom any recovered money actually belongs.
The bank reported $2.5 million in Durkee-controlled accounts, according to court documents, far less than the at least $9.8 million that her clients had raised, according to the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
"We lost at least $200,000 and the impact of that, for us, is much more immediate than it is for most candidates," Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman said.
"We've got more than 50 races on the November 11 ballot. Our ability to support our endorsed candidates in these local elections is significantly affected," Bauman said, adding that the loss represents 90 percent of the party's total funds.
'GOING TO BE TOUGH'
If a donor's campaign contributions were never received, Ravel said, there is a possibility that they could donate again. The commission hopes to decide if and how donors could contribute again by its next hearing on November 10.
That deadline, however, would be too late for local elections slated for the following day, and the sudden loss of funds will be most acutely felt in grass-roots operations.
"It's definitely going to be tough," Carrick said. "It's going to be very difficult for them to replenish that kind of money."
Not everybody is as sympathetic to the sudden fund-raising challenges facing the California Democratic campaigns.
"Most of these Democrats are very influential, powerful incumbents, and the political parties are able to contribute as much as they want to the candidates," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former Republican political consultant.
"I don't think any client of (Durkee's) will lose because of this. There's plenty of money out there," he said
Durkee, who has been called the "Bernie Madoff of campaign finance treasurers" by one former client, Representative Susan Davis of San Diego, admitted to using campaign funds for her own personal expenses, according to court documents.
The mail fraud case against her in federal court alleges that Durkee used campaign donations to make mortgage payments and pay her American Express bills.
"Durkee admitted that she had been misappropriating her clients' money for years and that forms she filed with the state were false," according to an account of an interview by Federal Bureau of Investigations agents in September, according to the federal complaint.
The bank angered clients when it handed over control of the 398 bank accounts associated with Durkee to a California state court on September 23, recusing itself from sorting out how much of the recovered money should be doled out to whom.
"In yet another attempt to escape liability for the fiasco that they helped create, First California Bank has turned most of the accounts that Durkee controlled over to the courts," the Los Angeles County Democratic Party said.
It added that smaller parties who lost funds lack the financial resources to fight in court to get their money back.
First California Bank marketing director Diane Dickerson told Reuters: "It will all come out in time, I promise." She declined further comment.
Durkee is next expected to appear in court in December. Her attorney could not be reached for comment and a phone number listed in court documents as belonging to her appeared to have been disconnected.
Pedal Faster for Better Cycling Efficiency and to Burn More Fat [Cycling]
If you're a cyclist training for competition or just want to burn more fat during exercise when biking, it's good to know whether you should pedal quickly or at slower cadences. Active.com explains why pedaling at fast rates is more efficient.
The article recommends cyclists use fast pedaling rates of 80-85 rpm (revolutions per minute), whether on a flat terrain or on an incline. This is better than slow, high-force pedaling.
The reason is that we rely on carbohydrates or fats in our muscles differently depending on the types of muscle contractions and, thus, muscle cells used:
Athletes broke down the carbohydrate in their muscles at a greater rate when the 50 rpm strategy was used, while the 100 rpm cadence produced a greater reliance on fat
If you're interested in the science behind it, check out the article linked below, which explains how different speeds trigger our muscles' fast-twitch fibers versus slow-twitch cells, which turn out to be more efficient at burning fat. But, basically, pedal faster!
Photo by Rob Annis.
Why fast pedaling makes cyclists more efficient | Active.com
You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter or Google+.
Women can self-test for HPV, easily and accurately, study suggests
ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2011) ? A team of German researchers has shown that women can accurately test themselves for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, the most common cause of cervical cancer. The research is published in the October Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
"The high sensitivity of this self-sampling method guarantees to identify nearly all HPV-infected women," says first author Yvonne Delere, of the Robert Koch Institute of the Ministry of Health, Berlin.
Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women, with half a million new cases and a quarter million deaths, annually, according to the World Health Organization. Virtually all cases are linked to certain strains HPV.
In the study, the researchers compared self sampling with conventional endocervical brush samples obtained by gynecologists in two groups of women 20-30 years of age, with (55 women) and without (101 women) a recent suspicious cytological smear. The two sampling methods were in accord in the two groups 84 and 91 percent of the time, respectively. Overall, the women rated the self-sampling method easy, at 12 on a scale of 0 (easy) to 100 (difficult).
The Netherlands has already introduced the new technique into cervical cancer screening programs, and Delere hopes to see the method become widespread in developing countries, where women frequently lack easy access to medical personnel and testing.
The researchers note that concordance between the conventional and the self-sampling methods is good despite the fact that the techniques sample different areas. The cervical brush sampling is directed towards the transformation zone, the area on the cervix where abnormal cells most commonly develop, while the lavage includes the whole cervical area.
