Investing in support for troubled families - Liberal Democrat Voice

Yesterday Danny Alexander announced a major increase in funding for the Troubled Families programme, with an extra ?200 million to be invested into the service.

He says:

Reforming how services are delivered is going to be a central part of this week?s Spending Round.

The Troubled Families programme is a radical example of how, by spending a bit more in certain areas, we can save much more in others and by doing so create a stronger economy and a fairer society.

Extending this intensive help to 400,000 more families will enable us to tackle problems such as truancy, anti-social behaviour and crime. The government is committing ?200 million in funding in 2015/16 and for every ?4,500 spent on a family, we can reduce the annual ?15,000 cost of dealing with their problems by reducing the burden on the police, health and social services.

You can read more about the Troubled Families programme here.

* Mary Reid is the Tuesday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.

Read more by Mary Reid or more about Danny Alexander or troubled families programme.
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Source: http://www.libdemvoice.org/35068-35068.html

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Craft Whiskey Isn?t Necessarily Better

Choose your poison

Photo by Thinkstock

Most foodies reflexively reach for artisanal versions of their favorite foods. We hold the truth that ?small is best? to be self-evident, and vow to eat craft rather than Kraft. The bread, cheese, pickles, and jam we buy from small-batch producers at the farmers market and carry home in NPR totes are worth the cost to us: After all, they usually taste better than their commercial counterparts.

In America?s evolving whiskey landscape, however, smaller isn?t necessarily better. Some excellent craft whiskies have emerged in recent years, but the distilleries responsible for big names like Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, and Four Roses make whiskeys that a surprisingly high number of microdistilleries struggle to match.

This fact flies in the face of our instinct to support the little guy, particularly when he?s your new neighbor and has assumed a huge financial risk to pursue the dream of making whiskey. Just a decade ago, almost every brand of American whiskey?primarily bourbon, rye, and Tennessee whiskey?was made by a handful of companies located in Kentucky and other Southern states. In the last few years, however, the number of distilleries has mushroomed to more than 200, spread throughout the country, as new producers attempt to capitalize on whiskey?s rising popularity. Sales of American whiskey have increased by more than 13 percent during the last five years, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (which sponsored a recent tour of both big and small distilleries that I attended). Sales of pricier, high-end products, the kind most emerging craft bands are marketing, increased by more than double that rate.

Many of these new distilleries have capitalized on the locavore movement, utilizing terms like ?organic,? ?local,? ?small,? and the ambiguous ?craft,? to appeal to the kind of upwardly mobile buyers who are driving sales. The upstarts are entering a crowded market for a product that traditionally takes years to age, meaning long learning curves and delayed revenue. The odds are even more stacked against them than they were for emerging microbreweries in the 1980s and 1990s.

Like their brewing brethren, a few successful microdistilleries will eventually stand triumphant on a battlefield littered with secondhand equipment for sale. In order to survive in the meantime, many microdistilleries are either marking up the price of whiskey purchased from big distilleries or attempting to abridge the long and expensive aging process with techniques that have yielded some very mixed results.

Some consumers might be unaware of ways that small outfits are blurring the definition of ?craft.? As microdistilleries build their facilities or wait for their stocks to age, many purchase whiskey from established companies and resell it. These suppliers include Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Ky., which produces many of its own brands and is best known for Evan Williams bourbon, and MGP Ingredients, which owns the former Seagram Company distillery in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Both companies supply small and large labels alike. Craft brands can either put their own labels on whiskey they purchase from bulk producers and mark up the price, or enhance the flavor of sourced whiskey by aging it further, sometimes in old wine barrels for more complexity. In an industry where many brands pride themselves on tradition and advertise long family heritages with pictures of old men who look like Civil War generals, it?s no surprise that many distilleries downplay this practice. (Others create the appearance of being older than they really are by purchasing and reviving long-dormant trademarks.) MGP?s bland corporate website doesn?t list the brands it supplies, although it does provide basic recipes for the types of spirits its makes. Enterprising drinkers with time on their hands can sometimes use these recipes to sleuth out the origin of their whiskey, if a brand lists its grain composition on its bottles or website. Another tactic is simply to look for town names like Lawrenceburg, Ind., or Bardstown on the label for additional clues. And some companies readily admit on their labels to blending different sourced spirits.

Does sourcing whiskey from other suppliers really matter, as long as it tastes good? Craft brands like the Michter?s labels, Belle Meade Bourbon, and Smooth Ambler?s Old Scout are all sourced from other distilleries while the companies build their facilities or age their own stocks, and all are balanced and flavorful products. High West Distillery, another craft outfit, even won an award at the 2010 American Distilling Institute?s Best Craft American Whiskey competition with a whiskey it originally sourced before its homemade product was ready for market.

David Pickerell, an industry legend who used to be the master distiller for Maker?s Mark and now consults with many upstart distilleries, reminded me that sourcing whiskey is itself a tradition going back to the 19th century. Many established and respected brands, including Maker?s Mark in the 1950s, bought whiskey from larger distilleries while they got their footing. ?It?s what?s in the bottle that counts,? Pickerell noted. One taste of Hillrock Estate Solera-Aged bourbon, a whiskey that he sourced but then aged using a method commonly used to age wine but not whiskey, nicely supported his argument. Regardless, whiskey sourced from big distilleries probably doesn?t fit most drinkers? concept of ?craft.?

What about microdistilleries that actually make their own products? Some, such as Nashville?s Corsair Distillery, have attracted well-deserved attention by experimenting with techniques and flavors avoided by their bigger counterparts. Sometimes these attempts fail, but when they succeed, the results can be exceptional. Corsair?s Quinoa Whiskey has bitter notes that I find disagreeable, but the distillery?s Triple Smoke, which employs smoke flavors from three different types of wood, is flavorful, nuanced, and unique. In the tradition-bound whiskey world, Triple Smoke and many of Corsair?s other experimental projects are the equivalent of Bob Dylan playing an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival: a little unsettling to purists whose tastes and expectations are already established, but appealingly innovative to others.

Conversations about craft distilleries, however, get a little uncomfortable when they turn to more traditional categories of whiskey such as bourbon, which established producers already do very well. As Pickerell told me, ?You can?t out-Maker?s-Mark Maker?s Mark.? Even the most basic offerings from many big distilleries?brands like Buffalo Trace, Jim Beam Black, and Wild Turkey 101?are excellent products that I find more complex than many craft products that are much more expensive. Higher-end products from these same big distilleries?Eagle Rare Single Barrel, Knob Creek, and Russell?s Reserve?are very hard to compete with, especially at the prices they charge.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2013/06/craft_whiskey_vs_jim_beam_smaller_distilleries_aren_t_necessarily_better.html

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Sharapova sends verbal shot Serena Williams' way

LONDON (AP) ? Maria Sharapova took quite a shot at Serena Williams ? and it was nowhere near a tennis court.

