The Top 3 Places in Colorado Google Trekker Should Go

Do you get envious of people who tweet beautiful hiking pics while you?re stuck inside at work? You can have the last laugh with Google?s 15 lens camera.

You can now sign-up to borrow one of the company?s Trekkers, a soccer ball-shaped camera that captures a 360-degree panorama ? just like the Google Street View camera. As the Verge reports, Google previously only let select employees and a few third-party organizations take the Trekkers out to scenic places including the Grand Canyon and the Canadian Arctic, but now the company is giving any third-party organization the chance to apply online for loaner Trekker backpacks.

The footage that winning applicants capture could be added to Google's growing library of Street View scenes around the world, though its unclear for now just how much, if any, other monetary compensation Google will provide to volunteers.

Google has already mapped the wintertime slopes of Colorado. What about for summer scenes? With so many beautiful places in the state, where should Google Trekker go in Colorado?

Here are our top 3 picks.

Devil?s Head Trail

Although not as high profile as the other two on the list, Devil?s Head trail is 15 miles outside of Castle Rock and a great hike for kids. The 1.4 mile long trail is relatively easy, and takes approximately 45 to 90 minutes on a one way hike with an elevation gain of 940 feet. Once there, there are 143 steps to get to Devil?s Head Lookout, the last of the seven original Front Range Lookout towers still in service. Though over 20,000 people hike it every year, Devil?s Head Trail remains a Colorado secret.

West Maroon Trail

Though they feature prominently on King Soopers cards, the Maroon Bells are still one of the most stunning views in the state. The trail meanders through aspen and around Maroon Lake, all in the shadow of the Bells. This easy hike gives a sustained view rather than just at the end.

The Colorado Trail

Stretching almost 500 miles from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail is a great snapshot of the state. Trail users experience six wilderness areas and eight mountain ranges topping out at 13,271 feet, just below Coney Summit at 13,334 feet. The average elevation is over 10,000 feet and it rises and falls dramatically. Users traveling from Denver to Durango will climb 89,354 feet. Now who wants to carry Trekker the whole way?

Are you feeling inspired? You can apply here. Have a better suggestion? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://kunc.org/post/top-3-places-colorado-google-trekker-should-go

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Mark Zuckerberg ?Likes' SF LGBT Pride As Tech Companies Publicly Celebrate Equal Rights [Pictures]

Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook employees celebrated the San Francisco LGBT pride parade from a decorated trolley today, as tech companies across the country very visibly supported equal rights. According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook had over 700 employees at pride. Here are some of our favorite photos of tech companies celebrating equal rights at Pride?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SMTWn8Nh5dE/

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Prop 8 challengers wed in California after stay is lifted

California Attorney General Kamala Harris officiates the wedding ceremony of Kristin Perry and Sandy Stiler, plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case, at San Francisco City Hall.

By Pete Williams and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

The two couples who challenged?the law that had?barred same-sex marriage in California?were married Friday afternoon after a federal appeals court dissolved its stay blocking same-sex marriage in the state.

On the eve of San Francisco's Pride Weekend,?State Attorney General Kamala?declared Sandra Stier, 50, and Kris Perry,?48, "spouse and spouse" shortly before 5 p.m. (8 p.m. ET) at San Francisco City Hall. In their vows, the couple took each other as?"lawfully wedded wife."

---

"Right now, we feel really victorious and thrilled and relieved to be at the end of this long journey and just move forward like a regular married couple," Stier said in a conference call with reporters ? but not before she introduced Perry as "my beautiful wife."

Stier said she and Perry hadn't had time to schedule a honeymoon. But Perry said that after a celebration with "all of the people we love ... Sandy and I will go somewhere alone."

Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, one of the couples who successfully challenged California's Proposition 8, marry in Los Angeles.

About 90 minutes later in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa married the other couple, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo, on his last day in office.

The ceremony, Katami said, was "about celebrating our private commitment and our public connection."

As the ceremony began, Villaraigosa said:?"I've done a few of these over the last couple years, but never have I been prouder. Never have I been more joyful than I am today. This is a special moment."

Many state officials, including Harris and Gov. Jerry Brown, celebrated the decision Friday on Twitter:

Twitter.com

Twitter.com

San Francisco City Hall will stay open until 8 p.m. Friday and will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for marriage licenses. The Los Angeles County registrar and clerk's office said it was deputizing extra marriage commissioners and extending days and locations to accommodate an expected rush of weddings.

Gina Alcomendias, the clerk-recorder for Santa Clara County, said few people had shown up at the County Building because the appeals court's decision came late in the day.

But "we're going to be busy Monday, I think ? the whole week next week," Alcomendias told NBC Bay Area. "Probably for a long while."

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted its stay two days after the Supreme Court declined to rule on Proposition 8, thereby upholding a lower court's decision overturning the ban.?The appeals court had blocked enforcement of that ruling pending the Supreme Court decision.

The justices also struck down?the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law that barred recognition of same-sex marriages.

Supreme Court rulings generally don't take effect for 25 days. But Harris had called on the 9th Circuit to lift its stay as soon as possible Wednesday after Brown told the state's 58 counties to prepare for same-sex marriages.

Brown issued an order Friday afternoon making that official, declaring that "marriage licenses must be issued to same-sex couples immediately."

California Attorney General Kamala Harris instructs the Los Angeles County Clerk by telephone to begin same-sex marriages "immediately."

The Protect Marriage Coalition's?Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund, which sponsored the ballot initiative, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. But in a statement, the group said it had been deprived of "our right to ask for reconsideration," calling the appeals court's decision an "outrageous act of judicial tyranny."

"Homosexual marriage is not happening because the people changed their mind," the group said in a statement. "It isn't happening because the appellate courts declared a new constitutional right. It's happening because enemies of the people have abused their power to manipulate the system and render the people voiceless."

