Monday, April 1, 2013

Florida woman dies after driving into pond

Body pulled from submerged car in Kissimmee
2 dived in to help
UPDATED 6:02 PM EDT Apr 01, 2013
KISSIMMEE, Fla. —A body was pulled from the water after a car became submerged in Kissimmee on Monday afternoon.
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This is a developing story. I just watched one of the good Samaritans interviewed.

Two men saw the woman in the middle of the street and called 911. They watched her drive the car into the water then rushed to help her. Her body was recovered at 4:20.

Studies show stress really can break your heart

Studies show stress really can break your heart
By Marilynn Marchione
Associated Press

Stress does bad things to the heart. New studies have found higher rates of cardiac problems in veterans with PTSD, New Orleans residents six years after Hurricane Katrina and Greeks struggling through that country's financial turmoil.

Disasters and prolonged stress can raise "fight or flight" hormones that affect blood pressure, blood sugar and other things in ways that make heart trouble more likely, doctors say. They also provoke anger and helplessness and spur heart-harming behaviors like eating or drinking too much.

"We're starting to connect emotions with cardiovascular risk markers" and the new research adds evidence of a link, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association spokeswoman.

She had no role in the studies, which were discussed Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco.

The largest, involving 207,954 veterans in California and Nevada ages 46 to 74, compared those with PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, to those without it. They were free of major heart disease and diabetes when researchers checked their Veterans Administration medical records from 2009 and 2010.
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VA Probes $42 Million in Awards Questioned by Congress

VA Probes $42 Million in Awards Questioned by Congress
Bloomberg News
By Kathleen Miller
Apr 1, 2013

U.S. lawmakers await the results of a Department of Veterans Affairs probe into why an agency employee processed more than 1,500 awards just under a monetary threshold that would require public disclosure of the contracts.

The inquiry focuses on a staff member who oversees orders for some VA health facilities in New York and New Jersey and who processed transactions worth more than $42 million over a roughly 18-month period. A letter from a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee said that the purchases ranged in amounts between $24,500 and $24,980.

Transactions of $25,000 and more are generally required to be published on a federal government procurement website to encourage as many bids as possible.

“What is the basis or reasoning for placing multiple transactions with the same vendor on the same day and keeping transactions below $25,000?” asked the Sept. 26, 2012, letter signed by Representative Bill Johnson, the Ohio Republican who at the time served as the chairman of the subcommittee on oversight.

Jo Schuda, a VA spokeswoman, said on March 28 that the department has finished its investigation into the case and is preparing a response that should be delivered this week.

“We are not commenting regarding any actions taken until the response is issued,” Schuda said in an e-mail. She declined to say whether the individual responsible for the transactions faced disciplinary action.
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'BUCKWILD' STAR SHAIN GANDEE DEAD AT 21

'BUCKWILD' STAR SHAIN GANDEE DEAD AT 21
TMZ
April 1, 2013

"Buckwild" Star Shain Gandee was found dead in a vehicle in West Virginia this morning ... 31 hours after the 21-year-old MTV reality star had been reported missing, this according to law enforcement.

According to officials, Gandee, his 48-year-old uncle David Gandee, and a third unidentified body were discovered dead in the vehicle in Sissonville, West Virginia.

As we previously reported ... Shain was last heard from around 3 AM on Sunday morning, when he and his uncle David told people they planned to go 4-wheeling.
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Easter treat to my biker friends


Biker dressed as Easter Bunny pulled over by California officers
By Daniel Arkin
Staff Writer
NBC News


Move over, Mad Max. Step aside, Easy Rider. The Easter Bunny rules the road.

A motorcyclist wearing a full Easter Bunny costume was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol early Saturday after officers on routine patrol spotted the costumed man traveling down Interstate 8 without a helmet, NBCLosAngeles.com reported.
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Almost half of veterans turn to clergy before mental health providers

VA offers PTSD educational seminar for clergy
Workshop will teach religious leaders how to identify, deal with issue
By Lydia Seabol Avant
Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, March 31, 2013

TUSCALOOSA
When a veteran comes back from fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan and starts to deal with the effects of post traumatic stress disorder or depression, a clergy member is often one of the first people they go to for help.

It’s for that reason that the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center is offering a free educational seminar this week for pastors, ministers, priests and other church leaders in the community to educate them on some of the difficulties that veterans may face when they come home from war and what church leaders can do to help.

“Research has shown that almost half of veterans will turn to a clergy person first before they go to a mental health provider,” said John Bailey, a chaplain at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center. “We want to help [the clergy] on how to refer the veterans to the VA, how to get them the help they need and inform them of the benefits that are available to those veterans.”
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FOX Sports visits Warrior Transition Unit

FOX Sports Video
Mar 25, 2013
The Warrior Transition Unit is a place where soldiers who are returning from battle go to rehabilitate physically and mentally.

The Robe, epic movie on healing Combat PTSD

The Robe, epic movie on healing Combat PTSD
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
April 1, 2013

One of my favorite Easter movies was on last night, The Robe. I love old movies especially movies telling the story of Christ. This one is very different from the others because it explores a side of what few others do.

It tells the story of one of the Romans responsible for nailing Christ's hands and feet to the Cross. It is also an epic movie on healing Combat PTSD. It was made before I was even born.

The Robe is not your typical Easter movie but above that it is not your typical Post Traumatic Stress Disorder movie either.
The Robe was released in 1953 but when you watch it, you notice the connection to our modern knowledge of war and PTSD.
This is the basic plot.

