 Dick Cheney recovering at hospital after heart transplant Mar 24th 2012, 23:04 By NBC News, msnbc.com and news services  Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images file Dick Cheney has had a long history of heart problems. Updated at 7:41 p.m. ET: Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering Saturday at a Virginia hospital after receiving a heart transplant, his office said. Cheney was in the Intensive Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, his office said in a statement. Cheney, 71, who served as vice president in the George W. Bush administration, has had a long history of heart trouble and has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months.
"Although the former Vice President and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift," aide Kara Ahern said in a written statement that was authenticated by several close associates of the former vice president. Cheney suffered a heart attack in 2010, his fifth since the age of 37. That year, he had surgery to have a small pump installed to help his heart keep working. It was one of the few steps left, short of a transplant, to stay alive in the face of what he acknowledged was "increasing congestive heart failure." The pump, called a left ventricular assist device, is mainly used for short periods to buy time for potential transplant candidates awaiting a donor organ. The fact that doctors resorted to it illustrated the perilous condition he was in. "I've gotten used to the various contraptions that are always with me, and I'm working and traveling, I've hunted a time or two, and I have some fishing planned," Cheney wrote in his memoir released last year. In July 2007, he had had a minor surgical procedure to replace a device that monitored his heartbeat. Nearly 20 years earlier, in 1988, Cheney had had quadruple bypass surgery, and had two artery-clearing angioplasties and the operation to implant the device. In 2005, Cheney had six hours of surgery on his legs to repair a kind of aneurysm, and in March 2007, doctors discovered deep venous thrombosis in his left lower leg. An ultrasound a month later showed the clot was getting smaller. In January 2011, Cheney said he was getting by on a battery-powered heart pump, which made it "awkward to walk around." He also said he hasn't made a decision yet on a transplant, but that "the technology is getting better and better." Cheney said then that he'd "have to make a decision at some point whether I want to go for a transplant." Cheney served as Bush's vice president for eight years, from 2001 until 2009. Cheney was a lightning rod for criticism during Bush's presidency, accused by opponents of often advocating a belligerent U.S. stance in world affairs during wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. |  Trayvon Martin family attorney confident state charges coming in shooting death Mar 24th 2012, 22:54  Jacquelyn Martin / AP People hold up signs and bags of Skittles candy during a rally in support of Trayvon Martin at Freedom Plaza in Washington, on Saturday. By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services An attorney for the family of Trayvon Martin said Saturday he expects that state charges will be filed against the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot dead the unarmed black teenager. Attorney Daryl Parks, in an interview by Skype with the board of the National Association of Black Journalists, said the family and its attorneys met Thursday with officials from the U.S. Justice Department.
“I think the focus is not a federal arrest over a state arrest,” Parks said told the journalists. “We want an arrest, period. And I think that the state aspect of that is the one that's most feasible, that's most attainable in this matter.” Trayvon Martin death becomes national rallying cry Asked his sense that state officials will press charges, he said, “Oh, they will.” The shooting took place the night of Feb. 26 at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated housing complex in Sanford, Fla., where 28-year-old George Zimmerman was the captain of the neighborhood watch. Zimmerman had called police to report seeing a suspicious teenager. A short time later, the two crossed paths, a gunshot rang out and Martin died. No arrest has been made, and the case has galvanized the nation and prompted rallies protesting the failure of police to arrest Zimmerman. Trayvon, my son and the Black Male Code “They [DOJ] realize that to charge this as a hate crime is going to be a challenge, to put it lightly,” Parks said. “Most state laws tend to be better for the prosecution of state crimes,” Parks told the journalists. “And that's why we see the federal authorities expressing, although gently, they can only do so much if there's some type of race issues involved. The state officials don't have that problem.” Zimmerman’s lawyer on Saturday reiterated his client’s stance that he fired self-defense. “This was not a racially motivated situation,'' Zimmerman’s lawyer, Craig Sonner of Altamonte Springs, told Reuters on Saturday. “Actually George Zimmerman was a mentor to a single mother with a 14-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, and she had nothing but good things to say about his involvement with them, and also helping in raising money for their African American church,'' Sonner said. Sonner affirmed a police report that Zimmerman suffered a bloody nose and a cut on the back of his head, injuries that Sanford police have said support Zimmerman's claim of self-defense. Sonner said Martin punched Zimmerman in the nose and Zimmerman hit the back of his head on the ground when he fell backward. This article includes reporting by NBC News and Reuters. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | | NBC News posts 1998 police report on Jerry Sandusky, psychiatrist's assessment of 'likely pedophile's pattern' Mar 24th 2012, 22:12 By msnbc.com staff A psychologist warned Penn State university police in 1998 that former coach Jerry Sandusky's actions fit that of a “likely pedophile’s pattern,” NBC News' Michael Isikoff reported. That assessment, more than a decade before Sandusky was charged with child sex abuse, was contained in documents published by NBC News on Sunday, including the police report. The finding by State College, Pa., psychologist Dr. Alycia A. Chambers, the therapist for one of Sandusky’s alleged victims, was contained in the internal Penn State files of a 1998 police investigation of the former coach for showering and bear hugging her client and another young boy in the school’s athletic locker room, NBC News reported. Read the full story: Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report The Sandusky Files: Read the 1998 police report The Sandusky Files: Child psychologist's report More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | | No Mega Millions winner, so jackpot jumps to $356 million for Tuesday Mar 24th 2012, 21:39 By NBC News and msnbc.com staff SAN DIEGO -- With no winning ticket in Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, the lottery jackpot will grow to an estimated $356 million. The lottery website listed the numbers from the drawing as 6, 17, 19, 20, 21 with the Mega number 20. Anyone who holds a ticket with five numbers and no Mega number will walk away with $250,000. Read NBCSanDiego's report on the upcoming Mega Millions drawing Because there was no winner of them main jackpot, it will rise to $356 million for the drawing on Tuesday. If someone were to win and take the prize in a lump sum, instead of over 20 years, the cash payoff would by $255.1 million, according to the website.
Unlike the Super Lotto jackpot, which is California-based, the Mega Millions lottery sells tickets in 43 states. Last year, three winning tickets were purchased in California. The last winner from San Diego was Todd Moitz of San Diego, who won $47 million in January 2009. "You go in there picking the tickets, you never actually expect them to land," Moitz said after picking up his big check. Watch Moitz relive the moment he realized he had won This article includes reporting by R. Stickney of NBCSanDiego.com and msnbc.com staff. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Pinterest bans content encouraging self-harm or self-abuse Mar 24th 2012, 15:47  Pinterest Popular site Pinterest serves as a virtual bulletin board by allowing users to "pin" info, photos, links and other content. By Rosa Golijan Pinterest, a popular site which allows users to "pin" info, links and photos onto a virtual bulletin board, updated its Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy on Friday. Among those changes is a ban on content which explicitly encourages self-harm or self-abuse. Such a ban is not uncommon lately. The staff of micro-blogging service Tumblr recently officially prohibited blogs "that actively promote self-harm" in an attempt to fight the overwhelming amount of content which promotes or glorifies many forms of self-harm including — though unfortunately not limited to — eating disorders, self-mutilation and even suicide. Unlike Tumblr's policy change announcement, Pinterest's did not specifically call out content which focuses on eating disorders, self-mutilation, or similar acts — but some of the language included in the newly rewritten Acceptable Use Policy is broad enough to cover those topics and more: You agree not to post User Content that: - Creates a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to yourself, to any other person, or to any animal As Business Insider's Jim Edwards and msnbc.com's Helen Popkin have pointed out, Pinterest has been become home to a large amount of content related to "thinspiration" — "thinspo" for short — which essentially glorifies eating disorders. Such content — which was a focus of Tumblr's ban — often features scantily clad, malnourished women, and has been bypassing Pinterest's previous no-nudity rule at such a high rate that Edwards even declared it to be the reason the site has a "porn problem." Since Pinterest's policy changes don't go into effect until April 6, we'll have to wait to see if they cure this "porn problem" or quell the flood of content which encourages self-harm and self-abuse. It may take well beyond the first week of April for the policy changes to have a genuine effect, based on how similar bans on content deemed inappropriate have gone. Link-sharing website Reddit's recent ban on all forums which focused on the "sexualization of children" and Tumblr's ban of self-harm-related blogs have both made a dent, but there's still plenty of clean-up to be done on Reddit and Tumblr. Related stories: Want more tech news, silly puns, or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+. | |