At her pre-Wimbledon news conference Saturday, Sharapova was asked about a recent Rolling Stone article where the author surmised that critical comments directed at an unnamed player by Williams were referring to Sharapova.

"At the end of the day, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what we do on the court. I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that's just getting attention and controversy," Sharapova said.

"If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids," Sharapova continued. "Talk about other things, but not draw attention to other things. She has so much in her life, many positives, and I think that's what it should be about."

Williams has been linked to coach Patrick Mouratoglou, but neither has confirmed their relationship extends beyond the court. When Mouratoglou was asked about the topic at the French Open this month, he smiled and replied: "Sorry. I don't understand the question."

According to the Rolling Stone story, posted online Tuesday, Williams spoke about what the reporter described as "a top-five player who is now in love."

Williams is quoted as saying: "She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' ? it's so boring. She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

That is followed by these words in parentheses from the author of the piece, Stephen Rodrick: "An educated guess is she's talking about Sharapova, who is now dating Grigor Dimitrov, one of Serena's rumored exes."

Sharapova beat Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final. But Williams has won their past 13 matches in a row, including in the French Open final two weeks ago.

At Wimbledon, where play begins Monday, Williams is the defending champion and seeded No. 1. Sharapova is seeded No. 3. They only could face each other in the final.

Williams is scheduled to hold a pre-tournament news conference at Wimbledon on Sunday.

The Rolling Stone article, which was about 4,000 words, drew widespread attention mostly for a one-paragraph reference to the Steubenville rape case. Williams is quoted as saying the teenage victim "shouldn't have put herself in that position."

Two players from the Steubenville, Ohio, high school football team were convicted in March of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl; one of the boys was ordered to serve an additional year for photographing the girl naked. The case gained widespread attention in part because of the callousness with which other students used social media to gossip about it.

A day after the story was posted, Williams issued a statement in which she said she was "reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written."

Williams' statement continued: "What was written ? what I supposedly said ? is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame."

Said Sharapova on Saturday: "I was definitely sad to hear what she had to say about the whole case."

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sharapova-sends-verbal-shot-serena-williams-way-170739505.html

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G8 faces uncertain recoveries, turbulent markets

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks at the G8 UK Innovation Conference at the Siemens Crystal Building in London, Friday June 14, 2013. As part of UK's G8 Presidency, the G8 Innovation Conference brings together 300 leading international entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, designers and policy makers. (AP Photo/Facundo Arrizabalaga, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks at the G8 UK Innovation Conference at the Siemens Crystal Building in London, Friday June 14, 2013. As part of UK's G8 Presidency, the G8 Innovation Conference brings together 300 leading international entrepreneurs, researchers, scientists, designers and policy makers. (AP Photo/Facundo Arrizabalaga, Pool)

A security person patrols a check point close to The Lough Erne Golf Resort Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Thursday, June 13, 2013. The Resort is due to host the G8 summit on the 17th and 18th June. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

The Lough Erne Golf Resort Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Thursday, June 13, 2013. The Resort which is surrounded by water is due to host the G8 summit on the 17th and 18th June. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

A security person patrols razor wire close to The Lough Erne Golf Resort Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Thursday, June 13, 2013. The Resort is due to host the G8 summit on the 17th and 18th June. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? Europe is mired in debt and recession. Financial markets have hit violent ups and downs on fears that U.S. stimulus efforts may soon be scaled back. Japan is finally looking up after years of stagnation ? but it remains an open question if the recovery will stick.

That's the global economy that will confront the heads of the Group of Eight leading economies as they gather Monday and Tuesday for their annual summit in Northern Ireland.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will serve as summit host for U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Germany, Italy, Canada, France, Japan and Russia. At the top of the agenda: New cooperation to fight tax evasion and increase transparency among governments. Also on the table will be how much help to give to rebels in Syria, and a push for lower trade barriers between the United States and the European Union.

On the sidelines and over dinner, it's expected that the discussions will broaden to include the election results in Iran and data protection, following revelations about a U.S. counterterror surveillance program.

As always, the summit takes place under heavy security, guarded by 8,000 police backed by water cannon. The venue itself is surrounded by extensive security fences, and on three sides by water. There's only one access road to the closest town, Enniskillen, some 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.

While its peace process has been hailed worldwide as a success story, Northern Ireland remains a society troubled by deep-seated divisions between Catholics and Protestants. Officials have said trouble away from the summit site can't be ruled out. Additionally, thousands of anti-capitalist and labor union protesters are expected to march from the town to the summit fence on Monday.

Since last year's G-8 meeting at Camp David in the U.S., there has been a modest economic upswing throughout the developed world and prospects are brighter after five years of turbulence and recession. Yet despite progress, the economic outlook remains fraught with uncertainties.

Chief among the question marks: When will the U.S. Federal Reserve begin to curtail its extraordinary stimulus, which has supported the recovery in the U. S. and helped send markets around the world to new peaks? Global stock and bond markets have whipsawed since May 23, when U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. central bank might slow its drive to keep long-term borrowing costs low in the coming few months.

Here is a quick picture of where the G-8 countries' economies stand:

UNITED STATES: If Europe is the weak link and Asia the strongest, then the U.S. and Canadian economies are squarely in the middle. The two countries are experiencing steady, if not spectacular, economic growth and job gains.

In the U.S., the once-battered housing sector has been recovering for the past year. Home sales have reached three-year highs. And prices have jumped this spring by the most in seven years. That has encouraged builders to start work on more homes.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 7.6 percent from 8.2 percent a year earlier.

For all the G-8 participants, the most unsettling shift is the possible end of massive monetary stimulus from the Fed ? a factor beyond their immediate control. The Fed's injections of money into the economy through bond purchases ? known as quantitative easing ? had helped send markets soaring.

Now it's not clear which way markets will head.

At previous summits, Obama has pushed European leaders to focus more on growth, rather than austerity. But most European governments have already begun to make that shift.

So Obama is likely to focus on other global concerns, such as the violence in Syria.

JAPAN/ASIA: For once, the bad news for Asia is not coming from Japan. The world's third-largest economy grew at a 4.1 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to explain to fellow G-8 leaders his strategies for fostering long-term growth. Over the past few months, the yen has dropped from about 80 yen to the dollar in October to about 94 yen now ? as the Abe administration tried to bring an end to the country's two-decade stagnation.