Theodore Boutros, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, said the appeals court was fully within its rights to lift its injunction, which simply restored the status quo in the circuit. Any attempt by opponents to seek reconsideration of the Supreme Court ruling is a separate matter, he said.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

Miranda Leitsinger, Norma Rubio and Sossy Dombourian of NBC News contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Related:

Same-sex marriage supporters cheer 'Cinderella moment'; opponents vow to fight on

Historic day for gay marriage after two big court decisions

Jeff Chiu / AP

Kris Perry, left, kisses Sandra Stier as they are married Friday at San Francisco City Hall in a ceremony officiated by state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

This story was originally published on Fri Jun 28, 2013 6:59 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2df2fe27/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A60C280C191940A790Eprop0E80Echallengers0Ewed0Ein0Ecalifornia0Eafter0Estay0Eis0Elifted0Dlite/story01.htm

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Hamilton man burned in cooking oil accident

A man was flown by helicopter to a hospital Saturday after suffering serious burns in an accident involving hot cooking oil.

Hamilton firefighters said they were called to Grant Circle about 2:45 a.m.

Investigators said they were working to determine how the accident happened.

There was no fire inside the home.

The man's condition was not released.

Source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/butler-county/hamilton-man-burned-in-cooking-oil-accident/-/13601510/20772276/-/14qwrws/-/index.html?absolute=true

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Judge: Maine girl, 11, not competent for trial

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (AP) ? A Maine judge has ruled that an 11-year-old girl charged in the death of an infant remains incompetent to stand trial.

The Fairfield girl's detention and conditions of release are unchanged, pending further discussion of her ability to stand trial, Judge Charles LaVerdiere said Friday.

LaVerdiere said there is a substantial probability the girl will be competent to stand trial in the foreseeable future, the Morning Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/1155a1d).

She is charged with manslaughter in the July 8 death of 3-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway. The infant was staying overnight at the home of girl's mother, who was babysitting her.

The infant's mother was told the baby died from suffocation and had trace amounts of a medication that the girl had been taking in her system.

The older girl was charged last summer at age 10 with juvenile manslaughter. A judge had ruled in March that she was incompetent to stand trial.

The state forensic examiners will check on her competency again in six months, LaVerdiere said.

The girl's lawyer could not be reached for comment on Saturday. A phone message left at his office was not immediately returned.

___

Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-maine-girl-11-not-competent-trial-185610473.html

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The Conjuring Trailer: The Real Family Talks

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/the-conjuring-trailer-the-real-family-talks/

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Recruiter position at Morton Consulting | Darlene's Business Blog for ...

Recruiter will be responsible for assisting the staffing team in sourcing for qualified candidates, screening resumes, phone screening candidates, and scheduling interviews for available positions.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Source for qualified candidates using internet recruiting resources such as Monster, Career Builder, Craigslist, Linked In and other sources.
• Screen resumes and phone screen candidates
• Schedule interviews for administrative
• Interview applicants to obtain information on work history, training, education, job knowledge, skills and abilities to determine applicant?s suitability for positions
• Represent Morton Consulting Professional Placements at career fairs
• Update, monitor, and manage job postings on the company website and other websites
• Obtain references for newly hired employees
• Work in teams to plan and develop recruitment strategies for available positions
• Provide exceptional service to both clients and candidates.
• Network with potential recruiting sources at career centers, workforce boards, associations, etc. to create candidate pipelines
• Other duties as assigned

Job Qualifications:

HS Diploma or equivalent required. B.S. in Business, Management, Human Resources or related field preferred. Incumbent must have strong attention to detail, strong organizational skills, the ability to prioritize effectively, and the ability to adapt to changing priorities. Must be a team player and have strong oral and written communication skills. 2-3 years of Customer Service experience is required. 1 year of experience working in an office environment is required. Staffing experience is preferred.

To apply:? Please email your resume to mark.morton@mortonconsulting.com?AND copy dward@vcu.edu.

Source: http://wp.vcu.edu/dwardcareer/2013/06/27/recruiter-position-at-morton-consulting-2/

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Microbes Make Cozy Homes in Ocean's Garbage

For about four decades, it's been known that plastic is collecting in the open ocean. Now, scientists have found this debris harbors unique communities of microbes, and the tiny residents of this so-called plastisphere may help break down the marine garbage.

Inhabitants of the plastisphere include members of a group of bacteria, the vibrios, known to cause disease, and microbes known to break down the hydrocarbon bonds within plastics, genetic analysis revealed. But most important, the communities of microbes on the plastic pieces were quite different from those found in samples of surrounding seawater.

"It's not a piece of fly paper out there with things just sticking to it randomly," said study researcher Tracy Mincer, an associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, referring to the plastic. "There are specific groups of microbes that are attracted to that environment and are adhering to it and living on it." [In Photos: Trash Litters Deep Seafloor]

Potential pathogens & plastic degraders

Vibrios accounted for nearly 24 percent of the residents on one of the six small pieces of plastic used in the study.

"Because most plastic originates from land it begs the question how far these vibrios are coming from. ? And are they potential pathogens, not just of humans, but for animals, such as fish," said study researcher Linda Amaral-Zettler, an associate scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Some species in the genus Vibrio cause disease, but it?s not clear what species were within the samples, since the analysis for this study did not identify individual species of bacteria. ??

Burrowed in

Meanwhile, microscope images revealed microbestucked into pits that conformed to the shape of their single-celled bodies. The pits suggest the microbes are perforating the plastic and accelerating the natural weathering process, breaking it down, Mincer said. (The researchers aren?t certain which bacteria are in the pits; most bacteria cannot be identified through microscope images.)

