ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- AChechen immigrant was shot todeath by authorities earlyWednesday after he turned violentwhile being questioned about histies to one of the Boston Marathonbombing suspects, officials said.

Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, wasgunned down at his Orlando town-house during a meeting with anFBI agent and two Massachusettsstate troopers, authorities said. Theagent was taken to a hospital withinjuries that were not life-threaten-ing.

Three law enforcement offi-cials, speaking on condition ofanonymity, said Todashev hadlunged at the FBI agent with aknife. However, two of those offi-cials said later in the day it was nolonger clear what happened. Thethird official had not received anynew information.

The FBI gave no details onwhy it was interested in Todashev except to say that he wasbeing questioned as part of the Boston investigation.

But some of his former roommates who were questionedas well said that Todashev knew one of the bombing suspects,Tamerlan Tsarnaev, from mixed martial arts fighting in Bostonand that the FBI was asking about him.

Public records show Todashev lived in Watertown, Mass.,just outside Boston, last year.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an aspiring boxer, was killed in ashootout with police days after the April 15 bombings. Hisyounger brother, Dzhokhar, survived and is charged with carry-ing out the attack that killed three people and wounded morethan 260.

Investigators have been trying to establish the scope of theplot. In addition, authorities in Massachusetts said they wouldinvestigate whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev had any connection toan unsolved 2011 slaying in the Boston suburb of Waltham,where three men were found dead in an apartment, their

Circulated Weekly In Florida Volume 002 Issue 21 Established 2012 May 27, 2013

m A N S H O T T O D E A T H W H I L EQ U E S T I O N E D I N B O S TO N P R O B E

throats slit and marijuana sprinkledover their bodies. One of the victimswas a boxer and a friend ofTsarnaev's.

Todashev had lived on and offwith other Chechens in the Orlandosuburb of Kissimmee and had movedto Orlando more recently, friends said.

"He's a regular guy, nothingwrong," Saeed Dunkaev said.

Police records, however, suggesthe had a hot temper, with arrests in aroad-rage incident and, more recently,in a fight over a parking space.

Muslin Chapkhanov, another for-mer roommate, said Todashev knewthe older Tsarnaev brother. Todashev"was living in Boston and I think hetrained with him," Chapkhanov said.

Former roommate KhusenTaramov said the FBI was askingquestions about a conversationTodashev had with the elder bombingsuspect a month before the Boston

attack.

The Tsarnaev brothers have roots in the turbulent Russianregions of Dagestan and Chechnya, which have becomerecruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Investigators havesaid the brothers carried out the bombing in retaliation for theU.S. wars in Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan.

An FBI team was dispatched from Washington to reviewthe shooting, standard procedure in such cases.

Todashev was arrested earlier this month on a charge ofaggravated battery after getting into a fight over a parking spotwith two men - a father and son - at an Orlando shopping mall.The son was hospitalized with a split lip and several teethknocked out, according to a sheriff's report. Todashev claimedself-defense.

"Also by his own admission Todashev was recently a for-mer mixed martial arts fighter," the arresting deputy said in his

WEEKLY NEWS DIGESTTH

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This May 4, 2013 police photo provided by theOrange County Corrections Department in Orlando,Fla., shows Ibragim Todashev after his arrest foraggravated battery in Orlando. Todashev, who wasbeing questioned in Orlando by authorities in theBoston bombing probe, was fatally shot Wednesday,May 22, 2013 when he initiated a violent confronta-tion, FBI officials said

OKLAHOmA TORNADODAmAGE: THOUSANDSO F H O m E S , $ 1 . 5 - $ 2 BMOORE, Okla. (AP) -- Thetornado that struck anOklahoma City suburb thisweek may have created $2billion or more in damageas it tore through as manyas 13,000 homes, multipleschools and a hospital, offi-cials said Wednesday asthey gave the first detailed account of the devastation.

At the same time, authorities released the identities of someof the 24 people, including 10 children, who perished. Whileanguish over the deaths was palpable as residents beganpicking up their shattered neighborhoods, many remainedstunned that the twister didn't take a higher human toll dur-ing its 17 miles and 40 minutes on the ground.

The physical destruction was staggering.

"The tornado that we're talking about is the 1 or 2 percent tor-nado," Oklahoma Department of Emergency ManagementDirector Albert Ashwood said of the twister, which measured

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VIENNA (AP) -- TheU.N. atomic agencyon Wednesdaydetailed rapid Iranianprogress in two pro-grams that the Westfears are geared

toward makingnuclear weapons,

saying Tehran hasupgraded its uraniumenrichment facilitiesand advanced inbuilding a plutonium-producing reactor.

In a confidentialreport obtained byThe AssociatedPress, theInternational AtomicEnergy Agency saidTehran had installedclose to 700 high-

tech centrifuges used for uranium enrichment, which canproduce the core of nuclear weapons. It also said Tehranhad added hundreds of older-generation machines at itsmain enrichment site to bring the total number to more than13,000.

Iran denies that either its enrichment program or the reactorwill be used to make nuclear arms. Most international con-cern has focused on its enrichment, because it is furtheradvanced than the reactor and already has the capacity toenrich to weapons-grade uranium.

But the IAEA devoted more space to the reactorWednesday than it has in previous reports. While its lan-guage was technical, a senior diplomat who closely followsthe IAEA's monitoring of Iran's nuclear facilities said thatreflected increased international concerns about the poten-tial proliferation dangers it represents as a completion dateapproaches.

He demanded anonymity because he wasn't authorized todiscuss confidential IAEA information.

The report also touched upon a more than six-year stale-mate in agency efforts to probe suspicions Tehran may haveworked on nuclear weapons. It said that - barring Iran'scooperation - it may not be able to resolve questions about`'possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."

At Parcin, a military site where Iran is suspected of testingblasts to set off a nuclear charge, Iran has started pavingover the area where the alleged experiments took place, the

Continued on page 6Continued on page 7

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 3

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans pushed aproposal Wednesday to bypass the president to speedapproval of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which wouldtransport oil from Canada to Texas. Democrats criticized theplan as a blatant attempt to allow a foreign company to avoidenvironmental review.

As debate opened, Republicans said the measure wasneeded to ensure the long-delayed pipeline is built.

"This is the most studied pipeline in the history ofmankind," said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the bill's sponsor.

"When is enough enough?" added Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. "Five years? Six years? Ten years?"

But Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., called the bill a "recklessattempt to avoid environmental review." The bill would deemthe project approved without a presidential permit, as requiredunder current law, and with no further environmental review.The legislation also would limit legal challenges to the project.

The White House says President Barack Obama oppos-es the bill because it would "circumvent longstanding andproven processes" by removing a requirement for a presiden-tial permit.

The $7 billion pipeline, first proposed by Calgary-basedTransCanada in September 2008, would carry oil extractedfrom tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the TexasGulf Coast.

Supporters say the pipeline would create thousands ofjobs, help lower fuel prices and bolster North American energyresources.

Opponents call the project a "carbon bomb" that would

Herman Nackaerts, left, DeputyDirector General and Head of theDepartment of Safeguards of theInternational Atomic Energy Agency,IAEA, shakes hands with Iran'sAmbassador to the IAEA, Ali AsgharSoltanieh, after their talks at the per-manent mission of Iran in Vienna,Austria, Wednesday, May 15, 2013.U.N. nuclear agency officials are meet-ing with Iranian counterparts in arenewed attempt by the agency to re-launch its probe of suspicions thatTehran might have worked on atomicarms

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P O L I S H m A N G E T S Q U I C K FA C ET R A N S P L A N T A F T E R I N J U R Y

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- A

33-year-old Polish man received a

face transplant just three weeks

after being disfigured in a work-

place accident, in what his doc-

tors said Wednesday is the fastest

time frame to date for such an

operation. It was Poland's first

face transplant.

Face transplants are extraor-

dinarily complicated and relative-

ly rare procedures that usually

require extensive preparation of

the recipient over a period of

months or years. But medical offi-

cials said the Polish patient's con-

dition was deteriorating so rapidly

that a transplant was seen as the

only way to save his life. The

patient is now being watched for

any potential infections.

In a photo taken Tuesday, just six days after the surgery,

the patient, identified only by his first name, Grzegorz, was

shown giving a thumbs-up sign from his hospital bed.

Another picture, based on computer tomography, showed the

extensive damage to his skull.

He was injured in an April 23 accident at his job at a

stone mason's workshop near the southwestern city of

Wroclaw when a machine used to cut stone tore off most of

his face and crushed his upper jaw.

He received intensive treatment at a hospital in Wroclaw

that saved his life and eyesight. But an attempt to reattach his

own face failed, leaving an area close to the brain exposed to

infections, doctors said. The damage was too extensive for

doctors to temporarily seal the exposed areas.

So he was taken to the Cancer Center and Institute of

Oncology in Gliwice, the only place in Poland licensed to

perform face transplants. The center has experience in facial

reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer and its

experts have practiced face transplants on cadavers.

Doctors at the center said the 27-hour face and bone

transplant was performed May 15 soon after a matching

donor was found.

The surgery reconstructed the area around the eyes, the

nose, jaws and palate and other parts of the man's face.

Pictures show stitches running from above the patient's right

eye, under the left eye and around the face to the neck.

The donor, a 34-year-old man, was chosen from a

national registry of potential donors after his age, gender,

blood group and body features were determined to be a good

match for the injured man.

The head of the team of surgeons and other specialists,

Dr. Adam Maciejewski, said it was the first time a face trans-

plant was carried out so soon after the damage. Face trans-

plants are usually a last resort after conventional reconstruc-

tive and plastic surgeries have been tried.

"In such an extensive injury, where the structures close

to the skull base and in contact with the brain area are

exposed, any infection would be dangerous, not to mention

the impossibility to function normally, including problems

with breathing, with eating," Maciejewski said. "All that led

us in one direction."

"We assume the surgery will allow the patient to return

to normal life. He will be able to breathe, to eat, to see."

Maciejewski said that over time, the face will mold to

the man's facial bone structure

and he will not look like the

donor.

The patient is now breathing

on his own and responds to ques-

tions by nodding his head or

squeezing the hands of doctors.

But his condition is serious and it

will be months before the proce-

dure can be declared a full suc-

cess, said Dr. Krzysztof Olejnik,

head of the team of anesthesiolo-

gists.

Another member of the trans-

plant team, surgeon Dr. Maciej

Grajek, told The Associated Press

that the patient was receiving

drugs to ward off any potential

viral, bacterial or skin infections,

but the face is alive and is healing.

Though he is in sterile isolation, the patient has started

the rehabilitation process. He will stay on special drugs for

the rest of his life to prevent rejection of his new face.

More than two dozen transplants of the face or parts of

the face have been performed around the world. The first one

was a partial face transplant in a woman maimed by her dog

in France in 2005.

Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, who in 2011 led a team in the

United States that performed a full face and double-hand

transplant on a woman mauled by a chimpanzee, said in an

email he believes that in the future surgeons will decide more

swiftly on a transplant, just as the Polish team did.

"This is the way we likely will practice in the future,"

said Pomahac, a reconstructive surgeon at Harvard-affiliated

Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. However, he cau-

tioned that patients should be given more time to be fully

involved in a decision that will have a life-long impact on

them.

"I still think that a traumatized patient, even with all the

psychological support, probably has a hard time making the

right decision within hours/days after life-changing trauma,"

Pomahac said.

Dr. Zbigniew Wlodarczyk, who has performed limb

transplants in Poland but was not involved in the face trans-

plant, told the AP the surgery was groundbreaking because it

was carried out on a fresh injury and on tissues that have not

healed, but that leaving such an extensive wound open would

have led to infection and the patient's death.

"Such rare but spectacular procedures show the possibil-

ities of medicine today and advance it," he said. "This places

Poland in the elite group of countries performing such trans-

plants.

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In this picture provided by the Cancer Center andInstitute of Oncology in Gliwice, Poland, a 33-year-oldPolish man whose face was torn off by stone-cuttingmachinery is shown after undergoing a total face trans-plant. Doctors performed the surgery on May 15 in a 27-hour operation. In a news conference on Wednesdaythey said it was the first time a life-saving face trans-plant was carried out soon after a recipient suffereddamage. There have been several other transplants inrecent years but in those cases doctors had months oryears to prepare. The Polish patient suffered his acci-dent on April 23, 2013

h t t p : / / w w w . n a t u r e . o r gS H O T T O D E A T H

report. "This skill puts his fighting ability way above that of a nor-mal person."