Japan's central bank has been pumping money into the economy in the hope of stoking inflation ? the country has suffered from falling prices for much of the past 20 years, which has halted growth. One consequence of the new inflationary approach has been the sharp fall in the value of the yen against other countries' currencies. This has made Japanese goods cheaper to the rest of the world, which has boosted exports.

But the lower yen has provoked concern among German officials. Their exporters compete head to head with Japan's in major markets. Abe is scheduled to meet separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Abe is likely eager to do some explaining after financial markets see-sawed since he presented his initial, broad-brush reform plans last week. Worries about the effectiveness of these measures, combined with the uncertainty over what the U.S. Fed may do, has pushed Japan's Nikkei index into bear market territory with a 20 percent-plus fall.

EUROPE & RUSSIA: Europe's leaders hope a new trade deal between the EU and the United States can help spur growth. EU trade ministers agreed last Friday on their negotiating position and it's hoped a deal that would scrap the tariffs and regulations that impede trade might be reached next year.

And Europe needs stimulus. Austerity measures introduced by Europe's governments to control their deficits have inflicted severe economic pain and produced social unrest across the group 17 European Union countries that use the euro

The eurozone's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the first quarter ? the sixth such decline in a row ? and unemployment is at 12.2 percent. The situation is far worse in countries that are struggling to reduce heavy debt burdens ? unemployment stands at 26.8 percent in Spain, 27.0 percent in Greece.

Private companies haven't managed to fill the vacuum created by the drastically reduced government spending. In the United States, by contrast, the government has imposed far milder spending cuts and tax increases.

European leaders have recently agreed to ease up on the pace of deficit reduction ? but have proposed no other large-scale measures to boost growth, at least in the short term.

Russia has seen more than a decade of largely uninterrupted economic growth, thanks to its lucrative oil and gas industries, to become the world's 8th largest economy. However now that energy prices have stabilized, experts say Russia is unlikely to grow as quickly unless it aggressively reforms its economy.

For a reminder of Europe's troubles, the leaders won't have to look far. The Lough Erne resort where they're staying went bankrupt in 2011.

Dublin supermarket owner Jim Treacy borrowed 21 million pounds ($32 million) to open the five-star golf resort in the green rolling lakelands near Enniskillen in 2007 during the credit-fueled real estate boom sweeping the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. The end of the boom took with it much of the expected wealthy clientele.

Bankruptcy administrator KPMG has Lough Erne on the market for 10 million pounds. So far, no takers.

____

AP writers Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo and Chris Rugaber in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-16-G8-Economy/id-4db847147a5146b9bbf0a304248b2b71

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Google, Twitter push to reveal number of secret FISA requests separately

While Microsoft and Facebook have both published information tonight about how many requests for customer info the government made over a six month period, Google and Twitter are apparently hoping to take a different route. As Google told AllThingsD and Twitter legal director Benjamin Lee tweeted, "it's important to be able to publish numbers of national security requests-including FISA disclosures-separately." Google went further, claiming that lumping the number of National Security Letters together with criminal requests would be a "step backwards." Clearly this post-PRISM revelations battle for more transparency on just what the government is doing behind the scenes isn't over, we'll let you know if any of the parties involved have more information to share.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: AllThingsD, Benjamin Lee (Twitter)

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White House: U.S. to give Syria rebels military aid after chemical attacks

In this Sunday, March 11, 2012 file photo, a man carries a boy who was severely wounded during heavy fighting between??

In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons against the opposition.

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call that President Barack Obama had heard pleas from Syria's rebel Supreme Military Council (SMC) for more help. "Our aim is to be responsive," Rhodes said, underlining that the new assistance would have "direct military purposes."

Rhodes brushed aside repeated questions about whether this meant Washington would now start providing weapons to the rebels, insisting he could not give an "inventory" of the aid. But while he never explicitly confirmed that Obama had decided to to arm the opposition, he left little doubt about Washington's new course of action.

"The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the SMC. That includes military support. I cannot detail for you all of the types of that support for a variety of reasons," Rhodes said. The assistance is "aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the SMC on the ground."

Obama reached the decision after America's intelligence community concluded that "the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," Rhodes said. Those attacks killed at least 100-150 people, he added. Rhodes said Assad's forces used chemical weapons on March 19, April 13, May 14 and May 23.

The confirmation?and a new United Nations study that raised the death toll from Syria?s bloody civil war to nearly 93,000?ramped up pressure on Obama to escalate American involvement in the conflict. The president has been weighing whether to arm the opposition, help create safe areas for refugees, or impose ?no-fly zones? inside Syria enforced by American-led forces. Obama last year called the confirmed use of chemical weapons a "red line" that would make him reconsider whether to arm the rebels, but he later hedged that statement.

Republican Sen. John McCain, who for months had publicly pressed Obama to step up U.S. involvement, preempted the White House announcement in remarks, announcing on the Senate floor that U.S. intelligence agencies had confirmed the use of chemical weapons and thanking the president for opting to send weapons to the rebels.

?In just a couple of minutes, the president of the United States will be announcing that it is now conclusive that Bashar Assad and the Syrian butchers have used chemical weapons,? McCain said.

?The president also will announce that we will be assisting the Syrian rebels in Syria by other assistance? but the president ?had better understand that just supplying weapons is not going to change the equation on the ground of the balance of power,? the senator added. "These people of the Free Syrian Amry need weapons and heavy weapons to counter tanks and aircraft, they need a no-fly zone."

?Just providing arms is not enough,? McCain said.

(Later, in a joint written statement with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,?McCain seemed to indicate a decision had not yet been made: ?A decision to provide lethal assistance, especially ammunition and heavy weapons, to opposition forces in Syria is long overdue, and we hope the President will take this urgently needed step.")

Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that a military proposal for getting weapons to the rebels also calls for a "no-fly zone" inside Syria to protect civilians fleeing the fighting and rebels who might train there.

The Journal, citing anonymous officials, said the U.S. military was looking at a ?no-fly zone? that would stretched some 25 miles into Syrian territory.

Rhodes emphasized that "we have not made any decision to pursue a military operation such as a no-fly zone.?

Such an effort "would carry with it great and open-ended costs for the United States and the international community," Rhodes said. And it would be "far more complex to undertake that effort in Syria than it was in Libya."

He added, "Furthermore, there's not even a clear guarantee that it would dramatically improve the situation on the ground."

Rhodes said Obama would consult with Congress and American allies on next steps?notably at next week?s summit of the Group of Eight rich countries plus Russia in Northern Ireland. The White House has not given up on a negotiated solution.

