From the Trenches World Report

Before It’s News – by Alton Parrish

New research in the FASEB Journal suggests that consumption of dark chocolate lowers the augmentation index, a key vascular health predictor, and reduces adhesion of white blood cells to the vessel wall.

It might seem too good to be true, but dark chocolate is good for you and scientists now know why. Dark chocolate helps restore flexibility to arteries while also preventing white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels. Both arterial stiffness and white blood cell adhesion are known factors that play a significant role in atherosclerosis. What’s more, the scientists also found that increasing the flavanol content of dark chocolate did not change this effect. This discovery was published in the March 2014 issue of The FASEB Journal.   Continue reading “Why Dark Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart”

First Coast News

ORANGE PARK, Fla. — The death of a Navy Commander found in a room at the Astoria Hotel on Feb. 12 was ruled a homicide, the Orange Park Police Department announced Wednesday.

The Jacksonville Medical Examiner’s Office made the ruling on Feb. 13 in the death of Alphonso Doss, 44, of Pensacola, according to the release from the OPPD.   Continue reading “Navy Commander’s death ruled a homicide”

Yahoo News – by Beth Greenfield

After a quick-rising backlash against Subway’s use of the dough additive azodicarbonamide (ADA), the fast-food giant recently announced that it would stop using the chemical foaming agent — found in items from yoga mats to flip-flops — in its bread. It was a small victory in the fight against questionable food additives — one that feels even smaller this week, as the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released a new report finding ADA in the ingredients of nearly 500 supermarket-brand bread products.   Continue reading “Yoga-Mat Chemical Found in Way More Food Products Than Subway Bread, Report Finds”

Bakers Green Acres -by Jill

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”   Continue reading “Bakers Green Acres: The results are in”

Yahoo News – by CHRIS R. MURPHY and GEOFF MARTZ

While Drug Enforcement Administration agents in California are cracking down on the popular new drug known as “wax,” people in Colorado are rushing to embrace it.

Wax, the ultimate distillation of marijuana, is so potent that it is said a single hit will keep a person high for more than a day.   Continue reading “Colo. Marijuana Businesses Embrace New Drug at Center of DEA Crackdown in Calif”

Activist Post – by Brandon Turbeville

In a state where it was once commonplace to carry a hunting rifle in the back window of one’s truck at all times, a man has been shot by York County, South Carolina deputies because Deputy Terrence Knox thought that the man was reaching for a rifle in the back of his truck.

The victim, 70-year-old Bobby Canipe, was, of course, not reaching for a rifle but for his cane which he kept in the bed of the truck.    Continue reading “Cop Shoots Elderly Man Reaching For Cane”

Journal Sentinel- by John Diedrich and Raquel Rutledge

ATF agents have lost track of dozens of government-issued guns, after stashing them under the front seats in their cars, in glove compartments or simply leaving them on top of their vehicles and driving away, according to internal reports from the past five years obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Agents left their guns behind in bathroom stalls, at a hospital, outside a movie theater and on a plane, according to the records, obtained Tuesday by the news organization under the federal Freedom of Information Act.   Continue reading “ATF agents lost track of dozens of their own guns, reports show”

WTOP – by AARON KRAUT

The Maryland Public Service Commission on Wednesday announced it has decided on fees for Pepco customers who opt-out of the company’s smart meter installation program.

Residential and small commercial customers who decline to have smart meters installed will have to pay a $75 up-front fee and $14 monthly fee starting in July.    Continue reading “PSC Sets Fees For Opting Out Of Pepco Smart Meters”

WyBlog – by Chris Wysocki  

New Jersey’s public pension system is $47 billion in the hole. But that doesn’t derail the gravy train.

Fox News

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced Wednesday she has vetoed a controversial bill that would have allowed religious beliefs as a defense for denying service to gays and others.

Brewer, who spent several days considering whether to sign the bill, said it had “the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve.It could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine and no one would ever want.”   Continue reading “Arizona governor vetoes controversial bill allowing religious beliefs as defense for denying service”

Fox News

Want to reduce traffic? Don’t let poor people drive.

That’s one scheme being considered by the Director General of Dubai, Hussain Lootah, as the Emirate looks for ways to ease increasing congestion on its roads, according to The National.

“This city is growing very fast and everyone is buying their own car,” he told the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper. “If we keep going in this direction we’ll just have roads and bridges everywhere.”   Continue reading “Dubai considers minimum salary requirement for car ownership”

Fox News

Residents of the southern Arizona town of Arivaca are monitoring a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint to see how many arrests and drug seizures are made in a bid to remove longstanding interior checkpoints on the roads leading into the town.

Arivaca residents say they are regularly subjected to delays, searches, harassment and racial profiling at the checkpoints. Six residents monitored the checkpoint Wednesday on Arivaca Road, 25 miles north of the Mexico border.   Continue reading “Residents in Arizona town push to remove ‘militaristic’ border checkpoint”

My SA – by GUILLERMO CONTRERAS

SAN ANTONIO — Judges in Bexar County got them. State and federal prosecutors in San Antonio and South Texas got them. So did defense lawyers, court clerks, secretaries and bondsmen.

And now courthouse regulars are scratching their heads, struggling to remember what they spoke about with a defense lawyer at the center of a federal corruption investigation.   Continue reading “FBI to courthouse: Your phone has been tapped”

The Register – by Jack Clark

A former White House security advisor has suggested that you, dear reader, are naive if you think hosting data outside of the US will protect a business from the NSA.

“NSA and any other world-class intelligence agency can hack into databases even if they not in the US,” said former White House security advisor Richard Clarke in a speech at the Cloud Security Alliance summit in San Francisco on Monday. “Non-US companies are using NSA revelations as a marketing tool.”   Continue reading “Prez Obama cyber-guru: Think your data is safe in an EU cloud? The NSA will raid your servers”