Saturday, April 18, 2009

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Jillian York: LinkedIn Alienates Syrian Users: Why Now? Top
Syrian users of LinkedIn are reeling over the company's recent decision to delete their accounts, citing U.S. sanctions against Syria. This is the first time the company, which was founded in 2003, has chosen to restrict users; in addition to those in Syria, the sanctions have affected users in Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Iran. The Bush administration implemented sanctions against Syria in 2004, accusing the regime of meddling in Lebanese affairs, fostering the Iraqi insurgency, and supporting Hezbollah and Hamas. The sanctions against Syria in particular apply to exports and reexports, including software. Specifically, U.S. companies are prohibited from providing "operation" technology and software, "sales" technology, and software updates. Since the sanctions were enacted, a number of Web-based companies have had to carefully examine their terms of service and restrict users from accessing certain areas of sites. Google, for example, allows Syrian users to access Gmail and iGoogle, but not Google Gears or Gmail video chat. Facebook, though filtered by Syrian ISPs, offers Syria as a location option, and allows users to access its services. Only companies such as Amazon.com, which sells books and other products by mail, and GoDaddy.com, which offers domain names, have been forced to prohibit Syrian use altogether. LinkedIn offers some proprietary software, which it is required by law to restrict access to for users in sanctioned countries. It would appear that that, given the fact that other social networking sites have been and currently are available to Syrians, LinkedIn has taken the law into its own hands by refusing service. And although sanctions have been in place for five years, this is the first time that LinkedIn has complied. So why now? Popular Syrian blogger Sasa, of Syria News Wire , stated: Blaming the sanctions is a thinly veiled excuse. Why react now? This law came into force five years ago. And it doesn't even apply to them - look at Facebook, Google, Twitter and almost every other US website. LinkedIn is making a political point against Syria - and when people in other countries start boycotting this site, they'll realise they've shot themselves in the foot. More on Syria
 
Stem Cell Therapy To Cure Most Cause Of Blindness Developed Top
BRITISH scientists have developed the world's first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness. Surgeons predict it will become a routine, one-hour procedure that will be generally available in six or seven years' time. More on Health
 
FBI, States Vastly Expand DNA Databases Top
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.
 
