• Boy Scouts councils to national HQ: Don't make hasty decision on gays

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A coalition of Boy Scouts councils representing some 540,000 youth asked the national organization on Monday to hold off on determining whether to end the controversial policy banning gay Scouts and leaders, saying it was concerned about the executives’ fast pace on a decision that can’t be “undone.”

    The Boy Scouts of America's announcement last week that it may eliminate the exclusion of gays from membership at the national level, leaving the decision to its local units, has led to some soul-searching and a lot of questions among Scouting families and their chartering organizations. Some families have indicated they may leave if the ban is lifted, but many have welcomed a change they feel was long overdue.

    The Scouts' began National Executive Board and Committee meetings on Monday, and a decision on the gay ban is expected Wednesday.

    The coalition of 33 Boy Scouts councils representing some 540,000 youth, or 20 percent of the organization’s 2.6 million active Scouts, has “united to express our concern about the pace at which such actions are being taken,” according to a statement posted on the website of the Utah-based Great Salt Lake Council.  “… we request that a final vote on this policy reversal be delayed to allow other stakeholder’s voices to be heard and a more thorough analysis of the impact on local councils.”

    The decision comes just seven months after the organization said it was sticking with the policy following a confidential two-year review of the disputed membership guidelines. That review was announced months after Jennifer Tyrrell was dismissed from her post as leader of her son’s Tiger Cubs den because she is a lesbian, and a few months before California teen Ryan Andresen was denied his Eagle award because he is gay.

    Both cases made national headlines for several weeks, roiling the private youth organization. Some critics pointed to declining membership numbers as a sign that families were being turned off over the issue.

    Tom Pennington / Getty Images

    Will Oliver, an Eagle Scout, Greg Bourke, a former Assistant Scoutmaster, Jennifer Tyrrell, a former Cub Scout den mother, and Eric Andresen, a former Scout leader, deliver boxes containing 1.4 million signatures urging the Boy Scouts of America to reverse the organization's ban on gay Scouts on February 4, 2013 in Irving, Texas.

    The coalition, though, said: “While we understand the urge to support those councils who feel that the current policies negatively impact their ability to remain viable we also think that equal support and consideration should be given to those councils whose ability to remain viable will be impacted by adopting the new policy.”

    It said the proposed policy “flies in direct contradiction” to the results of the two-year review and noted: “Time must be allowed for accurate polling data to be collected from stakeholders at all levels and all areas in an unbiased way. The voices of existing chartered partners and financial contributors must be heard alongside those of our volunteer leaders and the parents who entrust their children to us. This is a decision which cannot be ‘undone.’”

    'Gravely distressed': Religion looms large over Boy Scouts decision on gays 

    The Great Salt Lake Council also said that it explicitly opposed any changes to the current membership policy without open discussion and deliberation with the various individuals who make up the organization.

    When asked for comment about the positions of the coalition and the Great Salt Lake Council, BSA spokesman Deron Smith said in an email: “We recognize, deeply respect and appreciate the sincere beliefs about this issue.”


    Advocates on both sides of the issue have stepped up their campaigns ahead of the BSA's final decision: They’ve encouraged their backers to make their voices heard through a phone-in and email deluge, a conservative group, the Family Research Council, said that it and 41 other groups ran a newspaper ad on Monday asking the BSA not to change the policy, and some conservative religious groups have urged their supporters to join in prayer to ask the board not to accept gays.

    Tyrrell, of Bridgeport, Ohio, and Ryan Andresen’s father were among a group that delivered petitions to the Boy Scouts' headquarters in Texas on Monday bearing more than one million signatures calling for an end to the policy.

    “It’s crucial because they are in the middle of making this potentially historical decision,” Tyrrell, 33, a mother of four children, told NBC News after delivering four boxes filled with the petitions and additional comments to a Boy Scouts' representative. The group had heard the organization has been receiving “a lot of negative feedback” from religious groups and wanted to provide the petitions so the BSA could see that “there are many people that support this and want this.”

    “There are 1.4 million Americans that have signed petitions supporting the change in BSA policy,” said Andresen, 52, of Moraga, Calif. “That’s quite a statement. … that’s a lot of people supporting change.”

    Tyrrell and other advocates have previously delivered some of the petitions, which Smith said the BSA had accepted, too. “The BSA has received a great deal of feedback from a variety of viewpoints and we appreciate everyone sharing their perspective on this issue,” he wrote.

