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Jailers hold Mohamed Mohamud, accused in plot to bomb Portland tree lighting, in 'protective custody'By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian Updated: Saturday, December 18, 2010, 8:55 AM The teenager accused of plotting to bomb thousands of Christmas revelers at Portland's holiday tree lighting ceremony three weeks ago is jailed in protective custody to prevent someone from harming him. Mohamed Mohamud has a cell to himself at the downtown Justice Center jail, where he eats all of his meals alone and doesn't mix with the general inmate population, said Chief Deputy Michael Shults, who heads corrections for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office....

The Grinch may have stolen Christmas, but in Birmingham it was copper thieves who torched a Christmas tree in downtown's Linn Park. [UPDATE: Radio station to donate new Christmas tree to city] Birmingham police are investigating the early morning incident where copper thieves took decorations off the holiday display and burned down the tree. Officials say the incident occurred around 4 a.m. Thieves took off the lights and used gasoline to separate the plastic from the copper, resulting in the apparent accidental tree torching.

The tax cut compromise reached by President Obama and Republicans has passed its first hurdle in the Senate. According to breaking news, the tax deal has gained the 60 votes it needed to advance in the Senate. This would pave the way for the bill's passing in only a day or two. Despite the fact that the bill has now passed its first test, it has been met with some resistance by both Democrats and Republicans. Some Democrats argue that there should be no extension of tax cuts, while many Republicans believe that the extra spending in the bill would...

Boehner is a tough, wily and underestimated son of Ohio, one of 12 children, a product of Catholic schools, a Bishop Moeller Crusader through and through. He is said to be loyal to his friends and to the traditions of the House, and last week he promoted three long-serving Republicans to the leadership of three committees where various sets of reformers had hoped to see new faces for a new era. Tea Party activists are outraged and, worse by far, the Pledge to America that Boehner and his colleagues promulgated on a House Web site as binding on the Republicans...

For several years, I have assumed that my taxes, and those of many millions of Americans, would skyrocket in 2011. So when I first learned the terms of the compromise between the President and the Republican leadership--most of the Bush-era tax rates made permanent, tax rates for upper-income taxpayers extended for two years, a one-year two percent payroll tax holiday, long a favorite conservative policy--I thought, and wrote, that it was an excellent deal for conservatives. Since then, however, the deal has steadily worsened, to the point where even the Associated Press says that "Add-ons turn tax cut bill into...

This is Jaquie Evancho singing Oh Holy Night at the national tree lighting ceremony last evening in Washington DC out back of the White House in the Elipse.

YARMOUTH, Maine (AP) -- In life, New England's champion elm tree, nicknamed Herbie, stretched more than 100 feet skyward, towering over its neighbors and becoming a local landmark. Nearly 10 months after being dismantled by chain saw, the majestic tree has been reincarnated by artisans into a variety of items including a stunning electric guitar. The custom guitar, along with baseball bats, upscale furniture and other keepsakes, will be auctioned off Saturday to benefit the Yarmouth tree trust. "It's mindboggling how much has been done with it," said Jan Ames Santerre, senior planner with the Maine Forest Service, one of...

America your portion has been measured in full and the time of true shaking has come ! Now watch as I touch your pocketbooks , watch as I annihilate the sin in your lives and watch as All this occurs I set the captives free and destroy the rebellious as korah for I shall swallow up sin and it's roots . I shall cleanse this nation as never before . There shall be crevasses where there has been great rivers allowing the ocean in , Deserts where there has been pools of great waters , Mountains where there has been...

AMSTERDAM -The monumental chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain on Monday. The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted through the trunk, snapped about 3 feet (1 meter) above ground and crashed across several gardens. It damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one was injured, a museum spokeswoman said. "Someone yelled, 'It's falling. The tree is falling,' and then you heard it go down," said museum spokeswoman Maatje Mostart. "Luckily...

