Alabama town mourns for bus driver amid standoff

As the police standoff with an Alabama man accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage continued Saturday, a nearby community prepared to bury the beloved bus driver who was shot to death trying to protect children on his bus when the episode began days earlier.

Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, who was known around town as Chuck, was described by folks in his hometown of Newton as a humble hero. Hundreds of people attended a viewing service for Poland on Saturday evening. His funeral was set for Sunday afternoon.

"I believe that if he had to do it all over again tomorrow, he would," said Poland's sister-in-law, Lavern Skipper, earlier Saturday. "He would do it for those children."

Authorities said Jim Lee Dykes boarded a stopped school bus filled with 21 children Tuesday afternoon and demanded two boys between 6 and 8 years old. When Poland tried to block his way, the gunman shot him several times and abducted a 5-year-old boy ? who police say remains in an underground bunker with Dykes.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said in a briefing with reporters Saturday that Dykes has told them he has blankets and an electric heater in the bunker, which is located on his rural property. Authorities have been conferring in a nearby church and communicating with Dykes through a ventilation pipe to the underground bunker.

Olson also said Dykes has allowed police to deliver coloring books, medication and toys for the boy.

AP

Police and emergency personnel remain on site at the property of Jimmy Lee Sykes, a suspect accused of holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker on Saturday Feb. 2, 2013 in Midland City, Ala. Negotiators were still trying to persuade Jimmy Lee Dykes to surrender. Police have said they believe the Lee Dykes, a Vietnam-era veteran, fatally shot a school bus driver Tuesday, and then abducted the boy from the bus and disappeared into the home-made bunker. (AP Photo/al.com, Joe Songer) Close

"I want to thank him for taking care of our boy," Olson said. "That's very important."

The shooting and abduction took place in Midland City, a small town near Dothan, Ala., in the state's southeastern corner.

Newton is about three miles away, a small hamlet with fewer than 2,000 residents. It sits amid cotton farms and rolling hills sprinkled with red earth; most of the residents commute to Dothan or to a nearby Army post. And many knew Poland.

William Lisenby, a school bus driver who also taught Sunday School with Poland, was flanked by other area bus drivers as he arrived at Saturday night's viewing at a local funeral home.

Lisenby spoke in Biblical terms when referring to Poland.

"If you'll notice the similarities there, of what Chuck did was the same thing that Jesus Christ did. These children, even though they were not Chuck's, he laid down his life to defend those children. My hat's off to him for that," he said,

"He was a bus driver just like we are," Lisenby said. "But for the grace of God that could have been us."

Others spoke of the loss of a good man, and their hope that the little boy being held captive is alive and well and will be released soon.

"The community is real concerned," said Fred McNab, mayor of Pinckard, Ala. "You can tell by the food that's been carried over there to the church. It's just devastating. We want it to come to a resolution. We want to save that little child."

Earlier Saturday, local residents remembered Poland as a friendly man who was quick to lend a helping hand to others.

"He's probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet," said Lonnie Daniels, the 69-year-old owner of the NAPA Auto Parts store, one of three establishments in town that was open Saturday.

Daniels last saw his friend Tuesday morning, when Poland agreed to buy a car from him. The two men shook hands and closed the deal "like gentlemen," Daniels said. Poland was to return after working his bus route to pay for the car.

"He never came back," Daniels said quietly.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ala-town-mourns-bus-driver-amid-standoff-18388834

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Sandy foreclosure moratorium extended 90 days | New Jersey Real ...

From HousingWire:

FHFA, HUD extend foreclosure relief for Sandy Victims

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Ed DeMarco and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said the federal housing agencies will extend foreclosure protections for homeowners displaced or negatively impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Donovan and DeMarco said an existing foreclosure moratorium, that is about to expire, will be extended for another 90 days to offer families in the impacted region more time to recover.

The announcement blocks the initiation of new foreclosures and stalls any foreclosures already in process within disaster areas. The Federal Housing Administration also is suspending evictions on properties secured by FHA mortgages in areas impacted by the storm through April 30, 2013.

?It?s all too clear that families need more time to get back on their feet without having a foreclosure or eviction hanging over their heads,? said Donovan with HUD. ?As we work to rebuild after this historic storm, we?ll do everything we can to ease the crushing burden being faced by those homeowners, many of whom have been forced from their homes.?

