Break Time n/t

Alternative to Pap Test Is Approved by F.D.A.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first alternative to the long-used Pap test as a primary screening method for cervical cancer, in the face of opposition from some women’s groups and health organizations.

The new test, developed by Roche, detects the DNA of the human papilloma virus, which causes almost all cases of cervical cancer, in a sample taken from the cervix. Pap testing involves examining the cervical sample under a microscope to detect abnormalities.

A committee of outside advisers to the F.D.A. unanimously endorsed the Roche test in a meeting last month.

But a coalition of 17 consumer, women’s and health groups opposed the approval, arguing that the new screening method had not been adequately tested and could upend a practice that has successfully prevented cervical cancer for decades.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/business/alternative-to-pap-test-is-approved-by-fda.html?emc=edit_th_20140425&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=42530878&_r=0

What Did Explorers Lewis and Clark Do When They Got Back To St. Louis?

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are most famous for leading the expedition that began in St. Louis in 1804, took them up the Missouri River, over the Rocky Mountains to the west coast and back.

But their connection with St. Louis didn’t end there. In 1807, Thomas Jefferson appointed Lewis and Clark to leadership positions in the Louisiana Territory, with a home base in the St. Louis region.

Washington University history professor Peter Kastor has focused his research on the time surrounding the Louisiana Purchase, and the meaning of nationhood that developed during that period. On Friday he is talking about the role of Lewis and Clark in the “transformation of early St. Louis” during the St. Louis Metromorphosis conference at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/what-did-explorers-lewis-and-clark-do-when-they-got-back-st-louis

Dutch intern reveals Amsterdam’s postwar shame

Imagine you had survived one of the Nazi death camps, but on returning home found that you owed the city council back rents and taxes on the house the Nazis had stolen from you, and to add insult to injury, had to pay fines for late payment.

That is exactly what happened to 217 Amsterdam Jews, and now the city is considering compensating them .

“They were completely expropriated. And then, after the Second World War, they were taxed for the period in which they didn’t enjoy the house, and where they had not the ownership of the house. And not only were they taxed, they had also to pay fines on it,” says the former director of the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, Ronnie Nathaniel.

The scandal came to light four years ago when part-time interns combing through the city archives came across letters of complaint. After a lonely four-year battle one intern, Charlotte van den Berg, has today obtained public recognition.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/04/24/congratulations-on-surviving-auschwitz-now-here-s-your-tax-bill-dutch-intern-/

Photography Tip: DIY Beauty Dish for under $20.00

I get many of you asking for DIY instructions relating to photography equipment. Here's a pretty simple beauty dish set up that will cost you under $20.00 in material and looks pretty simple to build.

http://www.photographytalk.com/forum/tips-and-taking-photos/111875-photography-tip-diy-beauty-dish-for-under-2000

Inmates in Oklahoma 'secrecy' row to be executed

Two death row inmates who lost a case in the Oklahoma Supreme Court will be put to death in a rare same-day double execution, the governor has said.

Clayton Lockett, 38, and Charles Warner will be executed on 29 April, Governor Mary Fallin has said.

The court on Wednesday ruled they had no right to know the source of the drugs that will be used to kill them.

They argued knowing the source would keep the executions from being botched with impure or expired drugs.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27146192

Tu-95 bombers: Brits scramble jets after Russian bombers approach

Source: CS Monitor

Dutch, British, and Danish jets scrambled Wednesday afternoon after a pair of Russian bombers approached their airspace over the North Sea.

The Dutch ministry identified the planes as two Russian TU-95 Bears and said it had launched two F-16s from Volkel air force base to intercept them. The Russian jets were escorted by aircraft from the three NATO members until they departed.

"That's why we scrambled, that's why the Danish scrambled and the English scrambled, to ensure they fly out of our air space," said Maj. Wilko Ter Horst.

Anders Fridberg, spokesman for the Danish Defense Command, said the Russian planes came in from the north.

"We just followed them and just turned back when we reached Germany," he said.

The Dutch ministry statement said such incidents have occurred before, citing one from March 21 and another from Sept. 10 last year.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2014/0424/Tu-95-bombers-Brits-scramble-jets-after-Russian-bombers-approach

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2014/0424/Tu-95-bombers-Brits-scramble-jets-after-Russian-bombers-approach

Climate Change Unites Unions and Enviros

Labor unions have for years been pitted against conservationists in a jobs-versus-the-environment conflict. But now, a greater threat to the planet has paired members of the rival movements in a fight against a greater evil: global climate change.

The Global Climate Convergence, a worldwide 10-day “education and direct action campaign” that started on Earth Day (April 22) and ends on May Day (May 1), is the first annual action that fuses several different movements into one common mega-movement with multiple goals, particularly stopping climate change. Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, says to keep in mind that it’s not just labor unions and environmentalists that have joined the movement. Many others including immigrants and students have joined the cause as well.

Some issues, such as the Keystone XL pipeline, have left unionists and environmentalists at odds, with one group touting jobs and the other pointing to climate disaster. “It’s my hope to see what we really have in common,” Regan says. “At the community level we are starting to put that movement together.”

Shelley Pineo-Jensen, the chapter chair of the Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network Jobs with Justice, says that unions will have a big presence with the climate convergence. The UO’s Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation is hosting a May Day march, which starts on campus, with SEIU Local 49, a service employee union and others participating. May Day is an internationally recognized (though not in the U.S.) labor holiday. “Everyday union members are just as aware of climate change as anyone else,” Pineo-Jensen says.

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/20140424/news-briefs/climate-change-unites-unions-and-enviros

Union demands passage of wage-theft bill

SACRAMENTO -- Nearly 100 chanting and placard-waving union members marched to a downtown Sacramento office tower in a staged and futile attempt to serve a $240 million bill on the California Chamber of Commerce.

The "invoice," union officials said, represented the amount of unpaid wages awarded by the state labor commissioner's office to workers that went uncollected from 2008 to 2011....


http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-union-demands-passage-of-wage-theft-bill-20140423,0,7320076.story#ixzz2zsvReGq6

NC Judge Blocks Anti-Tenure Law

“RALEIGH, N.C. — A Guilford County judge on Wednesday halted a requirement that North Carolina school districts offer a quarter of their teachers multi-year contracts as an enticement for them to give up their so-called “career status” protections.

“Special Superior Court Judge Richard Doughton issued an injunction that allows Guilford County Schools to evade the requirement, which lawmakers passed last year as part of the state budget.

“Durham Public Schools last month joined a lawsuit filed by the Guilford County school district, and more than a quarter of the 115 school districts statewide have expressed opposition to contract requirement.

“Under career status, commonly referred to as tenure, veteran teachers are given extra due process rights, including the right to a hearing if they are disciplined or fired.

http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/23/breaking-news-nc-judge-blocks-anti-tenure-law/