Horrifying crash at Daytona exposes risks to fans

Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)

Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)

Kyle Larson (32) goes airborne into the catch fence in a multi-car crash including Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Parker Kilgerman (77), Justin Allgaier (31) and Brian Scott (2) during the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Kyle Larson's car is on fire as he slides down the track with Regan Smith after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Kyle Larson climbs out of his car after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Track workers repair the safety fence along on the front grandstands, where Kyle Larson's car hit it on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? The risks of racing extend beyond the drivers.

Fans can wind up in the danger zone, too.

A horrifying crash on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway injured at least 30 fans Saturday and provided another stark reminder of what can happen when a car going nearly 200 mph is suddenly launched toward the spectator areas.

The victims were sprayed with large chunks of debris ? including a tire ? after rookie Kyle Larson's machine careened into the fencing that is designed to protect the massive grandstands lining NASCAR's most famous track.

"I love the sport," said Shannan Devine, who witnessed the carnage from her 19th-row seat, about 250 feet away. "But no one wants to get hurt over it."

The fencing served its primary purpose, catapulting what was left of Larson's car back onto the track. But it didn't keep potentially lethal shards from flying into the stands.

"There was absolute shock," Devine said. "People were saying, 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it. I've never seen this happen, I've never seen this happen. Did the car through the fence?' It was just shock and awe. Grown men were reaching out and grabbing someone, saying, 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' It was just disbelief, absolute disbelief."

From Daytona to Le Mans to a rural road in Ireland, auto racing spectators have long been too close to the action when parts start flying. The crash in the second-tier Nationwide race follows a long list of accidents that have left fans dead or injured.

The most tragic incident occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, when two cars collided near the main stands. The wreck sent debris hurtling into the crowd, while one of the cars flipped upside down and exploded in a giant fireball.

Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed, and 120 fans were injured.

The Daytona crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.

The entire front end was sheared off Larson's car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.

"I thought the car went through the fence," Devine said. "I didn't know if there was a car on top of people. I didn't know what to think. I'm an emotional person. I immediately started to cry. It was very scary, absolutely scary. I love the speed of the sport. But it's so dangerous."

The fencing used to protect seating areas and prevent cars from hurtling out of tracks has long been part of the debate over how to improve safety.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti lost close friend Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in the 2011 IndyCar season finale, when Wheldon's car catapulted into the fencing and his head struck a support post. Since his death, IndyCar drivers have called for studies on how to improve the safety barriers.

Franchitti renewed the pleas on Twitter after the Daytona crash, writing "it's time (at)Indycar (at)nascar other sanctioning bodies & promoters work on an alternative to catch fencing. There has to be a better solution."

Another fan who witnessed the crash said he's long worried that sizable gaps in the fencing increase the chances of debris getting through to the stands.

"I've always thought the netting was very wide and pieces could fly through," said Lenny Brown, who was attending races at Daytona for the fourth time.

Among the most frightening accidents involving fans:

? In 1987, Bobby Allison's car lifted off the track at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama while running over 200 mph, careening into the steel-cable fence and scattering debris into the crowd. That crash led to the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates at Talladega and its sister track in Daytona, NASCAR's fastest layouts. As a result, the cars all run nearly the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together ? which plenty of drivers have warned is actually a more dangerous scenario than higher speeds.

? That same year, at the Indianapolis 500, a fan was killed when struck by a tire that came off Tony Bettenhausen's car. The tire bounced off the front of Roberto Guerrero's car and flew to the top row of the grandstand.

? In 1998, three fans were killed and six others were injured in CART's IndyCar race at Michigan International Speedway when Adrian Fernandez crashed, sending a tire and other parts into the stands.

? The following year, three fans were killed at Charlotte Motor Speedway during an Indy Racing League event when debris from an accident flew into the stands. The track never held another IndyCar race.

? In 2009, Talladega was the scene of another scary crash during a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Carl Edwards' car sailed upside-down into the front-stretch fence on a furious dash to the finish line, showering the stands with debris. Seven fans sustained minor injuries.

? In 2010 at a National Hot Rod Association event in Chandler, Ariz., a woman was killed by a tire that flew off Antron Brown's crashing dragster at Firebird International Raceway. The wheel bounced a couple of times and soared over the grandstands ? missing the bulk of the spectators ? before it hit the woman.

