Bobbie James sheds Christmas Spirit
After struggling with his own illnesses and just returning home from the hospital Bobbie James was singing. Singing on the phone. Each time that the phone ra...

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FAIRFIELD (CBS13) Thieves broke into storage sheds at Armijo High School and stole gifts meant for students sober grad night.

Six sheds with a couple of thousand dollars worth of items were broken into and raided.

It was a sobering reality for a group that prides itself on promoting keeping teens safe on their graduation night.

Sometime in the last week, someone broke into the sheds stealing a cotton candy dispenser, a microwave, and a fog machine among other things. They also busted up other items.

It goes beyond the vandalism and the stealing of things, said Audrey Jaques. It steals something from your heart, your soul. Its a lot of work.

Volunteers are now left with a sobering thought.

It just means were going to work a bit harder now to recoup what weve lost. Well have a few extra fundraisers, said Lori Russell.

The grad night is still set for June.

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Thieves Bring Sobering Reality To Fairfield School’s Safe Grad Night

For the last year Chinas credit growth has been going gangbusters, with total social financing up 13.2% in the first 11 months of 2013 from a year earlier. Meanwhile, growth in the real economy slowed to about 7.6%, its slowest pace in years.

That has led analysts to wonder where all that money is going. Has China run out of productive ways to invest?

An audit of government debt published Monday hints at a possible answer. The National Audit Office surveyed not just the central government but thousands of regional and local governments around the country to find out just how much theyre on the hook for. Unlike most countries, Chinas localities owe more than the central government.

The results came in below some estimates, but theyre worrying all the same. Local government debt and liabilities came to 17.9 trillion yuan ($2.95 trillion) at end-June, a rise of 67% in two-and-a-half years.

Much of that was channeled through local government financing vehicles, corporate entities set up to sidestep restrictions on direct borrowing by governments. These vehicles are a financial black box: Much of the money may have been siphoned off into kickbacks or wasted on pointless construction projects.

Even where the money has been spent on worthwhile, genuinely productive infrastructure investments, it will be a long time before these projects can generate meaningful cash flows. Meanwhile, much of the borrowing that funded them is about to come due.

According to the NAO, which took a snapshot of outstanding debts halfway through 2013, 22.9% were due to mature before the end of the year. The report didnt provide any details on what happened after that, but so far there have been no known defaults. That suggests some of the debt is being rolled over and counted as new lending.

As long as local governments are servicing their interest payments, it is not uncommon for Chinese banks to roll over principal and count the exposure as performing, Fitch Ratings said in a report in September. This makes these assets more akin to perpetual bonds that derive a steady stream of cash interest but limited or zero principal.

This extend and pretend strategy helps prevent local governments woes from erupting into a financial crisis. But in the long run it spells trouble for the banks.

Still, in a way its good news: It means China may not have run out of productive ways to invest. Perhaps new lending could generate real growth if it were directed to people who struggle to borrow, like farmers or entrepreneurs.

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Local Government Debt Audit Sheds Light on What’s Ailing China

We live like calves in these cow sheds, said Manish Kumar, a resident of Chandrapuri village, pointing to the dwellings inhabited by the villagers.

Around 72 km from Kedarnath, the village in Rudraprayag district, was hit by flash-floods on June 16 and 17, 2013. Fifty-seven houses were destroyed. Within a few hours, the space on which residential buildings stood was bulldozed by the Mandakini river. More than six months after the disaster, many villagers live in cow sheds and a few others in tents even as severe winter approaches.

Of the 3,100 buildings that were destroyed across the State in the mid-June deluge, 2,410 buildings are in rural areas. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna earlier said the disaster-affected would be shifted to individual residences before winter but not much work on housing has been done in the disaster-hit areas.

A survey of land which is geologically safe for the construction of buildings is on in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, and Bageshwar districts. While the State government is still working on housing, some private organisations are providing villagers capital to construct houses.

In Simi, 15 km from Chandrapuri towards Kedarnath, land is sinking as the result of last years disaster. Parvati Devi, whose hotel was completely destroyed due to the sinking, said: The Mandakini eroded the river banks and my hotel crumbled.

Under the government policy, people whose houses got completely destroyed can choose between prefabricated houses and owner-driven constructed houses. They can opt for prefabricated houses or build their houses for which the government will provide Rs 5 lakh per unit.

More than 2,000 people have opted for owner-driven construction. The number of people who have opted for prefabricated houses is around 130.