"Either the cells have to settle into the perfectly shaped pits or they have something to do with creating the pits," said study researcher Erik Zettler, associate dean and professor of oceanography at the Sea Education Association in Woods Hole, Mass.

If the microbes are indeed burrowing into the plastic, they may be doing so mechanically or they could be metabolizing, otherwise known as "eating," the plastic, Zettler said.

The presence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, related to those that bloomed after the Deep Horizon oil spill, indicates that bacteria may indeed be responsible for the pits.

Good or bad for ocean life?

The scientists aren't sure if bacteria-aided breakdown of plastics is good or bad for ocean ecosystems.

Whereas smaller pieces may accelerate the removal of plastics from the oceans, they may also have negative consequences. Smaller trash bits have a larger surface area (and more contact with the surrounding water) relative to volume so they can release more of the pollutants that plastics can absorb.

These itsy bits of plastic are also morelikely to enter the bottom of food chains when animals such as tiny, floating creatures called zooplankton consume them,and accumulate in the predatorsat the top, Zettler said.???

Much of the plastic debris in the ocean has been broken down into confetti-size pieces. During voyages in the North Atlantic, researchers and students onboard a Sea Education vessel collected bits of plastic for this study, which was published online by the journal Environmental Science & Technology on June 7.

This research is part of a National Science Foundation-funded project to study microbes living on marine plastic.

Going forward, Mincer is interested in finding the genetic mechanism that has enabled the plastic colonizers to attach to it so quickly and effectively.

"We think it may lead to a story of microbes adapting to a changing world," he said, pointing out that plastics are quite different from any surface upon which open ocean microbes would naturally settle.

Follow?LiveScience @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microbes-cozy-homes-oceans-garbage-190936473.html

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Date set for trial of suspects in soldier killing

LONDON (AP) ? Two men accused of killing a British soldier in a terrorist attack are set to stand trial on Nov. 18.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, appeared at the Old Bailey courthouse Friday via video link. They spoke from separate rooms at Belmarsh Prison in London.

Both are accused of killing soldier Lee Rigby outside a military barracks in the Woolwich neighborhood of London on May 22 in an apparent Islamist terrorist attack.

Adebolajo, who was still wearing a bandage after being shot by police during the incident, is also accused of the attempted murder of two police officers and the possession of a firearm.

Both men spoke just to confirm their names during the brief hearing.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/date-set-trial-suspects-soldier-killing-130146690.html

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Gizmodo iOS 7 for iPad First Impressions: Messing With the Best | Gawker Teen Faces Years in Prison

Gizmodo iOS 7 for iPad First Impressions: Messing With the Best | Gawker Teen Faces Years in Prison for 'Sarcastic Comment' He Made on Facebook | Deadspin Curious How Much ESPN Executives Make? We Have Pay-Grade Charts | Lifehacker The Travel Concessions That Aren't Always Worth It (and Why)

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/K58Vtz_IJxY/gizmodo-ios-7-for-ipad-first-impressions-messing-with-603268133

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Beaker & Flask Closed Permanently - Portland Food and Drink

Beaker & Flask

Bad news about Beaker & Flask. According to people ?familiar with the matter?, the popular bar and restaurant will not be reopening.

Kevin Ludwig was well known from his longtime position as bartender at Park Kitchen. In 2010 he realized his dream, opening Beaker & Flask on SE Sandy to great fanfare. The restaurant and bar was a favorite of many, both because of the care the bartenders put into their drinks and the culinary skills of the kitchen. At the time it opened I wrote, ?Beaker & Flask is a surprise, currently the only bar in Portland where the quality of the food matches the thoughtful detail put into the cocktails.?

I?m sad to see it closed. It?s a little punch in the gut to the Portland food scene. Hopefully Kevin will resurface somewhere. I use some of his drink recipes on a regular basis.

"I have a wide-range of food experience - working in the restaurant industry on both sides of the house, later in the wine industry, and finally traveling/tasting my way around the world. Whether you agree or disagree, you can always count on my unbiased opinion. I don't take free meals, and the restaurants don't know when, or if, I am coming."

Source: http://portlandfoodanddrink.com/beaker-flask-closed-permanently/

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People prefer 'carrots' to 'sticks' when it comes to healthcare incentives

June 26, 2013 ? To keep costs low, companies often incentivize healthy lifestyles. Now, new research suggests that how these incentives are framed -- as benefits for healthy-weight people or penalties for overweight people -- makes a big difference.

The research, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, shows that policies that carry higher premiums for overweight individuals are perceived as punishing and stigmatizing.

Researcher David Tannenbaum of the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles wanted to investigate how framing healthcare incentives might influence people's attitudes toward the incentives.

"Two frames that are logically equivalent can communicate qualitatively different messages," Tannenbaum explains.

In the first study, 126 participants read about a fictional company grappling with managing their employee health-care policy. They were told that the company was facing rising healthcare costs, due in part to an increasing percentage of overweight employees, and were shown one of four final policy decisions.

The "carrot" plan gave a $500 premium reduction to healthy-weight people, while the "stick" plan increased premiums for overweight people by $500. The two plans were functionally equivalent, structured such that healthy-weight employees always paid $2000 per year in healthcare costs, and overweight employees always paid $2500 per year in healthcare costs.

There were also two additional "stick" plans that resulted in a $2400 premium for overweight people.

Participants were more likely to see the "stick" plans as punishment for being overweight and were less likely to endorse them.

But they didn't appear to differentiate between the three "stick" plans despite the $100 premium difference. Instead, they seemed to evaluate the plans on moral grounds, deciding that punishing someone for being overweight was wrong regardless of the potential savings to be had.

The data showed that framing incentives in terms of penalties may have particular psychological consequences for affected individuals: People with higher body mass index (BMI) scores reported that they would feel particularly stigmatized and dissatisfied with their employer under the three "stick" plans.

