Putin denies he is returning Russia to Stalinism

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was not returning Russia to the era of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and denied any political motive in the prosecution and jailing of opponents.

In response to a question from a liberal journalist at his annual phone-in, Putin said he saw "no element of Stalinism" in the country since his return to the presidency last May.

He said Russia must never return to the cult of personality, repressions and labor camps under Stalin, who controlled the Soviet Union for three decades until his death in 1953, but that this did not mean Russia should not have order and discipline.

"Nobody is putting anyone behind bars for their political views," Putin added in reply to a question about the jailing last year of two female members of the Pussy Riot protest group and the trial of protest leader Alexei Navalny on theft charges.

He said he was certain that Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and organizer of anti-Putin protests who could face up to 10 years in prison, would have a fair trial.

(Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-denies-returning-russia-stalinism-115341314--business.html

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A way of life - Tampa Bay Newspapers

ST. PETE BEACH ? Shane Webb has always spent a lot of time on or near the water.

Whether it was teaching himself how to surf as a kid while on family vacations in Daytona Beach, riding a wave in Hawaii or paddleboarding down the Tennessee River in his hometown of Chattanooga, the desire to be involved in some type of water sport has been a part of his life.

So when the opportunity came a few years ago to open a paddleboard rental business with a partner in Tennessee, Webb decided it was time to end a 12-year career as a police officer and take the plunge, so to speak.

?You either get on or get off,? he said.

Webb decided to get on. Since then, he has expanded his business to include a shop and rentals on the beach behind the Post Card Inn.

His shop, Saltwater Kite and Paddle, at 6340 Gulf Blvd., specializes in the sale of paddleboards and kiteboards, but the bulk of time is spent next to the surf watching over his paddleboard rentals.

Webb, 39, and his fianc?e Grace Marcel, are entrepreneurs in one of the fastest growing recreation water sports in America.

Both offer kiteboarding lessons and rentals, but prefer to steer most people toward the safer sport of paddleboarding.

?It?s way easier and a much more forgiving sport,? said Webb, whose nickname is Waterboy. ?If you have the least bit of coordination you can do it.?

He said the sport dates back to the 1920s in Hawaii when former U.S. Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku taught surfing lessons. Many of Kahanamoku?s students wanted keepsake photographs and because of the distance offshore, beach photographers couldn?t get good shots. Opportunistic photographers would paddle out on surfboards and carefully shoot their subjects without losing control of their cameras.

More recently, American surfer Laird Hamilton has taken up the sport, spurring a new generation of interest in the sport.

?Not everybody can surf,? said Webb. ?This is the closest a lot of people will come to surfing.?

Because of that, he said the sport has grown ?like wildfire? the last three or four years.

?Most surf shops have gone to them (paddleboards) because they?re so easy to use,? Webb said.

On a good day, Webb said he rents boards to about 25 people. Rates are $35 for an hour, $25 for a half-hour and $55 for three hours.

?We give a short tutorial,? he said. ?We tell them do this and don?t do that to make sure everybody is on the same page as far as safety.?

This compares with three to four hours of instruction before turning someone loose with the more expensive kiteboarding equipment.

For the most part, the tranquil water of the Gulf of

Mexico is perfect for paddleboarding.

?Typically, we have flat enough days and flatter makes it easier to learn,? Webb said. ?We don?t even open if it?s too rough.?

He?s rented boards to all ages, ranging from 6 to 73.

?If you?re in shape and have the slightest amount of coordination, you can do it,? he said.

Webb rents varying sizes of paddleboards but said his ?magic number? is 10-feet, 6 inches to 11 feet in length and 30 to 32 inches wide.

Good boards range in price from $1,000 to $2,000 and good paddles run about $250.

Webb also organizes a pair of paddleboarding events each year. The Tampa Bay Winter SUP Series is held from December to February and the Pacifico Paddle Challenge races are held in early November.

This year the third edition of the Paddle Challenge will be a two-day event on Nov. 9-10. It will include zigzag races, relays, kids competition, an 8-mile distance race and a 4-mile open race.

New this year will be the addition of kayaks, outrigger canoes and prone paddleboards.

Plans also call for a luau, complete with Polynesian dancers from Walt Disney World, live music and plenty of good food. The luau will be included in the entry fee for the race competitors but the general public can also take part too. Cost will be $10 for adults, $5 for children, Webb said.

