Wednesday, May 26, 2010

“Professor, motorcyclist killed in Alabama collision - Anniston Star” plus 3 more

“Professor, motorcyclist killed in Alabama collision - Anniston Star” plus 3 more

Professor, motorcyclist killed in Alabama collision - Anniston Star

Posted: 26 May 2010 05:36 AM PDT

TUSCALOOSA — Tuscaloosa police are investigating a head-on collision that killed a University of Alabama professor and a teenage motorcylist.

Police said Tuesday that 18-year-old Timothy Dalton Hargrove was speeding when his motorcycle crossed the center line on a Tuscaloosa street Monday evening and struck a car driven by 47-year-old Karin Barbara Fischer, a German language professor who lived in Tuscaloosa.

The university's German department website says Fischer specialized in 18th and 20th century literature, language and culture, German-Jewish studies, enlightenment studies, cultural studies and minority literature.

Police say a child in Fischer's car received minor injuries.

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Former Google Executive's Age Bias Claims May Get Day ... - Law.com

Posted: 26 May 2010 08:02 PM PDT

Even though he was hired for an executive position at age 52, Brian Reid contends he was booted from Mountain View, Calif.'s Google Inc. 20 months later because management felt he was no longer a "cultural fit" for a company dominated by younger employees.

If questions posed by California Supreme Court justices during arguments on Wednesday are any indication, Reid -- who claims fellow workers and managers said he was obsolete, an old fuddy-duddy and lacked new ideas, among other things -- might get his day in court after all.

But that would depend on whether the high court decides the insults allegedly hurled Reid's way showed bias by managers toward older workers or were merely "stray remarks" by fellow employees with no obvious discriminatory intent.

It also might depend on whether the court finds that a trial judge's failure to rule on evidentiary objections at a summary judgment hearing makes for an implied overruling, preserving them for appellate review. That's how San Jose's 6th District Court of Appeal treated Google's objections in the immediate case, reversing a judgment in the company's favor.

"How do we cut through all the nonsense that's going on down below and make it easier for the courts?" Justice Ming Chin asked one of two lawyers representing Reid on appeal.

Reid -- whose impressive resume includes being named one of "50 for the Future" by Newsweek in 1995 -- sued Google in 2004 for age discrimination.

Google contends Reid was let go because his job as head of the Graduate Degree and Google Scholar Programs was eliminated and there were no other positions for which he was qualified.

That argument, Reid claims, was a cover-up for the fact that managers' felt he was not a "cultural fit."

Many of the questions Wednesday were about the "stray remarks" doctrine, first coined by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a 1989 sex discrimination case. It holds that "stray remarks" and "statements by nondecision makers or statements by decision makers unrelated to the decisional process" cannot satisfy an employee's evidentiary burden of showing discriminatory intent by the employer.

Justice Carlos Moreno asked Paul Cane Jr., a partner in Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker's San Francisco office who represented Google, whether jurors would be best left to tackle the stray remarks issue.

"Is it undisputed that the person making the remarks was not a decision maker or made them to a decision maker?" he asked. "Is it always that clear that the decision maker did not rely on the remarks of the nondecision maker?"

In response to Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar's question about whether a trial court could hear stray remarks but not necessarily give them any credibility, Cane said he believes they should be excluded from consideration.

"Doesn't it make more sense to admit them," Werdegar asked, "and give them the weight they may or may not have?"

Moreno asked Paul Killion, a partner in Duane Morris' San Francisco office who argued for Reid, whether there are triable issues in the case even without stray remarks.

"Definitely," Killion said. "The remarks by decision makers ... are direct evidence. They don't even fall into the stray remarks analysis."

Chief Justice Ronald George wondered whether remarks that an older worker had a "receding hairline" or "gray hair" would be enough to withstand summary judgment.

"It depends on the circumstances of the case," Killion said.

The chief also questioned how age discrimination could be a factor when Reid was hired at 52, and wanted to know whether an older employee could be found unfit because he wasn't forward-looking or imaginative.

"Could he not be a cultural fit for reasons other than mere age?" he asked.

Barry Bunshoft, also a partner in Duane Morris' San Francisco office, argued for Reid on the issue of evidentiary objections. Robert Olson, a partner with Los Angeles' Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland, handled the same issue for the Los Angeles-based Association of Southern California Defense Counsel.

A ruling in Reid v. Google Inc., S158965, is due within 90 days.