Jonathan Handel: SAG & Studios Agree to Tentative Deal Top
The Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP (alliance representing studios and producers) reached tentative agreement on a two-year TV/theatrical contract, potentially ending a ten-month stalemate that halted production of most studio movies and put thousands of people out of work. The deal will probably be approved by the SAG board today or tomorrow and ratified by the membership by mid-May, but the hardline MembershipFirst faction has vowed to fight the deal, so ratification, although likely, is not assured. Assuming the deal is in fact ratified (which takes a 50% majority), the stalemate would be over by mid-May. Some production might resume before then, in anticipation of ratification, but this is unknown. In separate news today, the SAG and AFTRA boards meeting jointly approved the commercials contract reached April 1 with the advertising industry. Ratification ballots will go out to the members of both unions next week, with a return date in mid-May. The deal has wide support among the leadership and is expected to pass easily. Back to the tentative TV/theatrical deal: Critically, this deal would expire on June 30, 2011, effectively synchronizing it with the Writers Guild, Directors Guild and AFTRA (smaller actors union) deals. That means all four unions will be able to coordinate negotiations and strategy, even to the point of threatening a joint strike by two (WGA and SAG) or three (WGA, SAG and AFTRA) of the unions. (The DGA has essentially never gone on strike, and AFTRA seldom does.) This synchronicity should give the unions significant leverage, which raises the question of why the studios agreed to it. Probably they needed to restart theatrical film production soon in order to have movies for 2010. That would seem to be the only pressure point SAG had, since the union was widely understood to be unable to strike (a strike authorization would have taken a 75% affirmative vote of those voting, and the union didn't even seek such a vote for fear of failing). The gain--synchronicity--came at a price to SAG, however. The new deal compromises the force majeure claims SAG has pending from the 2007-2008 WGA strike. These are claims by actors for lost wages due to the strike, and amount to tens of millions of dollars. It's unknown as yet how much will be foregone. Also, since the claims were the subject of a pending arbitration process, it's unknowable how much SAG would have gotten if it had continued to pursue the claims. Thus, it's hard to calculate the dollar cost of the compromise. The new deal also modifies the force majeure language in the union contract, but the details are unknown. The deal includes no changes in new media from the AMPTP's February offer , according to sources. That offer, in turn, is essentially the same as the new media provisions that the DGA, WGA, and AFTRA (in two separate deals) agreed to. (IATSE's new media provisions are similar in several respects as well.) No change was expected by anyone, yet, ironically, new media was the reason the hardliners stalemated for ten months in a futile attempt to improve on the template accepted in the other five union deals. The deal will take effect upon ratification, and includes an immediate 3.0% increase in minimum pay rates plus a 0.5% increase in pension and health contributions. A year later, there will be an additional 3.5% increase in minimums, which will run through contract expiration. In contrast, AFTRA members have been enjoying a 3.5% increase for the last ten months (when AFTRA did its deal), and will receive their 3.0% + 0.5% bump on June 30 of this year. That means that for virtually the entire contract period, AFTRA rates will be about 3.5% higher than SAG's. In other words, the new deal does not give SAG a double increase in order to catch up with AFTRA. If SAG wants to ever catch up, they'll have to seek a double increase in 2011, but that will involve giving up some other issue that SAG would otherwise have negotiated for, and in any case a double increase in 2011 would not be retroactive to the 2009-2011 period. This is part of the damage that the hardliners inflicted on the union. Speaking of retroactivity, that's an element that, not surprisingly, this deal doesn't include either. That means that SAG actors who worked in TV over the last ten months will not receive makeup payments to bring them up to higher minimum pay levels that they would have received if the deal had been done promptly. This also is a result of the delay that MembershipFirst caused by not making a deal almost a year ago. And, of course, the whole issue of expiration date was caused by the hardliners' delaying tactics . The deal next goes to the SAG national board tomorrow for approval and then to the members for ratification over a several week period. SAG hardliners will fight the deal--SAG president Alan Rosenberg, 1 st VP Anne-Marie Johnson, and former Hollywood board member David Jolliffe are among those who have already spoken in opposition--but I expect it to pass, although not with the over-90% margin the Writer Guild deal did a year ago. The deal will almost certainly go out to the members with a minority statement in opposition. Nonetheless, people are sick of not working and will probably agree that the deal was the best obtainable in a bad economy and with SAG weakened in large part by the hardliners themselves. One thing that's clear is that this is a time of enormous change for the Hollywood actors unions. Most immediately, actors have a lot to vote on over the next several months: the commercials contract, the TV/theatrical contract, the AFTRA Board elections , and then the SAG presidential and Board elections, the latter of which are expected to run from July through September. In addition, several of the Hollywood unions' pension and/or health plans have made cutbacks (AFTRA, AFM, and IATSE), due to the stock market collapse and to the continued increases in health care costs. Also, SAGWatch reports today that SAG itself is in difficult financial straits, due to MembershipFirst's mismanagement: loss of union dues due to the production slowdown over the last 10 months, departure of television work to AFTRA due in large part to SAG's internal strife, the expenses of futile battles with AFTRA and internally, and, most significantly, alleged bloated hiring practices that added 100 staff members to the union payroll. Layoffs are apparently expected, and the LA Times is reporting today that the union has a deficit exceeding $6 million. SAG's new leaders have difficult work to do on various other contracts that expired or were ignored on MembershipFirst's watch , including the franchise agreement between SAG and the town's talent agents, which expired seven years ago. Then there's the perennial question of SAG-AFTRA merger, which will probably be a factor in the upcoming SAG elections, as will vituperative arguments about the new TV/theatrical deal and the responsibility for the large-scale decline in SAG's power and prestige. Change isn't limited to the labor side. The AMPTP's longtime head, Nick Counter, retired several weeks ago. Also, interestingly, the new TV/theatrical deal was negotiated primarily on an informal basis by key SAG leaders and studio heads, not by formal bargaining between the union and the AMPTP. Although AMPTP acting head Carol Lombardini played a part late in the discussions, this process raises questions as to the future role and effectiveness of that organization. Hanging over all of this are the twin factors of the economy and new media. The troubled economy will continue to harm the entertainment industry for some time to come. New media will continue to evolve, and will probably roil the unions, and the industry as a whole, for a decade or more. And, of course, with mid-2011 expiration dates set for the WGA, DGA, AFTRA (two deals) and new SAG deals, negotiations will start again in the towards the end of next year. No rest for the weary, or sleep for the sinful, it seems. -------------- Subscribe to my blog ( jhandel.com ) for more about SAG, or digital media law generally. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter , friend me on Facebook , or subscribe to my Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, check out my new book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets .
 