Another study placed participants in the decision maker's seat to see if "stick" and "carrot" plans actually reflected different underlying attitudes. Participants who showed high levels of bias against overweight people were more likely to choose the "stick" plan, but provided different justification depending on whether their bias was explicit or implicit:

"Participants who explicitly disliked overweight people were forthcoming about their decision, admitting that they chose a 'stick' policy on the basis of personal attitudes," noted Tannenbaum. "Participants who implicitly disliked overweight people, in contrast, justified their decisions based on the most economical course of action."

Ironically, if they were truly focused on economic concerns they should have opted for the "carrot" plan, since it would save the company $100 per employee. Instead, these participants tended to choose the strategy that effectively punished overweight people, even in instances when the "stick" policy implied a financial cost to the company.

Tannenbaum concludes that these framing effects may have important consequences across many different real-world domains:

"In a broad sense, our research affects policymakers at large," says Tannenbaum. "Logically equivalent policies in various domains -- such as setting a default option for organ donation or retirement savings -- can communicate very different messages, and understanding the nature of these messages could help policymakers craft more effective policy."

Co-authors on this research include Chad Valasek of the University of California, San Diego; Eric Knowles of New York University; and Peter Ditto of the University of California, Irvine.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/NltV_68swwU/130626143118.htm

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Broad immigration bill cruising to Senate passage

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Far-reaching immigration legislation cruised toward passage in the Senate as House Republicans pushed ahead Wednesday on a different approach that cracks down on millions living in the United States illegally rather than offering them a chance at citizenship.

Presidential politics took a more prominent role in a long-running national debate as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tried to reassure conservatives that many of the criticisms of the bill, which he helped write, are "just not true."

The potential 2016 White House contender said in remarks on the Senate floor it has been difficult for him "to hear the worry and the anxiety and the growing anger in the voices of so many people who helped me get elected to the Senate and who I agree with on virtually every other issue."

The political impact of the issue aside, there was no doubt that the Senate bill was on track for passage by Thursday or Friday.

Supporters posted 67 votes or more on each of three procedural tests Wednesday, far more than the 60 needed to prevail. More than a dozen Republicans sided with Democrats on each, assuring bipartisan support that the bill's backers hope will change minds in the House.

At its core, the legislation includes numerous steps to prevent future illegal immigration, while at the same time it offers a chance at citizenship for millions living in the country illegally.

It provides for 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, requires the completion of 700 miles of fencing and requires an array of high-tech devices be deployed to secure the border with Mexico.

Businesses would be required to check on the legal status of prospective employees. The government would be ordered to install a high-tech system to check on the comings and goings of foreigners at selected international airport in the United States.

Other provisions would expand the number of visas for highly skilled workers relied upon by the technology industry. A separate program would be established for lower-skilled workers, and farm workers would be admitted under a temporary program.

Some farm workers who are in the country illegally can qualify for a green card, which bestows permanent residency status, in five years.

Many of the bill's supporters also cheered a ruling from the Supreme Court that said married gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples. The decision would allow gay married citizens or permanent residents to sponsor their foreign-born spouses for U.S. residency, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pledged to implement it.

The basic legislation was drafted by four Democrats and four Republicans who met privately for months to produce a rare bipartisan compromise in a polarized Senate. They fended off unwanted changes in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then were involved in negotiations with Republican Sens. John Hoeven of North Dakota and Bob Corker of Tennessee on a package of tougher border security provisions that swelled support among Republicans.

The deal-making that smoothed the way for the bill frustrated GOP dissenters, who complained angrily on the Senate floor late Wednesday that they weren't being allowed to offer amendments. Supporters of the legislation vehemently disagreed, until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., snapped: "I've just about had it on this."

Across the Capitol, an attempt at a bipartisan deal faltered, and majority Republicans began moving ahead on legislation tailored to the wishes of conservatives and vehemently opposed by Democrats.

The House Judiciary Committee already has approved two measures and agreed to a third during the day Wednesday as it followed a piecemeal path rather than the all-in-one approach of the Senate.

The House bill approved Wednesday, on a vote of 22-9, would require businesses to check on the legal status of employees within two years, as compared with four in the Senate measure.

One of the bills approved earlier makes it a new crime to remain in the country without legal status. It also allows state and local governments to enforce federal immigration laws, an attempt to apprehend more immigrants living in the United States illegally. It encourages those living in the United States unlawfully to depart voluntarily.

The second bill that cleared last week deals with farm workers who come to the United States temporarily with government permission. Unlike the Senate legislation, it offers no pathway to citizenship.

With attention beginning to shift to the House, Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had assured the rank and file they will vote on bills being written on their side of the Capitol. "We are not going to take up the Senate bill," Fleming said, quoting the speaker.

Internal divisions among Republicans, combined with overwhelming opposition among Democrats, recently sent a farm bill down to defeat in the House, and it is unclear if the GOP will be able to command a majority for its own approach to immigration legislation.

At the same time, rules generally guarantee Democrats a chance to have the full House vote on its own alternatives, and it is unclear whether they might seek the vote on the Senate bill that Republicans hope to avoid.

For now, supporters of the Senate bill contented themselves with urging the House to change their minds.

"A permanent, common-sense solution to our dysfunctional system is really in sight," said Reid. "It is my hope that our colleagues in the House will follow the Senate's lead and work to pass bipartisan reform and do it now."

Outnumbered critics said the measure fell far short of the claims made by its backers.

"It continues to promote false promises that the border would be truly secure," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

A short while later, Rubio, without mentioning anyone by name, stood at his desk to slam opponents of the Senate bill for what he said are false accusations.

He said it is not true, for example, that the administration can ignore the requirements for border protection or that future Congress' can cancel funding or that it creates a taxpayer subsidy for people to buy a car or a scooter.

