NewsyType » News http://www.newsytype.com Hot Topic News and Commentary Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:47:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 PG&E to pay $70 million for pipeline tragedy http://www.newsytype.com/14934-pge-pay-70-million/ http://www.newsytype.com/14934-pge-pay-70-million/#comments Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:44:39 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14934 Company says it's remorseful The San Francisco-based power company's president, Chris Johns, released a statement Monday, saying PG&E is sorry and eager to make amends:
“The community of San Bruno has suffered through a terrible tragedy, and we understand that this accident will affect this community forever. We committed the night of the tragedy and continue to commit that we will help the victims and the community heal and rebuild. Today's announcement is another step in that process.”
The company previously paid out $100 million to meet the immediate emergency needs of the community following the incident in 2010.

Investigators blame PG&E

A federal investigation determined that PG&E was responsible for the disaster. A series of errors led regulators to rule it an "organizational accident," not just the result of mechanical breakdowns.

Non-profit foundation to be established

The settlement agreed upon Monday will be used to set up a foundation dedicated to the community's recovery. The company must pay the restitution within 70 days. The non-profit organization that it establishes will decide how the money can best be spent to serve the community's recovery as a whole. The statement went on to say:
"This $70 million payment is in addition to PG&E's commitment to fund replacement and repair of the city's infrastructure and other costs related to the accident and restoration of the neighborhood. The utility will not seek to recover the contribution through insurance or customer rates."

The pipeline explosion

A decades-old gas pipeline burst on Sept. 9, 2010, leaving a massive crater in a San Bruno street. The gas escaping from the burst pipeline fed 300 foot flames that burned for an hour and a half before frantic workers were able to turn off the gas flow manually. Had automatic valves been in place, investigators concluded, the damage would have been greatly minimized. In addition to the eight fatalities, the blast caused dozens of injuries and demolished 38 homes.

Moving on

The town's mayor, Jim Ruane, said the money will be used to heal and "get beyond" the tragedy. He said:
"As a community and as a city, we remain fully dedicated to assuring our community's full recovery."

Criminal charges could follow

Meanwhile, the California Public Utilities Commission is conducting its own investigation to determine if criminal charges should be leveled against PG&E. That could lead to yet more stiff fines and penalties. The commission has already concluded that PG&E followed policies that valued profit over safety.

Civil lawsuits also coming

PG&E is also facing approximately 90 civil lawsuits filed by people injured in the blast. Monday's settlement agreement does not affect those proceedings, which are scheduled to begin on July 23, 2012. Officials at the utility say they intend to compensate every victim and hope to reach an agreement outside of the courts.

Sources

Huffington Post   Los Angeles Times  CNN  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14934-pge-pay-70-million/feed/ 0 Judge stabbed and deputy shot in Washington courthouse http://www.newsytype.com/14920-judge-stabbed/ http://www.newsytype.com/14920-judge-stabbed/#comments Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:18:55 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14920 Treachery among the tree farms The incident occurred Friday afternoon in the western Washington town of Montesano, which bills itself as "Home of the Tree Farm." The town is located just more than 100 miles southwest of Seattle.

No official court business

Rick Scott, Grays Harbor County's undersheriff, told reporters it was unclear why the man was present at the courthouse. He said:
"It doesn't appear he was here on any official business."

Altercation occurred about noon

Courthouse officials were alerted to the presence of a suspicious man at about noon Friday. He was approached by a sheriff's deputy Polly Davin, leading to an altercation in which the deputy was shot in the shoulder. It is unclear what the confrontation was about or who initiated the attack. The suspect fled on foot.

Judge and deputy in stable condition

Reports are not clear about how or when Superior Court Judge Dave Edwards was stabbed. However, both victims are reported to be conscious and in satisfactory condition at the Grays Harbor Medical Center. Grays Harbor Community Hospital spokesman David Quigg said:
"They are comfortable and doing well."

Suspect identified

The suspect, identified as Michael Eugene Thomas, was described as a stocky Caucasian with sandy hair. His age was not identified, but it is believed he was carrying a briefcase.

