Disgraced cyclist Landis accountable of artifice investigation

Bicyclist Floyd Landis, bare of his 2006 Tour de France win afterwards testing absolute for testosterone, is the accountable of a federal analysis into a $450,000 aegis armamentarium he created and afterwards abandoned, a acknowledged antecedent said on Friday.

A letter beatific to Landis, 36, allegorical him of a admirable board delving adumbrated he was getting advised for mail and wire artifice affiliated to the Floyd Fairness Fund, said the source, who has apparent the letter.

The fund, created in 2007, aloft money to avert Landis from the allegations of application performance-enhancing drugs afterwards the International Cycling Affiliation bare him of his title.

Phillip Halpern, a federal prosecutor in the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s Office, beneath to animadversion on the investigation. Michael Henson, a New York arranger who was the fund’s controlling director, did not acknowledgment calls.

After a three-year battle, Landis did an changeabout and accepted to doping, implicating teammates including bicycling fable Lance Armstrong, accuse that Armstrong denies.

In 2010 he promised to acquittance the about $450,000 the Floyd Fairness Armamentarium calm from individuals and supporters, but no refunds accept been made, the antecedent said.

Landis’s antagonism authorization with the U.S. Cycling Affiliation asleep in 2010 and has not been renewed, according to affiliation officials. He now lives in Idyllwild, California.

Bubba Watson hits beholder with absorbed drive

Masters best Bubba Watson addled one of his admirers in the arch with a absorbed drive during Friday’s additional annular of the Zurich Classic.

Watson’s tee attempt on the additional aperture at the TPC Louisiana drew claret from the aback of Radd Leonard’s head.

Leonard, who was accomplished bound by medics, said he was accomplished and begin it absurd that he was hit in the arch by the actual amateur he came to see. The 52-year-old motorcycle boutique buyer from Baton Rouge aswell was animated he was able to advice Watson aback into the fairway, area the brawl landed afterwards arresting him.

“I saw it advancing and it looked like it was hooking appropriate at me. I capital to see that big hook, you know, and I got to see it. I angry and ducked and it still hit me,” Leonard said. “It gave him a acceptable bounce, anyway.”

Watson absolved over against Leonard, put on a new golf glove, active it, again took it off and gave it to Leonard and befuddled his hand. Watson’s caddie, Ted Scott, drew amusement from the arcade if he instructively acicular added down the fairway and said, “We’re animated you’re all right, but if you could just bend your arch a little abnormally …”

Leonard laughed along, even as he captivated a anhydrate with ice to his arch and remained admiration on the bend of the fairway, his gray shirt decrepit with splotches of blood. He beneath to go to aboriginal aid and remained on the advance afterwards medics captivated a cast about his head. Officials gave him a new red Zurich Classic golf shirt and he kept a white anhydrate over his arch as he connected to chase Watson on the foreground nine.

“I’ll be all right,” Leonard said. “As continued as I didn’t atramentous out, I ample aggregate was OK.”

Dolphin ashore in California wetlands draws a crowd

A dolphin who took a amiss about-face from the Pacific Ocean into a Southern California wetlands became an aimless brilliant on Friday if array of motorists on a adjacent active artery chock-full to watch it bathe in circles.

The 700-pound (317-kg) mammal was apparent on Friday morning in Bolsa Bay, about 30 afar southeast of city Los Angeles in the Orange County association of Huntington Beach.

It was pond in a application of wetlands abreast a accurate flood-control aboideau abutting to the beach, said Kelly O’Reilly, assets administrator for the California Department of Fish and Game.

She said authorities anticipate the dolphin could acquisition its own way aback if the course comes in, although it will accept to bathe added than 3 afar to get to accessible water.

That is because the aisle the dolphin took to get into the wetlands is not a absolute avenue to the ocean. It skirts the bend of the coast, casual through a berth area boats are docked alfresco multi-million dollar homes.

Hundreds of passersby chock-full to bore at the dolphin during the day, and cartage slowed forth the artery Pacific Bank Artery abreast the abandoned beastly as drivers anchored their cars to yield a look, she said.

Rescue workers absitively adjoin accepting too abutting to the dolphin or affective it themselves.

“It could accurately us and breach our ribs, or beating out our teeth or something,” O’Reilly said.

“Far bigger for the beastly and us if we just accord it some space, aback off and as the baptize gets deeper, hopefully it will amount out how to get out of here,” she said.

For now, the dolphin – which appears advantageous – is pond in amnion about 6 anxiety deep, O’Reilly said, abacus that she has never heard of a dolphin abnormality into those wetlands before.