? Also in 2010, at an off-road racing event in the Southern California desert, a truck flew off a jump and landed on a group of spectators, sending bodies flying. Eight were killed, 10 injured. There also have been deaths at the Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally, the two most famous off-road races, though multiple-death crashes into the crowd like the one in the Mojave Desert are rare.

? Last year, in a rally car race in Ireland, a car went out of control on a rural road and crashed into a crowd of about 30 spectators, killing two people and seriously injuring seven. Witnesses said the car crashed through a fence and into the onlookers before coming to rest on its side beside a home.

At Daytona, workers scurried to patch up the damaged fencing and left little doubt that the biggest race of the weekend, Sunday's Daytona 500, would go on as planned.

Brown, who saw the crash from his 38th-row seat in the Petty grandstand, said he would be back in the same section for the season-opening Sprint Cup event. He has no qualms about his safety, sitting so high up, but said he would think twice about the seats he had for the race two years ago.

"The last time I was here, we were only about six rows up," Brown said. "I had even told some people before the crash, 'I would never sit that close to the track ever again.'"

But someone surely will ? mindful of the risks but eager to be among more than 100,000 fans cheering on stock car racing's biggest stars.

"Here we are, paying money to sit next to cars going 195 mph," Devine said. "We do it because we love it. That's what we expect."

___

Associated Press writer Jerome Minerva in Daytona Beach contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-24-NASCAR-Fan%20Accidents/id-51a5c88221214bd2b8a97b1741a99bda

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Smugglers still cashing in on Michigan can refund

A Michigan deposit is shown printed on a beverage in Detroit, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Michigan lawmakers want to crack down on can and bottle smugglers they say are scamming Michigan for undeserved recycling refunds, corrupting a generous 10-cent per container payback policy once infamously portrayed in a "Seinfeld" episode and which beverage officials now claim costs the state millions of dollars annually. Lawmakers say it's a serious problem, especially in border counties, and they want to toughen penalties on people who try to return un-marked, out-of-state cans and bottles for refunds. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

A Michigan deposit is shown printed on a beverage in Detroit, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Michigan lawmakers want to crack down on can and bottle smugglers they say are scamming Michigan for undeserved recycling refunds, corrupting a generous 10-cent per container payback policy once infamously portrayed in a "Seinfeld" episode and which beverage officials now claim costs the state millions of dollars annually. Lawmakers say it's a serious problem, especially in border counties, and they want to toughen penalties on people who try to return un-marked, out-of-state cans and bottles for refunds. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

A Michigan deposit is shown stamped on a beverage in Detroit, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Michigan lawmakers want to crack down on can and bottle smugglers they say are scamming Michigan for undeserved recycling refunds, corrupting a generous 10-cent per container payback policy once infamously portrayed in a "Seinfeld" episode and which beverage officials now claim costs the state millions of dollars annually. Lawmakers say it's a serious problem, especially in border counties, and they want to toughen penalties on people who try to return un-marked, out-of-state cans and bottles for refunds. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) ? Michigan lawmakers want to crack down on can and bottle smugglers they say are scamming Michigan for undeserved recycling refunds, corrupting a generous 10-cent per container payback policy once infamously portrayed in a "Seinfeld" episode and which beverage officials now claim costs the state millions of dollars annually.

"Seinfeld" characters Kramer and Newman failed miserably in their comedic attempt to cash in on the refund, when they loaded a mail truck full of cans and bottles in New York and attempted to drive them to Michigan. But lawmakers say it's a serious problem, especially in border counties, and they want to toughen penalties on people who try to return unmarked, out-of-state cans and bottles for refunds.

"If you are intending to defraud ... then you should be held accountable for it," said Republican Rep. Kenneth Kurtz of Coldwater. He recently introduced legislation aimed at cracking down on scammers who drive car and truck loads of cans from Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio ? states that do not offer refunds ? to stores across the border in Michigan.

His legislation would make an attempt to return between 100 and 10,000 non-returnable containers punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Current law sets penalties only for those who actually return fraudulent containers.

Michigan's 10 cent-per-container refund ? the highest in the country ? was enacted more than 30 years ago to encourage recycling. Many say it's worked. The state's recycling rate for cans and bottles was nearly 96 percent in 2011. By contrast, New York, one of nine states with nickel deposits on most containers, saw only a 66.8 percent redemption rate in 2007, the most recent figure available.