Nor are critics correct to claim a new 1,100-page bill was recently introduced that no one has read, he said.

"This is the exact same bill that's been publicly available for 10 weeks," he said, with the exception of about 120 pages that require tougher border security.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/broad-immigration-bill-cruising-senate-passage-200518755.html

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Qatar ruler hands over power to son

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? Qatar's ruler says he has transferred power to the 33-year-old crown prince in a long-anticipated move that puts a new generation in charge of the Gulf nation's vast energy wealth and its rising political influence.

The 61-year-old emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, said in a televised address Tuesday that the decision has been made to step down. Now, the British-educated crown prince, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, will likely begin the process of putting together a new government that may be in direct contrast to the old guard leaders across the Western-backed Gulf Arab states.

The decision has been rumored for months. Qatar has given no official explanation, but it is widely believed that Sheik Hamad is suffering from health problems.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-ruler-hands-over-power-son-052612831.html

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Court says suit testing blogger's rights can go on

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court says former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod can continue her defamation case against a conservative blogger.

Larry O'Connor, a colleague of the late blogger Andrew Breitbart, asked a federal court of appeals to throw out the case, saying it violates his freedom of speech rights. The appeals court on Tuesday upheld a federal district court's rejection of that motion to dismiss.

The case is one of the first high-profile federal lawsuits to test bloggers' freedom of speech rights, and large news organizations including the New York Times Co., Washington Post Co. and Dow Jones & Company, Inc., have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the suit.

Sherrod was ousted from her job as a rural development official in 2010 after Breitbart posted an edited video of Sherrod, who is black, supposedly making racist remarks. She sued Breitbart, O'Connor and an unnamed defendant for defamation and emotional distress after USDA officials asked her to resign and the video ignited a racial firestorm.

Breitbart died unexpectedly last year. Sherrod's lawyers say the unnamed defendant is the person whom they believe passed the video on to Breitbart, though the person's identity remains unknown.

The video on Breitbart's website turned out to be edited, and when Sherrod's full speech to an NAACP group earlier that year came to light, it became clear that her remarks about an initial reluctance to help a white farmer decades ago were not racist but an attempt at telling a story of racial reconciliation. Once that was obvious, Sherrod received public apologies from the administration ? even from President Barack Obama himself ? and an offer to return to the Agriculture Department, which she declined.

Sherrod's 2011 lawsuit says the incident affected her sleep and caused her back pain. It contends that she was damaged by having her "integrity, impartiality and motivations questioned, making it difficult (if not impossible) for her to continue her life's work assisting poor farmers in rural areas" even though she was invited to return to the department.

O'Connor's lawyers had argued to have the case dismissed under a District of Columbia statute called an anti-SLAPP law that aims to prevent the silencing of critics through lawsuits. A federal district court judge rejected their motion to dismiss, citing timing and jurisdictional issues, prompting the appeal.

In March arguments, the lawyers told the court of appeals that O'Connor and Breitbart, before he died, stood by the content, saying the blog post was opinion.

"What happened here is what happens in journalism every day," said Bruce Brown, a lawyer for O'Connor.

Sherrod's lawyers disagreed and said dismissal under the District of Columbia statute would violate their right to a trial.

The case has been closely watched as a test of the District of Columbia's anti-SLAPP statute.

___

Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MCJalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-says-suit-testing-bloggers-163141034.html

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The CW Schedules Premiere Dates for The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and More!

Source:

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Obama 'disappointed' over court's ruling

Holding signs with images of murdered civil rights workers, demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court??

President Barack Obama and his attorney general said they were "deeply disappointed" with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a key part of the Voting Rights Act, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement that helped dismantle decades of discriminatory voting restrictions in the South when it passed 60 years ago. The vote was split 5-4, with the court's liberal justices dissenting.

The decision drastically scales back the federal government's power to reject state laws it believes discriminate against minority voters, which include some efforts to tighten identification requirements and limit early voting hours at the ballot box. A wave of such laws swept 30 states over the past few years, and the Obama administration has aggressively fought them in court.

The president said he was "deeply disappointed" with the decision in a statement Tuesday. "While today?s decision is a setback, it doesn?t represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination," Obama said. "I am calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls."

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act?reauthorized by Congress for an additional 25 years in 2006?gives the federal government the ability to pre-emptively reject changes to election law in states and counties that have a history of discriminating against minority voters. The law covers nine states and portions of seven more, most of them in the South. The formula used to decide which states are subject to this special scrutiny (set out in Section 4 of the law) is based on decades-old voter turnout and registration data, the justices ruled, which is unfair to the states covered under it. States that had a discriminatory poll test in the 1960s and low turnout among minority voters must seek special permission from the federal government to change their election laws, even though many of these states now have near-equal voter turnout rates between minorities and whites.

"The coverage formula that Congress reauthorized in 2006 ignores these developments, keeping the focus on decades-old data relevant to decades-old problems," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion. "Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions."

The Justice Department used Section 5 of the law to block voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina last year, and it also struck down early voting restrictions in five counties in Florida. (Minority voters are more likely than white voters to vote early in person, and they are less likely than whites to have a government-issued photo ID.) Some Democrats argued that these laws were intentionally trying to suppress minority turnout in order to benefit Republicans.

The court has effectively now put the ball back in Congress' court, writing in its decision that it is up to Congress to write a new formula that is based on current data. States or counties that fit the new formula could still be subject to federal "preclearance" of changes to their elections procedures. It remains to be seen whether Congress, which is now more partisanly divided than in 2006, would tackle the challenge of creating a new rubric to find and eradicate racial discrimination at the polls. The president called on Congress to pass legislation addressing the ruling in a statement Tuesday.

