Female deputy claims Sheriff commanders sexually coerced her



L.A. County Sheriff's Department investigators are probing a deputy's allegations that she was the victim of sexual
misconduct involving three top sheriff's officials.


"I take this very seriously, and I will find out what did
or did not happen," Sheriff Lee Baca said in a statement.


The deputy is the daughter of a top aide to the sheriff.


Capt. Joseph Stephen of the
Malibu station confirmed that he was one of the targets of the probe and
had been questioned by investigators Friday. He denied any wrongdoing.
Also being investigated are retired Chief Ronnie Williams and Capt.
Anthony Ward, who was heading up the auto-theft unit until he recently
retired, according to four sources. Williams denied any wrongdoing, and
Ward could not be reached for comment.


All of the sources asked for anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and they were not authorized to speak to the media.


The deputy who leveled the allegations referred a reporter's inquiry
to her attorney. Her attorney initially said, "I think she wants it to
come to light," but later canceled an interview. The Times generally
does not name potential victims of sex crimes.


Sheriff's officials said the probe was in the preliminary phase.


The deputy's allegations involved sexual coercion by officials who outranked her, sources said.


She made the accusations after facing her own allegations of
misconduct, sources said. Court records show she has a pending felony
charge of vandalism and misdemeanor counts of battery. She pleaded not
guilty. She has been placed on leave without pay, according to a
spokesman.






Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Stephen said he was waiting to
find out if he was going to be removed from his command. He called the
deputy's allegations "absolutely, unequivocally" untrue but declined to
say if they had had a sexual relationship.


"I don't want to get into that," he said.


Stephen said he never directly supervised the deputy. He accused her
of trying to deflect attention from her own legal troubles. "She's
trying to save her own skin," he said. "She's trying to lash out and see
what sticks."


Williams, the retired chief, told The Times that he has not been
interviewed by investigators. He said he never supervised the alleged
victim, and that although he is her "partial friend," the relationship
is platonic.


"She never was assigned to my division. How could I coerce her to do
anything?" said Williams, who left the department four years ago.


-- Robert Faturechi and Richard Winton


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Venezuela Governors Warned Not to Question Government’s Legitimacy





CARACAS, Venezuela — Top government officials are threatening to take action against opposition governors and issuing dark warnings about conspiracies against the government of President Hugo Chávez, who is ailing and remains incommunicado in Cuba.




At a large rally for the cancer-stricken Mr. Chávez on Thursday, the day designated for his inauguration, Vice President Nicolás Maduro sent a warning to government critics who had objected to a Supreme Court ruling that endorsed the indefinite postponement of the president’s swearing-in.


Many interpreted his words to be directed at Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda State who lost to Mr. Chávez in the presidential election in October. He is the most likely opposition candidate if a special election has to be held should Mr. Chávez die, resign or become too sick to continue in office.


“Some governors out there have come out to make declarations, playing with words,” Mr. Maduro said. “We say to them, ‘Stop the waffling.’ If you don’t recognize the legitimate government of President Chávez, we are evaluating legally very forceful actions, because if you don’t recognize me, I’m not obligated to recognize you. It’s that simple.”


He added: “Watch your words and your actions. Take care not to get involved in coups and destabilizing adventures.”


Before leaving for cancer surgery in Havana in early December, Mr. Chávez designated Mr. Maduro as his political heir and said that he wanted him to run for president if a special election became necessary.


It is not unusual for Venezuelan officials to threaten or lash out at the opposition, which they routinely characterize as an enemy bent on overthrowing Mr. Chávez’s revolution. But in recent days, amid an intense debate over the constitutionality of postponing the president’s swearing in, the tone has gotten harsher.


Later on Thursday, Mr. Capriles posted a reply on Twitter saying, “Threats from No. 2s make us laugh, let’s see if starting tomorrow they get back to work, Government in paralysis.”


Mr. Capriles added in another post: “What do you know, they didn’t let Al Capone speak, what happened?”


Vladimir Villegas, a former ambassador who is now critical of the government, said that in Mr. Chávez’s absence, Mr. Maduro and other officials were using the clash with the opposition to promote unity among their followers.


“They can’t live without an enemy,” Mr. Villegas said. “The confrontation with the opposition holds them together.”


The vice president is appointed by the president, and some in the opposition have argued that Mr. Maduro cannot continue to serve in the new term without being reappointed by Mr. Chávez. But the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Maduro and other appointees could continue in their posts.