Todashev was released on $3,500 bail after his May 4arrest. His attorney, Alain Rivas, didn't immediately respond toa call for comment Wednesday.

Todashev was also arrested by Boston police in 2010 aftera road-rage incident. Witnesses told police that he argued withtwo other drivers and cut them off with his vehicle. He yelled,"You say something about my mother, I will kill you," accordingto a police report.

Continued from page 1

L O N D O N T E R R O R A T T A C KL E A V E S 1 D E A D N E A R B A R R A C K S

The Weekly News Digest, May 27, 2013 3

in blood, making political statements about "an eye foran eye" to an unknown cameraperson as a body laybehind him on the ground.

There was no immediate way for the Associated Press toverify who the cameraman was.

The footage - obtained by ITV news - showed a man in adark jacket and knit cap walking toward a camera,clutching a meat cleaver and a knife in what appear tobe bloodied hands. With a British accent, he apologizedin English for the women passers-by who "have had towitness this" attack, saying that "in our land our womenhave to see the same."

He gave no indication what that land was.

"We must fight them as they fight us," the man told thecamera as people milled around behind him. The camera

then panned away to show a body behind the man.

The Associated Press examined the footage to verify itsauthenticity. The AP cross-referenced images from thescene, aerial shots, the location of a car behind thealleged attacker and appearance of a body and car inthe background of the image.

The British Cabinet's emergency committee immediatelycalled a meeting and the prime minister's office saidsecurity was stepped up at barracks across London.Cameron cut short his Paris trip to return to London andhis office said he would chair another emergency com-mittee meeting Thursday.

The barracks - which house a number of the King'sTroop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companiesof the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards - were the siteof shooting events during the 2012 London Olympics.

Fred Oyat, a 44-year-old who lives in a high-rise nearwhere the attack occurred, said he heard four gun shotsand then went straight to the window.

"I saw one man lying there bleeding, another lying on thepavement being disarmed. A policeman was pointing agun at him. A third man was lying further up the street ...he was bleeding profusely," Oyat said. "There were fourknives on the ground - big kitchen knives. The kniveswere very bloody."

David Dixon, head teacher of a nearby primary school,saw a body lying in the road outside and said police toldhim there was a serious incident. He told the BBC hethen made sure students were inside and put the schoolinto a lockdown mode. He said he then heard shots fired.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, whichis called in when officers are involved in shootings, con-firmed that it is investigating the attack.

LONDON (AP) -- In a brutal daylight attack which raisedfears that terrorism had returned to London, two menwith butcher knives hacked another man to death near amilitary barracks Wednesday before police woundedthem in a shootout.

In a shocking video broadcast on British TV, one mangestured with bloodied hands, waving a butcher knife inthe air and shouting political statements against theBritish government as pedestrians milled about a bodylying motionless on the street. Bloodstains coated thestreet.

British officials said the attack appeared to be an act ofterrorism, possibly motivated by radical Islam.

The two suspects remained hospitalized on Wednesdaynight but their identities and that of their victim were notknown. One of them was reported to be in serious condi-tion.

The afternoon attack occurred in the southeast Londonneighborhood of Woolwich, just a few blocks from theRoyal Artillery Barracks.

In Paris, French President Francois Hollande, speakingat a press conference with British Prime Minister DavidCameron, said the slain man was a British soldier.Cameron didn't immediately confirm that fact but theBritain's Ministry of Defense said it was urgently investi-gating if a U.K. soldier was involved.

Cameron said there were "strong indications" it was aterrorist incident.

"We have suffered these attacks before, we have alwaysbeaten them back," Cameron said. "We will not becowed, we will never buckle."

One British broadcaster ran video footage of whatappeared to be one of the attackers, his hands covered

a top-of-the-scale EF5 with winds of at least 200 mph. "Thisis the anomaly that flattens everything to the ground."

As response teams transitioned into cleanup and recovery,Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, who sent police and firecrews from his city to assist the effort, said an early assess-ment estimated damage costs at between $1.5 billion and $2billion.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department, meanwhile, said visu-al assessments of the extensive damage zone suggest thecost could be greater than the $2 billion from the 2011 torna-do that struck Joplin, Mo., and killed nearly seven times asmany people.

Though there was little more than 10 minutes warning that atornado was on the ground Monday and headed for Moore,many in the area are accustomed to severe storms. Thecommunity of 56,000 people has been hit by four tornadossince 1998, and residents already were on alert after week-end storms and days of warnings. Because the tornado hit inthe afternoon, many others were away from the neighbor-hoods and out of harm's way at work.

Looking over the broken brick, smashed wood and scatteredappliances that is all that remains of the home where DawnDuffy-Relf's aunt lived with her two daughters, Duffy-Relf andher husband marveled at the devastation - and the survivalrate.

Duffy-Relf credited central Oklahoma residents' instincts andhabits: they watch the weather reports, they look at the sky,they know what they can and can't outrun.

"We know where we live," she said as she tried to salvage asmuch from the home as possible before her aunt returnedfrom a vacation to Mexico.

Her husband, Paul Duffy-Relf, also noted the rise of socialmedia and cellphone use since the last massive stormsmashed the town more than a decade ago. He said peopleposted on Facebook and Twitter ahead of Monday's storm,telling others where the tornado was and when to flee. Andsome never left their cellphones, staying on the line withloved ones as long as they could, and working to quicklyreconnect with those who needed help afterward.

"People are still looking for their wallets, but they have theircellphones," he said.

Harold Brooks, research meteorologist at the NationalSevere Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., said long-rangeforecasting models also have dramatically improved and areable to provide insight even a week before a storm strikes.

Brooks said people in the storm's direct path had time to pickout their safe place - even if it was their home's bathtub -when there was first word of a massive tornado bearingdown on them.

"If you take appropriate action, you go to your safe place, youcan dramatically increase the probability you'll survive," hesaid.

To Brooks, the Joplin tornado was the oddity in terms of liveslost. That tornado struck on a Sunday evening two years agothis week.

"It's a number that I really don't understand what led to that,"he said. "It could be the timing, 5:30 on a Sunday night, orbad luck. That was the outlier."

While estimating that between 12,000 and 13,000 homeswere affected by Monday's tornado, emergency officials saidthey were unable to estimate the number of people lefthomeless, in part because many had been taken in by rela-tives and only a couple dozen stayed overnight at Red Crossshelters.

