Dust storm shuts down interstate in northern Okla.

The rear of a car sits on top of another following a crash on Interstate 35 on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, near Blackwell, Okla. A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident, forcing police to shut down the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions. The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities. (AP Photo/The Ponca City News, Rolf Clements) MANDATORY CREDIT

The rear of a car sits on top of another following a crash on Interstate 35 on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, near Blackwell, Okla. A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident, forcing police to shut down the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions. The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities. (AP Photo/The Ponca City News, Rolf Clements) MANDATORY CREDIT

Rescue personnel from the Tonkawa Fire Department extricate a woman pinned in vehicle after it was involved in an accident on Interstate 35 near Blackwell, Okla., on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012. A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident, forcing police to shut down the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions. The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities. (AP Photo/The Ponca City News, Rolf Clements) MANDATORY CREDIT

Rescue personnel from the Tonkawa Fire Department extricate a woman pinned in vehicle after it was involved in an accident on Interstate 35 near Blackwell, Okla., Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident, forcing police to shut down the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions. The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities. (AP Photo/The Ponca City News, Rolf Clements) MANDATORY CREDIT

Dust obscures the Wichita skyline as strong winds whipped through south-central Kansas, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 in Wichita, Kan. I-35 near the Oklahoma board was closed due to the dust and numerous accidents. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Bo Rader) LOCAL TV OUT; MAGS OUT; LOCAL RADIO OUT; LOCAL INTERNET OUT

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident along a major interstate Thursday, forcing police to shut down part of the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions.

In a scene reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days, choking dust suspended on strong wind gusts shrouded Interstate 35, which links Dallas and Oklahoma City to Kansas City, Mo. Video from television station helicopters showed the four-lane highway virtually disappearing into billowing dust on the harsh landscape near Blackwell, plus dozens of vehicles scattered in the median and on the shoulders.

"I've never seen anything like this," said Jodi Palmer, a dispatcher with the Kay County Sheriff's Office. "In this area alone, the dirt is blowing because we've been in a drought. I think from the drought everything's so dry and the wind is high."

The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities.

State transportation workers were called into to close the highway between U.S. 60 and Oklahoma 11, an 8-mile stretch of the cross-country roadway.

"We have very high winds and blowing dust causing a near blackout condition," Capt. James West of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Thursday afternoon. He said visibility was less than 10 feet.

The stretch of closed roadway reopened Thursday evening after crews cleaned up debris and waited for winds to die down, Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman Cole Hackett said.

The area is just south of the Kansas state line in far northern Oklahoma. Interstate 35 runs from the Mexican border in south Texas to Duluth, Minn.

A red flag fire warning was in place for parts of northern Oklahoma on Thursday, as was a blowing dust advisory.

The National Weather Service forecast for the area said winds would subside to 20 mph or lower overnight but that gusts as high as 28 mph could continue. Calm winds were expected by Friday night.

The area has suffered through an extended drought and many farmers had recently loosened the soil while preparing for the winter wheat season.

"You have the perfect combination of extended drought in that area ... and we have the extremely strong winds," said Gary McManus, the Oklahoma associate state climatologist.

"Also, the timing is bad because a lot of those farm fields are bare. The soil is so dry, it's like powder. Basically what you have is a whole bunch of topsoil waiting for the wind to blow it away. It's no different from the 1930s than it is now."

Steve Austin, a Kay County commissioner, said visibility was terrible.

"It looked like a huge fog was over the city of Ponca City," he said. "We've had dust storms before, but I don't remember anything of this magnitude in years."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-18-Plains%20Dust%20Storm/id-cc172b8d09444f6f9e8de8745e1298d4

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Beltran sub boosts Cardinals in Game 3

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Trevor Rosenthal (64) works during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Trevor Rosenthal (64) works during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse (26) reacts on the bench after he was taken out of the game during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

CORRECTS INNING TO FIFTH, NOT FOURTH - St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma (38) throws to first for a double play, taking San Francisco Giants' Marco Scutaro (19) out at second and Pablo Sandoval (48) out at first, during the fifth inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates his two-run home run with Jon Jay (19) during the third inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Carpenter (13) hits a two-run home run during the third inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Carlos Beltran limped to the trainer's room, taking the St. Louis Cardinals' biggest clutch October bat with him.

Turns out they had the perfect substitute.

Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer after subbing for Beltran and the Cardinals chased Matt Cain before a 3?-hour rain delay in the seventh inning of a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night for a 2-1 NL championship series lead.

