 Activists cry foul as Tenn. science education bill hits governor's desk Apr 5th 2012, 21:03  Erik Schelzig / AP Rep. Bill Dunn, left, and Rep. Harry Brooks, both Republicans from Knoxville, during a House session in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday. Dunn is the main sponsor of a bill seeking to allow teachers to question evolution. By Kari Huus, msnbc.com Activists were waging a last-minute battle Thursday to scuttle a bill that they say would gut science education in Tennessee by allowing public schools to cast doubt on widely-accepted scientific principles, including biological evolution and climate change. "What it does is bring the political controversy into the classroom, where there is no scientific controversy," said Larisa DeSantis, who teaches in the Department of Earth and Environment at Vanderbilt University. "It’s scary, as a parent and as an educator." DeSantis spoke to msnbc.com from the office building of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam just before delivering a petition signed by more than 4,000 citizens calling on him to veto HB368. The bill easily passed the state Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature to become law. Haslam has indicated he would probaby sign the legislation.
The bill says the goal of science education is to help students "develop critical thinking skills." It says the General Assembly has found "the teaching of some scientific subjects, including, but not limited to, biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning, can cause controversy" and says instructors should feel free to explore the "scientific weaknesses" in these theories. The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Bill Dunn of Knoxville, a self-described conservative and Catholic, has said the bill is about "objective scientific facts." Secularists and scientists argue HB368 — which some have dubbed the "Monkey Bill" — is an attempt to introduce religious beliefs such as creationism or "intelligent design" as science, thereby undermining broadly accepted scientific principles and hurting students' education. "As a science teacher I would say there is no controversy over evolution or climate change in the scientific literature," said DeSantis.
"Sure, we argue about the details. But these are core ideas … that are not controversial." National organizations urged the state and the governor to jettison the bill. Among the groups that have announced opposition are The National Association of Biology Teachers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Biological Sciences and the Tennessee Science Teachers Association. The bill has also been lambasted by secularists and civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, as a violation of the church-state divide. "This legislation, which perpetuates the teaching of non-science with a seemingly neutral approach, allows creationists to continue to make unfounded attacks against evolution," states a letter sent Thursday to Haslam from the nonprofit Americans United for Separation of Church and State . The letter also criticizes two other Tennessee bills that are on the governor’s desk — one that would allow the 10 Commandments to be displayed in public buildings, including schools, and another that would allow teachers to take part in prayer and religious activisties before and after school. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said believes all three bills will face constitutional challenges if they become law. He said he hopes the governor will veto the legislation, if only for practical reasons. "I think a lot of governors do understand that there are consequences about passing legislation that so clearly violates the constitution,” Lynn said. “It’s up to him now and I hope he balances (that). They shouldn’t be paying for lawsuits when there are plenty of other things to pay for in Tennessee." More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | | Strip-search lawsuit exposes paradox of cruise ship passenger rights Apr 5th 2012, 20:44 By Rob Lovitt, msnbc.com contributor A teenage girl is suing Carnival Cruise Lines and three of its employees, claiming she was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to urinate under the employees’ observation during a cruise last year. The alleged incident is not only another potential black eye for the industry but also raises the question of what rights passengers have when at sea. The case in question involves an 18-year-old girl, identified only as “J.G.,” who sailed on the Carnival Sensation with her family last April. After a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, security guards detained the then-17-year-old girl on suspicion of possessing marijuana. According to the complaint, the agents “threatened, coerced and required J.G. to remove her panties, lift her dress to her waist and expose her nakedness to all agents in the cabin.” She was then allegedly forced to urinate in front of employees, who also requested she remove a tampon. J.G. claims she was subjected to a genital cavity search before being booked and escorted off the ship. The suit alleges that J.G. was placed in an adult cell in the Bahamas and subsequently assaulted. The cruise line vigorously disputes J.G.'s claim that she was interrogated, strip-searched and subjected to a cavity search. “Carnival does not typically comment on pending litigation but feels compelled to do so given the far-fetched claims made in this lawsuit,” spokesman Vance Gulliksen told msnbc.com. “The claim that the plaintiff was strip searched is patently false and obviously made in retaliation for the cruise line having disembarked the plaintiff and her mother part-way through the voyage in Nassau where the plaintiff was taken into custody by the Bahamian police.” Specific allegations aside, the case highlights the murky nature of jurisdiction and passenger rights on the high seas. According to legal experts, U.S. passengers are protected by U.S. laws but also subject to international maritime laws and the legally-binding contracts of their passenger tickets. “When you go on a cruise ship, you are in the territory of the flag of the country the ship is registered in,” said Miami-based maritime attorney Michael Winkleman of Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman. “But where you have a possible criminal case, different types of intervening jurisdictions can apply — the Coast Guard, the FBI — although the only real authority on the ship is the cruise line itself.” Story: How safe is that cruise ship anyway?
