6 BEHREND BEACON
April 23, 2010
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
LOCAL NEWS
A man was shot while
driving in his car on Tues
day night.
30 year-old Joshua
Thompson was found un
conscious and slumped over
in the front seat on the 1000
block of East 23rd Street
with a gunshot wound to the
back of the head.
Erie Bureau of Police
Chief Steve Franklin stated
that the Erie police were un
able to interview the man
due to his condition on
Tuesday.
Witnesses say that the
man was shot in the head by
a passenger and proceeded
to drift onto a curb in
McKinley Park, where three
men exited the vehicle and
Franklin said that they
questioned people of inter
est on Wednesday to "deter
mine some of the facts."
Thompson later died at
the Hamot Hospital on
Wednesday night due to his
injuries.
ERIE
Erie Together's action
teams met to discuss possi
ble solutions to Erie's
poverty on Thursday.
Erie Together's action
teams, made up of over 160
volunteer divided into four
groups, focused on early
childhood development,
connecting education to ca
reers, individual and family
stability, and a balance in
economic and workforce de
velopment.
"It's time to move this
process forward from aspi
ration to action," said
Joseph "Jay" Conner, a con
sultant to the group. The
project is to be funded by
several area nonprofit or
ganizations for a period of
five years.
Police Reports
- A theft from a vehicle was
reported at the S Lot on
April 8 at 9:50 p.m.
-Underage drinking in Ni
agara Hall was discovered
on April 17 at 2:30 a.m.
- A student reported dam
age to their vehicle in the
K Lot on April 20 at 3:30
p.m.
- A student reported dam
age to a vehicle in the B
Lot on April 21 at 2:00 p.m.
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Oil rig catches fire
ERIC PEIRCE
asst news editor
U.S. officials are scrambling
to find survivors and contain
an oil spill after an oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico exploded and
sank on Thursday.
The mobile platform, which
was about 50 miles southeast
of Venice, La., caught fire
when an explosion by an un
known source occurred on the
rig.
At the time of the explosion,
126 people were on board. Of
the 115 accounted-for work
ers, 17 were evacuated from
the rig by helicopter because
of their injuries, while the
other 98 workers were evacu
ated by boat.
It is unknown if the 11
workers missing managed to
make it to one of the oil rigs
fire-resistant lifeboats.
The Coast Guard expressed
hopes that the missing crew
members might be still alive
due to the calm weather condi
tions and the warm waters of
the Gulf.
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Michael O'Berry added to the
Coast Guard's statement:.
1. Two AI-Qaeda
leaders killed in
Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two top
Al-Qaeda leaders were killed
during a joint United States-
Iraqi operation on Monday.
Al-Qaeda military leaders Al-
Masri and Al-Baghdadi were
killed when U.S. and Iraqi mili
tary assaulted a safe-house in
al-Tharthar, a region about 10
kilometers south of Tikrit.
Two other known terrorists,
including al-Baghdadi's son
and al-Masri's assistant, were
POLITICS
U.S. set to hi . . ,-- A i I - ,
The United States and Israel are at odds
after Israel's new construction in East
Jerusalem.
A special U.S. envoy returned to Israel
on Thursday to discuss the new construc
tion with the Israeli government, even with
the refusal by the Israeli government to
halt construction plans.
The announced construction of 1,600
housing units in East Jerusalem outraged
the Obama administration.
Israeli's prime minister, Benjamin Ne
tanyahu, discussed Israel's position with
U.S. officials on the matter, stating, "They
are saying we have to stop building, and I
say as prime minister of all the Israelis,
there are red lines. This is a red line. I won't
cross it. This is not a dispute with Amer-
The special envoy, George Mitchell, re
sponded to Netanyahu's statement, stating
"We understand that the Israelis have a
long-standing position, but as Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton has said repeatedly,
the status quo is not sustainable."
Even as discussions take place, senior
state department officials don't expect
major strides from the talks.
To add more difficulty to the situation,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is
more wary of dealing with the Israeli gov
ernment without any known commitments
"We're still searching and
there's still a probability that
those crew members are
alive."
Besides the safety of the
workers, the preservation of
the ocean environment is also
of concern. A 1-by-5-mile•
sheen of crude oil mix spread
across the Gulf of Mexico's
surface. A remotely-operated
vehicle responded by survey
ing the area and begining
cleanup.
Officials, though, are uncer
tain if the oil spilled from the
rig during the explosion. Offi
cals are also uncertain if it
continued to leak after being
sunk.
BP spokesperson Tom
Mueller described the actions
taken to minimize the impact
of the spill.
"Dozens of vessels and air
craft were on the way to the
scene Thursday afternoon, in
cluding equipment to mini
mize the environmental
impact of any spilled oil," he
said.
Up to 336,000 gallons of
crude oil could spill into the
Gulf.
World News
also killed during the opera
tion.
One U.S. soldier was killed
when a helicopter involved in
the operation crashed.
2. Belgium con
siders banning Is-
lamic face covers
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Bel
gian lawmakers are preparing
a bill to ban burps on Thurs
day.
Government officials state
that their reason for creating
such a ban is to protect Bel-
ERIC PEIRCE
asst news editor
concerning the settlement construction.
Even after efforts by the U.S. to have
both sides meet to discuss the issue, nei
ther side was able to meet each other's de
mands.
Tensions on this issue started to rise be
tween the United States and Israel after a
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Local
gium's national security.
The ban would include a
penalty of $2O-33 and jail time
for up to seven days.
France is also considering a
ban on burps.
3. Grenades during
Thai protests injure
thirty people
BANGKOK, Thailand -- 30
people were injured on Thurs
day after five grenades were
thrown into crowds of anti-gov
ernment protestors during a
Construction in East Jerusalem has been met with opposition
Pride
National News
protest on Thursday.
The Red Shirts, an anti-gov
ernment group, were protesting
at a train station when the ex
plosions occurred.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejja
jiva called an emergency meet
ing with emergency officials
and top military leaders to dis
cuss the explosion.
Vejjajiva took power in in a
bloodless coup in 2006, which
led to anti-government protes
tors to demand that new elec
tions be held and the current
prime minister be removed
from the country.
set of concessions laid out by the U.S. to
the Israeli government concerning the halt
of construction in East Jerusalem was ig
nored by Israel.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli
government, would only say that "talks
with the U.S. were ongoing."
of t 6 e L'on
Class of 2009
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QUOTE OF
THE WEEK
r ,
"You know, somebody com
plimented me on my driving
today- they left a little note
on my windshield saying
'Parking Fine' "
- Tommy Cooper
FACT OF THE WEEK
• A person with average '-•
height and weight burns 60
to 70 calories each hour
watching television.
-
"ss % www.mentalfloss.com /
1
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