?We want to get the community involved and to come out and watch the competition,? Webb said. ?We want to push the kids participation to get the community involved more and to understand the sport.?

For more information on the Paddle Challenge or paddleboarding in general, stop by Webb?s shop or give him a call at 423-463-1847.

Source: http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/beach_beacon/content_articles/042413_bhb-03.txt

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OBU communications staff help host national workshop; Zimny ...

Helping shape Baptist Communicators Association?s national branding for years to come, Brooke Zimny was honored last week for designing BCA?s new logo.

Zimny, Ouachita?s assistant director of communications, has been a member of BCA since 2011. BCA is a national professional development organization for Baptist communicators serving in such areas as editorial, electronic media, graphic design, management, marketing, photography and public relations.

This year?s BCA annual workshop was held last week at the Capital Hotel in Little Rock with Arkansas BCA members hosting their colleagues from across the nation.

Trennis Henderson, vice president for communications at Ouachita, served as program committee chair for the event held April 17-20. Serving with him on the program committee were Zimny, a 2008 Ouachita graduate, and Matt Ramsey, director of information and communication for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and a 2003 OBU grad, as well as Stella Prather, director of communications for Arkansas Baptist Children?s Homes, and Tim Yarbrough, editor of Arkansas Baptist News.

?Led by program chair Trennis Henderson and his team, those attending the 2013 BCA workshop in Little Rock experienced an outstanding mix of challenging professional development, along with time for building important relationships with colleagues,? said Jim Veneman, BCA?s newly elected president. Veneman, director of visual communication for Union University, is a 1975 Ouachita graduate.

?The theme for this year?s workshop was ?Mission: Impact.? The goal was to highlight the life-changing impact our work can have as Christian communicators as well as our professional mission,? Veneman added. ?From start to finish we were reminded of the many ways we reach a lost world. Creative breakout sessions, outstanding field trips and a powerful mission experience provided the heart of an excellent workshop.?

The four-day workshop featured professional development breakout sessions, networking and fellowship as well as field trips to Heifer International and the Clinton Presidential Library plus the annual Wilmer C. Fields Awards Banquet. Ouachita?s Office of Communications earned two BCA awards in the national competition ? one for the music video, ?OBU Lipdub: Tunes Unleashed? and one for the design of the new Dr. Jack?s Coffeehouse logo.

?Tunes Unleashed,? released in December 2012, has been viewed at www.vimeo.com/obu/lipdub more than 15,000 times in more than 80 nations. It was produced by the Office of Communications in partnership with student volunteers, the Office of Admissions Counseling and Dean Film & Video of Memphis, Tenn.

The Dr. Jack?s Coffeehouse logo was designed in honor of Ouachita?s founding president, Dr. John W. ?Jack? Conger. The Office of Communications staff worked with Ferris Williams, assistant professor of visual arts, to design the award-winning logo which is featured on coffeehouse signage, coffee mugs and T-shirts.

BCA, founded in 1953, is marking its 60th anniversary this year. Seeking to update the organization?s professional branding, BCA leaders invited members to submit designs for a new logo to be voted on by fellow members and officers.

Three of Zimny?s designs were among the top five submissions, with one of the three being adopted as BCA?s new logo. She and her husband, Ren? Zimny, OBU?s assistant director of graphic services and a 2008 Ouachita graduate, collaborated on the logo designs. The winning logo was unveiled during the final session of last week?s workshop. The presentation included a plaque presented to Zimny, the unveiling of a new BCA banner featuring the logo and a reception following the presentation that included a cake sporting the new logo design.

?The annual BCA meeting is something I look forward to every year, but it was especially memorable this year serving on the program committee that planned and hosted the event,? Zimny said. ?It was fun introducing communicators from across the nation to Little Rock and many of the Ouachita alums in the area who are experts in the communications field. Being recognized for designing the new BCA logo was a huge honor and incredibly humbling ? especially after seeing so much great work from our peers throughout the workshop and awards banquet.?

Two Ouachitonians were awarded academic scholarships by BCA. Rachel Gilmer, a senior mass communications major from Princeton, Texas, received a $1,000 undergraduate scholarship and Mary Lynn Burns, a 2006 Ouachita graduate, received a $500 graduate scholarship. The scholarships are awarded ?to encourage the growth and professional development of college, university and seminary students in the field of Baptist communications.?