President Barack Obama plans to view the destruction first-hand on Sunday. Secretary of Homeland Security JanetNapolitano, meanwhile, visited Wednesday and againpledged the federal government's ongoing support. Sheurged people to register with the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency to learn about aid for which they mayqualify.

"We know that people are really hurting," she said. "There'sa lot of recovery yet to do. ... We will be here to stay until thisrecovery is complete. You have our commitment on that."

Continued from page 1OKLAHOmA TORNADO

A tent is erected near the scene of an attack in Woolwich southeast LondonWednesday, May, 22, 2013. British officials said one person has died andat least two people have been wounded in an attack in southeast London.Scotland Yard said officers responded to reports of an assault Wednesdayafternoon in the London neighbourhood of Woolwich. London Ambulanceservice said one man was found dead at the scene and two other menwere taken to the hospital, with one in serious condition

CHICAGO (AP) -- The attorney for an 87-year-old womanwho accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscrapercondo deal told jurors in Chicago on Wednesday that hewas personally repulsed by the "Apprentice" star whom hesaid lied on the witness stand.

The comments came during a sarcasm-filled closing argu-ment at the civil trial in federal court that pits JacquelineGoldberg against the billionaire real estate mogul-turned TVshowman. Jurors withdrew to deliberate later Wednesday.

His voice rising, attorney Shelly Kulwin portrayed the case inhis closing as a battle between a powerful businessman anda woman who learned her values growing up during theDepression.

Trump, of New York, wasn't in court for the closings. ButKulwin projected a photograph of the beaming developer ona large courtroom screen.

"The thought of my grandma being in the same room withthat guy. Yuck!" said Kulwin. The judge told jurors to disre-gard the comment.

Later, he said Trump was motivated to cheat his client by alove for money.

"It's like his family, those dollars," Kulwin said.

City pride also intervened when Kulwin appeared to makean unfavorable reference to executives in New York.

"Judge, he's mocking New York," Trump attorney StephenNovack said, standing to object.

"I can't mock New York?" Kulwin shot back. "I thought it wasevery Chicagoan's right to do that."

Addressing jurors later Wednesday, defense attorneyStephen Novack accused Kulwin of resorting to personalattacks on Trump out of desperation and a lack of evidence.

Goldberg alleges Trump persuaded her to buy two condosat around $1 million apiece in Chicago's glitzy TrumpInternational Hotel & Tower by promising she would share inbuilding profits. But, Goldberg says, Trump reneged aftershe committed to the investment.

"It's called a bait and switch," Kulwin told jurors. "Here's thebait. Here's the switch."

But Trump's attorney described Goldberg as a detail-orient-ed investor who knew the contract that she signed stipulatedTrump could cancel the profit-sharing offer as he saw fit.

"She knows the drill," he said. "Nobody put a gun to herhead (to sign)."

He later added: "Mrs. Goldberg went into this deal with hereyes wide open."

Since the contract gave Trump rights to change the profit-sharing offer, Novack said the onus was on Goldberg's attor-

TALK OF LIES, PRIDEA S T R U m P C A S EG O E S T O J U R Y

Continued on page 7

4 The Weekly News Digest, May 27, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

F L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C SF L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C SData From the Official Website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. www.flhsmv.gov

HANDICAP PERMITS

Broke your leg? Had Surgery? A

new state law enables you to get a

90-day temporary permit to use

handicapped parking spaces.

The cost is $15.00 from county tagoffice locations, and the permit

hangs from the rear-view mirror soit will be clearly visible through the

windshield.

Applicants must have a physi-cian’s statement attesting to theirdisability. For more information,

visit or call your county tag office.

motorcyc l i s t s and Bicyc l i s t s In jured

______________________________________ The Weekly News Digest, May 27, 2013 5

http://www.aging-research.org

h t t p : / / w w w. r e d c r o s s . o r g

F L O R I D A A C C I D E N T S T A T I S T I C SData From the Official Website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. www.flhsmv.gov

6 The Weekly News Digest, May 20, 2013________________________________________________________

C O N G O F I G H T I N G P E R S I S T SA S U N C H I E F A R R I V E S

agency said, referring to satellite photos of the site. It wasthe latest detail in a series of moves the agency suspectswere made to cover up evidence.

The U.S., Israel and Iran's other critics say the reactor atArak, in central Iran, will be able to produce plutonium forseveral bombs a year once it starts up. They have saidTehran's plan to put it on line late next year is too optimistic.

But the report said the Islamic republic had told IAEAexperts that it was holding to that timeline. The IAEA notedthat much work needed to be done at the reactor site, but itsaid Iranian technicians there already had taken delivery ofa huge reactor vessel to contain the facility's fuel. It alsodetailed progress in Tehran's plans to test the fuel.

Installations of the new IR-2m centrifuges are also of con-cern for nations fearing that Iran may want to make nucleararms, because they are believed to be able to enrich two tofive times faster than Tehran's old machines.

The IAEA first reported initial installations in February. Itsaid then that agency inspectors counted 180 of theadvanced IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz, Tehran's mainenrichment site, less than a month after Iran's Jan. 23announcement that it would start mounting them.

Diplomats said none of the machines appeared to be oper-ating and some may only be partially set up. But the rapidpace of installations indicates that Iran possesses the tech-nology and materials to mass-produce the centrifuges andmake its enrichment program much more potent.

Iranian nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi said earlier this yearthat more than 3,000 high-tech centrifuges have alreadybeen produced and will soon phase out its older-generationenriching machines at Natanz, south of Tehran.

The report also noted Iran's decision to keep its stockpile ofuranium enriched to a level just a technical step away fromweapons-grade to below the amount needed for a bomb.

More than six years of international negotiations have failedto persuade Tehran to stop enrichment and mothball theArak reactor.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman PatrickVentrell characterized the report as marking "an unfortunatemilestone with regard to Iran's illicit nuclear activities," not-ing the IAEA first reported concerns about Iran's nuclearprogram 10 years ago.

But Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA,described the allegations against Iran as "forged and fabri-cated."

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGYContinued from page 1

Congo, an enormous country the size of WesternEurope, has endured decades of conflict, especially in itsmineral-rich east. An investigation by U.N. experts foundthat Rwanda and Uganda have backed M23, which bothgovernments deny.