A spokesman for Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Brendan Buck, emphasized the need for the administration to keep lawmakers in the loop.

?It is long past time to bring the Assad regime?s bloodshed in Syria to an end,? Buck said. ?As President Obama examines his options, it is our hope he will properly consult with Congress before taking any action.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-u-syria-rebels-military-aid-chemical-220823223.html

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Opponents to Immigration Reform Are Running Out of Options

Conservative opponents to immigration reform are starting to get creative in thinking up ways to stop the bill working its way through the Senate. There are reasons for opponents to be very nervous: In an interview with ABC, House Speaker John Boehner would not rule out passing an immigration bill without the support of a majority of Republicans. "I'm committed to is a fair and open process on the floor of the House," he said, adding there's "no question" the House and Senate could agree on a deal.?And this week, the Speaker laid out his plan to pass the bill in the House -- representing "a significant shift and suggests a new urgency for Republican leadership,"?Politico's?Seung Min Kim and Jake Sherman?report.?New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte has endorsed the proposal. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sounds less nervous?after previously suggesting he might vote against his own bill,?saying, "I won't abandon this issue until it's done, until we get a bill passed."?

RELATED: Imagining Mitt Romney's First 100 Days

With all the political momentum in the Republican Party running toward passing the bill what's a hardline immigration opponent to do??Iowa Rep. Steve King has gone public with his plan to force a "special conference" on immigration -- a procedure that "happens to be the same procedure one would use to force an unscheduled leadership election,"?The National Review's Jonathan Strong?reports. King's comments make it clear his allies see the writing on the wall: "A lot?of us who will defend the rule of law and took an oath to uphold the Constitution are watching this agenda be maneuvered around us." But how isolated King is becoming within the GOP is clear from this moment in a closed-door meeting of the Republican Study Committee:

"Who wants less legal immigration?" [Idaho Rep. Raul] Labrador asked, according to the notes of a person who was in the room.

Of the roughly 100 conservative Republicans in the room, only King raised his hand.

King says he's not trying to unseat Boehner, but merely to force a conversation. Others opposed to the immigration bill are less diplomatic. Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks told CNN this week, "If the Speaker allows a vote on any immigration bill that results in the passage despite a majority of the Republican conference voting against it, then it will be interesting to see if he can muster the votes to get re-elected after the next election."

RELATED: The Anti-Immigration Coalition Is Shrinking

Sen. John Cornyn is trying a different approach.?He will introduce an amendment would prevent the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country from getting provisional legal status until the government can monitor 100 percent of the border and arrest 90 percent of people crossing illegally. That is really hard, because the border is really big, and it means immigrants could be in limbo indefinitely. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called it "a poison pill," while South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has said, "The problem you?ll have if you try to enhance border security in an unachievable way and tie it to the path to citizenship, I think the deal falls apart."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opponents-immigration-reform-running-options-141036346.html

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Cameron Douglas pens drug policy essay from jail

FILE - This April 27, 2009 file photo shows Cameron, son of actor Michael Douglas, at the premiere of the film "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" in Los Angeles. Douglas is calling for treatment rather than jail time for non-violent drug offenders. He wrote an essay published Tuesday, June 11, 2013, by the Huffington Post that says United States laws impose tougher penalties on addicts than violent criminals. The 34-year-old is serving a 9 ?-year prison sentence after various drug violations. Douglas was first convicted in 2010 of selling methamphetamine, and a judge nearly doubled that sentence after he was found guilty of repeatedly breaking prison rules by arranging to get drugs. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

FILE - This April 27, 2009 file photo shows Cameron, son of actor Michael Douglas, at the premiere of the film "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" in Los Angeles. Douglas is calling for treatment rather than jail time for non-violent drug offenders. He wrote an essay published Tuesday, June 11, 2013, by the Huffington Post that says United States laws impose tougher penalties on addicts than violent criminals. The 34-year-old is serving a 9 ?-year prison sentence after various drug violations. Douglas was first convicted in 2010 of selling methamphetamine, and a judge nearly doubled that sentence after he was found guilty of repeatedly breaking prison rules by arranging to get drugs. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Douglas' son is speaking out from behind bars, calling for treatment rather than jail time for non-violent drug offenders.

Cameron Douglas says in an essay published Tuesday by the Huffington Post that United States laws impose tougher penalties on addicts than on violent criminals. The 34-year-old is serving a 9 1/2-year prison sentence after various drug violations.

Douglas was first convicted in 2010 of selling methamphetamine, and a judge nearly doubled that sentence after he was found guilty of repeatedly breaking prison rules by arranging to get drugs.

An actor who starred with his famous father and grandfather in 2003's "It Runs In the Family," Douglas writes that he "seem(s) to be trapped in a vicious cycle of relapse and repeat, as most addicts are" and that a long prison sentence without adequate treatment "does absolutely nothing but temporarily deter (addicts) from succumbing to their weakness."

"Instead of focusing on how many individuals this county can keep imprisoned, why can we not focus on how many individuals we can keep from coming back?" he writes.

In April, Douglas lost his appeal against the doubled prison term. Though the appeals panel upheld the judge's original decision, it delivered a similar message then as Cameron does in his essay.

"It may well be that the nation would be better served by a medical approach to treating and preventing addiction than by a criminal-justice-based 'war on drugs,'" the court said.

"The multiple costs of our imprisonment approach ? including the expense of filling our prisons with drug addicts, to mention just a base economic cost ? impel me to express the hope that Congress may someday seek out a different way of dealing with this problem," Judge Guido Calabresi wrote.

Douglas says in his essay that he's not trying to avoid punishment, but after deeply examining his condition, he wants to "stimulate some thought on the topic."

"I can only hope that the educated, just, and decent men and women who hold positions of influence will find the courage to fight for change because they understand what is inherently right," he writes. "In doing so, they will start gaining the support necessary to begin breaking these malignant molds that are such a detriment to our society and culture as a whole."

Douglas is scheduled for release in early 2018.

___

Online:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cameron-douglas/words-behind-walls_b_3421617.html

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-11-People-Cameron%20Douglas/id-0902dd7f1b1449138a81e993c6ca57e2

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The Mental Health puzzle, part IV: the economic hypothesis. | Club ...

In three previous parts, I posed the puzzle of the measured increase in mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and obesity) across the Western world since the 1950s and briefly discussed the pros and cons of the main cultural explanation doing the round. Here I want to discuss the mainstream ?economic explanation?.

The mainstream economic explanation is to simply take for granted that people are rationally choosing their risks of becoming mentally unhealthy later in life and hence that the increase in mental health problems must reflect increased benefits of those risks and reduced costs. People are then obese because they want to be obese and they are depressed and anxious because they got unlucky in that they took decisions that entailed a high risk of these problems and lost.