In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writes the "sad irony" of Roberts' decision is that it strikes down the key part of the Voting Rights Act because it has been so successful at preventing racial discrimination. "Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet," she writes. Ginsburg also slams the court's majority for relying on turnout and registration rates "as if that were the whole story" and ignoring so-called second-generation laws and regulations designed to make it harder for minorities to vote. (One such Mississippi regulation sought to cancel a local election in 2001 because black candidates announced their intention to run.)

Civil rights groups warned that the decision will negatively affect minority voters who live in the covered jurisdictions. "This is a sad day for democracy," said Myrna Perez, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice advocacy center. "The Voting Rights Act is a needed and instrumental tool in our fight to eradicate racial discrimination, and the Supreme Court's decision today has made it much harder to utilize this tool effectively." Wade Henderson, the President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement that Congress should act to draft another coverage formula. "We urge Congress to act with urgency and on a bipartisan basis to protect voting rights for minorities," Henderson said. Brennan Center President Michael Waldman said Congress had a "duty" to update the formula. It's unclear what factors would go into a new formula, however, since voter registration and turnout data would not work.

"This decision represents a serious setback for voting rights?and has the potential to negatively affect millions of Americans across the country," Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday afternoon. "I am hopeful that new protections can and will pass in this session of Congress."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, said in a statement that "as long as Republicans have a majority in the House and Democrats don't have 60 votes in the Senate, there will be no preclearance."

Court watchers predicted the decision, given the conservative justices' comments on the law during oral arguments and in other cases. Justices in the conservative wing of the Supreme Court, including Roberts, expressed reservations that the nine Southern states covered by the law still required the same degree of federal oversight that they did 60 years ago. "Voter turnout and registration rates [between blacks and whites] now approach parity," Roberts wrote in a decision in 2009. "Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare. And minority candidates hold office at unprecedented levels."

Another argument against Section 4's constitutionality was that it's unclear whether minority voters in Southern states are more likely to face discrimination at the polls than they are in other states. Voter ID laws, for example, have passed in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Because those states do not have a history of voter discrimination?and are not covered by the act?their voter ID laws did not have to first pass federal inspection. That said, Southern states covered under the act were much more likely to pass a voter ID law than other states. Seven of the nine states covered in full under the act adopted such a law, compared with 12 noncovered states.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/supreme-court-strikes-down-key-part-voting-rights-141205218.html

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'Nerdy' mold needs breaking to recruit women into computer science

Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
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Contact: Alexander Brown
alexander.brown@springer.com
212-620-8063
Springer Science+Business Media

Media can change stereotypes that discourage women from entering many fields

The 'computer nerd' is a well-known stereotype in our modern society. While this stereotype is inaccurate, it still has a chilling effect on women pursuing a qualification in computer science, according to a new paper by Sapna Cheryan from the University of Washington in the US, and colleagues. However, when this image is downplayed in the print media, women express more interest in further education in computer science. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Sex Roles.

Despite years of effort, it has proven difficult to recruit women into many fields that are perceived to be masculine and male-dominated, including computer science. The image of a lone computer scientist, concerned only with technology, is in stark contrast to a more people-oriented or traditionally feminine image. Understanding what prevents women from entering computer science is key to achieving gender parity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Cheryan and team sought to prove that the shortage of women in computer science and other scientific fields is not only due to a lack of interest in the subject matter on the part of women. In a first study, 293 college students from two US West Coast universities were asked to provide descriptions of computer science majors. The authors wanted to discover what the stereotypical computer scientist looks like in students' minds.

Both women and men spontaneously offered an image of computer scientists as technology-oriented, intensely focused on computers, intelligent and socially unskilled. These characteristics contrast with the female gender role, and are inconsistent with how many women see themselves.

The way a social group is represented in the media also influences how people think about that group and their relation to it. In a second study, the researchers manipulated the students' images of a computer scientist, using fabricated newspaper articles, to examine the influence of these media on women's interest in entering the field. A total of 54 students read articles about computer science majors that described these students as either fitting, or not fitting, the current stereotype. Students were then asked to rate their interest in computer science.

Exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors no longer fit current preconceived notions increased women's interest in majoring in computer science. These results were in comparison to those of exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors do indeed reflect the stereotype. Men, however, were unaffected by how computer science majors were represented.

The authors conclude, "Broadening the image of the people in the field using media representations may help to recruit more women into male-dominated fields such as computer science. Moreover, the media may be a powerful transmitter of stereotypes, and prevent many women from entering these fields."

###

Reference

Cheryan S et al (2013). The Stereotypical Computer Scientist: Gendered Media Representations as a Barrier to Inclusion for Women; Sex Roles; DOI 10.1007/s11199-013-0296-x.

---

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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.

Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Alexander Brown
alexander.brown@springer.com
212-620-8063
Springer Science+Business Media

Media can change stereotypes that discourage women from entering many fields

The 'computer nerd' is a well-known stereotype in our modern society. While this stereotype is inaccurate, it still has a chilling effect on women pursuing a qualification in computer science, according to a new paper by Sapna Cheryan from the University of Washington in the US, and colleagues. However, when this image is downplayed in the print media, women express more interest in further education in computer science. The work is published online in Springer's journal, Sex Roles.

Despite years of effort, it has proven difficult to recruit women into many fields that are perceived to be masculine and male-dominated, including computer science. The image of a lone computer scientist, concerned only with technology, is in stark contrast to a more people-oriented or traditionally feminine image. Understanding what prevents women from entering computer science is key to achieving gender parity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Cheryan and team sought to prove that the shortage of women in computer science and other scientific fields is not only due to a lack of interest in the subject matter on the part of women. In a first study, 293 college students from two US West Coast universities were asked to provide descriptions of computer science majors. The authors wanted to discover what the stereotypical computer scientist looks like in students' minds.

