U.S. sex trafficking

Sex trafficking, prostitution, erotic massage parlors and brothels in eight major U.S. cities are estimated to have raked in between $39.9 million and $290 million in 2007, according to a new study thats providing the first-ever estimates of the size and scope of the underground sex economy.

With knowing the size of the economy, you get better a sense of what youre dealing with and how big this market is, says Meredith Dank, a researcher at the Washington-based Urban Institute, which authored the study published Wednesday. Law enforcement now knows they can potentially seize $290 million in Atlanta that can be used toward providing services and education.

Using information provided through a series of interviews with 142 former sex workers, pimps/traffickers, and child pornographers, the Urban Institute estimated the size of the commercial sex economy in Kansas City, Seattle, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Denver, San Diego and Washington, D.C. Those one-on-one interviews shed light on how the sex economys participants see themselves: Many of the subjects rejected the term pimp, for example, preferring business manager. Additionally, many pimps consider selling sex far safer than selling drugs.

Most of the interviewed incarcerated traffickers were behind bars for having trafficked an underage girl, despite saying they didnt specifically seek out young women. The FBI estimates about 323,000 young people in the U.S. are at risk for becoming trafficked.

They say they dont want a juvenile, as one person said 16 will get you 20, Dank says. Theyll often say, I didnt know they were underage, they fooled you how could they not fool me?

Interest in the underground sex world has skyrocketed since the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act was signed into law in 2000. However, there was little extensive data on the size and scope of the sex economy before the Urban Institutes study, funded by the National Institute of Justice, was published. While law enforcement agents interviewed for the study said it only scratches the surface of the sex economys shadowy underworld, Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris Project, a non-profit fighting to end sex trafficking, says the report is enough to show that sex trafficking is an extraordinarily high-profit, low-risk enterprise.

Its essential we flip the equation in order to stop traffickers from exploiting women, children, and men in towns and cities across the United States, Myles said in a statement.

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Study Sheds Light on Shadowy World of Sex Workers

March 13, 2014

Image Caption: An artistic reconstruction of the 28 million-year-old Cotylocara macei as it patrolled the shallows near present-day Charleston, South Carolina. Credit: Artwork by Carl Buell/NYIT

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Echolocation is an important tool for several modern species, including bats and some birds. Previous research from New York Institute of Technologys College of Osteopathic Medicine has found that this powerful navigational tool also existed in a 28-million-year-old relative of modern-day toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises.

In new research, published in the journal Nature, Associate Professor Jonathan Geisler, of NYIT, and colleagues studied a new fossil species, Cotylocara macei, which had been discovered near Charleston, South Carolina.

Geisler noted that the most important conclusion in his teams research involves the evolution of echolocation and the complex anatomy that underlies this behavior.

This was occurring at the same time that whales were diversifying in terms of feeding behavior, body size, and relative brain size,he added.

In most mammals, including humans, low frequency sounds are produced in the larynx. In toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises, however, high-frequency sound is produced through a constricted area in the animals nasal passages below the blowhole. This sound-producing mechanism in toothed whales is very complex, consisting of large muscles, air pockets and bodies of fat all packed into a small region of the face.

The evolution of complex adaptations have been studied widely and new fossil discoveries have often revealed that adaptations evolve in a step-wise fashion and usually over long periods of geologic time. In the study of the C. macei skull, Geisler and his colleagues concluded that this whale echolocated similarly to its modern-day relatives.

Its dense bones and air sinuses would have helped this whale focus its vocalizations into a probing beam of sound, which likely helped it find food at night or in muddy water ocean waters, Geisler said in a statement.

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New Whale Fossil Species Sheds Light On Evolution Of Echolocation

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It took a devastating fire at a two-story home in Arlington for a family of five and many neighbors to realize there are no fire hydrants on their block.

The closest fire hydrant to the home on the 8500 block of Andaloma Street is nearly 2,000 feet away. That fact forced Jacksonville firefighters to line up tanker after tanker to be able to put out the flames.

Neighbor Heather McCoy described the chaotic scene Sunday afternoon.