There is a lot to be said for this kind of brutal cost-benefit rationale.

For one, the health system has become inclusive in that many of the costs of mental health problems are borne by the community.

In 2006 for instance, I already calculated that the average obese American cost 2000 dollars more in terms of health costs than non-obese Americans and that these costs primarily came at the expense of others, ie they were not borne by the obese themselves. Furthermore, the health effects of obesity and in particular reduced length of life has since the 80s been overcome, mainly by the widespread use of statins. Hence the obese now live about as long as everybody else, a clear reduction from the point of view of the individual in terms of the negative consequences of obesity.

Similar things can be said about anxiety and depression and other mental health problems: sufferers are no longer told they are crazy and locked up, but are now much more looked after with much more resources flowing towards them. They are still not pleasant conditions to suffer from, but the private costs have clearly come down, increasing the payoff for those who would rationally take risks that might lead to depression and anxiety. Prozac and other medical interventions have made these mental health problems more bearable, thus increasing the incentives to risk them.

If you think about the direct costs and benefits, the same story emerges. The actual food costs of becoming obese has of course declined, and so has the payoff to being physically fit since less jobs than before demand physical fitness. Similarly, labour laws now make it more difficult to fire people who are depressed or anxious, and generous government welfare programs take in millions of people in these categories, effectively reducing the monetary costs on individuals and their families from these mental health problems.

Within this approach, there are a variety of multipliers that create a long-run lag between changed monetary incentives and behaviour. One of those multipliers is for instance the marriage market, which would initially penalise the few who are mentally unhealthy (a thin market problem) but in the longer run adjusts as the market is flooded by the mentally unhealthy. Similarly, adjustments in terms of the design of buildings and consumer items to cater for the mentally unhealthy (such as clothing lines for the obese or convenience outlets for those too anxious to go out in the open) take time, again creating a lag between initial changes in monetary incentives and the behaviour of whole groups.

The policy prescriptions of this mainstream economic approach to mental health is basically the exact opposite of where policy is going: from the mainstream economic perspective, one would advocate a ?tough love? approach to all of these diseases: one would allow health insurers to charge the obese more for their insurance; one would reduce the monetary compensation flowing to sufferers from depression and anxiety; and one would encourage the use of fitness and mental health tests as a valid selection tool for employers. The policy reality is clearly in the exact opposite direction so from a mainstream economic perspective one should expect nothing but worsening mental health outcomes in decades to come as our societies reward the mentally unhealthy more and more.

The problems with this economic approach are again in terms of plausibility and policy prescription.

In terms of plausibility, the main problem is to find some benefit to these mental health problems that makes it rational to risk them. Which choices that lead to higher risks of depression, for instance, have a possible payoff making the risk worthwhile? I dont know of any such choices, since everything that is good for economic outcomes (education, savings, fitness, mental discipline) is usually associated with lower risks of mental health rather than higher risks.

Indeed, to depict obesity as a rational choice maintained for decades by individuals is rather odd. You see, whilst life is no longer shorter for the obese, it is not pleasant either. Obesity is still associated with reduced physical fitness, reduced libido, erectile dysfunctions (particularly if lots of medicines are involved), diabetes, and social stigma. In which weird world could that be a choice that a fully rational and calculating individual would take? Not the world we live in, and the same can be said for the other mental health problems; the model of rationality simply doesn?t fit them.

The economic approach also has great difficulty rationalising the cross-sectional variation; there is for instance little reason why mental health problems should be higher in the cities than in smaller communities, why the same change in economic incentives should have played out so differently over countries, etc.. Via ad-hoc trickery one might fill in the cross-sectional puzzles, but it?s a stretch.

In terms of policy, the basic prescript of course fails the democratic test: with large proportions of the population now suffering personally or indirectly (via family members) from mental health problems, the point where politicians can advocate a tough economic line on mental health sufferers has long since past. It?s a non-flier. So from a mainstream economic perspective one would not hold out much hope for reducing the mental health decline seen in recent decades. Indeed, one would expect worse to come.

Source: http://clubtroppo.com.au/2013/06/11/the-mental-health-puzzle-part-iv-the-economic-hypothesis/

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Rocket Internet-Backed Lamoda Lands $130 Million Round

Rocket Internet-backed Lamoda, a fashion-focused e-commerce site in Russia, has announced that it has landed a $130 million (RUB 4.2 billion) round of funding from a range of regular Rocket Internet co-investors:?Access Industries, Summit Partners and Tengelmann Group.

Lamoda calls the deal ?the largest investment ever made in Russian e-commerce? and it follows a similarly significant windfall for Zalora, Lamoda?s sister site in Southeast Asia, which raised $100 million in March. Zalora?s raise included capital from Summit Partners and Tengelmann Group too.

Founded in 2011, Lamoda claims to see more than 20 million monthly visitors across its two Russian sites, which it says?offer more than 1 million products from some 800 international fashion brands. Like Zalora, the site is aiming to bring quality e-commerce services to Russia, a market that has been under-serviced by the likes of Amazon, eBay and others thus far. (Although competition is heating up since?Amazon just arrived in Russia?and top local retailer Ozon booked?$232 million in sales in the past six months.)

The company says it already provides next-day delivery to more than ten cities in Russia, and this new investment will increase its focus on raising the level of service and products available in more cities, according to co-founder and CEO Niels Tonsen:

?The investment allows us to continue building out our position as the leading fashion e-commerce retailer in Russia and the CIS. We are focused on offering the best possible customer experience paired with a unique product offering of local and international brands. With Lamoda Express we are already serving important parts of Russia with next day delivery. We will use the new investment proceeds to make this unique value proposition available to ever increasing numbers of our clients this year and beyond.?

Rocket Internet got a reputation for creating ?copycats? of successful business models with a view to making a quick buck through acquisitions ? such as CityDeal which?sold?to Groupon for $126 million ??but, as the recent funding deals show, the notorious German incubator is changing its approach with the emerging market businesses.

As Zalora Managing Director?Michele Ferrario told TNW in a recent interview, a number of Rocket Internet-backed companies are aiming to build industry leading e-commerce firms in emerging markets like Southeast Asia, Latin America and Russia. That necessitates a long-term plan, plenty of investment and input from a range of experienced backers ? such as proven retail groups like Tengelmann.

These companies aren?t without their problems ? demanding work schedules and a lack of equity are viewed as key factors for high turnover rates among staff ? but Rocket Internet and its investors are putting huge resources into bringing a new level of services to these markets, and that shouldn?t necessarily be dismissed as copycatting.