    After years of heartache, gay Scouts and supporters react warily over proposal to lift ban

    Andresen’s son, Ryan, 18, is still hoping he will receive Scouting’s highest ranking, the Eagle award, though the journey has done a lot of damage to him emotionally, said Eric Andresen, who resigned as the committee chair of his son’s troop after the problems began. One of the family’s main objectives was to help others, such as boys who may still be hiding in the closet.

    “I’m hoping that the board continues to do what’s right and deliberate this week and make the decision that we hope they’re going to make,” he said. “If they don’t, we’ll be back.”

    Related stories: 

    If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on how your troop, pack or council is handling the possibility of a change in the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com. We may use some comments for a follow-up story, so please specify if your remarks can be used and provide your name, hometown, age, Boy Scout affiliation and a phone number.

     

  • Icy fog traps lung-busting soot over Salt Lake City

    A toxic layer of smog is hovering over Salt Lake City, Utah, triggering serious health problems and prompting doctors to declare a state of emergency. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    By Paul Foy, The Associated Press

    Michelle Francis keeps one eye on Utah's air quality index and the other on her 9-year-old daughter's chronic asthma these days. The air pollution is so awful in her Salt Lake City suburb that Francis keeps her daughter indoors on many days to prevent her cough from being aggravated.


    "When you add all the gunk in the air, it's too much," Francis said.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has singled out the greater Salt Lake region as having the nation's worst air for much of January, when an icy fog smothers mountain valleys for days or weeks at a time and traps lung-busting soot.

    The pollution has turned so bad that more than 100 Utah doctors called Wednesday on authorities to immediately lower highway speed limits, curb industrial activity and make mass transit free for the rest of winter. Doctors say the microscopic soot — a shower of combustion particles from tailpipe and other emissions — can tax the lungs of even healthy people.

    "We're in a public-health emergency for much of the winter," said Brian Moench, a 62-year-old anesthesiologist and president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, which delivered the petition demanding action at the Utah Capitol.

    The greater Salt Lake region had up to 130 micrograms of soot per cubic meter on Wednesday, or more than three times the federal clean-air limit, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    That's equivalent to a bad day in the Los Angeles area.

    Related: You know it's cold when ski resorts close the mountain

    For 2 million Utah residents, there is no escape except to the snow-capped mountains that gleam in the sunshine thousands of feet higher, or to resort towns like Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival is under way.

    "I wish there was something we could do about it," Francis, a school teacher 10 miles north of Salt Lake City, said.

    Authorities have prohibited wood burning and urged people to limit driving. Vehicle emissions account for more than half of the trapped pollutants.

    Utah regulators are working on a set of plans to limit everyday emissions, including a measure to ban the sale of aerosol deodorants and hair spray that contain hydrocarbon propellants. Those plans, however, will take years to show results.

    Rick Bowmer / AP

    Smog from an inversion hangs over downtown Salt Lake City.

    Doctors say people — especially pregnant women and children — should stay indoors, or at least avoid active outdoor exercise under the sickening yellowish haze. Elderly people with heart disease are most at risk, Moench said.

    "If you can see it, you don't want to breathe it. Think about what's going into your body," Salt Lake City pediatrician Ellie Brownstein said. "It's essentially like smoking. Instead of breathing clean air, you're breathing particles that make it harder for your lungs to function and get oxygen."

    Snow cover amplifies the phenomena called a temperature inversion — Salt Lake City was a foggy freezer box Wednesday at 18 degrees, while Park City basked in sunny 43-degree weather. The warmer air aloft acted like a lid on the frigid valley air, leaving it with no place to go.

    For weeks, industrialized cities in northern China have been dealing with bouts of sickening smog several times more toxic than Utah's. But by U.S. standards, Utah's pollution index is off the charts with readings routinely exceeding a scale that tops out at 70 micrograms a cubic meter. The EPA sets a standard for clean air at no more than 35 micrograms.

    "People think the health implications are limited to asthma — that's only a drop in the bucket," Moench said. "For every pregnant woman breathing this stuff, this is a threat to her fetus through chromosome damage. It sets people up for a lifelong propensity for all sorts of diseases."

    Ravell Call / The Deseret News via AP

    An inversion cloud covers downtown Salt Lake City. A group of Utah doctors is declaring a health emergency over the Salt Lake City area's lingering air pollution problem.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Alligator attack: Florida teenager loses part of arm

    A teenager from Moore Haven, Fla., is recovering after being attacked by a 10-foot alligator while swimming in a local river. WBBH's Sara Miles reports.

