An investigation is underway into a deadly leak of highly poisonous gas in a Texas home. Four children were killed and six other family members w…
Davis said the father does not have professional certification as far as he knows. He did not know whether the friend who gave him the product had a certification.
Amarillo police spokesman Officer Jeb Hilton says the department’s special crimes unit is investigating because of the child deaths. Once completed, the investigation will be turned over to the district attorney to determine whether charges will be filed. Hilton said other federal and state environmental regulation agencies may also investigate the use and storage of the chemical.
Fire officials said the children who died were three boys — ages 7, 9 and 11 — and a 17-year-old girl. Officials have said all four children lived at the home in Amarillo, which is about 350 miles northwest of Dallas.
Four children died from gas poisoning believed to have been caused by a pesticide sprayed under their Amarillo home, officials said.
The children’s mother, Martha Balderas, 45, was in critical condition Tuesday at University Medical Center in Lubbock, according to a hospital spokesman. Five other family members, including the father and four other children, were being treated at BSA Health System in Amarillo and were in stable condition, hospital and fire officials said early Tuesday.
Crews who responded to a 5 a.m. call to the home on Monday originally thought it was related to carbon monoxide poisoning. Authorities later determined that phosphine gas was likely released when the father took a garden hose at some point Sunday and tried to rinse away some of the pellets because family members had complained of the smell.
Toxic Phosphine gas is produced when aluminum phosphide is mixed with water or moisture, CBS Amarillo affiliate KFDA reported.
The water started the chemical reaction that released the phosphine gas. A visitor arrived early Monday, found everyone sick and called 911.
Phosphine gas can cause respiratory failure and in severe cases can cause a pulmonary edema, which fills the lungs full of fluid.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers, which compiles data on poisoning, shows nine deaths from ingesting or breathing in aluminum phosphide between 2010 and 2015.
Two of those deaths happened in Utah in 2010, when two young children died after a pest control company spread vole pesticide pellets that released phosphine gas. Authorities believe the gas seeped into the home through cracks in the foundation.
Cynthia Aaron, the medical director for the Michigan Regional Poison Control Center at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, said doctors there more often treated adult patients for exposure to phosphine gas from aluminum phosphide because the pesticide is often used in industrial shipping.
“It’s not a rare exposure, but deaths like this are rare,” she said. “We see mostly the overdoses. For example, they used to use this in ship holds when they ship grain. So if they are de-mousing the big ship hold and someone doesn’t realize the pesticide has been activated or they haven’t yet been aired out properly, they might enter and pass out or die.”
Chip Orton, emergency management coordinator for the city of Amarillo and Potter and Randall counties, says his staff was working with a number of state and federal agencies to decontaminate the Amarillo home. He did not know when it would be safe for the family to return.
About 10 police, fire and medical personnel who first responded to the home were taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, Davis said. Two were kept overnight for observation because of headache and nausea but were in good condition Tuesday, he said.
Davis said the home was far enough away from neighbors that no other evacuations or treatments were necessary.
Neighbors told KFDA that the Balderas family was well known and liked in the community.
“There was a lot of love in that family and still is,” said Nichole Wells, a teacher at Travis Middle School who taught 3 of the 8 Balderas children. “They’ll wave, they’re polite, they’re respectful. They were just such a great family, and they really knew what it was to be a family. That’s for sure.”
Many said the family is going to struggle with the costs associated with the tragedy.
“Everything’s going to have to change, and they’re going to need a lot of help with four funerals simultaneously,” said Wells. “So they’re going to need the love and support from the community and even surrounding areas to really make this happen, and at least give them some sense of normalcy.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up in the family’s name, and surpassed its goal of $25,000.