Mr. Capriles has pointed out repeatedly that although Mr. Maduro is now at the head of the government, he is not an elected official.


“He was not elected Oct. 7,” Mr. Capriles said last week, referring to the recent presidential election. “He shouldn’t come and talk to us about legitimacy.”


The front page of the newspaper Tal Cual on Friday showed a caricature of Mr. Maduro with the headline: “The Usurper.” Another newspaper opposed to the government, El Nacional, ran a front-page headline that said: “The new term starts with legality questioned.”


On Thursday, Mr. Maduro also said the government had uncovered a plot to destabilize the country, although he offered no evidence and was vague in his description of the conspiracy.


“There is a plan by sectors of the ultraright to find a cadaver, two cadavers and fill the streets of Venezuela with protests,” Mr. Maduro said, adding that the opposition was planning “a kind of sabotage and constant fires in the cities.”


“We alerted all the police security forces to be very careful of their actions because they are looking to stain the political life” of the country, Mr. Maduro said.


Also last week, the government said it was starting an administrative proceeding against Globovisión, a television station closely allied with the opposition, over its coverage of the constitutional controversy around Mr. Chávez’s swearing-in. The proceeding could result in a large fine or the temporary shutdown of the station.


The National Telecommunications Commission announced the proceeding on Wednesday, several hours after Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly and a top Chávez ally, said in a speech that the station should be sanctioned for its coverage of the issue.


The director of the commission, Pedro Maldonado, said punishment could include a fine of up to 10 percent of the station’s gross revenue and a 72-hour shutdown.


Globovisión paid a fine of about $2.2 million last year for its coverage of a deadly prison riot in 2010. The government said its reporting threatened public order and fomented anxiety.


On Friday, Globovisión ran a short spot several times showing a section of the Constitution that defends free speech followed by Mr. Maldonado announcing the proceeding against the station. It ends with the words, “Censorship of the Constitution.”


Meanwhile, Mr. Maduro flew to Cuba on Friday to visit the president and his family and speak with his doctors.


Mr. Chávez has not been seen or heard from since his cancer surgery on Dec. 11 in Havana. Officials have said that he is fighting a severe lung infection. In past trips to Cuba for cancer treatment, starting in June 2011, Mr. Chávez stayed in the public eye, posting on Twitter, making phone calls to government-run television stations and on one occasion conducting a televised government meeting from Havana.


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“Storage Wars” porn lawsuit: alleged Brandi Passante video distributor found in contempt

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Miss America Contestant Alexis Wineman Talks About Growing Up with Autism















01/12/2013 at 03:00 PM EST



Seven years ago, a bubbly and emotional Montana girl received news that her brain functioned differently than others: She was diagnosed with autism. On Saturday, that same girl could be crowed the new Miss America.

Alexis Wineman, 18, is the youngest of the 53 women vying for the title of Miss America in Las Vegas on Saturday. But Wineman hasn't always lived a life of glamour, having been diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified) at 11 years old. According to the Autism Speaks website, someone with PDD-NOS "has some but not all characteristics of autism or ... has relatively mild symptoms."

"Growing up it was really hard because I didn't know what was different about me," she told PEOPLE in a recent interview. "One minute I would be really happy and another minute I'd be screaming my head off and I wouldn't know why. The smallest things could set me off."

Having very few friends, the auburn-haired beauty was ashamed of her disorder and says she was verbally bullied in middle school.

"I was called a 'retard' and [was told] that I wasn't worth the breath I was breathing," she said. "It was really hurtful stuff."

In high school, though, the bullying subsided. Wineman was able to make genuine friends and accept that fact that she has autism, something she said she previously pushed out of her mind. Eventually, Wineman made the decision to make a go at pageant life.

"At one point I was living from one meltdown to the other and I was afraid it was going to happen again, but it hasn't," she said. "If I wasn't ready for this I wouldn't be here right now."

If crowned on Saturday, it would be a dream come true for Wineman whose platform message is "Normal Is Just a Dryer Setting."

"I have this amazing opportunity to show the world that autism is not a death sentence, but a life adventure," she said. "Autism doesn't define me. I define it."

The 92nd Miss America Competition airs live Saturday on ABC from Las Vegas's Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino.

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots


CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal.


"Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban Chicago who was fired last month after she refused a flu shot.


Hospitals' get-tougher measures coincide with an earlier-than-usual flu season hitting harder than in recent mild seasons. Flu is widespread in most states, and at least 20 children have died.