The 2,500 houses being constructed under the State governments supervision are being funded by the World Bank. The Secretary of Public Works Department, Amit Singh Negi, said that as a World Bank requirement, owner-driven houses should be constructed in safe zones. Work on them had not yet started.

Mr. Negi said: Owner-driven construction sites are in remote areas. Geologists have been inspecting the sites for almost a month now. We will start sending money to people as soon as the geologists send their reports.

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Housing in limbo in deluge-hit Uttarakhand

By Lora E. Ide Correspondent

MICANOPY Just a short distance away from Cholokka Boulevard, with its rustic shops, small restaurants, a historical museum and a church, is the Micanopy Historic Cemetery, resting beneath spreading live oaks draped in Spanish moss.

Micanopy resident Tom Brady said he has been researching the cemetery, which was founded in 1826 after the former Indian trading post became an American town in 1823.

Brady said he has been fascinated by the historic area since moving to Micanopy in 1982, so it seemed natural to look into the lives of the people buried in the cemetery, which is the fourth or fifth area history project he has undertaken.

"Tom Brady has been elemental in the Micanopy Historical Society. He's one of their Micanopy Regulars (who role-play in the guise of early U.S. Army soldiers), and he also is on the Micanopy historic planning board. He's just been an essential part of our town for the last two decades," said Monica Fowler, owner of a local business.

Brady said he has learned that the earliest gravestone in the cemetery marks the final resting place of James W. Martin, who lived from 1737 to 1826, although one old, indecipherable marker with a new stone is the final resting place of someone who died in 1823.

These early residents resided in one of the earliest of inland Florida towns, information about which is meticulously recorded and preserved today in the archives of the historical society, Brady said. However, like in any town cemetery, it's almost impossible to learn as much as one might like about the lives of the people buried there.

"For instance, there is a preacher here with two wives, one buried on each side of him," Brady said.

Women had more difficulty giving birth in earlier times, leading to some early deaths. Perhaps that was why the minister married twice, Brady said.

One of the most unusual pieces of statuary, a tall, beautifully sculpted angel, is a marker for Annie Gertrude Barr, daughter of John and C.D. Barr, who lived from 1871 to 1891. Perhaps she was a young mother, or even one of many area residents in the late 1800s who succumbed during an epidemic of Yellow Fever.

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Micanopy Historic Cemetery sheds light on life in early Florida

SANFORD, Fla. -

A newly released video sheds more light on what Samantha Scheibe claimed George Zimmerman did at her Apopka home to prompt her to call 911.

Police were called to the home on Nov. 18 after a 911 call from Scheibe and Zimmerman showed both needed help.

The video, posted online by investigative journalist Cristi O'Connor, shows Scheibe's complete interview with Seminole County sheriff's investigators just hours after she claimed Zimmerman pointed a gun at her.

"He pointed it at me for a second and said, 'do you really want me to do this?' because I told him I would call the cops," Scheibe told the investigator.

Charges filed against Zimmerman were later dropped after Scheibe told the State Attorney's office in a sworn affidavit that police "misinterpreted her." She said she felt "the arrest report didn't accurately recount what happened."

In the document, she said, "Zimmerman never pointed a gun at or toward my face in a threatening manner."

In the video, Scheibe is seen showing the investigator how Zimmerman held the gun when she said he pointed it at her.

Scheibe also later claimed she's "not afraid of George in any manner."

"I didn't know if he was going to hit me with (a gun)," she said. "I didn't know if he was going to threaten me with it. I didn't know what he was going to do."

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Samantha Scheibe tells deputies he threatened her with a gun

"Just one more story, please?" "I need a glass of water." "Mom, I can't sleep!" When youngsters continually struggle to fall asleep at night, new research suggests maybe their body clock doesn't match their bedtime.

That doesn't mean tots should be up at all hours.

"Just like nutrition and exercise, sleep is critical for good health," said sleep scientist Monique LeBourgeois of the University of Colorado, Boulder, who is leading the research. The ultimate goal is to help reset a delayed sleep clock so that children can settle down more easily, she said.

Hint: It seems to have a lot to do with light. We all have what's called a circadian rhythm, a master biological clock that regulates when we become sleepy and when we're more alert. Those patterns vary with age: It's the reason teenagers are notorious for late nights and difficult-to-wake mornings.

But how does that clock work in preschoolers, who need more sleep than older kids or adults? A first-of-its-kind study tracked 14 healthy youngsters for six days to begin finding out.