    By NBC-2, Florida

    MOORE HAVEN, Florida - A teenager lost his right arm below the elbow in an alligator attack while swimming in the Caloosahatchee River, according to officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

    FWC's Jorge Pino says the 11-foot gator was found and killed Monday evening after the attack that happened in the water near River Road, southwest of US-27, close to Lake Okeechobee.

    Officials say the arm was found inside the gator.

    "This area isn't Disneyland. It's right next to Lake O and there are thousands of alligators here," said FWC Captain Jeff Ardelean.

    The victim, 17-year-old Kaleb Langdale, was flown to Lee Memorial Hospital after the attack. The arm was sent to the hospital, but friends said doctors were not able to reattach the limb.

    Friends who were with Langdale at the time of the attack said they were not taunting the animal.

    "It ended up being about a 10-and-a-half-foot gator who came straight at him. It came at him and he put his arm in the way instead of letting it get to his body. It took his arm and him under," said friend Matt Baker.

    Read the full story at NBC 2 Florida

    Another friend, Gary Beck, said Langdale popped out of the water shortly after the attack.

    "He was waving saying, 'Call the paramedics! My arm is gone!'" Beck described.

    Two Fort Worth, Texas, fishermen charged in the killing of a large alligator say they were protecting themselves and never intended to commit any crime. KXAS-TV's Scott Gordon reports.

    "It was scary. I couldn't believe it was real at the moment," Baker added.

    FWC officials said it was a dangerous time of year for swimming because alligator mating season means attacks are not uncommon.

    "Any type of splash in the water is prey for them," Captain Ardelean said.

    Beck and Baker said Langdale was in good spirits. They said he was just happy the gator got his right arm instead of his left because that is what he uses to steer his airboat.

    NBC-2 is based in Fort Myers, Florida.

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  • Suspect in Utah school bomb plot charged

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    SALT LAKE CITY - Authorities on Tuesday charged a 16-year-old boy with a felony in what they say was a plot to detonate a bomb at a Utah high school.

    The teenager, along with Dallin Morgan, 18, had planned for months to bomb an assembly at Roy High School, north of Salt Lake City, then steal a plane from a nearby airport and flee the United States, police said.

    Although police don't have a motive, one text message to the fellow student noted they sought "revenge on the world."

    Both were arrested last week. Morgan has been charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

    Prosecutors on Tuesday charged the 16-year-old with the same count in juvenile court, but have filed a motion seeking to try him as an adult.

    "The defendant's emotional attitude, pattern of living, environment and home life demonstrate that he has sufficient maturity to appreciate the seriousness of these charges and to be tried as an adult," prosecutors wrote in the motion filed Tuesday in Ogden's 2nd District Court, according to KSL-TV in Salt Lake City.  

    "It is desirable to have the adjudication of the entire offense in one court and defendant's co-defendant is an adult who has been tried in the district court."

    "The threat was against a school."

    The Associated Press isn't naming the suspect because he is a minor.

    Police said the plot was foiled when a 16-year-old student came forward after receiving ominous text messages from one of the suspects hinting at their plan.

    "If I tell you one day not to go to school, make damn sure you and your brother are not there," one message read, according to court records. "We ain't gonna crash it, we're just gonna kill and fly our way to a country that won't send us back to the U.S.," read another message.

    Police said the two teens had a detailed plot, blueprints of the school and security systems, but investigators have so far found no explosives in multiple searches. Authorities have also said the suspects spent hundreds of hours training on a home computer flight simulator and studying manuals to prepare to steal a plane after the bombing.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Jogger: Dogs 'gnawing at my body like I was hamburger'

    A 62-year-old Chicago man who lost his foot after being viciously attacked by two pit bulls says he believes the dogs were "trained to kill." WMAQ-TV's Michelle Relerford reports.

    By NBCChicago.com

    CHICAGO -- Joseph Finley says avoiding death was the only thing going through his mind when two pit bulls viciously attacked him during his early-morning jog along Lake Michigan, an assault that ended up with the loss of his left foot.

    "I couldn't believe these dogs were attacking me. I couldn't believe this was happening to me," he said from a hospital bed at John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital of Cook County on Tuesday. "The only thing in my mind was if this is happening to me, the only thing I can do is survive. So in my mind: survive, survive."