Also read:?Russian ecommerce is reaching a tipping point. It?s time that Europe and the US took note

Headline image via?401(K) 2013?/ Flickr

Source: http://thenextweb.com/eu/2013/06/11/lamoda-rocket-internets-fashion-focused-e-commerce-site-in-russia-lands-130m-investment/

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New York lays out $20 billion plan to combat effects of climate change

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced a $20 billion plan to prepare for rising sea levels and hotter summers expected as a result of climate change in the coming decades.

The plan, which follows widespread destruction wreaked by Superstorm Sandy last year, included about 250 recommendations ranging from new floodwalls and storm barriers to upgrades of power and telecommunications infrastructures.

It coincided with a report updating projections of the impact of climate change, saying that over the next 40 years the number of sweltering summer days could double or even triple and that the sea level surrounding New York City could rise by 2 feet (0.6 meter).

The aim of Bloomberg's plan was to ensure that the subway, transit, sewer and water, energy and food distribution systems would continue to function for the city's 8 million people.

New York City could "do nothing and expose ourselves to an increasing frequency of Sandy-like storms that do more and more damage," Bloomberg said in remarks at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

"Or we can make the investments necessary to build a stronger, more resilient New York - investments that will pay for themselves many times over in the years go to come," he said.

New York City is surrounded by 520 miles of coastline - more than Miami, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco combined - and even a small rise in the sea level will jeopardize lower-lying homes and businesses.

Sandy killed more than 100 people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, knocked out power to millions and cost New York City an estimated $19 billion in damages and lost economic activity.

Bloomberg said a storm of Sandy's strength would cost nearly five times that amount if it hit the city in the middle of this century because of rising sea levels.

FLOODWALLS, DUNES AND TIDAL BARRIERS

In addition to new walls, dune systems and tidal barriers, the plan envisaged $1.2 billion in loans and grants to help owners make buildings more resilient to floods and proposed changes to the building code.

It included a proposed study on establishing standards for restoring power which would be discussed with the State Public Utility Commission, power utility Con Edison and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA).

The city will also work on a plan to provide fuel when supplies are disrupted and to diversify energy sources.

Some elements of the plan are likely to be implemented this year, while others were more long-term, Bloomberg said.

To fund the plan the city would draw on city money that has already been allocated for capital improvements and on post-Sandy federal relief funds approved by the U.S. Congress.

But the funds may fall at least $4.5 billion short and the city will have to delay, scale back or eliminate some programs if it can't fill the gap, the plan's authors said.

They suggested additional funds could be raised by tapping into $2 billion of federal tax breaks for Lower Manhattan that were awarded after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The city could ask state lawmakers to tack a "resiliency" charge onto insurance policies in New York City, including automobile, homeowner, commercial and other forms of insurance. A 1.5 percent surcharge could allow the city to issue bonds that "generate more than enough" to cover the $4.5 billion shortfall, the plan's authors said.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Tiziana Barghini and David Storey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-lays-20-billion-plan-combat-climate-change-180254585.html

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Cuomo development plan meets with reservations - Livingston ...

TAX-FREE NY

Cuomo development plan meets with reservations

June 11, 2013 by Ben Beagle

Lt. Gov. gets mixed response at Geneseo presentation

Lieutenant Gov. Robert J. Duffy called Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo?s plan to create tax-free communities on and around college campuses to spur economic development a chance to ?jump start the economy across the state? during an appearance at SUNY Geneseo.

College officials across the region are commending the plan, which they said will build on existing partnerships between their schools and business communities.

But some local officials have expressed concerns about the plan?s effect on existing businesses, and the amount of details still be worked out by state legislators.

Duffy was at SUNY Geneseo May 29 to ?reinforce the governor?s vision that SUNY campuses can be an economic driver.?

?SUNY does a phenomenal job education our kids, but then they leave,? said Duffy, the father of two daughters who have recently graduated college.

Under Cuomo?s proposal, which must be approved by the Legislature, businesses that move onto or next to SUNY campus in upstate New York and some private universities would be exempt from sales taxes, property taxes and business or corporate taxes for 10 years. Employees of the businesses would be exempt from state income taxes.

Duffy said the goal of the plan was to change New York?s reputation as a tax-heavy state, reduce unemployment, and reverse decades old decisions that have created challenges for existing businesses.

?We need to create jobs, and also create bright minds that go into the workplace,? he said.

He noted a number of programs ? SUNY 2020, Innovation Hot Spots, New York?s Open for Business, Venture Capital Fund and business incubators, among them ? that the governor is using to try and improve the state?s current business climate.

New York City, Duffy said, is a major provider of venture capital to business startups, but the money is leaving the state for other cities such as Boston or Philadelphia. ?The governor is trying to reverse that and keep the money in New York,? Duffy said.

Carol S. Long, provost of SUNY Geneseo and who will become interim president Oct. 1, said the plan is ?a wonderful opportunity to create synergies between campus, business and young people? to improve the region?s economic development.

?It?s great to have the governor recognize that educational institutions are so essential to the state?s economic development,? Long said.

Dahl, in a statement released soon after Cuomo unveiled his plan, said the initiative, combined with earlier efforts ?provides a powerful synergy for economic development, particularly in rural communities like Geneseo and Livingston County.?

Dahl, who was out of town when Duffy?s quickly-arranged visit was scheduled, said SUNY Geneseo ?has long been at the forefront of economic development initiatives fulfilling the college?s commitment to be an active participant in our community.? He said the technical expertise of Geneseo?s faculty and the scientific equipment available in its Integrated Science Center ?provide a strong inducement for high-tech start-up companies to locate in the region.?

Community colleges are also part of the plan. Genesee Community College in Batavia maintains seven campus centers, including Dansville and Lima in Genesee County. Those centers could be part of the tax-free communities.

?It?s exciting to be a part of this. It?s a big idea that is yet to be hashed out and we have a seat at the table,? GCC President James Sunser told The County News Thursday in an interview following a meeting at the Dansville Campus Center. ?For years, colleges have talked about being a robust economic engine for New York, and now we are talking about aligning that with companies.?

Both Long and Sunser pointed to existing programs that have their colleges working to help local business develop. Those programs include training and education for local employees, and also help developing business plans or building entire courses around community needs, they said.

?This initiative has the potential to match the economic capital of emerging businesses with the intellectual capital of our colleges and universities,? Sunser said.

But others are more cautious.

?There are are lot of unanswered questions. I need to know more before I can form an opinion,? said Julie A. Marshall, director of the Livingston County Economic Development Office.

