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Web site traces milk from fridge to cow

We all know that milk comes from cows, but thanks to a BYU student, consumers can now discover at what dairy plant their milk was bottled.

Trevor Fitzgerald, a senior from Redmond, Wash., created whereismymilkfrom.com after he was given a copy of the interstate milk shippers list published by the FDA.

“I was told that I could find out where my milk came from, but I could not figure out how to use it,” Fitzgerald said. “I thought it would be really cool if someone could make it easier to use.”

Fitzgerald condensed all the information on the list and made it so all users have to do is enter the code found on dairy products and the Web site will do the rest.

Study: Millennials marry less, use technology more

Confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change is how a recent PEW Research Center study described the Millennial generation compared to previous American generations.

The Millennial generation refers to those born after 1980, the first generation to become adults in the new millennium.

In an open-ended question, the Millennials responded that technology use, pop culture, tolerance and intelligence separates and makes their generation unique.

Kevin Jenson, a sophomore studying biology, from Bakersfield, Calif., said the generation’s use of technology sets it apart.

“We have really embraced it. … We have stuff that no other generation has had,” Jenson said.

Although the Millennials said intelligence set them apart from other generations, in similar studies, Generation X, the Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation all said their intelligence was superior to the previous generation.

BYU beats Harvard as the most popular university in US

Brigham Young University passed Harvard as the most popular university in America this year, according to U.S. News.

BYU has the highest yield, the percentage of accepted applications who attend the university, at 78 percent. Harvard came in second place with a yield of 76 percent and Stanford placed third with a 71 percent yield.

Maria Molina, an international student from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, tells of her reaction when she heard about the ranking.

“When I read it, I called my dad because he gets so excited,” Molina said. “My dad said, ‘I told you. You’re at a great university, you should be proud.’”

The U.S. News Web site said there are generally three main reasons for a university to have a high yield: being academically prestigious, popular location or a school with religious ties.

Report: College campuses being lenient on crime

Photo by Stephanie Rhodes. Center for Public Integrity found college campuses to be lenient to  criminal offenders.

Universities nationwide are in a continuous battle against sexual assault, and a new report suggests many campuses are meeting this fight with a rising level of indifference.

The Center for Public Integrity recently released the second installment of a 12-month investigation which exposed a string of institutional problems related to alleged sexual assaults, specifically how cases are handled by both school and federal administrations.

In a press call Wednesday, the organization discussed the leniency campuses are giving to offenders, the problem of repeat offenders on college campuses and the Department of Education’s history of enforcement. Speakers included directors of the investigation and the mother of a college rape victim.

Sen. Reid's wife has surgery after serious crash

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife underwent surgery Friday after breaking her neck and back in a traffic accident that also injured the senator's daughter, a spokesman said.

Initially surgery was not thought to be necessary for Landra Reid's injuries from the crash Thursday. The doctor caring for Mrs. Reid was to discuss her condition at a news conference Friday.

She had been listed in serious condition earlier Friday and Reid was at her side at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., according to Jon Summers, spokesman for the senator.

A tractor-trailer rear-ended the minivan carrying Mrs. Reid, 69, and the couple's daughter, Lana Barringer, 49, on an interstate in the Washington suburbs, officials said.

Barringer was released from the hospital Thursday night, hospital spokesman Tony Raker said.

Al-Qaida: Freed Spanish hostage converted to Islam

CAIRO — Al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa said Friday it released a Spanish woman it had held captive for 100 days in Mauritania because she voluntarily converted to Islam.

In a statement posted on militant Web sites, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said it also took into account health reasons in choosing to free aid worker Alicia Gamez, although it did not elaborate.

"The Spanish woman converted to Islam voluntarily after the mujahidin (fighters) exposed her to Islam and its teachings. She took the name of Aicha," the brief message said.

Gamez, 35, and two male colleagues still being held captive by the group worked as volunteers for an aid organization called Barcelona Accion Solidaria. They were kidnapped by gunmen Nov. 29 while delivering relief material to poor villages in Mauritania.

Devotees of Fla. man drank snail mucus in ritual

MIAMI — Devotees of a Miami man who claims to practice a traditional African religion say they were sickened when they had to ingest the mucus of a giant African snail.

Federal authorities in January raided Charles L. Stewart's home after receiving complaints. Stewart has not been criminally charged, but prosecutors and state and federal wildlife agencies are investigating. The giant African snail is prohibited in the U.S. without special approval.

Experts say it devastates new ecosystems. The snail grows up to 10 inches long, can reproduce on its own and even can even eat plaster.

Stewart tells The Miami Herald he means no harm, and his religion uses the snails in healing ceremonies.

Followers said they got violently ill, losing weight and developing strange lumps in their stomachs.

Sen. Reid's wife, daughter injured in highway accident

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife was hospitalized with a broken back and neck Thursday after a tractor-trailer truck slammed into the back of the minivan in which she and their daughter were riding on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia, officials said.

Reid's wife, Landra, 69, whose injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, and their daughter, Lana Barringer, 49, were taken by ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. The daughter was released from the hospital Thursday night, hospital spokesman Tony Raker said.