Justice Stevens Claims Shakespeare Was A Fraud Top
In his 34 years on the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens has evolved from idiosyncratic dissenter to influential elder, able to assemble majorities on issues such as war powers and property rights. Now, the court's senior justice could be gaining ground on a case that dates back 400 years: the authorship of Shakespeare's plays. More on Supreme Court
 
Andy Roddick, Brooklyn Decker Marry: DETAILS Top
The Texas skies may have poured rain all day Friday, but that didn't dampen the anticipation of Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker leading into their wedding, pals of the newlyweds tell PEOPLE.
 
Richard Stuebi: The Role of Government in Advancing the Green Economy Top
Last week, I wrote a sizable check to the IRS. I wasn't exactly happy about it, but I was happy for the fact that it stemmed from a nice payday in 2008 from one of my investments. Ah, the joys of capitalism, and the obligations of responsible citizenship. This particular investment is advancing the cause of clean energy, as it involved the sale of interests in a pre-development windfarm to another firm that will (hopefully) take the project to fruition. Clearly, the public sector played some factor in the fundamentals of my investment. States have imposed renewable portfolio standards driving the market for new windfarms to be developed, and the Federal production tax credit represents a significant portion of the financial value of an operating windfarm to its owner. But, by and large, it was the forces of the marketplace - entrepreneurs, suppliers, landowners, financiers, customers - that drove the underlying business opportunity, the transaction, and its associated value-creation. I hope that those days aren't long gone. Over the past year, there has unquestionably been a shift towards more government intervention in virtually all markets. It's far beyond the scope of one blog post to delve into all of the causes and effects and all of the pros and cons of this shift. In the cleantech realm, the tendency for increased intervention has been especially aggressive. The chatter in political circles is the notion of pushing forcefully towards the new energy economy - to achieve the admirable environmental benefits, but more for the prospect of creating some arbitrarily-large number of so-called "green jobs". Though I admire visionaries like Van Jones who newly brought the green job notion to the forefront of the public discourse just a few years ago, I've decried the excessive hype and the weak analytics behind the claimed magnitudes of green jobs that may or will emerge. I don't doubt that many new green jobs will emerge, and I think they will be great for this country. It's just that I don't put any validity on any of the estimates of job creation, and I also acknowledge that there will be some job losses in other sectors that also need to be considered (but often aren't). I also lament the way in which many public sector leaders talk about "creating" green jobs, as if the job positions can somehow be invented by the government itself through the stroke of a pen or the wave of a wand. Unless we want to move to a command-and-control economy where the government dictates the majority of all economic activity (remember the Soviet Union?), large-scale job creation is a private-sector phenomenon. In turn, the private sector (i.e., investors) must spot an opportunity to earn favorable returns, to generate attractive profits, in order for them to incur the costs of hiring people to perform work. In other words, value-creation (or at least the promise thereof) must precede job creation. If a government throws money at inventing jobs that the market won't somehow sustain after they're created, this can't be legitimately called job creation; it's "make-work". (And, never forget: the government doesn't have any money of its own; it's actually your money that the government is spending.) In my humble opinion, the role of government is not to try to create jobs. Rather, governments should establish the playing field in such a way that the private sector will operate in its ruthlessly efficient manner to exploit - and, in so doing, hire a lot of people. Governments can never match the intensity and the innovation of millions of properly-motivated private sector actors. Instead, governments should focus on aligning and harnessing these interests in ways that drive the system towards outcomes that are good for the public. To be sure, the government has a key role - indeed, a responsibility - for setting policies that serve, advance and protect the public's interests in transitioning towards an energy system that is more sustainable from both a supply and environmental standpoint. But, in the name of green jobs, the case is sometimes being stretched too far. An article in the April 4 edition of The Economist is particularly illuminating. Spain is often touted as a model for how the public sector can exert leadership in setting a whole host of progressive policies (mainly generous subsidies) for rapidly pushing a move to green energy and creating many jobs while doing so. Yet, according to a recent study by a professor at King Juan Carlos University in Madrid , this way of building an industry is more than twice as costly on a per-job basis than if the private sector were to act on its own. Put another way, the study finds that, for every green job created by public sector prodding in Spain, more than two run-of-the-mill jobs were destroyed in the private sector. Ouch. There's a lot of talk in Washington about industrial policy these days. I'm a skeptic. I see Japan, and while it's true that the Japanese industrial sector was the world's envy in the 1980's due to its strong government intervention, I also see nearly 20 years of uninterrupted economic stagnation now. In sum, I just don't think the public sector can actually build an industry better than the private sector can. In my ideal world, I would like to see the government intervene in the energy markets, for environmental and supply security, in one (and only one) simple way: high taxes on fossil fuel burn, to account for the social costs of climate change and dino-resource depletion. High fuel taxes! The horror! The horror! It's lonely for me to write this, but the biggest problem facing the U.S. energy system is the enduring insistence of a "low price at any cost" energy policy, and the customer entitlement that bestows. I see public service announcements (PSAs) about the little things that a viewer can do to become green, like changing from incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs, or using a reusable canvas shopping bag instead of use-and-chuck plastic bags. I understand that the average American needs to get engaged and feel like they can do something, even if it's something simple and small, to contribute to the solution, but.... Please. Really. Enough feel-good talk about these piddling things. I'd like to see some frank PSAs that confront the big issue head-on: higher energy prices, get used to it. Obviously, a move to higher energy taxes will be unpopular, so we need some set of respected or well-liked voices in the public starting to lay the groundwork for its actual desirability, if not inevitability. In the grand scheme of things, shifting the U.S. mindset on the topic of energy taxes is much more important than urging people to put a recycling bin in the garage. With energy prices that are predictably much higher, via a big jump in fossil fuel taxes, the private sector can go to work, busily eliminating wasteful energy consumption and developing new technologies that reduce fossil fuel requirements. The twist is that the revenues collected from higher energy taxes can be offset by dramatic reductions in income and capital gains taxes. The way I figure it: we shouldn't be heavily taxing things that are supposed to be good - such as income and savings - while undertaxing things that are supposed to be bad - like burning non-repletable fossil fuels that damage the atmosphere. In the future, I want to get more good-sized checks from my cleantech investments, and I want all of you to get some checks from cleantech investments too. I also don't want to send as big a chunk of those checks to the IRS. In return, I am willing to spend a lot more at the gas pump and in my utility bills. Besides, I use my credit card when I buy those things, so higher energy prices means accumulating more points. In the move to the green economy, it's important to always looking for the silver lining in every cloud encountered.
 