Despite measures Michigan lawmakers have taken over the years, including tougher penalties for bottle scammers and new machines that kick out fraudulent cans, store owners and distributors along the border say illegal returns persist.

Mike Hautala owns Hautala Distributing, which services Gogebic and Ontonagon counties in the western part of the Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin border. He said for every case of beer his distributorship delivers to a store along the border, it picks up about seven more cases of empty cans.

The state loses $10 million to $13 million a year to fraudulent redemptions, according to most recent 2007 estimates from the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. Angela Madden, the association's director of governmental affairs, said that number has likely gone down slightly because of changes implemented since, but not by much.

Bill Nichols, store director at Harding's Friendly Market in Niles about three miles from the Indiana border, said the store takes in about $6,000 worth of cans a week. He said every week he kicks out people for trying to return large garbage bags full of cans from Indiana, a state that offers no refund.

"You can go into the parking lot and look at the license plates and see that it says Indiana," he said.

Distributors pick up the containers people drop off at stores and pay the store a dime for every container. If the distributor picks up more bottles and cans than it left ? the likely result of fraudulent redemption ? the distributor is left in the hole, Madden said. If the distributor picks up fewer cans than it dropped off, the money that does not go back to the store is sent to the state. Twenty five percent of that money is sent back to retailers and 75 percent is put in a fund that pays for things like environmental cleanup, she said.

Hautala said he lost about $25,000 last year picking up more returned containers than he delivered. He said his company will recover some of that money from distributors who sell more containers than they pick up.

In 2008, Michigan passed laws aimed at cracking down on bottle fraud. One of the primary components required manufacturers to place a special mark on Michigan cans and bottles and said those containers could only be sold in Michigan or other states that have deposit laws.

A report the Department of Treasury delivered to Michigan lawmakers last fall estimated that the technology may have helped reduce redemptions of out-of-state containers by nearly 4 percent. But that reduction could also come from decline in sales, the report said.

As containers were given Michigan-specific marks, vending machines used in stores to count the cans and bottles were formatted with new technology to read the mark and reject cans that come in from across the border.

But Madden told the committee that many retailers have not yet taken advantage of the technology. She said while the state has provided funding for business to pay for the $5,000 machine upgrade, many "just refuse." If a store has an older model machine, they might have to shell out big bucks for a brand new machine that is compatible with the new technology, she said.

Hautala said only four machines are in the two counties his company serves.

And the machines are not "100 percent fool-proof," Nichols said. If a person repeatedly puts an out-of-state can into the machine, it will often accept it, he said.

Michigan is not alone in its fight against bottle fraud. Mark Oldfield, spokesman for California's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, said the state, which gives a 5-cent refund for most containers and 10 cents for those more than 24 ounces, is losing about $30 million to $50 million a year from redeeming out-of-state cans. The state's redemption rate for the first six months of 2012 was 87 percent.

Oldfield said a new law in California this year requires people who bring in more than 25 pounds of aluminum or plastic, or more than 100 pounds of glass, to report the source and the destination of the material to the state. Border patrol stations along the major highways near the border also gather license plate numbers and information of vehicles seen bringing in cans and bottles.

Despite their best efforts to clamp down on fraudulent bottles, a federal lawsuit may shake things up even more. In 2012, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati struck down the Michigan law that makes beverage companies put a special mark on cans sold in the state. It said the Michigan law is illegally affecting interstate commerce by dictating where cans can be distributed.

Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, said the office has requested a stay on the ruling and plans to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court in April.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-23-Can%20Return-Michigan/id-21478f705963420aaea434310eae3c74

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Relativity Moves 'Turkeys' Up a Year; Amy Poehler Joins Voice Cast (Exclusive)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Relativity Media has moved up its animated film "Turkeys" by a year and will release it November 1, multiple individuals close to the project told TheWrap. In addition, Amy Poehler has joined the voice cast for the film, which Relativity and Reel FX are co-producing and co-financing, TheWrap has learned.

The movie had been scheduled to debut November 14, 2014, but Relativity and Reel FX made the aggressive scheduling move based on early footage, according to two of those individuals. Development on the project began in June 2009 and physical production began in January 2011.

Poehler, who joins Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson, will voice the female lead.

Executives at the studio met about the film this week, weighing the challenges the move will pose to the filmmaking, marketing, sponsorship and merchandising teams with the opportunity to seize this Thanksgiving's family market.