    The attack went on for several minutes, he said, describing that the dogs were "yanking and biting and tearing and pulling and gnawing at my body like I was hamburger."

    Read original story at NBCChicago.com 

    Finley, by all accounts a healthy and strong 62-year-old man, did survive, but just barely. Doctors said he was very rough shape when he was brought into Stroger Hospital.

    "It was a rough go for several days. He was on a breathing machine. He was very sick. He got a lot of blood. I mean, his injury was nearly equivalent to stepping on a landmine," Dr. Andrew Dennis said.

    Doctors knew almost immediately they wouldn't be able to save Finley's left foot, and there was so much damage to soft tissue that it affected his kidneys.

    Still, Dennis said Finley made remarkable progress in the two weeks since the attack. So much so that doctors feel comfortable exchanging Finley's environment from the trauma unit to an area rehabilitation center.

    "We always thank God when we get a good result, but I think ... this is an incredibly strong man and he did most of the work," Dr. Kimberly Joseph.

    'Trained to kill'
    Finley said he was just about to begin the third lap of his run along Lake Michigan at Rainbow Beach Park when he noticed the dogs. He tried to maneuver around them, he said, but they attacked.

    "These were not just regular dogs. No. These dogs attacked in a way of dogs that have been trained to kill," he said, describing how the pair of dogs grabbed each foot and seemed to work in a coordinated effort to take down their victim.

    His ordeal ended when he heard a voice yelling at the dogs to get away. Then there were gunshots and he felt the dogs release their grips. Finley said he doesn't remember anything about a man beating the dogs with a tire thumper. Responding police officers shot and killed both dogs.

    The owner of the two pit bulls has since been cited but has not had any charges made against him. It's a fact that's infuriating to Finley.

    "I think there should be criminal charges for this. Yes, 100 percent," he said.

    Asked if there was anything he'd like to say to the dogs' owner, a clearly upset Finley thought for a moment and then declined.

    "I would -- I really would not care to answer that question at this point," he said.

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  • 'Bad year for ice': Two killed as snowmobile plunges into lake

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    HANOVER, Minn. -- Divers recovered the bodies of two men Sunday whose snowmobile sank after hitting open water on a lake near the Twin Cities, the first thin-ice related deaths reported in Minnesota in a mild winter that has left ice unreliable across the state.

    Dozens of people have fallen into frigid waters around Minnesota this winter as unseasonably warm temperatures have weakened ice and in some cases left patches of open water such as those on Lake Charlotte northwest of Minneapolis.

    "It was a single snowmobile and it appears to have just run right into open water," said Captain Greg Howell of the Wright County Sheriff's Office. "It's been a bad year for ice."

    Local NBC station KARE 11 reported that the two young men were graduates of the Rockford High School, according to its principal, Ryan Jensen.

    Jensen named the victims as 2009 graduate Brad Skafte, 20, and 2010 graduate Adam Patnode, 19, KARE 11 said.

    The station reported that divers found their bodies around 8 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) Sunday using sonar equipment.

    "It's hard to take in," said Nathan Bigley, a friend of the two young men, according to KARE 11. "It still really hasn't hit me hard. But they were both really good guys. Everyone loved them in the community."

    Dan Harberts, whose son was also good friends with the two victims, told the station that "they always seemed to be bored."

    "Sitting around was never good enough for them," Harberts said. "They're way too young for something like this to happen."

    Tail lights vanished
    A 66-year-old man from Buffalo, Minnesota, riding an all-terrain vehicle, had reported seeing a snowmobile drop into the lake on Saturday night. He went to investigate and was rescued by a neighbor when his ATV also sank into the water, Howell said.

    "It's fortunate we weren't looking for three instead of two," Howell said.

    The man, Gail King, told the Star Tribune that he had heard a cracking noise and then the tail lights of the snowmobile vanish into the water.

    He did not hear any shouts for help, the Tribune reported.

    Searchers found snowmobile tracks leading straight to an area of open water on the lake and family members reported two men missing who were thought to have been snowmobiling on the lake Saturday night, Howell said.

    Divers located the snowmobile but have not yet pulled it from the lake, Howell said.

    The ice depth ranges from an inch to 12 inches on lakes in the county with open water in some spots, Howell said.

    Across Minnesota people have reported falling through the ice this winter on-foot, in cars, riding ATVs and snowmobiles, and even in an ice boat, which has steel runners and a sail, officials have said.

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    Reuters contributed to this report.