THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
wEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2009
NEWS
5A
Snowprints
NATIONAL Researchers test region for cancer cell mutation
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Federal health researchers have tested nearly 2,200 people in northeastern Pennsylvania for a genetic mutation associated with a rare blood cancer.
The testing found the mutation in 19 people, or 1.6 percent of those who participated in the study. Scientists don't yet know how prevalent this mutation is in the general population.
The testing was performed after government epidemiologists confirmed a cluster of polycytemia (pah-lee-syTHEE'-mee-ah) vera, or PV, a cancer that results in the overproduction of red blood cells and can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Three Superfund sites, a power plant and several abandoned strip mines are among the culprits suspected of making people sick in a 20-mile stretch between Hazleton and Tamagua.
The cause of PV is unknown.
Associated Press
Imprints of hands along the north entrance wall to Watson Library marks a snowy day in the Lawrence area. Precipitation totals are expected to reach up to 3 inches into Thursday.
Tanner Grubbs/KANSAN
MEMORIAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Caskets bear the bodies of slain Lakewood, Wash., police officers are brought into the Tacoma Dome on Tuesday for a memorial service in Tacoma, Wash., honoring four lakewood police officers who were fatally shot by a gunman as they sat in a coffee shop in Parkland, Wash.
Thousands gather to honor, remember four slain officers
BY RACHEL LA CORTE
Associated Press
TACOMA, Wash. — A procession of 2,000 cars followed the flag-draped caskets of four slain police officers to a memorial service Tuesday as thousands of mourners, mostly members of law enforcement from across the country, lined the streets.
Lori Lightfoot, a police detective from Fresno, Calif., was among officers who traveled from as far away as New York, Chicago and Canada to remember Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold, and Greg Richards.
Lightfoot and Sheila Chandler, also a Fresno detective, said the deaths of the four Lakewood officers brought back memories of four Oakland police officers killed during a traffic stop and a shootout in March.
"It's just disbelief," Lightfoot
said. "It's unbelievable that it could happen again."
The Lakewood officers were killed Nov. 29 before the start of their shift.
Authorities say Maurice Clemmons singled them out and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle.
David Cato, a Ugandan gay-rights activist, talks at a restaurant in Kampala, Uganda, on Tuesday. Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family, and even landlords could also face up to seven years in jail.
Several candlelight vigils have been held for the officers since the shooting, but Tuesday's memorial service and procession is believed to be the largest in state history. Thousands of people lined the streets around the Tacoma Dome, where 20,000 people were expected to attend the service.
The officers' family and friends
Clemmons was shot to death last week by a Seattle police officer after a two-day manhunt. Prosecutors said he received help from family and friends, and seven people have been arrested.
In addition to eulogies from family, friends and public officials, mourners will watch a video tribute to the officers.
served as pallbearers, carrying the coffins inside.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Floral arrangements lined the stage, as well as two motorcycles, a drum set and a NASCAR race car.
The memorial service was delayed more than an hour because of the large law enforcement procession.
Roads surrounding the venue and along the route were shut down for several hours.
Additional space for the public to view telecasts of the service was made available at the University of Washington Tacoma, Pacific Lutheran University and the Christian Faith Center in Federal Way.
Gov. Chris Gregoire, who will speak at the service, has directed that flags at all state facilities be lowered to half-staff Tuesday.
INTERNATIONAL
Possible law allows death penalty for gay Ugandans
BY KATHARINE HOURELD
Associated Press
Ugao
KAMPALA, Uganda Proposed legislation would impose the death penalty for some gay Ugandans, and their family and friends could face up to seven years in jail if they fail to report them to authorities. Even landlords could be imprisoned for renting to homosexuals.
Gay rights activists say the bill, which has prompted growing international opposition, promotes hatred and could back efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.
They believe the bill is part of a continentwide backlash because Africa's gay community is becoming more vocal.
"It's a question of visibility," said David Cato, who became an activist after he was beaten up four times, arrested twice, fired from his teaching job and outed in the press because he is gay. "When we come out and ask for our rights, they pass laws against us."
However, at least one of those leaders has denounced the bill, as have some other conservative and liberal Christians in the United States.
The legislation has drawn global attention from activists across the spectrum of views on gay issues.
The measure was proposed in Uganda following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy for gays to become heterosexual.
Gay-rights activists say the legislation is likely to pass.
But the bill is still being debated and could undergo changes before a vote, which has not yet been set.
The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. "Serial
offenders" also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.
Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted.
Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.
Gay-rights activists abroad are focusing on the legislation.
A protest against the bill is planned for Thursday in London; protests were held last month in New York and Washington.
David Bahati, the legislator sponsoring the bill, said he was encouraging "constructive criticism" to improve the law, but insisted strict measures were necessary to stop homosexuals from "recruiting" schoolchildren.
"The youths in secondary schools copy everything from the Western world and America," said high school teacher David Kisambira. "A good number of
students have been converted into gays. We hear there are groups of people given money by some gay organizations in developed countries to recruit youth into gay activities."
Uganda's ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, said the death sentence clause would probably be reviewed but maintained the law was necessary to counter foreign influence.
He said homosexuality "is not natural in Uganda," a view echoed by some Ugandans.
"I feel that the bill is good and necessary, but I don't think gays should be killed. They should be imprisoned for about a year and warned never to do it again. The family is in danger in Uganda because the rate at which vice is spreading is appalling," said shop-keeper John Muwanguzi.
Uganda is not the only country considering anti-gav laws.
Nigeria, where homosexuality is already punishable by imprisonment or death, is considering strengthening penalties for activities deemed to promote it.
Burundi just banned same-sex relationships and Rwanda is considering it.
WEATHER
Snow, ice blast Midwest
DES MOINES, Iowa — A fierce winter storm hammered more than a dozen states Tuesday with dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds that threatened to create 15-foot drifts in parts of the Upper Midwest.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
As much as two-thirds of the country will be affected by the storm by the time it moves off the Maine coast Thursday night, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
"It's a monster of a storm." Lee said.
After drenching California with
Wind advisories and warnings were in effect from New Mexico to the Mid-Atlantic states with flooding in the south.
rain and blanketing the mountain West, the storm was expected to bring significant snowfall and blizzard conditions from Utah to the Great Lakes.
Winter storm warnings were likely to be issued in Nev England by Wednesday.
A foot or more of snow was expected in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, meteorologists said. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could create snow drifts of 8 to 15 feet.
"It's beautiful — it feels like we
moved into the next season," said Ann Marks, a mother of four in Whitefish Bay, Wis., who was buying gloves, hats and scarves. She paused, then added with a smile, "Of course, ask me in a month and it might be a new story."
In rural New York near the Great Lakes where more than 3 feet of snow was expected by the week's end, meteorologists urged residents to deflate blow-up Santas so gusty winds didn't sweep them away.
The storm also brought 100 mph winds to New Mexico, where powerful gusts ripped away the roof of the White Sands Missile Range's police station.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students brave the snow on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha as a winter storm travels through the region Tuesday. Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin are expected to receive at least one foot of snow this week.