Matthew DeBord: Sorry Tiger Woods, but Golf in the Olympics Is a Stupid Idea Top
Tiger Woods is a smart guy. He's the only professional golfer I've ever heard effortlessly deploy the word "caveat." But he's now thrown his weight behind a fairly stupid idea: golf as an Olympic sport. According to USA Today, Woods is "supporting the International Golf Federation's (IGF) bid to be included in the 2016 Summer Olympics." Evidently, Tiger, along with several other international players, has written the International Olympic Committee. Woods has also sent a "32-page brochure" to the IOC. So, in addition to being a global sports superstar with millions and millions in the bank, Tiger is also mailing out, um, brochures. It gives you pause. I don't remember "mailing out brochures to IOC" being on the now-famous list of Woodsian daily activities, which were recited in frightening detail on the Golf Channel's "The Haney Project: Charles Barkley." Woods timing is impeccable. By 2016, he'll be 40. He should have broken Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors by then. And what better way to celebrate that by winning a gold medal, something that Nicklaus can't really do? Jack should really enjoy that double-whammy. The Olympics has gotten completely out of hand. Every few years, it seems, we hear about some new sport trying to cram itself into the two-week celebration of international brotherhood, as channeled through kayaking, gymnastics, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Golf has come up before, mainly because tennis has gotten in, and the two sports are sort of joined in the public consciousness. But in the past, the professional golfers who would seem to be the main force behind any drive Olympify the game have expressed a lack of interest. Some of this may be stem from simple humility and a sense that a sport like golf just doesn't quite fit. Furthermore, the golf schedule is already crowded. Finally, a proposal like this does raise the queasy-making question of how the competition would be handled. The United States, South Africa, Australia, and a few other countries could send solid teams, assuming they're made up of touring pros (you don't think Tiger's pitching an inclusion of golf as an amateur sport, now do you?). But what about the rest of the world? At least with tennis, the talent is spread around the globe. Then there's the redundancy factor. We already have the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup for international team competition in golf. In recent years, the Ryder Cup has really come on as a major sports spectacle. Including golf in the Olympics would either dilute that, or fail to offer quite the same appealing flavor. And let's not forget the time factor. Golf isn't like track and field. It stretches on and on. The professionals who would make up the teams all play at a glacial pace. If it's set up as a match-play tournament, there's always the chance that the marquee draws will get knocked out too early, thereby spoiling the allure for TV. How would the broadcast integrate it? By showing Woods hitting a few shots, then cutting away for more pole vaulting? I don't even want to think about the team uniforms. Arguably, what the Olympics needs is fewer sports, not more. As we insist on adding competitions that let the pros in to a greater and greater extent, the chance to see more offbeat yet potentially thrilling contests evaporates. Badminton finally broke through last year. And how about fencing? Can I please get some more fencing? So could we ask Tiger to shelf this one? True, the viewers might want to see him win gold, and we all know that the broadcasters would love it. But is this something that as a sporting culture we really need? More on Olympics
 