Most doctors and nurses do get flu shots. But in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in four states have been fired for refusing, and several others have resigned, according to affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports.


In Rhode Island, one of three states with tough penalties behind a mandatory vaccine policy for health care workers, more than 1,000 workers recently signed a petition opposing the policy, according to a labor union that has filed suit to end the regulation.


Why would people whose job is to protect sick patients refuse a flu shot? The reasons vary: allergies to flu vaccine, which are rare; religious objections; and skepticism about whether vaccinating health workers will prevent flu in patients.


Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director for adult immunization at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the strongest evidence is from studies in nursing homes, linking flu vaccination among health care workers with fewer patient deaths from all causes.


"We would all like to see stronger data," she said. But other evidence shows flu vaccination "significantly decreases" flu cases, she said. "It should work the same in a health care worker versus somebody out in the community."


Cancer nurse Joyce Gingerich is among the skeptics and says her decision to avoid the shot is mostly "a personal thing." She's among seven employees at IU Health Goshen Hospital in northern Indiana who were recently fired for refusing flu shots. Gingerich said she gets other vaccinations but thinks it should be a choice. She opposes "the injustice of being forced to put something in my body."


Medical ethicist Art Caplan says health care workers' ethical obligation to protect patients trumps their individual rights.


"If you don't want to do it, you shouldn't work in that environment," said Caplan, medical ethics chief at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "Patients should demand that their health care provider gets flu shots — and they should ask them."


For some people, flu causes only mild symptoms. But it can also lead to pneumonia, and there are thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year. The number of deaths has varied in recent decades from about 3,000 to 49,000.


A survey by CDC researchers found that in 2011, more than 400 U.S. hospitals required flu vaccinations for their employees and 29 hospitals fired unvaccinated employees.


At Calhoun's hospital, Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., unvaccinated workers granted exemptions must wear masks and tell patients, "I'm wearing the mask for your safety," Calhoun says. She says that's discriminatory and may make patients want to avoid "the dirty nurse" with the mask.


The hospital justified its vaccination policy in an email, citing the CDC's warning that this year's flu outbreak was "expected to be among the worst in a decade" and noted that Illinois has already been hit especially hard. The mandatory vaccine policy "is consistent with our health system's mission to provide the safest environment possible."


The government recommends flu shots for nearly everyone, starting at age 6 months. Vaccination rates among the general public are generally lower than among health care workers.


According to the most recent federal data, about 63 percent of U.S. health care workers had flu shots as of November. That's up from previous years, but the government wants 90 percent coverage of health care workers by 2020.


The highest rate, about 88 percent, was among pharmacists, followed by doctors at 84 percent, and nurses, 82 percent. Fewer than half of nursing assistants and aides are vaccinated, Bridges said.


Some hospitals have achieved 90 percent but many fall short. A government health advisory panel has urged those below 90 percent to consider a mandatory program.


Also, the accreditation body over hospitals requires them to offer flu vaccines to workers, and those failing to do that and improve vaccination rates could lose accreditation.


Starting this year, the government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is requiring hospitals to report employees' flu vaccination rates as a means to boost the rates, the CDC's Bridges said. Eventually the data will be posted on the agency's "Hospital Compare" website.


Several leading doctor groups support mandatory flu shots for workers. And the American Medical Association in November endorsed mandatory shots for those with direct patient contact in nursing homes; elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to flu-related complications. The American Nurses Association supports mandates if they're adopted at the state level and affect all hospitals, but also says exceptions should be allowed for medical or religious reasons.


Mandates for vaccinating health care workers against other diseases, including measles, mumps and hepatitis, are widely accepted. But some workers have less faith that flu shots work — partly because there are several types of flu virus that often differ each season and manufacturers must reformulate vaccines to try and match the circulating strains.


While not 100 percent effective, this year's vaccine is a good match, the CDC's Bridges said.


Several states have laws or regulations requiring flu vaccination for health care workers but only three — Arkansas, Maine and Rhode Island — spell out penalties for those who refuse, according to Alexandra Stewart, a George Washington University expert in immunization policikfriedenes and co-author of a study appearing this month in the journal Vaccine.


Rhode Island's regulation, enacted in December, may be the toughest and is being challenged in court by a health workers union. The rule allows exemptions for religious or medical reasons, but requires unvaccinated workers in contact with patients to wear face masks during flu season. Employees who refuse the masks can be fined $100 and may face a complaint or reprimand for unprofessional conduct that could result in losing their professional license.