Large-scale manhunt ensued

A massive-scale manhunt was under way for the man immediately following the incident. Local schools were closed down with students and staff sent home in the name of safety while the manhunt was in progress. According to the Grays Harbor County Office of Emergency Management, all county offices were also closed down early.

Suspect cornered, SWAT team converges

Law enforcement officials finally cornered the Caucasian man in a house in Montesano. According to a neighbor -- who only gave her name as "Kami" to reporters from local NBC affiliate KING-TV -- the house is owned by an elderly couple. Authorities say the residents were not at home and were not believed to be suspects in the matter. SWAT officers arrived and lobbed teargas into the home to flush out the suspect. Police dogs were sent in before officers closed in on the house.

Suspect at large

Earlier reports falsely reported that Thomas had been captured and was in custody. Those reports have since been updated. The suspect is still at large and the manhunt continues.

Sources

MSNBC USA Today CNN  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14920-judge-stabbed/feed/ 0 Microraptor was one flashy little dinosaur http://www.newsytype.com/14908-microraptor/ http://www.newsytype.com/14908-microraptor/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:40:39 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14908 The size of a pigeon Microaptor was about the size of a modern pigeon. The extinct creature had two sets of wings, one set on its upper limbs, and a second smaller set on its legs. Although resembling a modern-day bird, Microraptor is considered to be part of a non- avian group of dinosaurs called dromaeosaurs. The classification also includes the Velociraptor, made famous in "Jurassic Park."

'A colorful world'

Ke-Qin Gao, from Peking University in Beijing, wrote:
"With numerous fossil discoveries of birds and flowered plants, we knew that the Cretaceous was a colorful world, but now we've further enhanced that view with Microraptor as the first dinosaur to show iridescent color. Just a few years ago it would have been inconceivable for us to have imagined doing a study like this."

The shape of melansomes

The study was published Thursday in the journal "Science." It explains how, by scanning fossils of feathers with an electron microscope, melansomes -- tiny bundles of pigments about 1/100th the width of a human hair -- are revealed. By comparing the melansomes with those of modern birds, researchers have found that the shapes and arrangements of the melansomes represent specific colors. And a specific layering of malansomes indicates glossiness.

Iridescence for social use, not flight

The report says that Microraptor's shiny feathers were very much like those of the modern crow, whose size it also approximates. Microraptor is the earliest known creature to display iridescent feathers. The report speculated that the shiny feathers likely had more to do with attracting mates than with flight, if the creature ever actually did fly. University of Akron biologist Matthew D. Shawkey said:
“Iridescence is widespread in modern birds and is frequently used in displays. Our evidence that Microraptor was largely iridescent thus suggests that feathers were important for display, even relatively early in their evolution.”
Dr. Julia A. Clarke, a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin, implied that the social aspects of the shiny feathers may have been more important to the creature's existence than flight:
“But as any birder will tell you, feather colors and shapes may also be tied with complex behavioral repertoires and, if anything, may be costly in terms of aerodynamics.”

May not have been nocturnal

Paleontologist Mark A. Norell, of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said the findings may dispel previously-held notions that Microraptor was nocturnal. Dark glossy feathers are not found on modern night birds.

A breakthrough

Norell sees the study as a breakthrough in terms of visualizing these extinct creatures:
"This study gives us an unprecedented glimpse at what this animal looked like when it was alive."

Sources

Science Codex Discover magazine  New York Times  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14908-microraptor/feed/ 0 Autocorrected message leads to school lockdown http://www.newsytype.com/14849-autocorrect-lock-down/ http://www.newsytype.com/14849-autocorrect-lock-down/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:44:50 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14849 A series of mixups A series of mixups led to an innocent message being viewed as a potential high-alert threat to the West Hall middle and high schools in Gainesville, Ga. What appeared to be a message reading "gunman be at west hall today" was actually intended to say "gunna be at west hall today." Furthermore, the message was texted to the wrong number, contributing to its appearance of being a threat.

