Shooting Suspects Had Bombs, Piles of Ammo; Terrorism Not Ruled Out
Wall Street Journal – Dec. 3
Authorities said Thursday that the two suspects who stormed a holiday gathering of county employees on Wednesday, killing 14 people, deployed remote-controlled pipe bombs at the scene and had amassed thousands of rounds of ammunition. Law-enforcement officials said they were still unsure of what motivated Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, to open fire at the event for county employees while dressed in “assault-style clothing” and armed with semiautomatic weapons. But at the scene, investigators found three connected pipe bombs set to be detonated by a contraption linked to remote-controlled car. And after catching up to and killing the suspects in a fierce gunbattle hours later on Wednesday, authorities found that they were heavily stocked with ammunition … The shooting was the deadliest in the U.S. since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012, according to Adam Lankford, associate professor at the University of Alabama’s Department of Criminal Justice in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In the Sandy Hook attack, a 20-year-old shot and killed his mother in Newtown, Conn., then killed 20 children and six adult staff members at the school.
Obama’s inconsistent claim on the ‘frequency’ of mass shootings in the U.S. compared to other countries
Washington Post – Dec. 3
The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world, and there’s some steps we could take, not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don’t happen as frequently.” — President Obama, interview that aired on CBS Evening News, Dec. 2, 2015 … The White House also pointed to research by University of Alabama criminal justice professor Adam Lankford, who declared mass shootings the “dark side of American exceptionalism.” The paper is not yet published officially, but his findings have been covered widely in the news and have been used to support Obama’s argument. Lankford ran statistical analyses of the total number of public mass shooters per country from 1966 to 2012 in 171 countries, and controlled for the national population size.
Look News – Dec. 2
Five things to know about mass shootings in the United States
Fox 11 (Reno, Nev.) – Dec. 2
Following the tragic shootings in San Bernardino Wednesday questions regarding mass shootings and conflicting opinions regarding them emerged. Here are five things worth knowing about mass shooting in the United States: 1) The definition of a “mass shooting,” varies … When multiple people are killed by a gunman in the United States multiple descriptions of the event typically emerge: mass shooting, mass murder, mass killing are all terms that have been used in the wake of tragedies such as Sandy Hook, Aurora and today’s shooting in San Bernardino.”The U.S. represents less than 5% of the 7.3 billion global population but accounted for 31% of global mass shooters during the period from 1966 to 2012, more than any other country,” the paper reported, sourcing Adam Lankford, an associate professor at the University of Alabama Department of Criminal Justice. Lankford defines a mass shooter “as one who killed at least four victims,” The Wall Street Journal noted.
NIH funds development of robots to improve health, quality of life
Rehab Management – Dec. 2
Robots to help visually impaired identify and grasp objects, increase mobility in elderly, and promote curiosity and determination in children … As individuals age, their ability to walk without assistance diminishes, leading to a decrease in physical activity and quality of life. To stay in their homes, elderly with mobility issues often require costly home modifications such as replacing steps with ramps or installing wheelchair lifts. The goal of this project is to develop a four-legged robot that enhances mobility, so that the elderly can remain physically active and enjoy a healthier life with reduced reliance on the assistance of caregivers or expensive home renovations. The robot has two modes: smart power-assist walker and smart mule. In the smart power-assist walker mode, the user is situated within the robot and chooses the amount of powered assistance that is needed. In the smart mule mode, the robot walks alongside the user while carrying a load, for example groceries. The robot uses a 3-D computer vision-based sensing system to detect the user’s motion and the environment. With its smart legs, the robot is able to easily overcome environmental obstacles in ways that powered wheelchairs cannot.
UA Child Life Program holds Staff Appreciation Day at DCH
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Dec. 2
The University of Alabama’s Child Life Program gave back today to those who care for others at DCH Regional Medical Center. The UA Child Life students hosted their annual staff appreciation day for the ER, NICU, and pediatric employees of DCH. One popular football mascot even made a guest appearance.
Small, endangered watercress darter living large on East Lake mural
Al.com – Dec. 2
In the wild, the watercress darter is only a few centimeters long, its brilliant colors usually hidden beneath its namesake grass or other aquatic vegetation. In art, the beautiful and endangered fish — native only to four springs in Jefferson County and found nowhere else in the world — is larger than life. The Center for Biological Diversity unveiled last month a 15-foot by 30-foot mural dedicated to the darter on the side of the soon-to-be-opened Lake Cottage Books store on 2nd Avenue South in East Lake … Howell, who attended the dedication, was a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Alabama when a professor who was studying salamanders handed him an interesting-looking darter caught in Bessemer’s Glenn Springs. “I looked at it and I thought it was really beautiful and really strange-looking,” Howell said. “I had never seen it before and it was not in any of the books.”