One of Marshall?s biggest concerns is how similar or different Cuomo?s tax-free communities would be to the state?s Economic Development Zones.

?There were a lot of loopholes? in the EDZs, Marshall said. ?It began as a great program, but over time the loop holes were taken advantage of.?

Town of Geneseo Supervisor Will Wadsworth questioned how much of the decision-making would be a local process, or if the state thought a proposal fit better in Auburn instead of Geneseo, would the state step in and move the project.

Duffy acknowledge a certain amount of state involvement. ?If there is an opportunity to create jobs and benefit Geneseo, I think the governor would want nothing better than for you to drive the process,? Duffy said. ?What the governor wants to see is one victory after another. What we want to see are jobs and economic vitality.?

Others feared that those victories could come at the expense of existing businesses. With employees of businesses in the tax-free communities free of state income tax, concerns were raised that employees could leave existing businesses for greener pastures.

Duffy again acknowledged that concern and said that ?if someone leaves that company, it creates an opportunity for someone else to come in to that company.

Since Cuomo?s May 22 announcement the plan has faced some backlash from business groups and others who say the plan would create unfair competition and alienate businesses already in New York.

The Civil Service Employees Association, the state?s largest public workers union, has begun an advertising campaign targeting what it calls another ?special give away to business.?

Assemblyman David DiPietro, R-East Aurora, whose district includes Wyoming County, was also critical of the tax-free plan in a statement issued Tuesday.

?By creating these in-state tax shelters, Gov. Cuomo is affording a leg-up on competition and creating a two-tier business community: those who have to struggle with the most unfair economic climate in the nation, and those who thrive under a lower tax burden,? DiPietro said.

DiPietro call on Cuomo to extend the tax-free courtesies to the rest of small business community.

?There cannot be one set of rules for those who are hand-picked by the government and another set of rules for those who have struggled and are barely holding on to their American Dream.?

In addition to SUNY Geneseo, SUNY schools in Western New York include colleges in Brockport and Buffalo, the state University at Buffalo, and two-year community colleges Genesee in Batavia, Monroe in Rochester and Finger Lakes in Canandaigua.

About Tax-Free New York

The state Legislature must still approve Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos Tax-Free New York proposal, and some details continue to be worked out. Here are key points from Cuomo?s proposal:

? All SUNY campus outside of New York City and designated private colleges north of Westchester County would be tax free. An additional 200,000 square feet within a mile of the campuses would also be included.

? Up to 3 million square feet of tax-free commercial space at private colleges will be made available. Independent colleges north of Westchester would be eligible ? through a competitive application process ? to obtain tax-free status. Preference, Cuomo said, would be given to private campuses that have business incubators.

? As many as 20 state properties would also be included in the program. These include prisons, juvenile centers and other empty buildings that are vacant. ?They become an eye sore and that doesn?t help a community prosper,? Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said at a presentation in Geneseo.

? The goal of the tax-free communities is to attract startups, venture capital, new business and investments.

? Approved businesses in the tax-free areas would not have to pay sales, property or business/corporation taxes for 10 years. Employees at these businesses would not have to pay income taxes.

? Companies with relationships to the academic mission of a university and that will create jobs are eligible for the program.

? New businesses, out-of-state businesses that move to New York, and existing businesses that expand while maintaining existing jobs would qualify.

Source: http://thelcn.com/2013/06/11/cuomo-development-plan-meets-with-reservations/

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Arizona's McCarthy on medication after seizure

PHOENIX (AP) ? Arizona's Brandon McCarthy is taking medication and says he's confident he'll be fine after he collapsed at a restaurant with a seizure related to the head injury he sustained while pitching last September.

The Diamondbacks' right-hander underwent extensive examinations at the Mayo Clinic after the incident Monday. He was having dinner with his wife at a Phoenix restaurant when he passed out.

"It's something you get through," he said. "Now we know a little bit more about it. We know kind of how we'll treated it going forward, so I guess it means it's good to get one out of the way. At least now we know what we're dealing with."

McCarthy, speaking before Arizona played San Francisco on Sunday, said he knew that after a traumatic brain injury a person can become more "seizure-prone."

"There's always a chance of happening any time you have a bruise on your brain it doesn't actually ever heal, which always kind of leaves you at least somewhat vulnerable to it," he said. "So we knew the possibility was there. We had hoped we had kind of gotten past that."

McCarthy, on the 15-day disabled list with what has become an annual problem with his shoulder, said he will be taking anti-seizure medicine for the foreseeable future. He doesn't believe the seizure will impact his return to pitching.

"It's just a new thing to deal with, I guess, but it doesn't change me as a pitcher, what I do and how I go about my business," he said. "This just might be something else I have to deal with at some point. Outside of that there's no point in really changing anything."

While pitching for Oakland last Sept. 5, McCarthy sustained what was described at the time as life-threatening injuries when he was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Erick Aybar of the Los Angeles Angels. He had an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion and a skull fracture. Emergency surgery was performed that night and he was released from the hospital six days later.

McCarthy, who signed a two-year free agent contract with the Diamondbacks, was 2-4 with a 5.00 ERA in 11 starts before going on the DL on May 31. He said he expects to begin throwing off the mound in the next couple of days and that the seizure would not set back that timetable.

For a time, McCarthy said, there was a chance that the situation would be much more serious after an initial CT scan showed a spot on his brain. The spot could have indicated bleeding and would have required surgery.

"When we went to sleep that night there was a chance that we wake up in the morning and someone would confirm it and we'd have to go through that whole process again," he said.

Instead, doctors concluded it was only a normal shadow.

Manager Kirk Gibson said he didn't want to comment too much on the situation because he considered a "somewhat personal" issue.

"I don't know what to say," Gibson said. "Everything that happened to him last year, when he got hit in the head, the first thing is you have a huge fear that this going to reoccur and is he OK. They're on it. He certainly won't pitch if he's not."

McCarthy insists he's not at any added risk for a brain injury despite what's happened.

"I'm not at any more risk than anybody else," he said.