Similarity rank: 0

Sentiment rank: -24.2

© Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gas-poisoning-amarillo-texas-criminal-investigation-poisoning-killed-4-kids/
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

Undergoing police investigation on suspicion of illegal gift taking must be unpleasant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But it may be good for Israel’s image in the Arab world, casting Israel as a state where no one is above the law, as opposed to Arab regimes and the Palestinian Authority.
Be the first to know – Join our Facebook page.
The contrast was not lost on Dr. Sufian Abu Zaida, former PA minister of prisoner affairs, who published an opinion piece in the London-based Rai al-Youm website that voiced unabashed admiration for Israel as a “state of law” combined with indirect yet withering criticism of President Mahmoud Abbas’s increasingly despotic rule.
Abu Zaida, a supporter of Mohammed Dahlan, the former Gaza security chief who is the main rival to Abbas, wrote: “The investigation of the prime minister for corruption and bribe taking is the real expression of independence of the judiciary and separation of authorities. It’s the real expression of a genuine state of law where everyone is equal before the law and not a state of counterfeit law.
“It is of no use to Netanyahu that he is responsible for the Israeli police – he can’t threaten anyone to get them to overlook the suspicions or accusations he faces, he can’t evade the investigation by portraying it as a conspiracy against the nation,” Abu Zaida wrote. “He can delay it for a day or two or a week but he can’t avoid it forever or use his powers to cancel the investigation.
“Netanyahu can’t use the security apparatus like the Shin Bet or Mossad to threaten anyone from the police or judiciary under various pretexts. In the rule of law their mission is to protect the country, the law and the citizen.
Their mission is not to protect the president or the prime minister or any other official,” he wrote.
Abu Zaida went on to voice admiration for the fact that Israeli leaders have been forced to resign and to serve time in prison. He wrote that this could happen to Netanyahu also. “He must give convincing answers to the questions put to him. If they are not convincing, it will end in a charge sheet and a trial and his fate will be like that of his predecessor Olmert.”
Abu Zaida’s column citing the differences between Israel and the PA comes amid signs that Abbas is deploying the judiciary against political opponents and has veered towards one-man rule.
In November, Abbas mounted a purge of supporters of Dahlan from the ranks of his Fatah movement by excluding them from attending the Fatah conference that elected leadership bodies. Prior to that, Abbas cut off the salaries of Gaza PA employees who are supporters of Dahlan.
Last month, a PA constitutional court whose justices were handpicked by Abbas ruled that the president has the authority to rescind the parliamentary immunity of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Abbas proceeded to do this to five legislators critical of him, including Dahlan, paving the way for the public prosecutor to complete an investigation against them, reportedly for money laundering and illegal weapons trade.
On December 14, a Palestinian court issued a judgment in absentia against Dahlan on charges he embezzled funds and sentenced him to three years in jail and a $16 million dollar fine. Abbas has also sought to delegitimize Dahlan by hinting that he poisoned Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Abu Zaida wrote: “In a state of law, the security, executive and judicial apparatuses are not used to serve the president or the prime minister or to be used as a tool or sword on the head of political opponents by fabricating accusations against them of corruption and if they are heavyweight former officials, accusing them of killing. In the state of law, livelihoods are not used as a sword against the necks of people.”
Not everyone was impressed by Abu Zaida’s argument. “Your admiration for the Zionist entity and your saying that it’s a state of law is like admiring a thief who gives some money to charity after plundering his victims,” wrote a talkback respondent, Wasifq. “Are you not ashamed of yourself?” Another respondent, Abu Abed Filastin, wrote: “The article is great but you should focus clearly and frankly on our Palestinian situation and that of the Arab world so it will not appear as if you are admiring the enemy state.”
Gaza political analyst Fayez Abu Shamaleh also commented admiringly on the police probe of Netanyahu, writing in a Facebook post, “No one is above the law in Israel. The gates of the prisons [were] locked behind the president of the state and the former prime minister Olmert.”
“Don’t ask me why Israel achieved a victory over all the Arab countries,” he added.
Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin
Think others should know about this? Please share
| |