 

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Blast hits Russian city, 5 killed - Straits Times

Posted: 26 May 2010 05:10 PM PDT

MOSCOW - A BOMB blast tore through Russia's south-western city of Stavropol on Wednesday and killed at least five people, authorities said, with authorities vowing 'an appropriate' response in the volatile area.

The blast struck near a cultural centre just minutes before the concert of a folk group from the troubled Caucasus region, which sees frequent attacks in a guerrilla war between Russian forces and separatist rebels.

'An unnoticed explosive device exploded in front of a building next to the Palace of Culture and Sports at Stavropol,' the Russian prosecutors' investigating committee said in a statement.

'Five people are dead and 20 people have been hospitalised,' it said. A local emergency services official, Boris Skripka, told Interfax agency that 46 people had been injured. Local prosecutors' investigating committee official Ekaterina Danilova told Interfax that the explosive device was equivalent to 200g of TNT and contained small shards of metal.

Regional governor Valeri Gaevski arrived at the scene of the attack, blaming 'those who don't want peace in the Caucasus' and vowing 'an appropriate response,' Interfax reported.

The explosion came 15 minutes before the start of the concert, the prosecutors' investigating committee said, adding that a case had been opened for murder and trafficking illegal explosives. Stavropol lies on the northern edge of the Caucasus. -- AFP

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NYC community board approves Ground Zero mosque plans - KENS 5

Posted: 26 May 2010 01:57 PM PDT

NEW YORK -- After hours of contentious public comment, a New York City community board voted Tuesday to support a plan to build a mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero, site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

   "It's a seed of peace," board member Rob Townley said. "We believe that this is significant step in the Muslim community to counteract the hate and fanaticism in the minority of the community."

   The vote was 29-to-1 in favor of the plan, with 10 abstentions. The move by the Manhattan Community Board 1, while not necessary for the building's owners to move forward with the project, is seen as key to obtaining residents' support.

   Some board members wanted to postpone a vote until the next meeting to gather more information about the project and the organizations sponsoring it. But the motion failed.

   The meeting was unruly, with project opponents jeering at speakers and yelling comments such as "You're building over a Christian cemetery!" while holding signs that read, "Show respect for 3000," among other things.

   Many said they were not opposed to a mosque -- just not one that's two blocks from ground zero.

   The families of Sept. 11 victims "would be wounded by erecting a mega mosque so close to the place where their loved ones were massacred," said Viviana Hernandez, a chaplain. "Even though they may have altruistic reasons, the real terrorists will see it as a win on their side."

   Tea party activist Mark Williams has called the proposed center a monument to the terror attacks.

   The organizations sponsoring the project said they are trying to establish a vibrant and inclusive-world class facility.

   Plans for the Cordoba House include a performing arts center, swimming pool, culinary school, child care facilities and worship space.

   It would provide 150 full-time jobs, 500 part-time jobs and an investment in more than $100 million in infrastructure in the city's financial district, according to Daisy Khan, spokeswoman for the Cordoba House.

   Khan's husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, one of the project's sponsors, said he understood the pain that people have about 9/11. But he said his community and congregation were among those that died in the attacks.

   "We have condemned the terror of 9/11," he said. "We have worked to ensure that our mosques are not recruiting grounds for terrorists."

   Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a statement that by supporting the multi-faith community and cultural center, the board "sent a clear message that our city is one that promotes diversity and tolerance."

   Stringer has been the target of disparaging remarks by Williams for supporting the plans and has defended his position and denounced offensive speech directed at him or at Muslims.

   He said before the vote that he understood the sensitivities of the families of 9/11 victims.

   "I don't think anybody wants to do anything to disrespect those families. They made the ultimate sacrifice," he said. "At the same time, we have to balance diversity and look for opportunities to bring different groups together."

   Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said there were no security concerns about building a mosque in the area.

   The American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative have said that they bought the building in 2009 and planned to break ground later this year. It could take up to three years to build the Cordoba House. A Friday prayer service has been held at the building since September 2009.

   Besides the political and social opposition to the project, city officials say the plan also could be hindered by a decades-old proposal to give landmark status to a building that would be replaced by the mosque and center.

   City officials say the current building, constructed between 1857 and 1858 in the Italian Renaissance palazzo style, is historically and architecturally significant.

   Bruce Wallace, who lost a nephew on 9/11, said the center can change the misperceptions about Islam.

   "The moderate Muslim voice has been squashed in America," he said. "Here is a chance to allow moderate Muslims to teach people that not all Muslims are terrorists."

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