14-year-old shot at Ga. middle school, officials say

WXIA

Scene outside Price Middle School in Atlanta, Ga., after a shooting Thursday.

By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

A 14-year-old boy was shot and a teacher was injured at a middle school in Atlanta on Thursday afternoon but an armed officer was able to disarm the suspect minutes after the incident, officials said.

Police said the shooting took place shortly before 2 p.m. when a student fired several rounds in the courtyard of Price Middle School, a newer school southeast of downtown Atlanta. ?

Live video from NBC station WXIA-TV showed police, emergency vehicles and an?ambulance swarming the area as crowd of anxious parents flooded toward the school.?

Police said the wounded boy was taken "alert, conscious and breathing" to the hospital.

WXIA, citing school district and fire department officials, reported that he was shot in back of the neck. The wound was not considered life threatening. The teacher suffered cuts and bruises during the panic of the incident, police said.

A student at the school was in custody, police said. Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said a resource officer at the school, an armed off-duty Atlanta officer, was able to disarm the suspect shortly after the shooting.

Walker, who said her daughter is an eighth-grader at the school, told The Associated Press that she received a text from her daughter about the shooting.

"Ma, somebody's shooting and somebody got shot." Walker said. She jumped into her car and was thinking "just hurry up and get there."

The school was placed in lockdown, and all other students were safe, school officials said.?Students were kept at the school for hours, but were reunited with their parents by about 5 p.m.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in a statement that he is very concerned about the incident and gun violence.?

"Gun violence in and around our schools is simply unconscionable and must end," Reed said. "Too many young people are being harmed and too many families are suffering from unimaginable and unnecessary grief. I pray that the student who was shot today at Price Middle School in southwest Atlanta recovers quickly and can return home to family and friends."

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis said the school has metal detectors and officials were still trying to determine how the gun got on campus

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/31/16793842-14-year-old-boy-shot-at-atlanta-middle-school-officials-say?lite

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Montana man made up sob story that got him pizza

HELENA, Mont. (AP) ? A Montana man whose tearful reluctance to rob a pizza restaurant earned him free food apparently made up the sob story that gained him the clerk's sympathy.

David Randall Lacey, 35, entered a Papa John's pizza restaurant on Jan. 22 with a bandanna over his face and gave the clerk a note demanding money, Helena police said. He broke down crying and told the clerk he needed the money to support his wife and children, who were hungry. The clerk made him a large pepperoni pizza and some chicken wings as he waited, and the man left.

The Independent Record reports (http://bit.ly/14vlTZr) an investigation found Lacey has no children in Helena and changed his story when he saw how little money was in the cash register ? just $24.56, according to a police report.

Police received a tip that Lacey acknowledged his role in the incident and a clerk picked him out of a lineup. He was arrested Thursday on suspicion of felony robbery. He remained jailed Friday with bail set at $25,000.

Lacey told police he needed the money to buy food, court records said.

___

Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-02-01-Reluctant%20Thief/id-045e7c2597be420f99dd146c0666b234

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Wharton: Sharon's Cafe offers an entertaining breakfast | The Salt ...

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sharon Ahern's daughter Shannon Prescott shares a laugh with regulars during their late lunch. Sharon's Cafe, a popular Holladay diner with plenty of personality, celebrates 10-years of treating regulars and newcomers alike with down home hospitality and warmth.

Holladay ?

Funny signs that hang from the walls of friendly family-owned diners often can be a good indicator that the food will be good and the dining experience entertaining.

That?s why I immediately knew I was going to enjoy eating breakfast at Sharon?s Cafe in the heart of Holladay.

Consider a few of the signs on the wall:

"Husband and dog missing, reward for dog."

"Drink coffee, do stupid things faster and with more energy."

"There is a $5 charge for whining."

I don?t suspect there?s much whining at Sharon?s. This little diner, open only for breakfast and lunch, is operated by Sharon Ahearn, whose daughters and daughter-in-law wait tables. On the weekends, her attorney-husband, Chris, works the cash register. In fact, the couple even got married inside the diner.

Strangers often get called "hon" or "sweetie" as they get their coffee mugs filled.