Some Rhode Island hospitals post signs announcing that workers wearing masks have not received flu shots. Opponents say the masks violate their health privacy.


"We really strongly support the goal of increasing vaccination rates among health care workers and among the population as a whole," but it should be voluntary, said SEIU Healthcare Employees Union spokesman Chas Walker.


Supporters of health care worker mandates note that to protect public health, courts have endorsed forced vaccination laws affecting the general population during disease outbreaks, and have upheld vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.


Cases involving flu vaccine mandates for health workers have had less success. A 2009 New York state regulation mandating health care worker vaccinations for swine flu and seasonal flu was challenged in court but was later rescinded because of a vaccine shortage. And labor unions have challenged individual hospital mandates enacted without collective bargaining; an appeals court upheld that argument in 2007 in a widely cited case involving Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.


Calhoun, the Illinois nurse, says she is unsure of her options.


"Most of the hospitals in my area are all implementing these policies," she said. "This conflict could end the career I have dedicated myself to."


__


Online:


R.I. union lawsuit against mandatory vaccines: http://www.seiu1199ne.org/files/2013/01/FluLawsuitRI.pdf


CDC: http://www.cdc.gov


___


AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


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Robbers at Nordstrom raped hostage, made women take off clothes, police say




This post has been updated.


One female hostage held overnight at the Nordstrom Rack in Westchester was sexually assaulted and another was stabbed, Los Angeles police said Friday.


The two were among 14 hostages held by two robbers at the clothing store. About a half hour into the ordeal, which began at 11 p.m. Thursday, the hostages were led into a bathroom, said sources familiar with the investigation.


The woman who was stabbed was struck in the neck and her injuries were not life threatening, police said. [Updated at 7:16 a.m., Jan. 11: A third hostage was pistol-whipped, police said.]


Police did not say exactly how long the suspects were in the Nordstrom Rack before they fled with an undisclosed amount of money.


Police early Friday were trying to confirm that the getaway car was found at a nearby location.


When the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT officers arrived Thursday night, they surrounded the store, according to police sources.
At one point, one of the suspects left the store, saw police and ran back inside.




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France Sends Troops to Mali to Help Counter Islamist Advance


Romaric Hien/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


Fighters of the hard-line Salafi group Ansar Dine in August. The group has controlled Timbuktu and much of northern Mali since a coup d’état and a successful revolt against the central authority in March.







BAMAKO, Mali — France sent armed forces into combat in Mali on Friday, answering an urgent plea from the government of its former colony in West Africa to help blunt a sudden and aggressive advance into the center of the country by Islamist extremist militants who have been in control of the north for much of the past year.




French officials confirmed that the French forces, which included paratroopers and helicopter gunships, had engaged in fighting with the Islamists after landing at a major airfield in the central Mali town of Sévaré.


It was unclear how many French troops had been sent or from where, but a Western diplomat in neighboring Niger said the Islamist forces numbered between 800 and 900 fighters, with about 200 vehicles.


“French forces brought their support this afternoon to Malian army units to fight against terrorist elements,” President François Hollande of France said in a statement to reporters in Paris. “This operation will last as long as is necessary.”


Mr. Hollande has been especially outspoken in his animosity toward northern Mali’s Islamist occupiers and their harsh practices, which rights activists say include arbitrary killings, stonings, amputations, forced marriages and the destruction of non-Islamist cultural shrines. Thousands of Malians have sought to flee the north in recent months.


“Mali is dealing with terrorist elements form the north, whose brutality and fanaticism are now clear to the entire world,” Mr. Hollande said. “The very existence of the friendly state of Mali is at stake, as is the security of its people and that of our citizens. There are 6,000 of them there.”


The French president was responding to an urgent request received the day before from Mali’s interim president, Dioncounda Traore, who said Malian government forces were in dire need of help to stop the Islamists, who have turned the northern half of the country into a militant haven since seizing the territory, about twice of the size of Germany, last April.


The United Nations Security Council, which has repeatedly condemned the Islamist takeover of northern Mali and last month authorized an African-led force to enter the country to help drive the Islamists out, said Thursday that it was closely monitoring events there and may take additional steps. Mr. Hollande is also to meet with the Malian president next week.


