The Lede is providing updates on Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign on Feb. 28, less than eight years after he took office, the first pope to do so in six centuries. (Turn off auto-refresh to watch videos.)
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Tia Mowry-Hardrict: Cree 'Gets a Little Jealous' of Aden
Label: Lifestyle
Bret Hartman/AP
Tia Mowry-Hardrict and her twin sister Tamera Mowry-Housley couldn’t be closer, but the siblings have to work a bit harder to get their little boys on that same level.
“I will be honest, Cree [20 months] gets a little jealous [of his 3-month-old cousin],” Mowry-Hardrict, 34, tells PEOPLE Tuesday at Blushington in West Hollywood.
“When I was trying to feed Aden, Cree started crying. I have to just slowly introduce Aden into our world. It’s kind of hard on Cree, but he loves Aden. We really, really enjoy having him around.”
Luckily, the mommies give their kids plenty of opportunity to get acquainted.
“My sister and I try to see each other once a week,” Mowry-Hardrict, who teamed up with Puffs and Dress for Success’s Virtual Kiss program, says. “We actually just had a play date. We went to the Grove and hung out.”
Being a mom is tiring for the actress, who is working on a new sitcom, Instant Mom, but there are a few things that manage to keep her energized.
“I just look at my son,” she says. “When I’m away from him, I really feel it. I’m exhausted, I feel like a zombie. I’m like, ‘What am I going to do?’ But when I see him and I see the smile on his face, it just gives me this instant burst of energy.”
Adds Mowry-Hardrict, “I’m very into holistic living and very healthy eating, so I don’t run to coffee or caffeine. I think it drops you rather quickly. Instead I juice with my husband [Cory Hardrict] every single morning. I have kale, celery, ginger, a little bit of garlic, parsley and cucumber. I drink half in the morning and half in the afternoon. And that’s my energy drink.”
Luckily, her new hairdo also saves her from wasting any additional energy.
“I think it’s very practical for me because I am a mom,” she says. “Now I can just get in the shower and put some conditioner in my hair. I have curly hair, so this makes it easy to just go. But I also have a great stylist who can just [style] my hair in so many different ways. It does take a while when you want to do a straight look. But when I want to go au naturel, I just get out of the shower, and boom — I’m done.”
Clearly, motherhood is working for Mowry-Hardrict, because she’s already planning for more little ones.
“Cree’s almost two, and I really, really want him to be close with his sibling,” she says. “So I would say I’m having more kids sooner rather than later.”
– Dahvi Shira
What heals traumatized kids? Answers are lacking
Label: HealthCHICAGO (AP) — Shootings and other traumatic events involving children are not rare events, but there's a startling lack of scientific evidence on the best ways to help young survivors and witnesses heal, a government-funded analysis found.
School-based counseling treatments showed the most promise, but there's no hard proof that anxiety drugs or other medication work and far more research is needed to provide solid answers, say the authors who reviewed 25 studies. Their report was sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
According to research cited in the report, about two-thirds of U.S. children and teens younger than 18 will experience at least one traumatic event, including shootings and other violence, car crashes and weather disasters. That includes survivors and witnesses of trauma. Most will not suffer any long-term psychological problems, but about 13 percent will develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, including anxiety, behavior difficulties and other problems related to the event.
The report's conclusions don't mean that no treatment works. It's just that no one knows which treatments are best, or if certain ones work better for some children but not others.
"Our findings serve as a call to action," the researchers wrote in their analysis, published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.
"This is a very important topic, just in light of recent events," said lead author Valerie Forman-Hoffman, a researcher at RTI International, a North Carolina-based nonprofit research group.
She has two young children and said the results suggest that it's likely one of them will experience some kind of trauma before reaching adulthood. "As a parent I want to know what works best," the researcher said.
Besides the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, other recent tragedies involving young survivors or witnesses include the fatal shooting last month of a 15-year-old Chicago girl gunned down in front of a group of friends; Superstorm Sandy in October; and the 2011 Joplin, Mo., tornado, whose survivors include students whose high school was destroyed.
Some may do fine with no treatment; others will need some sort of counseling to help them cope.
Studying which treatments are most effective is difficult because so many things affect how a child or teen will fare emotionally after a traumatic event, said Dr. Denise Dowd, an emergency physician and research director at Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., who wrote a Pediatrics editorial.
