Study: Kids less fit than parents
DALLAS (AP) — Today’s kids can’t keep up with their parents. An analysis of studies on millions of children around the world finds they don’t run as fast or as far as their parents did when they were young.
On average, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than their counterparts did 30 years ago. Heart-related fitness has declined 5 percent per decade since 1975 for children ages 9 to 17.
The American Heart Association, whose conference featured the research on Tuesday, says it’s the first to show that children’s fitness has declined worldwide over the last three decades.
“It makes sense. We have kids that are less active than before,” said Dr. Stephen Daniels, a University of Colorado pediatrician and spokesman for the heart association.
Health experts recommend that children 6 and older get 60 minutes of moderately vigorous activity accumulated over a day. Only one-third of American kids do now.
“Kids aren’t getting enough opportunities to build up that activity over the course of the day,” Daniels said. “Many schools, for economic reasons, don’t have any physical education at all. Some rely on recess” to provide exercise.
Sam Kass, a White House chef and head of first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program, stressed the role of schools in a speech to the conference on Monday.
“We are currently facing the most sedentary generation of children in our history,” Kass said.
The new study was led by Grant Tomkinson, an exercise physiologist at the University of South Australia.
‘Dueling Dinos’ fail to sell in N.Y.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two fossilized dinosaur skeletons, dubbed the “Montana Dueling Dinosaurs” because they appear forever locked in mortal combat, failed to sell Tuesday at a New York City auction.
A pre-sale estimate had predicted that the skeletons, offered as a single lot, could fetch between $7 million and $9 million — a price out of the reach of most museums. There were hopes that a wealthy buyer would donate the skeletons to a public institution but the price failed to meet the reserve at the Bonhams auction; the highest offer was $5.5 million.
Auction officials said they remained hopeful a buyer could be found, possibly among institutions that previously expressed interest.
“We already had parties contacting us in advance of the sale, that should they not sell, please keep us in mind, we’re very interested,” said Thomas Lindgren, Bonhams co-consulting director of natural history. “Those negotiations will begin immediately.”
There is precedent for a wealthy bidder to purchase and donate such a find. Sue, a Tyrannosaurus rex discovered in South Dakota in 1990, was purchased and donated to The Field Museum in Chicago.
The dueling dinos’ discovery began with a pelvis protruding through rock at a Montana ranch. Three more months of chiseling and digging revealed a remarkable discovery: two nearly complete, fossilized dinosaur skeletons of a carnivore and herbivore, their tails touching.
A pushed-in skull and teeth of one dinosaur embedded in the other suggested a deadly confrontation between them. Clayton Phipps, a fossil hunter who made the discovery on his neighbor’s land in 2006 in the fossil-rich Hell Creek Formation, gave the fossils their name.
The fossils are believed to be a Nanotyrannus lancensis, a smaller relative of the T. rex, and a newly discovered species of Chasmosaurine ceratopsian, a close relative of the Triceratops, which lived at the end of the Cretaceous age some 65 million years ago.
Zimmerman faces
new allegations
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — George Zimmerman’s girlfriend said he tried to choke her about a week ago during an altercation that was not initially reported to police, a prosecutor told a judge Tuesday during Zimmerman’s first court appearance on domestic violence-related charges.
Samantha Scheibe feared for her life because Zimmerman mentioned suicide and said he “had nothing to lose,” according to Assistant State Attorney Lymary Munoz.
After the hearing, Zimmerman’s public defenders said he did not appear to be suicidal and expressed confidence he would be acquitted of any wrongdoing.
Hours later, Zimmerman was released from jail after posting $9,000 bond. He was seen walking out of the jail smiling and getting into a car. Judge Frederic Schott ordered him to stay away from Scheibe’s house, wear a monitoring device and refrain from contact with her. He was forbidden from possessing guns or ammunition or travelling outside Florida.
Zimmerman has been charged with aggravated assault, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He also has been charged with battery and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors. An arraignment was set for Jan. 7.