"I do that because I can?t remember the names," Sharon joked. "It?s easier to do that. But some say that ?I?m not your sweetie.??"

story continues below

Part of the name-remembering issue is that the diner features 50 or so regulars, many with the same name.

"We?ve got at least seven Daves, Dons and Als," she said.

So Sharon and her staff sometimes give nicknames based on the color of creamer some of the regulars use. Thus, there might be blue Dave or green Dave. There are also little Dave and handyman Dave. The four Dons who like to sit at the counter sometimes all look up at once when someone talks to "Don."

She has helped some regulars, many of them retired seniors, move into senior living centers. If everyday customers don?t show up for a few days, Ahearn will call them to make sure everything is OK.

"I?d go broke if I had a senior discount," she said, laughing. "They become our family."

Indeed, how many diner owners trust their customers enough to give one of them a key? That?s what Sharon did to a few of her regulars. She worried because they were lining up in the cold waiting for her to show up to open the place by 6:30 a.m. Now, on many mornings, the coffee is already made and a few regulars are in place when she arrives.

Sharon grew up in these small "mom-and-pop places," as she calls them. Her dad ran the gas station on one part of Knudsen?s Corner across from the Cotton Bottom and what was then a diner called Smith?s where my Aunt Ethel once spoiled me with grilled cheese sandwiches and penny candy. Sharon?s mom, Lucy Stoddard, worked in diners much of her life.

After managing or waiting tables at a few local diners, Sharon decided to take a chance on opening her own business when the old Corey Anderson pie building became available.

The idea was that she wanted nights off so she could watch one of her daughters play basketball for Olympus High.

While there is nothing fancy on the menu ? the most expensive items are $7.75 for steak and eggs or pork chops and eggs ? Ahearn has learned a bit from nearly every place she has worked. Some of the menu items are different.

For example, there is Sharon?s Special, consisting of two eggs, marinated pork tenderloin, potatoes, a fresh tomato and feta cheese. At lunch, a muffuletta sandwich is made from a secret recipe. The scones are great. I loved the Greek Way special, which includes home fries topped with melted Swiss and cheddar, two eggs and either ham, bacon or sausage. The smothered breakfast burrito wasn?t bad, either.

Mostly, though, I loved the feeling inside the little restaurant with its red-and-white-striped tables, old license plates, Harley-Davidson signs and a painting of Sharon, no doubt done by a loyal customer, hanging on the wall.

In an age of sterile franchises, a place where you are immediately called "hon" and "sweetie" is worth savoring.

wharton@sltrib.com

Twitter @tribtomwharton

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/55693758-223/sharon-diner-regulars-dave.html.csp

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The Super Bowl And Social Media History - Business Insider

Social Media Insights is a new daily newsletter from Business Insider that collects and delivers the top social media news first thing every morning. You can sign up to receive Social Media Insights here or at the bottom of this post.

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The History Of Super Bowl Social Media Marketing (Sprout Social)
Every marketing professional knows that the Super Bowl is the time to play your trump card. And the way people watch television has changed markedly over the past five years. The growing popularity of YouTube marked a shift in how people began interacting with Super Bowl ads. Once using YouTube became more common, it would be a matter of hours after the final play before all of the most amusing ads made it onto the network. Around the same time, brands began to look at ways to incorporate social media into their Super Bowl plans. Doritos was one of the first to realize the potential for crowd-sourcing in getting fans involved ahead of game day. This year, the buzz started building well in advance of Sunday?s game. Brands have realized that to generate the excitement needed for long-term results on social networks, they need to rely on more than just tweets and status updates on the day itself. Read >>

Super Bowl XLVII: Follow the Social Media Game (Social Media Today)
Arguably the biggest event in American sports, the NFL?s championship game is watched by millions of eager viewers every year. In the interest of capturing the public sentiment about the big game, and perhaps even predicting its result, HootSuite has created the Super Bowl XLVII Command Center. Here's a comparison of Twitter mentions by team:

49ers sentiment:

Ravens sentiment:

Support your team (it can?t hurt) or simply follow along with the Super Bowl XLVII Command Center. Read >>

Small Businesses Say LinkedIn Is The Most Useful Social Network (WSJ via Marketing Pilgrim)
The Wall Street Journal asked small business owners which social media sites they used most often and which had the most potential to be useful in the future.