"The higher prevalence of HPV, hr-HPV, and HPV16 in cervicovaginal lavage samples may be explained by additional infections at extracervical sites," according to the paper. "Since these infections may be a reservoir for virus infecting the cervical epithelium at the transformational zone, they are probably epidemiologically relevant. Therefore, cervicovaginal lavage sampling may be superior to cervix-directed sampling for future HPV prevalence studies."
Among teenaged girls, the transformation zone lies on the cervix's outer surface, where it is more vulnerable to infection than it is in adult women.
The self-sampling device, the Delphi Screener, is a sterile, syringe-like device containing five milliliters of buffered saline. One operates it by plunging the handle, releasing the saline into the vagina, holding it down for five seconds, then releasing the handle, so that the device retrieves the fluid. Next, one plunges the lavage specimens into prelabeled coded tubes, and mails it to the laboratory.
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Journal Reference:
Y. Delere, M. Schuster, E. Vartazarowa, T. Hansel, I. Hagemann, S. Borchardt, H. Perlitz, A. Schneider, S. Reiter, A. M. Kaufmann. Cervicovaginal Self-Sampling Is a Reliable Method for Determination of Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus Genotypes in Women Aged 20 to 30 Years. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 2011; 49 (10): 3519 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.01026-11
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Changers Launches Mobile, Social Solar Charging System For $149
Changers is today launching its new solar powered gadget-charging system designed to power up your USB devices, including iPhones, iPods, Android phones and Kindles, using a simple, one-button device. The Changers Starter Kit, which includes the company's "Kalhuohfummi" (TM) solar battery and Changers "Maroshi" (TM) solar module, can generate up to four Watts per hour. The system has a social element, too. It uploads how much power it has generated to an online energy marketplace at Changers.com where you can compare and share your energy savings with friends.
Vivint Solar Announces $75m Partnership With U.S. Bancorp, Expansion Into Three New Markets
"If they're [the solar panels] not producing energy, you're not paying for it." That was Vivint CEO, Todd Peterson on Vivint Solar, the company's latest attempt at bringing renewable energy to consumers in a disruptive fashion. Through Vivint Solar, customers do not have to pay anything up front for solar power. They simply sign a contract, allow Vivint to strategically place solar panels on their roof and then buy the produced energy at a locked-in rate 20-30% below that of the local utility company. And again, if it happens to be an unusually cloudy summer, you don't take a loss since you didn't pay anything up front. Vivint Solar is announcing today a partnership with U.S. Bancorp that will allow the company to expand from its initial test market. A $75 million renewable energy tax equity fronted by U.S. Bancorp will help fund residential solar energy systems in the new markets of Utah, Hawaii and New York. But don't worry. Vivint is working hard at expanding nationwide.
Citigroup has agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just as the housing market was starting to collapse.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that the big Wall Street bank bet against the deal in 2007 and made $160 million in fees and profits. Investors lost millions.
Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the SEC's allegations in the settlement.
"We are pleased to put this matter behind us and are focused on contributing to the economic recovery, serving our clients and growing responsibly," Citigroup said in a statement.
The penalty is the biggest involving a Wall Street firm accused of misleading investors before the financial crisis since Goldman Sachs & Co. paid $550 million to settle similar charges last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. resolved similar charges in June and paid $153.6 million.
All the cases have involved complex investments called collateralized debt obligations. Those are securities that are backed by pools of other assets, such as mortgages.
Citigroup's payment includes the fees and profit it earned, plus $30 million in interest and a $95 million penalty. The money will be returned to the investors, the SEC said.
In the July-September quarter, Citigroup earned $3.8 billion. CEO Vikram Pandit this year was awarded a multi-year bonus package that could be worth nearly $23.4 million if performance goals are met.
At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, regulators worried that Citigroup was on the brink of failure. It received $45 billion as part of the $700 billion government bailout.
In the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday, the SEC said Citigroup traders discussed in late 2006 the possibility of buying financial instruments to essentially bet on the failure of the mortgage assets being assembled in the deal.
Rating agencies downgraded most of the investments that Citigroup had bundled together just as many troubled homeowners stopped paying their mortgages in late 2007. That pushed the investment into default and cost its buyers' ? hedge funds and investment managers ? several hundred million dollars in losses.
Among the biggest losers were Ambac, a bond insurer, and BNP Paribas, a European bank. Ambac had sold Citigroup protection against losses on the investment, allowing Citigroup to bet against it.
Hedge funds had asked Citigroup to sell them investments that would decline if the housing market crashed. Citigroup did so, and wanted to get in on the action, the SEC said.
Citigroup bet that the investments would fail, but never told investors it had done so, SEC enforcement chief Robert Khuzami said in a conference call.