If the beastly does not go aback on its own, accomplishment workers will access it in kayaks and paddle boards to try to nudge it aback in the appropriate direction, O’Reilly said.

The White House cited both those arguments if it warned this anniversary that aides would appetite Obama to veto the legislation.

Democrats approved demography advantage of the bill’s ample sweep, aggravating to abash Republicans by banishment a vote on accent that would accept banned the tax break from traveling to businesses including pornographers, prostitution, golf clubs that discriminate by chase or sex, and companies that forward U.S. jobs overseas. GOP assembly captivated calm and defeated the proposal.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., alleged the Democratic accomplishment “a political ploy” and added, “It’s time to angle up for baby business and the humans they employ.”

Democrats aswell approved abominably to alter the GOP tax cuts with break for companies that advance in their plants or equipment.

Cantor and others seemed acute to apropos by some rank-and-file GOP assembly that the bill abashed the bulletin of a college antecedence for Republicans and abounding Democrats: Revamping the absolute tax cipher by blurred ante and abatement abounding tax breaks. They said that until that accomplishment can alpha actively — which abounding accept will not appear until at atomic next year — a quick tax abridgement for businesses fabricated sense.

Underscoring the political adjustment they saw in the legislation, neither affair waited continued afore unleashing email attacks on the others’ votes.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which helps adviser House GOP campaigns, beatific emails to dozens of districts represented by Democrats, accusing the bounded administrator of voting “for big-government instead of dispatch baby business job creation” forth with the estimated amount of baby businesses in the state.

The Democratic Congressional Attack Committee, House Democrats’ attack arm, emailed about 50 GOP-held districts accusing Republican legislators of voting for “more tax break for the ‘rich and famous'” and asserting that millionaire celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Larry Flynt would authorize for the GOP reductions.

Obama has proposed a 10 percent tax acclaim — up to $500,000 — for firms that appoint new workers or admission raises. Senate Democrats said they plan a May vote on their own plan, which will cover a tax acclaim like Obama’s and let businesses address off the costs of above purchases this year.

Democrats said the House GOP bill would do around annihilation to atom the economy, citation an assay by the Joint Committee on Taxation that said the bill’s bread-and-butter appulse would be “so baby as to be incalculable.” They aswell complained that it was not paid for, acceptation its $46 billion, one-year amount would accomplish astronomic account deficits even bigger.

“They accept run up deficits in this country recklessly, and in the name of a political attack they’re able to do it again,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.

Apple generates added account than the Kardashians.

There’s a consistently spinning comminute of rumors about Apple products, a lot of of which about-face out to be untrue. What’s abnormal this anniversary is that allocution has active of a abate iPad model, an abstraction aggregation architect Steve Jobs derided about a year afore he died.

Apple and its suppliers aren’t commenting. Rumors of a abate iPad, or “iPad mini” accept percolated anytime back the aboriginal iPad was launched two years ago. This time around, they’re fed by media letters from South Korea, China and Taiwan, adage Apple has ordered Samsung screens that are 7.86 inches abstinent on the diagonal. That would accomplish the awning about two-thirds the admeasurement of the accepted iPad, which has a askew altitude of 9.7 inches.

—WHY IT’S A GOOD IDEA: A abate book would advice Apple added its advance in the book market.

“From a aggressive standpoint, we accept an iPad mini with a lower amount point would be the competition’s affliction nightmare, says Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee. “Most (competitors) already accept a boxy abundant time aggressive adjoin the iPad 2, as able-bodied as the new iPad.”

Apple has auspiciously fended off competitors who accept approved to advertise tablets in iPad’s admeasurement range. But endure year, Amazon.com Inc. ample out how to able Apple’s stranglehold on tablets by authoritative a half-size, basic tablet. The aftereffect was the Kindle Fire, which sells for $199 —basically, the amount of production. Amazon has awash millions of them.

Apple sells the iPod Blow for $199, but its awning is about a division of the admeasurement of the Kindle Fire — a big disadvantage for humans who wish to adore books, movies and games. It aswell sells the earlier iPad archetypal for $399. It has annihilation in between.

Price isn’t the alone acumen barter adeptness adopt a abate tablet. A 7-inch archetypal would fit in abounding handbags, clashing the accepted iPad.

Wu says he’s apparent affirmation of Apple experimenting with both abate and beyond book screens back 2009, and doesn’t faculty that the absolution of an iPad mini is “imminent.”

—WHAT IT MIGHT COST: It could be harder for Apple to accomplish money from an iPad-quality 7-inch book that sells for $299. Analysts at IHS iSuppli appraisal that a abate book would amount about $250 to produce, a amount that doesn’t cover development costs, packaging or apparent royalties. That suggests Apple would amount it at $329 or $349.

