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Freire holds firm for Italian stage win

CIVITAVECCHIA, Italy (AP) — Oscar Freire of Spain won the first stage of the weeklong Tirreno-Adriatico on Wednesday, edging out Italian sprint specialist Alessandro Petacchi.

Freire, who rides for the Rabobank team, finished the 161-kilometer course in four hours, 10 minutes, one second. Petacchi and the main group of riders finished with the same time.

The Tirreno-Adriatico, which began in the Tyrrhenian Sea port of Civitavecchia and ends in San Benedetto del Tronto on the Adriatic Sea, is a traditional warmup for the Milano-San Remo classic that will be held on March 22.

Petacchi, who rides with Team Milram, had won his last six sprints but his late surge was not enough to overtake Freire, who won the Tirreno-Adriatico in 2005 and the Milano-San Remo last year and in 2004.

This isn’t a drama and there is no need to sound the alarm, said Petacchi. The end of the race was nervous and I swerved in the last kilometer, but above all I wasn’t able to take the last curve at the head of the pack.

Spain’s Jose Rojas was third, followed by Erik Zabel of Germany. Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen, who won the first stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico last year, finished eighth.

Giro d’Italia champion Danilo di Luca, who faces a two-year doping ban, finished 57th in the main pack, with the same time as Freire. Di Luca competed in the race after being cleared to ride by the race organizers on Tuesday.

The Italian Olympic Committee is seeking the maximum punishment for an irregular test during Di Luca’s Giro victory, and a hearing on April 1 will determine whether he is banned.

Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia broke away from the pack after 38 kilometers and was joined by Ukrainian Yuriy Krivtsov eight kilometers later.

The two riders opened a lead of nearly eight minutes after about 108-km, but the pack caught them four kilometers from the finish.

Thursday’s stage is the course’s longest at 203 kilometers. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

found here.

Southwest puts three on leave over safety allegations

(CNN) — Southwest Airlines has placed three employees on administrative leave following allegations that the airline broke federal safety rules, the airline said.

The airline is conducting an internal investigation into allegations that it flew planes without proper inspections.

A $10.2 million fine may be levied against Southwest if it’s found to have violated the federal aviation regulations.

Upon learning last month of an investigation with respect to our handling of this inspection and an airworthiness directive, I immediately ordered an independent and comprehensive investigation by outside counsel, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in a Tuesday statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration submitted documents to congressional investigators alleging that the airline flew at least 117 planes in violation of mandatory safety checks.

Of those, the FAA said, 47 jets were flown last year without conducting mandatory checks for cracks in the fuselage and 70 were allegedly flown without mandatory rudder inspections.

The FAA issued a statement saying that Southwest improperly inspected the planes for cracks, then allowed them to fly an additional 1,451 flights, knowing they weren’t airworthy.

In some cases, the documents say, the planes flew for 30 months past government inspection deadlines and should have grounded them until the inspections could be completed.

The documents were prepared by two FAA safety inspectors who have requested whistle-blower status from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Both inspectors have been subpoenaed to testify before the committee.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, who heads the committee and who has called the situation one of the worst safety violations he has ever seen, is scheduled to hold a hearing April 3 to ask why the airline may have allegedly put its passengers in danger.

The whistle-blowers say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines’ flight schedule.

I am concerned with some of our findings as to our controls over procedures within our maintenance airworthiness directive and regulatory compliance processes, Kelly said Tuesday. I have insisted that we have the appropriate maintenance organizational and governance structure in place to ensure that the right decisions are being made.

In addition to putting three employees on administrative leave, Southwest has hired a consultant to review its maintenance program controls and is working closely with the FAA on its current audit of the fleet.

These are important and necessary steps, Kelly said. We have been a safe company. I believe we are a safe company. I am committed to making sure we become safer still.

The mandatory checks for fuselage cracks were required after the cabin of an Aloha Airlines 737 tore apart in midair in 1988, killing a flight attendant. The incident was blamed on cracks in the fuselage that grew wider as the plane underwent pressure changes during flight.

Southwest Airlines has never had a catastrophic crash.
found here.

Football star, 17, slain before he could answer gang

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Jamiel Shaw was just three doors from his house on March 2. His father told the 17-year-old high school football star to be home before dark. That is exactly what he was trying to do when, just before dusk, gunshots rang out.

Gang members pulled up in a car and asked Shaw if he was in a gang. Shaw didn’t have time to tell them no. He was mowed down before he could answer, police say.

His dad heard the shots from inside his house and immediately called his son’s cell phone to warn him to stay away. But within seconds, the father realized what had happened.

I just ran down there, Jamiel Shaw Sr. told CNN. Watch dad describe hearing pow, pow

His son was wearing the same shirt his dad had pressed for him that morning. He was laying on the ground and his face was so peaceful. I knew he was dead.

