Pro-Gun lawmakers open to magazine size limits
In Washington, many things that emerged are haunting Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, from the investigation of the December mass shooting at Newtown elementary school. The one question that is bugging him the most is, why Adam Lanza put down his rifle after killing 20 children and picking up the pistol he used to end his own life.
“I believe, and many of the parents there believe, that if Lanza had to switch cartridges nine times versus two times there would likely still be a little boys and girls alive in Newtown today,” Murphy said.
Most of this is focus on gun magazines, Colorado’s House of Representatives on Monday narrowly passed a measure that would limit magazines to 15 rounds.
Read the original story in the New York Times | Feb. 18, 2013
DNA testing becomes more common for rare disorders
Debra Sukin and her husband’s first child, Jacob, who had a serious genetic disorder, did not babble when he was a year old and had severe development delays.
When they had their second child, Eli, they notice that she was not crawling or walking or babbling at ages when other babies were able to.
When Eli turned 8 years old, the Sukins, of The Woodlands, Tex., had been doing new testing. This kind of testing was so difficult and expensive.
Read the original story in the New York Times | Feb. 18, 2013
Obama could revisit arming Syrian rebels as Assad holds firm
During last fall, President Obama rebuffed four of his top national security officials who wanted to arm the rebels in Syria. He decided to put an end to months of debate over how Washington should respond to how there was nearly 70,000 dead.
But this has left the White House with no strategy since there was a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad about two years ago.
Mr. Obama’s decision was to no provide arms when the proposal was broached before the November election. The fear was that weapons would end up in unreliable hands, where they could be used against civilians or Israeli and American interests.
Read the original story in the New York Times | Feb. 18, 2013
Chinese army unit seen as tied to hacking against U.S.
In a run-down neighborhood dominated on the outskirts of Shanghai there is a 12 story white office tower that sits a People’s Liberation Army base for China’s growing corps of cyber warriors.
There was a detailed 60 page study that will be released Tuesday by Mandiant, which is an American computer security firm. For the first time they tracked individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking group. The names of them are “Comment Crew” or “Shanghai Group.”
Read the original story in the New York Times | Feb. 18, 2013
Jerry Buss, Lakers owner and innovator, Dies at 80
On Monday Jerry Buss, who was 80 years old, passed about in Los Angeles. If you did not know he was the one who bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 and turned them into the NBA’s glamour team. They were the winners of the 10 league championship and the cornerstone of his Southern California sports empire.
During the last 18 months, Mr. Buss has been hospitalized with cancer. His death was announced by the Lakers organization.
Read the original story in the New York Times | Feb. 18, 2013