The children, ages 21/2to three, wore activity monitors on their wrists to detect when they slept. Parents kept diaries about bedtime routines.

Then on the last afternoon, researchers visited each home, dimming lights and covering windows. Then every 30 minutes for six hours leading up to the child's appointed bedtime, they also coaxed each tot to chew on some dental cotton to provide a sample of saliva.

The reason: To test for levels of a hormone named melatonin that is key to the sleep cycle and also sensitive to light. At some point every evening, people's melatonin levels surge and a while later, they begin to feel sleepy. Among adults who sleep well, that melatonin rise tends to happen about two hours before whatever is their chosen bedtime.

For preschoolers, the new study found that on average, the melatonin surge occurred around 7:40 p.m. The children tended to be tucked in around 8:10 p.m., and most were asleep 30 minutes later, LeBourgeois reported in the journal Mind, Brain and Education. When melatonin rose earlier in the evening, tots who hit the sack around 8 p.m. fell asleep a bit faster. But when the melatonin surge was closer to bedtime, the youngsters were more likely to fuss or make curtain calls after lights-out.

Two children in the study actually were tucked in before their rise in melatonin ever occurred, and it took them up to an hour past bedtime to fall asleep, she said.

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Study sheds light on sleeplessness

We live like calves inside these cow sheds, Manish Kumar, a resident of Chandrapuri village said while pointing towards the cow sheds in the village that are now inhabited by the villagers.

Around 72 kilometres (km) from Kedarnath, the village, which is in Rudraprayag district, was hit by flash-floods on June 16 and 17. Fifty-seven houses in the village got destroyed from the gush that entered the valley and within a few hours the space earlier occupied by residential buildings got bulldozed over by the Mandakini River.

More than six months after the disaster, many villagers reside in cow sheds and few others in tents.

Landless labourers and daily wage workers reside in the village where severe winters now approach.

While Kundan Lal, another resident of the village, prepares fire for the night, he is joined by seven other family members, all of whom live in two tents. The family has rotated between five villages post-disaster.

Though the district administration paid them money for rent but the bridge over the Mandakini River that passes beside the village got swept away during the disaster. Mr Lal said, We had to live in tents as there were not enough houses in the village.

Of the 3,100 buildings that were completely destroyed across the State in the mid-June deluge, 2,410 buildings are in rural areas.

Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had earlier announced that the disaster-affected would be shifted to individual residences before winters set in but not much work regarding housing can be spotted in any of the disaster-hit areas across the State.

Survey of land which is geologically safe to construct buildings is going on in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, and Bageshwar districts, which were hit by the disaster.

While the State government is still working on housing issues, in Chandrapuri some private organisations are providing the villagers capital for the villagers to be able to construct houses.

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Villagers live in cow sheds, tents even as severe winters approach

AS hospitals form new partnerships throughout Washington state, patients should know exactly how their right to legal health services will be affected.

A lack of clarity with some policies has led many critics statewide to cast a negative and sometimes unfair light on mergers and affiliations between secular and religious hospitals.

To increase transparency and fill a trust void between some providers and patients, the state Department of Health has wisely revised two key regulatory rules to take effect on Jan. 23:

All hospitals undergoing a sale, merger or change in management structure must undergo a Certificate of Need review, which was formerly done only for health-care providers seeking approval to build new facilities or to expand services.

During the licensing process, all hospitals must clarify and post online their policies in four key areas of concern: admissions, nondiscrimination (particularly for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients), end-of-life care and reproductive health services.

This is a good time to take a step back and view the bigger picture.

The Vatican is not plotting a takeover of Washingtons hospitals. The boards of secular institutions are finding ways to operate in the era of the Affordable Care Act. Aligning with financially stable, Catholic-sponsored systems represents an opportunity to increase purchasing power, reduce expenses and become more sustainable.

But this means nonreligious hospitals are also subjecting their patient base to religious doctrine, which prohibits certain constitutionally protected procedures such as physician-assisted suicide and elective abortion. In reality, those services are more often provided outside hospitals.

The Department of Healths new rules should help remove surprise factors from future deals. Setting some common regulatory standards creates realistic expectations. It might even lead to the sort of creative solutions that protect access and referrals for patients.

For instance, Swedish Medical Center stopped performing elective abortions once it merged with Providence Health & Services in 2011. In response to the communitys demand for a full range of reproductive care, Swedish worked with Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest to establish a health center on its First Hill campus.

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Editorial: State sheds some light on hospital mergers