Similarity rank: 0

Sentiment rank: -0.9

© Source: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Arab-observers-voice-admiration-for-corruption-probe-of-prime-minister-477410
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – There’s a host of items you should keep at home if you’re vying for a spot to watch Donald Trump swear in as the United States‘ 58th president on January 20.
Ammunition, explosives and firearms seem overtly obvious, but what about coolers, balloons or thermos cups? They’re off-limits too.
Additionally, the Presidential Inauguration Committee bans aerosols, animals other than helper dogs, backpacks, bags larger than a small purse (8″x 6″x 4″), bicycles, laser pointers, pepper spray, packages, structures and supports for signs and placards. There’s also a nuanced catch-all restriction prohibiting things that are „determined to be potential safety hazards,“ according to the District of Columbia government.
This year is the first where „selfie sticks“ and „drones“ are explicitly prohibited from events and on Capitol grounds during Inauguration Week.
Other items were prohibited from ticketing viewing areas on U. S. Capitol grounds in 2013, including alcohol, duffel bags, portable chairs, suitcases, strollers and umbrellas, however those items do not appear on this year’s most recent list.
The Joint Task Force- National Capital Region estimated that there would be approximately 8,000 national guardsmen at the inauguration ceremony, and approximately 5,000 active duty soldiers. Current crowd estimates are at 800,000 people, although that number is likely to rise. During the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, an estimated 1.8 million people watched the event in person, more than one million witnessed during Obama swear into his second term.

Similarity rank: 0.1

Sentiment rank: 0

© Source: http://rssfeeds.wusa9.com/~/252863740/0/wusa-politics~Banned-items-at-the-Presidential-Inaugur
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

by Shmuel Rosner
2 days ago
John Kerry, who laid out his parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement last week, did not break new ground. It is not surprising: as Secretary of State, he always had good intentions but rarely the skill to match them. In Syria, his failure is visible to the naked eye of all observers. As a negotiator with Iran, he was successfully manipulated by his interlocutors, resulting in the deal that he reached. As a negotiator with Israel and the Palestinians, he made one mistake after another, until he surrendered to reality and withdrew, disappointed and angry with the peace-rejectionists who, for some reason, would not accept his formulations of supposed reason.
The President that he served, Barack Obama, will not go down in history as someone whose period in office was particularly successful for US foreign policy – certainly not when it comes to US dominance in the world. In the Middle East he will go down as someone who sowed wind and reaped a whirlwind. But he will, after all the fury and speech making, return to his cosy, wind-proof home. We, in the region, will get wet in the rain.
The last episode of the exciting drama “Barack and Binyamin” unraveled last week to the open jaws of viewers all over the world. It exposed an American president, a supposedly cool and level-headed one, in all is vindictive pettiness. It exposed an Israeli PM – and the country whose well-being he is in charge of – in all of their pathetic dependency. The moment an American president, annoying as he is, pulls the rug from under Israel’s feet, it turns out that there’s no floor underneath – there’s just an abyss. Israel will rejoice, and rightly so, the day Obama leaves office and hands the reins over to his successor; but the successor also learned an interesting lesson last week about the balance of power between Israel and the United States: When America sneezes, Israel gets a cold.
This Hanukah, Israel had a good opportunity to reflect on the meaning of this dependency on the American empire. Hanukkah is the holiday of the wondrous Hasmonean kingdom, which came into being when the world around it enabled it, and eventually crashed into pieces when the world changed, not long thereafter. It is the holiday of a kingdom which signed a pact with a rising empire (Rome) and took advantage of the weakness of a crumbling empire (the Seleucids), which identified an opening in the seam between two empires, and which also had quite a lot of luck.
Hanukah is a holiday that offers us an experience of empowerment – as a famous Israeli song goes: “A miracle did not happen to us, we did not find a magic cruse of oil”. It is our strength and fortitude, our rebellion, our heroes, and our wars that gave us victory.
But Hanukah is also a holiday that offers us humility and a measure of introspection – in religious discourse about the holiday, this humility is directed towards the miraculous: it was not us that did it, it was God. This is the reason the cruse of oil is stressed, so we’ll have a clear-cut miracle to go with the hidden miracle of the Maccabees’ victory. In less religious discourse, the humility can be channelled toward the strategic aspect of it all: a miracle did not happen, and it was also not just us. A rare combination of contingencies, wisely-used opportunities, and statesmanship, enabled victory – and the opposite of these things, only one hundred years later or so, brought about weakness and, eventually, collapse.
The Hasmonean kingdom existed as long as the Roman empire let it exist. The modern-day kingdom of Israel exists, to a large extent, because of the position of another empire – the American empire.
Dependency is psychologically unpleasant. It is psychologically frustrating. And it is also a burden on Israel’s policy makers as they deal with the empire that has so much influence on Israel’s future. Sometimes the Americans are smart, sometimes less so. Sometimes they want what’s good for Israel, but mostly they want what’s best for them. Sometimes they are convinced by our arguments, sometimes they are convinced by our detractors. The Americans, as last week proves, can be an aggressive nation. Why are they hitting Israel? Because Israel annoyed them. Why Israel more than others? Because Israel is easier to hit – it’s harder to pick on Putin, who can create much more damage, or Syria, that isn’t dependent on the Americans, or the Palestinian, who would collapse after a single blow.
Obama did Israel a favor and saved his heavy ammunition against it for overtime. He is shooting to harm. But his main target – that is, to bend Israel’s will and force his odd ideas on it – is already beyond his reach. He simply doesn’t have enough time.
Maybe – Israel certainly hopes this is the case – Donald Trump will never use this ammunition against Israel. Maybe Trump will stand with Israel and adopt its positions on every issue on the agenda. Maybe he is not going to try and force Israel into making compromises. Maybe. But Israel would do well to remember the lesson of last week’s Hanukah events: Even if Trump has no intention of ever pressuring Israel, Trump will know – and we will know – that he can. That he is armed and dangerous, and that Israel has few defenses. That Trump could, if he only chooses, to pull the rug from under Israel’s feet.
View our privacy policy and terms of service .