U.N. peacekeepers were widely criticized for failing tostop the rebel advance into Goma last November. Sincethen, the U.N. Security Council voted to create a specialintervention brigade in Congo with a mandate to attackarmed groups to bring back stability.

Ban told reporters in a news conference in the capitalthat he was deeply concerned by the renewed fighting.He stressed that international community would standwith Congo.

"We are in a very crucial and important timing at thistime," he said. "The Security Council recently strength-ened the mandate and role of the United Nations Peace-Keeping Mission - MONUSCO - with the introduction ofan intervention brigade. This is again an unprecedentedone and I am sure that this will bring peace and securityat this time. ... We are deeply concerned about therecent recurrence of violence by the M23," he said.

Only around 100 soldiers from Tanzania have arrived sofar to form part of the brigade. Congo's army has provento be no match for the rebels, who are believed to begetting high-end equipment including night vision gog-gles from Rwanda.

The M23 called the creation of the intervention brigade"a declaration of war" and have vowed to fight the U.N.should they try to enter M23 territory

from the provincial capital fewer than two weeks laterunder intense international pressure.

The Congolese army is holding its positions in the areaof Mutaho and there is no evident movement of M23headed towards Goma, said Ghosh.

Mutaho, where the fighting broke out, is a largely unpop-ulated area in the dense forest at the foot of theNyaragongo volcano, around 10 kilometers (six miles)northeast of Goma. Both sides are bombarding eachother with mortar rounds and rockets.

GOMA, Congo (AP) -- M23 rebels fired two rockets intothe eastern Congo city of Goma, killing one person andwounding four, officials said, in an apparent spilloverfrom three days of fighting raging north of the city.

The attack underscores the heightening tension in Congoand comes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonarrived in Congo's capital far to the west for a two-dayvisit. He is expected to visit Goma, where a new U.N.military brigade is being formed to attack rebel groupsand bring stability to the mineral-rich region.

The two rockets exploded in Goma's Ndosho neighbor-hood, said Col. Premanku Ghosh, a U.N. peacekeepingofficer in Congo who blamed M23 rebels. He said civil-ians were among the casualties. Earlier, another officialwith the U.N. peacekeeping mission said one mortarround had exploded in the neighborhood of Goma,apparently referring to the same attack. Ghosh said therange of the firing, over 10 kilometers (six miles) indicat-ed the weapons used were rockets.

Wednesday marked the third day of fighting between therebels and government forces just north of Goma after anearly six-month lull, officials said. Last November, theM23 rebels, who are allegedly supported and equippedby neighboring Rwanda, seized Goma before retreating

Congolese government troops patrol near Minova in easternCongo. Fighting between M23 rebels and the army continued fora second day Tuesday, May 21, 2013, near Congo's easternprovincial capital of Goma, in clashes that have so far killed 20people, all of them either soldiers or rebels, officials said. Peacetalks reached a dead end in recent weeks, and after a six-monthlull, the Congolese army and the M23 started fighting again onMonday.

F D A P A N E L B A C K S E X P E R I m E N T A Lm E R C K I N S O m N I A D R U G

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal panel of medical expertssaid that an experimental insomnia drug from Merck & Co.Inc. appears safe and effective, despite evidence fromcompany trials that the pill can cause daytime sleepinessand difficulty driving.

A majority of Food and Drug Administration panelistsvoted Wednesday that Merck's sleeping aid, suvorexant,helped patients get to sleep and stay asleep. In a sepa-rate set of votes, the panel voted that the drug appearssafe at the starting doses proposed by the company.

The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations ofits experts, though it often does.

The panel opinion was somewhat at odds with theagency's own scientists, who issued a negative review ofthe drug earlier in the day. FDA staff pointed out thatsuvorexant was associated with daytime drowsiness, driv-ing difficulties and suicidal thinking in trials conducted byMerck.

"How much is it worth to try and make the drug safer?How many people are you willing to risk versus how mucheffort are you willing to make?" said Dr. Ronald Farkas,who presented the FDA's findings.

The FDA drew attention to five women, or roughly 5 per-cent of patients, who had to stop a supervised driving testbecause they were too sleepy to continue. In anothercase, a 59-year-old man reportedly fell asleep at a traffic

h t t p : / / w w w . c h r i s t o p h e r r e e v e . o r g

light and later veered off the road while taking the drug.

The FDA suggested that a lower dose of 10 milligramsmight be safer for patients than the higher doses pro-posed by Merck.

But a majority of panelists endorsed the safety of initialdoses proposed by Merck: 15 milligrams or 20 milligramsa day for elderly patients or non-elderly patients, respec-tively. The panel backed their safety in a vote of 13-3, withone abstention.

"Start low and go slow is likely to be effective," said Dr.Matthew Rizzo of the University of Iowa. "I also think thesafety profile of this drug is not any worse and likely betterthan the drugs we are already using."

Much the meeting's discussion focused on the shortcom-ings of sleeping pills already on the market, most of whichare also associated with lingering drowsiness.

In January, the FDA required drugmakers of Ambien andsimilar sleeping pills to lower the doses of their medica-tions, based on studies showing that the drugs remain inthe bloodstream at levels high enough to interfere withdriving.

The panel narrowly voted 8-7, with one abstention, againstdoses as high as 30 milligrams and 40 milligrams, sayingthey could exacerbate problems with drowsiness and nar-colepsy.

"I think the risks are substantial and it seemed to go upwith the higher dose," said Natalie Portis, the panel'spatient representative.

Merck has suggested raising patients' prescriptions to thehigher levels if they do not respond to lower doses.

If the FDA ultimately approves suvorexant, it will be thefirst in a new group of drugs that aid sleep by blockingchemical messengers that keep people awake.

A Merck spokeswoman said Wednesday the FDA isexpected to issue a decision on suvorexant by mid-year. Ifapproved the drug will have to be scheduled as a con-trolled substance by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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_____________________________________________________The Weekly News Digest, May 27, 2013 7

m E X I C O C A R T E L D O m I N A T E S ,T O R C H E S W E S T E R N S T A T ELA RUANA, Mexico (AP) -- Michoacan is burning. A drugcartel that takes its name from an ancient monastic orderhas set fire to lumber yards, packing plants and passengerbuses in a medieval-like reign of terror.

The Knights Templar cartel is extorting protection paymentsfrom cattlemen, lime growers and businesses such as butch-ers, prompting a backlash in the western agricultural state,where some communities are fighting back, taking up armsin vigilante patrols.