Both women and men spontaneously offered an image of computer scientists as technology-oriented, intensely focused on computers, intelligent and socially unskilled. These characteristics contrast with the female gender role, and are inconsistent with how many women see themselves.

The way a social group is represented in the media also influences how people think about that group and their relation to it. In a second study, the researchers manipulated the students' images of a computer scientist, using fabricated newspaper articles, to examine the influence of these media on women's interest in entering the field. A total of 54 students read articles about computer science majors that described these students as either fitting, or not fitting, the current stereotype. Students were then asked to rate their interest in computer science.

Exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors no longer fit current preconceived notions increased women's interest in majoring in computer science. These results were in comparison to those of exposure to a newspaper article claiming that computer science majors do indeed reflect the stereotype. Men, however, were unaffected by how computer science majors were represented.

The authors conclude, "Broadening the image of the people in the field using media representations may help to recruit more women into male-dominated fields such as computer science. Moreover, the media may be a powerful transmitter of stereotypes, and prevent many women from entering these fields."

###

Reference

Cheryan S et al (2013). The Stereotypical Computer Scientist: Gendered Media Representations as a Barrier to Inclusion for Women; Sex Roles; DOI 10.1007/s11199-013-0296-x.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/ssm-mn062413.php

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Abu Dhabi moves into the spotlight | Focus | Breaking Travel News

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Source: http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/focus/article/abu-dhabi-moves-into-the-spotlight/

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Ferragamo promises a young, carefree summer

MILAN (AP) ? The Ferragamo summer promises to be young and carefree, with Bermuda shorts, leather sandals and a large backpack the only musts for the warm weather traveler.

To set the mood for the colorful 2014 menswear collection, Massimiliano Giornetti, the label's creative director, created a suitably atmospheric backdrop ? a long, white runway was set off by a big blue sky projected on a mega screen.

At the collection's presentation Sunday, the second day of Milan's Fashion Week, Giornetti at times took the summer suit trend of Bermuda shorts and a matching jacket a step further by cutting the sleeves off the jacket, or using unconventional colors such as pea green and lobster red.

The designer also favored large geometric patterns, a recurring theme in this round of preview collections, and light and billowy overcoats, which are also popular for next summer.

Salvatore Ferragamo, founder of the label, began his rise to fashion fame as a shoemaker in the 1920s. After a stint in Hollywood he set up shop in Florence, where the company still has its headquarters. As the family company expanded it added luxury leather goods and clothing.

Next summer's footwear features a sturdy sports sandal, worn with bare feet or a funky crumpled leather sock.

The new Ferragamo backpack comes in luxurious leather, and is reminiscent of an old-fashioned mountaineering bag.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ferragamo-promises-young-carefree-summer-154812991.html

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FBI's 'dark side' to go on display at 'Whitey' Bulger trial

By Richard Valdmanis

BOSTON (Reuters) - The jury in the murder and racketeering trial of accused mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger will hear on Monday from a former FBI supervisor who admitted he and another agent used to swap secrets with the notorious Winter Hill Gang.

John Morris, who supervised the Federal Bureau of Investigation's local organized crime squad during the Winter Hill's bloody rampage in Boston in the 1970s and '80s, helped its members elude arrest and silence so-called rats, threatening to implicate them in crimes.

Prosecutors will now call him to testify against Bulger, 83, who is accused of killing or ordering the murders of 19 people while at the helm of the gang as it ran extortion and gambling rings, and settled scores.

The accused gangster's story has captured Boston's imagination for decades and inspired the Academy Award-winning 2006 film "The Departed."

On Friday, jurors got their first inside glimpse of the FBI's reported double-dealings with members of Winter Hill.

Special Agent James Marra, an investigator with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General, detailed how Bulger and his associate Stephen Flemmi signed on as FBI informants in the 1970s and '80s.

Both men were overseen by FBI agent John Connolly, who has since been convicted of racketeering, obstruction of justice and murder for tipping off the gang's leaders of efforts to arrest them as well as for identifying informants.

Morris, expected to take the witness stand at the ongoing trial on Monday, was Connolly's supervisor. He was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony in 1998 federal court hearings.

Prosecutors alleged that Connolly told Bulger and Flemmi in 1982 that another Winter Hill associate, John Callahan, was being investigated in connection with another murder carried out by the gang.

Callahan later died at the hands of Winter Hill's "Executioner," John Martorano, who confessed to the killing and said Bulger ordered the hit to keep Callahan from talking.

Connolly was sentenced in 2009 to 40 years in prison for the murders, with Judge Stanford Blake saying he had "crossed over to the dark side."

Prosecutors have said Bulger fled Boston after a 1994 tip from Connolly. He eluded arrest for over 16 years before FBI officials tracked him down in June 2011, living with his girlfriend in a seaside apartment in Santa Monica, California.

If convicted, he faces the possibility of life in prison.

Prosecutors are also preparing to submit as evidence the 700-page file that the FBI developed on Bulger in the years when the agency claims he served as an informant.

Through his attorney, Bulger denied ever being an informant, insisting that he paid the corrupt FBI agent for information but never provided any of his own.

Jurors on Monday also are set to hear from Karen Smith, the daughter of Edward Connors, a Boston bar owner who was shot dead in a phone booth in 1975, allegedly because he bragged about helping the Winter Hill Gang kill another man.

Martorano has testified that Bulger and Flemmi were the gunmen in Connors' murder.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Barbara Goldberg, G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbis-dark-side-display-whitey-bulger-trial-050159776.html

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Snowden's return to US could be legal battle

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The criminal case against Edward Snowden could turn into a prolonged legal battle before the former contractor who says he revealed two highly classified surveillance programs ever appears in a U.S. courtroom to answer espionage charges.

A formal extradition request to bring Snowden to the United States from Hong Kong could drag through appeal courts for years and would pit Beijing against Washington at a time China tries to deflect U.S. accusations that it carries out extensive surveillance on American government and commercial operations.