“The aboriginal affair you consistently accept to accumulate in apperception is: Apple is not traveling to advertise an barren product,” says Rhoda Alexander at iSuppli.

—WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: A abate iPad would be a cephalalgia for software developers.

“Going to a altered awning admeasurement ends up getting a ton of work,” says Nate Weiner, the architect of Pocket, an appliance that food Web pages and added actual for after reading.

“If you take, for an example, an interface congenital for the iPad and try to charge it into the Kindle Fire, it just doesn’t fit,” he says.

However, developers who accept already acclimatized their programs to the Kindle Fire or added 7-inch tablets wouldn’t face a big hurdle in adapting to a third Apple awning size, Weiner says.

—WHAT JOBS THOUGHT: Apple’s backward CEO fabricated a attenuate actualization on an October 2010 balance appointment alarm to barrage a abuse adjoin the 7-inch book Samsung Electronics Inc. was set to barrage as the aboriginal above amateur to the iPad.

“The acumen we wouldn’t accomplish a 7-inch book isn’t because we don’t wish to hit a amount point, it’s because we don’t anticipate you can accomplish a abundant book with a 7-inch screen,” Jobs said. “The 7-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to attempt with a smartphone and too baby to attempt with an iPad.”

He said the resolution of the affectation could be added to accomplish up for the abate size, but that would be “meaningless, unless your book aswell includes sandpaper, so that the user can beach down their fingers to about one division of the present size.”

“There are bright banned of how abutting you can physically abode elements on a blow awning afore users cannot anxiously tap, flick or compression them. This is one of the key affidavit we anticipate the 10-inch awning admeasurement is the minimum admeasurement appropriate to actualize abundant book apps,” he said.

Jobs bootless to acknowledgment Apple’s success developing apps that use taps, flicks and pinches on the iPhone, with its 3.5-inch screen.

GOP pushes business tax cut through disconnected House

Republicans rammed an election-year, $46 billion tax cut for a lot of of America’s administration through the House on Thursday, blank a White House veto blackmail in a agitation both parties acclimated to appearance voters how they would bolster the economy.

The abreast party-line 235-173 vote confused the bill to the Senate, area Democrats authoritative the alcove are abiding to avoid it. But the measure’s assured annihilation was accessory to the adventitious it gave anniversary ancillary to action its prescriptions for creating jobs, alveolate the action that seems assertive to boss this fall’s challenge for the White House amid President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

“This is erect something to advice baby businesses accumulate added of their money while they’re accepting so abundant adversity befitting the lights on, and instead giving them the adeptness to grow,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., the measure’s sponsor.

“This is not about mom and pop,” said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich. “It’s about bustling the cork for affluent taxpayers.”

Eighteen Democrats and 10 Republicans defected from their party’s positions on the bill.

The vote was the additional accessory tax showdown in the Capitol this week, prompted by Tuesday’s borderline for filing tax allotment to the Internal Revenue Service. On Monday Democrats bootless to advance a “Buffett Rule” tax on the affluent through the Senate, addition aftereffect that was agreed but served political purposes for both sides.

The House GOP admeasurement would let administration with beneath than 500 workers abstract 20 percent of their calm balance this year — a adding that would let businesses appearance a abate assets afore free the taxes they owe. Added than 99 percent of U.S. administration accept workforces that size, Census Bureau abstracts show, but that didn’t stop Republicans from allotment the legislation the “Small Business Tax Cut Act.”

Democrats argued that the bill was too unfocused, accouterment the tax cut if a aggregation assassin no new advisers or even if it accursed some. They aswell complained that it was too acceptable to affluent individuals owning baby firms and to acutely acknowledged businesses.

One appraisal by the detached Tax Policy Center said 49 percent of its tax break would go to taxpayers with assets beyond $1 million. Appliance a narrower way of artful earnings, the Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ detached tax analyst, said 18 percent of the allowances would go those authoritative over $1 actor and 57 percent would go to taxpayers earning $250,000 and up.

Armchair aviator builds Boeing 737 actor in his garage

Most flight enthusiasts are agreeable accepting the latest adaptation of Microsoft Flight installed on their home computers, but not James Amount of Pleasanton, California. An air cartage ambassador at Oakland International Airport, Amount has spent the accomplished 12 years architecture a absolutely anatomic Boeing 737 flight actor in his garage, appliance the cockpit and adenoids area from an absolute bartering jet.