Schott said Zimmerman’s previous brushes with the law were not a factor in the conditions he imposed, but he did cite the new allegation of choking as a reason for the bond amount.
Earlier this year, Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges in the fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin in a case that drew worldwide attention.
Zimmerman, 30, wore gray jail garments and handcuffs during the hearing and spoke only when answering yes or no to the judge.
Public defender Jeff Dowdy said Zimmerman’s family has been supporting him financially.
“I would think it would be difficult for George Zimmerman to get a job in central Florida,” he said.
Dowdy and another public defender, Daniel Megaro, said Zimmerman was not suicidal despite what the prosecutor said.
“He doesn’t appear to be a danger to himself or a danger to anybody else,” Megaro said.
Zimmerman has previously used a website to raise money for his legal and living expenses, including $95,000 spent on bail in the Trayvon Martin case. The site also says tens of thousands of dollars were spent on living expenses and security.
The most recent posting on the site, weeks before Zimmerman’s acquittal, said the fund ran out of money in late May but raised tens of thousands more after public requests for help.
A link to donate via PayPal did not appear to be working Tuesday.
In this latest scuffle, both Zimmerman and his girlfriend called 911 and provided dueling descriptions to dispatchers about the argument at the home she rented where Zimmerman was also staying.
Scheibe accused him in the emergency call of pointing a gun at her, smashing a coffee table and then pushing her outside. Zimmerman also called dispatchers, denied pointing a gun at her and blamed her for the broken table.
The girlfriend told deputies the ordeal started with a verbal argument and that she asked Zimmerman to leave the house. Her account in the arrest report says he began packing his belongings, including a shotgun and an assault rifle. She says she began putting his things in the living room and outside the house, and he became upset.
At that point, the report said, he took the shotgun out of its case.
Zimmerman told his girlfriend to leave and smashed a pair of her sunglasses as she walked toward the front door, the report said. Scheibe told deputies he pushed her out of the house when she got close to the door.
“You point your gun at my fricking face,” Scheibe is heard telling Zimmerman on a 911 call. “Get out of my house. Do not push me out of my house. Please get out of my house.”
Seconds later, she told the dispatcher, “You kidding me? He pushed me out of my house and locked me out. … He knows how to do this. He knows how to play this game.”
Moments later, Zimmerman called 911 from inside house to tell his side of the story.
“I have a girlfriend who, for lack of a better word, has gone crazy on me,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman then said he never pulled a gun on his girlfriend and that it was she who smashed a table. He also told the dispatcher that Scheibe was pregnant with their child and that she had decided she would raise the child on her own. When Zimmerman started to leave, “she got mad,” he said.
Seminole County Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma said at a news conference that Scheibe was not pregnant. He also said Zimmerman was compliant and unarmed when deputies came to the house.
On Tuesday, Dowdy said he could not confirm whether the girlfriend was pregnant.
The arrest on Monday was the latest legal problem for Zimmerman since he was acquitted last summer of criminal charges in the fatal shooting of Martin. Zimmerman has said he shot the 17-year-old to defend himself during a fight in February 2012 inside a gated community in Sanford, just outside Orlando. Federal authorities are now reviewing the case the see if Martin’s civil rights were violated.
Relatives of Martin, who was black and unarmed, accused Zimmerman of racially profiling the teen and instigating a fight. Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, said he shot the teen in self-defense. The case sparked nationwide debates about race and self-defense laws.
In September, just roughly months after his acquittal, Zimmerman was accused by his estranged wife of smashing an iPad during an argument at the home they had shared. Shellie Zimmerman initially told a dispatcher her husband had a gun, though she later said he was not armed.
No charges were ever filed because of a lack of evidence. The dispute occurred days after Shellie Zimmerman filed divorce papers.
Zimmerman has also been pulled over three times for traffic stops since his acquittal.
In 2005, Zimmerman had to take anger-management courses after he was accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest Zimmerman’s friend.
Later that year, Zimmerman’s former fiancee filed for a restraining order against him, alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman responded by requesting a restraining order against her. Both requests were granted. No criminal charges were filed.
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