5 more bodies found on Costa Concordia

ROME – Five more bodies were found on the capsized cruise ship  Costa Concordia  on Tuesday as officials released a recording of the captain making excuses to a Coast Guard official who repeatedly orders him to get back to his crippled ship.


Divers located the latest victims, all of them adults wearing life jackets, in the rear of the ship near an emergency evacuation point, said Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro.
In the recording made after the ship hit rocks Friday night the official berates Capt. Francesco Schettino, who is on a lifeboat and repeatedly says he doesn't want to return to the ship even as passengers are still being evacuated.


Schettino has insisted that he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated. However, a recording of his conversation with Italian Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco that emerged Tuesday indicates he fled before all passengers were off — and then resisted De Falco's repeated orders to return.


"You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?" De Falco shouted in the audio tape.


Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping and that it was dark. At the time, he was in a lifeboat and said he was coordinating the rescue from there.


De Falco shouted back: "And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"


"You go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship,' now I am in charge," De Falco shouted.


Schettino was finally heard agreeing to reboard on the tape. But the coast guard has said he never went back, and had police arrest him on land.


The 52-year-old Schettino, described by the Italian media as a genial, tanned ship's officer, has worked for 11 years for the ship's owner and was made captain in 2006.


Schettino hails from Meta di Sorrento, in the Naples area, which produces many of Italy's ferry and cruise boat captains. He attended the Nino Bixio merchant marine school near Sorrento.


A judge is to decide Tuesday if Schettino should stay jailed, as requested by prosecutors. He could face up to 12 years in prison on the abandoning ship charge alone.


Tags: Ship aground off Italy, Italy cruise ship, Giglio Italy,  Eight deaths reported,  Italy cruise ship Costa,  Costa Concordia,  Divers Search Costa Concordia,  Third survivor heard,  Rescuers try to reach,  Costa Concordia Cruise ship,  Builders of the Costa Concordia,  Captain left ship early,  Francesco Schettino Costa Concordia Captain,  Owner of concordia, Divers blast holes

Newt Gingrich make another come back

Myrtle Beach, S.C. -- Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are reading from the same script as they vie to be the “not Romney” champion of the frightened right. Monday, both candidates roved around this city of deserted beach resorts warning conservative voters that the reelection of Barack Obama would bring an end to America as we have known it.


Among the alarmed were members of South Carolina’s tea party. They were gathered on the third floor of a conference center looking out over a sandy beach occupied by no one but four gray-haired Occupy Wall Street activists. The gray-haired conservative activists inside took no note of the protesters and their hand-made signs; two presidential candidates occupied their attention.


Santorum was up first. He talked about American exceptionalism; about how, in an age of kings and emperors, the founding fathers created a Constitution that declared an individual’s rights were derived from God, not granted by government.


“Any rights a government gives you, they can --” Santorum paused and the tea partiers responded in unison -- “Take away!”


The right to pursue happiness, articulated in the Declaration of Independence, also had a particular meaning when Thomas Jefferson penned the words, Santorum claimed. According to the ex-senator in his ubiquitous sweater vest, pursuing happiness back then meant doing “not what you want to do, but what you ought to do.”


Through it all, Gingrich was cool, calm and collected, picking his spots and coming off as the clear onstage alternative to frontrunner Mitt Romney — just as the other candidate for that position, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, was largely an afterthought and struggled to get his voice heard.


That’s exactly what Gingrich needs. But even moreso than Santorum, it appears Gingrich has little room to grow.


“not enough to make newt electable,” GOP strategist Alex Castellanos tweeted after Gingrich tussled with debate moderator Juan Williams. “nothing can do that. but he gets a bump.”


Recent polling shows Gingrich is among the most disliked Republicans in the country, even when it comes to Republican-leaning voters.


So even if he shows some resilience in the GOP presidential race, the universe of voters that Gingrich can add from this point on might actually not be enough to help him win many votes — or at least, enough to come close to victory.


A recent Fox News poll showed Gingrich’s favorable and unfavorable ratings at 49 percent and 39 percent among registered Republicans. Needless to say, having nearly four in 10 Republicans against you is extremely rare for a Republican politician, no less one who is trying to win his party’s nomination.


In fact, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), whose ceiling in the GOP presidential race is supposed by many (including The Fix) to be not far above where he is now, has essentially the same unfavorable rating among Republicans as Gingrich — 41 percent.


Gingrich probably has a higher ceiling than Paul, especially given that he is seen as more of a traditional Republican. But the fact that Gingrich engenders nearly as much opposition in the GOP as a libertarian-leaning foreign policy non-interventionist like Paul is significant.