And those tickets/contracts do give cruise lines the authority to search guests and their belongings, confiscate prohibited items and deny boarding or reboarding to passengers who refuse to comply. As the Carnival contract states, “All Guests agree Carnival has, at all times with or without notice, the right to enter and search Guest's stateroom, personal safe or storage spaces, or to search or screen any Guest, and/or personal effects, at any location, to ensure compliance with any of the restrictions set forth in this agreement.” “You’re implicitly agreeing to give them a certain authority over you,” said Winkleman, “but the question is what’s reasonable?” “The short answer is that, irrespective of the law of the flag, cruise lines have a responsibility to treat passengers reasonably,” said maritime lawyer Jim Walker of Walker & O’Neill in Miami. “My view is that it’s unreasonable to subject a minor to any of the conduct that’s alleged in this incident.” Furthermore, passengers maintain the right to object to any type of search or interrogation, he says, although there are consequences for doing so, which include refusing passengers boarding and bringing in local authorities. While neither Winkleman nor Walker are involved in the current litigation, both suggest that no cruise line operates under the premise that it has the right to conduct strip and cavity searches of passengers. Rather, they say, such incidents arise from the gray area of conflicting jurisdictions and the multi-cultural environment that constitutes the typical cruise. In fact, since all but a handful of cruise ships sail under foreign flags, the majority of onboard personnel are from foreign countries. Along with waiters, housekeepers and maintenance crews, security agents are often recruited during job fairs, conducted both in the U.S. and overseas and by both the cruise lines themselves and third-party companies. The nationality of the employees in the current case — Mayank Thapa, a security agent; Redentor Yuzon, an assistant housekeeping manager, and a female employee referred to only as “Leticia” — is not stated in the complaint. The suit cites the case’s “diversity of citizenship” as one reason for filing in U.S. District Court. “When you have a security agent from a country outside the U.S. that doesn’t recognize these types of legal protections, they’re going to act according to their own cultural values and beliefs,” Walker said. “That’s where you have the collision between the theoretical rights Americans enjoy and the actual circumstances that are presented on board a ship. That’s why these things happen.” Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter. Related stories: | | Boston lights up problem property with highway sign Apr 5th 2012, 20:44 By Jeff Black, msnbc.com Fed up with police being dispatched to a Boston home for a stabbing, drug deals and prostitution, city officials have decided to install a huge lighted sign in front of the house meant to shame the owner into action. Boston officials parked a trailer in front of the house in the Dorchester neighborhood that is equipped with a lighted sign like those seen along highways to alert drivers to road construction. In large lighted letters the sign reads, "Designated Problem Property."