Lime picker Alejandro Ayala chose to seek help from the lawinstead. After the cartel forced him out of work by shuttingdown fruit warehouses, he and several dozen co-workers,escorted by Federal Police, met on April 10 with then-stateInterior Secretary Jesus Reyna, now the acting governor.

The 41-year-old father of two only wanted to get back towork, said his wife, Martha Elena Murguia Morales.

But, as often, the cartel responded before the governmentdid.

On the way back, his convoy was ambushed, twice. Ayalaand nine others were killed.

"I called him after the first one, and he said, `They shot atus, but I'm OK,'" Murguia Morales said. "Then I called himagain, and he didn't answer."

Help finally arrived Sunday when thousands of soldiersrolled in to restore order. The government of PresidentEnrique Pena Nieto says troops will stay in Michoacan untilevery citizen lives in peace. But the offensive, headed bySecretary of Defense Salvador Cienfuegos, looks a lot likefailed operations launched previously by former PresidentFelipe Calderon, who started his first assault on organizedcrime in Michoacan shortly after taking office in late 2006.

Calderon was trying to stop drug cartels from morphing intomafias controlling all segments of society. But that's exactlywhat has happened, as they maintain country roads, controlthe local economy and mete out justice for common crimes.

In the Tierra Caliente, a remote agricultural region, fire hasbeen a favored weapon of the cartel. On the highwaybetween Coalcoman and La Ruana, the ruins of threesawmills torched by the cartel still smoldered this week.

The owners reportedly had failed to pay protection fees of120 pesos (about $10) for every cubic meter of wood theysold, the equivalent of about 10 cents for every two-by-fourboard.

The Knights Templar also demands that avocado growerspay 2,000 pesos (about $160) per hectare of trees. Avocadowarehouses were set afire this month by armed men.

Torres Chavez sells to mills that make lime oil. He usuallygets yellow, overripe, second-rate fruit.

But because of the growers' desperation to make money,they were selling him fresh green limes for a peso per kilo-gram (8 cents per pound), a third of what the fruit is normallyworth.

"This is a waste. These are good limes, they can be eaten.They shouldn't be going to the mill," said Domingo Mora, 54,as he picked up one of the limes sifting through the hoppers.

Mora's 24-year-old son, Daniel Mora Torres, was arrested inMarch along with 50 other young men from the La Ruanaself-defense force and was sent to a prison in northernMexico.

Authorities accused them of carrying banned assault rifles,and said some had links to a rival cartel, Jalisco NuevaGeneration, which they deny. The federal government seesboth the self-defense forces and the cartel as dangerousenemies.

Mora says his son is just a lime picker who couldn't work tofeed his family after the Knights Templar banned the limesales.

Meanwhile, in Mexico City, the federal government recentlydeclared a lime emergency because prices had doubled toabout 70 cents a pound (18 pesos per kilogram). For a fruitso central to Mexican cuisine, it was a crisis.

The government announced last week it would tackle theshortage by importing limes from Brazil. The governmentattributed the local scarcity to crop pests and "seasonal fluc-tuations" in production.

Sergio Ramirez, president of a lime trade group calledSistema Producto Limon, insisted there is no shortage andblamed the high prices on greedy fruit dealers and govern-ment bungling. His explanation doesn't play in the TierraCaliente.

"Isn't it ironic, Mexico is going to import limes from Brazil,because there isn't enough supply?" asked a rancher wear-ing a baseball cap and leaning back into his chair at theheadquarters of the local self-defense group inTepalcatepec. "Here, the limes are falling to the ground,because the lords of the Knights Templar won't let them besold."

The rancher, who like most of the vigilantes won't give hisname for fear of reprisal, knows the price of living under therule of the gang. They used to demand 800 to 1,000 pesos(up to $80) in protection money for each head of cattle heowned, about equal to any profit he would make from sellingthem.

The Mexican army was met with cheers when it arrived in LaRuana on Monday night. Federal Interior Secretary MiguelOsorio Chong promised that the offensive this time wouldhave better coordination, cooperation and intelligence to besuccessful.

But federal forces up against a deeply rooted local mafiathat, with at least a decade of state and local governmenttolerance, exerts almost governmental power.

The last time the federal government truly went after the car-tel, then known as La Familia, was in 2010. Federal Policekilled leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in a gunbattle andfirefights followed for weeks in dozens of spots. La Familia'sleadership fell apart, but one branch of the cartel evolvedinto the Knights Templar, which has consolidated control.

The cartel now operates relatively openly. A man resemblingits leader, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez Martinez, recentlyappeared on YouTube, calling on the federal government todo its job and saying the vigilantes were men sent by rivalcartels from outside of Michoacan.

He has regularly sent messages depicting the KnightsTemplar as home-grown Robin Hoods who take from therich, give to the poor and defend the state against othergangs.

The cartel even built public, roadside chapels to its fallenleader, "St. Nazario," which some of the vigilantes destroyed.

And it can draw crowds of supporters, either by threat, per-suasion or payment, in cities such as Apatzingan, wherehundreds of people have rallied to condemn the self-defensesquads.

Many of the vigilante squads disappeared this week with thearrival of the army, though they vow to take up arms againas soon as the soldiers leave. But the patrols continued inthe town of Buenavista, where one self-defense guard, asquare-jawed young lime picker in a straw hat, carried a 16-gauge shotgun at a checkpoint. He described the cartel thisway:

"It's like a monster with a thousand arms, that wants to con-trol everything, the way you live, the way

a masked and armed man belonging to a local self-defense group standsguard in the town of Cuemalco, Mexico. Self-defense groups started tospring up in February to fight back the Knights Templar drug cartel whichis extorting protection payments from cattlemen and lime growers, butch-ers and even marijuana growers. The federal government sees both theself-defense forces and the cartel as dangerous enemies.

carry "dirty oil" that could trigger global warming. They alsoworry about a spill. Converting tar sands into oil can uses asmuch as 15 percent more energy than conventional oil pro-duction.

Obama has twice thwarted the pipeline project amid con-cerns about a proposed route through environmentally sensi-tive land in Nebraska, even as the White House approved asouthern portion of the project from Oklahoma to Texas. The1,700-mile pipeline would travel though Montana, SouthDakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma on its way torefineries near Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

The State Department, which has completed more than15,000 pages of environmental review on the proposedpipeline over the years, said in a draft report this spring that theproject was unlikely to cause significant environmental impactto most resources along the planned route. The report alsosaid other options to move the oil from Canada to Gulf Coastrefineries, such as trucks or rail cars, would be far worse for cli-mate change.