Beltran strained his left knee running out a double-play ball in the first innings and the Cardinals said he was day to day.

Kyle Lohse worked around a season-worst five walks in 5 2-3 innings. Mitchell Boggs struck out Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt with two on to end the seventh. Jason Motte earned the first two-inning save of his career to reward what remained of a sellout crowd of 45,850 ? perhaps a third ? that stuck around for a game that lasted 3 hours, 2 minutes, about a half-hour shorter than the delay.

"They said if we didn't score I was going to go out there. I was in the clubhouse running around, I've never really had to sit around like that," Motte said. "It was probably the most nervous I've ever been."

Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro had two hits and a clean game in the field, two days after Matt Holliday rammed him breaking up a double-play ball. Manager Bruce Bochy had said there would be no retaliation, and Game 3 was collision-free.

The big winners in a delay that featured about a half-hour without rain while officials awaited a second, smaller front: Beer vendors, by a single out. Alcohol sales are cut off after the seventh inning in all stadiums.

Cain lost for the second time this postseason, giving up three runs on five hits in 6 1-3 innings. The Giants, who entered the game batting just .217 in the postseason, were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals snapped the Giants' five-game road winning streak in the postseason, three of them this year. Game 4 is in St. Louis on Thursday night, with Adam Wainwright pitching for the Cardinals. Tim Lincecum will start for the Giants.

"He's a guy we want out there. He's been throwing the ball well," Bochy said. "We've got to bounce back."

Carpenter followed Jon Jay's two-out single with a homer off Cain in his first at-bat of the NLCS.

Beltran is batting .400 in the postseason with three homers and six RBIs, but Carpenter had big numbers against Cain. He was 4 for 4 for his career against Cain, all four of the regular-season hits for singles.

"He's a really good pitcher obviously," Carpenter. I've had some success. I just go up there and try to battle, get a good pitch to hit."

This one was a much bigger deal, a drive on a 2-2 count that soared over the Cardinals bullpen in right field and was estimated at 421 feet.

Carpenter entered the game 1 for 5 in the postseason, all five pinch-hit appearances. He had an RBI single in the wild-card playoff against Atlanta. He got 14 of his 46 RBIs in April as the primary sub at first base for injured Lance Berkman.

On Tuesday, Carpenter was among a group of seldom-used hitters trying to stay sharp by facing Jake Westbrook in a simulated game. The rest of the team had the day off.

Umpires called for the tarpaulin right after the Cardinals made it 3-1 on a run-scoring single by Shane Robinson and Cain was lifted.

It was the third game delayed by rain this postseason and a fourth, Game 4 of the Yankees-Tigers ALCS, was postponed later Wednesday night. Two games between the Yankees and Orioles in Baltimore began late because of inclement weather.

The rain intensified less than 10 minutes after the field was covered, chasing most fans who had remained in their seats up to that point. Spotters for the National Weather Service reported 60 mph winds in nearby St. Charles County.

A highlight of the delay was a Pac-Man style chase. Ushers pursued and finally apprehended a fan who jumped out of the stands to get a baseball near the warning track in left field, and then jutted in and out of aisles to elude several ushers who had been closing in.

The storm had been widely anticipated. Some forecasts called for a 70 percent chance of rain. Both managers fielded questions Tuesday and Wednesday about whether the probability of precipitation would affect their selection of the starting pitcher.

Both said they couldn't worry about the weather, and the starters combined for 208 pitches.

"I've been caught before where you try to predict what's going to happen with the rain and started," Bochy said. "Just a couple years ago I started a pitcher thinking the same thing and it didn't rain for four or five innings. Then I put my starter in and then it started raining, and so it came back to bite me."

Lohse is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA this postseason despite uncustomary control woes. He was among the majors' best control pitchers this season, averaging 1.62 walks per nine innings.

The Giants entered 70-22 when scoring first, including the postseason, and took the lead in the third on Pablo Sandoval's run-scoring groundout after leadoff hits by Angel Pagan and Scutaro, whose legs looked just fine on an opposite-field double flared just over first baseman Allen Craig's glove.

Beltran leads all players with eight extra-base hits in the 2012 playoffs and is a career .375 hitter in the postseason, highest ever among players with a minimum of 100 at-bats.