DreamWorks Animation recently moved "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" from November 1 to March 2014, opening the door for kid-friendly fare before the November 22 opening of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Most of the other movies scheduled for October and November will cater to more mature audiences, spanning genres like science fiction ("Gravity," "Ender's Game"), horror ("Paranormal Activity 5," "Carrie") and action ("Malavita," "Thor: The Dark World").

Jeffrey Katzenberg's animation house has released a movie in the fall for eight of the last nine years, but its new distribution partner, Fox, moved "Peabody" to March, a month when the studio has had prior success with the "Ice Age" franchise.

DreamWorks Animation had a costly miss last November with "Rise of the Guardians," which grossed $301 million at the box office - a healthy sum, but not enough to cover costs. The company is expected to take a hefty write-down as a result in its upcoming fourth quarter earnings.

Reel FX, the Dallas-based animation and visual effects studio behind "Turkeys," actually sold "Guardians" to DWA five years ago.

"Turkeys" features the voices of Wilson and Harrelson as two spunky birds that take a time machine back to the first Thanksgiving. They want to expunge turkeys from Thanksgiving's culinary tradition. Lesley Nicol of "Downton Abbey," George Takei of "Star Trek" fame, Keith David and Colm Meaney have also been cast. Dan Fogler was already lending his voice.

Jimmy Hayward is directing the film from a script by Craig Mazin, David I. Stern, John J. Strauss.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/relativity-moves-turkeys-amy-poehler-joins-voice-cast-010436508.html

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Auto Loan Rates Deal of the Day: UMe Credit Union at 2.90% APR

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Source: http://www.gobankingrates.com/auto-loans/ume-credit-union-2-90-apr/

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McCain, Obama to meet on immigration Tuesday (cbsnews)

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Pressure mounts on Facebook to remove rogue tribute pages to Newtown victims

She's hugged President Barack Obama and taken a telephone call from Derek Jeter.

Now if Donna Soto could just connect with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook.

Not that the heartbroken Stratford mom hasn't tried.

She would tell him about the dozens of unofficial tribute pages on the social networking website dedicated to her eldest daughter, Victoria, who was gunned down while shielding her first-grade students from a killer's bullets at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Many give the appearance that they were created by friends and loved ones of Soto, who was 27 and instantly heralded by the international media as a heroine.

Some have solicited donations in the names of victims, while others have been hijacked by so-called truthers who believe the worst elementary school shooting in U.S. history was a hoax.

"I understand some people have good intentions (and) some people say she is a public figure, but, to me, she is my daughter that was put in this awful position (and) she would never want to be a public figure and she would not want people making pages in her name," Soto said. "I know Vicki better than most, and she would hate this."

Soto, whose daughter was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal at a White House ceremony earlier this month, said her efforts to get Facebook to intervene went nowhere, including a personal message to Zuckerberg.

Facebook spokesman Fred Wolens did not have statistics on how many page-removal requests the 900 million-member-strong website has received related to the Dec. 14 massacre in Newtown. He also could not say how many pages have been taken down.

"We will remove any page that is threatening or harassing, or violates our terms," Wolens said.

Wolens included a link to Facebook's user terms and complaints process for reporting objectionable material. He could not comment about specific pages or users.

Hearst Connecticut Newspapers found 103 tribute pages with some combination of Victoria Soto's name and R.I.P., for rest in peace. Requests for comment from the operators of the 15 most popular tribute pages -- those with the most fans or "likes" -- went unanswered. The cover photo on one page showed a pentagram with the words, "Satan Loves Me. R.I.P. Victoria Soto."

"That page is the worst," said Ryan Graney, who volunteered to help Soto's mother report offensive pages to Facebook and, in some cases, the FBI.

Graney has also been helping Kaitlin Roig, who is credited with saving the lives of 15 of her first-grade students by hiding them in a bathroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Roig, 29, who is from Greenwich, was a guest of Jill Biden at this month's State of the Union address. Roig has a pair of tribute pages dedicated to her, calling her a hero.

Roig spurned comparisons between herself and her six fallen colleagues, saying she doesn't think of herself as a hero.

"I did what needed to be done in a situation that nobody should ever be put in," Roig said.

A conspiracy theorist commenting on one of those pages posted a photo of a "crisis actress," to whom he claims Roig bears a striking resemblance.