The State Department expects to issue a final report thissummer. The department has authority over the pipelinebecause it crosses a U.S. border.

This latest attempt to speed the pipeline marks at least thefourth time the House has tried to do so.

S P E E D P I P E L I N E

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The heart of a conflict where a mafia openly rules and thegovernment is largely absent is nowhere more evident thanin the lime groves that cover the hot, hilly plains, miles andmiles of trees with the fruit yellowing and falling into uncol-lected heaps on the ground.

Mexico is the world's largest producer of limes, according tothe U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 2 million tonsin 2012. Much of its exports go to the United States, andMichoacan contributes a large share of that: nearly 475,000tons of the fruit last year, half from the Tierra Caliente.

It sometimes seems like everything in Mexico, from tacos topotato chips to beer, gets a squeeze of lime.

By late last year, the cartel wasn't just extorting money fromlime growers and packers. It had started charging per-boxpayments from lime pickers, who make only $10 to $15 perday laboring under the scorching sun.

With officials doing nothing to help, self-defense groupsstarted to spring up in February to fight back. Heavily armedmen in masks and baseball caps began manning barricadesalong highways and patrolling the countryside, sometimesopenly battling the cartel. Last month

Then the cartel shut the warehouses, forbidding brokers tobuy limes and cutting off work for the pickers who had revolt-ed.

Straw-hatted fruit broker Carlos Torres Chavez watched onTuesday as thousands of fresh green limes poured down thechutes from his plant's giant hoppers into a 37-ton truck forshipment to a processing mill. It was his first day open in twomonths, thanks to the arrival of the army.

neys to prove Trump secretly plotted to defraud her beforeshe even signed up to buy.

"What do they call it? A bait and switch," he said. "Switch isnot enough. ... There is no evidence whatsoever of a secretplan."

In two days of sometimes combative testimony last week,Trump denied cheating Goldberg. And he told reporters out-side court that he was the victim, not her. He declared,"She's trying to rip me off."

On Wednesday, though, Kulwin said Trump took the stand"to lie, evade and spout infomercials.

He also mocked Trump for telling jurors he never took notesof business meetings and so couldn't say for sure when cer-tain decisions were made and by whom.

"People who don't want to be found out don't write thingsdown. They're not stupid," he said. "And Donald Trump maybe a lot of things, but he's not stupid."

Kulwin told jurors Goldberg was seeking a total of $6 millionin damages.

"Send a message not just to Mr. Trump - but to tell otherslike him," he said pounding his hand on a podium. "You cansay to them, `These people who do these things havecrossed the line.'"

But Trump's attorney told jurors their obligation was to theevidence, not to their sense of sympathy or to any urge tosend a message.

"This isn't the chance for you to decide that Wall Street isbad ... and (now) we're going to show these fat cats,"Novack said. "Look at the facts."

T R U m P C A S EContinued from page 1 Continued from page 3

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Everything had to come together just

perfectly to create the killer tornado in Moore, Okla.: wind

speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when

they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed

the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service gave it the top-of-

the-scale rating of EF5 for wind speed and breadth, and

severity of damage. Wind speeds were estimated at between

200 and 210 mph. The death count is 24 so far, including at

least nine children. The United States averages about one

EF5 a year, but this was the first in nearly two years.

To get such an uncommon storm to form is "a bit of a

Goldilocks problem," said Pennsylvania State University

meteorology professor Paul Markowski. "Everything has to be

just right."

For example, there must be humidity for a tornado to form, but

too much can cut the storm off. The same goes with the cold

air in a downdraft: Too much can be a storm-killer.

But when the ideal conditions do occur, watch out. The power

of nature beats out anything man can create.

"Everything was ready for explosive development yesterday,"

said Colorado State University meteorology professor Russ

Schumacher, who was in Oklahoma launching airborne

devices that measured the energy, moisture and wind speeds

on Monday. "It all just unleashed on that one area."

Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press

used real time measurements, some made by Schumacher,

to calculate the energy released during the storm's 40-minute

life span. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than

600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more

experts at the high end. Their calculations were based on

energy measured in the air and then multiplied over the size

and duration of the storm.

An EF5 tornado has the most violent winds on Earth, more

powerful than a hurricane. The strongest winds ever meas-

ured were the 302 mph reading, measured by radar, during

the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 3, 1999, according

to Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the Weather

Underground.

Still, when it comes to weather events, scientists usually know

more about and can better predict hurricanes, winter storms,

heat waves and other big events.

That's because even though a tornado like the one that struck

Moore was 1.3 miles wide, with a path of 17 miles long, in

meteorological terms it was small, hard to track, rare and

even harder to study. So tornadoes are still more of a mystery

than their hurricane cousins, even though tropical storms

form over ocean areas where no one is, while this tornado

formed only miles from the very National Weather Service

office that specializes in tornadoes.

"This phenomenon can be so deadly you would think that

something that catastrophic, that severe would lend itself to

understanding," said Adam Houston, meteorology professor

at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "But we're fighting the

inherent unpredictability of these small-scale phenomena."

Unlike hurricanes, which forecasters can fly through in planes

and monitor with buoys and weather stations, usually over a

period of days, tornadoes form quickly and normally last only

a matter of minutes. While meteorologists and television

hosts chase tornadoes and try to get readings, it's not usual-

ly enough. This storm lasted 40 minutes - long for a regular

tornado but not too unusual for such a violent one, said

research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe

Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Still, the conditions needed to form such a violent and devas-

tating tornado were there and forecasters knew it, warning

five days in advance that something big could happen,

Brooks said.

By Monday morning, forecasters at the National Weather

Center, home of the storm lab and storm prediction center,

knew "that any storm that formed in that environment had the

potential to be a strong to violent tornado," he said.

"This is a pretty classic setup," Brooks said.

Tornadoes have two main ingredients: moist energy in the

atmosphere and wind shear. Wind shear is the difference

between wind at high altitudes and wind near the surface. The

more moist energy and the greater the wind shear, the better

the chances for tornadoes.

But just because the conditions are right doesn't mean a vio-

lent tornado will form, and scientists still don't know why they

occur in certain spots in a storm and not others, and why at

certain times and not others.

