Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 8

Page A8 Wednesday, April 13, 2011 WWW.DAYTONDAILYNEWS.COM National headlines U.S. pushes to cut medical errors WASHINGTON The Obama administration announced a new initiative Tuesday to reduce medical errors, partnering with private insurers, business leaders, hospitals and patient advocates to tackle a problem that kills thousands of Americans every year. The campaign, funded by the health care overhaul the president signed last year, aims to cut the number of harmful preventable conditions such as infections that patients acquire in the hospital by 40 percent over the next three years. Senate bill sets Web privacy rules WASHINGTON A Senate bill introduced Tuesday would establish a bill of to set ground rules for companies that collect consumer data, including personal data amassed on the Internet and then mined to target online advertising. The bill, sponsored by Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican John McCain of Arizona, would create a code of to govern the use of information that could identify a particular individual or a particular computer or smartphone.

Budget to pinch military in space COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. An Air Force general predicts a picture for the military space program, with tight budgets, complicated demands and increasing congestion in orbit. Gen. William Shelton said Tuesday at a forum in Colorado Springs he expects no increases in his budget, while demands for critical services such as the military-run Global Positioning System decline. He told space contractors that the military and industry must a way to contain costs, especially on launches.

Body washed out to sea is found GRANTS PASS, Ore. The body of a man washed out to sea last month when the tsunami from Japan hit the Northern California coast has been found more than 300 miles north in Oregon near the mouth of the Columbia River. The Oregon State Medical said Tuesday that the body found April 2 has been as 25-year-old Dustin Douglas Weber. He had gone to the beach to take photos with friends when the surge hit him. 9 million identify as bisexual, gay or transgender LOS ANGELES About 9 million people in the U.S.

identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgen der, according to a UCLA study released Thursday. The estimate, which translates to about 3.5 percent of adults as LGBT and 0.3 percent of adults as transgender, was created by the Williams Institute at School of Law. The study culled data and methods from nine surveys conducted over the last seven years. Wire services Nation World See more at DaytonDailyNews.com Radiation report delay upsetting New York Times TOKYO Japanese struggled through the day Tuesday to explain why it had taken them a month to disclose large- scale releases of radioactive material in mid-March at a crippled nuclear power plant, as the government and an electric utility disagreed on the extent of continuing problems there. The government announced Tuesday morning that it had raised its rating of the severity of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to 7, the worst on an international scale, from 5.

said the reactor had released one-tenth as much radioactive material as the Chernobyl accident in 1986, but still as a 7 according to a complex formula devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency. new assessment was based largely on computer models showing very heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium March 14-16, just after the earthquake and tsunami rendered the emergency cooling system inoperative. The nearly month long delay in acknowledging the extent of these emissions is a fresh example of confused data and analysis from the Japanese, and put the authorities on the defensive about whether they have delayed or blocked the release of information to avoid alarming the public. Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Nuclear Safety Commission, an independent government panel that oversees the nuclear industry, said the government had delayed issuing data on the extent of the radiation releases because of concern that the margins of error had been large in initial computer models. But he also suggested a public policy reason for having kept quiet.

foreigners the country even when there appeared to be little he said. we immediately decided to label the situation as Level 7, we could have triggered a panicked Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of nuclear regulator, took pains to say in an interview Tuesday and other nuclear experts agreed that the Japanese accident posed fewer health risks than Chernobyl. Ending Bush-era tax cuts may be revived Associated Press WASHINGTON Higher taxes have been missing from the budget battle that nearly shut down the federal government. But President Barack Obama is about to put them on the table at least a modest version that he had pushed before and then rested on the shelf. The top-bracket U.S.

tax rate now is the lowest been in decades, and far lower than those in many other industrialized countries, especially in western Europe. Tax elements of broad plan, to be laid out in a speech today, seem likely to revive his earlier proposals. The president is expected to bring back his recommendation, made in the 2008 campaign, to end Bush-era tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000 a year. He temporarily set it aside when he signed onto a late 2010 agreement with Republicans to extend all Bush tax cuts for two years. However, he did renew the bid earlier this year in his budget for the 2012 cal year that begins Oct.

1. Any comprehensive deficit-reduction plan must include a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, argue experts from both sides of the political spectrum. Still, House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester denounced tactics ahead of the speech. have because Americans are taxed too little, we have because Washington spends too he said Tuesday. shot across the bow underscored the road Obama has in pushing any tax increases, even ones limited to the wealthiest Americans.