"Having been a part of something extremely traumatic and horrific and reading people's just senseless comments about something they know nothing about is just disturbing and hurtful," Roig said.

She said that well-meaning tribute pages have gotten out of hand because their creators have failed to keep tabs on offensive comments. Roig even made a direct appeal to one, but to not avail.

"To whomever started this page ... thank you," Roig posted from her personal Facebook account. "The positive messages are AMAZING. Unfortunately coming on for the first time, I can't believe that anyone human would post such unkind words. Please, please cancel this page."

Graney, 31, a self-described Web nerd and Nashville transplant from upstate New York, met with Roig over coffee. She has never met Donna Soto, but sent her a message offering to help.

"She has been an invaluable resource for me and my family," Soto said. "Any time I have a site that I feel is a problem, I pass it on to her."

It has been an uphill battle for Graney, however.

"Facebook can't really do anything about it because it's considered free speech," she said.

Graney has publicly and privately pleaded with the operators of tribute sites to voluntarily remove them. She said she's even resorted to calling some of them after tracking down their contact information.

"This one woman responded and said, `No, I'm not taking it down,' " Graney said.

The page in question, dedicated to Victoria Soto, has more than 8,000 "likes," Graney said the creator told her.

"I was like, `Yeah, those likes are not for you. They're for someone who is gone,'" Graney said. "These people are trying to get Internet famous."

Graney said she reported a tribute page for Soto to the FBI because it was soliciting donations.

"They wouldn't tell me where the money was going," Graney said.

FBI Special Agent Dan Curtin, who is based in New Haven, said agency policy is not to disclose the number or nature of ongoing investigations to protect their integrity.

"We're aware of what's out there," Curtin said.

In December, a Bronx, N.Y., woman was arrested by federal law enforcement agents for using a Facebook account to raise money for a funeral fund for Noah Pozner, a 6-year-old victim of the massacre that she claimed was a relative.

"There's a lot of concern amongst the families in Newtown about some very disturbing traffic online, whether it's people trying to profit off the tragedy or people on the fringes of society who are trying to deny its existence in the first place," said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Murphy characterized claims that the mass shooting was staged as "unconscionable lies.

"I think there's a tension between trying to call out these lies for what they are and giving them more attention than they deserve," said Murphy, a former member of the House whose district included Newtown.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said that Facebook has been responsive when he has raised concerns about illicit material such as pornography in the past as the state's longtime attorney general.

"We have received some complaints and concerns," Blumenthal said. "Certainly, some of the websites are troubling. My hope is the privacy and grieving of the families will be respected."

Donna Soto created an official tribute page for her slain daughter, which had nearly 40,000 "likes" as of Friday. The address is http://www.facebook.com/VictoriaLeighSoto26

She posts photos of Victoria and her siblings on there, as well as images of flamingos that caught her daughter's fancy.

"Having this page for Vicki is a diversion for me," Soto said. "I love to read the comments from people all over the country and world telling me how my daughter has changed the way people think, or that people have changed their career path because of her."

Not all of Soto's encounters are a source of comfort, however.

"I get a lot of horrible postings saying that Sandy Hook was a hoax," Soto said. "If I don't get on the page quickly, people respond and comment and it goes back and forth. I try not to ever respond to these people. They don't deserve my time and I think it makes it worse. I have banned many, many people. One negative comment, and I ban them from the page."

Even Soto's status updates on Facebook have become fodder, much to her distress.

"I also put a status on Facebook asking if anyone had any ties to One Direction -- it is a boy band that a little girl I know likes and I thought if someone could get her an autographed picture that would be great," Soto said. "I was attacked for wanting to meet celebrities. I could care less about celebrities. At this point, nothing matters in my life right now, except my family. My daughter was killed protecting her 6-year-old kids in a good school in a good town doing what she loved to do. No celebrity or amount of money will ever be important to me. I don't care about it. My daughter, my pride and joy, the best daughter a mom could ask for, is gone."

Roig, who attended Victoria Soto's wake, commiserated with her mother.

"It's a shame that you would have to endure any more pain after going through that," Roig said.

neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy

Source: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Pressure-mounts-on-Facebook-to-remove-rogue-4301995.php

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German: US to leave 8,000-12,000 troops in Afghan (The Arizona Republic)

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