One of the most important factors is how the child's parents handle the aftermath, Dowd said.
"If the parent is freaking out" and has difficulty controlling emotions, kids will have a tougher time dealing with trauma. Traumatized kids need to feel like they're in a safe and stable environment, and if their parents have trouble coping, "it's going to be very difficult for the kid," she said.
The researchers analyzed 25 studies of treatments that included anti-anxiety and depression drugs, school-based counseling, and various types of psychotherapy. The strongest evidence favored school-based treatments involving cognitive behavior therapy, which helps patients find ways to cope with disturbing thoughts and emotions, sometimes including talking repeatedly about their trauma.
This treatment worked better than nothing, but more research is needed comparing it with alternatives, the report says.
"We really don't have a gold standard treatment right now," said William Copeland, a psychologist and researcher at Duke University Medical Center who was not involved in the report. A lot of doctors and therapists may be "patching together a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and that might not add up to the most effective treatment for any given child," he said.
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Online:
Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org
Dorner's LAPD firing case hinged on credibility
Label: BusinessFor a Los Angeles Police Department disciplinary panel, the evidence was persuasive: Rookie officer Christopher Jordan Dorner lied when he accused his training officer of kicking a mentally ill man during an arrest.
But when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge examined the case a year later in 2010 as part of an appeal filed by Dorner, he seemed less convinced.
Judge David P. Yaffe said he was "uncertain whether the training officer kicked the suspect or not" but nevertheless upheld the department's decision to fire Dorner, according to court records reviewed by The Times.
As the manhunt for the ex-cop wanted in the slayings of three people enters its sixth day, Dorner's firing has been the subject of debate both within and outside the LAPD. An online manifesto that police attributed to Dorner claims he was railroaded by the LAPD and unjustly fired. His allegations have resonated among the public and some LAPD employees who have criticized the department's disciplinary system, calling it capricious and retaliatory toward those who try to expose misconduct.
Seeking to address those concerns, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced this weekend that he was reopening the investigation into Dorner's disciplinary case. "It is important to me that we have a department that is seen as valuing fairness," Beck said.
LAPD records show that Dorner's disciplinary panel heard from several witnesses who testified that they did not see the training officer kick the man. The panel found that the man did not have injuries consistent with having been kicked, nor was there evidence of having been kicked on his clothes. A key witness in Dorner's defense was the man's father, who testified that his son told him he had been kicked by police. The panel concluded that the father's testimony "lacked credibility," finding that his son was too mentally ill to give a reliable account.
The online manifesto rails against the LAPD officials who took part in the review hearing and vows revenge. Police allege Dorner killed his own attorney's daughter and her fiance last weekend in Irvine.
"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will [lead] to deadly consequences for you and your family," the manifesto says.
Dorner's case revolved around a July 28, 2007, call about a man causing a disturbance at the DoubleTree Hotel in San Pedro. When Dorner and his training officer showed up, they found Christopher Gettler. He was uncooperative and threw a punch at one of the officers, prompting Dorner's training officer, Teresa Evans, to use an electric Taser weapon on him.
Nearly two weeks later, Dorner walked into Sgt. Donald Deming's office at the Harbor Division police station. There were tears in Dorner's eyes, the sergeant later testified.
Deming gave the following account of what happened next:
"I have something bad to talk to you about, something really bad," Dorner told him.
Evans, Dorner explained, had kicked Gettler once in the face and twice in the left shoulder or nearby chest area. Afterward, Dorner said, Evans told him not to include the kicks on the arrest report.
"Promise me you won't do anything," Dorner asked Deming.
"No, Chris. I have to do something," Deming responded.
An internal affairs investigation into the allegation concluded the kicks never occurred. Investigators subsequently decided that Dorner had fabricated his account. He was charged with making false accusations.
At the December 2008 Board of Rights hearing, Dorner's attorney, Randal Quan, conceded that his client should have reported the kicks sooner but told the board that Dorner ultimately did the right thing. He called the case against Dorner "very, very ugly."
"This officer wasn't given a fair shake," Quan said, according to transcripts of the board hearing. "In fact, what's happening here is this officer is being made a scapegoat."
At the hearing, Dorner stuck to his story. Evans, he said, kicked Gettler once in the left side of his collarbone lightly with her right boot as they struggled to handcuff him. She kicked him once more forcefully in the same area, Dorner testified, and then much harder in the face, snapping Gettler's head back. Dorner said he noticed fresh blood on Gettler's face.