The swift French response came after two days of clashes between the Malian Army and militants around Konna, a sleepy mud-brick village that for months had marked the outer limit of the Malian Army’s control after it lost half of the country to the Islamists and their allies eight months ago.


“It’s a very serious situation, very dangerous,” said a Malian officer here in Bamako, the capital, who was not authorized to speak publicly.


The Islamists had been threatening a major airfield 25 miles away in Sévaré, also the home of a significant army base. And 10 miles from Sévaré is the historic river city of Mopti, the last major town controlled by the Malian government, with a population of more than 100,000.


“There were hard fights, but we lost,” the officer said.


A spokesman for the Islamists, Sanda Ould Boumana, said Thursday from rebel-held Timbuktu: “We have taken the town of Konna. We control Konna, and the Malian Army has fled. We have pushed them back.” Gen. Carter F. Ham, the commander of the Pentagon’s Africa Command, who was traveling in neighboring Niger, said he understood that French paratroopers and helicopter gunships had landed in Sévaré and had engaged the Islamists in combat. He also said the United States, which shares France’s deep concern about the Islamist seizure of northern Mali, was considering what it could do to help, perhaps by repositioning satellites or sending in surveillance drones.


This week’s clashes were the first time that the two sides had fought since Islamists and their Tuareg rebel allies conquered the north of Mali last spring, splitting the country in two and leaving the Malian Army in disarray.


For months, the United Nations and Mali’s neighbors have been debating and planning a military campaign to retake the north by force, if necessary, an international push that is supposed to be led by Malian forces. Analysts had previously said that the outcome of this week’s fighting at Konna would be a significant indicator of the army’s fitness to undertake the reconquest of the north.


Malian politicians reacted with shock to news of Konna’s loss.


“This is a very disagreeable surprise. Terrible. A dagger blow,” said Fatoumata Dicko, a deputy in Mali’s Parliament in Bamako. “People are fleeing Sévaré. They think there is nothing to hold the Islamists back.”


Adam Nossiter reported from Bamako and Eric Schmitt from Niamey, Niger. Reporting was contributed by Cheick Diouara from Accra, Ghana; Rick Gladstone from New York; and Richard Berry from Paris.



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Video game retail sales continued to slide in December, down 22% from 2011









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Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult Split: Report















01/11/2013 at 02:40 PM EST







Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult


Gregg DeGuire/Wireimage; Landov


Will Jennifer Lawrence be flying solo this awards season?

The Silver Linings Playbook star, 22, has split from her longtime boyfriend, British actor Nicholas Hoult, according to a report.

Neither Holt nor Lawrence's rep has commented.

The couple met while both starring in 2011's X-Men: First Class, in which they coincidentally played each other's love interest.

The pair have kept their relationship fairly low-key, however they were snapped sharing a passionate post-Valentine's Day smooch last year.

"[My boyfriend] is honestly my best friend, and hopefully I'm his best friend, too," Lawrence told Elle magazine in its December issue. "He's my favorite person and makes me laugh harder than anybody."

Lawrence is nominated in the best actress – comedy or musical category and expected to attend the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday. She was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar Thursday.

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas


NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is more widespread across the nation, but the number of hard-hit states has declined, health officials said Friday.


Flu season started early this winter, and includes a strain that tends to make people sicker. Health officials have forecast a potentially bad flu season, following last year's unusually mild one. The latest numbers, however, hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots.


Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. Many cases may be mild. The only states without widespread flu are California, Mississippi and Hawaii.


The hardest hit states fell to 24 from 29, with large numbers of people getting treated for flu-like illness. Dropped off that list were Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.


Recent flu reports have included the holidays when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to know if the flu has peaked in some places or grown stronger in others, CDC officials said Friday.


"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a teleconference with reporters.


Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu. There is no running tally of adult deaths, but the CDC estimates that the flu kills about 24,000 people in an average year.


Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older, and health officials say it is not too late to get vaccinated. flu reports.


Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, health officials say.


Hyrmete Sciuto, of Edgewater, N.J., got a flu shot Friday at a New York City drugstore. She hadn't got one in years, but news reports on the flu this week made her concerned.


As a commuter by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."


The flu vaccine isn't foolproof; people who get vaccinated can still get sick.


On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that's bad enough to require a trip to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine.


That's in line with how effective the vaccine has been in other years.


The flu vaccine is reformulated annually, and officials say this year's version is a good match to the viruses going around.


Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.


Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.


Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.


___


AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.


___


Online:


CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm


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