"We’re going to do everything we can to shame these owners that are not responsive to cleaning up their properties,” Dot Joyce, a spokesman for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald, which reported on the sign Thursday. The landlord of the multifamily home, Ed Franco, owes the city some $2,000 for trouble with this and other properties, officials told the Herald. "It’s pretty awful of the city to do,” Franco’s attorney Stuart Schrier said, saying his client has moved to evict residents of the property. It was unclear how long the sign would remain at the property. The landlord’s attorney and a representative from the mayor’s office weren’t immediately available for comment to msnbc.com. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Trayvon Martin: Where do we go from here? Apr 5th 2012, 20:11  Philip Sears / Reuters Participants holds up signs and wear name tags during a march organized by the National Christian League of Councils for slain teen Trayvon Martin in Tallahassee, Florida on Wednesday. By Ron Allen, NBC News correspondent News Analysis SANFORD, Fla. – For the past few weeks, while everyone has been listening to 911 tapes, watching police surveillance video, and hearing both sides in the Trayvon Martin case turn up the intensity of their arguments, there's been a lot of speculation about how all of this might end. Some will never be satisfied unless George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, is arrested, charged, convicted and jailed for a long time. Others insist fairness demands an innocent man, wrongly accused in the court of public opinion, be allowed to get on with his life. The outcome, of course, will more likely land somewhere in the middle.
Next legal steps
Angela Corey, the special prosecutor who was appointed by Florida's Gov. Rick Scott to investigate the case, has many options. Corey can decide whether to file charges in the case herself or send the case to a grand jury. She has the latitude to convene that closed-door process here in Seminole County or someplace else. And, of course, she can decide that the Sanford police decision not to arrest Zimmerman, based on his claim of self-defense, is justified. Trayvon Martin's family and their advocates are demanding an arrest – nothing less. Their lawyer, Ben Crump, also would prefer that the state attorney issue a warrant for Zimmerman’s arrest herself. Crump has expressed skepticism about the grand jury process, saying he believes they're put in place, "when the police and the government really don't want to charge and arrest somebody." He added, that "private proceedings have never boded well for people from Trayvon's community." Zimmerman's camp now includes two lawyers. Craig Sooner, Zimmerman’s original lawyer, has been joined by Hal Uhrig of Maitland, Fla., who has extensive experience with police matters, according to the bio on his website. Sonner has said repeatedly that Zimmerman has been cooperating with authorities, and will surrender himself if charged with a crime. Sonner also said Zimmerman "has not been judged fairly" in the court of public opinion. And if the case ever goes to court, Sonner said, "It’s going to be tough to find a neutral and detached jury to hear the facts. Because ultimately in a court case, you have a judge that rules on the law, but in the end it’s the jury that determines the facts." Facts vs. perception
With the video and audio out there in the public square, along with media interviews of "witnesses," and so much other reporting, so many people are sure about what they think happened. And many have their own understanding of what they think the law is, or how it should be applied. From the start, for many people, all of this has been a reminder of the Rodney King case in Los Angeles back in the early 1990s. Even that familiar chant, "No justice, No peace," echoes here in Sanford. I covered that incident and most of what followed. Yes, there are huge differences. King was being arrested by several police officers. The Martin-Zimmerman incident is between two private citizens. But the common denominator is that the public has seen and heard what many believe to be crucial moments in the confrontation. King and the officers were videotaped by a passerby, secretly. Remember, in the King case in state court, a jury found three officers not guilty, and did not reach a verdict on the fourth officer charged. Later, two officers were found guilty of civil rights charges in federal court, and two were acquitted. Sanford is certainly not Los Angeles. The anger and outrage there exploded into days of violence and destruction. Here, activists are threatening to escalate their marches and rallies to acts of civil disobedience like sit-ins and "pray-ins.” Another possibility they are discussing is an economic boycott of businesses or organizations that support Florida's so-called “Stand Your Ground Law,” which Zimmerman's lawyers argue is the basis of his claim of self-defense.
Either way, a ‘tough road ahead’
The protesters face the challenge of keeping up the momentum. Two recent rallies in Miami and here in Sanford fell well short of the tens of thousands organizers had predicted. Sonner, Zimmerman's lawyer, also has said he finds it hard to see how Zimmerman will ever get past all of this unless there's an open public resolution. "No matter how things turn out in this case, he's got a tough road ahead," Sonner said in a recent interview. That's certainly not to say he thinks there should be a trial. He said he does not.