Authorities and administrators cooperate

The lockdown started prior to noon and ended at 1:45. Sergeant Stephen Wilbanks of the Hall County Sheriff's Department told the Gainesville Times in a statement:
"I am extremely proud of our school team members as they handled a challenging situation well. While this event caused a great deal of anxiety among students, staff and parents, be assured that we will always err on the side of caution when it comes to the safety of our boys and girls."
Gordon Higgins of Hall County Schools concurred:
"The school system always relies on law enforcement for school safety and anytime they request a lockdown we go with that request. We always take every precaution concerning a potential threat or danger."

Event follows tragic school shooting

Unfortunately timed, the message was discovered three days after a deadly shooting rampage in an Ohio high school that left three young people dead.

An innocent misunderstanding

There will apparently no charges filed because the whole unfortunate chain of events was an misunderstanding. Sergeant Wilbanks said:
"Our investigators followed up the leads pretty quickly and they were able to determine that the texts came from a student from Lanier Technical College. There was no malicious intent whatsoever. No harm was done. The school was shut down for a couple of hours and then everything was opened back up."

The stuff of online humor

Autocorrect errors can create unintentional juxtapositions that are often shared in the social media for their comic effect. There is even a website -- Damn You, Autocorrect -- devoted to posting the errors. Unlike getting Rick rolled however, it appears this source of online amusement can sometimes, at the very least, lead to real inconveniences in the real world.

Sources

Huffington Post Los Angeles Times MSNBC  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14849-autocorrect-lock-down/feed/ 0 Judge pulls gun in Georgia court http://www.newsytype.com/14823-judge-pulls-gun-in-court/ http://www.newsytype.com/14823-judge-pulls-gun-in-court/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:37:50 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14823 Hearing takes turn for the strange In the 1979 film “And Justice For All,” an eccentric judge played by Jack Warden pulls a gun during a hearing that has gotten out of hand and fires it, restoring order. Later in the film, Al Pacino goes on the epic “You're out of order” rant. The idea of judge pulling a gun in real life, though, is ludicrous. However, judicial restraint doesn't seem to have entered the mind of Judge David Barrett, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Barrett, a judge for the Lumpkin County Superior Court in the North Atlanta area, was presiding over a hearing. When a witness wasn't testifying to his liking, he told her she was “killing her case.” After that he pulled out a pistol, mockingly offered it to her, and told her “You might as well kill your lawyer.”

Wonderful thing to say to a rape victim

The woman in question, according to the Daily Mail, is not being named, as she is a sexual assault victim. The hearing was to determine whether or not her alleged rapist, Scott Sugarman, should be released on bond before trial. Sugarman, a former police officer, is charged with aggravated assault with a handgun and rape, after allegedly assaulting her at gunpoint. Jeff Langley, the prosecuting attorney, approached the bench and told Barrett to put the gun away, which he did. Andrea Conarro, the attorney representing the witness, told reporters that the events seemed to be in “slow motion.” An investigation has been launched into the manner but no charges have been filed against Judge Barrett.

Odd but not unprecedented

It seems bizarre, but some areas, including the area Judge Barrett resides in, allow judges to carry handguns while presiding on the bench -- but not to brandish them in court. However, other judges have done so. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Judge Garry Sampson, of the Lehi Justice Court, was reprimanded in 2010 by the Utah Supreme Court for pointing his gun at a bailiff. The bailiff and the judge were in the midst of a humorous exchange when the judge pointed a gun at him in a joking manner. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Judge Carlton Teel in Alabama drew a firearm in an act of self-defense on Feb. 4 this year, when a defendant approached the bench and began swinging his crutch at Teel. Teel pulled his pistol out, but did not fire on Bryant Ford, 25, who had just been pronounced guilty of harassment. Ford was instead shot by a police officer and taken to a hospital.