For three hours, I was just completely blacked out walking.

More than 7,500 miles away, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving her second tour in Iraq. Her commanding officer called her into his office and told her to sit down next to the chaplain. He then informed her that her son had been killed on the streets of Los Angeles.

I freaked out, she said. I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking. I was shouting, ‘No.’

Anita Shaw is now back in Los Angeles to bury her son.

Police announced Tuesday that an arrest had been made in the shooting. Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of the Hispanic 18th Street Gang, was charged in the killing and could face the death penalty if convicted, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Espinoza is scheduled to be arraigned March 25.

Espinoza was released from jail — where he was held on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon — one day before the incident.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton Tuesday called on the community to help police locate a second suspect who was with Espinoza at the time of the shooting.

Hundreds of family members and friends gathered Tuesday at West Los Angeles Cathedral to remember Shaw, a standout running back and sprinter at Los Angeles High School who had good grades and stayed out of trouble despite his rough neighborhood. Among the schools recruiting him was Stanford University. Watch as family, friends remember Shaw

Blue-and-white flowers — his school colors — adorned his casket, and photos of Shaw over the years were displayed at the service. Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven played as mourners entered the church. He was a Christian and I thank God for that because I know he’s in a better place, his mom said, trembling as she sobbed. He’d just try all the time to do the right thing. He was so good.

Shaw is one of several innocent victims in a horrifying three-week spate of gang-related shootings around Los Angeles. A man was gunned down as he held a 2-year-old baby in his arms. A 13-year-old boy was shot to death last week as he went to pick lemons from a tree. In another incident, a 6-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was shot in the head while riding in the car with his family; two gang members have been arrested in connection with that shooting, according to police.

I think what is particularly unnerving for all of us is just the random nature of these shootings, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last week.

Bratton and Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner met with community members from the South Side of Los Angeles over the weekend to try to calm tensions between black and Hispanic communities. Among those in attendance were Shaw’s parents and his younger brother.

Bratton acknowledged some neighborhoods are rife with underlying racial tensions that have taken too many young lives. He said he is in the process of hiring 1,000 new police officers to help combat inner city gang violence. Watch Bratton describe an always underlying tension

There’s no denying that some of the crime in this city is a direct result of hatred, animosity, racial animosity, ethnic differences, Bratton said. We must all work to the best of our ability to try to prevent that.

None of it is right, said Garner. We can’t get so incensed that we lose focus that it’s going on on both sides.

He added, Wrong is wrong.

The killing of Shaw has rallied his neighborhood. Dozens of people gathered outside his home for a vigil last week and placed candles, flowers and blue-and-white balloons at a makeshift memorial. One sign read, We love you! Jamiel Shaw.

On the online social networking site Facebook, more than 100 people have joined a page called Good people live in our hearts forever RIP Jamiel Shaw.

Loved you lots babyboi! Still do! I know many, many, many people who are missing you right NOW!!! wrote Christina Stewart on the Facebook wall.

Another person, Harley Lally, wrote, Football will never be the same without you. I miss you every Sunday, and every time I step on that field.

Shaw, a junior, carried the ball 74 times for 1,052 yards this season, with an average of 14.2 yards per carry, according to MaxPreps Web site. The longest of his 10 touchdowns went for 75 yards.

He passed the ball one time all year in the last game of the season — the last game of his career. It was a 60-yard touchdown strike. Watch mom’s Thanksgiving message to son from Iraq

But he will be missed for more than his football. The beloved player with the big smile meant so much more.

The father and son years ago had made a pact: Keep focused, stay away from drugs and gangs, and get into college on an athletic scholarship. In return, the dad promised to do everything for his son, nicknamed Jas, to make that happen.

Breaking down in tears, the father said, I guaranteed ‘Jas.’ That’s why it hurts so much — because I told him, ‘I promise you, if you sacrifice these years, I’ll sacrifice with you.’ Watch Jamiel Shaw Sr. ask mourners to make a difference

The dad said more must be done to combat gang violence. It’s a gang problem and they have nothing in their heart for people.

Shaw’s mother, the Army sergeant, compares the gang members who killed her son to those she’s fighting against in Iraq. To me, they’re terrorists.
found here.

Football star, 17, slain before he could answer gang

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Jamiel Shaw was just three doors from his house on March 2. His father told the 17-year-old high school football star to be home before dark. That is exactly what he was trying to do when, just before dusk, gunshots rang out.

Gang members pulled up in a car and asked Shaw if he was in a gang. Shaw didn’t have time to tell them no. He was mowed down before he could answer, police say.