It is not known whether the U.S. government has made a formal extradition request, and the Hong Kong government had no immediate reaction to the charges against Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who admitted providing information to the news media about the programs. Police Commissioner Andy Tsang told reporters only that the case would be dealt with according to the law. A police statement said it was "inappropriate" for the police to comment on the case.

A one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean. He is charged with unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified communications intelligence information and theft of government property. The first two are under the Espionage Act and each of the three crimes carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on conviction.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

Snowden told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Saturday on its website that he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because he has faith in "the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."

A prominent former politician in Hong Kong, Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, said he doubted whether Beijing would intervene yet.

"Beijing would only intervene according to my understanding at the last stage. If the magistrate said there is enough to extradite, then Mr. Snowden can then appeal," he said.

Lee said Beijing could then decide at the end of the appeal process if it wanted Snowden extradited or not.

If formal extradition is pursued, Snowden could contest it on grounds of political persecution.

Hong Kong lawyer Mark Sutherland said that the filing of a refugee, torture or inhuman punishment claim acts as an automatic bar on any extradition proceedings until those claims can be assessed.

"Some asylum seekers came to Hong Kong 10 years ago and still haven't had their protection claims assessed," Sutherland said.

Hong Kong lawmakers said that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-return-us-could-legal-battle-200441742.html

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Rivers receding in Calgary, thousands return home

A flooded downtown Calgary, Alberta is seen from a aerial view of the city Saturday, June 22, 2013. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

A flooded downtown Calgary, Alberta is seen from a aerial view of the city Saturday, June 22, 2013. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

A flooded downtown Calgary, Alberta is seen from a aerial view of the city Saturday, June 22, 2013. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

A flooded downtown Calgary, Alberta is seen from a aerial view of the city Saturday, June 22, 2013. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

This photo shows a flooded Calgary Saddledome Saturday, June 22, 2013 in Calgary, Alberta. The Saddledome, home to the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames, was flooded up to the 10th row, leaving the dressing rooms submerged. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday, June 22, 2013 after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

This undated photo provided by the Calgary Flames shows the inside of the Calgary Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. The Saddledome, home to the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames, was flooded up to the 10th row, leaving the dressing rooms submerged. The two rivers that converge on the western Canadian city of Calgary are receding Saturday, June 22, 2013 after floods devastated much of southern Alberta province, causing at least three deaths and forcing thousands to evacuate. (AP Photo/Calgary Flames)

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) ? About 65,000 residents of Calgary were being allowed to return to their homes Sunday to assess the damage from flooding that has left Alberta's largest city awash in debris and dirty water.

Some were returning to properties spared by flooding, but others were facing extensive repairs to homes and businesses.

About 75,000 people had to leave at the height of the crisis as the Elbow and Bow rivers surged over their banks Thursday night. Three bodies have been recovered since the flooding began in southern Alberta and a fourth person was still missing.

"We've turned a corner, but we are still in a state of emergency," Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said. "Our hearts and thought and prayers are with our colleagues downstream."

People in the eastern part of the province headed for higher ground as the flood threat remained. In Medicine Hat, Alberta, thousands of people have left their homes as water levels rose on the South Saskatchewan River. The river was not expected to crest until Monday, but by Sunday morning it was lapping over its banks in low-lying areas and people were busy laying down thousands of sandbags.

In Calgary, Nenshi said crews were working hard to restore services and he thanked residents for heeding the call to conserve drinking water.

He had already warned that recovery will be a matter of "weeks and months" and the damage costs will be "lots and lots."

While pockets of the city's core were drying out, other areas were still submerged. The mayor didn't anticipate that anyone could return to work downtown until at least the middle of the week. The downtown area was evacuated Friday.

The city's public schools were also to remain closed Monday.

Nathan MacBey and his wife found muddy water had risen to about kitchen counter level in their Calgary home at the peak of the flooding. His basement is still swamped and the main floor of the home is covered in wet mud.

"This is unprecedented," said the father of two, his voice cracking with emotion. "Not being able to give our kids a home, that's tough. ... We can survive, it's just the instability for the kids."

Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths said that 27 communities in Alberta were under states of emergency ? with some areas slowly starting to emerge from the watery onslaught and others still bracing for it

Griffiths said no place has been hit harder than the town of High River south of Calgary and it will be some time before residents there will be allowed back.

The waiting and worrying were causing tensions and emotions to run high, but Griffiths said virtually every home in the town of 18,000 would need to be inspected.

In High River, about 350 members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry from Edmonton have been assisting police in reaching homes that still haven't been checked. Armored vehicles have been churning through submerged streets and Zodiac watercraft have been used to reach the hardest-hit areas.

Back in Calgary, the water has taken a toll outside residential neighborhoods as well. The Saddledome hockey arena, home of the National Hockey League's Calgary Flames, was extensively damaged. The team said boards, dressing rooms, player equipment and several rows of seats were a total loss.

The rodeo and fair grounds of the world-famous Calgary Stampede were also swamped, although Nenshi was optimistic that things would be cleared up in time for the show to open July 5.

Nenshi said Sunday that all the major hotels in the downtown were closed and advised visitors to plan accordingly.

The federal Conservative party had planned to hold a policy convention in Calgary next weekend, but that's been postponed and a new date hasn't yet been set.

The mountain town of Canmore was one of the first communities hit when the flooding began on Thursday. Residents there have been allowed to return to 260 evacuated homes, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says 40 more are too damaged to allow people back.

In Saskatchewan, efforts are underway to move more than 2,000 people from their homes in a flood-prone part of the province's northeast.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-23-Canada-Alberta%20Flooding/id-9dac0f6a702c4a429f03b887f7a72065

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