As the days pass, the case gets more complicated. It’s unlikely to end without more outrage, and without more pain for the two families at the center of this. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Mississippi on way to becoming 'abortion-free' state? Apr 5th 2012, 19:26  Rogelio V. Solis / AP Terri Herring, an anti-abortion activist, holds a photograph of a women's clinic in Jackson that performs abortions, at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday. By James Eng, msnbc.com A bill passed by Mississippi lawmakers putting new restrictions on doctors performing abortions moves the state one step closer to becoming “abortion free.” There is only one abortion clinic in the state, and the owner, Diane Derzis, has said the bill’s requirements could force it to shut down. “It looks dire for them,” said Leola Reis, vice president for external affairs for Planned Parenthood Southeast.
The bill, which passed the state Senate on Wednesday, would require doctors performing abortions to be board-certified OB-GYNs and to have admitting privileges at a local hospital in case a woman undergoing an abortion needs to be immediately hospitalized. The House previously passed the bill, and after a comment period it goes to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant for his expected signature. Derzis, owner of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Jackson, told The Associated Press that while all doctors on her staff are certified OB-GYNs, only one of them has admitting privileges to a local hospital. The clinic's doctors live out of state and hospitals usually don't grant such privileges to non-Mississippi physicians, she said. Derzis has previously said that she would go to court to challenge the bill if it becomes law.“We're not going to leave the women of Mississippi high and dry,” she told Reuters on Tuesday. Supporters of the bill have made it no secret they would like to see the state’s sole provider of abortions shut down. “These are strong, common-sense pro-life bills that will not only end abortion in Mississippi but will enhance efforts to protect children from abuse,” Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Wednesday. Bryant, the Republican governor who prides himself as a backer of “traditional values,” also hailed the Senate passage. "This legislation is an important step in strengthening abortion regulations and protecting the health and safety of women. As governor, I will continue to work to make Mississippi abortion-free," he said in a separate statement. Dr. Beverly McMillan of Jackson, a retired OB-GYN who in 1975 opened the first abortion clinic in the state but later came to oppose abortions, says anyone performing an abortion should have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. (Admitting privileges are an arrangement whereby doctors can refer patients to a hospital if further treatment is warranted). "If you're going to do outpatient surgery that has the possibility of injuries, you should have a quick route to get those patients into a hospital,” McMillan, who is now an officer of the Christian organization Pro-Life Mississippi, was quoted as saying Tuesday at the state Capitol by the AP. “And if you're a decent doctor, you'll be the doctor that admits them and takes care of their complication." Critics say the bill is misguided and endangers the health and safety of pregnant women rather than ensuring it. Reis, of Planned Parenthood Southeast, noted Mississippians last year rejected a statewide “personhood” referendum that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person. “Mississippians believe that this is a level of government intrusion that is completely inappropriate,” she told msnbc.com. "It's obvious the intention of supporters is that they would like Mississippi to be an abortion-free state. Their goal n passing this legislation is to end abortion in Mississippi," said Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights. She told msnbc.com that singling out physicians who perform abortions "raises serious constitutional questions." The center has represented the Mississippi clinic in previous legal matters but Goldberg wouldn't comment on whether it would go to court to try to quash the new bill. If the state’s sole abortion clinic shuts down, women would have to go to another state to get a legal abortion. “It really punishes poor women. The cost of travel, the cost of child care, missing work in order to leave the state, really punishes the most vulnerable Mississippians,” Reis said. Derzis said the bill is misguided and a waste of Mississippi taxpayer dollars. “I think it’s very sad when Mississippi has the ranking that it does as one of the poorest states in the nation, if not the poorest, highest in maternal mortality, that we are worried about passing laws that have no bearing on women’s health,” Derzis was quoted as saying by Mississippi Public Broadcasting. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a think-tank that works to advance reproductive rights including abortion rights, Mississippi is among fewer than a handful of states that have just one abortion clinic. In 2008, the latest year for which complete figures are available, about 2,770 abortions were performed in Mississippi, out of roughly 1.2 million procedures nationwide. "Mississippi stands as one of the most restrictive states in the nation with regard to abortion, along with state such as Kansas and South Dakota," said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager with the Guttmacher Institute. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | | Big tip or tainted cash? Minn. waitress gets to keep $12,000 left by restaurant customer Apr 5th 2012, 16:06 By msnbc.com staff Updated at 5 p.m. PT: A big fat tip or tainted drug money? Struggling Minnesota waitress Stacy Knutson said it’s the former; Moorhead, Minn., police apparently believed it was the latter. The wad of cash was left in a to-go box on a table at the Moorhead Fryin’ Pan restaurant where Knutson works. Knutson said she followed the customer out to the parking lot to give back what she thought were leftovers, but the customer said, “No, I am good; you keep it,” according a story Wednesday in The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.