WSJ

LinkedIn came out on top, not only as the most but also the one with most potential. LinkedIn beat every other side, even Facebook, with a big stick.? Read >>

How Can Vine Grow Your Business? (Business 2 Community)
If you?re not familiar with Vine (owned by Twitter), it is a social media network built around the creation and sharing of 6-second looping videos. So Vine basically levels the video creation playing field and is very accessible, but how can you use this platform and its 6-second videos to add value to your consumers? Here are some video ideas that can be executed in 6-seconds that businesses and brands can use to create value for their consumers:

• How to
• Event updates
• Feature products or services
• Promote sales / deals / specials
• Entertain

While 6-seconds might initially sound limiting, one of the most exciting aspects of this restriction is that it forces content creators to get to the point and add value without unnecessary filler.

Dropbox Photo Upgrade Threatens Facebook?s Idea Of Social (MIT Technology Review)
Socializing doesn?t have to mean giving up control of your content by handing it over to a social network. Dropbox has said they are building the "file system for the Internet." But news from the company suggests they may actually be enabling something more ? decentralized social networking that doesn?t rely on everyone?s content being entrusted to one central store. New photo sharing features make it easy for people to use Dropbox to share their snaps with friends via a social networks or email without having to actually hand over their photos to Facebook or anyone else. Of course, many users of Facebook, Google+ and Dropbox are not all that concerned with online privacy or what Facebook or Google might do with their data. But Dropbox may still gain traction with that majority because it also makes managing photos much easier than Facebook and Google do. Read >>

The Ways Brands Overshare On Social Media (PR Daily)
In this modern age of social media, "too much information" (or TMI) is a valid concern. But posted activities make executives and their businesses appear accessible. So, how can a business executive gauge how much information is too much? Avoid these "fatal five" topics at all costs.

1. Company earnings
2. Business secrets
3. Contentious opinions
4. Jokes
5. Intimate imagery

As intimate as social media can sometimes feel, and as beneficial as it can be to a business, there's a limit to how much you should include your followers in your world. It's all about boundaries: Establish them, and you'll never be at risk of sharing too much. Read >>

Can Social Media Personalities "Scale?" (Schaefer Marketing Solutions)
Social media can really benefit your personal brand. But how do you keep its most powerful value ? the "one-to-one-ness" of social connection ? intact when that reach explodes? The irony is, the more popular you become on the social web, the less effective you might be. Social media thrives on vibrant one-to-one connection. It can build communities among those with shared interests, and link the victims of disasters with those who can share their stories and get them aid. The dilemma: how do we balance personal connection with the very scalability that makes social media marketing so powerful? Through the personal connections we make across social platform, we understand that we are all in this together. And knowing the risks of increasing social scale, we can advise employers, clients, etc. in sensitively managing their companies? social streams. Read >>

Pinterest Needs To Hurry Up And Monetize (Business Insider)
At 28 million visitors a month, Pinterest's traffic is monumental, but it is taking its sweet time to explain how it plans to make money. Pinterest's upstart rivals are attacking Pinterest's weakness: It doesn't distinguish for users which items out of billions are available for purchase. The opportunity is sometimes called "discovery commerce": sites and apps that offer things you didn't realize you wanted to buy until you see them. We can respect that Pinterest wants to take its time coming up with plans to make money. An experiment with affiliate-marketing site Skimlinks went sour after users expressed their distaste for the arrangement. But what Pinterest hasn't done is recaptured the ineffable buzz it had last year. Read >>

How B2B Sales Managers Can Use Twitter (Inbound Marketing Agents, designed by NowSourcing)
Social media broke B2B sales as we know it. At last count, 61 percent of B2B companies are using social media, and most see a 100 percent increase in lead generation on average. The following examples are a basic overview of how B2B sales representatives can utilize Twitter in their daily workflow, from qualifying to prospecting:

1. Personification - Who Do You Want to Sell To?
2. Prospecting - Find Your Ideal Customers
3. Qualifying
4. Nurturing - Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Sales has always been an inherently social activity. Connections are made and appointments are set based on the size and strength of the representative?s network. Check out the infographic:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-super-bowl-and-social-media-history-2013-2

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Aus name Maxwell and Henriques for India

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Biologists use diag trees to help solve gypsy moth mystery

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Working beneath the towering oaks and maples on the University of Michigan's central campus Diag, undergraduate researchers and their faculty adviser helped explain an observation that had puzzled insect ecologists who study voracious leaf-munching gypsy moth caterpillars.