Other Ouachita alumni and faculty members who participated in the annual workshop include:

? Dr. Terry Carter, associate dean of Ouachita?s Pruet School of Christian Studies, and Dr. Ken Shaddox, a 1983 OBU graduate and senior pastor of Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock, led morning devotionals for workshop participants.

? Andy Dean, founder and president of Dean Film & Video, is a former Ouachita student. He led breakout sessions on ?Visual Impact I: Telling Your Story while Building the Brand? and ?Visual Impact II: Creating Quality through Cinematic Motion.?

? Alyse Eady, a 2010 Ouachita graduate, Miss Arkansas 2010 and co-anchor of ?Today?s THV This Morning,? was the featured speaker and performer at BCA?s opening reception at the Old State House.

? Brent Gambill, a 2001 OBU grad, serves as vice president and director of digital media for Martin-Wilbourn Partners in Little Rock. He was the featured speaker during the conference?s keynote luncheon, addressing the issue of ?Social Media Impact: Embrace Faith.?

? Dr. Craig Hamilton, OBU?s Lena Goodwin Trimble Professor of Music and director of bands, led the OBU Jazz Combo in performing at the Wilmer C. Fields Awards Banquet. In addition to Hamilton playing trumpet, five Ouachita students performing in the jazz combo were: Michael Curtis, bass; Chris Mazen, piano; Brent Nessler, tenor saxophone; Bret Steed, trombone; and Zach Zucha, drums.

? Denver Peacock, a 1994 OBU graduate, is senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods in Little Rock. He led a breakout session on ?Maximizing Marketing: Moms, Bikes, Hoops & Hogs.?

? Jim Veneman, a 1975 Ouachita graduate, led a pair of breakout sessions titled ?Photography I: What You Need to Know? and ?Photography II: What?s Next??

? Dr. Randall Wight, dean of Ouachita?s Sutton School of Social Sciences, led a breakout sessions on ?Strategic Planning that Works.?

BCA members also participated in a local mission project, providing financial donations, gifts and a baby shower for the Promise House Maternity Home in Little Rock, a ministry of the Arkansas Baptist Children?s Homes and Family Ministries to unwed, pregnant teens and preteens.

?It was a special privilege to help plan, coordinate and host this year?s BCA annual meeting for our colleagues from across the nation,? said Henderson, a former BCA president and member for more than 30 years. ?With the focus on ?Mission: Impact,? we were able to highlight the significant mission and ministry of Baptist communications while also showcasing the incredible skills of several Ouachitonians and other workshop leaders.?

For more information about Baptist Communicators Association, visit www.baptistcommunicators.org.

Source: http://media.obu.edu/2013/04/obu-communications-staff-help-host-national-workshop-zimny-honored-by-peers/

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Bush library not meant to be 'a monument to himself'

A mangled beam from the World Trade Center on display at the Bush library (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

DALLAS?Former first lady Laura Bush formally unveiled the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum to the media on Wednesday, saying she hopes the facility will help Americans ?really learn and relearn? about her husband's presidency.

Speaking on the eve of the library?s dedication ceremony, Bush emphasized that her husband?s goal was not to create a facility that would be ?a monument to himself,? but one that would shed light on the decisions he made as president and the principles that guided him in public life.

?If it?s based on one personality, it becomes less relevant over time,? Bush told reporters. ?But if it?s based on the principles that we believe are the most important for our country, it can stay relevant.?

The library, located on the grounds of Southern Methodist University near downtown Dallas, is designed to emphasize how the 9/11 attacks dramatically changed the country and the course of Bush?s presidency.

Entering the library?s main exhibit, visitors first see photos of George Bush and his family against the backdrop of large photos of his Texas ranch. It casts him as a more centrist figure driven by faith and a ?call to service,? and emphasizes his outreach to Latino voters and his pledge to be a ?compassionate conservative.?

The exhibit focuses on Bush?s proposals on education reform, including No Child Left Behind, and other key domestic issues Laura Bush said her husband thought would drive his presidency. But as visitors turn a corner, they immediately come upon a large, mangled steel beam from the World Trade Center?s south tower, which the library says was near the point of impact when a hijacked airliner crashed into the building nearly 12 years ago.