___

Follow Bob Baum at www.twitter.com/Thebaumerphx

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arizonas-mccarthy-medication-seizure-194829437.html

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Police ID gunman in deadly Santa Monica rampage

This undated photo provided on Sunday, June 9, 2013, by the Santa Monica Police Department shows John Zawahri, 23, who police have identified as the shooter in Friday's deadly rampage at Santa Monica College. The suspect was shot and killed by authorities Friday after a violent spree that claimed the lives of five people and wounded several others. (AP Photo/Santa Monica Police Department)

This undated photo provided on Sunday, June 9, 2013, by the Santa Monica Police Department shows John Zawahri, 23, who police have identified as the shooter in Friday's deadly rampage at Santa Monica College. The suspect was shot and killed by authorities Friday after a violent spree that claimed the lives of five people and wounded several others. (AP Photo/Santa Monica Police Department)

This undated photo provided on Sunday, June 9, 2013, by the Santa Monica Police Department shows John Zawahri, 23, who police have identified as the shooter in Friday's deadly rampage at Santa Monica College. The suspect was shot and killed by authorities Friday after a violent spree that claimed the lives of five people and wounded several others. (AP Photo/Santa Monica Police Department)

A picture of the suspect entering Santa Monica College Library is seen as Jacqueline Seabrook, Chief of Santa Monica Police department speaks during a news conference Saturday June 8, 2013, in Santa Monica, Calif., to discuss more information regarding the suspect in the shooting that left five people dead, including the shooter, near Santa Monica College on Friday. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

A picture of the suspect entering Santa Monica College Library is seen as Jacqueline Seabrook, Chief of Santa Monica Police department speaks during a news conference Saturday June 8, 2013, in Santa Monica, Calif., to discuss more information regarding the suspect in the shooting that left five people dead, including the shooter, near Santa Monica College on Friday. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

This photo provided by the Santa Monica Police Department during a news conference Saturday, June 8, 2013, shows a frame grab from a surveillance camera revealing the suspect entering Santa Monica College Friday, in Santa Monica, Calif. The Police chief said Saturday that the gunman who went on a chaotic rampage killing four people before being fatally shot by police at the college planned the attack and was capable of firing 1,300 rounds of ammunition. (AP Photo/Santa Monica Police Department)

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) ? A woman who was critically wounded in the Santa Monica shooting spree died Sunday, bringing the total number of victims killed by the gunman to five.

Marcela Franco, 26, died of her injuries at UCLA Medical Center, according to Santa Monica College spokeswoman Tricia Ramos.

Franco had been a passenger in a Ford Explorer driven by her father, campus groundskeeper Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, who also was killed in Friday's attack. They were going to the school to buy textbooks for classes the young woman was enrolled in for the summer, president Chui L. Tsang said in a statement posted on the college's website.

"Her family was with her by her side" when she died, Tsang said.

Police Sgt. Richard Lewis confirmed the suspect's identity Sunday as John Zawahri. Meanwhile, investigators trying to determine why he planned the shooting spree focused on a deadly act of domestic violence that touched off the mayhem.

The heavily armed man's attack against his father and older brother at their home led to the violence in Santa Monica streets, lasting just a matter of minutes until he was shot to death in a chaotic scene at the college library by police.

Authorities had not immediately named the shooter or the two men found dead in the house because next of kin was out of the country and hadn't been notified. Lewis said his name was released Sunday after his mother cut her trip short and came back to the country.

Lewis said she was being interviewed by investigators.

"A big piece of the puzzle just came home," he said.

Investigators were looking at family connections to find a motive because the killer's father and brother were the first victims, an official briefed on the probe who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly told The Associated Press.

The husband of a woman shot during the rampage said a bullet nicked his wife's ear and she'll likely have to live with shrapnel in her shoulder. Debra Lynn Fine, 50, was released in good condition late Saturday from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, according to a hospital statement.

Bullets missed his wife's vital organs by inches, Russell Fine told the AP Sunday.

"She will have some shrapnel for the rest of her life," he said. "One bullet clipped her right ear and took some small bit with it. She will probably have some reconstructive surgery for that."

She was resting at home.

The killer, who died a day shy of his 24th birthday, was connected to the home that went up in flames after the first shootings, said police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks. His father, identified as 55-year-old Samir Zawahri, and 24-year-old brother Christopher, lived in the house.

SWAT team officers searched the mother's Los Angeles apartment and officers interviewed neighbors about the son who lived with her, said Beverly Meadows who lives in the adjoining unit.

Public records show that Meadows' neighbor is Randa Abdou, 54, the ex-wife of Samir Zawahri and former co-owner of the house where the first shooting took place.

Lewis said a small cache of ammunition was found in a room of the burned down house.

The elder Zawahri brought his family to the neighborhood of small homes and apartment buildings tucked up against Interstate 10 in the mid-1990s, according to property records.

Not long after arriving on Yorkshire Avenue, the couple went through a difficult divorce and split custody of their two boys, said Thomas O'Rourke, a neighbor.

When the sons got older, one went to live with his mother while the other stayed with the father.

Standing next to the weapons and ammo found at multiple crime scenes, Seabrooks said at a Saturday news conference that the "cowardly murderer" planned the attack and was capable of firing 1,300 rounds.

The killer had a run-in with police seven years ago, but Seabrooks wouldn't offer more details because he was a juvenile at the time.

The gunman was enrolled at Santa Monica College in 2010, Seabrooks said.

After neighbors watched in shock as he shot at his father's house and it went up in flames, he opened fire on a woman driving by, wounding her, and then carjacked another woman.

He directed her to drive to the college, ordering her stop along the way to shoot at a city bus and people on the street. Two people on the bus were injured.

Police had received multiple 911 calls by the time the mayhem shifted to the college, a two-year school with about 34,000 students located more than a mile inland from the city's famous pier, promenade and expansive, sandy beaches.

On campus, he opened fired on a Ford Explorer driven by Navarro Franco, who plowed through a brick wall into a faculty parking lot.

Joe Orcutt heard gunshots and went to see what happened in the parking lot. He said he saw the Explorer in the brick wall and was looking for the shooter when, suddenly, there he was 30 feet away firing at people like it was target practice.

The gunman then moved on foot across campus, firing away. Students were seen leaping out windows of a classroom building and running for their lives. Others locked themselves behind doors or bolted out of emergency exits.

Trena Johnson, who works in the dean's office, heard gunshots and looked out the window and saw a man in black with a "very large gun" shoot a woman in the head outside the library. That victim was transported to a hospital, where she died.

At some point, police say the gunman dropped an Adidas duffel bag loaded with ammunition magazines, boxes of bullets and a .44 revolver. Police also found a small cache of ammunition in a room in the burned-out house.

Surveillance photos showed the gunman in black strolling past a cart of books into the library with an assault-style rifle by his side.

The shooter fired at least 70 rounds in the library. Miraculously, no one was injured until two Santa Monica police officers and a campus cop arrived and took out the shooter.

The Santa Monica College Foundation has started the Carlos Franco Family Memorial Fund.

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Weber contributed to this story. Tami Abdollah can be reached at: http://www.twitter.com/latams

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-09-Santa%20Monica%20Shooting/id-f92bfdd40df849059d611ecdae73e6ab

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