"Key facts regarding how the structure was put together were not made available to (investors), and they suffered losses as a result," he said.
Even though Citigroup designed the investment to fail, it told investors it had been designed by an independent manager, the SEC said. Citigroup's marketing materials said the investments were picked by Credit Suisse. In an email about the deal, one Citigroup banker asked another not to tell Credit Suisse that it was designed for Citigroup to profit.
Credit Suisse "agreed to the terms even though they don't get to pick the assets," the email said, according to the SEC's complaint.
Credit Suisse didn't comment on its separate settlement with the SEC.
Motorola Droid RAZR unveiled: LTE, 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, available November for $299
As far as secrets go, this one was not well kept. After a series of leaks that treated us to early images of the device, Motorola finally spilled the LTE beans with a teaser page reveal just yesterday. Now, we have official confirmation that the itsy bitsy 4G Spyder's on its Big Red way.
This newest addition to Verizon's Droid lineup boasts a Gorilla Glass coated, 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display -- a first for any mobile handset -- atop a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP4430 processor. Although the RAZR may look like a Kevlar-wrapped, slightly warped Droid X with its 7.1mm skinny silhouette and familiar topside hump, the insides tell a different tale. Joining the list of well-heeled specs, are an 8 megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p HD video, 1GB RAM, 16GB of onboard storage with 16GB additional on the microSD card and an 1,800mAh battery. Moto's also included Lapdock 100 and 500 Pro compatibility, converting this latest red-eyed beastie into a power user's best friend.
To help you squeeze the most productivity out of its 21st century RAZR, Moto's also thrown in what it's calling SmartActions software to manage your phone's battery life. These user-determined settings can be programmed to shut off Bluetooth when you return home or slow down the processor speed while you're on the phone -- whatever your energy needs, the company's intent you make the most of this handset. A new personal cloud feature comes bundled with the device, dubbed MotoCast. Video, photos, documents and music can be streamed from your laptop straight to the handheld. And for the IT departments of the world, the RAZR comes business ready with Citrix Receiver, Motorola Webtop and videoconferencing abilities.
Of course, there are a slew of accessories you can pair up with that new Droid: two lapdocks, wireless keyboard options, HD docks and Bluetooth headsets. You can snatch up all the extra goods and, of course, that aluminum-accented smartphone on October 27th when Verizon begins accepting pre-orders. As for that hard street date, the network's being coy with a global release slated for November.
Update: Motorola has also confirmed that the phone will be exclusive to Rogers in Canada, where it will simply be known as the Motorola RAZR. Still no word on an exact release date, but the phone is now available for pre-order at $150 on a three-year contract, and Motorola says it will launch "in time for the holidays." Unfortunately, Canadians will have to make do without LTE, as Rogers' version will only do HSPA up to 14.4Mbps.
NEW YORK ? A year ago Connecticut was 10th in the Big East coaches' preseason poll. Six months later the Huskies had national championship No. 3.
On Wednesday, they were tied for first place in the coaches' voting for 2011-12 with Syracuse, although the Huskies can lay claim to more No. 1 votes, 7-5.
It's hard to imagine Connecticut playing better than it did during the 11-game winning streak that ended with the cutting of the nets in Houston.
This group will have to do it without All-America guard Kemba Walker, who did everything needed to win games.
Coach Jim Calhoun has three starters returning, including sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb, a preseason first-team pick, and junior forward Alex Oriakhi, a second-team selection. Freshman Andre Drummond, a 6-foot-11 center, was chosen preseason rookie of the year.
The Orange return first-team selection Kris Joseph, a senior, and second-teamer Scoop Jardine, a junior who led the conference in assists with a 6.1 average last season.
Louisville, which had three first-place votes was third, followed by Pittsburgh, which had one.
Panthers senior guard Ashton Gibbs was selected preseason player of the year. He led Pittsburgh in scoring (16.8), and led the conference in 3-point shooting (49 percent), and was second in free throw shooting (88.9) He enters the season third on the Big East career 3-point shooting percentage list at 45.4.
The other Panthers to be preseason player of the year are Charles Smith (1986-87), Jerome Lane (1987-88), Brandin Knight (2002-03) and Aaron Gray (2006-07).
Cincinnati was fifth followed by Marquette, West Virginia, Villanova, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, South Florida, Providence and DePaul.
In addition to Gibbs, Lamb and Joseph, the preseason first team included seniors Darius Johnson-Odom of Marquette and Kevin Jones of West Virginia, and graduate student Tim Abromaitis of Notre Dame.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team or players.
Everything about the Big East is in flux right now. Syracuse and Pittsburgh are leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference and TCU, which was scheduled to start competing in 2012, left for the Big 12.