Knutson went back inside the restaurant, peeked inside the box and to her astonishment found $12,000 in cash rolled up in rubber bands. Like a dutiful citizen, she called police, who seized the money and reportedly told her she would get it back if no one claimed it in 60 days. But when that time period passed, she said police told her she still couldn’t get the money because it was part of a drug investigation. Apparently it didn’t pass the sniff test, because police said the money had a strong odor of marijuana. Knutson filed a lawsuit in Clay County District Court, claiming the cash is rightfully hers. On Thursday, her attorney, Craig Richie, said the County Attorney's Office and the Moorhead Police Department had agreed to let her keep all the money, CBS station WCCO reported on its website. “We argued that most money that you carry in your pocket has drug residue on it,” Richie told the station. “She could’ve kept the money and nobody would’ve known. But she said, ‘No, I’m going to do the right thing.’ So she called police and now integrity has now prevailed.” Read the initial story in The Forum here and a follow-up story here. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook |  Sinking of tsunami 'ghost ship' is back on after salvage fails Apr 5th 2012, 14:54  Sara Francis, USCG via AP The Ryou-un Maru drifts northwest in the Gulf of Alaska nearly 200 miles southwest of Sitka, Alaska, on Wednesday. By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com Updated at 4:40 p.m. ET: A last-minute salvage claim by a Canadian ship on Thursday shelved the U.S. Coast Guard's plans to sink a derelict Japanese fishing vessel, but it didn't take long for the would-be salvagers to realize they wouldn't be able to tow the Ryou-un Maru back to shore. As a result, the on-again/off-again sinking is back on and could happen shortly, The Associated Press cited the Coast Guard as saying. The Ryou-un Maru, which was set adrift by Japan's 2011 tsunami and is now floating in shipping lanes less than 200 miles off Alaska, is to be sunk by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa. Besides clearing a shipping lane, sinking the nearly 200-foot-long vessel provides the Anacapa crew "a great way for them to put their skills to use," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow told msnbc.com from Juneau, Alaska.
Wadlow said the drifting vessel makes shipping in the area extremely dangerous. "There's no crew on board, it doesn't have any light ... and it's in a high volume shipping lane," he noted. The fishing boat, which was in port waiting to be scrapped when the tsunami took it out to sea, is far enough away that any fuel on board would not make it to shore, Wadlow added. The Coast Guard later elaborated that it appears to be carrying little fuel since it is riding high in the water, the AP reported. A Coast Guard C-130 was flying over the area to warn away any nearby ships for what is described as a "live fire exercise" with the Anacapa's 25mm cannon. Dropping crews aboard the boat is too dangerous, Wadlow said, and "the owner no longer wants it." But that didn't stop the Bernice C from trying to make some money off the rusty vessel. Based in Petersburg, Alaska, the Anacapa arrived Wednesday night alongside the Ryou-un Maru, which entered U.S. waters on April 1. The ship was moored at a harbor in Hachinohe, Japan, when the earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11, 2011. The vessel is the first large object to reach North America following the tsunami. Smaller objects have been found on U.S. coasts but much more debris is expected to make its way via currents to U.S. and Canadian beaches by 2014. More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook | |
