MINNEAPOLIS(AP) -- PresidentBarack Obamadeclared Monday onhis first trip outsideWashington to pro-mote gun control thata consensus isemerging for univer-sal backgroundchecks for pur-chasers, though heconceded a toughroad lay ahead topass an assaultweapons ban overformidable opposi-tion in Congress.

"We should restore the ban on military-style assaultweapons and a 10-round limit for magazines," Obamasaid in a brief speech, standing firm on his full package ongun-control measures despite long odds. Such a ban"deserves a vote in Congress because weapons of warhave no place on our streets or in our schools or threat-ening our law enforcement officers."

The president spoke from a special police operationscenter in a city once known to some as "Murderapolis" butwhere gun violence has dropped amid a push to addressit from city leaders. Officers stood behind him, dressed incrisp uniforms of blue, white and brown.

The site conveyed Obama's message that a reduc-tion in violence can be achieved nationally, even ifAmericans have sharp disagreements over gun control.That includes among members of his own party inWashington.

Suggesting he won't get all he's proposing, he said,"We don't have to agree on everything to agree it's time todo something."

The president unveiled his gun-control plans lastmonth after the shootings at a Newtown, Conn., elemen-tary school. But many of the proposals face tough oppo-sition from some in Congress and from the National RifleAssociation.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hassaid he wants to give the bans on assault weapons andhigh-capacity magazines a vote. But he will not saywhether he will support either, and advocates and oppo-nents alike predict they are unlikely to pass.

Putting the controversial measures up for a votecould put some Democratic senators in a tough spot. Thatincludes some from conservative-leaning states who areup for re-election next year and face the prospect of vot-ing against either fervent gun-rights supporters or Obamaand gun-control supporters in the party's base.

Reid himself came in for criticism for declining tostand with the president by Minneapolis' Democraticmayor, R.T. Rybak, who accompanied Obama while hewas in town. "He's dancing around this issue and peopleare dying in this country," Rybak said of Reid on MSNBC.

Democratic lawmakers and aides, as well as lobby-ists, say an assault weapons ban has the least chance of

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In The News This Week

being approved bythe Senate JudiciaryCommittee that isworking up the legis-lation. They say aban on high-capacitymagazines is viewedas the next least like-ly proposal to survive,though some com-promise version of itmight, allowing morethan the 10-roundmaximum thatObama favors.

Likeliest to beincluded are universalbackground checks

and prohibitions against gun trafficking, they say. One lob-byist said other possible terms include steps to improverecord keeping on resales of guns and perhaps provi-sions that would make it harder for mentally ill people fromobtaining firearms.

Asked last week what was likely to be in his commit-tee's bill, committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., saidhe didn't yet know but "I don't know how anybody can beopposed to universal background checks." He added, "Ithink gun trafficking, you've got to be able to close that. Idon't know how anybody, anybody can object to that."

Obama also was more upbeat on the prospects ofuniversal background checks, including for purchases atgun shows.

"The good news is that we're starting to see a con-sensus emerge about the action Congress needs totake," he said. "The vast majority of Americans, includinga majority of gun owners, support requiring criminal back-ground checks for anyone trying to buy a gun. There's noreason why we can't get that done."

He urged Americans to call their members ofCongress to push for his entire package of stronger guncontrols. "Tell them now is the time for action."

"Changing the status quo is never easy," Obamasaid. "This will be no exception. The only way we canreduce gun violence in this country is if the American peo-ple decide it's important, if you decide it's important, if par-ents and teachers, police officers and pastors, huntersand sportsmen, Americans of every background stand upand say, this time, it's got to be different. We've sufferedtoo much pain to stand by and do nothing."

The White House says Obama is not writing off anypart of his package despite the long odds for the assaultweapons ban in particular before votes are scheduled orhe takes his arguments on the road. Education SecretaryArne Duncan, who has been helping push the gun con-trol package, said he and Obama spoke on the matterSunday and agreed that Washington in a vacuum isunlikely to move quickly.

"If this is Washington trying to drive this by itself, itdoesn't go very far," Duncan said at a meeting with col-lege presidents who have signed on to help lobbyCongress to take action to protect students.

OBAMA STANDS FIRM ONGUN CONTROL DESPITE

LONG ODDS'President Barack Obama declared Monday to

promote gun control that a consensus is emerg-

ing for universal background checks for pur-

chasers Page 1

SUPERSONIC SKYDIVERREACHED 844 MPH IN

RECORD JUMP Felix Baumgartner was faster than he or anyone else

thought during his record-setting jump last October from

24 miles up.

Page 2

SHRIEK! TEXTS ON MISSINGKIDS STARTLE CELL USERS

The next time a child is abducted near you, your

cellphone may shriek to life with an alert mes-

sage. Page 3

KENTUCKY ACCIDENTSTATISTICS

Accident Statistics from Kentucky Department

of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Page 4

KENTUCKY ACCIDENTREPORTS

This Weeks Accident Reports from Various

countys in Kent ucky Page 5

US GAINS 157K JOBS; JOB-LESS RATE RISES TO 7.9 PCT.

U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January,

and hiring was much stronger at the end of

2012 than previously thought, Page 6

US SUES S&P OVER PRE-CRI-SIS MORTGAGE RATINGS

US SUES S&P OVER PRE-CRISIS MORT-

GAGE The U.S. government is accusing the

debt rating agency Standard & Poor's of fraud

for giving high ratings to risky mortgage bonds

that helped bring about the financial crisis.

Page 7

GREAT WHITE SHARKMOVES BACK TO

NORTHEAST

The 3,500-pound great white shark headed

north after spending weeks off the Southeast

coast.

Page 8

NASA LAUNCHES COMMU-NICATION SATELLITE

NASA launched a new communication satellite tostay in touch with its space station astronauts andrelay more Hubble telescope images. Page 8

WEEKLY NEWS DIGESTTHE

President Barack Obama is applauded prior to speaking about his gun violenceproposals, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department'sSpecial Operations Center in Minneapolis, where he outlined his plan beforelaw enforcement personnel.

Continued on page 3

2 Legal Street News Monday February 4, 2013

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C A P E

CANAVERAL, Fla.

(AP) -- Supersonic sky-

diver Felix

Baumgartner was faster

than he or anyone else

thought during his

record-setting jump last

October from 24 miles

up.

The Austrian para-

chutist known as

"Fearless Felix"

reached 843.6 mph,

according to official

numbers released

Monday. That's equiva-

lent to Mach 1.25, or

1.25 times the speed of

sound.

His top speed initially was estimated at 10 mph slower

at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24.

Either way, he became the first human to break the

sound barrier with only his body. He wore a pressurized suit

and hopped from a capsule hoisted by a giant helium balloon

over New Mexico.

Baumgartner was supersonic for a half-minute - "quite

remarkable," according to Brian Utley, the record-keeping

official who was present for the Oct. 14 feat.

The 43-year-old's heart rate remained below 185 beats a

minute, and his breathing was fairly steady.

The leap was from an altitude of 127,852 feet. That's

248 feet lower than original estimates, but still stratospheric.

"He jumped from a little bit lower, but he actually went

a little bit faster, which was pretty exciting," said Art

Thompson, technical project director for the Red Bull-spon-

sored project.

"It's fun for us to see reaching Mach speeds and proving

out a lot of the safety systems," Thompson said in a phone

interview from his aerospace company in Lancaster, Calif.

Thompson said everything pretty much unfolded as

anticipated, with no big surprises in the final report. The

updated records were provided by Utley, official observer for

the National Aeronautic Association's contest and records

board. Utley was in Roswell, N.M., for Baumgartner's grand

finale following two test jumps.

Based on all the data collected from sensors on

Baumgartner's suit, Utley determined that Baumgartner was

34 seconds into his jump when he reached Mach 1. The

speed for breaking the sound barrier depends on the temper-

ature at a given altitude; for Baumgartner, that came togeth-

er just shy of 110,000 feet.

He reached peak

speed by the time he

was at 91,300 feet, 50

seconds into the jump,

and was back to sub-

sonic by 75,300 feet,

give or take, 64 sec-

onds into his free fall.

His entire free fall

lasted four minutes, 20

seconds. He used a

parachute to cover the

final 5,000 feet, landing

on his feet in the desert

outside Roswell.

Not everything

went well.

Baumgartner went into a dreaded flat spin while still

supersonic. He spun for 13 seconds at approximately 60 rev-

olutions per minute, making 14 to 16 spins before using his

body to regain control, Thompson said. The skydiver was

well within safety limits the entire time, he noted.

Baumgartner's brain remained under 2G, or two times the

force of gravity, during the spin.

If the flat spin had lasted longer and been more severe -

exceeding six continuous seconds at 3.5 G - Baumgartner's

drogue, or stabilizing, parachute would have deployed auto-

matically. Doctors worried about him blacking out and suf-

fering a stroke or, in the case of a suit tear, his blood boiling

at such an extreme altitude. The outside temperature regis-

tered as low as minus 96 Fahrenheit.

In the foreword of the 71-page report, Baumgartner said

he never imagined how many people would share in his

dream to make a supersonic free fall from so high.

Some 52 million people watched YouTube's live stream

of the exploit.

The scientific and engineering experts who helped bring

him back alive "broke boundaries in their own fields just as

surely as I broke the sound barrier," Baumgartner wrote.

Baumgartner shattered the previous record set by Joe

Kittinger, an Air Force officer, in 1960. Kittinger did not

quite reach supersonic speed during his jump from 19.5

miles up.

Kittinger noted in the Red Bull Stratos report (Stratos

for stratosphere) that future work is needed to test a stabiliz-

ing parachute for use at extreme altitudes.

The private project was aimed, from the start, at helping

future space crews - whether NASA or commercial - survive

high-altitude accidents.

If a highly trained jumper like Baumgartner with 2,500

image provided by Red Bull Stratos shows pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austriaas he jumps out of the capsule during the final manned flight for Red BullStratos. According to the official numbers released Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, theAustrian parachutist known as "Fearless Felix" reached 843.6 mph. That'sequivalent to Mach 1.25, or 1.25 times the speed of sound. His top speed ini-tially was estimated last October at 834 mph, or Mach 1.24

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Street News Monday, February 4, 2013 3

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The next time achild is abducted near you, your cellphonemay shriek to life with an alert message.

A new national Amber Alert system official-ly rolled out earlier this month to millions ofcellphones, and because the alerts areautomatically active on most newerphones, the messages have already takentens of thousands of people by surprise.

The newly-expanded emergency alert sys-tem is an effort by FEMA to update the wayit reaches people with new technologies,but local officials and others worry that thelack of public education and some initialstumbles may undermine the program'spurpose, especially when people are star-tled and annoyed and choose to opt out.

Lisa Rott was jolted from her sleep at 1:44a.m. earlier this month in her Sarasota, Fla.home. A high-pitched tone sounded inspurts for about 10 seconds while herphone buzzed multiple times.

Initially Roth, 50, was worried somethinghad happened to her elderly mother. Thenshe saw the message: "Emergency Alert:

Amber Alert. An Amber Alert has beenissued in your area. Please check localmedia."

"I thought it was spam," said Rott, whoworks for AT&T as a process engineer. Andbecause her cellphone has a New Jerseynumber, she wasn't sure exactly where thealert originated. The next morning Rottsearched online for both New Jersey andFlorida incidents yielding one likely possibil-ity - hours away from her home.

"What are we supposed to do?" Roth said."They're not telling us what to do, they'renot even telling us what to look for in ourarea."

Later that morning Rott called AT&T, herservice provider, and asked them how tomake the "worthless" messages stop.

Dozens of people have similarly taken toFacebook and Twitter to comment on beingstartled awake, scared by their phone'sactivity, and frustrated by the lack of infor-mation.

FEMA officials said they are aware of theconfusion the Amber Alerts have causedand are working with the U.S. Departmentof Justice to include more information in thetext messages.

"There's a very delicate balance betweenhow much is enough and how much (alert-ing) is too much," said Damon Penn, whooversees the FEMA emergency alerts sys-tem. "The big concern is over-alerting, andthat's what we're focused on."

The federal agency requires people send-ing the alerts to be trained and to ensurethat the alerts meet specific criteria. But offi-cials are still working on trying to determinewhether an alert should be sent out in themiddle of the night, what information to pro-vide, and how best to use the system, Pennsaid. The agency has started an educationcampaign, he said.

"My biggest concern is that people, if theydon't understand what it means ... will optout of the program," said Bob Hoever, adirector at the National Center for Missing &Exploited Children. "And it's critical that wecontinue to have their participation."

The organization activates the messagesseen on billboards and now cellphonesonce officials tell them an Amber Alert isnecessary. Since the program's inception in1996, Hoever said Amber Alerts havehelped officials safely return at least 602children.

So far, 19 Amber Alerts have been issuedunder this new system in 14 states includ-ing Texas, Ohio, Colorado, Washington,Oregon, Pennsylvania and Arizona, accord-ing to figures kept by the National Centerfor Missing & Exploited Children.

While no Amber Alert has been issued inCalifornia under the new system, authori-ties say it's only a matter of time and peopleneed to know it's going to happen.

"I know this is not our system, but we'regoing to be receiving the phone calls whenthis goes off," said California HighwayPatrol Capt. Greg Ferrero, California'sAmber Alert coordinator.

Ferrero said he's seen the stir caused bythe alerts when they caught people offguard in Florida and Texas, where fourhave already been issued. He said FEMAneeds to tell the public about the system,and has sent in suggestions to improve theprogram such as providing people withdetails like the license plate or where theabduction occurred.

Los Angeles Police Department Det. KevinCoffey trained local law enforcement offi-cers on the alerts last week and found mostwere surprised by the new reach theyalready have.

"We've never had this ability," Coffey said."We're going to have instantaneous con-nectivity with every person with a cellphonewithin our county and potentially multiplecounties in the state."

Timothy Griffin, a professor of criminal jus-tice at University of Nevada, Reno hasstudied Amber Alerts for the last eightyears. He said he favors an Amber Alertsystem that's more targeted, but hisresearch also questions whether the sys-tem's effectiveness has been oversold.

"Amber Alerts, in most cases, make no dif-ference whatsoever," Griffin said. "Evenwhen you look at ones where Amber Alertsmake a different, it doesn't happen fast,within that crucial three-hour difference"that the alerts are supposed to target. Buthe said he's hoping this system will provehim wrong.40

O B A M A

www.veteransvoice.org

An Amber Alert app is seen on the cell phone of Capt. GregGerrero of the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento, Calif. Anew national Amber Alert system will automatically send alertsto millions of cell phones when an alert is issued in their area.The alerts are automatically active on most new phones andusers will have to opt out if they do not wish to receive them.

The White House said Obama made his maiden tripon the gun control package to Minneapolis because thecity has taken steps to tackle gun violence, including apush for stricter background checks. The city launched aprogram in 2008 aimed at providing more resources forat-risk youth and helping rehabilitate young people whohave already committed crimes.

In January, Minneapolis also hosted a regional sum-mit on gun violence for elected officials from around theMidwest. The county's sheriff, Richard Stanek, is aRepublican who has been working with the White Houseto develop a palatable set of gun regulations, with a par-ticular focus on strengthening background checks.

Ahead of Monday's trip, the White House released aphoto of the president skeet shooting at Camp David, thepresidential retreat, which prompted more question aboutthe president's experience with guns. White House presssecretary Jay Carney said he was not aware of Obamapersonally owning any firearms. He said Obama has shota gun elsewhere, although he didn't know when or if hehad done so- before becoming president. "He neverintended to suggest he had grown up as a hunter,"Carney said.

Asked whether the president shoots skeet or trap,Carney told reporters, "I'm not an expert, and I don't thinkhe would claim to be either." But he said of the president'sshooting skill, "I think he has gotten better."

On Tuesday, four House members - twoRepublicans and two Democrats - planned to announcebipartisan legislation making gun trafficking a federalcrime and strengthening penalties against people wholegally buy firearms but give them to others who arebarred from purchasing them, such as felons.

House GOP leaders have sent no signals that theyintend to move imminently on gun legislation.

"The committees of jurisdiction will look at the issuessurrounding violence in our society. And when the Senateproduces a bill, we'll take a look at it," said Michael Steel,spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Continued on page 1

4 Legal Street News Monday February 4, 2013

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Analysts expect the Social Security taxincrease to shave about a half-point off eco-nomic growth in 2013, since consumersdrive about 70 percent of economic activity.

The hit to consumers is coming at a precari-ous moment for the economy. It contractedin the fourth quarter for the first time in 3 1/2years. The decline was driven largely by asteep cut in defense spending and a drop inexports. Analysts generally think those fac-tors will prove temporary and that the econo-my will resume growing.

Still, the contraction last quarter points towhat are likely to be key challenges for theeconomy this year: the prospect of sharpgovernment spending cuts and uncertaintyover whether Congress will agree to raisethe federal borrowing cap.

Most analysts predict that the economy willgrow again in the January-March quarter,though likely at a lackluster annual rate ofaround 1 percent. They expect the economyto expand about 2 percent for the full year.

Two key drivers of growth improved lastquarter: Consumer spending increased at afaster pace. And businesses invested morein equipment and software.

In addition, homebuilders are stepping upconstruction to meet rising demand. Thatcould generate even more construction jobs.

And home prices are rising steadily. Thattends to make Americans feel wealthier andmore likely to spend. Housing could add asmuch as 1 percentage point to economicgrowth this year, some economists estimate.

Auto sales reached their highest level in fiveyears in 2012 and are expected to keepgrowing this year. That's boosting productionand hiring at U.S. automakers and their sup-pliers.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. employersadded 157,000 jobs in January, and hiringwas much stronger at the end of 2012 thanpreviously thought, providing reassurancethat the job market held steady even as eco-nomic growth stalled.

The Labor Department report Friday showeda jump in hiring in the final two months oflast year, just when the economy was sput-tering and facing the threat of deep govern-ment spending cuts and tax increases fromthe fiscal cliff. The department revised upthe estimated job gains for November from161,000 to 247,000 and for December from155,000 to 196,000.

The mostly encouraging jobs report includedone negative sign: The unemployment raterose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent inDecember. The rate is calculated from a sur-vey of households, and more people in thatsurvey said they were unemployed.

The monthly job gains are derived from aseparate survey of employers.

The hiring picture over the past two yearsalso looked stronger after the department'sannual revisions. The revisions showed thatemployers added an average of roughly180,000 jobs a month in 2012 and 2011.That was up from previous estimates ofabout 150,000.

"The significantly stronger payroll gains tellus the economy has a lot more momentumthan what we had thought," JosephLaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at DeutscheBank, said in a research note.

Stocks surged immediately after tradingbegan at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, an hourafter the jobs report was released. The DowJones industrial average jumped 130 pointsand briefly touched 14,000 for the first timein more than five years, before falling back.

Other economic news Friday contributed tothe stock rally. Manufacturing expanded at amuch faster pace in January compared withDecember, a private survey found. Ford,Chrysler and General Motors all reporteddouble-digit sales gains for January. Andconstruction spending rose in December ata healthy pace.

The employment report revealed a notableshift in the job market: More hiring by con-struction companies. They added 28,000

jobs in January and nearly 100,000 over thepast four months. Those job gains are con-sistent with a rebound in home constructionand a broader recovery in housing.

Retailers added 33,000 positions. Healthcare gained 23,000 jobs. Manufacturersreported a small increase of 4,000.Restaurants and hotels added 17,000.

The solid hiring in retail, construction,restaurants and hotels suggested that suchcompanies expect consumer spending tohold up in coming months.

"The strong and steady job gains from retailtrade and construction look a lot more like anormal economic expansion," said ScottAnderson, chief economist at Bank of theWest. "This is a sign that consumer spend-ing is playing a far more important role inthis expansion than it has so far."

Average hourly wages rose 4 cents to$23.78 and have risen an encouraging 2.1percent in the past 12 months. That's slightlyabove the inflation rate, which was 1.7 per-cent.

Last month's hiring should cushion theimpact of the higher Social Security taxesthat most consumers are paying this year.And it would help the economy resumegrowing after it shrank at an annual rate of0.1 percent in the October-December quar-ter.

Higher Social Security taxes are reducingtake-home pay for most Americans. A per-son earning $50,000 a year will have about$1,000 less to spend in 2013. A householdwith two high-paid workers will have up to$4,500 less. Taxes rose after a 2 percentcut, in place for two years, expired Jan. 1.

U S G A I N S 1 5 7 K J O B S ;

J O B L E S S R A T E R I S E S T O 7 . 9 P C T .

Job seekers fill a room at the job fair in Sunrise, Fla. U.S.employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring wasmuch stronger at the end of 2012 than previously thought,providing reassurance that the job market held steadyeven as economic growth stalled, according to LaborDepartment reports,

http://www.childrenincorporated.org/

jumps couldn't prevent a flat spin, "an astronaut, pilot or

space tourist could not overcome this spinning probability,"

Kittinger wrote.

Thompson agreed, noting that given the right safety

gear and the right conditions, there's "a remote possibility" a

space crew could survive even under such harsh circum-

stances as were faced by the space shuttle Columbia astro-

nauts.

All seven astronauts perished as Columbia returned to

Earth on Feb. 1, 2003. One of the crew, Laurel Clark, was

married to the former NASA flight surgeon who led

Baumgartner's medical team, Dr. Jonathan Clark.

"You never know what the possibilities are ... that's the

direction we need to look at," Thompson said.

S P A C E J U M PContinued from page 2

_____________________________________________________Legal Street News Monday, February 4, 2013 7

R U L E S W O U L D M A K E

S C H O O L S N A C K S H E A L T H I E RThe department has also showed willingness towork with schools who have complained that someof the new requirements are hard to meet, relaxingsome limits on meats and grains in the subsidizedlunches last year.

Schools, industry, interest groups and any critics ofthe new proposal will have 60 days to commentand suggest changes, before the USDA writes thefinal rule. The soonest the rules could be in placewould be the 2014 school year.

Margo Wootan, a nutrition lobbyist for the Centerfor Science in the Public Interest, says surveysdone by her organization show that most parentswant changes in the lunchroom.

"Parents aren't going to have to worry that kids areusing their lunch money to buy candy bars and aGatorade instead of a healthy school lunch," shesaid.

The food industry has been on board with many ofthe changes, and several companies worked withCongress on the child nutrition law two years ago.Major beverage companies have already agreed totake the most caloric sodas out of schools. Thosesame companies, like Coca-Cola Co. & PepsiCoInc., also sell many of the non-soda options, likesports drinks, and have lobbied to keep them invending machines.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, has beenworking to take junk foods out of schools since the1990s. He calls the availability of unhealthy foodsaround campus a "loophole" that undermines thetaxpayer money that helps pay for the healthiersubsidized lunches.

"USDA's proposed nutrition standards are a criticalstep in closing that loophole and in ensuring thatour schools are places that nurture not just theminds of American children, but their bodies aswell," Harkin said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government for thefirst time is proposing broad new standards tomake school snacks healthier, a move that wouldban the sale of almost all candy, high-caloriesports drinks and greasy foods on campus.

Under new rules the Department of Agricultureproposed Friday, school vending machines thatonce were full of Skittles and Sprite would insteadbe selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, dietsodas and baked chips. Lunch rooms that now sellfatty "a la carte" items like mozzarella sticks andnachos would have to transition to healthier piz-zas, fruit cups and yogurt.

The rules, required under a child nutrition lawpassed by Congress in 2010, are an effort to com-bat childhood obesity. While many schools havealready made improvements in their lunch menusand vending machine choices, others are still sell-ing high-fat, high-calorie foods.

The USDA is proposing fat, calorie, sugar andsodium limits on almost all foods sold in school.Current standards already regulate the nutritionalcontent of school breakfasts and lunches subsi-dized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have "a la carte" lines that sell otherfoods.

"Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthyeating habits in our kids, and these efforts shouldbe supported when kids walk through the school-house door," said Agriculture Secretary TomVilsack.

Most snacks sold in school would have to be lessthan 200 calories, and elementary and middleschools could only sell water, low-fat milk or 100percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools couldsell some sports drinks, but the calories would belimited.

The standards will cover vending machines, the "ala carte" lunch lines and any other foods regularlysold around school. The proposed rules would notcover in-school fundraisers or bake sales, thoughstates could decide to individually regulate those.The guidelines do not apply to after-school con-cessions at school games or theater events, good-ies brought from home for classroom celebrations,or anything a student brings for their own personalconsumption.

The new rules would be one of many recentchanges to the school lunch program to makefoods healthier. Nutritional guidelines for the subsi-dized lunches were revised last year and put inplace last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law alsoprovided more money for schools to serve freeand reduced-cost lunches and required moremeals to be served to hungry kids.

Last year's rules faced criticism from some conser-vatives, including some Republicans in Congress,who said the government shouldn't be telling kidswhat to eat. Mindful of that backlash, USDAexempted in-school fundraisers and proposed dif-ferent options for some parts of the rule, includingthe calorie limits for drinks in high schools, whichwould be limited to either 60 calories or 75 caloriesin a 12 oz. portion.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. govern-ment is accusing the debt rating agencyStandard & Poor's of fraud for giving highratings to risky mortgage bonds thathelped bring about the financial crisis.

The government said in a civil complaintfiled late Monday that S&P misledinvestors by stating that its ratings wereobjective and "uninfluenced by any con-flicts of interest." It said S&P's desire to

make money and gain market sharecaused S&P to ignore the risks posed bythe investments between September 2004and October 2007.

The charges mark the first enforcementaction the government has taken againsta major rating agency involving the worstfinancial crisis since the GreatDepression.

According to the government filing in U.S.District Court in Los Angeles, the allegedfraud made it possible to sell the invest-ments to banks. The government chargedS&P under a law aimed at making surebanks invest safely.

S&P, a unit of New York-based McGraw-Hill Cos., has denied wrongdoing and said

that any lawsuit would be without merit.If S&P is eventually found to have com-mitted civil violations, it could face finesand limits on how it does business. Thegovernment said in its filing that it's seek-ing financial penalties.

The action does not involve any criminalallegations. Critics have long complainedabout the government's failure to bringcriminal charges against any major WallStreet players involved in the financial cri-sis.

Criminal charges would require a higherburden of proof and carry the threat of jailtime.

McGraw-Hill shares rose 11 cents to$50.41 in Tuesday's premarket session,after plunging nearly 14 percent the daybefore on the expectation that a lawsuitwould be filed.

Shares of Moody's Corp., the parent ofMoody's Investors Service, another ratingagency, rose 53 cents to $49.98 beforeTuesday's opening bell, after closingdown nearly 11 percent on Monday.

U S S U E S S & P O V E R P R E - C R I S I SM O R T G A G E R A T I N G S

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- It seems Mary Lee's

winter vacation in the sunny South is over.

The 3,500-pound great white shark headed north

after spending weeks off the Southeast coast. Mary Lee,

one of only two great whites ever tagged in the North

Atlantic, got as far south as Jacksonville Beach, Fla., sev-

eral weeks ago. But in recent days, she's made a bee line

north.

On Thursday, she was off Long Island, N.Y.

Researchers can't really say they are surprised because the

habits of the great white are such a mystery.

"Lo and behold, Mary Lee goes down there for a lit-

tle while and then bugs out and now she's off Long Island

and we realize we don't know anything," said Chris

Fischer, the founder of OCEARCH, a nonprofit dedicated

to studying great whites and other large marine species.

Fischer's group has tagged dozens of great whites off

South Africa and in the Pacific. He led the September

expedition to tag Mary Lee off Cape Cod, and named the

shark after his mother. The group also tagged a second

great white, Genie.

"I felt like at the moment, Mary Lee was the most

legendary fish caught in history," he said. "We were at the

home of `Jaws,' we were capturing a great white to save

it and solve the puzzle of the great white."

"Jaws," the 1975 blockbuster movie directed by

Steven Spielberg, was a fictitious tale of a great white

causing havoc at a small New England island communi-

ty.

Capturing a great white weighing upward of 2 tons is

8 Legal Street News Monday, February 4, 2013

G R E A T W H I T E S H A R K M O V E S

B A C K T O N O R T H E A S T

W A R M I N G I M P E R I L S

W O L V E R I N E SBILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- The tenacious wolverine, asnow-loving carnivore sometimes called the "moun-tain devil," could soon join the list of species threat-ened by climate change - a dubious distinction put-ting it in the ranks of the polar bear and severalother animals the government says will lose crucialhabitat as temperatures rise.

Federal wildlife officials Friday proposedEndangered Species Act protections for the wolver-ine in the Lower 48 states. That's a step twicedenied under the Bush administration, then delayedin 2010 when the Obama administration said otherimperiled species had priority.

It likely means an end to trapping the animals fortheir fur outside Alaska.

But federal officials said they won't use the animal'sstatus as a means to regulate greenhouse gasesblamed in climate change. And other human activi-ties - from snowmobiling and ski resorts to timberharvest and - would not be curtailed because theydo not appear to be significant threats to wolver-ines, officials said.

There are an estimated 250 to 300 wolverines inthe contiguous U.S., clustered in small, isolatedgroups primarily in the Northern Rockies ofMontana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington. Largerpopulations persist in Alaska and Canada.

Maxing out at 40 pounds and tough enough tostand up to grizzly bears, the animals will be nomatch for anticipated declines in deep mountainsnows female wolverines need to establish densand raise their young, scientists said.

In some areas, such as central Idaho, suitable habi-tat could disappear entirely, officials said.

Yet because those losses could take decades tounfold, federal wildlife officials said there's still timeto bolster the population, including by reintroducingthem to the high mountains of Colorado.

"This is a species there is still time to do somethingabout," said Mike Thabault, ecological servicesdirector for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service'smountain-prairie region.

Wildlife advocates, who sued to force the govern-ment to act on the issue, said the animal's plightshould be used by the Obama administration toleverage tighter restrictions on greenhouse gasemissions.

As with the polar bear, the government is sidestep-ping that thorny proposition with the wolverine, andsaid in Friday's proposal that listing the animal as

threatened "will not regulate greenhouse gas emis-sions."

Thabault said the agency would be on tenuous scien-tific grounds if it tried to draw a link between specificemission sources and impacts on wolverines.

Advocates expressed disappointment, with NoahGreenwald from the Center for Biological Diversitysaying the administration "should not be exemptinggreenhouse gas emissions from the EndangeredSpecies Act."

A Washington, D.C., attorney, John Martin, who repre-sented the energy industry during litigation over polarbears, said he expects no change in the administra-tion's policy against using endangered wildlife to regu-late emissions.

Friday's proposal also allows Colorado's wildlifeagency to reintroduce an experimental population ofwolverines that eventually could spill into neighboringportions of New Mexico and Wyoming.

It would shut down wolverine trapping in Montana, theonly one of the Lower 48 states where the practice isstill allowed an annual quota of five animals.

This year's trapping season was blocked by a statecourt order, but Montana officials hoped to restoretrapping next year.

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman RonAasheim said the state will review the federal propos-al and had not settled on a response.

Once found throughout the Rocky Mountains and inCalifornia's Sierra Nevada mountain range, wolver-ines were wiped out across most of the U.S. by the1930s due to unregulated trapping and poisoningcampaigns, said Bob Inman, a wolverine researcher

no easy feat. The expedition used its 126-foot research

vessel, designed with a special lift that can bring up

55,000 pounds.

"We bait the shark and once we are pulling on the

shark we walk it back to the ship and over the lift. The lift

then pulls it out of the water," Fischer said. While on the

boat, a device that relays the shark's position to a satellite

is attached to its dorsal fin.

As many as 100,000 people a day are monitoring the

position on OCEARCH's website. Traffic got so heavy

this winter the organization had to upgrade its servers,

Fischer said.

"This is modern day exploration. I wanted the public

to be able to see a part of that," he said.

The other great white, Genie, also headed south for

the winter. But because she doesn't surface as much, her

travels have been harder to track. Genie's last position

was recorded Jan. 19 off the South Carolina-Georgia bor-

der.

Fischer said it's important to learn more about sharks,

which are at the top of the food chain in the ocean but

threatened by man. He said 73 million sharks a year are

killed just for their fins to make shark fin soup.

In recent years, he added, people have become fasci-

nated by sharks, which will help efforts to understand and

protect them.

"It used to be when people were talking about great

white sharks you could hear in the background the theme

music to `Jaws' and fear," he said. "Now the conversation

is of curiosity. What is Mary Lee doing today? Everyone

is involved and the tone of the conversation has changed,

which I think is important for the future of sharks."

Add the tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving predator sometimescalled the "mountain devil," to the list of species the governmentsays is threatened by climate change. Federal wildlife officialson Friday,

NASAL A U N C H E SCOMMUNICATIONS A T E L L I T E

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA launched anew communication satellite Wednesday to stay intouch with its space station astronauts and relay moreHubble telescope images.

An unmanned Atlas V rocket blasted into the starrynight sky carrying the Tracking and Data RelaySatellite.

This is the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched byNASA. The space agency uses the orbiting network tocommunicate with astronauts living on the InternationalSpace Station.

The first TDRS spacecraft flew in 1983; it recently wasretired along with No. 4. The second was lost aboardspace shuttle Challenger in 1986; Monday marked the27th anniversary of the launch disaster.

This newest third-generation TDRS carries the letter Kdesignation. Once it begins working, it will becomeTDRS-11. It will take two weeks for the satellite toreach its intended 22,300-mile-high orbit. Testing willlast a few months.

NASA estimates the satellite costs between $350 mil-lion and $400 million.

The shark was tracked south to the Florida coast but as ofThursday, January 31, 2013, was again off Long Island, N.Y