Sources

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Daily Mail Belfast Telegraph Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14465673?source=most_viewed]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14823-judge-pulls-gun-in-court/feed/ 0 Facebook unfriending on the rise http://www.newsytype.com/14799-facebook-defriending/ http://www.newsytype.com/14799-facebook-defriending/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:36:32 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14799 'Pruning' the social tree The study, released Friday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, says 63 percent of Facebook users have unfriended other users. Another 44 percent admit to deleting comments made by others. Thirty-seven percent have deleted tags on pictures. Pew calls the trend "pruning." Mary Madden, senior research specialist at pew and author of the report, wrote:
"Social network users are becoming more active in pruning and managing their accounts."
Pew surveyed 2,277 adult Facebook users in the United States in May of 2011. When the survey was last conducted in 2009, only 30 percent of Facebook users admitted to defriending another user.

Changing online attitudes

The study seems to suggest that Facebook users, once trusting and open in their online socializing, have become jaded enough to take action toward protecting their privacy. Madden wrote:
"Social science researchers have long noted a major disconnect in attitudes and practices around information privacy online. When asked, people say that privacy is important to them; when observed, people’s actions seem to suggest otherwise."
But that's changing. The report indicated that users are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy issues on the social networks. A full 58 percent of users employ the highest privacy settings so that only their friends can see their personal details. The trend is even stronger among women. Sixty-seven percent of female users employ the highest privacy settings. Only 48 percent of men do.

All ages

And that seems toe be the case across all age groups. Twenty-two percent of users 18 to 29 employed high-level privacy settings. The figure was 23 percent for users age 65 and over. According to the report:
"The choices that adults make regarding their privacy settings are also virtually identical to those of teenage social media users. Private settings are the norm, regardless of age."
Younger users, however, are still quicker to defriend others than are seniors. When broken down by ages, 71 percent of young adults have done so, as opposed to 41 percent of seniors.

The wages of regret

The study indicated that 11 percent of Facebook users say they have had regrets about things they posted on the social network. In this case, men are represented in larger numbers than women. Fifteen percent of men responding mentioned having regrets, compared to 8 percent of women.

Murder over Facebook defriending

The data all point to the rising realization that friendships on the social network have less weight than do the "real" friends we interact with in person. However, some have been known to take it to the point of deadly seriousness. Earlier this month, a couple in Tennessee, Billy Clay Payne, Jr. and Billie Jean Hayworth, were murdered after they chose to defriend a woman, Janelle Potter. They were killed by the woman's father, Marvin Enoch "Buddy" Potter Jr. and an accomplice named Jamie Lynn Curd. Johnson County Sheriff Mike Reece, calling the crime"senseless," said of the defriended woman:
"Once you've crossed her, you've crossed her father, too."

Sources

Yahoo CNet  MSNBC  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14799-facebook-defriending/feed/ 0 Seven Marines killed in training exercise http://www.newsytype.com/14787-seven-marines-killed/ http://www.newsytype.com/14787-seven-marines-killed/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:56:39 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14787 Cobra versus Huey, midair Six of the victims of the accident were members of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based out of Camp Pendeleton in Southern California. One was stationed in Yuma, Ariz. According to Marine spokesperson Lt. Maureen Dooley, the collision occurred at about 8 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday. The aircraft involved in the collision were an AH-1W Cobra and a UH-1 Huey. There were two Marines in the "Cobra," and five in the "Huey." The crash happened in an isolated section of the Yuma Training Range Complex near the Chocolate Mountains, not far from Yuma. It occurred during routine training operations.

Names not yet released

Dooley said the names of the deceased will not be released until Friday at the earliest, pending the investigation. She said:
“We won't know exactly what happened until the investigation is complete, and we can't make any assumptions right now.”
The soldiers killed were preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. The region is a popular one for military training because its harsh desert conditions closely resemble those in Afghanistan.

Preparation for deployment in Afghanistan

The consistent and generally calm weather allows for flight at nearly any time of the day, another reason the area is useful for military training. The weather is not considered a factor in the collision. Corporal Steven Posy, with the Marine Corps, said Thursday:
"(The weather) was pretty mild last night.”