Over the weekend, leaders of a group of conservatives that met in Texas to pick their candidate settled on Santorum (though some insist it wasn’t very clear-cut) as their choice against the prohibitive frontrunner Romney. And Tuesday’s debate showed Santorum and Gingrich jockeying for that position.

Winter Storm Watch in Effect Through Wednesday Night

National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a Winter Storm Warning for all of Western Washington until Tuesday morning when they will issue a Winter Storm Watch. Conditions will vary throughout the County, however forecasts indicate all areas will experience significant snowfall over the next few days. Please monitor television and radio for up to date forecasts. Grays Harbor County Emergency Management will continue to monitor the weather and remain in contact with the National Weather Service to provide you with the most up to date local forecast information.
Snow amounts will vary throughout the County. All areas are expected to see significant snowfall. Coastal areas will see lesser amounts. North County ( Humptulips, Copalis Crossing) and East County (Montesano, Elma, Oakville & McCleary)will see a great deal more.
The snow will be extremely wet and heavy and may cause structural issues if significant amounts fall. If the snow changes to rain earlier than expected, ponding of water will become an issue. There will an arctic air mass dropping from the North meeting up with a wet Western Storm. The storm has the potential to be very severe for all areas of Grays Harbor County and could possibly be compared to the December 1996, Winter Storm. Snow amounts for the coast to East County will be 2-7” into tonight. All weather models indicate snow fall for Tuesday night into Wednesday accumulating 6-12” for all areas of Grays Harbor County. It is too early to tell the impacts the snowfall will have upon rivers in the County.


Here's the forecast for the upcoming week in Gig Harbor:


M.L.King Day: Snow showers likely, mainly before 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. South southwest wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.


Tonight: Snow showers likely, mainly after 10pm. Cloudy, with a steady temperature around 33. Southwest wind between 6 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.


Tuesday: Snow showers. High near 35. Southwest wind 8 to 13 mph becoming northeast. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.


Tuesday Night: Snow. Low around 28. West southwest wind 8 to 10 mph becoming north northeast. Chance of precipitation is 90 percent. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.


Wednesday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 33. Northeast wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.


Wednesday Night: Snow before 10pm, then rain. Snow level rising to 1100 feet. Low around 31. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent. Little or no snow accumulation expected.


Thursday: Rain. High near 47. Chance of precipitation is 100 percent.


Thursday Night: Rain. Cloudy, with a low around 40.


Friday: Rain. Cloudy, with a high near 44.


Friday Night: Rain. Cloudy and breezy, with a low around 39.


Saturday: Rain. Cloudy, with a high near 44.


Saturday Night: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 36.


Sunday: Rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 42.

Lawmakers backing away from online-piracy bills

Do not try to look up "Internet Censorship" or "SOPA" or "PIPA" on Wikipedia, the giant online encyclopedia, on Wednesday.


SOPA and PIPA are two bills in Congress meant to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet, but major Internet companies say the bills would put them in the impossible position of policing the online world.


Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, now says his site will go dark for the day on Wednesday, joining a budding movement to protest the two bills.


"This is going to be wow," Wales said on Twitter. "I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!"


Other sites, such as Reddit and Boing Boing, have already said they would go dark on Wednesday. And some of the biggest names online, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, have vocally opposed the proposed legislation.


As a result, even the most ardent backers of the bill are now softening their support. Sen. Pat Leahy, a key sponsor of the Protect IP Act, has conceded that more study is needed for the provisions that would allow rogue sites to be delisted from the Domain Name Service (basically the Internet’s phone directory). Critics have warned that mucking with DNS could splinter the architecture of the Internet.


In the House, meanwhile, SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) has said he’d remove the DNS-blocking provisions from his bill outright, pending further review. And last week, six Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee also wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking for more time to study the Protect IP Act. (It’s currently slated for consideration Jan. 24.)


Now, that doesn’t mean these bills, or their most controversial features, are dead and buried. Leahy, for one, was pretty clear that still supports passing a bill with DNS-blocking — he just thinks that feature should be studied carefully before it actually gets implemented. (As TechDirt’s Michael Masnick points out, that sounds like a compelling reason to slow down and reconsider before passing the bill, rather than enacting a provision that lawmakers don’t fully understand.)


Still, the momentum does seem to be shifting. Reddit and Wikipedia are planning to go dark this Wednesday in an attempt to raise awarenesss and put even more pressure on lawmakers. Right now, the main alternative to SOPA and Protect IP is a bill backed by Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that would focus on curbing the flow of money to foreign sites dedicated to copyright infringement, but would be considerably narrower. You can read about the pros and cons of that bill here.