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World
Iraqi pays smugglers
BAGHDAD – Uday Abed’s determination to get to the U.S. has already cost him $22,000 and three days in jail on the other side of the world.
His quest began last September when, he says, a group of men wearing police uniforms pounced upon him and a group of friends as they returned to his apartment one evening. The men pushed him and his friends to the ground, put boots on their heads, asked them if they were insurgents and then stole their possessions.
The incident rattled Abed, a 29-year old car mechanic, leaving him convinced he was at risk as a Christian living in a majority Shiite area.
“Everyone in Iraq is in danger and especially Christians because we have no one to protect us,” he said.
So he resolved to get to America, and he knew of only one-way: pay a smuggler.
National
Autism may not be caused by vaccination
NEW YORK – Amid concerns about an upsurge in measles, scientists Wednesday revealed new research showing the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine – MMR – is not linked to autism.
The new study directly challenges fears harbored by parents who’ve refused to have their children immunized. The nation is facing its highest number of measles cases since 1996.
Although the infection is considered eradicated in this country, 131 cases have been reported this year, mostly among unvaccinated children. Measles, experts reiterated Wednesday, can be deadly.
The study was not designed to address other rumored theories of autism’s cause, such as thimerosal, the much-debated mercury-based preservative in some other vaccines, Dr. W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University said.
Candidates have two competing visions of ‘change’
The first back-to-back political conventions in half a century gave Americans a blur of late-summer political activity that laid out the candidate’s visions for the future.
This all set the stage for a two-month sprint to Election Day that will give voters a choice between two competing stories of who can best change the country’s unpopular course.
“The essential question of this campaign is who’s got a better plan, a better agenda to move this country forward and fundamentally change it from the economic and foreign policy failures that we’ve seen over the last eight years,” Obama told reporters on his campaign plane last week.
“We need to change the way government does almost everything,” McCain said in his convention speech.
“I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. My friends, I have that record and the scars to prove it. Sen. Obama does not.”
Gloomy employment underscores economic struggles
WASHINGTON – The combination of falling home equity, the rising cost of food, health care and housing, tighter credit and eight straight months of job losses – 84,000 in August alone – has put the squeeze on middle-class families struggling to stay afloat in a slumping economy.
Although economists haven’t yet labeled the economic downturn a recession, every time payrolls have declined this consistently since 1948 the economy has been officially in recession, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based liberal think tank.
“We view this as a crisis economy for American workers,” Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, a pro-labor advocacy group in New York, said.
Local/BSU
More Idahoans lose jobs
The Treasure Valley unemployment rate continued its rise in August to nearly five percent — about twice the percentage of workers without jobs in January.
Statewide, more workers were off the job in August — 34,600 — than during any month since August 1987.
And even though the labor force is much larger now than two decades ago, Idaho Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick said: “The point is, we haven’t seen unemployment like this in 20 years.”
The statewide jobless rate rose to 4.6 percent in August, up from 4.1 percent in July and a record low of 2.7 percent in 2007.
In Canyon County, the unemployment rate for the city of Nampa was 5.9 percent in August. In Caldwell, it was 7 percent.
Woman’s body found on Boise walking trail
Boise Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found about 6 a.m. Sunday morning on a walking trail off Mountain Cove Road.
At this time, officers are on scene conducting the investigation with the assistance of the Ada County Coroner’s Office. Officers believe at this point the death is suspicious.
Currently Mountain Cove Road is blocked just north of Mountain Cove School.
Because of the ongoing investigation, no further details are available.
Candidates asked to drop out of Senate race
Three candidates to replace U.S. Sen. Larry Craig have been contacted by Republicans, including Congressman Bill Sali, urging them to drop out of the race to help GOP nominee Jim Risch.
Kent Marmon, the Libertarian Party candidate; independent Rex Rammell; and an independent candidate who changed his name to Pro-Life all said they were asked to make an early exit.
Marmon said Rep. Bill Sali urged him to leave because he could draw votes from Risch and help his Democratic rival, Larry LaRocco.
“I think it’s funny,” Pro-Life, a Letha strawberry farmer once known as Marvin Richardson, who ran for governor in 2006, said. “I think it shows Bill Sali’s kind of … desperate maybe.”
None of the third-party candidates said they would drop out of the race.
Nampa woman hurt in five-vehicle crash
A five-vehicle crash on Interstate 84 east of the Garrity Boulevard intersection sent a Nampa woman to the hospital with minor injuries, investigators said.
Idaho State Police reported that the accident occurred about 2:45 p.m. last Saturday in the eastbound lanes of I-84 near the Robinson Road overpass.
Jeffery McNeil, 42, of Nampa was traveling eastbound, troopers said, when a mattress he was hauling fell out of the back.
Amanda Cunningham, 22, of Nampa, slowed to avoid the mattress.
Ronald Jordan, 38, of Victorville, Calif., driving a Peterbilt semi, rear-ended Cunningham’s vehicle.
Then, Steven Winter, 56, of Richmond, Utah, driving a Peterbilt semi, rear-ended Jordan’s semi.
At that point, Cunningham’s vehicle crossed into the right lane and struck a Chevrolet Corvette, driven by Merzin Ceric, 25, of Meridian. Both Cunningham and Ceric’s vehicles went off the right shoulder of the interstate.
Cunningham was transported by ground ambulance to St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center for treatment.
What the?
And you call yourself man’s best friend!
While police struggled to arrest a man for fraud in front of his home in Marion Oaks, Fla., both of his dogs joined in and attacked him.
I think I’ve made my point
After a Baptist church pastor in Ballwin, Mo., sent suggestive text messages to some of his parishioner’s wives, one of their husbands dropped by the church to beat him with an air hose.
The husband told the cops he wanted to keep the texting communications from getting out of hand.
You wanna mess with me old man!?
An aggressive motorist harassed an elderly driver in Slidell, La., swerving around his car and slamming on his brakes in front of
him.
When the two pulled into a parking lot, he discovered the old guy was a retired deputy sheriff. The ex-cop hit him on the head with his cane.
COMPILED BY ARBITER STAFF