Conference commissioner John Marinatto announced Tuesday that the Big East wants to expand to 12 football schools and reiterated the conference intends to hold Pitt and Syracuse to the league's 27-month notification rule, keeping those schools in the league for the next two years.
He said the conference has looked at 14-team models for next season.
Gay and bisexual men have varied sexual repertoires, study suggests
ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? A new study by researchers at Indiana University and George Mason University found the sexual repertoire of gay men surprisingly diverse, suggesting that a broader, less disease-focused perspective might be warranted by public health and medical practitioners in addressing the sexual health of gay and bisexual men.
The study, published online ahead of print in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, tapped the largest sample of its kind in the United States to examine the sexual behaviors of gay and bisexual men. In collaboration with the OLB Research Institute at Online Buddies, Inc., researchers were able to include feedback from nearly 25,000 men. While gay study participants reported 1,308 unique combinations of behaviors, the most commonly reported behavior was kissing a partner on the mouth.
From a public health standpoint, say the researchers, this study provides professionals with data on the behavior of men having sex with men (MSM) that was missing from the sexual health discussion.
"Due to the disproportionate impact of HIV among MSM, the majority of research on gay and bisexual men's sexual behavior is situated within the context of disease. This emphasis has resulted in a body of literature about gay and bisexual men that is risk-focused, with limited understanding of the diversity and complexity of these men's sexual lives," said co-author Michael Reece, director of IU's Center for Sexual Health Promotion.
"In order to provide clinicians and public health professionals with the necessary tools to promote sexuality in a positive and healthy manner, a more nuanced understanding of an individual sexual experience was needed."
Lead author Joshua G. Rosenberger, professor in the Department of Global and Community Health in the College of Health and Human Services at Mason, said the study is one of the first to explore sexual behavior at the event level among a national sample of gay and bisexually identified men.
"As such, this study was focused primarily on a single sexual event -- the most recent -- and therefore these data are able to provide a level of detail about MSM sexual behavior that has not previously been documented," he said.
The study will appear in the November print issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine. Authors include Rosenberger from Mason's Department of Global and Community Health; Reece, Vanessa Schick and Debby Herbenick from IU's Center for Sexual Health Promotion, which is in the Department of Applied Health Science in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; Barbara Van Der Pol and J. Dennis Fortenberry with IU's School of Medicine; and David S. Novak from Online Buddies, Inc. Online Buddies, Inc. is one of the world's largest operators of Internet websites for men who seek social or sexual interactions with other men.
Consistent with other recent studies that have examined similar issues among heterosexual men and women, the study findings demonstrate that gay and bisexual men have very diverse sexual repertoires.
The data revealed some interesting information on the types of sexual behavior that MSM reported, including that less than 40 percent of men engaged in anal intercourse during their most recent sexual event.
"Of all sexual behaviors that men reported occurring during their last sexual event, those involving the anus were the least common," Rosenberger said. "There is certainly a misguided belief that 'gay sex equals anal sex,' which is simply untrue much of the time."
Additional key findings include:
More than 40 percent of the study's participants reported that their most recent sexual partner was someone they were dating, their boyfriend or their spouse/partner. In comparison, an earlier study of predominantly heterosexual participants found that rate to be just over half.
There is immense variability in the sexual repertoires of gay and bisexual men, with more than 1,300 combinations of activities during their most recent sexual events.
Evaluations of the most recent sexual event with a male partner were mostly positive, with ratings of both pleasure and arousal being highest among older men.
Nearly half of participants who engaged in anal intercourse during their most recent sexual event indicated a condom was used.
About 82 percent of men report that they had an orgasm at the most recent sexual event, and men were significantly more likely to report orgasm if their sexual partner was a relationship partner.
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Public release date: 27-Oct-2011
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If you're a cyclist training for competition or just want to burn more fat during exercise when biking, it's good to know whether you should pedal quickly or at slower cadences. Active.com explains why pedaling at fast rates is more efficient. 
"If they're [the solar panels] not producing energy, you're not paying for it." That was Vivint CEO, Todd Peterson on Vivint Solar, the company's latest attempt at bringing renewable energy to consumers in a disruptive fashion. Through Vivint Solar, customers do not have to pay anything up front for solar power. They simply sign a contract, allow Vivint to strategically place solar panels on their roof and then buy the produced energy at a locked-in rate 20-30% below that of the local utility company. And again, if it happens to be an unusually cloudy summer, you don't take a loss since you didn't pay anything up front. Vivint Solar is announcing today a partnership with U.S. Bancorp that will allow the company to expand from its initial test market. A $75 million renewable energy tax equity fronted by U.S. Bancorp will help fund residential solar energy systems in the new markets of Utah, Hawaii and New York. But don't worry. Vivint is working hard at expanding nationwide.