Stroger Called On To Resign By Commissioner Suffredin Top
Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin is calling on Board President Todd Stroger to resign following the abrupt departure of County Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings, who is also Stroger's cousin. Dunnings resigned late Thursday night at Stroger's request over her ties to Tony Cole, a former county employee and convicted felon Stroger hired as a patronage worker-- then fired after the severity of his lengthy rap sheet came to light. Cole made what Stroger called "explosive allegations" about his ties to Dunnings. An alleged sexual relationship between Dunnings and Cole was central to her departure, the Defender reports. CBS 2 offers more details : Dunnings twice bailed Cole out of jail on charges of violating an ex-girlfriend's order of protection. Even after that, Cole was promoted to a $61,00-a-year personnel job in the county highway department, where he had access to employees' financial information, despite his felony for financial fraud. Commissioner Tony Peraica, a frequent Stroger critic, has also called for Stroger's resignation. Suffredin's letter to Stroger: Dear President Stroger: Unfortunately, the people of Cook County and I have lost total confidence in your ability to lead Cook County. I ask you to resign immediately so that the citizens of Cook County can regain confidence in their government and that citizens needing service will know they will be properly provided. Today the Chief Financial Officer, Donna Dunnings resigned under a cloud of secrecy. She has been your top aide who is the architect of many of the programs that have raised questions about your lack of leadership. These programs include hiring of friends and family to unnecessary and expensive positions, proposing excessive taxation and borrowing without reforming the government and keeping the citizens of Cook County in the dark on important issues. Transparency in government is essential to giving taxpayers confidence that their hard earned tax dollars are being wisely spent. Ms. Dunnings has been the de facto President of the County Board because you let her fill in the void caused by your lack of leadership. If you can ask her to resign then you should follow her lead and resign. Illinois law does not allow for a recall of officials who have lost the confidence of their constituents so the only remedy is your resignation.
 
Roland Burris Worth $1.8 Million, According To Disclosure Reports Top
U.S. Sen. Roland Burris and his wife had a net worth in 2008 between $906,000 and $1.8 million, Burris reports in a new federal financial disclosure.
 
