The mysterious illness has sickened its victims with flu-like symptoms, including a shortness of breath, fever, and coughing. Of the seven people who were hospitalized with the new disease, two have died, Alabama Department of Public Health spokeswoman Mary McIntyre told AP.Scientists are currently studying lab specimens from the seven victims, and health officials are urging hospital staff to wear masks and gloves when coming in contact with the infected patients.All seven patients were from Houston County, and McIntyre says there have been no out-of-state reports of this illness. The victims are all adults ranging in age from early 20s to late 80s, and have all been hospitalized in the Southeast Alabama Medical Center starting last Thursday.“We’re only aware of the Southeast, but we don’t know – we haven’t received reports from anywhere else,” McIntyre said. “That’s why we’re trying to get the information out.”There is currently no evidence that the victims traveled out of the country or picked up the illness outside of the US. Researchers do not currently believe that this illness is related to a deadly new coronavirus, coined the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which has infected 40 people and killed 20 who all traveled to or lived in the Middle East. The novel coronavirus has recently surfaced in France, the UK and Saudi Arabia.Health officials also do not believe that the victims acquired the H7H9 virus, which has caused 17 deaths and 82 illnesses in China. This virus is a strain of the bird flu and spreads through person-to-person contact.But although health officials doubt that the Alabama patients acquired either of the two foreign pathogens, McIntyre told NBC that nothing is being ruled out, since laboratory test results are not yet complete.“At this point it’s too early to tell,” she said. “That’s why we called it a respiratory illness of unknown origin.”One of the infected patients tested positive for H1N1 influenza A, but researchers believe this victim may have fallen ill with the unknown disease simultaneously. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appear to have no knowledge about the illness. The agency has so far directed media questions to Alabama health officials.State health officials are urging Alabama residents to take precautionary steps to avoid getting sick.“Be sure to cover your cough, wash your hands frequently, don’t cough on your hands and then shake somebody else’s hands, to try to prevent from spreading stuff,” McIntyre said during a Tuesday morning press conference, while trying to encourage Alabama residents not to panic. … Read More
NRA is getting a new president
David Keene will be replaced by Alabama attorney Jim Porter as president of the NRA, once Keene’s two-year term officially ends at this weekend’s NRA convention in Houston.CNN reports:While Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is widely known as the face of the NRA, Keene had an active role in publicity and media appearances, especially in the wake of the Newtown elementary school massacre that left 26 people dead. Porter has been serving as the NRA’s first vice president, and before that he served as the group’s second vice president. The presidency, an unpaid position, is the next stop in the NRA’s leadership rotation.Continue Reading… … Read More
Fuel barge explosions cause Alabama fire
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A large fire that began with explosions aboard two fuel barges in Mobile, Ala., is burning into Thursday morning after injuring three people.U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega said shortly before dawn Thursday that the cause of the fire is under investigation.Firefighters from Mobile and Coast Guard officials responded after 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday to a pair of explosions involving the gas barges in an area of the Mobile River east of downtown, authorities said. Additional explosions followed over the next few hours.Authorities say three people were brought to University of South Alabama Medical Center after suffering burn-related injuries.Continue Reading… … Read More
The Hakken Child Abduction Story Apparently Started With a Simple Marijuana Arrest
It’s been 24 hours since Joshua Hakken
allegedly
broke into his mother-and-law’s house in Tampa, tied her up
with zip ties, and left with his sons Cole and Chase–who are two
and four years old–in his mother-in-law’s car. Florida law
enforcement authorities say the “anti-government” couple of Joshua
and Sharyn Hakken are now on the run with Cole and Chase in tow.
Law enforcement agencies in Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana have
all issued child abduction alerts, as well as disseminated pictures
of the Hakken family. ;
Over the course of those 24 hours, we’ve learned a thing or two
about the Hakkens from law enforcement and the media. The story
taking shape is both tragic and infuriating, as it appears from an
interview with officials in Louisiana that the couple’s problems do
indeed stem from Joshua Hakken’s 2012 marijuana arrest. ;
Here’s what we know at this point about the chain of events that
led the Hakkens to “abduct” their own children:
Joshua Hakken, an engineer from Tampa, Florida, was arrested at
an “anti-government rally” in a hotel in Slidell, Louisiana, on
June 17, 2012; and charged with “Possession of Marijuana,
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a controlled
dangerous substance in the presence of a minor.”
According to Det. Daniel Seuzeneau, the Slidell police officer
who arrested Joshua Hakken, ”He was under the influence of
narcotics and also had narcotics inside his hotel room and he was
speaking kind of out of his mind a little bit.” ;
Seuzeneau says that Department of Children and Family Services
was called, the kids were taken, and Hakken was jailed for “maybe a
week or so but not very long.”
The children were placed in temporary foster care in
Louisiana.
Allegedly armed with a firearm, Joshua Hakken tried to “abduct”
his children from the foster care facility, and then left when he
could not get inside.
