Poplawski jury selection begins in Dauphin

In less than a month, Richard Poplawski will know whether he is responsible for killing three Pittsburgh police officers in a Stanton Heights shootout and, if so, whether he should die for the act or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Selection of the jury that will decide his fate in the April 4, 2009, incident begins Tuesday in Dauphin County, with prosecutors seeking jurors open to the death penalty and defense attorneys looking for those who might be willing to show compassion.

The jury will be picked from a pool of 350 in Harrisburg because of extensive pretrial publicity in Allegheny County. Then jurors will be brought to Pittsburgh to begin hearing the case on June 20.

A total of 18 jurors will be selected, although only 16 will make the trip west. The extra two will be used only if one or two of the original 16 people chosen drop out between the time of selection and the day the trial begins.

The jurors will be sequestered for the entirety of the case, which is expected to included extended court hours and weekend sessions. Judge Jeffrey A. Manning hopes the case is concluded by the start of the July 4 holiday weekend.

Neither side is able to discuss the case because of a gag order on all parties, but experts say jury selection, especially for the defense, will be a difficult task.

Mr. Poplawski is accused of killing Officers Eric G. Kelly, Paul J. Sciullo II and Stephen J. Mayhle after they responded to his mother's home for the report of a domestic dispute.

Veteran defense attorney Caroline Roberto said the two biggest hurdles for Mr. Poplawski's lawyers are that there are multiple victims and that the victims are police officers killed in the line of duty.

Arthur Patterson, a jury consultant with DecisionQuest, based in State College, agreed.

"Certainly a case where a police officer is killed -- let alone two or three -- is difficult. There are certain crimes that really offend the community, and this is one," he said.

Prosecutors in a case like Mr. Poplawski's will be seeking jurors who are heavily involved with their community and share a common set of values, Mr. Patterson said.

"The prosecution is looking for [jurors who are] pro-police," he said. "There are a lot of citizens who feel very strongly about protecting law enforcement."

For the defense, Ms. Roberto said she would seek jurors who think independently.

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Poplawski jury selection begins in Dauphin

In less than a month, Richard Poplawski will know whether he is responsible for killing three Pittsburgh police officers in a Stanton Heights shootout and, if so, whether he should die for the act or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Selection of the jury that will decide his fate in the April 4, 2009, incident begins Tuesday in Dauphin County, with prosecutors seeking jurors open to the death penalty and defense attorneys looking for those who might be willing to show compassion.

The jury will be picked from a pool of 350 in Harrisburg because of extensive pretrial publicity in Allegheny County. Then jurors will be brought to Pittsburgh to begin hearing the case on June 20.

A total of 18 jurors will be selected, although only 16 will make the trip west. The extra two will be used only if one or two of the original 16 people chosen drop out between the time of selection and the day the trial begins.

The jurors will be sequestered for the entirety of the case, which is expected to included extended court hours and weekend sessions. Judge Jeffrey A. Manning hopes the case is concluded by the start of the July 4 holiday weekend.

Neither side is able to discuss the case because of a gag order on all parties, but experts say jury selection, especially for the defense, will be a difficult task.

Mr. Poplawski is accused of killing Officers Eric G. Kelly, Paul J. Sciullo II and Stephen J. Mayhle after they responded to his mother's home for the report of a domestic dispute.

Veteran defense attorney Caroline Roberto said the two biggest hurdles for Mr. Poplawski's lawyers are that there are multiple victims and that the victims are police officers killed in the line of duty.

Arthur Patterson, a jury consultant with DecisionQuest, based in State College, agreed.

"Certainly a case where a police officer is killed -- let alone two or three -- is difficult. There are certain crimes that really offend the community, and this is one," he said.

Prosecutors in a case like Mr. Poplawski's will be seeking jurors who are heavily involved with their community and share a common set of values, Mr. Patterson said.

"The prosecution is looking for [jurors who are] pro-police," he said. "There are a lot of citizens who feel very strongly about protecting law enforcement."

For the defense, Ms. Roberto said she would seek jurors who think independently.