The beam, which the museum encourages visitors to touch, stands vertically in the room, with its backdrop a wall listing the names of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, as well as video monitors playing news footage from that day and excerpts of George Bush?s speech to the nation that night.

A nearby exhibit shows artifacts familiar to anyone who closely followed news coverage in the days after the attacks, including the bullhorn that Bush used to address firefighters and other rescue workers at the World Trade Center site.

Laura Bush said family members of some of the victims of the 9/11 attacks would attend Thursday?s dedication ceremony. She predicted the section of the library dealing with the attacks would be the most emotional for visitors and said the goal was to tell the story of what happened that day from Bush?s perspective for future generations.

Her husband, she said, recently gave a family with young children a tour and was surprised that the kids on the tour "weren't even alive then, so they had no direct memory of it as all of us do."

She added, ?It?s important to remind people it was a very pivotal moment and the most challenging moment in our history.?

From there, the library transitions to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?with a case displaying artifacts, including the gun that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was carrying when he was captured during the war in 2003. It also includes a deck of playing cards handed out to troops in Iraq featuring the faces of Saddam and other Iraqi leaders wanted for arrest.

On the issue of Iraq, a large display lists a lengthy ?threat assessment? about Saddam's regime ahead of the 2003 invasion. It repeats many of the arguments the Bush administration made in justifying the war, including how Saddam had ?refused to account for his chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.?

But it?s also here where George Bush makes something of a mea culpa. The display notes that ?no stockpiles of WMD (weapons of mass destruction) were found" although ?post-invasion inspections confirmed that Saddam Hussein had the capacity to resume production.?

Bush is equally upfront about two other subjects: his handling of Hurricane Katrina and the economic collapse in fall 2008.

All are featured issues in the ?Decision Points? theater, where visitors get the chance to choose their own path when presented with the information Bush had at the time he made his own calls in those cases.

?One of the things George really wanted was for people to know ? how many decisions come to the desk of the president of the United States,? Laura Bush said. ?He wanted to show people what it?s like to have to make decisions quickly with the press hounding you on what you?re going to decide and what you?re going to do, but also how you have to rely on the information you are given.?

What?s striking about the museum, however, is who?s not featured. Vice President Dick Cheney isn't prominently mentioned in any of the library?s exhibits?and is indeed featured less than the Bush family's two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, who are immortalized in a pair of bronze statues.

?There are statues of dogs but no Dick Cheney,? one reporter on the tour joked.

Karen Hughes, a longtime Bush adviser who was at the library, defended the approach, saying the library is more about ?principles? than individual people. She said Cheney had been interviewed by library archivists, but none of that footage appeared to be on display on Wednesday morning during the media tour.

The library, Hughes said, ?is about the big principles and ongoing policies that he and Mrs. Bush felt were most important to their public service.?

But Cheney?s absence was striking?particularly in the 9/11 section and the subsequent exhibit on the wars given his immense influence on George Bush at that time.

The library also has two large sections focusing on issues that, Bush and his aides believe, history will regard kindly, including his efforts to pass immigration reform and his work to stop AIDS in Africa. It also includes a scale replica of the Oval Office, where people can sit at a desk modeled after the one Bush used. That room looks out onto a replica of the White House Promenade and the Rose Garden?only this one features roses from Texas and other native plants.

?Very few people have actually ever had a chance to walk into the Oval Office,? Laura Bush said. ?And this will give everyone who comes to the museum the chance to see what it?s like.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/laura-bush-library-not-monument-her-husband-182824927--politics.html

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More antibiotics may not always be better

Finish the course of pills: that's what all doctors say when they prescribe antibiotics, and for now, you should heed them. But new research suggests that might not always work as well as they assume, and may even compound the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Doctors consider it good practice to hit bacterial infections with high doses of antibiotics for days or longer, to make sure all the bacteria are dead. To treat tough infections such as TB, they combine two or more antibiotics in order to prevent the evolution of resistance, so if a bug starts resisting drug A, it will still be killed by drug B.

But much of this is based on assumption rather than evidence, says Robert Beardmore at the University of Exeter in the UK. He and his colleagues tested this by treating cultures of E. coli with two antibiotics considered synergistic ? they kill more bacteria together than separately. They found that bacteria did indeed die off fast on the first day.