"Marcellus is a tribune in the time of Christ. He is in charge of the group that is assigned to crucify Jesus. Drunk, he wins Jesus' homespun robe after the crucifixion. He is tormented by nightmares and delusions after the event. Hoping to find a way to live with what he has done, and still not believing in Jesus, he returns to Palestine to try and learn what he can of the man he killed. Written by John Vogel"
In the first scene, Marcellus Gallo (played by Richard Burton) is a hot headed Tribune is arguing with woman. It is clear he only cares about himself until he reconnects with his childhood sweetheart, Diana (Jean Simmons) and he softens as soon as he realizes who she is.

Marcellus had gone to a slave auction because he wanted to buy set of beautiful twins but ended up in a bidding war with Caligula (Jay Robinson) and out bided by him. The next slave to be offered was Demetrius (Victor Mature) a Greek warrior. Marcellus and Caligula get into another biding war over him and Marcellus wins setting off Caligula's rage.

Just when you think Marcellus is a jerk, he has the handcuffs taken off Demetrius, tells him where he lives then trusts him to just go there.

Because Caligula was so angry, orders arrived for Marcellus to go to Jerusalem. Diana promised to go to Emperor Tiberius to have the orders changed.

Marcellus set sail and arrived on Palm Sunday as Jesus was being greeted with the palms and crowds. Demetrius had never heard of Him before that day. Soon orders came to have Jesus arrested. Demetrius heard about the orders and tried to warn him but he was too late.

Pontius Pilate had new orders for Marcellus as soon as he did one duty before he left. Crucify Christ. Marcellus won Christ's robe so when the storm began, he told Demetrius to put it over him. Immediately Marcellus freaked out believing the robe had a spell on it. Demetrius screamed at Marcellus and cursed him. From that moment one Marcellus was tormented.

Marcellus was an expert war fighter in hand to hand combat and the sword. He was no coward and a loyal Roman soldier. He felt guilt over the death of Christ, His blood on his hands and the fact Christ did not deserve to die that way. He felt responsible for killing an innocent man.

Emperor Tiberius had compassion for Marcellus and sent him to find the Robe believing it had magical powers and Marcellus could only be restored to sanity by it.

Marcellus' family loved him but could not understand what he was going through and he had the love of Diana to support him.

While searching for the Robe, Marcellus learned what forgiving, charity and compassion were all about and his transformation began as he saw things differently. Reunited with Demetrius and the Robe, Marcellus finally understood what Christ meant when He said in his last moments, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

If you are suffering from Combat PTSD or love someone who is, this is a great way to discover what it is, why it is and how to heal.

George Washington's wartime 'oval office' getting extreme makeover

George Washington's wartime 'oval office' getting remade
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
The Associated Press
Published: March 31, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — A large canvas tent that served as George Washington's home and command center during the Revolutionary War is being duplicated down to the finest stitch and will serve as an educational tool and ambassador for a new museum coming to Philadelphia's historic district.

The 22-foot-long, 15-foot-wide oval tent, also called a marquee, is being reproduced this summer as part of a new partnership between the planned Museum of the American Revolution and Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg.

While the original will be a centerpiece of the museum, slated to open in 2016, its sturdier new cousin being made in Virginia will be on tour ahead of the museum opening.

"We all know Mount Vernon, but this is a home of George Washington that most people don't even think about," said R. Scott Stephenson, director of collections for the Revolution Museum. The future first president stayed in the field with his troops through the war, living and working in the tent that was the nation's first "oval office" of sorts, he said.

Stephenson and Mark Hutter, Colonial Williamsburg's journeyman tailor supervisor, will pick up 160 yards of hand-loomed linen from a facility in Northern Ireland that was able to produce the fabric to 18th-century specifications. An additional 90 yards of linen making up the inner chambers of the tent are being handmade by weavers at Colonial Williamsburg.

Hutter's team will spend a few days in April at a secret location outside Philadelphia where the tent and some 3,000 other artifacts are being carefully stored and archived until the museum is built. The Williamsburg artisans will get up close and personal with Washington's marquee, examining its seams, grommets, eyelets and thousands of stitches while perfecting their techniques for re-creating the 225-year-old artifact.
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"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
George Washington

Afghan teenager fatally stabs US soldier

UDATE 6:40
Brother: Slain Fort Campbell soldier prepared for 'anything'
Apr. 1, 2013
Written by
BRETT BARROUQUERE, Associated Press
By KIM GAMEL,
Associated Press


FILE - In this March 28, 2013 file photo, U.S. Army and Air Force officers say a prayer beside the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. Michael Cable, 26, of Philpot, Ky., to a transfer vehicle at Dover Air Force Base, Del. An Afghan teenager killed Cable in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck while he played with a group of local children, officials said Monday, April 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) / AP
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Before leaving for Afghanistan, Army Sgt. Michael C. Cable quietly met with several family members and relayed to them the hazards of his upcoming deployment. The meetings were unusual because Cable didn’t talk much about what happened on his previous tour of duty in Iraq.

To Cable’s brother, 42-year-old Raymond Johnston of Owensboro, it now seems like the soldier had an idea he might not survive.

“After learning everything I’ve learned … Maybe he knew about what he was getting into and how dangerous it was,” Johnston said. “He was able to communicate to the family about if the worst was supposed to happen, what we were supposed to do.”

Cable, 26, of Philpot in western Kentucky, died March 24. The Army said he was attacked by enemy forces. Johnston told The Associated Press on Monday that someone sneaked up behind his brother and stabbed him in the neck while he worked guard duty in Shinwar, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. read more here
Afghan teenager fatally stabs US soldier
By KIM GAMEL
The Associated Press
Published: April 1, 2013

KABUL -- Senior U.S. military officials say an Afghan teenager has killed an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan by stabbing him in the neck.

Two officials said Monday that Sgt. Michael Cable, 26, was guarding a meeting of Afghan and U.S. officials in Nangarhar province when the stabbing occurred.
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