Similarity rank: 1.1

Sentiment rank: -1.1

© Source: http://www.jewishjournal.com/rosnersdomain/item/like_obama_trump_too_is_armed_and_dangerous
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.

Mass murderer Charles Manson was taken from a Central Valley prison to a hospital for an undisclosed medical issue, two sources familiar with the situation said.
One of the sources said Manson was seriously ill but could not provide specific information.
Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment, citing federal and state laws and saying inmates‘ medical information is private.
„We do not disclose inmate movements for safety and security reasons,“ said Terry Thornton, a department spokeswoman.
However, she said: „He is alive. “
Manson and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969. Prosecutors said that Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was in the Beatles‘ song „Helter Skelter. “
Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she was killed at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon on Aug. 9, 1969. Besides Tate, four others were stabbed and shot to death: Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25, a coffee heiress; and Steven Parent, 18, a friend of Tate’s caretaker. The word „Pig“ was written on the front door in blood. The next night, Manson rode along with his followers to the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, then left three members to kill the couple.
Manson, now 82, has had „hundreds“ of rules violations, prison officials say, and has been in trouble for having a cellphone and a homemade weapon while incarcerated. Manson has been denied parole 12 times. His next parole hearing is scheduled for 2027, when he will be 92. He has been in prison since 1971 and is serving his time at Corcoran State Prison.
In 2014, Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, a 26-year-old Manson devotee, were granted a marriage license , but it expired before the two could marry.
Last week, state parole officials postponed a decision on setting free Patricia Krenwinkel, a Manson follower and convicted killer, after the woman’s attorney made new claims that she had been abused by Manson or another person.
Krenwinkel was sent to death row in 1971 after a Los Angeles jury convicted her in the Tate murders.
Several Bakersfield media outlets said a corrections department van was parked outside Bakersfield’s Mercy Hospital. The Bakersfield Californian reported Manson was admitted there Sunday under a “Joe Doe” name.
A Republican-controlled Congress opens today , USC beats Penn State for the Rose Bowl title , debating plans for a South Bay desalination plant , and the search for the “HOLLYWeeD” prankster has been called off .
Kamala Harris sworn in
Ski resort an hour from Las Vegas. (David Montero / Los Angeles Times)
The Rams lost to the Cardinals, 44-6, at the Coliseum on Jan. 1 to end the season 4-12.
A lava collapse on New Year’s Eve sends rock tumbling into the Pacific.
A lava collapse on New Year’s Eve sends rock tumbling into the Pacific.

Similarity rank: 13

Sentiment rank: -7.9

© Source: http://www.latimes.com/la-me-charles-manson-hospitalized-20170103-story.html
All rights are reserved and belongs to a source media.