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Poplawski jury selection begins in Dauphin (Today)

In less than a month, Richard Poplawski will know whether he is responsible for killing three Pittsburgh police officers in a Stanton Heights shootout and, if so, whether he should die for the act or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Selection of the jury that will decide his fate in the April 4, 2009, incident begins Tuesday in Dauphin County, with prosecutors seeking jurors open to the death penalty and defense attorneys looking for those who might be willing to show compassion.

The jury will be picked from a pool of 350 in Harrisburg because of extensive pretrial publicity in Allegheny County. Then jurors will be brought to Pittsburgh to begin hearing the case on June 20.

A total of 18 jurors will be selected, although only 16 will make the trip west. The extra two will be used only if one or two of the original 16 people chosen drop out between the time of selection and the day the trial begins.

The jurors will be sequestered for the entirety of the case, which is expected to included extended court hours and weekend sessions. Judge Jeffrey A. Manning hopes the case is concluded by the start of the July 4 holiday weekend.

Neither side is able to discuss the case because of a gag order on all parties, but experts say jury selection, especially for the defense, will be a difficult task.

Mr. Poplawski is accused of killing Officers Eric G. Kelly, Paul J. Sciullo II and Stephen J. Mayhle after they responded to his mother's home for the report of a domestic dispute.

Veteran defense attorney Caroline Roberto said the two biggest hurdles for Mr. Poplawski's lawyers are that there are multiple victims and that the victims are police officers killed in the line of duty.

Arthur Patterson, a jury consultant with DecisionQuest, based in State College, agreed.

"Certainly a case where a police officer is killed -- let alone two or three -- is difficult. There are certain crimes that really offend the community, and this is one," he said.

Prosecutors in a case like Mr. Poplawski's will be seeking jurors who are heavily involved with their community and share a common set of values, Mr. Patterson said.

"The prosecution is looking for [jurors who are] pro-police," he said. "There are a lot of citizens who feel very strongly about protecting law enforcement."

For the defense, Ms. Roberto said she would seek jurors who think independently.

View the original article here

Construction Begins on 1,000-MPH Rocket Car

After three years of planning, a missile on wheels designed to top 1,000 mph is finally under construction.

The team behind Bloodhound SSC hope to shatter the current land-speed record of 763.035 mph when it sends Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green streaking across a dry lake bed in South Africa within two years. The team is one of three hoping to exceed 800 mph.

Of the vehicles, the Bloodhound SSC is perhaps the most radical — which is saying something. The car, if it can be called that, features a jet engine and a rocket that produce 47,000 pounds of thrust. To put that in perspective, each of the Concorde’s four engines produced roughly 38,000 pounds at takeoff.

The British engineers designing the Bloodhound have signed off on the steel lattice chassis that will hold the wild ride’s drivetrain. Aerospace manufacturer Hampson Industries will build it.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to be handing over the drawings to the people who will now build the car,” chief engineer Mark Chapman told BBC. “It’s a ‘progressive definition release,’ which means as soon as we finish a design, it goes out the door. The first metal parts should start coming back to our design house in Bristol by Easter.”

The team unveiled a full-size mockup of Bloodhound last summer.

Team leader Richard Noble announced this crazy idea more than two years ago. He and his crew unveiled a full-size mock-up of Bloodhound last summer at the Farnborough International Air Show near London.

Noble, who set a land speed record of his own in 1983, and his team are no strangers to this madness. He and Green set the current land speed record of 763.035 mph in 1997.

They continue a British tradition for speed that dates to the 1920s and ’30s, when Sir Malcolm Campbell set several records on land and sea. Britain has held the land speed record for 58 of the 112 years since Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat reached a blistering 39 mph outside Paris.

Traveling faster than a bullet is no easy feat. To do it, Bloodhound will use a Eurojet 2200 engine and a Falcon hybrid rocket. The idea is to use the jet to reach 350 mph and the rocket to go the rest of the way to 1,000 mph. Noble figures it should take 42 seconds to reach that velocity.

Bloodhound also will use an 800-horsepower V12 developed by Cosworth to start the jet, pump high-test peroxide into the rocket and power the hydraulic systems. (You can get the full technical rundown of the vehicle here.)

