Sister's kidney donation condition of Miss. parole

AP – This is a Aug. 21, 2010 photograph released by the Mississippi Department of Corrections of Jamie Scott …AP – This is a Aug. 21, 2010 photograph released by the Mississippi Department of Corrections of Jamie Scott …

By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Holbrook Mohr, Associated Press – 1 hr 15 mins ago

JACKSON, Miss. – For 16 years, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott have shared a life behind bars for their part in an $11 armed robbery. To share freedom, they must also share a kidney.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour suspended the sisters' life sentences on Wednesday, but 36-year-old Gladys Scott's release is contingent on her giving a kidney to Jamie, her 38-year-old sister, who requires daily dialysis.

The sisters were convicted in 1994 of leading two men into an ambush in central Mississippi the year before. Three teenagers hit each man in the head with a shotgun and took their wallets — making off with only $11, court records said.

Jamie and Gladys Scott were each convicted of two counts of armed robbery and sentenced to two life sentences.

"I think it's a victory," said the sisters' attorney, Chokwe Lumumba. "I talked to Gladys and she's elated about the news. I'm sure Jamie is, too."

Civil rights advocates have for years called for their release, saying the sentences were excessive. Those demands gained traction when Barbour asked the Mississippi Parole Board to take another look at the case.

The Scott sisters are eligible for parole in 2014, but Barbour said prison officials no longer think they are a threat to society and Jamie's medical condition is costing the state a lot of money.

Lumumba said he has no problem with the governor requiring Gladys to offer up her organ because "Gladys actually volunteered that as part of her petition."

Lumumba said it's not clear what caused the kidney failure, but it's likely a combination of different illnesses over the years.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner told The Associated Press that Jamie Scott was released because she needs the transplant. He said Gladys Scott will be released if she agrees to donate her kidney because of the significant risk and recovery time.

"She wanted to do it," Turner said. "That wasn't something we introduced."

Barbour is a Republican in his second term who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2012. He said the parole board agreed with the indefinite suspension of their sentences, which is different from a pardon or commutation because it comes with conditions.

An "indefinite suspension of sentence" can be reversed if the conditions are not followed, but those requirements are usually things like meeting with a parole officer.

The Scott sisters have received significant public support from advocacy groups, including the NAACP, which called for their release. Hundreds of people marched through downtown Jackson from the state capital to the governor's mansion in September, chanting in unison that the women should be freed.

Still, their release won't be immediate.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said late Wednesday that he had not received the order. He also said the women want to live with relatives in Florida, which requires approval from officials in that state.

In general, that process takes 45 days.

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the Scott sisters' release will be "a great victory for the state of Mississippi for two individuals who received an excessive sentence" and he has no problem with the kidney donation requirement because Gladys Scott volunteered.

"I think it's encouraging that she's willing to share a kidney so her sister can have a better quality life," Johnson said.

National NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said the suspension of the sentences represents the good that can come with the power of governors.

"It's again proof that when people get engaged, keep the faith, we can win," Jealous said.

(This version deletes incorrect reference to Barbour granting a suspended sentence to student's killer.)

The Day After, Reid Still Unhappy With Eagles Effort

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Andy Reid reviewed Tuesday night’s 24-14 loss to the Vikings today, and his diagnosis was pretty similar to what he said immediately after the game.

“We have no excuses for this game. Again it’s my responsibility to get our team to play better than what they did. Plenty of things we can learn from it, we will do that.”

The loss last night dropped the Eagles to 10-5 on the season and it also locked them into the #3 playoff seed, meaning they won’t get a first round bye. It also means that Sunday’s regular season finale against the Cowboys at the Linc becomes basically a glorified preseason game.

Reid talks about whether or not resting starters is a consideration:

“You’ve got to look at what’s at stake if you play them, injury wise. Some guys need the playing time, some guys need the rest time. So I’ve got to look at who those guys are and what situations I put them in and so on. But at the same time you want to win the game.”

As for injuries, Reid says QB Michael Vick did suffer a quad contusion last night on the game’s first play and that it is still painful today. Would Vick be one of the players Reid would look to sit?

“I’m not even sure he could get back from what he’s got here with the quad, it’s pretty sore right now. I’ve got to look at that. I mean he would be one you would have to look at to see what you do there.”

Reid also said that DT Trevor Laws suffered a shoulder sprain, an AC sprain and a chest contusion last night. DL Geoff Owens tore his patella tendon and will have surgery.

Asante Samuel has a sore knee, Reid says he underwent an MRI today and that it looked good.

Sixers Fall To Warriors

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Monta Ellis had 22 points and a season-high 12 assists, David Lee added 21 points and 16 rebounds and Golden State won its third straight, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 110-95 on Monday night.

Stephen Curry added 17 points, including seven straight during a decisive run in the fourth quarter when the Warriors (12-18) pulled away.

The three-game winning streak is Golden State’s longest since it won three in a row in April 2009.

Jrue Holiday had 23 points and 11 assists for Philadelphia (12-19) while Elton Brand had his eighth double-double in 13 games with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Ellis, named the Western Conference player of the week earlier in the day after averaging 39.7 points in three games, struggled with his shot most of the night. He missed seven of his first 11 attempts and was didn’t score in the fourth quarter until 23 seconds were left.

That didn’t seem to slow the Warriors down much. Golden State made its best run of the game to open the fourth quarter with Ellis on the bench.

Lee and Wright combined for 10 points and Curry, playing in foul trouble most of the game, added a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 94-80 lead. After Ellis returned, Curry made two free throws and added another 3 to make it 101-85.

Ellis finished 8 of 19 from the floor. The 12 assists are one shy of his career high.

Despite Ellis’ scoring troubles, Golden State still extended its longest win streak in nearly 20 months. Before winning three in a row, the Warriors had dropped 14 of 16.

It helped playing a team that came into the game short-handed.

The 76ers played without forward Andre Iguodala who was a late scratch due to recurring tendonitis in his right Achilles. It’s the same injury that ended Iguodala’s streak of 252 consecutive games played and forced him to miss five games in November.

That further depleted Philadelphia’s already thin bench. Jason Kapono sat out the game after injuring a calf muscle while practicing in Denver. Guard Lou Williams remained in Philadelphia for the birth of his daughter while assistant coach Brian James also missed the game in Golden State after the death of his father.

Philadelphia, playing its fifth game on an eight-game road trip, outrebounded the Warriors 54-44 but was just 4 of 17 on 3-pointers and had 17 turnovers.

The 76ers struggled early offensively and trailed by 12 but went on a 21-4 run to take its first lead of the game. They pushed their advantage to 35-30 on Brand’s 8-foot turnaround shot with 5:45 remaining in the second quarter before Ellis warmed up.

In addition to dishing out seven assists in the first half, Ellis scored on consecutive trips down the floor, including a 3-pointer, and Rodney Carney added his own 3 to give the Warriors a 55-49 halftime lead.

Wright and Ellis made back-to-back 3s late in the third quarter and Ellis added a pair of free throws to make it 76-70.

Notes: Ellis has had seven or more assists in four straight games for the first time in his career. … Both Williams and James are expected to rejoin the team Friday in Los Angeles when the 76ers play the Lakers. … The Warriors planned to send G Jeremy Lin to the NBA’s Development League after the game. … Philadelphia is 0-11 when allowing opponents to score 100 points or more.

Tucker Carlson: Vick ‘Should Have Been ‘Executed’

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Fox analyst Tucker Carlson says Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick “should have been executed” for his role in a dogfighting ring.

Carlson was guest hosting for Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel on Tuesday night when he made the remarks. He led a panel discussion about President Barack Obama commending the owner of the Eagles for giving Vick a second chance after his release from prison. Vick served 18 months in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring.

Carlson says, “Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did (it) in a heartless and cruel way.” He added, “I think personally he should have been executed for that.”

Carlson, a conservative commentator, is angry that Obama told Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie he believes people who have paid for their crimes should have the opportunity to contribute to society again.

7-Eleven Worker Slashed By Knife-Wielding Robber

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Philadelphia convenience store employee was rushed to the hospital after being slashed by a knife-wielding robber early Wednesday morning.

The incident happened at about 1:10 a.m. at the 7-Eleven store located in the 2900 block of S. 70th Street in Southwest Philadelphia.

The 25-year-old employee told police the suspect entered the store armed with a knife and told the victim to give him money or he would kill him.

The suspect slashed the employee in the face with the knife and then fled the store with an unknown amount of cash.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

NFL fines Favre $50K for 'failure to cooperate'

NFL fines Favre $50K for 'failure to cooperate'

Minnesota Vikings injured quarterback Brett Favre takes a whiff of smelling salts on the sidelines during the Vikings' NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010, in Philadelphia.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Brett Favre has been fined $50,000 by the NFL for a "failure to cooperate" with its investigation into inappropriate messages and lewd photos he allegedly sent to former Jets employee Jenn Sterger, a decision her lawyer called extremely disappointing.

The league said Wednesday that Commissioner Roger Goodell "could not conclude" that Favre violated the league's personal conduct policy based on the evidence currently available to him.

"The forensic analysis could not establish that Favre sent the objectionable photographs to Sterger," the statement said. "The review found no evidence to contradict the statements of both Favre and Sterger that they never met in person, nor was there anything to suggest that Sterger engaged in any inappropriate conduct."

The decision comes a couple of weeks after Favre's NFL record for consecutive starts was snapped at 297 and ahead of the season finale for the 41-year-old Minnesota Vikings quarterback, who will play what may be his last game - if he's healthy enough.

The NFL said its sole focus was on whether Favre violated workplace conduct policy, not to "make judgments about the appropriateness of personal relationships."

Favre's fine will help fund a new training program on workplace conduct around the NFL, Goodell said in a memo sent to clubs Wednesday, though for the multimillionaire QB the penalty is a pittance. Even while sitting out of Tuesday's game at Philadelphia because of post-concussion symptoms, Favre essentially earned $50,000 over about five minutes of action.

"It clearly shows that an NFL star player was given preferential treatment and tells all other players that failure to cooperate may cost you some money but will not result in other punishment," said Sterger attorney Joseph Conway, who added there was "ample evidence" the photos were of Favre.

"Additionally, today's decision is an affront to all females and shows once again that, despite tough talk, the NFL remains the good old boys' league."

Goodell determined Favre was "not candid in several respects during the investigation resulting in a longer review and additional negative public attention for Favre, Sterger and the NFL," the league's statement said. The NFL's investigation began in early October.

Reaching a conclusion in the case dragged out because of difficulties in setting up interviews with "certain key individuals," the complication of retrieving and reviewing electronic records and Goodell's decision to meet with both Favre and Sterger before reaching a conclusion, the NFL's statement said.

The allegations against the three-time MVP surfaced on the website Deadspin, which posted a video Oct. 7 that included text messages and voicemails allegedly left by Favre for Sterger in 2008 when they both worked for the Jets, including one in which he invites her to his hotel. The video ends with several below-the belt photos - said to be of Favre - which were allegedly sent to Sterger.

A former model who was a Jets gameday hostess and later appeared on the Versus television network, Sterger refused to speak on the record to the website. Weeks after the story broke, she talked with league investigators and cooperated fully, according to her manager.

Deadspin editor in chief A.J. Daulerio acknowledged paying a third party for the material it posted on Favre and said that he could not guarantee the material was genuine.

Citing unidentified sources, Fox Sports reported earlier that Favre admitted to NFL investigators that he left the voicemails but denied sending the inappropriate photos.

The league also reviewed media reports that Favre pursued two massage therapists who worked at the Jets' facility in 2008. But the NFL said that claim could not be substantiated because people with "potentially relevant information" declined to be interviewed or cooperate with investigators.

According to the league, its investigation included the following: "an analysis of publicly available reports; a series of interviews with knowledgeable individuals, including Sterger and Favre; a review of communications between the two furnished to our office; and independent forensic analysis of electronically stored material."

The investigation was limited in several respects because the matter was not brought to its attention until two years after it allegedly occurred, the league said.

"Every member of every club's staff should be able to work in an environment free of harassment or hostility, and one in which every employee is valued, respected, and given a full opportunity to contribute to the goals of the club and the NFL," Goodell said in the memo sent to the teams.

Conway said that "my client and I are extremely disappointed, but not surprised" by the ruling. He added that they "strongly disagree" with Goodell's finding of insufficient evidence to show a violation of league policy.

Favre has consistently refused to answer reporters' questions about the allegations. He said early on that he had enough to worry about with the Vikings' next opponent, and that's certainly been true this season.

Convinced to come back for one more run at a title by three Minnesota teammates who flew down to see him in Mississippi, Favre's second year with the Vikings has been nothing like the charmed run of last season, which ended with a heartbreaking loss to New Orleans in the NFC championship game.

Favre also has been battered with injuries to his ankle, chin, ribs, back, head and throwing shoulder - the one that forced him to finally miss a start, against the Giants on Dec. 13. But despite all his troubles, Favre has said all along that he did not regret coming back for a 20th NFL season.

"If you had seasons like you did last year, every year, I don't think you would appreciate them nearly as much," said Favre recently. He also has said this season will be his last - though he has retired and unretired before.

Donor in 1st successful transplant dies in Maine

Donor in 1st successful transplant dies in Maine

FILE - In this June 4, 1955 file photo, Richard Herrick, left, and his twin brother Ronald, from Northborough, Mass., sing at the annual meeting of the Mended Hearts Club at a hotel in Boston. The identical twin brothers made medical history when Ronald donated one of his kidneys to Richard for a Dec. 23, 1954 kidney transplant that was recognized as the world's first successful organ transplant. Richard lived eight years after receiving the transplant. Ronald died Monday, Dec. 27, 2010, in Augusta, Maine. He was 79.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Ronald Lee Herrick, who donated a kidney to his dying twin brother 56 years ago in what's recognized as the world's first successful organ transplant, has died of complications following heart surgery. He was 79.

Herrick died Monday at the Augusta Rehabilitation Center in Augusta, said his wife, Cynthia. He had been in deteriorating health since his October surgery, she said.

Herrick gave a kidney to his twin brother, Richard, at what is now Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The 5 1/2-hour operation on Dec. 23, 1954, kept Herrick's brother alive for eight years and was the first successful organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Lead surgeon Dr. Joseph Murray went on to win a Nobel Prize.

The operation proved that transplants were possible and led to thousands of other successful kidney transplants and ultimately the transplant of other organs. Doctors had tried a handful of transplants worldwide without success up to that point, said Murray, who went on to perform another 18 transplants between identical twins.

"This operation rejuvenated the whole field of transplantation," Murray, 91, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from his home in Wellesley, Mass. "There were other people studying transplants in four or five different countries, but the fact that it worked so well with the identical twins was a tremendous stimulus."

Herrick was raised on a family farm in Rutland, Mass., where he graduated high school. He later served in the U.S. Army.

At 23, Herrick was glad to give up a kidney if it would help his brother, who was dying from chronic nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys. Murray thought the odds of a transplanted organ being accepted would be enhanced since they were identical twins.

Before the operation, many people opposed the idea of transplanting a body organ, equating it with desecration of a body. Others felt it was unethical to operate on healthy humans, and respected editors of medical journals wrote that it was contrary to the Hippocratic Oath's vow to never do harm to anyone, Murray said.

But Herrick never wavered and the operation went on as planned with no complications. Richard Herrick met his future wife, Clare, in the recovery room, where she was a nursing supervisor.

"He was the only one in the world who could save his brother's life, so he was going to do it," said Cynthia Herrick. "There was no question about it."

Ronald and Cynthia married in 1959, and they moved to Maine in 1968. He taught math for 37 years, in both Massachusetts and Maine. He also raised cows and cut hay for decades on a small farm he bought in Mount Vernon.

In 1997, he and his wife sold their farm and moved to a house in Belgrade.

Herrick rarely mentioned the operation to people he knew, but he was known in the medical world for his pioneering role.

He and Murray marked the 50th anniversary of the operation at the National Kidney Foundation's 2004 U.S. Transplant Games in Minnesota, said foundation spokeswoman Ellie Schlam. Herrick and Murray together lit the flame to kick off the games, an Olympic-style event for athletes who have received organ transplants.

"He was a humble man. You got the sense he didn't think he'd done anything extraordinary, but that he had done what a brother would do," Schlam said. "He wasn't too impressed with himself, but he was impressive."

Denmark: Attack over prophet cartoons thwarted

Denmark: Attack over prophet cartoons thwarted

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 2009 file photo, the exterior of a building housing the Jyllands-Posten Copenhagen office is seen. Denmark's intelligence service on Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010 arrested four people suspected of planning an "imminent" terror attack against a newspaper that printed the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- Police in Denmark and Sweden said they thwarted a terrorist attack possibly hours before it was to begin Wednesday, arresting five men they say planned to shoot as many people as possible in a Copenhagen building housing the newsroom of a paper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Four suspects were arrested in the suburbs of Copenhagen, including a Tunisian, a man from Lebanon and an Iraqi asylum-seeker. A fifth suspect, a Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin, was arrested in Sweden. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service said it seized a submachine gun, a silencer and ammunition.

"An imminent terror attack has been foiled," said Jakob Scharf, head of the service. He said three of the men were arrested as they left a suburban Copenhagen apartment, "either heading out to carry out the terror attack or to do some kind of reconnaissance."

Scharf described some of the suspects as "militant Islamists with relations to international terror networks." He said more arrests were possible.

Authorities said the arrests followed months of surveillance. Anders Danielsson, the head of Sweden's security police, said officers followed a car rented by three of the suspects from Stockholm to the Danish border late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

"We knew that there were weapons in the car," Danielsson said.

Danish intelligence said the group had been planning to enter the building where the Jyllands-Posten daily has its Copenhagen newsdesk and "to kill as many of the people present as possible."

Scharf said the assault was to have been carried out sometime before this weekend, and could have been similar to the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, that left 166 people dead.

"It is our assessment that the plan was to try to get access" to the newspaper office and "carry out a Mumbai-style attack," Scharf told reporters.

Danish Justice Minister Lars Barfoed said the plot was "terrifying" and "probably the most serious terror attempt in Denmark." Scharf, however, said there was no need to raise the nation's terror threat alert level.

Danish intelligence said it arrested a 26-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker living in Copenhagen and the three Swedish residents who had rented the car: a 44-year-old Tunisian, a 29-year-old Lebanese-born man and a 30-year-old whose national origin was not immediately released. The Danish resident was arrested in a separate raid, in a different Copenhagen suburb, from the other three, Scharf said.

The four men face preliminary charges of attempting to carry out an act of terrorism. A custody hearing was scheduled for Thursday. Police in Denmark do not release the names of suspects.

In Sweden, police said they arrested a 37-year-old Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin living in Stockholm.

"I am shocked that a group of people have concrete plans to commit a serious terrorist attack in this country," Danish Prime Minister Loekke Rasmussen told reporters. "I want to stress that regardless of today's event it remains my conviction that terrorism must not lead us to change our open society and our values, especially democracy and free speech."

The alleged plot follows several attacks and threats connected to 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad published by the Jyllands-Posten in 2005 as a challenge to perceived self-censorship. The cartoons also provoked massive and violent protests in early 2006 in Muslim countries after the drawings were reprinted in a range of Western media. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Zubair Butt Hussain, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Denmark, called the alleged plot "extremely worrying."

The organization "absolutely condemns any act of terrorism regardless of the motives and motivations that may lie behind," Hussain said.

Kurt Westergaard, the artist who drew the most contentious of 12 cartoons, said the foiled plot was "a direct attack on democracy and freedom of press."

"We may not and won't let anyone forbid us to criticize radical Islamism. We may not be intimidated when it comes to our values," Westergaard told the German tabloid Bild.

In January, a Somali man broke into Westergaard's home wielding an ax and a knife but the artist escaped by locking himself in a safe-room in the house. In 2008, two Tunisians with Danish residence permits were arrested for plotting to kill him.

In September, a man was wounded when a letter bomb he was preparing exploded in a Copenhagen hotel. Police said it was intended for the Jyllands-Posten, which also has been targeted in a number of thwarted terror plots in Norway and the United States.

U.S. citizen Tahawwur Rana faces trial in Chicago in February in connection with the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and a planned attack on the Jyllands-Posten.

In 2008, the Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was targeted by a car bomb that killed six people outside the mission.

The attacks and threats have caused concern and unprecedented security measures in Denmark, a country that prides itself on personal freedom and openness.

The JPPOL media group building, which includes Jyllands-Posten, is protected by metal fences and guards at all entrances. Mail is scanned and newspaper staff need identity cards to enter the buildings and the various floors.

Lars Munch, JPPOL chief executive, said his workers are worried.

"It is appalling for our group, for our employees and their families to see their workplace threatened," Munch said.

Hours after news of the arrests, Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik arrived at the JPPOL building for a previously agreed engagement.

"I wouldn't stand here if it had been a threat against me," Frederik told Danish TV2. Asked whether he was afraid, the heir to the throne replied "no," before entering the building to attend a sports award ceremony.

Denmark, with an estimated 207,000 Muslims among its 5.5 million people, has a minority nationalist party that has helped impose curbs on immigration. An estimated 300,000 Muslims live in Sweden, a predominantly Christian but secularized country of 9.35 million people that doesn't have nationalist movements of prominence.

3 suicide bombers used to kill tenacious Iraqi cop

3 suicide bombers used to kill tenacious Iraqi cop

An Iraqi policeman stands guard while hundreds of vehicles are in queue, waiting to be searched, at a checkpoint in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010. Security officials are investigating the possibility of removing some of the hundreds of checkpoints across the city, in a sign of the improving security situation. The checkpoints are designed to catch insurgents, but they also slow down traffic in the already congested city.

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Police commander Lt. Col. Shamil al-Jabouri knew al-Qaida wanted him dead. He was renowned in the tense northern city of Mosul for his relentless pursuit of the terror group, and insurgents had tried at least five times to kill him for it. On the sixth attempt, al-Qaida left little to chance.

As al-Jabouri slept Wednesday morning on a couch in his office, three men wearing police uniforms over vests laden with explosives slipped through an opening in the blast walls surrounding the compound where his building stood, police said.

Police manning one of at least four observation towers surrounding the compound shot one of the attackers in a yard and his vest exploded. Under the cover of that blast, police said, the other two suicide bombers charged about 100 yards (90 meters) and made it into al-Jabouri's single-story building.

They detonated their vests simultaneously - one at the door of al-Jabouri's office - killing the commander instantly and injuring a policeman sleeping in a trailer nearby. The two blasts brought the whole building down, burying the slain commander under the rubble, police said.

The attack on the commander responsible for hunting al-Qaida in Mosul - a former militant stronghold - was a reminder of the significant gaps in Iraqi security, the challenges the new government will face in trying to close them and the lengths insurgents will go to take out people they perceive as threats.

Just 10 days ago, al-Jabouri led a raid that ended in the death of the top al-Qaida figure in Mosul, his colleagues said. And two months ago he had been instrumental in stopping a gang that had been targeting jewelry stores in the city - robberies that are frequently ways for terror groups to refill their coffers.

"We've lost a sword of Mosul who chased al-Qaida terrorists out of the city," said Abdul-Raheem al-Shemeri, a top security official on the Mosul Provincial Council.

An Al-Qaida affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, took responsibility in a statement posted on the Internet. It said al-Jabouri had been targeted several times before, but had not been deterred from fighting al-Qaida.

"This day was the decisive one," the group said.

According to the militants' statement, the attackers were dressed in police uniforms, which likely helped them get close to the compound - an abandoned soccer stadium - without raising suspicion.

U.S. Maj. Erik Peterson worked with al-Jabouri as Iraqi police were taking over security from the Iraqi army for the western half of the city, an operation that began last summer.

"He was a legend in the police force," Peterson said. "Every time you would go to visit him, he already had someone new he was looking for or had just arrested."

Peterson said that by killing officials like al-Jabouri, al-Qaida is trying to institute fear in the local population.

Militants had tried to kill al-Jabouri at least five times before, police officials said. A few months ago, al-Jabouri's guards shot a suicide bomber who approached the commander in an attempt to blow himself up, police said.

Hospital officials in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, confirmed the death and said at least one policeman was injured.

Rescuers worked frantically to clear the rubble of the collapsed building but found no others dead, probably because the attack occurred in darkness around 6 a.m., before most people had arrived for work.

Al-Jabouri leaves behind a wife and four children. He had been a police officer since 2003. Three of his brothers also serve in the police force, colleagues said.

"He loved his duty, and he had the highest level of commitment to his work," said police official Mazin Mahmud.

Al-Qaida-linked militants across the country, and especially in Mosul, have made wiping out Iraqi security officials like al-Jabouri one of their main goals, in part to intimidate others from joining the security forces. Suicide bombers have been al-Qaida's most lethal weapon, killing hundreds of civilians and members of the security forces.

Mosul is home to a mixed Sunni Arab and Kurdish population, with a small Christian minority. The city along the Tigris River has long been a destination for Sunni militants infiltrating Iraq's porous border with Syria.

Violence has fallen around Iraq in the past two years, but al-Qaida and other insurgents have still shown themselves capable of carrying out attacks, particularly on security and government facilities, in hopes of destabilizing the country.

For much of this year, Iraq's politicians were deadlocked trying to form a new government after inconclusive March elections. The paralysis was resolved only earlier this month when parliament finally confirmed the Cabinet of returning Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

A new government was sworn in only last week but political leaders have still not agreed on who should fill important roles including ministers of defense, interior and national security.

AP-GfK Poll: Baby boomers fear outliving Medicare

AP-GfK Poll: Baby boomers fear outliving Medicare

Realtor Lynn Barlow poses for a portrait in her home in Canton, Ga., in this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010. Barlow believes she and her husband, who have paid into the Medicare program their whole working lives, and are entitled to collect benefits. At the same time, she's willing to make some sacrifices to preserve the level of services.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The first baby boomers will be old enough to qualify for Medicare Jan. 1, and many fear the program's obituary will be written before their own. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that baby boomers believe by a ratio of 2-to-1 they won't be able to rely on the giant health insurance plan throughout their retirement.

The boomers took a running dive into adolescence and went on to redefine work and family, but getting old is making them nervous.

Now, forty-three percent say they don't expect to be able to depend on Medicare forever, while only 20 percent think their Medicare is secure. The rest have mixed feelings.

Yet the survey also shows a surprising willingness among adults of all ages to sacrifice to preserve Medicare benefits that most Americans say they deserve after years of paying taxes into the system at work.

Take the contentious issue of Medicare's eligibility age, fixed at 65, while the qualifying age for Social Security is rising gradually to 67.

Initially, 63 percent of boomers in the poll dismissed the idea of raising the eligibility age to keep Medicare afloat financially. But when the survey forced them to choose between raising the age or cutting benefits, 59 percent said raise the age and keep the benefits.

"I don't mind the fact that people may have to work a little longer," said Lynn Barlow, 60, a real estate agent who lives outside Atlanta. Especially if there's time to plan, laboring a few extra years allows people to save more for retirement.

Bring up benefit cuts and Barlow isn't nearly as accommodating. "I started working when I was 16 and I expect a benefit after putting into it for so many years," she said.

As Medicare reaches a historic threshold, the poll also found differences by age, gender and income among baby boomers. For example, baby boom women, who can expect to live longer than both their mothers and their husbands, are much more pessimistic than men about the program's future.

Medicare is a middle-class bulwark against the ravages of illness in old age. It covers 46 million elderly and disabled people at an annual cost of about $500 billion. But the high price of American-style medicine, stressing intensive treatment and the latest innovations, is already straining program finances. Add the number of baby boomers, more than 70 million born between 1946 and 1964, and Medicare's fiscal foundation starts to shake.

Here's the math: when the last of the boomers reaches age 65 in about two decades, Medicare will be covering more than 80 million people. At the same time, the ratio of workers paying taxes to support the program will have plunged from 3.5 for each person receiving benefits currently, to 2.3.

"The 800-pound gorilla is eating like mad and growing to 1,200 pounds," said economist Eugene Steuerle of the Urban Institute, warning about the imbalance. "The switch from worker to retiree status has implications for everything."

The government can't balance its books without dealing with health care costs, and Medicare is in the middle. Some leading Republicans and a few Democrats have called for phasing out the program and instead giving each retiree a fixed payment - or voucher -to help them buy private medical insurance of their choice. The poll found doubts about the idea, and a generational debate.

Overall, a narrow majority (51 percent) of Americans opposed the voucher plan. But those born after 1980 favored it by 47 percent to 41 percent, while seniors opposed it 4-to-1. A majority of boomers were also opposed, with 43 percent strongly objecting.

However, younger boomers like RoxAnne Christley of Roanoke, Va., were more likely to be favorable.

"I think that's a possibility if it brings choices and competition," said Christley, 47. "We don't need to stimulate the government; we need to stimulate the economy. A lot of people have different choices when it comes to medical coverage, and I see nothing wrong with that at all." Christley is self-employed, counseling new mothers on breast feeding.

Changes that don't involve a full-scale re-engineering of Medicare tended to draw more support in the poll, especially when the survey forced people to choose between giving up benefits or making some other kind of sacrifice.

For example, 61 percent of Americans overall favored raising Medicare taxes to avoid a cut in benefits. The current payroll tax is 2.9 percent on wages, evenly divided between workers and their employers. The new health care law added a surcharge of 0.9 percent on earnings over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples filing jointly.

When forced to choose, even a majority of Republicans said they would rather pay higher taxes (53 percent) than cut benefits (38 percent). Among adults in their 20s, who'd face a whole career paying higher taxes, 61 percent said they would be willing to pay more to preserve benefits. Only 29 percent of boomers said keep taxes the same but cut benefits.

"If people are forced to the wall and something has to be done about the financial shape of the program, they would rather take their medicine by raising taxes and moving the eligibility age than having the benefits cut when they retire," said polling analyst Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health.

A narrower majority of Americans - 54 percent - also favored requiring people on Medicare to pay higher copayments and deductibles so that payments to doctors don't have to be cut.

Support was surprisingly strong among seniors, 62 percent of whom said they'd be willing to pay more so that doctors' fees don't have to be cut and more doctors keep accepting Medicare payments.

"In its present form, Medicare will be insolvent before my grandkids get there," said Fred Wemer, 73, a retired dentist from Seattle. He says Medicare's biggest problem is that it rewards inefficiency by not paying doctors enough to keep people healthy and then paying for just about everything - even botched procedures - when patients get into trouble.

"We've got a discrepancy in how doctors are paid," said Wemer. "Primary care doctors, the ones who listen to you, they're underpaid. But specialists get paid way over what they're worth."

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted Nov. 18-22, 2010, by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

Linc’ Is Ready To Go

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Eagles management says Lincoln Financial Field is ready to go for Tuesday night’s contest between the birds and the Vikings. But it took a herculean effort to get the stadium complex prepared for the players and the fans.

Don Smolenski, chief operating officer for the Philadelphia Eagles, says the field was covered with a tarp before the storm started. That tarp was cleared of all the snow and removed Tuesday and the sun is drying the field.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

After Delay, Marching Band Is Headed To Rose Bowl Parade

(CBS) – Downingtown High School band members are on their way to the Rose Bowl Parade.

The band has been planning and fundraising for the trip for months but yesterday’s snow cancelled two flights band members were supposed to be on, and it looked like they might not make it.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Police fatalities jump 37 percent in 2010

Police fatalities jump 37 percent in 2010

FILE - In this March 8, 2010 file photo, Marines salute Saloma Bejar and Mariam Bejar, the mother and wife of fallen officer Javier Bejar, after presenting the ceremonial flag at cemetery services in Reedley, Calif. Cluster killings of more than one officer helped make 2010 a particularly dangerous year for police officers. Some 160 officers died in the line of duty, a 37 percent jump from the same period in 2009 when 117 officers were killed, according to statistics compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit that tracks police deaths.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Two officers in a remote Alaska town were ambushed as they chatted on a street. A California officer and deputy were killed by an arson suspect with a high-powered rifle as they tried to serve a warrant. Two other officers doing anti-drug work were gunned down by men along a busy Arkansas highway.

These so-called cluster killings of more than one officer helped make 2010 a particularly deadly year for law enforcement. Deaths in the line of duty jumped 37 percent to about 160 from 117 the year before, according to numbers as of Tuesday compiled by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit that tracks police deaths.

There also was a spike in shooting deaths. Fifty-nine federal, state and local officers were killed by gunfire in 2010, a 20 percent jump from last year's figures, when 49 were killed. The total does not include the death of a Georgia State Patrol trooper shot in the neck Monday night in Atlanta as he tried to make a traffic stop.

And 73 officers died in traffic incidents, a rise from the 51 killed in 2009, according to the data.

Craig Floyd, director of the Washington-based fund, said the rise in fatalities could be an aftershock of the nation's economic troubles as officers in some communities cope with slashed budgets.

"We're asking our officers to do more with less. We're asking them to fight conventional crime, and we're asking them to serve on the front lines in the war against terror," he said.

Last year's toll of 117 officers killed was a 50-year low that encouraged police groups. But this year's total is more the norm than an anomaly: The number of police deaths has topped 160 five times since 2000, including 240 in 2001. The annual toll routinely topped 200 in the 1970s and before that in the 1920s.

The deaths were spread across more than 30 states and Puerto Rico - with the most killings reported in Texas, California, Illinois, Florida and Georgia. The two law enforcement agencies with the most deaths were the California Highway Patrol and the Chicago Police Department, each with five.

Ten of the shooting deaths came from five tragedies in which several officers were shot and killed in groups.

The cluster shootings started in February, when authorities say a Fresno County, Calif. deputy was shot by an arson suspect who had vowed to kill investigators and himself rather than go to prison. The killing led to a daylong gunbattle during which a police officer was also shot and killed. The gunman later killed himself.

In March, San Juan authorities say two park rangers serving as guards at Puerto Rico's Department of Natural Resources were gunned down by invaders who jumped a fence during an attempted robbery.

Two West Memphis police officers doing anti-drug work in May were shot to death by two men wielding AK-47s along an Arkansas interstate. The suspects were later killed in a shootout that injured the local sheriff and a deputy at a crowded Walmart parking lot.

In June, authorities say a man wanted for writing a bad check shot and killed two Tampa, Fla., police officers after he was pulled over at 2:15 a.m. And in August, a man was charged with killing two officers chatting in front of his home in the tiny Alaska village of Hoonah.

Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the rise of community-oriented policing over the last few decades has also had the unintended consequence of lessening the public's respect for officers.

"It's a cascading effect of the people thinking police are here to serve and protect them on an individual basis" instead of acting as an arm of the government, she said. "We spend hours teaching children about Shakespeare and history, but we don't devote even an hour a week to the role of police in creating the world in which we live."

The uptick in traffic deaths also troubled analysts.

The research didn't reveal what led to many of the traffic deaths, partly because local departments often don't keep complete records of those fatalities, said Floyd. But he said it suggests that more research is needed to investigate possible driver fatigue and distracted driving.

"We're asking citizens not to talk and text on their cell phones, but we're providing officers with laptop computers and cell phones and radios," he said. "That means taking their attention from the road. Are we putting too many distractions in police vehicles?"

Several injured as chairs drop from Maine ski lift

Several injured as chairs drop from Maine ski lift

This photo provided by Al Noyes shows skiers and lift chairs on the slope after a lift derailed on the state's tallest mountain in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010.

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine (AP) -- A 35-year-old chair lift set for upgrades or replacement failed Tuesday at one of Maine's most popular ski resorts, sending skiers plummeting into ungroomed snow far below that fell with the Northeast's recent blizzard and probably softened the landing.

The Sugarloaf resort in Carrabassett Valley, about 120 miles north of Portland, said about six people were taken to hospitals after five chairs fell. The resort's ski patrol evacuated the lift.

The resort said the lift, which went into service in 1975 and recently passed an inspection, was set for improvements but wouldn't say when.

Rebecca London, one of the skiers who tumbled to the snow, told The Associated Press that her face hit a retaining bar, but that her goggles spared her from serious injury. She credited new snow on the trail underneath the lift with a soft landing; the resort said it got 20 to 22 inches in Monday's storm.

"Thankfully, they didn't groom it last night, so they left it like it was," she said. "So the snow was all soft."

Most of the skiers who fell appeared to be stunned but OK, she said, and the ski patrol was on the scene within minutes treat the injured. London, 20, of Carrabassett Valley, said she wasn't hurt badly enough to go to a hospital.

Jay Marshall, a ski coach hunkered down in a cold wind while on a lift next to the broken one, said that his lift was moving but that the broken one was not.

There was a "loud snapping noise" after the lift restarted, he said, then some screams.

"The next thing I know, it was bouncing up and down like a yo-yo," said Marshall, of Carrabassett Valley. He said it was too difficult to watch, so he looked away. "It was terrifying," he said.

The injured were treated and taken to hospitals. There were 50 to 160 people on the lift at the time, according to Sugarloaf, owned by Michigan-based Boyne Resorts. Sugarloaf workers used a pulley-like system to lower skiers to safety.