NOTES: Danny Cox, who pitched for Cardinals World Series teams in 1985 and 1987, threw a perfect strike on the first pitch. ... According to STATS LLC, Lohse walked two batters in the same inning four times in 2012. ... Jay, who was hit by a pitch to start the game, was plunked 15 times in the regular season. ... Matheny had 122 lineups during the regular season but has stuck with the same eight throughout the postseason. ... The Cardinals are 9-2 in Game 3 of the NLCS, the lone losses coming in 2004 and '05 at Houston. This win ended a streak of scoring at least six runs in the last eight postseason victories dating to Game 3 of the World Series last year, the longest streak of its kind in postseason history. St. Louis entered averaging 7.6 runs in 16 wins the last two postseasons and just 2.3 runs in the 10 losses. ... The Cardinals have played in eight best-of-seven series in which they were tied 1-1 and played Game 3 at home, and have won all of them. They won six of the previous seven series, according to STATS LLC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-17-NLCS-Giants-Cardinals/id-39f07d957c1647b0a341bab3cae18c63

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Google event Oct. 29 could bring new Nexus devices

1 day

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

Google has sent out invites for an event in New York on Oct. 29, as rumors last week suggested. If other recent rumors hold true, Google may unveil new Nexus hardware, possibly both a tablet and a phone.

There are conflicting reports on the new Nexus phone, which was first rumored to feature a large 4.7-inch screen. But leaked images referred to a "Nexus 4" device, which would have a 4-inch screen if it follows the same naming convention as the Nexus 7 tablet. Either way, word is that it is made by LG, and may share some DNA with LG's jumbo-sized Optimus G.

As for the tablet, there are rumors both of a price drop for the Nexus 7 and a new, high-end model, possibly the Nexus 10. The Nexus 7, now $199 for the 32GB version, may be dropping to $99, though Google would certainly lose money on every sale if that were to happen.

The new larger device is said to feature a screen that is even more high-resolution than the third-generatio?iPad: 2,560-by-1,600 pixels, compared with the iPad's 2,048-by-1,536. Such a sharp screen would be a powerful selling point against the iPad, just as the iPad's sharp screen has been a selling point for Apple.

There have also been rumblings of a new version of Android, 4.2, which would feature security improvements among other new features.

Apple is planning?an event a week earlier, on the 23rd (we'll be there and reporting live). It is widely expected to be the launch of a smaller "iPad Mini," and possibly a 13-inch Retina?MacBook Pro.

And on top of that, it's the same week Microsoft is launching Windows 8 and its Surface RT tablet ? and a dozen or two other tablets and laptops are being announced?as well.

All in all,?it's going to be a big week for PCs and tablets. If you're in the market, it would be wise to wait until the end of the month before making any purchases.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/google-event-oct-29-could-bring-new-nexus-devices-1C6532066

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Sources: Review finds no proof that firm spied for China

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A White House-ordered review of security risks posed by suppliers to U.S. telecommunications companies found no clear evidence that Huawei Technologies Ltd had spied for China, two people familiar with the probe told Reuters.

Instead, those leading the 18-month review concluded early this year that relying on Huawei, the world's second-largest maker of networking gear, was risky for other reasons, such as the presence of vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.

These previously unreported findings support parts of a landmark U.S. congressional report last week that warned against allowing Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE Corp to supply critical telecom infrastructure.

But they may douse speculation that Huawei has been caught spying for China.

Some questions remain unanswered. For example, it is unclear if security vulnerabilities found in Huawei equipment were placed there deliberately. It is also not clear whether any critical new intelligence emerged after the inquiry ended.

"The White House has not conducted any classified inquiry that resulted in clearing any telecom equipment supplier," White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said. She also noted that Huawei had been barred from participating in an emergency network for first responders a year ago "due to U.S. government national security concerns".

At the White House's direction, according to people familiar with the matter, intelligence agencies and other departments conducted the largely classified inquiry, delving into reports of suspicious activity and asking detailed questions of nearly 1,000 telecom equipment buyers.

"We knew certain parts of government really wanted" evidence of active spying, said one of the people, who requested anonymity. "We would have found it if it were there."

A spokesman for Huawei said the company was not familiar with the review but it was not surprised that no evidence of Huawei espionage was found.

Last week's report from the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee noted the potential for spying through Huawei gear installed to manage traffic on wireless networks. The committee also criticized Huawei's leadership for failing to provide details about its relationships with Chinese government agencies.

Huawei, whose chief executive officer, Ren Zhengfei, founded it 25 years ago after he was laid off by the Chinese army, has rejected the House report as unfair and inaccurate. China's Commerce Ministry has also called the accusations "groundless".