His dad heard the shots from inside his house and immediately called his son’s cell phone to warn him to stay away. But within seconds, the father realized what had happened.

I just ran down there, Jamiel Shaw Sr. told CNN. Watch dad describe hearing pow, pow

His son was wearing the same shirt his dad had pressed for him that morning. He was laying on the ground and his face was so peaceful. I knew he was dead.

For three hours, I was just completely blacked out walking.

More than 7,500 miles away, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving her second tour in Iraq. Her commanding officer called her into his office and told her to sit down next to the chaplain. He then informed her that her son had been killed on the streets of Los Angeles.

I freaked out, she said. I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking. I was shouting, ‘No.’

Anita Shaw is now back in Los Angeles to bury her son.

Police announced Tuesday that an arrest had been made in the shooting. Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of the Hispanic 18th Street Gang, was charged in the killing and could face the death penalty if convicted, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Espinoza is scheduled to be arraigned March 25.

Espinoza was released from jail — where he was held on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon — one day before the incident.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton Tuesday called on the community to help police locate a second suspect who was with Espinoza at the time of the shooting.

Hundreds of family members and friends gathered Tuesday at West Los Angeles Cathedral to remember Shaw, a standout running back and sprinter at Los Angeles High School who had good grades and stayed out of trouble despite his rough neighborhood. Among the schools recruiting him was Stanford University. Watch as family, friends remember Shaw

Blue-and-white flowers — his school colors — adorned his casket, and photos of Shaw over the years were displayed at the service. Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven played as mourners entered the church. He was a Christian and I thank God for that because I know he’s in a better place, his mom said, trembling as she sobbed. He’d just try all the time to do the right thing. He was so good.

Shaw is one of several innocent victims in a horrifying three-week spate of gang-related shootings around Los Angeles. A man was gunned down as he held a 2-year-old baby in his arms. A 13-year-old boy was shot to death last week as he went to pick lemons from a tree. In another incident, a 6-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was shot in the head while riding in the car with his family; two gang members have been arrested in connection with that shooting, according to police.

I think what is particularly unnerving for all of us is just the random nature of these shootings, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last week.

Bratton and Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner met with community members from the South Side of Los Angeles over the weekend to try to calm tensions between black and Hispanic communities. Among those in attendance were Shaw’s parents and his younger brother.

Bratton acknowledged some neighborhoods are rife with underlying racial tensions that have taken too many young lives. He said he is in the process of hiring 1,000 new police officers to help combat inner city gang violence. Watch Bratton describe an always underlying tension

There’s no denying that some of the crime in this city is a direct result of hatred, animosity, racial animosity, ethnic differences, Bratton said. We must all work to the best of our ability to try to prevent that.

None of it is right, said Garner. We can’t get so incensed that we lose focus that it’s going on on both sides.

He added, Wrong is wrong.

The killing of Shaw has rallied his neighborhood. Dozens of people gathered outside his home for a vigil last week and placed candles, flowers and blue-and-white balloons at a makeshift memorial. One sign read, We love you! Jamiel Shaw.

On the online social networking site Facebook, more than 100 people have joined a page called Good people live in our hearts forever RIP Jamiel Shaw.

Loved you lots babyboi! Still do! I know many, many, many people who are missing you right NOW!!! wrote Christina Stewart on the Facebook wall.

Another person, Harley Lally, wrote, Football will never be the same without you. I miss you every Sunday, and every time I step on that field.

Shaw, a junior, carried the ball 74 times for 1,052 yards this season, with an average of 14.2 yards per carry, according to MaxPreps Web site. The longest of his 10 touchdowns went for 75 yards.

He passed the ball one time all year in the last game of the season — the last game of his career. It was a 60-yard touchdown strike. Watch mom’s Thanksgiving message to son from Iraq

But he will be missed for more than his football. The beloved player with the big smile meant so much more.

The father and son years ago had made a pact: Keep focused, stay away from drugs and gangs, and get into college on an athletic scholarship. In return, the dad promised to do everything for his son, nicknamed Jas, to make that happen.

Breaking down in tears, the father said, I guaranteed ‘Jas.’ That’s why it hurts so much — because I told him, ‘I promise you, if you sacrifice these years, I’ll sacrifice with you.’ Watch Jamiel Shaw Sr. ask mourners to make a difference

The dad said more must be done to combat gang violence. It’s a gang problem and they have nothing in their heart for people.

Shaw’s mother, the Army sergeant, compares the gang members who killed her son to those she’s fighting against in Iraq. To me, they’re terrorists.
found here.

Football star, 17, slain before he could answer gang

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Jamiel Shaw was just three doors from his house on March 2. His father told the 17-year-old high school football star to be home before dark. That is exactly what he was trying to do when, just before dusk, gunshots rang out.