But any bacteria that survived were those with genes for resisting both drugs, and they boomed as drug-sensitive competitors died. Bacterial loads were higher after treatment than they had been before it, and higher drug doses just quickened the growth of resistant populations.

"It's a double-edged sword," says Andrew Read of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who was not involved in the work. "If you kill all the bacteria with your initial dose, great." But if not ? and antibiotics fall to sub-lethal levels at some time or in some part of the body during treatment ? then problems arise.

Further experiments performed by Beardmore's team suggest that not only synergistic drugs but also longer treatment might not hammer the surviving bacteria as intended. Instead such approaches might make more of the survivors antibiotic-resistant, and may even worsen the infection. "We need to base treatment on better evidence," says Read.

"I'm not advocating low dosing," says Beardmore, as this does lead to resistance. But, he says, we need a better understanding of how antibiotics work in different situations instead of going on untested assumptions.

He is now testing whether antibiotics that antagonise each other ? one may interfere with another's binding to bacteria, for instance ? might actually work better than synergistic drugs. This counter-intuitive possibility, thrown up by a mathematical model of bacterial evolution, might work in practice because antibiotics that antagonise each other do not make antibiotic resistance so advantageous.

Journal reference: PLoS Biology, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001540

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Lawmakers ask if intel blocked before Boston bombs

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lawmakers say U.S. law enforcement and other agencies may not have shared enough intelligence about the Boston Marathon bombing suspects in the months before the deadly bombings.

But none of the lawmakers are saying ? yet? that better sharing could have stopped the attacks, after FBI officials briefed them on the investigation Tuesday.

The chairwoman and top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee ? Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss ? say the incident showed there was a lack of sharing of some information, despite intelligence-sharing reforms implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Officials say Homeland Security officials were tracking now-deceased suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev's (tsahr-NEYE'-ehv) trip to Russia last year, for instance, but were not coordinating their suspicions with the FBI.

Investigators suspect he may have become radicalized during that journey.

Associated Press

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Lauryn Hill tax evasion sentencing delayed

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? A federal judge postponed Lauryn Hill's tax evasion sentencing on Monday but not before scolding the eight-time Grammy-winning singer for reneging on a promise to make restitution by now.

Hill pleaded guilty last year to not paying federal taxes on $1.8 million earned from 2005 to 2007. At that time, her attorney said she would pay restitution by the time of her sentencing. It was revealed Monday in court that Hill has paid $50,000 of a total of $554,000.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo criticized her for relying on the promise of a recording contract to pay the tax bill.

"This is not someone who stands before the court penniless," Arleo said to Hill's attorney, Nathan Hochman. "This is a criminal matter. Actions speak louder than words, and there has been no effort here to pay these taxes."

The reclusive singer didn't speak during the proceeding and left the court without commenting. Arleo rescheduled the sentencing for May 6.

The total Hill owes is in dispute. Hochman contends it is slightly less than $1 million, counting civil penalties and interest, while the U.S. attorney's office estimates it at a little more than $1 million. Hochman accused the government of trying to pad the amount because once it surpasses $1 million, the sentencing range for Hill under federal guidelines would increase from 24 to 30 months to 30 to 36 months.

Whatever the range is, Hochman said he would seek a probationary sentence for Hill, a 37-year-old South Orange resident who has six children.

After the proceeding, Hochman said Hill was about to sign a loan against two properties that would allow her to pay the remainder of the restitution before her next court date.

"I fully expect that by May 3 Ms. Hill will be able to pay back all the restitution she has," Hochman said.

Hill has a recording contract but hasn't yet realized any revenue from it, Hochman said outside the courtroom.

Hill got her start with The Fugees and began her solo career in 1998 with the acclaimed album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."

At the time of her June arrest, Hill wrote in a long post on the Internet how she had rejected pop culture's "climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, sexism and ageism." She also wrote that she hadn't paid taxes since she withdrew from society to guarantee her family's safety but that she had always intended to rectify the situation.

"When I was working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned above, I filed and paid my taxes," she wrote. "This only stopped when it was necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of myself and my family."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lauryn-hill-tax-evasion-sentencing-delayed-203152256.html

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