"Huawei is a $32 billion independent multinational that would not jeopardize its success or the integrity of its customers' networks for any government or third party. Ever," the company's U.S. spokesman, Bill Plummer, said on Wednesday.

ZTE said it had never encountered an instance of its equipment causing security problems in the countries in which it operates.

"We believe our equipment is safe," said spokesman David Dai Shu. "ZTE recognizes and fully respects the obligation to protect national security of all countries in which ZTE's equipments are deployed."

The House Intelligence Committee's report did not present concrete evidence that either Huawei or ZTE has stolen U.S. data, although it said a classified annex provided "significantly more information adding to the committee's concerns" about the risk to the United States.

Speculation has swirled about the contents of the secret annex, and both committee Chairman Mike Rogers and some intelligence officials have hinted at evidence that Huawei has participated in espionage.

Rogers, the report's lead author, stoked concerns by saying some customers had seen routers sending off "very valuable data" to China.

But in the one case a committee staff member pointed out to Reuters, the victim - Leap Wireless International Inc - said that while some of its computers were infected with viruses earlier this year, an investigation found no evidence that the infection was deliberate or that confidential data had been stolen.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Pressed about why the White House review and unclassified version of the House Intelligence Committee report had not turned up a "smoking gun", two officials familiar with intelligence assessments said U.S. agencies were most concerned about the capability for future spying or sabotage.

Similarly, Chris Johnson, a former CIA analyst on China, said he had been told that the White House review had come up empty on past malicious acts. Nonetheless, officials emerged from the review with "a general sense of foreboding" about what would happen if China asked Huawei for assistance in gathering intelligence from U.S. customers, he said.

"If the Chinese government approached them, why would they say no, given their system?" Johnson said.

Preventing state spying through technology is a high priority for U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which is lobbying for legislation to raise private-sector security standards and readying a more limited executive order along those lines.

Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. government officials and contractors found nearly unanimous agreement that Huawei's equipment poses risks: The company could send software updates that siphon off vast amounts of communications data or shut them down in times of conflict.

More than anything else, cyber experts complained about what they said was poor programming that left Huawei equipment more open than that of rivals to hacking by government agents or third parties.

"We found it riddled with holes," said one of the people familiar with the White House review.

At a conference in Kuala Lumpur last week, Felix Lindner, a leading expert in network equipment security, said he had discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Huawei's routers.

"I'd say it was five times easier to find one in a Huawei router than in a Cisco one," Lindner said.

Lindner, who spent months investigating Huawei code, said the vulnerabilities appeared to be the result of sloppy coding and poor procedures, rather than any deliberate attempt at espionage. Huawei is looking into his findings, he said.

Some in the U.S. government, however, have said the alleged poor security practices at Huawei could be a deliberate cover for future attacks.

One computer scientist, who helped conduct classified U.S. government research on Huawei routers and switches four to six years ago, told Reuters that he had found "back doors" that his team believed were inserted with care.

He said these back doors could enable attackers to install malicious software that would make critical government networks inoperable, allow hackers to gain entry into highly classified systems and enable them to spy on all traffic. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the research.

Huawei has denied the existence of these back doors. Plummer also noted that any vendor's gear could be targeted by hackers, and the company would address any vulnerabilities it finds.

The United States' closest allies have rendered a split verdict on Huawei. Earlier this year, Australia barred Huawei from becoming a contractor on the country's National Broadband Network, and Canada said last week that Huawei could not bid to help build a secure national network. In Britain, however, a spokesman for the Cabinet Office said Huawei's products were fully vetted and did not represent a security concern.

Dutch Ruppersberger, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and co-author of the report, told Reuters that the burden of proof had been on Huawei and ZTE, which cited Chinese government restrictions in limiting their responses.

"China has the means, opportunity, and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes," Ruppersberger said.

Republican Rogers' staff did not respond to questions about the contents of the classified annex or the White House review.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Franciso, Jim Finkle in Boston, and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Additional reporting by Paul Eckert and Jim Wolf in Washington and Jeremy Wagstaff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Lisa Von Ahn and Alex Richardson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-ordered-review-found-no-evidence-huawei-024257532--finance.html

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Graham family ties tighten with Romney | CharlotteObserver.com

The election-year embrace of Mitt Romney by some evangelical Christians now borders on a bear hug, given a series of moves by Billy Graham and his family that appear to say it?s OK to vote for a Mormon.

This week, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed Mormonism from its list of religious cults.

The reclassification follows Romney?s visit to Graham?s mountain home last Thursday, a meeting that also included Graham?s son Franklin, who now runs the association for his 93-year-old father.