India Ink: More Than Two Dozen Killed in Kumbh Mela Stampede
Label: WorldALLAHABAD, Uttar Pradesh — As many as 30 people were killed Sunday in a stampede at a train station here as millions gathered for a Hindu religious festival.
The stampede erupted on a platform of the main railway station in Allahabad as religious pilgrims passed through it on their way to the festival, Kumbh Mela on the banks of the Ganges River.
Sunday was one of the busiest days of the 55-day festival; 30 million people were expected to take a dip in the Ganges River to cleanse themselves of sin.
About 30 bodies, covered in blue sheets and pieces of cloth, were visible on the train platform on Sunday evening. Several appeared to be children.
The stampede was set off by railway delays, shoddy infrastructure and overcrowding, several witnesses said.
Train services were severely delayed during the early evening, witnesses said, leaving growing numbers of passengers stranded in the small station.
The police initially said that panic spread after a railing broke on a footbridge over the tracks in the Allahabad station, sending a few people tumbling to their deaths. The tightly packed crowds rushed to get off the footbridge, and others were trampled. They later retracted this statement and attributed it to a rush on the steps leading to one of the platforms.
“People tripped over the steps leading to platform 6,” Lalji Shukla, deputy inspector general of Allahabad police, said in an interview.
“I can’t believe God punished us this way,” said one pilgrim, Santos Singh. “My 15-year-old son got injured. I wish the police were more responsive.”
At least an hour after the incident occurred, there were still no medical workers on the scene.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock at the episode and said in a public statement: “I am deeply shocked to learn of the unfortunate incident at the Allahabad Railway station today, in which precious lives have been lost and many pilgrims to Kumbh Mela among other people have been injured.”
Mr. Singh directed the Ministry of Railways to provide all “necessary assistance” to those who were involved and promised compensation for the families of the dead or injured.
Raksha Kumar reported from Allahabad, and Heather Timmons and Malavika Vyawahare from New Delhi
Chris Brown Crashes Car During Paparazzi Chase
Label: LifestyleGrammy weekend got off on a bumpy start for Chris Brown.
The best urban contemporary album nominee walked away uninjured after crashing his black Porsche into a wall during a paparazzi chase, reports the Associated Press.
Beverly Hills police say the accident occurred Saturday around noon when Brown, 23, lost control of his vehicle while driving to an L.A. charity event.
After Brown was reportedly cut off by photographers, "the occupants jumped out, with cameras, and aggressively approached his vehicle," Brown's rep said in a statement, via Entertainment Weekly. "In an effort to remove himself from the situation, he began to back down an alley, at which point he was cut off by two additional vehicles."
According to his rep, his car was totaled because of the "aggressive pursuit by paparazzi" but "he is okay." The Porsche was towed away from the scene.
However, the photo agency responsible for the photographers on the scene are refuting Brown's story, saying that the paparazzi didn't arrive until after the accident. Chris Doherty, owner of INF, the photo agency, tells TMZ that his photographers "had nothing to do with the Chris Brown crashing" and that it's simply "convenient for him to blame us."
Lt. Lincoln Hoshino said authorities will investigate the incident, although he didn't know whether any of the involved parparazzi have been identified, according to the AP.
It's been just four years since Brown first caused a stir during Grammy weekend as a domestic violence drama began to unfold between him and on-again girlfriend Rihanna right before the 2009 awards ceremony. Now, fans will wait and see if the two attend this year's show together.
A call to Brown's lawyer by the AP was not immediately returned.
After early start, worst of flu season may be over
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.
The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.
The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.
But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.
For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.
Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.
"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.
In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.
Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications
But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.
So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.
Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.
The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.
According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.
Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
___
Online:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
Old mystery: Why did Gardena help get police vests to Cambodia?
Label: BusinessA decade ago, Gardena Police Capt. Tom Monson was surprised to discover that a $5,190 check had been mailed to his station from the Honorary Consulate of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Monson was unable to figure out what business the small police agency had with the government of Cambodia.
Shortly afterward, Monson was presented with another vexing puzzle. His police department had recently purchased 173 bulletproof vests from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — a lot, considering that the department had fewer than 100 officers.
Then he noticed the price of those vests: $5,190. The same amount the Kingdom of Cambodia had paid to the department.