Aerodynamics are paramount at those speeds. Noble and chief aerodynamicist Ron Ayres spent three years designing the 42-foot–long vehicle. It will weigh 14,158 pounds fully fueled and ride on aluminum alloy wheels almost 3 feet in diameter. Lockheed Martin helped design them.

The team hopes to begin low-speed testing early next year before shipping Bloodhound to South Africa for flat-out runs in late 2012 or early 2013.

More than bragging rights are at stake here. Noble and Lord Drayson, a former minister of state for science and innovation, hope the project will inspire children to pursue careers in engineering, mathematics and science. More than 4,000 schools throughout Britain are following the project through the Bloodhound Education Programme.

Images: Bloodhound SSC. Video: BBC

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Construction begins on supercar

7 February 2011 Last updated at 13:24 By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Bloodhound model: How the car will look Construction work formally begins this week on what is expected to be the world's fastest car.

Called Bloodhound, the vehicle has been designed to reach 1,000mph (1,600km/h).

The British car will attempt to set the mark as it breaks the land speed record on a dried out lake bed in South Africa's Northern Cape late next year.

Bloodhound has been in design for the past three years. It will be powered by a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine bolted above a hybrid rocket.

The power unit combination should deliver a thrust in the order of 200 kilonewtons (47,000lb). This is not dissimilar to the thrust delivered by one of Concorde's famous Olympus 593 jet engines, except Bloodhound will weigh only about six tonnes.

"It's a fantastic feeling to be handing over the drawings to the people who will now build the car," said chief engineer Mark Chapman. "It's a 'progressive definition release' which means as soon as we finish a design, it goes out the door. The first metal parts should start coming back to our design house in Bristol by Easter," he told BBC News.

The steel-lattice rear chassis will be prepared by aerospace specialists Hampson Industries. They were officially passed the design drawings just a few days ago so that they could start work this week.

Bloodhound's front section will be prepared by Advanced Composites Group, renowned for their work on America's Cup yachts and other hi-tech vehicles that use carbon and glass fibre materials.

ACG will also construct the master models and tooling from which critical elements of the car's bodywork and structural components, such as the monocoque and nose, will be produced.

Bloodhound's Falcon rocket will be the biggest hybrid (solid fuel propellant, liquid oxidiser) booster ever produced in the UK. Such is its scale, it will need a Formula One engine supplied by the legendary Cosworth group just to pump the oxidiser through the motor.

Wing Commander Andy Green gives a tour of the Bloodhound SSC model

The car's 900mm-diameter wheels will be made from an aluminium alloy. They will have to withstand rotation in excess of 10,000 rpm while at the same time being blasted by grit thrown up by Bloodhound as it sweeps across the lake bed floor. The discs will be made from a grade chosen by Lockheed Martin following simulations that involved firing stone particles at metal plates using a high-powered gas gun.

"If necessary we'll design a fancy mud guard for down the front of the wheels just to protect them," said Mr Chapman. "That's one thing we're still looking at. We're also having one last look at the design of the rear fin before locking out the top of the car."

If it achieves 1,000mph, Bloodhound will surpass the World Land Speed Record set by the Thrust SuperSonic Car in 1997 (763mph; 1,228km/h).

Three people who worked on Thrust are also engaged in the Bloodhound project.

They are driver Wing Cdr Andy Green, project director Richard Noble and chief aerodynamicist Ron Ayres.

The trio envisaged Bloodhound not just as another record bid but as a project that could inspire children to engage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. Some 4,000 British schools are now involved in the Bloodhound Education Programme. Many more around the globe have access to online teaching resources via IT partner Intel Corporation's "Skoool" initiative.

Bloodhound is expected to be ready to begin "low speed" trials on a UK runway in the first half of next year before being shipped to Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape for high speed runs in late 2012 or 2013.

A private, not-for-profit venture, Bloodhound has received considerable in kind support from the British Ministry of Defence in the form of the loan of two Typhoon engines.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible Production Begins at Oshawa Assembly Plant

Oshawa, Ontario– Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. today visited Oshawa Assembly Plant to mark the start of regular production for the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible, which will arrive at U.S. dealerships beginning in February.