Illinois Holocaust Museum Opens In Skokie Top
SKOKIE, Ill. — Fritzie Fritzshall gazed up at the illuminated wall and scanned the rows of victim names engraved in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, when one suddenly jumped out: Bella. Bittersweet memories flashed before her of the aunt who took care of her at age 13 when they were prisoners at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Her mother's sister hugged her each night and reassured her things would someday be all right. "She saved my life in Auschwitz," Fritzshall recalled, standing in the "Room of Remembrance" at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. "If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here." Fritzshall, who lost her mother and both brothers at the camp, is among thousands of local Holocaust survivors whose solemn stories echo throughout the 65,000-square-foot facility opening Sunday. The $45 million museum houses survivor testimonies and artifacts including a Nazi-era rail car, an original volume of the Nuremberg war crime trial transcripts and photographs. The facility has unique architecture; half of the building is black and the other half is white. Visitors enter in the dark half and leave through the light, a purposeful journey museum organizers intended. The inside of the museum has an industrial feel with steel and concrete and many of the exhibits have narrow walkways. "It's more than a powerful walk through a terrible place in history," said museum executive director Richard Hirschhart. The museum's mission is to help survivors heal, prevent future atrocities and tell the Holocaust story through narratives in a place rich with Jewish American history. "It's important to have the museum in Skokie because it all started in Skokie," Holocaust survivor Aaron Elster said about the north Chicago suburb of about 67,000 people. Skokie was once home to thousands like Elster, who moved to the area in the 1950s following World War II. He was drawn by affordability, a lack of restrictive convenants on housing and the promise of good schools. At peak in the 1970s, historians estimate somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 _ nearly 50 percent _ of Skokie's residents were Jewish; up to an estimated 7,000 were Holocaust survivors. "There was a kinship, there were people like us," said Elster, 76, whose videotaped testimony appears in the museum. "We were not different." Elster lost his grandparents, parents and 6-year-old sister in concentration camps. He described harrowing experiences of being an orphan in Poland who scrounged for food and was stowed away for two years in a couple's attic. After arriving in the U.S., he had a difficult time fitting in and didn't start sorting through his past until the late 1970s. That was when Skokie gained international attention as neo-Nazis threatened to march through the community. The march was eventually called off after pressure from activists and lawsuits, but the events ignited a spark among survivors. Several started the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. They began telling their stories, many for the first time. "My past haunted me for almost a lifetime," said Elster who wrote the book "I Still See Her Haunting Eyes," about the last time he saw his sister. "We realized that this could happen again, this could happen here. It was time to really speak up." Though Skokie still has a large Jewish population _ Jewish delis and synagogues pepper a main thoroughfare _ the estimated number of Skokie Holocaust survivors has dwindled to 1,000 to 2,000. There are about 10,000 Holocaust survivors in Illinois. Museum organizers, including Fritzshall and Elster, say the dwindling number of survivors is the reason the museum, funded by a $6 million grant from the state and private donations, is needed. "The museum to me is what I am here to do," Fritzshall said. "It has become my life and the life of many survivors." ___ On the Net: Museum: http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/
 
5 People Found Dead In Maryland Home: Police Top
MIDDLETOWN, Md. — A father killed his wife and their three children before fatally shooting himself in a northwest Maryland home, leaving a gruesome scene that was discovered Saturday by the youngsters' grandfather, authorities said. When investigators arrived, the couple's two sons, ages 5 and 4, lay dead in their beds, while the bodies of a 2-year-old daughter and the mother, Francis Billotti Wood, were in the master bedroom of the two-story home, Frederick County sheriff's office spokeswoman Jennifer Bailey said. On the master bedroom floor by the foot of the bed was the father, 34-year-old Christopher Alan Wood, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Bailey said. The 33-year-old mother and three children suffered "traumatic cuts," Bailey said, but the causes of their deaths weren't immediately confirmed. The woman's father found them dead around 9 a.m. He had grown concerned after not hearing from them for several days, Bailey said. Investigators also found a shotgun and other items they believed were used to slash the victims. Several notes were found, but authorities didn't say what was written in them. Neighbor Peggy Lawrence said the family had moved several months ago to the home in the town of Middletown, a community of less than 3,000 people about 10 miles west of Frederick. Lawrence described Francis Wood as a good homemaker and said she had grown up in the area. "It wouldn't lead you to believe anything was wrong," Lawrence said. "I'm still sick to my stomach. Just to see it end so quickly is so devastating and makes you realize you never know what's going on in people's lives."
 

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