Jill Gray, a spokeswoman for Franklin Memorial Hospital about in Farmington, 45 miles away, said people were taken there but did not give details on the injures. At least one person was flown on to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

At the time of the accident, high winds were buffeting Maine a day after a blizzard swept across the region.

Sugarloaf said the wind was gusting to about 40 mph, but it's unclear whether the accident was wind-related or mechanical. The spillway chair lift was properly licensed and inspected, said Doug Dunbar of Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.

The East Spillway double-chair lift is 4,013 feet long and nearly reaches the summit of 4,327-foot Sugarloaf, the state's second-tallest mountain. It went into service in 1975 and was modified in 1983, according to Sugarloaf officials.

Betsy Twombly of Falmouth said the resort notified season pass holders like herself that the lift would be the first to be replaced under a 10-year improvement plan.

Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin told reporters it was on a list of those to be improved but declined to say when that was due to happen.

Sixers Win In Denver

DENVER (AP) — Jrue Holiday had 22 points, Thaddeus Young added 20 and the Philadelphia 76ers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Denver Nuggets 95-89 on Sunday night.

Elton Brand had 16 points and 17 rebounds and Jodie Meeks scored 17 points for the 76ers.

Chauncey Billups had 24 points and Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson added 14 each for the Nuggets, who lost their third straight since Carmelo Anthony left the team Wednesday following the death of his sister.

Chris Andersen and J.R. Smith also each had 11 rebounds for the Nuggets.

The Nuggets led 82-70 with 8:11 left, but the 76ers surged ahead. Two baskets by Brand and six free throws tied it at 82 with 4:32 left. Young and Holiday hit jumpers to give Philadelphia an 87-84 edge, and Meeks’ 3-pointer with 47.1 left gave the Sixers a 92-86 lead, their biggest of the game at that point.

Denver led by five midway through the third when Philadelphia went on a run. Consecutive jumpers by Holiday and Young got the 76ers within one and Brand hit two straight layups make it 64-61 lead with 2:17 left in the quarter.

The Nuggets missed five shots and turned it over twice to help Philadelphia take the lead, but they went on a 10-2 run to grab the lead heading into the fourth.

The Nuggets led by 12 after the first quarter but the Sixers shot 50 percent in the second quarter to close the gap. They pulled within one twice and trailed 46-43 at halftime.

The Nuggets, already playing short-handed without Anthony, lost forward Al Harrington to a dislocated right thumb early in the second quarter. Harrington was hurt when Young tipped the ball away from him as he brought it upcourt. He left the game for X-rays and did not return.

NOTES: Philadelphia guard Louis Williams and assistant coach Brian James were not with the team. Williams stayed home to be present for the expected birth of his daughter. James is in Illinois to attend the funeral for his father, who passed away Wednesday.

They also miss the 76ers’ game Monday night at Golden State. … Anthony is expected to be back when the Nuggets play Portland on Tuesday night. … Smith set a career high with his 11 rebounds.

Eagles Clinch NFC East

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The snow put a hold on the Eagles game with the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night, but it didn’t prevent Philadelphia from clinching the NFC East and a trip to the NFL playoffs.

The Giants, fresh off of their week 15 collapse to the Eagles, went into Green Bay with a chance to clinch a playoff birth of their own with a win over the Packers. To the delight of Eagles and Packers fans alike, that didn’t happen.

Instead, it was Green Bay that came away with a 45-17 victory, securing the division title for the idle Eagles.

The Eagles, of course, still have a lot to play for over the final two weeks of the regular season, starting with Tuesday night’s contest against the Vikings.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Mayor Nutter Says, ‘Give Me 36′

(Mayor Nutter helping residents shovel)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Mayor Nutter made the rounds and lent a helping hand in several neighborhoods as Philadelphia spent Monday digging out. He also made it a point to remind residents of the city’s new shoveling law.

On the 2100 block of South 21st Street, the mayor got some exercise using the lexicon of new language in the city code.

“Give me 36,” the mayor said, “We’re asking folks to clear a 36-inch wide path, three feet wide, on their sidewalks so people can stay on the sidewalk and not be out on the street.”

Youngsters across the city, including Darren Shelton, had shovels in hand and were trying to ‘Give a 36′ and make a few extra bucks. “So far, we got some ‘no thank you’s,’” Shelton said, “That’s ok, we’re still working.”

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Snow Storm Packs Quite A Punch

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – An early-season major winter storm dumped over a foot of snow on Philadelphia and more than 19 inches on some parts of the Garden State.

Residents in and around the region woke up Monday morning to a heavy blanket of snow. The snow came to an end early Monday, but the major problem will be strong winds.

When all said and done, the city of Philadelphia received 12.4 inches of the white stuff. A snow emergency remains in effect and city officials said trash and recycling pick-up is cancelled for Monday.

The season’s first snow storm also impacted Sunday’s scheduled Eagles game against the Minnesota Vikings. The game has been postponed until Tuesday evening at 8 p.m. It is the first time that an NFL game will be played on a Tuesday since 1946.

For full story go to: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Publisher confirms Julian Assange book deal

Publisher confirms Julian Assange book deal

The founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange speaks to members of the media as he leaves a police station in Beccles, England, after complying with bail his conditions, Friday, Dec. 24, 2010. The two Swedish women accusing Julian Assange of sex crimes are supporters of WikiLeaks, not pawns of the CIA, and they simply seek justice for a violation of their "sexual integrity," their lawyer says. Claes Borgstrom, a self-professed feminist who used to be Sweden's ombudsman for gender equality, told The Associated Press he finds it "very upsetting" that Assange, his lawyers and some supporters are suggesting the case is a smear campaign against WikiLeaks, the secret-spilling website Assange founded.

LONDON (AP) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he's being forced into penning an autobiography to keep his organization from going under. New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf confirmed Monday that it had struck a deal with the 39-year-old Australian to bring out his autobiography, whose publication date has yet to be determined.

Assange, speaking to The Sunday Times, said the deal would bring in more than $1 million, with $800,000 from Knopf and another 325,000 pounds ($500,000) from U.K. publisher Canongate. But he said he only agreed to it because he was under financial pressure.

"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

Assange shot to worldwide prominence on the back of a series of spectacular leaks of classified U.S. material, including the ongoing publication of some 250,000 classified State Department cables.

But with the international attention came international legal problems. The U.K.-bound activist is currently fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces sex crimes allegations, and has said he fears moves to indict him in the United States on espionage charges. He's previously said that most of his organization's money goes to fighting off legal and technical attacks.

Knopf spokesman Paul Bogaards declined to comment on the specific figures mentioned by Assange, but confirmed that a deal had been in place since "prior to the holidays."

Bogaards said Assange was due to deliver his manuscript sometime in 2011. The autobiography's title hasn't been made public.

Knopf is an imprint of Random House Inc.

Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy

Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy

In this photo taken Wednesday, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2010, Michael Vanatta walks the beach near where he takes a photo each day of the sun rise in Vero Beach, Fla. for one of his blogs. Vanatta, 61, is paying the price for being a baby boomer who enjoyed life without saving for the future. He put a daughter through college, but he also spent plenty of money on indulgences like dining out and the latest electronic gadgets. Vanatta was laid off last January from his $100,000-a-year job as a sales executive for a turf company. And with savings of just $5,000, he's on a budget for the first time. In April, he will start taking Social Security at age 62.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years.

The boomers, who in their youth revolutionized everything from music to race relations, are set to redefine retirement. But a generation that made its mark in the tumultuous 1960s now faces a crisis as it hits its own mid-60s.

"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.

There are several reasons to be concerned:

- The traditional pension plan is disappearing. In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

- Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever; 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting total returns of just 4 percent since the beginning of 2000.

- Many retirees banked on their homes as their retirement fund. But the crash in housing prices has slashed almost a third of a typical home's value. Now 22 percent of homeowners, or nearly 11 million people, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are boomers.

Michael Vanatta, 61, of Vero Beach, Fla., is paying the price for being a boomer who enjoyed life without saving for the future. He put a daughter through college, but he also spent plenty of money on indulgences like dining out and the latest electronic gadgets.

Vanatta was laid off last January from his $100,000-a-year job as a sales executive for a turf company. And with savings of just $5,000, he's on a budget for the first time. In April, he will start taking Social Security at age 62.

"If I'd been smarter and planned and had the bucks, I'd wait until 70," says Vanatta, who is divorced and rents an apartment. "It's my fault. For years I was making plenty of money and spending plenty of money."

Vanatta is in the majority. Some 51 percent of early boomer households, headed by those ages 55 to 64, face a retirement with lower living standards, according to a 2009 study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Too many boomers have ignored or underestimated the worsening outlook for their finances, says Jean Setzfand, director of financial security for AARP, the group that represents Americans over age 50. By far the greatest shortcoming has been a failure to save. The personal savings rate - the amount of disposable income unspent - averaged close to 10 percent in the 1970s and `80s. By late 2007, the rate had sunk to negative 1 percent.

The recession has helped improve the savings rate - it's now back above 5 percent. Yet typical boomers are still woefully short on retirement savings. Even those in their 50s and 60s with a 401(k) for at least six years had an average balance of less than $150,000 at the end of 2009, according to the EBRI.

Signs of coming trouble are visible on several other fronts, too:

- Mortgage Debt. Nearly two in three people age 55 to 64 had a mortgage in 2007, with a median debt of $85,000.

- Social Security. Nearly 3 out of 4 people file to claim Social Security benefits as soon as they're eligible at age 62. That locks them in at a much lower amount than they would get if they waited.

The monthly checks are about 25 percent less if you retire at 62 instead of full retirement age, which is 66 for those born from 1943 to 1954. If you wait until 70, your check can be 75 to 80 percent more than at 62. So, a boomer who claimed a $1,200 monthly benefit in 2008 at age 62 could have received about $2,000 by holding off until 70.

- Medical Costs. Health care expenses are soaring, and the availability of retiree benefits is declining.

"People cannot fathom how much money will be needed to simply cover out-of-pocket medical care costs," says Mitchell of the University of Pennsylvania.

A 55-year-old man with typical drug expenses needs to have about $187,000 just to cover future medical costs. That's if he wants to be 90 percent certain to have enough money to supplement Medicare coverage in retirement, the EBRI said. Because of greater longevity, a 65-year-old woman would need even more to cover her health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health expenses: an estimated $213,000.

- Employment. Boomers both need and want to work longer than previous generations. But unemployment is near 10 percent, and many have lost their jobs.

The average unemployment period for those 55 and older was 45 weeks in November. That's 12 weeks longer than for younger job-seekers. It's also more than double the 20-week period this group faced at the beginning of the recession in December 2007.

If financial neglect turns out to be many boomers' undoing, challenging circumstances are stymieing others.

Linda Reaves of Silver Spring, Md., never had much opportunity to save as a single mother raising two sons and a daughter. After holding a variety of positions over the years - hotel office manager, research analyst for a mortgage company, hospital mental health counselor - she was still living paycheck to paycheck. Then she was laid off in 2007 at the age of 57.

She entered a training program to learn new skills, but all she has found since is a string of temporary jobs. In her daily quest for clerical or administrative work, she competes against much younger applicants.

Reaves, who turns 60 this month, plans to work until she's at least 70 and then wants to travel, even if she doesn't know where the money will come from.

"I just keep going. I don't really worry about it," she says.

Add this all up, and there's a "slow-burning" retirement crisis for boomers, says Anthony Webb, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research.

"If you have a crisis where the adverse consequences are immediately clear, then people understand that they have to do something," Webb says. "When the consequences will be felt 20 or 30 years in the future, the temptation is that we kick the can down the road."

As a result, he believes many won't change their behavior.

For less affluent boomers, it won't take that long to feel the pain of poor planning. Concerns about financial trouble will hang over many of those 65th birthday celebrations in 2011.

Many seem to view their plight through rose-colored granny glasses. An AARP survey last month of boomers turning 65 next year found that they worry no more about money than they did at age 60 - before the recession or the collapse of home prices. But in an acknowledgement of reality, 40 percent said they plan to work "until I drop."

Iran to let families visit jailed German reporters

Iran to let families visit jailed German reporters

FILE - In this undated file image made available by Amnesty International in London July 8, 2010, 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery is pictured. Germany's foreign ministry says Sunday Dec. 26, 2010 relatives of two journalists detained in Iran in connection with a highly publicized stoning case have traveled to Tehran hoping to see them.The two journalists were arrested in October while interviewing the son and lawyer of 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran said Monday it will allow relatives to visit two German journalists detained while covering the case of an Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning for adultery has caused an international outcry.

It was not immediately clear when the visit would be allowed. Earlier Monday, the German Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to complain that the two were not able to meet with relatives over Christmas, despite earlier promises.

Iranian and German authorities have not identified the two journalists, but late Monday, an official Iranian TV outlet, Press TV, identified the two Germans for the first time, showing a passport belonging to as Marcus Alfred Rudolf Hellwig. The English-language Press TV identified the second journalist as Jens Andreas Koch.

Ashtiani's sentence, which Iran has put on hold, has brought harsh condemnation from the U.S., the European Union and rights groups who are pressuring Tehran to stay the execution. It has further strained Iran's relations with world powers, already tense over the country's disputed nuclear program.

The two Germans - a reporter and a photographer for the mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag - entered the country on tourist visas and were arrested in early October in the northwestern city of Tabriz while interviewing the son and lawyer of the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Ashtiani's son and lawyer were arrested around the same time as the two journalists.

Iranian officials approved the visit by the families in Tabriz, 400 miles (630 kilometers) from the capital Tehran, according to a statement on the website of state TV.

In Berlin, a German Foreign Ministry spokesman said two relatives are now on their way to Tabriz after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle spoke several times with his Iranian counterpart on Monday.

"Therefore there was a meeting between the relatives and the Iranian Foreign Minister, during which the latter promised a swift encounter with the detainees in Tabriz," said the spokesman, who declined to be named in keeping with government policy.

Bild reported Sunday that the reporter's sister and the photographer's mother would be able to meet with the journalists at an undisclosed location in Tehran, the Iranian capital. The newspaper said that meeting was first planned for Saturday and then rescheduled for Sunday, but both were canceled.

Iranian officials claim the two Germans have admitted to violating Iranian laws, which forbid those entering the country on tourist visas to work as journalists. Iran's judiciary rejected claims by Iranian officials who accused the two Germans of espionage, and no spy charges have been filed against them.

The two were shown on Iranian state television in mid-November and earlier this month, Iran signaled it might release them for the New Year's holiday.

Ashtiani's death by stoning sentence has been put on hold and is now being reviewed by Iran's Supreme Court.

Thousands stranded by 2-foot blizzard in Northeast

Thousands stranded by 2-foot blizzard in Northeast

Snow removal continues at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Monday, Dec. 27, 2010. Hundreds of cold, hungry and tired air passengers spent the night at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports following a powerful East Coast blizzard. Officials said they were provided blankets and cots, but some travelers were not allowed to retrieve their checked luggage, leaving them with no extra clothing or toiletries.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Thousands of travelers trying to get home after the holiday weekend sat bored and bleary-eyed in airports and shivered aboard stuck buses and subway trains Monday, stranded by a blizzard that slammed the Northeast with more than 2 feet of show.

"People are exhausted. They want to get home," sighed Eric Schorr, marooned at New York's Kennedy Airport since Sunday afternoon by the storm, which worked its way up the coast from the Carolinas to Maine with winds up to 80 mph that whirled the snow into deep drifts across streets, railroad tracks and runways.

Snowfall totals included a foot in Tidewater, Va., and Philadelphia, 29 inches in parts of northern New Jersey, 2 feet north of New York City, and more than 18 inches in Boston.

The storm closed all three of the New York metropolitan area's airports and stymied most other means of transportation. Buses sputtered to a halt in snow drifts. Trains stopped in their tracks. Taxi drivers abandoned their cabs in the middle of New York's snow-clogged streets. Even the New York City subway system - usually dependable during a snowstorm - broke down in spots, trapping riders for hours.

Cold, hungry and tired passengers spent the night in airports, train stations and bus depots. Some were given cots and blankets. Others used their luggage as pillows, curled into chairs, or made beds by spreading towels on the floor or overturning the plastic bins used for sending items through airport security.

Some airline passengers could be stuck for days. Many planes are booked solid because of the busy holiday season, and airlines are operating fewer flights because of the economic downturn.

As bad as the storm was, it could have been worse if it had been an ordinary work day. Children are home from school all week on Christmas vacation, and lots of people had taken off from work.

Many youngsters went out and frolicked in the snow, some of them using the sleds they got for Christmas.

Many side streets in New York City remained unplowed well into the day, and pedestrians stumbled over drifts and trudged through knee-deep snow in some places. Numerous people simply gave up trying to use the sidewalks, instead walking down the middle of partially plowed streets. Some New Yorkers complained that snowplow crews were neglecting neighborhoods in the outer boroughs in favor of Manhattan.

A testy Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the city's cleanup effort, saying the furious pace of the snowfall - 2 to 3 inches per hour - required crews to plow streets repeatedly to keep them open. And abandoned cars slowed the process further because plows could not get through, he said.

"It's being handled by the best professionals in the business," Bloomberg said, urging people not to get upset. "It's a snowstorm, and it really is inconvenient for a lot of people."

At the Manchester Boston Regional Airport outside Manchester, N.H., 25-year-old Alicia Kinney slept overnight on benches in the baggage claim area before moving to the food court for a soda in the morning.

"I'm trying to stay positive," she said.

The blizzard had a ripple effect on air travel, stranding thousands of people at airports around the country.

"I know the Northeast was hit by snow. I get it. But still, this is Monday and I still haven't gotten a flight yet," said Sam Rogers, who had planned to fly back to New York on Sunday after visiting his brother in Charlotte, N.C., for the holiday. He was supposed to be back Monday at the mortgage company where he works, but no one was answering the phone at his office. "I guess they took a snow day, too."

In New York, many passengers tired of waiting around couldn't have left even if they wanted to. Taxis were hard to find, and many airport shuttles and trains were also a lost cause.

"There's literally no way to leave," said Jason Cochran of New York City, stuck at Kennedy.

Yoann Uzan of France, on a first-ever trip to New York City with his girlfriend, said their airline had promised to put passengers up at hotels overnight. "But we waited for the shuttle buses to take us there, and then the buses couldn't get through because of the weather, so we were stuck here," he said.

Passengers stuck at New York City's main bus terminal - where all service was canceled - tried to get some shuteye as they awaited word on when buses might start rolling again.

"It's really, really cold here," said 12-year-old Terry Huang. "The luggage was really hard to sleep on. It was hard and lumpy."

Two passenger buses headed back to New York City from the Atlantic City, N.J., casinos became stuck on New Jersey's Garden State Parkway. State troopers, worried about diabetics aboard, brought water and food as emergency workers worked to free the vehicles.

In Virginia, the National Guard had to rescue three people trapped in a car for more than four hours in the Eastern Shore area.

Not even professional hockey players could beat the frozen conditions. The Toronto Maple Leafs, after defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-1 in Newark, N.J., got stuck in traffic for four hours on their way to the team hotel. It was supposed to be a 20-minute ride. Center Tyler Bozak tweeted in one middle-of-the-night dispatch: "Roads closed in new jersey stuck on the bussss. Brutaallll!!"

Christopher Mullen was among the New York City subway riders stranded for several hours aboard a cold train Monday. "I just huddled with my girlfriend. We just tried to stay close," he said.

The train was stopped by snow drifts on the tracks and ice on the electrified third rail. It took hours to rescue the passengers because crews first tried to push the train, and when that didn't work, a snow-covered diesel locomotive had to be dug out of a railyard and brought in to move it.

Getting around cities in the Northeast was an adventure. In one Brooklyn neighborhood, cars drove the wrong way up a one-way street because it was the only plowed thoroughfare in the area. In Philadelphia, pedestrians dodged chunks of ice blown off skyscrapers.

New York taxi driver Shafqat Hayat spent the night in his cab on 33rd Street in Manhattan, unable to move his vehicle down the unplowed road. "I've seen a lot of snow before, but on the roads, I've never seen so many cars stuck in 22 years," he said.

Obama calls Eagles owner to congraulate him for signing Vick

Obama calls Eagles owner to congratulate him for signing Vick

Michael Vick has been getting support from all sides during his road to redemption. He's now getting it from the leader of the free world.

NBC's Peter King reports that Barack Obama called Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie earlier this week to congratulate him for giving Vick a second chance after his release from prison. According to King, the president said that released prisoners rarely receive a level playing field and that Vick's story could begin to change that.

Forget your political allegiances or feelings about Michael Vick and take a step back to think about this. The sitting president of the United States went out of his way to publicly praise a man who, 3 1/2 years ago, many thought would never play again in the NFL. Even the most ardent believers in Vick couldn't have fathomed a turn-around like this.

In retrospect it seems obvious that Vick would get a second chance in the NFL, but it wasn't so clear-cut back when he was lying to the commissioner, getting sternly admonished in federal court and serving out a sentence at Leavenworth. We tend to take for granted unbelievable events when they slowly unfold before our eyes. The step-by-step nature of these sorts of tales tend to minimize the shock when taken in over a long process. So though it now seems like it was all pre-destined to work out like this, it wasn't: Vick's rise and fall and rise is a truly stunning tale. He went from star to pariah to inmate to backup to MVP candidate to political prop for the leader of the free world all in a span of a couple years.

For Obama to praise Vick now shows a number of things, namely that uttering the quarterback's name is thought to be a safe political move. He's playing the best football of his life for a playoff team and was the second-leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl. At the moment, he's the model of redemption, someone worthy of praise.

Because, if you think about it, Vick got that "second chance" from Lurie 16 months ago. There was no phone call from the president then. Praising Vick at that time would have been a political third rail. But now that Vick is playing great and most people seem to have either forgiven him or stopped caring about his transgressions, it's a shrewd political move. After what could be termed a rough two years in office, the president is looking for a second chance from the people who have turned against him over the past two years. Supporting a huge star like Vick could help with the president's recent image problems. It may not register much nationally, but it couldn't hurt in Pennsylvania. After all, it's a swing state and 2012 is just around the corner.