Hendrick, a Camaro enthusiast who purchased the first 2010 Camaro coupe offered for sale, has now also purchased the first Camaro Convertible available to the public.  In both cases, Rick Hendrick acquired the purchase rights through Barrett-Jackson auctions, with all proceeds benefitting charitable causes.

“I grew up loving the Chevrolet brand, and I’ve never raced anything else,” Hendrick said.  “As a Chevy enthusiast, it’s been exciting to see the Camaro return as such a world-class, high-performance car.  The folks in Oshawa make some of the best products on the road, so the opportunity to meet them and thank them for what they do is a real privilege.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., a driver for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was also present at the celebration and added, “Chevrolet has been a great partner on and off the track, and I’m very happy to be here on this special day.  While I still enjoy my 1972 Camaro, I can’t wait to take home one of these awesome new convertibles.”

The 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible starts at $30,000, including destination, equipped with a 3.6L V-6 delivering 312 horsepower and 278 lb-ft of torque.  The Camaro Convertible SS starts at $37,500, including destination, equipped with a 6.2L V-8 delivering 426 horsepower and 420 lb.-ft. of torque.

February 2, 2011
Categories: Camaro, Industry News, Chevrolet, Racing, NASCAR . Tags: GM, motor city, motor city muscle cars, linkedin, general motors, chevy, 2011 camaro, camaro blog, camaro racing, camaro news, 1st camaro, camaro convertible, oshawa camaro, motor city blog, Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Oshawa Assembly Plant, 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible, Camaro Assembly, Convertible top, Magna, dealerships, Barrett Jackson auctions, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Camaro Convertible SS, 420 lb.-ft. of torque, 426 horsepower, 6.2L V-8, 3.6L V-6, 312 horsepower, 278 lb-ft of torque, $30, 000, $37, 500, first camaro, 1972 Camaro . Author: maritimedriver

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Massive Surfing Event on Oregon Coast Begins

Massive Surfing Event on Oregon Coast Begins

Published 11/01/2010

(Lincoln City, Oregon) - The 2010 Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic will begin tomorrow, Tuesday, November 2, under what looks to be the biggest conditions ever for the Nelscott event.

Conditions forecast for Tuesday are for light and variable winds, and very large surf.  If the system continues to develop as expected, swell should be 21 feet at 16-18 seconds. This is expected to produce swells upwards of 30 feet.

Nelscott District of Lincoln CityThat is quite a bit larger than previous years. The largest swell that the event has run in was 17 feet at 17 seconds, which produced waves in the range of 30 to 40 feet.

The Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic is a unique event in that a set of weeks in October and November are set aside as when the event may take place, but the actual date is dependent on certain surf condition. The exact date of the event is announced 48 hours ahead of time when conditions are right.

“This swell caught my eye the second it started showing up on the charts,” said John Forse, event founder. “The wind and a competing south swell were my only concerns, and now it looks as though neither will be an issue.”

The Nelscott Reef event is the only big wave event to have been held every year since its inception, and it has been called on what turned out to be the best days of each year.

Conditions this size will be a major test for the organizers and competitors, as the 2010 contest will be the first time the event is paddle in only. It has been a tow-in event up until now, with boats towing contestants out to the famed reef – about a mile offshore.

The change to paddle in coupled with the event being a part of the Big Wave World Tour has ensured that some of the top names in the industry will be present on Tuesday. Also, the Nelscott event looks to be the first big wave contest to feature women.

"I have a lot of respect for some of the older guys we invited that have chosen to step aside and let some of the up and coming talent take a turn,” Forse said. "People like Gary Linden and Ross Clarke Jones have given up their spots for younger surfers to have a chance. It is the ultimate show of sportsmanship in my opinion."

The Nelscott Reef sits a mile out to sea, and creates massive sources of amusement for surfers. It was actually only discovered in recent years.

The Nelscott Reef web page contains the most up to date information on the event.  People can sign up for email alerts as well. The Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic is honored and proud be a part of the Big Wave World Tour and promote big wave surfing
internationally. For more info go to and www.nelscottreef.com and www.bigwaveworldtour.com

While weather has been in the "raining cats and dogs" category along the coast, those conditions are expected to clear considerably over the next days. Click here for Oregon Coast Weather.

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