Mrs. Reid was listed in serious condition, but Reid aides said she was not expected to require surgery. She was being treated in the hospital's trauma intensive care unit, according to a staffer with the hospital's information service, who declined to give his name.

More quakes hit Chile as new president takes over

SANTIAGO, Chile — A series of strong aftershocks from last month's devastating quake rocked Chile on Thursday as a new president was sworn into office and immediately urged coastal residents to move to higher ground in case of a tsunami.

The strongest aftershock, with a magnitude of 6.9, was nearly as strong as the quake that devastated Haiti's capital on Jan. 12. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries.

The Chilean Navy issued a tsunami warning while the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the aftershocks were too small to cause dangerous waves beyond Chile's central coast.

President Sebastian Pinera was inaugurated at a congressional building in coastal Valparaiso before the building was evacuated as a precaution. The seven aftershocks strongly swayed buildings, shook windows and sent frightened Chileans streaming into the street.

App promotes safety awareness

By MARIANGELA MAZZEI

CrimeReports.com has launched a new app for the iPhone which can help everyday citizens become more aware of what’s going on around them.

According to a news release, this new app will allow citizens to map local and national crimes, as well as provide data for nationally registered sex offenders. Only two months after its debut in mid-December of 2009, more than 100,000 people from across the nation had downloaded this free app onto their iPhones.

Glen Lyons, a BYU student from Queretaro, Mexico, said he is happy with the completeness of the CrimeReports app and it brings him peace of mind and a sense of security.

“I’m working, married and will have children soon,” Lyons said. “It’s a big issue with me, family safety.”
Dallin Hatch from Colorado Springs, Colo., said he appreciates how up-to-date the information is.

U.S. Postal Service considering cutting Saturday delivery

AP Photo. A U.S. Postal Service worker delivers mail. The U.S. Postal  Service hopes to stop delivering mail on Saturdays soon.

Rain and snow cannot stop the mail, but a receding economy and the Internet can.

Saturday mail delivery may soon become extinct, according to a news release by U.S. Postmaster General John Potter. With a projected $7 billion loss this year, the U.S. Postal Service is petitioning Congress to allow them to stop Saturday delivery in order to cut down on costs.

“Without drastic action, the agency could face a cumulative loss of $238 billion over 10 years,” Potter said in the press release. “The average post office has 600 patrons a week, while the average supermarket brings in 20,000 people each week and is open longer hours and more days.”

He said the current standard is to deliver first-class mail in two to three days. Reducing this to a two- to five-day standard could save money for the postal service through use of more ground transport.

Immigration policies irk some

Immigration leaders met Monday to show their frustration toward the president and his administration about current immigration policies and failure to create a reformation bill.

Just before President Obama was to meet with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to discuss an immigration reform bill that could include a path for illegal immigrants to gain citizenship and ways to improve border control, a news conference was broadcast on C-SPAN, showing immigrants were ready for the president to take action.

“Immigrants have always done the hard work that was asked of them, and we always will,” said Pramila Jayapal, executive director for OneAmerica, in the news conference.

Jayapal said immigrants are tired of a broken immigration system, and she feels elected leaders haven’t had the courage to fix it.

Woman delivers surprise baby, picks up other son

A 32-year-old Kentucky woman who said she didn't know that she was pregnant delivered her newborn son on the floor of her laundry room by herself and even cut the umbilical cord. Kelly Bottom told The Advocate-Messenger that she also picked up her other son from school and stopped in at the baby's grandmother's house to show her the infant before going to the hospital Thursday.

The newspaper reported the mother and baby were discharged from the hospital Monday after checking in Thursday night.

Bottom said the baby, named Brian Keith Sims, weighed 6 lbs., 15 oz. at birth.

Pa. woman accused of recruiting jihadists online

A suburban woman "desperate to do something" to help suffering Muslims has been accused of using the Internet to recruit jihadist fighters and help terrorists overseas, even agreeing to move to Europe to try to kill a Swedish artist, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Authorities said the case shows how terror groups are looking to recruit Americans to carry out their goals.

A federal indictment charges that Colleen R. LaRose, who called herself JihadJane and Fatima LaRose online, agreed to kill the Swede on orders from the unnamed terrorists and traveled to Europe to carry out the killing. It doesn't say whether the Swede was killed, but LaRose was not charged with murder.

A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman wouldn't confirm the case is related to a group of people arrested in Ireland earlier Tuesday on suspicion of plotting against Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Govt to warn on baby slings because of deaths

The government is preparing a safety warning about baby slings _ those popular and fashionable infant carriers that parents strap around their chests to give the little ones a cuddle on the move.

The concern: Infants can suffocate, and at least a few have.

The head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Inez Tenenbaum, said Tuesday that her agency is getting ready to issue a general warning to the public, likely to go out this week, about the slings.

"We know of too many deaths in these slings and we now know the hazard scenarios for very small babies," said Tenenbaum. "So, the time has come to alert parents and caregivers."

Tenenbaum spoke at a meeting of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group that certifies certain children's products, including soft infant carriers.