On Monday, the moist energy came up from the Gulf of

Mexico, the wind shear from the jet stream plunging from

Canada. "Where they met is where the Moore storm got start-

ed," Brooks said.

With the third strong storm hitting Moore in 14 years - and fol-

lowing roughly the same path as an EF5 that killed 40 people

in 1999 and an EF4 that injured 45 others in 2003 - some peo-

ple are wondering why Moore?

It's a combination of geography, meteorology and lots of bad

luck, experts said.

If you look at the climate history of tornadoes in May, you will

see they cluster in a spot, maybe 100 miles wide, in central

Oklahoma, Houston said. That's where the weather condi-

tions of warm, moist air and strong wind shear needed for tor-

nadoes combine, in just the right balance.

"Central Oklahoma is a hot spot and there's a good reason for

it," Houston said. "There's this perfect combination where the

jet stream is strong, the instability is large and the typical posi-

tion for this juxtaposition climatologically is central

Oklahoma."

And the timing has to be perfect. Earlier in the year, there's

not enough warm moist air, but the jet stream is stronger.

Later, the jet stream is weaker but the air is moister and

warmer.

8 The Weekly News Digest, May 27, 2013 ___________________________________________________________

P O W E R O F m O O R E T O R N A D OD W A R F S H I R O S H I m A B O m B

The hot spot is more than just the city of Moore. Several

meteorologists offer the same explanation for why that

Oklahoma City suburb seemed to be hit repeatedly by violent

tornadoes: Bad luck.

Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama

have been struck the most, seven times each. More than half

of these top-of-the-scale twisters are in just five states:

Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas, Kansas, and Iowa. Less than 1

percent of all U .S. tornadoes are this violent - only about 10

a year, Brooks said.

The United States' Great Plains is the "best place on Earth"

for the formation of violent tornadoes because of geography,

Markowski said. You need the low pressure systems coming

down off the Rocky Mountains colliding with the warm moist

unstable air coming north from the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists know the key ingredients that go into a devastating

tornado. But they are struggling to figure out why they devel-

op in some big storms and not others. They also are still try-

ing to determine what effects, if any, global warming has on

tornadoes. The jet stream can shift to cause a record number

of tornadoes - or an unusually low number of them.

Early research, much of it by Brooks, predicts that as the

world warms, the moist energy - or instability - will increase,

and the U.S. will have more thunderstorms. But at the same

time, the needed wind shear - the difference between wind

speed and direction at different altitudes - will likely decrease.

The two factors go in different directions and it's hard to tell

which will win out. Brooks and others think that eventually

there may be more thunderstorms and fewer days with torna-

does, but more tornadoes on those days when twisters do

strike.

"Tornadoes are perhaps the most difficult things to connect to

climate change of any extreme," said NASA climate scientist

Tony Del Genio. "Because we still don't understand all the

factors required to get a tornado."

P O R T L A N D ,Ore. (AP) -- Themayor ofPortland, Ore.,has concededdefeat in an effortto add fluoride tothe city's drinkingw a t e r .

With more than 80 percent of the expected ballotscounted late Tuesday night, the Multnomah Countyelection website showed the fluoride proposal failing, 60percent to 40 percent.

Mayor Charlie Hales supported fluoridation and said"the measure lost despite my own `yes' vote.

"That's sure disappointing, but I accept the will of thevoters," he said in a statement.

Fluoridation foes were delighted.

"We're very excited with how the numbers look," saidKellie Barnes with the anti-fluoride group Clean WaterPortland.

If the early returns hold up, "then Portlanders spoke outto value our clean water and ask for better solutions forour kids."

Voters in Portland twice rejected fluoridation beforeapproving it in 1978. That plan was overturned twoyears later, before any fluoride was ever added to thewater.

The City Council voted last year to add fluoride to thewater supply that serves about 900,000 people. Butopponents quickly gathered enough signatures to forcea vote on the subject.

Rejection of the proposal would keep Portland thelargest U.S. city without fluoride in the water or withplans to add it. San Jose, Calif., - which is larger thanPortland - has been working to add fluoride to its watersupply.

Voters had weeks to make their choice in the mail-ballotelection. By Tuesday it was too late to rely on the post-

man, so drop boxes were placed across the city toaccommodate those who waited until the final day.

"We were still getting ballots from drop sites close to 8p.m.," said Eric Sample, a Multnomah County electionsspokesman. That meant a "pretty darn long night" ofvote counting that likely would stretch into Wednesday,he said.

Supporters and opponents of fluoridation raised hun-dreds of thousands of dollars and traded accusations ofsign-stealing and shoddy science in an election that hasbeen the city's most contentious of the 21st century.

A sampling of voters dropping off ballots earlier Tuesdayin rainy Pioneer Courthouse Square found peopleopposed to fluoridation.

"People don't like change. When in doubt, say no," saidTracy Rauscher, a native Portlander who, like a nativePortlander, did not use an umbrella.

Portland's drinking water already contains naturallyoccurring fluoride, though not at levels considered to beeffective at fighting cavities. Backers of fluoridation sayadding more of it to the water is a safe, effective andaffordable way to improve the health of low-income chil-dren whose parents don't stress proper nutrition anddental hygiene.

Opponents describe fluoride as a chemical that will ruinthe city's pristine water supply, and they argue thatadding it would violate an individual's right to consent tomedication.

Although most Americans drink water treated with fluo-ride, it has long been a contentious topic. In the 1950s,fluoridation was feared as a Communist plot. Today,people worry that its effect on the body has not beensufficiently examined.

"I don't want chemicals in my water," Sarah Lazzarosaid after voting Tuesday. "I know that there are reallyno known health risks with it, but there's a lot of thingswe find out later in life really do have health risks."

The issue re-appeared on Portland's radar late lastsummer, when health organizations that had quietly lob-bied the City Council for a year persuaded the panel tounanimously approve fluoridation by March 2014.

Days before the vote, 227 people - most of them oppo-nents - signed up to testify at a public hearing that last-ed 6 1/2 hours. When their objections weren't heeded,they quickly gathered tens of thousands of signatures toforce Tuesday's vote.

P O R T L A N D , O R E . ,REJECTING WATERF L U O R I D A T I O N

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2013 aerial photo, emergency respon-ders make their way down a street of damaged homes followingMonday's tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.