"It was really busy. There were a lot of people, it was very scary," said McCoy.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department said it knows which neighborhoods lack sufficient hydrants, which is why it dispatched so many tankers. City Councilman Clay Yarborough, who represents the Arlingwood neighborhood, said while JFRD responded quickly fire hydrants are still needed.

"There still is a need, I believe, to have more fire hydrants in these areas that don't have them. The neighborhood was built to the standard at that time but it's costing the city, JEA and the Fire Department the work to go through, the time that needed to be invested, to go through to make sure we had sufficient coverage," said Yarborough.

According to JEA spokeswoman Gerri Boyce, the neighborhood was built in 1956 but current city code requires contractors put in fire hydrants every 500-700 feet.

Action News first told you in October about hundreds of fire hydrants deemed deficient by JEA. Since then, the number has dropped to 91.

"Right now in the system we have one hydrant, and what we did is bagged it so that JFRD knows that the hydrant is not working," said Boyce.

Some Jacksonville neighborhoods don't have fire hydrants at all.

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House fire sheds light on lack of hydrants

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By Dow Jones Business News, March 10, 2014, 05:25:00 AM EDT

--Surprise drop in Chinese exports may signal declining demand

--Concerns about Ukraine and Libya seen supporting prices

--Reduction of Cushing, Okla., glut expected to persist

NEW YORK--Crude-oil futures fell Monday as China posted a bigger drop in exports than expected, a potential bearish sign for demand.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery was down $1.54, or 1.5%, to $101.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe was down $1.11, or 1%, at $107.89 a barrel.

China over the weekend said exports fell 18% compared with a year before, the first year-over-year drop since September. Some analysts cautioned that distortions related to the Lunar New Year holiday may account for a big part of the decline, but, as Energy Management Institute analyst Dominick Chirichella wrote, the disappointing export data coincided with a drop in oil imports into China for February.

"The data out of China have been consistently suggesting that China may not meet its growth objectives this year even though the leadership just projected a 7.5% (growth in) GDP for 2014," Mr. Chirichella said in a note, adding that he expects global demand forecasts to sink this week in a reflection of the weaker Chinese data.

The state of Chinese demand for oil is especially important for Russia if other nations impose economic sanctions related to the crisis in Crimea, said Carl Larry, an analyst at Oil Outlooks & Opinions. Russia is the world's second- largest crude exporter behind Saudi Arabia.

"If that market gets squeezed out of the West, it's going to go to the East," Mr. Larry said.

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Oil Sheds Gains After Weak Chinese Data

By Dow Jones Business News, March 10, 2014, 05:25:00 AM EDT

--Surprise drop in Chinese exports may signal declining demand

--Concerns about Ukraine and Libya seen supporting prices

--Reduction of Cushing, Okla., glut expected to persist

NEW YORK--Crude-oil futures fell Monday as China posted a bigger drop in exports than expected, a potential bearish sign for demand.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery was down $1.54, or 1.5%, to $101.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on ICE Futures Europe was down $1.11, or 1%, at $107.89 a barrel.

China over the weekend said exports fell 18% compared with a year before, the first year-over-year drop since September. Some analysts cautioned that distortions related to the Lunar New Year holiday may account for a big part of the decline, but, as Energy Management Institute analyst Dominick Chirichella wrote, the disappointing export data coincided with a drop in oil imports into China for February.

"The data out of China have been consistently suggesting that China may not meet its growth objectives this year even though the leadership just projected a 7.5% (growth in) GDP for 2014," Mr. Chirichella said in a note, adding that he expects global demand forecasts to sink this week in a reflection of the weaker Chinese data.

The state of Chinese demand for oil is especially important for Russia if other nations impose economic sanctions related to the crisis in Crimea, said Carl Larry, an analyst at Oil Outlooks & Opinions. Russia is the world's second- largest crude exporter behind Saudi Arabia.

"If that market gets squeezed out of the West, it's going to go to the East," Mr. Larry said.

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Crude Oil Sheds Gains After Weak Chinese Data