Mormons consider themselves Christians and say their faith tracks the teachings of Jesus. But they give equal stature to the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Several of their beliefs ? including that God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus are separate deities and not part of the divine Trinity ? further separate them from mainstream Christian teachings.

An article on the Graham website had classified Mormons, along with Jehovah?s Witnesses, the Unification Church, Unitarians, Spiritists and Scientologists, among others, as cults.

?Our primary focus at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has always been promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ,? Ken Barun, the evangelical association?s chief of staff, said in a prepared statement.

?We removed the ( cult) information from the website because we do not wish to participate in a theological debate about something that has become politicized during this campaign.?

The Grahams, however, long ago waded into the politics of the presidential campaign. In the current issue of the association?s Decision magazine, Franklin Graham poses the question in a column titled: ?Can an Evangelical Christian Vote for a Mormon??

He answers it with a rousing yes.

?We are at a profound crossroads. Our secularized society has shaken its fist in God?s face and rejected his very name,? Franklin Graham writes. ?? We must not silence our voices when government clashes with the worship of God.

?I pray that all Christians and God-fearing Americans will put aside labels and vote for principles ? God?s principles.?

While Billy Graham has never formally endorsed a candidate, the ties between the family and Romney have grown tighter, starting with Franklin?s call before the South Carolina presidential primary for conservative Christians to not hold Romney?s religion against him. ?We are not electing a pastor-in-chief,? he said at the time.

Mark DeMoss, Franklin Graham?s longtime spokesman, is now a Romney adviser. DeMoss told The Associated Press last week that Franklin Graham ?is doing everything he can to encourage churches to encourage their people to get out and vote.?

The younger Graham has also had his run-ins with President Barack Obama. In 2010, the Army withdrew an invitation for Franklin Graham to speak at a Pentagon prayer breakfast because of his criticism of Islam.

In February, Graham questioned Obama?s Christianity while raising the possibility that the president is a Muslim.

In his Decision magazine column, Franklin Graham cites a statement by former President Bill Clinton that Obama has a plan to ?rebuild America.?

?God-fearing Americans have no desire to see America rebuilt ? but rather restored,? he writes. ?To ?rebuild it? would be to create a new nation without God or perhaps under many Gods.?

The Grahams? actions could further cement conservative Christian support for Romney in the Nov. 6 election, even though most evangelicals don?t consider him a Christian.

That religious divide cost Romney heavily in the South Carolina primary, when he finished a distant second to Newt Gingrich, a Catholic who is twice divorced.

?Romney?s Mormonism will be more a cause of concern than Gingrich?s infidelity,? the Rev. Brad Atkins, president of the S.C. Baptist Convention, said at the time.

Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist Church of Charlotte and president of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, says evangelicals now have a clear choice.

?While certainly we differ and have deep theological issues with Gov. Romney?s religion and faith, we do share similar values,? Harris said.

On topics such as same-sex marriage and abortion, ?our values are far more similar than nonsimilar.?

Move to the mainstream

Throughout his six-decade career, Billy Graham made several moves that made Southern evangelicals uncomfortable ? from preaching for integration to including Catholics and more moderate denominations on his crusade teams.

For their part, Mormons have moved more to the cultural, economic and political mainstream, says Bill Leonard, professor of Baptist studies, church history and religion at Wake Forest University.

?Up until the 1950s, you either were a Mormon or you despised the Mormons, because they were considered so weird in the minds of the evangelical majority that there was an almost demonic quality to them.?

Since then, Mormons such as Romney?s father, George, who was the governor of Michigan and ran for president in 1968, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch broke public barriers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also broke with its longstanding tradition of polygamy. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir became a cultural icon.

Today, Mormons make up about 2 percent of the U.S. population. The Carolinas are home to some 115,000 of the church members.

A Pew Research Center survey earlier this year found that 66 percent of Mormons consider themselves conservative, and almost 75 percent described themselves as Republican or Republican-leaning.

Attempts to reach a local church spokesman were unsuccessful.

In his October column in Decision magazine, Franklin Graham called for the rebirth of a political alliance built on faith ? ?made up of Christians, Jews, Mormons, Catholics ? to take a stand for our religious freedoms and rights.?

Conservative Christians now need those partnerships, Leonard said, given a Pew study this month that showed Protestants are no longer the religious majority in the United States. The fastest-growing religious groups, those not affiliated with a particular church, tend to vote Democratic.