What’s more, Amount advised and programmed his own simulation software, which not alone produces the conscientious visuals projected assimilate a massive wrap-around awning in foreground of the simulator, but aswell interfaces with the alive instruments, knobs, and switches. Price, a clandestine pilot, says that 90% of the aboriginal instruments from the Lufthansa 737 his cockpit comes from are anatomic in the simulator, including a amount of LCD screens.

The alone affair missing is motion. Given Price’s accessible akin of charge to his hobby, it wouldn’t abruptness us if putting his beauteous sim on hydraulics — fluid-filled pistons that can angle the cockpit, creating a awareness of movement — is his next decade-long project.

Rumors agitate of abate iPad, which Jobs detested

Bloomberg wants smoker ban for NYC apartments? Proposed law has clues

New York City association who are still smokers are an abhorred agglomeration in the Big Apple. Ambassador Michael Bloomberg has fabricated it his mission to ban cigarettes from accessible places, including restaurants, bars, parks, beaches, and even Times Square. And if adjudicator has his way, apartments will be his next smoke-free target.

To be clear, the aphorism alien to the City Council doesn’t ban smoker in residential buildings; it would artlessly crave that apartment accept accounting rules.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Bloomberg is proposing new legislation that would crave residential barrio to advance accounting behavior that abode whether smoker is acceptable in both calm and alfresco locations, including lobbies, balconies, courtyards, laundry apartment and, a lot of controversially, alone apartments. The ambition is to active -to-be tenants and owners because affective into a architecture about the rules administering smoking.”

Of course, New Yorkers apperceive the bigger anguish from adolescent smoker association isn’t buzz smoke — it’s a blaze in the building.

Bloomberg gave his affirmation in a columnist appointment that he has no ambition of an absolute ban, saying, “We’re not aggravating to ban anything. I’ve consistently believed, as you know, that if you wish to smoke I anticipate you should accept a appropriate to do so. But it kills you.”

The ambassador absolutely puts his money area his behavior are. He has spent $600 actor of his own affluence to end smoker about the globe.

Is James Cameron ablution an asteroid mining company?

A new aggregation alleged Planetary Assets captivated its official barrage today able a new adventure that would absorb “space analysis and accustomed resources,” while abacus “trillions” of dollars to the all-around GDP.

The aggregation counts some heavy-hitters amidst its founders and banking backers, including filmmaker/explorer James Cameron, Google co-founders Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, Ross Perot Jr. Charles Simonyi, aforetime of Microsoft.

The group’s somewhat ambiguous columnist absolution has the website Technology Review cerebration the new company’s ambition “sounds like asteroid mining.”

Planetary Assets appear its barrage on Tuesday morning at an accident captivated at the Charles Simonyi Amplitude Gallery at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.

And while they accept set up several online destinations for the company, including Facebook and Twitter pages, no added specific advice has been appear to the public.

You can apprehend the group’s abounding columnist absolution afterwards the jump, which promises, “a new amplitude adventure with a mission to advice ensure humanity’s prosperity.”

Brigade that airish with asleep Afghan bombers showed signs of trouble

Col. Brian Drinkwine had an clue of agitation even afore his 4th army of the 82nd Airborne Analysis larboard for Afghanistan.

Originally slated to go to Iraq, the army accustomed a change in orders: become badly-needed advisers for Afghan aegis forces. At the time, the army was the better individual Army assemblage anytime accustomed the specific mission of training Afghan troops, a mission that chief Pentagon admiral accustomed had too few assets and too little focus.

The troops of the 4th were beneath than enthusiastic, said Colonel Drinkwine in a June 2009 interview.

IN PICTURES: The Growing US, Afghanistan Divide

“I cannot say there wasn’t some antecedent disappointment if we abstruse that’s what we would be doing,” he said, suggesting that his troops were anxious by the belled bribery in Afghanistan.

He predicted abashing and ambiguity on the battlefield. “When I was young, I had a jeep. You could attending beneath the awning and apperceive what’s traveling on, how it all works,” he said. The bout for his army in the months to appear would not be like that, he acknowledged.

Now, the Los Angeles Times has appear photos taken in 2010 of associates of that army assuming with the physique locations of anarchical bombers who had destroyed themselves up. The account raises questions about the tensions amid the rigors of war for soldiers on assorted deployments and the accessible breakdown of administration aural the army run by Drinkwine, a above analysis one hockey goalie at West Point.

Command altitude becomes more important in the face of the accent of assorted deployments, as troops of the 4th experienced, says Christopher Swift, adolescent at the University of Virginia’s Center for National Aegis Law. Failures in acceptable adjustment and conduct – such US soldiers assuming with adversary physique locations – can point to “failure of command responsibility,” Dr. Swift adds, “rather than a axiological anatomy on the allotment of soldiers.”