The caterpillars, which defoliate and sometimes kill stands of trees in the Upper Midwest and the Northeast, are especially fond of oaks, but sugar maple trees appear to be relatively resistant to the European pest.

Biologists wondered whether the caterpillars shun sugar maples in part because their leaves are less nutritious than the leaves of other trees. To find out, U-M biochemist Ray Barbehenn and several of his undergraduate research assistants compared the protein quality of red oak and sugar maple leaves from trees on the Diag.

What they found runs counter to conventional wisdom on the topic, which states that protein quality in leaves differs significantly from species to species. Instead, Barbehenn and his students found that the amino acid composition of the proteins in red oak and sugar maple leaves is strikingly similar -- so similar, in fact, that they could not be distinguished during the spring, when gypsy moths do most of their feeding.

However, the researchers found that protein is more abundant in oak leaves than in maple leaves.

"Instead of differences in protein quality, we showed that maple trees have lower quantities of protein than oak, partly explaining why they are less nutritious than oak leaves," said Barbehenn, an associate research scientist in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. The amount of essential amino acids in oak leaves was 30-42 percent higher than the EAA content of maple leaves in the spring and summer.

"These results help us understand the nutritional reasons why insects perform better or worse on different species of plants. This kind of information is needed in agriculture and forestry to improve the resistance of plants to insect pests," he said. "In the short term, though, this is basic research that is driven by the curiosity of ecologists to understand nature better."

The team's findings will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Oecologia. Authors of the journal article are Barbehenn and two of his former undergraduate research assistants, Joseph Kochmanski and Julie Niewiadomski. Barbehenn has worked with more than 40 undergraduate research assistants since 2000.

Niewiadomski graduated from U-M with a bachelor's degree in biology in May 2010 and is now studying nutrition in a doctoral program at Cornell University. She said her work studying protein metabolism in gypsy moth caterpillars shaped her decision to pursue a doctorate in nutrition.

"My career in nutrition research began in Ray's lab," she said. "I am looking forward to seeing where it leads me."

Kochmanski is now a master's student at the U-M School of Public Health, focusing on toxicology. He said his time with Barbehenn instilled in him "a strong desire to continue doing research."

"I am currently working in a toxicology laboratory at the School of Public Health, doing research into the human health effects of environmental exposures," he said. "I can trace my interest in this subject back to my time working in Ray's lab."

"Our research involves a true partnership," Barbehenn said. "I teach students to work and think like biologists, and they help me get publication-quality data," he said. "For almost all of them, it's the first time they've had this opportunity and the first publication they've co-authored."

In the gypsy moth study, the students used a long-pole pruner to reach into the crowns of Diag oaks and maples and collect leaves. The field work was done in 2010, with permission from U-M Grounds Services.

In the nearby Natural Sciences Building, the research team used high-performance liquid chromatography to separate and quantify the amino acids that make up proteins. The whole-body essential amino acid composition of gypsy moth caterpillars was measured to estimate their optimum dietary protein composition, which was compared with the EAA compositions of oak and maple leaves.

"The ability to literally walk out the door to work on tree defenses against pests like the gypsy moth, coupled with an abundance of undergraduate talent, makes the U-M campus an ideal location for studies in insect chemical ecology," Barbehenn said.

The protein study showed that gypsy moths would have to devour more maple leaves than oak leaves to achieve the same amount of nourishment. But earlier work by Barbehenn and his students showed that the toxicity of maple leaves may prevent this strategy from working.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Raymond V. Barbehenn, Julie Niewiadomski, Joseph Kochmanski. Importance of protein quality versus quantity in alternative host plants for a leaf-feeding insect. Oecologia, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s00442-012-2574-7

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/_RPAfv3t0X8/130130111757.htm

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BlackBerry's last hope: A fully redesigned OS and two smokin' new phones

13 hrs.