Boy Survives Falling Off Balcony After Bouncing Off Palm Trees A four-year-old boy had a lucky escape after falling from a 17th floor hotel balcony only to bounce off palm trees and land with minor injuries. By Paul Thompson 06 Jun 2010 Rescuers found Joey Williams still alive after he bounced off a cluster of palm trees and landed on a dirt surface near the hotel's swimming pool. Apart from surviving the 80ft fall he somehow managed to land between two pipes jutting up from the ground. Less than four hours after the fall at his hotel in Miami, Florida,...

n the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built - they're grown. The southern Khasi and Jaintia hills are humid and warm, crisscrossed by swift-flowing rivers and mountain streams. On the slopes of these hills, a species of Indian rubber tree with an incredibly strong root system thrives and flourishes. The Ficus elastica produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves. The War-Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya, long ago noticed...

Every parent has had to help get their children get out of sticky situations. Things are no different in the animal world as you will see in this video clip of a Momma bear trying to get her cub down from a tree. Follow the link below to see the video; Momma Bear Rescues Cub From Tree

Just before Climategate, we were reflecting on the apparent non-”robustness” of the Yamal chronology to inclusion of Khadyta data. Briffa’s response was that he could still “get” a HS by adding in Yadoyayakha and Porzayakha ring width data that hadn’t been used in Briffa (2000). As noted in other posts, Khadyta isn’t the only site with a divergence problem. Divergence, if anything, is the rule, rather than the exception. Briffa didn’t discuss why there were such differences between the sites – something that I’ll consider briefly today.

Some of you may know about this gem, but I want to make sure every Firefox and Chrome user knows about the beauty of FR Tree View. I'm not taking credit for it, I don't know which FReeper wrote the software. But it's amazing! It makes following long, nested threads much easier. See a screen shot here: Click to enlarge

OKLAHOMA CITY, - Authorities in Oklahoma said a man who crashed into a parking lot walked into a jail and offered a stick he called the "last tree in the universe" as payment. Oklahoma County sheriff's deputies said Rondell Bailey walked into the downtown Oklahoma City jail with a stick and told deputies he wanted to offer the object, which he called the "last tree in the universe," in exchange for dropping any possible charges against him, KOCO-TV, Oklahoma City, reported Wednesday. The deputies said Bailey left after being told the stick was not an acceptable form of payment and...

Scientists have discovered the female sex hormone progesterone in a walnut tree, shaking up what's known about the different between plants and animals. Until now, scientists thought that only animals could make progesterone. A steroid hormone secreted by the ovaries, progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and maintains pregnancy. A synthetic version, progestin, is used in birth control pills and other medications. "The significance of the unequivocal identification of progesterone cannot be overstated," write Guido F. Pauli and colleagues in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products. "While the biological role of progesterone has been extensively studied in mammals,...

Though local lore held that the so-called "scorpion tree" had been the work of cowboys, paleontologist Rex Saint Onge immediately knew that the tree was carved by Indians when he stumbled upon it in the fall of 2006. Located in a shady grove atop the Santa Lucia Mountains in San Luis Obispo County, the centuries-old gnarled oak had the image of a six-legged, lizard-like being meticulously scrawled into its trunk, the nearly three-foot-tall beast topped with a rectangular crown and two large spheres. "I was really the first one to come across it who understood that it was a Chumash...

YARMOUTH, Maine -- Herbie, a massive tree that stretched 110 feet into the sky, captured the imagination of a town's residents and earned the title of New England's champion elm, was cut down Monday after a long battle with Dutch elm disease. It was more than 200 years old....

Agriculture: Already buffeted by rising food prices due to biofuels, consumers face a bigger hike if climate-change legislation is passed. Farming costs will rise, and it may be more profitable to plant trees than crops. If the cap-and-trade provisions of the Waxman-Markey bill become law, you can wave goodbye to those amber waves of grain as America's heartland falls victim to a perverse set of incentives and a process called "afforestation." Soybeans and wheat will give way to elms and oaks. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants a review of what amounts to an agricultural impact study of HR 2454, which...

A 6ft garden Christmas tree planted by a couple 30 years ago now towers over their home after growing to 50ft tall. Avril Rowlands, 64, and her husband Christopher, 65, bought the pine tree from a garden centre for £6 in 1979 and expected it to grow to around 10ft. To celebrate planting it in their front garden, the couple took a photograph of it with their new home and garage in the background. But after 30 years of care and attention the tree stands 50ft tall and it is still growing. The tree is now the focal point of...