?You could make the case that for the religious right, this is a last-ditch effort in terms of their public privilege, in terms of being the religious majority,? Leonard said.

Some still doubt Mormonism

For now, some other Conservative Christian groups have not followed the Grahams? move.

The Christian Research Institute of Charlotte, which was begun in 1960 to counteract the threat posed by ?cults and other alternative religious systems,? still considers Mormonism a cult.

It says Mormon doctrines ?compromise, confuse or contradict the nature of God, the authority of Scripture, and the way of salvation.?

Even the Billy Graham Evangelical Association website has not been completely scrubbed of concerns about the Mormon religion.

Under the section of ?Billy Graham?s My Answer,? a questioner who has been invited by a couple ?to come to their assembly hall to study the Bible? is warned to be wary of those (like Mormons) that claim ?the books their founder wrote or ?discovered? are from God, and have equal authority to the Bible.?

?Ask God to lead you to a church where Christ is honored and the Bible is taught,? the website counsels.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/17/3603920/graham-family-ties-tighten-with.html

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Meningitis outbreak 'nowhere near the end'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The meningitis outbreak that has so far killed 15 people and sickened more than 200 others is "nowhere near the end," a top medical expert said on Tuesday, a day after federal authorities warned more that tainted drugs may be linked to the health crisis.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, said on "CBS This Morning" that he expects a "steady increase" in the number of fungal meningitis infections over the coming weeks.

The Food and Drug Administration's move on Monday to widen its investigation of the cause of the fungal meningitis outbreak to other drugs made by a Massachusetts pharmacy, the New England Compounding Center (NECC), is "ominous," Schaffner said.

"We were concerned that there might be other medications that might be contaminated coming from that pharmacy," said Schaffner, who is past-president of National Foundation for Infectious Disease. "The FDA has given us a heads up that that looks to be the case. We'll have to notify many more patients across the country that they may have been exposed to a fungal infection.

"I think we're still in the middle," Schaffner said, when asked about the outbreak's scope. "We're nowhere near the end of this problem. And we will see more patients reporting in ill and we'll have to treat many more going forward."

The FDA said Monday it was looking into two other drugs made by NECC, based outside of Boston in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The agency said it had received reports of a patient with possible meningitis who received an injection of a different steroid than the one found to have caused 15 deaths. It said on Tuesday that one transplant patient was infected with a fungus linked to the meningitis outbreak after receiving a drug used in open heart surgery made by NECC. The FDA had originally said two heart patients were infected.

Also on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nine more people were diagnosed with fungal meningitis linked to possibly tainted vials of the injected steroid methylprednisolone, bringing the number of cases to 212.

The patient identified by the FDA as potentially having meningitis received an injection of the steroid triamcinolone, also supplied by NECC.

The FDA said its investigation of that patient and the one who received the heart drug known as a cardioplegia solution during surgery was ongoing. It cautioned that any injectable drugs made by NECC, including those intended for use in eyes, are of "significant concern."

The FDA has not confirmed that the two infections in patients who received the other drugs were caused by the NECC products. NECC said in a statement that it was reviewing the new information from the FDA.

On Monday a Tennessee woman who contracted fungal meningitis after receiving one epidural injection with the NECC-prepared steroid filed a lawsuit against the company seeking $15 million in damages. Tennessee has been the hardest-hit state, with 53 cases and six deaths.

SUSPECT LOTS

All but eight of the 23 states that received suspect medications from the Massachusetts specialist pharmacy have reported at least one case of fungal meningitis, a rare and deadly disease that has proven difficult to treat.

The suspect lots of steroid were shipped to 76 facilities.

A list of recalled NECC products on the FDA website ran 70 pages. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm322979.htm

Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include headache, fever and nausea. Fungal meningitis is not contagious.

The outbreak has raised questions about how the pharmaceuticals industry operates. NECC engaged in a practice called drug compounding that is not regulated by the FDA, which generally oversees drug makers.

In compounding, pharmacies prepare specific doses of approved medications, based on guidance from a doctor, to meet an individual patient's need.

A Reuters investigation found that NECC solicited bulk orders from physicians and failed to require proof of individual patient prescriptions as required under state regulations, e-mails to a customer showed.

State pharmacy regulators have said that NECC violated its license in Massachusetts by not requiring patient prescriptions before shipping products.

The 15 states reporting cases of meningitis are Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, Idaho, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Florida.

(Writing by Dan Burns; Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Vicki Allen and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/meningitis-outbreak-no-where-near-end-health-expert-134033744.html

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