Source: http://njrereport.com/index.php/2013/02/01/sandy-foreclosure-moratorium-extended-90-days/

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Timbuktu revels in new freedom but fears linger

A Malian soldier passes as Malian women flock the central market in Gao, northern Mali, Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. Freed from Islamic rule over the week-end, women started coming out wearing bright colors, makeup and jewels, after 10 month of black veils and sharia laws. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Malian soldier passes as Malian women flock the central market in Gao, northern Mali, Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. Freed from Islamic rule over the week-end, women started coming out wearing bright colors, makeup and jewels, after 10 month of black veils and sharia laws. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Malian women flock the central market in Gao, Northern Mali, Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. The mission by French troops scored another success in its effort to dislodge the al-Qaida-linked militants from northern Mali, and freed from Islamic rule over the weekend, women started coming out wearing bright colors, makeup and jewels, after 10 month of black veils and sharia laws. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Map shows developments in Mali

French special forces drive through the city of Gao, Northern Mali, Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. Islamist extremists fled the city Saturday after French, Chadian and Nigerien troops arrived, ending 10 months of radical islamic control over the city.(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) ? A leaflet listing the regulations for women under Islamist rule now lies in dirt here at the tribunal in Timbuktu. Rule No. 1: The veil should cover the entire body. Rule No. 4: The veil cannot be colored. And Rule No. 8: The woman should not perfume herself after putting on the all-enveloping fabric.

Several days after French special forces parachuted in and liberated this storied city, there is a growing sense of freedom. Though in the houses immediately facing the Islamic tribunal, many of the 8- and 9-year-old girls are still wearing the head covering.

"It is out of fear of the Islamists that they still wear this, says Diahara Adjanga, the mother of one girl. "They hit everyone ? even children."

The Islamists seized control of Timbuktu and the other northern provincial capitals of Gao and Kidal last April. During the nearly 10 months of their rule, the al-Qaida-linked extremists imposed harsh regulations for women and publicly whipped those who went in public without veils.

Across northern Mali, the Islamists stoned to death a couple accused of adultery, and amputated the hands of suspected thieves in actions reminiscent of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The French military launched an intervention to oust the Islamists from power in northern Mali on Jan. 11 and rapidly forced their retreats from the major towns in less than three weeks' time.

Fatouma Traore, 21, said that there was one commander who was especially brutal to the women in Timbuktu.

"We don't want the army to catch him. It's the women who want to arrest him so that we can kill him ourselves. . Even if you're talking to your own blood brother on the stoop of your house, they hit you. Even if you are wearing the veil, and it happens to slip off, they hit you. This man, Ahmed Moussa, he made life miserable for women. Even an old grandmother if she's not covered up, he would hit her."

She picks up her 1-year-old niece and hoists her on one hip, saying: "We even bought a veil for this baby."

Timbuktu still looks mostly deserted, four days after it was liberated from Islamist rule.

The electricity and the phone networks remain cut. At night, the only illumination is the light given off by people's cell phones and the flashlights they have inside shops and hotels.

At the entrance to the town, there is a single checkpoint manned by a few Malian soldiers who flag down entering cars. Each car that is allowed to enter the city at night is signaled by a warning shot fired into the air.

A French armored personnel carrier on Thursday stood sentinel in the middle of the city. In the market, over a dozen shops owned by the city's Arab population have been gutted, pillaged by the population because the town's Arab citizens were suspected of having been allied with the Islamists.

Some fear the Islamists will try to stage new attacks as the French leave. On Thursday, the Malian military said four soldiers were killed and five others wounded by a land mine on the road to Gao, fueling such fears.

Modibo Traore said the deaths took place in Gossi, a city that had been under the control of Islamists until recently.

However, Moussa Traore, a 26-year-old teacher in Timbuktu, said the sense of freedom already is overwhelming despite the uncertainty.

"We were totally deprived of our liberty. We couldn't listen to music, we couldn't play soccer. We couldn't wear the clothes we wanted. We couldn't hang out with the girls we liked," he said. "Now we can do everything ? we can listen to music, we can kick a ball, we can flirt. All I can do is say: Thank you God."

___

Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Sevare, Mali contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-31-Mali-Fighting/id-eac14aa627084caa933cb0ecee2070d6

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2 NFL seasons since agreement, still no HGH tests

FILE - The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., right, considers whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this June 20, 2012 file photo. Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland is at left. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland wrote NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith Monday Jan.28, 2013 to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, )ile

FILE - The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., right, considers whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this June 20, 2012 file photo. Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland is at left. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland wrote NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith Monday Jan.28, 2013 to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, )ile

FILE - NFL players union chief DeMaurice Smith pauses as he speaks during a news conference outside their headquarters, in this May 24, 2012 file photo taken in Washington. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland wrote NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith Monday Jan.28, 2013 to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Baltimore Ravens defensive end Arthur Jones is among those NFL players who want the league and the union to finally agree on a way to do blood testing for human growth hormone.

"I hope guys wouldn't be cheating. That's why you do all this extra work and extra training. Unfortunately, there are probably a few guys, a handful maybe, that are on it. It's unfortunate. It takes away from the sport," Jones said.

"It would be fair to do blood testing," Jones added. "Hopefully they figure it out."