Governor reacts

Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, said in statement Thursday:
"This tragedy serves as another stark and sad reminder of the peril our men and women in uniform encounter on a daily basis -- not only abroad, but on our own soil. It also reminds us that, whether in combat or training, no military mission is ever routine. We must never take for granted nor forget these soldiers' sacrifice and service to the United States of America."

Other training-related Marine accidents

This is only the most recent of accidents involving Marine Corps personnel while training. Over the past several months, there have been several. Two Marines were killed in September during a training exercise when their helicopter went down. The subsequent crash started a brush fire that raced dangerously toward Camp Pendelton. Last August, two Marines ended up in chilly ocean water for four hours after being forced to eject from their plummeting F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet. The Marines were rescued and survived with some injuries. Another Marine, this one highly decorated, was killed when his UH-1Y helicopter crashed at Camp Pendleton in July.

Sources

CNN USA Today SFLuxe ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14787-seven-marines-killed/feed/ 0 CFPB to look into overdraft fees http://www.newsytype.com/14766-cfpb-overdraft-fees/ http://www.newsytype.com/14766-cfpb-overdraft-fees/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:13:34 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14766 CFPB probes banking practices The CFPB said that it will be asking the nation's banks about how they assess and market overdraft fees, and at what rates. Also, they will look into how these institutions disclose the terms and conditions of the fees to consumers.

'Capacity to inflict serious economic harm'

Richard Cordray, director of the CFPB, said in a statement:
"Overdraft practices have the capacity to inflict serious economic harm on the people who can least afford it. We want to learn how consumers are affected, and how well they are able to anticipate and avoid paying penalty fees."

Banks scramble to make up lost income

Since 2010, banks have been required to make overdraft protection an option for consumers, not mandatory. Since that time, many banks have tried to make up the difference lost to the mandatory fees with marketing pushes, increased fees, raised interest rates and by creative ordering of how daily transactions are recorded. By clearing large purchases first, bankers stack the deck to create more overdrafts.

CFPB seeks public input

The bureau also asked for the public's input about a sample "penalty fee box" it is proposing be added to consumer bank statements. The box would disclose any fees and the amount overdrawn to trigger the penalty.

More overdrafts among poor and young

The CFPB said it also plans to look into why low-income and young consumers receive more overdraft charges than larger depositors. A 2008 study by the FDIC found that nearly half of young adults had received overdraft fees in the prior year. Fifteen percent were slapped with 10 or more.

Bankers defend the fees

Bankers say that overdraft protection is to save customers the embarrassment of being told they have insufficient funds. Overdraft protection allows a purchase to go through, even if there is not enough in the account to cover the purchase. However, the "favor" comes with penalties, usually in the $30 to $35 range, according to the CFPB. According to Moebs Services, financial institutions earned about $38 billion from overdraft fees in 2011.

For profit only, some say

But many believe the fees are inflated and designed mainly for making profit. In 2008, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that banking customers with 20 or more overdrafts a year are paying fees on an average of $1,610 yearly. Those statistics compelled the Federal Reserve to force banks to make overdraft protection optional in 2010. But many feel those changes did not go far enough.

Sources

CNN  Global Post Consumerist]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14766-cfpb-overdraft-fees/feed/ 0 Supposed Wooly Mammoth footage from Siberia was fraud http://www.newsytype.com/14726-wooly-mammoth/ http://www.newsytype.com/14726-wooly-mammoth/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:35:30 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14726 A mammoth hoax The Wooly Mammoth is one of the largest mammals to have walked the earth and evidence points to the enormous fur-covered relative of the elephant having gone extinct thousands of years ago. Just like other extinct animals and mythical creatures, there have been various reports of small, isolated populations of them cropping up from time to time, though unsubstantiated. Recently, a viral video showed, according to the Huffington Post, what was claimed to be a sighting of a living wooly mammoth in Siberia. The incredibly blurry footage shows something resembling a Wooly Mammoth crossing a stream. As it turns out, according the MSNBC, it's a fake.