Fort Sumter cannon rings out on anniversary By Bruce Smith Associated Press CHARLESTON, S.C. Booming cannons, plaintive period music and hushed crowds ushered in the 150th anniversary of bloodiest war on Tuesday, a commemoration that continues to underscore a racial divide that had plagued the nation since before the Civil War. The events marked the 150th anniversary of the Confederate bombardment of Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, an engagement that plunged the nation into four years of war at a cost of more than 600,000 lives. Several hundred people gathered on Battery in the pre-dawn darkness, much as Charleston residents gathered 150 years ago to view the bombardment of April 12, 1861. About 4 a.m., a single beam of light reached skyward from the stone works of Fort Sumter.

About a half hour later, about the time the shots were a second beam glowed, signifying a nation torn in two. Nearby, a brass ensemble played a concert entitled Jesus as hundreds listened, some in folding chairs, others standing. Fifty years ago during the centennial of the Civil War, there was a celebratory mood. But on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary events were muted. Even the applause seemed subdued.

Of about 1,200 people attending two main commemorative events, only a handful were black. In 1861, Sumter fell after a 34-hour bombardment. Cannon blasts Tuesday from Fort Johnson across Charleston Harbor toward Fort Sumter at daybreak signal the commemoration of the start of the Civil War 150 years ago in Charleston, S.C. Post and Courier photo by Wade Spees Campaign aims to give military families a hand By Margaret Talev and Erika Bolstad McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON The Obama administration on Tuesday launched a national campaign for U.S. military families that calls on companies, individuals, civic and religious groups and schools to ways to help veterans, reservists and their families navigate work, school and psychological stress and day-today life.

Think of the Joining Forces initiative as the military version of lady Michelle campaign against child obesity. a largely nonlegislative effort that puts the imprimatur of the White House and Cabinet agencies behind a nonpartisan cause and rewards organizations that step up by publicizing and praising their efforts. The initiative is meant to outlast the war in Afghanistan and Barack presidency, and to create a permanent support network for a volunteer force that these days is only about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Wal-Mart, Club, Sears, Kmart, Siemens, Sears and Best Buy were among those that announced commitments as part of launch.

These include promises to hire service members and their spouses and to facilitate job transfers for those who must move as part of their service. They also include initiatives for job training and assistance. The wife and Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, announced the effort at an event at the White House with their husbands. Information on how to help is available at whitehouse.gov/ joiningforces. Some wonder if purposely held or blocked release of data.

Michelle Obama, Jill Biden urge job hunting help for relocating spouses. CIVIL WAR 150TH ANNIVERSARY First lady to be in Columbus Michelle Obama and Jill Biden are bringing their Joining Forces campaign to aid military families to Ohio on Thursday. They will be joined in Columbus by Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis. The event at 4:45 p.m.

will highlight how several major businesses have made commitments to provide continuing employment in new communities for military spouses when troops are transferred. At 6:15 p.m. in Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Obama and Biden will headline a concert-style event honoring National Guard members and their families. Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers willper form, and the Muppets will be there too. Associated Press 8 ud SSu SuBB 0 8 Vg ev0 0 2 2 0 Bd Vg Sd 0 ud dd 7 vTe udSd gEV dS ud i 1u ties to Civil War The 319,189 Ohioans who served composed the third-highest total from any state; New York had 448,850 and Pennsylvania 337,936.

Ohio had 35,475 casualties. Three of every five Ohio men between the ages of 18 and 45 fought, the most per-capita of any state. About 15,000 soldiers fought in the July 19, 1863, Battle of Buffington Island in Meigs County, part of the famous Raid into Ohio. The other battle fought on Ohio soil was in Columbiana County near Pennsylvania on July 26, 1863. The first regiment to fight was the 14th Ohio from the Toledo area, which did so on June 3, 1861, at the so-called Battle of Phillipi in what is now West Virginia.

About 10,000 Confederates were processed into the Johnson Island Civil War Military Prison on Sandusky Bay near Marblehead from April 1862 to September 1865. More than 2,000 soldiers were buried at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus. The website OhioCivilWar150.org lists Civil War events and opportunities in the state during the next four years. The Toledo Blade and The Columbus Dispatch Stamps mark Civil War anniversary WASHINGTON The opening shots of the Civil War resumed Tuesday as postage. The Postal Service released two stamps commemorating the year of the war, 150 years ago.

The stamps, which were issued at ceremonies in Charleston, S.C., show the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina and the battle of Bull Run in Virginia. Designated stamps, the two will sell for the current 44-cent class rate and will remain valid for letters regardless of future increases in postage rates. The two stamps will be followed by additional stamps recalling the anniversaries of major events in the war. Associated Press.