Rosa Golijan , NBC News

Research in Motion officially launched?BlackBerry 10 and two shiny?new smartphones???the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10?? in an event in New York City on Wednesday (while also renaming itself ... to BlackBerry).?The "reinvented" experience is being hailed as the company's last hope to properly challenge Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

"BlackBerry 10 is here," CEO Thorsten Heins declared moments after stepping onto a stage during the company's launch event in New York City on Wednesday. "BlackBerry 10 builds on 20 years of experience [...] and it has a user experience unlike anything you've seen before."

BlackBerry 10?? which will be available on the BlackBerry Z10 now?and, by April or May, the keyboard-equipped?Q10 ? will supposedly offer one of the best multitasking and typing experiences on the market.

"Bringing an entirely new platform to the market [...] took careful planning, and we knew that it was risky," Heins acknowledged.

The presentation?emphasized how everything just "flows" on BlackBerry 10.?Users will likely spend much?of their time in the BlackBerry Hub, which integrates social network notifications, BlackBerry Messages (BBM), and email. You can respond to all these notifications and messages without ever actually leaving this hub. As the Hub serves as a universal inbox for all notifications, it certainly looks appealing for those who split their time between the various forms of mobile communication.

When necessary, work and personal lives (and data) can be separated, thanks to BlackBerry Balance. This means that it is possible for users to check out of one aspect of their lives (such as on the weekends, perhaps, when work might take the backseat).

BlackBerry Messenger, one of the incredibly popular features of the operating system, has gotten a nice little revamp with support for video and voice calls as well as screensharing. Curiously enough, while the video calling feature was heavily focused on, BlackBerry did also point out that Skype is among the partners who will be offering an app on BlackBerry 10. (Angry Birds, Amazon Kindle, and other popular apps will also be joining the over 70,000 apps available for the operating system at this point.)

While there is a great deal riding on BlackBerry 10, the operating system has been getting plenty of favorable reviews already.?"Reviewers like the browser speed and the intuitive keyboard on [BlackBerry's] new touchscreen,"?Reuters explains. "A feature called BlackBerry Balance, which keeps corporate and personal data separate, could help [BlackBerry] rebuild its traditional base of big business customers."

And as all eyes are on the BlackBerry 10 multitasking setup, notifications management and redesigned?keyboard, the Associated Press' Rob Gillies points out that some are going as far as to?suggest?that these features could be superior to their Android and iOS counterparts.?

They will have to be?? if BlackBerry hopes to reclaim a fraction of its lost market share.

Wayne Lam, senior analyst for wireless communications at analytics firm IHS, says that with "smartphones soon to reach their maximum penetration, time is running out for [BlackBerry] and other Apple/Samsung/Google competitors to stake a claim in the smartphone business."

On the other hand, people who may be growing tired of Android and iOS may be eager to try out something new.

"I have to believe that there is some level of user fatigue that plays into the longevity of some of these platforms," Kevin Burden, head of mobility at industry consulting firm?Strategy Analytics, told Reuters. "RIM is probably timing it right."

Wireless industry analyst Jeff Kagan agrees.?"BlackBerry is?not too late. True, 92 percent of the smartphone market may have?already chosen either an Apple iPhone or Google Android, but that's really because there were no really good competitors,"?he?wrote?in?a?note.?

"This new BlackBerry will be a strong competitor for the number three position. They won't come close to number one or two where Google and Apple are, but the market does want more choices."

The first BlackBerry 10 device, the Z10, will become available in mid-March. Pricing will vary by carrier, but Verizon has already revealed that it will offer the phone fo $200 (with a two-year service agreement). Sprint and AT&T have?pointed out that they will certainly offer the device, but not announced pricing details just yet. Meanwhile, Heins says he expects the Q10 to appear "in the April timeframe."

As for the name change, Heins?told the audience,?"We have reinvented this company and we want to reflect this with our brand."

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Additional?reporting?by?Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/rims-last-hope-blackberry-10-launches-1B8174852

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