Stolen documentary footage

The video was allegedly created using footage shot by Ludavic or “Lou” Petho, an Australian documentary filmmaker, and superimposing the mammoth over Petho's footage of a river. British newspaper The Sun reported that it had been shot by an engineer working for the Russian government in Siberia, though the video that has been circulating bears the legend “Copyright Michael Cohen/Barcroft Media.” Petho posted the original footage to YouTube last year, shot on the Kitoy River in the Sayan Mountains. Cohen, according to ABC News, is the editor of a website called Allnewsweb.com, a site devoted to “UFO and Paranormal News.” Barcroft Media is a London-based media content company, which Petho contacted. The similarity between the “mammoth video” and Petho's footage is damning. Petho was shooting a documentary about the journey of his grandfather, a Hungarian who escaped from a Siberian POW camp during World War I and walked back to Budapest.

Circulator defends video

Cohen told ABC that some videos he receives are going to be fake, but that “Mr. Petho has no evidence I personally stole the video.” Cohen also maintains, according to the Daily Mail, that given the vast expanse of Siberia, it is “possible that a number of species, extinct elsewhere, survive in the area.” The fossil record holds, so far, that the last mammoths were a small, isolated population of them on Siberia's Wrangel Island, the last of which died out around 1,700 B.C. Petho, however, released his own video, showing the similarities between the videos and saying that had the footage been just “a couple of kids in a bedroom” making the alteration, he would have been laughing along with them, but since it appears to have been manipulated for other people's commercial gain, he says “....what the (expletive)? You're stealing.”

The original video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye4jzSLX0mI

Petho's rebuttal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ijg5F-5sdI

Sources

MSNBC ABC Daily Mail Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/woolly-mammoth-videotaped-in-siberia_n_1265517.html?ref=weird-news Lou Petho's website: http://www.loupetho.com/]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14726-wooly-mammoth/feed/ 0 Same-sex marriage signed into law in Washington state http://www.newsytype.com/14714-same-sex-marriage-wa/ http://www.newsytype.com/14714-same-sex-marriage-wa/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:56:13 +0000 bryanh http://www.newsytype.com/?p=14714 Won't be effective until at least June The measure was approved Wednesday by state legislators. Its support came mostly from Democrats, who control both legislative bodies  in the state. Gregoire, who is in her last term, fast-tracked the bill for passage. However, it will not go into effect until at least June, pending a standard enactment period. A law does not go into effect in Washington until 90 days after the state's legislative session ends.

Opposition vows repeal

Opponents of the bill have said they will seek its repeal through a ballot measure in November of this year. That push could delay the law's enactment or possibly derail it entirely. Its opposition is likely to become an rallying point for the state's conservative politicians.

Governor says she is proud

The bill was signed in front of a cheering crowd at the state's capitol in Olympia. The Governor said:
"I'm proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal. ... I'm proud of who and what we are as a state."

Opposition prepares repeal efforts

A crowd of less-than-ebullient protestors from groups like the Knights of Columbus were also in attendance. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, stopped by the state to woo Republican voters in face of the upcoming state Republican caucuses on March 3. He will be speaking to Republican lawmakers Monday afternoon and will likely voice support of the repeal effort. In response to the repeal efforts to come, Gregoire urged all Washington voters to stay strong. "Look into your hearts," she said, "and ask yourselves: isn't it time?"

A good week for gay rights advocates

Lat week California's controversial Proposition 8 -- which banned any legislation allowing same-sex marriages -- was ruled unconstitutional and overturned. New Jersey also approved a bill allowing same-sex marriages on Monday.

Support growing for gay marriage

Polls show steadily growing support for same-sex marriage among American voters. In 2009, the ABC News/Washington Post poll showed, for the first time, more supporters than opposition for legalizing the unions. In that poll, 49 percent were in favor, with 46 percent opposed and the remainder undecided. In 2011 the same poll showed that 53 percent of Americans would support same-sex marriages.

Sources

Washington Post  Reuters  ABC  ]]> http://www.newsytype.com/14714-same-sex-marriage-wa/feed/ 0