According to multiple media outlets, a judge in Louisiana gave
permanent custody of the Hakken children to Sharyn Hakken’s mother
in Tampa on Tuesday of this week. ;
On Wednesday, Joshua Hakken broke into his mother-in-law’s
house shortly after her husband had gone to work,
restrained her with zip ties, and left with the kids. Several
hours later, his mother-in-law broke free and called the
police. ;
The Amber Alert issued by Hillsborough County (Florida)
Sheriffs Department says the Hakkens “are anti-government,” have
“attempted a previous abduction at gun point in Louisiana,” and
“are considered armed and dangerous.”
Joshua Hakken is facing two counts of kidnapping, two counts of
interference in child custody, two counts of child neglect, one
count of false imprisonment, burglary with a battery, and grand
theft auto. If he was armed when any of that happened, Florida’s 10-20-Life law
could come into play. ;
While I haven’t been able to figure out anything about the
“anti-government” rally Hakken was allegedly attending in Slidell,
or what happened between June 2012 and Wednesday of this week, his
and his wife’s political beliefs are hardly the danger that law
enforcement officials are making them out to be.
From ;The
Tampa Bay Times:
In February 2012, someone writing as “SailingBull” posted to the
website for Adam vs. The Man, a forum “about challenging authority,
sticking it to the man, and giving the millennial generation a
voice.”
“My name is Joshua Hakken,” he wrote. “I am a father, a
registered professional mechanical engineer and a veteran of the
USAF. I am absolutely devoted to life, liberty, the rights of the
individual and the Constitution of the United States of America.
”
After saying that he had noticed that “things here in Florida
have not added up for quite some time,” he concluded, “in these
crazy times, maintaining open communication lines for ideas,
observations and news is absolutely crucial if the ‘good guys’ are
to be successful in surviving to maintain the fight of ideas.”
That same story includes several quotes from neighbors about how
normal and pleasant the Hakkens are, save for a rather careless
habit of smoking pot in their driveway. ; … Read More
Global Temperature Trend Update – March 2013
Every month University of Alabama in Huntsville
climatologists John Christy and Roy Spencer report the latest
global temperature trends from satellite data. Below are the newest
data updated through March 2013:
Global climate trend since Nov. 16, 1978: +0.14 C per
decade
March temperatures (preliminary)
Global composite temp.: +0.18 C (about 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit)
above 30-year average for March.
Northern Hemisphere: +0.33 C (about 0.59 degrees Fahrenheit)
above 30-year average for March.
Southern Hemisphere: +0.04 C (about 0.07 degrees Fahrenheit)
above 30-year average for March.
Tropics: +0.22 C (about 0.40 degrees Fahrenheit) above 30-year
average for March.
Go here to
see the monthly satellite data from 1978 to the present. … Read More
Alabama Brings Back Eminent Domain for Private Gain
This month, Alabama Governor Robert
Bentley
signed into law a bill that allows local officials to condemn
private property and turn it over to private developers.
Alabama’s statutes had contained some of the best protections in
the nation for property owners; officials couldn’t seize property
for private development unless it was a true threat to human health
and safety.
Welcome back to the bad old days.
Advertised as a tool to attract industry to Alabama, the new
law (the Major
21st Century Manufacturing Zone Act) expands tax
subsidies for companies that open a manufacturing facility of at
least 250 acres. It also allows municipal officials to seize
property for “private uses and purposes imbued with a public
interest” like auto factories, biomedical facilities, and
pharmaceutical plants.
Officials can now condemn property they deem “blighted,” which,
since the statutory definition of the term is so subjective, could
be nearly any property. Criteria include:
“deteriorating structures”
“inadequate street layout”
“faulty lot layout”
“obsolete platting”
“excessive vacant land”
In 2005, when the Supreme Court sanctioned condemnation for
private development in Kelo v. New London, Alabama
legislators were the first in the nation to react. The reform
defanged urban renewal plans like this
one from Tuscaloosa, where local officials authorized
themselves to seize a broad swath of the downtown area. Until then,
every property owner in the project area had faced the threat of
eminent domain, regardless of whether their property was actually
blighted—just being in the vicinity of a rundown property could
trigger condemnation.
Alabama municipalities looking to attract industry would be wise
to look not to the ruling in Kelo, but to the fate of New
London after the decision. Pfizer Inc. left town after the
subsidies that originally lured it to New London expired. And the
neighborhood officials fought so hard to raze is now an illegal
dumping ground.
The new law makes Alabama the second state to renege on strong
eminent domain reform. (Utah stripped eminent domain powers from
redevelopment authorities in 2005 only to partially restore them in
2007.)
In other Alabama news, legislators are scheduled to consider a
bill this week that would make Alabama the last state in the nation
to legalize home
brewing. So there’s that. … Read More
War on Easter outrages Fox News: ‘I don’t remember a bunny in the Bible story’
The outraged hosts of Fox News’ morning show on Wednesday said that public schools should just “take the religion as it is, celebrate it and move on” after one Alabama school canceled all Easter-themed events. Last week, WHNT reported that the principal of Heritage Elementary…