So began a mystery about ballistic vests, international police connections and local politics that still endures 10 years later.
A Times investigation has found that top sheriff's officials used the City of Gardena to funnel hundreds of bulletproof vests to Cambodian police.
Sheriff's media representatives gave The Times differing accounts about the transaction, initially denying any sheriff's officials were involved in sending the vests to Cambodia, then offering explanations contradicted by records and interviews. The officials involved in the transaction refused to discuss it.
Prompted by The Times' inquiry, Sheriff Lee Baca recently asked the county auditor-controller's office to examine the sale, and a sheriff's spokesman called that review "a complete vindication" that proved the transactions were "above board." But Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe said in an interview she was only told that the vests were sold to Gardena, not that Gardena was a go-between to get them to Cambodia.
"The word Cambodia didn't even come up in the conversation," she said.
It is not unusual for U.S. law enforcement agencies to donate used or obsolete equipment to other departments, including foreign ones. But in this case, the vests were sent through an intermediary and not declared to customs officials, as required by federal law. Instead, they were stuffed inside one of a number of patrol cars that the Sheriff's Department was shipping directly to Cambodia, avoiding the rigorous vetting process the U.S. government requires to prevent body armor from getting into the wrong hands abroad.
The U.S. Customs Service launched an investigation into the sale of the vests in 2002, and federal agents were told that the transactions were coordinated by Paul Tanaka, who is both the sheriff's second-in-command and the mayor of Gardena. Other members of the City Council were kept in the dark about the purchase — and the vests were never claimed by the city. They were picked up from the sheriff's warehouse, signed for by a sheriff's reserve, then packed into a patrol car headed for the Southeast Asian country.
The existence of the federal probe was never made public until now. Customs agents decided not to seek criminal charges, concluding there wasn't enough evidence to show that anyone involved in the transactions knew the relevant export laws.
David Johnson, a Washington, D.C., export controls attorney who reviewed the records for The Times, called that a "curious rationale," saying authorities don't have to prove knowledge of the law to press charges. "On its face, it seems like someone was going to great lengths to obfuscate the actual transaction," he said.
After closing the case, federal authorities referred the matter to sheriff's investigators. But a sheriff's spokesman said the department did not conduct its own investigation.
The spokesman, Steve Whitmore, said officials did nothing wrong and sent the vests through Gardena because they were under the mistaken impression that county rules prevented them from dealing directly with foreign nations. He could not explain why that same misunderstanding did not apply to the patrol cars, which officials did send directly to the Cambodians as part of the same shipment.
Tanaka declined to comment for this story. Several of the Gardena council members serving at the time said they never knew about the vests. "I'm very troubled by it," former Councilman Steven Bradford said in an interview.
::
City records showed that Gardena had made two purchases from the Sheriff's Department, the first in May for 173 unused ballistic vests and the second a month later for 300 used vests at a cost of $3,000. Monson and a colleague notified federal authorities.
Records obtained by The Times under the Freedom of Information Act detail the customs probe. Though the names of those interviewed were redacted, it is clear that investigators approached City Manager Mitchell Lansdell.
Lansdell, the records indicate, explained that the purchase was ordered by a councilman who also worked for the Sheriff's Department — a profile that fits only Tanaka. That councilman, the city manager said, called him at home and told him to buy vests that were about to be put up for sale by the Sheriff's Department.
Russian Protest Leader Put Under House Arrest
Label: World
MOSCOW — A Moscow district court ordered Sergei Udaltsov, a prominent opposition leader, to be placed under house arrest on Saturday, in one of the most assertive legal measures to date against a leader of the anti-Kremlin protests that began more than a year ago.
Mr. Udaltsov, the leader of the radical socialist Left Front movement, faces a charge of conspiracy to incite mass disorder, under a statute that can bring a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. According to Saturday’s ruling, he may not leave his house, use the Internet, receive letters or communicate with anyone outside his family and legal team until April 6, the current date for the end of the investigation of his case.
The ruling seemed to signal a new stage in the government’s effort to bring criminal cases against well-known critics of President Vladimir V. Putin. Though most of the well-known protest leaders have served short sentences for administrative violations, and several are the subject of criminal inquiries, none had yet been held on criminal charges.