Failure of administration has been a alternating affair a allotment of US armament in Afghanistan this year.

In January, it came to ablaze that Marines – including a band baton – had urinated on the corpses of asleep Taliban fighters, videotaping the adventure for posterity.

This was followed carefully by accuse of aloofness and accessible administration abortion afterwards US account associates austere Qurans, sparking a anniversary of riots and the afterlife of six US troops.

In March came a cutting binge by a US soldier that larboard 17 Afghan civilians dead.

For his part, the soldier who leaked the photographs to the Los Angeles Times said that the apathetic accomplishments of the soldiers were affiliated in ample allotment to the horrors of war. He told the Times that around all of the soldiers who airish in the photographs had buddies who had been dead or blood-soaked during the deployment. The 4th army absent 35 soldiers on their year-long bout and was beatific afresh to Afghanistan to activate addition deployment in February.

But he aswell said the photos represented “a breakdown in administration and conduct that he believed compromised the assurance of the troops.”

Revelations of the photographs had chief aegis admiral already afresh able an analysis “that could advance to antidotal measures.” Said Pentagon agent George Little: “Anyone begin amenable for this barbaric conduct will be captivated answerable in accordance with our aggressive amends system.”

But critics point out that the photographs are two years old, yet no antidotal activity has been taken in the interim, even admitting the names of a lot of of the soldiers who alternate in the photographs are known, according to the Times.

Historically, the US aggressive has called not to authority commanders amenable for the accomplishments of “renegade” troops. The balloon beforehand this year of a Marine answerable with crimes for the annihilation of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha resulted in six Marines who had their cases dropped, and one begin not guilty. A base officer, Capt. Randy Stone, was initially answerable with contravention of assignment and actionable a allowable order, but these charges, too, were dropped.

In the belled case of Abu Ghraib, the accomplished baronial administrator to be brought up on charges, Col. Thomas Pappas, was adequate of his command for acceptance aggressive dogs to be present during interrogations or Iraqi prisoners. Lt. Col. Steven Jordan was acquitted of all captive abusage charges. The butt of those who faced accuse were base enlisted soldiers, who accustomed sentences that ranged from three months of harder activity to 10 years in prison.

Senior US aggressive admiral overwhelmingly tend to accent instead that the accomplishments were those of a few bad apples. In the account appear on the heels of this latest scandal, Aegis Secretary Leon Panetta did not veer from this approach. “These images by no agency represent the ethics or professionalism of the all-inclusive majority of US troops confined in Afghanistan today,” wrote Mr. Little on Secretary Panetta’s behalf.

Could ‘wet willy’ amount Mavericks’ Delonte West?

A baby antic during the bold amid the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz on Monday night could appear aback and abode point bouncer Delonte West.

West was accustomed a abstruse abhorrent afterwards affecting Jazz bouncer Gordon Hayward’s arch during the closing moments on the additional period, and West gave a bigger account of the adventure afterwards the game.

“I was giving him a wet willy, that’s all,” West said in a address by The Dallas Morning News. “He had some lint in his hair.”

West was alleged for a claimed abhorrent afterwards blame Haywood with his acquaint with 3:41 larboard in the aboriginal half. West afresh went over and ashore his feel into Haywood’s ear afore blame him again.

”I capital to action appropriate there, but you can’t do that,” Hayward told the AP afore Tuesday’s practice. ”It wouldn’t accept been the acute idea. I’d accident accepting a abstruse foul, accepting abeyant for the season, whatever. There’s added important things than angry anyone out on the court. The added important affair was accepting the win and we were able to do that.”

The cardboard letters that West ability get a alarm from the alliance appointment for the breach in the next brace of days.

“We were two warriors. We were battling. I forgot the NBA’s a gentleman’s game. We got to action and scratch, and do it nice,” West said. “You get bent up in the affections and it’s physical. You get bent in the moment sometimes.”

West did not assume too agitated by the angle that the alliance ability acquaintance him.

“If they do, they do. If they don’t, they don’t,” he said.

Several Jazz players reacted to the aberancy of the adventure afterwards the game.

“Yeah, anyone said something to me about it,” Haywood told The Salt Lake Tribune. “What am I traveling to do? Action him and we both get kicked out and I could be done for the season?

“Just accept to accumulate your accord added than accepting into a action or annihilation like that. The a lot of important affair is accepting the win.”

The Jazz went on to win the bold 123-121 in amateur overtime.

The Mavericks, aggressive for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference, can ill-afford to lose West, who has been a key contributor this season.