When Jones and the Ravens face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday, two complete seasons will have come and gone without a single HGH test being administered, even though the league and the NFL Players Association paved the way for it in the 10-year collective bargaining agreement they signed in August 2011.

Since then, the sides have haggled over various elements, primarily the union's insistence that it needs more information about the validity of a test that is used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball. HGH is a banned performance-enhancing drug that is hard to detect and has been linked to health problems such as diabetes, cardiac dysfunction and arthritis.

"If there are guys using (HGH), there definitely needs to be action taken against it, and it needs to be out of (the sport)," Ravens backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "I'm pretty sure it'll happen eventually."

At least two members of Congress want to make it happen sooner, rather than later.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland wrote NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith this week to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill.

Smith is scheduled to hold his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference Thursday.

"We have cooperated and been helpful to the committee on all of their requests," NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said. "If this is something they feel strongly about, we will be happy to help them facilitate it."

Several players from the Super Bowl teams said they would be willing to talk to Congress about the issue, if asked.

"I have nothing to hide. I can't speak for anyone else in football, but I would have no problem going," said Kenny Wiggins, a 6-foot-6, 314-pound offensive lineman on San Francisco's practice squad.

But Wiggins added: "There's a lot more problems in the U.S. they should be worried about than HGH in the NFL."

That sentiment was echoed by former New York Giants offensive lineman Shaun O'Hara, who now works for the NFL Network.

"Do I think there is an HGH problem in the NFL? I don't think there is. Are there guys who are using it? I'm sure there are. But is it something Congress needs to worry about? No. We have enough educated people on both sides that can fully handle this. And if they can't, then they should be fired," said O'Hara, an NFLPA representative as a player. "I include the union in that, and I include the NFL. There is no reason we would need someone to help us facilitate this process."

Issa and Cummings apparently disagree.

In December, their committee held a hearing at which medical experts testified that the current HGH test is reliable and that the union's request for a new study is unnecessary. Neither the league nor union was invited to participate in that hearing; at the time, Issa and Cummings said they expected additional hearings.

"We are disappointed with the NFLPA's remarkable recalcitrance, which has prevented meaningful progress on this issue," they wrote in their recent letter to Smith. "We intend to take a more active role to determine whether the position you have taken ? that HGH is not a serious concern and that the test for HGH is unreliable ? is consistent with the beliefs of rank and file NFL players."

Atallah questioned that premise.

"To us, there is no distinction between players and the union. ... The reason we had HGH in our CBA is precisely because our players wanted us to start testing for it," Atallah said. "We are not being recalcitrant for recalcitrance sake. We are merely following the direction of our player leadership."

Wiggins and other players said no one can know for sure how much HGH use there is in the league until there is testing ? but that it's important for the union's concerns about the test to be answered.

"The union decides what is best for the players," said Ravens nose tackle Ma'ake Kemoeatu, who said he would be willing to go to Capitol Hill.

"I feel like some guys are on HGH," said 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis, who would rather not speak to Congress. "I personally don't care if there is testing. It's something they have to live with, knowing they cheated, and if they get (outplayed) while they're on it, it's a hit on their pride."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-31-Super%20Bowl-HGH%20Tests/id-9ea72704fc134d3f9ea9dd5976f2ee6d

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enhasa: True story: Gandalf appears at University of Minnesota...

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January 30, 2013 7:29 pm

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Manhunt under way for Phoenix gunman

(NBC 12)

At least three people were shot at an office complex in Phoenix on Wednesday, police there say, and a manhunt for the shooter is under way.

The building was evacuated and the suspect fled the scene, Sgt. Tommy Thompson said. The shooting--which occurred in the building's lobby--does not appear to be random act, Thompson said, though he would not say if the suspect knew the victims. Witnesses say they heard as many as 10 gunshots fired.

Three victims were transferred to John C. Lincoln Hospital with gunshot wounds, he said. Their conditions were not immediately known, but according to Phoenix's NBC affiliate, one was in "extremely critical condition."

At least three other people were transported to the hospital with minor injuries related to the shooting.

A SWAT team began canvasing a neighborhood in search of the suspected shooter described by Thompson as an "older" white male, possibly in his 60s.

?At this point we don?t believe he is in the area,? Thompson said. ?This doesn?t appear to be a random type of incident.?

The shooting occurred on the same day former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords--who was shot in the head during a mass shooting in Tuscon in 2011--testified at a Senate hearing on gun violence.

"Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important," Giffords said at the top of the hearing. "Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous, Americans are counting on you."

Giffords' husband Mark Kelly, who also testified at the hearing, broke the news of the workplace shooting to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"While we are having this hearing, in Phoenix, Arizona, there has been what appears to be a shooting with multiple victims," Kelly said. "I certainly agree that universal background checks will go a long way to saving people's lives."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/phoenix-office-shooting-gunman-manhunt-200852445.html

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