Gang members pulled up in a car and asked Shaw if he was in a gang. Shaw didn’t have time to tell them no. He was mowed down before he could answer, police say.

His dad heard the shots from inside his house and immediately called his son’s cell phone to warn him to stay away. But within seconds, the father realized what had happened.

I just ran down there, Jamiel Shaw Sr. told CNN. Watch dad describe hearing pow, pow

His son was wearing the same shirt his dad had pressed for him that morning. He was laying on the ground and his face was so peaceful. I knew he was dead.

For three hours, I was just completely blacked out walking.

More than 7,500 miles away, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving her second tour in Iraq. Her commanding officer called her into his office and told her to sit down next to the chaplain. He then informed her that her son had been killed on the streets of Los Angeles.

I freaked out, she said. I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking. I was shouting, ‘No.’

Anita Shaw is now back in Los Angeles to bury her son.

Police announced Tuesday that an arrest had been made in the shooting. Pedro Espinoza, a 19-year-old member of the Hispanic 18th Street Gang, was charged in the killing and could face the death penalty if convicted, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Espinoza is scheduled to be arraigned March 25.

Espinoza was released from jail — where he was held on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon — one day before the incident.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton Tuesday called on the community to help police locate a second suspect who was with Espinoza at the time of the shooting.

Hundreds of family members and friends gathered Tuesday at West Los Angeles Cathedral to remember Shaw, a standout running back and sprinter at Los Angeles High School who had good grades and stayed out of trouble despite his rough neighborhood. Among the schools recruiting him was Stanford University. Watch as family, friends remember Shaw

Blue-and-white flowers — his school colors — adorned his casket, and photos of Shaw over the years were displayed at the service. Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven played as mourners entered the church. He was a Christian and I thank God for that because I know he’s in a better place, his mom said, trembling as she sobbed. He’d just try all the time to do the right thing. He was so good.

Shaw is one of several innocent victims in a horrifying three-week spate of gang-related shootings around Los Angeles. A man was gunned down as he held a 2-year-old baby in his arms. A 13-year-old boy was shot to death last week as he went to pick lemons from a tree. In another incident, a 6-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was shot in the head while riding in the car with his family; two gang members have been arrested in connection with that shooting, according to police.

I think what is particularly unnerving for all of us is just the random nature of these shootings, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said last week.

Bratton and Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner met with community members from the South Side of Los Angeles over the weekend to try to calm tensions between black and Hispanic communities. Among those in attendance were Shaw’s parents and his younger brother.

Bratton acknowledged some neighborhoods are rife with underlying racial tensions that have taken too many young lives. He said he is in the process of hiring 1,000 new police officers to help combat inner city gang violence. Watch Bratton describe an always underlying tension

There’s no denying that some of the crime in this city is a direct result of hatred, animosity, racial animosity, ethnic differences, Bratton said. We must all work to the best of our ability to try to prevent that.

None of it is right, said Garner. We can’t get so incensed that we lose focus that it’s going on on both sides.

He added, Wrong is wrong.

The killing of Shaw has rallied his neighborhood. Dozens of people gathered outside his home for a vigil last week and placed candles, flowers and blue-and-white balloons at a makeshift memorial. One sign read, We love you! Jamiel Shaw.

On the online social networking site Facebook, more than 100 people have joined a page called Good people live in our hearts forever RIP Jamiel Shaw.

Loved you lots babyboi! Still do! I know many, many, many people who are missing you right NOW!!! wrote Christina Stewart on the Facebook wall.

Another person, Harley Lally, wrote, Football will never be the same without you. I miss you every Sunday, and every time I step on that field.

Shaw, a junior, carried the ball 74 times for 1,052 yards this season, with an average of 14.2 yards per carry, according to MaxPreps Web site. The longest of his 10 touchdowns went for 75 yards.

He passed the ball one time all year in the last game of the season — the last game of his career. It was a 60-yard touchdown strike. Watch mom’s Thanksgiving message to son from Iraq

But he will be missed for more than his football. The beloved player with the big smile meant so much more.

The father and son years ago had made a pact: Keep focused, stay away from drugs and gangs, and get into college on an athletic scholarship. In return, the dad promised to do everything for his son, nicknamed Jas, to make that happen.

Breaking down in tears, the father said, I guaranteed ‘Jas.’ That’s why it hurts so much — because I told him, ‘I promise you, if you sacrifice these years, I’ll sacrifice with you.’ Watch Jamiel Shaw Sr. ask mourners to make a difference

The dad said more must be done to combat gang violence. It’s a gang problem and they have nothing in their heart for people.

Shaw’s mother, the Army sergeant, compares the gang members who killed her son to those she’s fighting against in Iraq. To me, they’re terrorists.
found here.