Mr. Udaltsov, a passionate public speaker and the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, has stood out among the Moscow protesters, many of them middle-class Russians who distance themselves from calls for revolution. He was also one of the few to focus early on economic issues relevant to Russians outside large cities.
Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom, Mr. Udaltsov said he had broken no laws and called the decision “a political order against me because my public actions anger the government.”
“All the reasons being offered as evidence were already perfectly clear to them in October, when I was first placed under a travel ban,” Mr. Udaltsov said. “Nothing has changed.”
During Saturday’s hearing, prosecutors also claimed that Mr. Udaltsov had threatened to attack his wife, Anastasia, and that she at one point had fled to Ukraine with their children. A judge refused to allow Ms. Udaltsova to testify in court on Saturday, but she told the Novaya Gazeta daily newspaper that the accusation was “a total lie.”
Mr. Udaltsov has been accused of attacking the police and rioting at an anti-Putin demonstration that ended in clashes last May, and of attempting to organize anti-government riots in cities across Russia.
He has been under a travel ban since October, but prosecutors said that he had gone outside Moscow and continued to lead public rallies while under investigation. A statement from investigators charged that Mr. Udaltsov “has not lived at his registered address for a long time, his mobile telephone is often switched off, making it difficult to summon the accused to investigators.”
The statement also said Mr. Udaltsov “does not inform the investigation of his factual location.”
Saturday’s ruling came at the request of Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee, which has recently revived several stalled criminal investigations against Russian opposition leaders including Aleksei Navalny, a popular blogger and corruption whistle-blower accused in December of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business swindle.
Mr. Udaltsov, in his closing arguments, told the judge that if he was placed under house arrest, he would like the state to afford him a 13-room apartment, a cook and a maid — a reference to the house-arrest conditions reportedly granted to a Defense Ministry official currently facing corruption charges.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 9, 2013
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Sergei Udaltsov’s family ties. He is the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, not the grandson.
Mama June's Weight Loss Wows Readers, While Kate's Baby Bump Draws Love
Label: LifestyleMama June (left) and mama-to-be Kate
Pacific Coast News; TOP STAR PICTURES
What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love seeing your responses, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of angry, sad and LOL feedback to all of our stories.
From Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Mama June, who lost 100 lbs. by simply running around filming her show, she says, to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville's admission that she charged her vaginal reconstruction surgery to her ex-husband's credit card, readers responded.
Check out the articles with the top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think!
Yes, a royal baby is indeed on the way, and the world watched this week as photos emerged of pregnant Kate stepping out with a small bump. Although the stylish Duchess of Cambridge covered up with a Tartan-print cape over black leggings and riding boots, it was clear that her figure was changing as her pregnancy continued after early weeks of severe morning sickness that had sent her to the hospital. She is due in July.
Our readers expressed anger over Kim Kardashian's ongoing divorce fight with estranged husband Kris Humphries as she pleaded with a judge to declare her marriage over because she is pregnant with another man's baby and doesn't want to be wed when her child arrives. She also told the judge she feared financial entanglement if the case lingered, including purchase of a new residence. Humphries is seeking an annulment of their 72-day marriage based on claims of fraud.
Readers were wowed by a much-smaller Mama June. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo matriarch says she's dropped more than 100 lbs., as she dashes from place to place shooting her popular TV show – and not through diet or exercise. "They have me running around and going different places ... I guess it's paying off," she told TMZ of her weight-loss strategy.
Oh no she didn't! Her husband Eddie Cibrian may have cheated on her and left her for another woman, but outspoken The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, 40, opened up in her new book, Drinking & Tweeting that she got him back in an usual way: using his credit card to charge a $12,000 vaginal rejuvenation surgery. Readers laughed out loud at Glanville, who dishes plenty of other family dirt in her book. She and Cibrian have two children, Mason, 9 and Jake, 5. He is now married to country star LeAnn Rimes.
Readers felt sadness for Emma Bunton, who lost her beloved chocolate Labrador Phoebe after the dog went missing on a daily walk. The Spice Girl, 37, Tweeted that she and fiancé Jade Jones were "devastated," by the loss of their pet, who had been microchipped. "To all the amazing people who supported us at this horrible time, our precious Phoebe has been found and it's terrible news," Bunton Tweeted Wednesday. Bunton and Jones, who are parents to two sons, also thanked those who helped them in their search, including Dog Lost, a database for lost and found dogs in the U.K.
Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to every day here.
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