| Cop lab backlog haunts victims
A SEX attacker who almost strangled a young woman in an unprovoked attack is free because of a backlog in DNA testing which could provide vital clues. More than four months after university student Nina Funnell, 23, was threatened with a box cutter and almost raped, vital DNA tests on her clothes and swabs are yet to be done. Ms Funnell has been told by police there is so much evidence from across the state to be tested they simply have too few resources to test items quickly. The delay has left Ms Funnell living in fear, frustrated that a simple DNA test could lead to her attacker being locked up and stop him from striking other women. "If he is a repeat offender there is a good chance he is out there now attacking other women or thinking about attacking another woman, in which case I would have thought it would be a matter of urgency to test the DNA," she said yesterday.
Freed by DNA, paid by Delco
NICHOLAS Yarris spent 22 years on Pennsylvania's death row, convicted in 1982 of raping and murdering a Delaware County woman then dumping her body in a church parking lot. For those lost years, he has now earned $500 a day. Yesterday, Yarris, 46, received the last installment of a recent $4 million cash settlement in a malicious-prosecution lawsuit against Delaware County. The civil suit was first filed in U.S. District Court in 2004, eight months after Yarris was released from prison, having spent 8,057 days there - the first man exonerated by DNA evidence from Pennsylvania's death row. Now, Yarris must learn how to live a life not entwined with prisons, courts and that now-ambiguous word - justice. "As far as I'm concerned, the justice system is no longer a part of my life, and that's very strange to me because it's been a big part of my life since 1981," he said when reached by phone yesterday at his home in England, in a suburb of London.
Decision On Possible New Trial For DeJac Days Away
Within the next few days, District Attorney Frank Clark says he'll decide whether he will oppose a new trial for Lynn DeJac.
For the past 13 years, DeJac has been in prison, convicted of killing her daughter Crystalynn.
On Friday, the county Crime Lab completed its testing of DNA evidence from Crystalynn's bedroom, the scene of the crime.
The testing was prompted after Buffalo Police named DeJac's boyfriend from back then, Dennis Donohue, as a "person of interest" in the crime.
DeJac's attorney, Andy LoTempio, says the tests reveal that DNA, which can be tied to Donohue, has been found three different times at the scene:
In a spot of Crystalynn's blood on the wall of her bedroom;
A swab taken from a rape kit done on Crystalynn;
And what was unknown until now, on the sheets on her bed.
Lawmakers tune out pleas to fund the arts
That's far less than top-ranked Hawaii, $4.84, and less than each of the state's Midwestern neighbors, including No. 9 Minnesota, $1.67; No. 18 Illinois, $1.06; No. 30 Nebraska, 66 cents; and No. 33 Missouri, 64 cents. When arts council officials explained those numbers to a legislative committee last fall, "there were some jaws dropping," Iowa Arts Council division administrator Mary Sundet Jones said. "There's always interest in how Iowa compares with other states, and this was something they weren't aware of."
The Iowa Arts Council still hasn't recovered from the drastic cuts it took in 2001, when its budget shrank by nearly 40 percent. The Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the council, lost nearly one-third of its staff. Arts agencies in other states faced similar financial problems due to widespread cutbacks following the dot-com bust in the national economy.
Fatal shooting: First picture of victim
Mr Poru was with another man, aged 18, who was also injured and who is now in hospital in a stable condition. The men are thought to have been shot by two suspects who approached the vehicle. A post-mortem examination revealed Mr Poru died of gunshot wounds to the chest. Police patrols are due to be increased in the area, following the murder. .
Major ORAC Differences Among Top Antioxidant Beverages
POTOMAC, Md., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Health and nutrition researcher Kimberly Day tested three of the top selling antioxidant drinks on the market to determine if they are delivering the benefits they claim to offer. Ms. Day sent samples of MonaVie, Xango, and Thai-Go to Brunswick Laboratories, which is a nationally recognized for their antioxidant testing. The drinks were tested to determine their ORAC value. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is the most widely accepted method of measuring antioxidant content in food. Results indicated that MonaVie had the lowest hydro-ORAC value (23,323), with Xango just slightly higher at 24,480. However, Thai-Go was nearly twice as high as either of the other two beverages tested, coming in at 51,939. All three drinks are comparatively priced and all are marketed as high-quality antioxidant beverages.
UK gov backs Trading Places DNA study
Government-backed sociologists are aiming to pin economic status, crime and beliefs on our genes in a new £15m survey of 100,000 Britons. The "UK Household Longitudinal Study" will replace and expand on the DNA analysis-free British Household Panel Survey, which began in 1991. .
Primary ballot still a blank slate for voters
That's because California Democrats allow decline-to-state registrants to vote in the primary, while Republicans bar them. As of the December report from the California secretary of state, there were about 29,503 decline-to-staters in Stanislaus County, about 14 percent of the county's registered voters. Hudson said many of those voters more closely identify with Democrats, but don't register with the party because they're cynical about the U.S. political system in general. "There's a feeling, especially among young people, that Democrat or Republican, it doesn't really matter," he said. Hudson said his group works to register more Democrats and plans to push from now until November, when voters pick the 44th president. For the Republicans, the independent vote won't make an impact in the primary.
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