Hamlin has compression fracture in lower back

From front, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Timmy Hill, Joey Logano, Paul Menard and others pit during the first caution flag during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

From front, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Timmy Hill, Joey Logano, Paul Menard and others pit during the first caution flag during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race in Fontana, Calif., Sunday, March 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Rescue workers tend to the wreckage of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin after he collided with Joey Logano on the final lap of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series auto race in Fontana, Calif., Sunday March 24, 2013. The pair had been battling for the lead the last three laps. The No. 18 car of Kyle Busch passes behind on its vicory lap. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Denny Hamlin suffered a compression fracture in his lower spine during a last-lap crash while racing for the win against former teammate Joey Logano, and Joe Gibbs Racing gave no indication Monday how long its driver could be sidelined.

"I just want to go home," Hamlin tweeted from a hospital in Southern California. He later posted a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up and appeared to be wearing a back brace.

The team said he had what is called an L1 compression fracture; essentially, the first vertebra in the lumbar section of his spine collapsed.

Hamlin was released from the hospital Monday night, and JGR said he'd return to North Carolina to be evaluated by Dr. Jerry Petty of Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates. A reporter from USA Today spoke to Hamlin outside the hospital and reported Hamlin, wearing a back brace, walked out on his own.

NASCAR does not race this weekend, but returns to action April 7 at Martinsville Speedway, where Hamlin, who is 10th in the Sprint Cup standings, is a four-time winner.

Hamlin was airlifted from the Fontana track after a collision with Logano sent him nearly head-on into the inside wall in a place where Auto Club Speedway does not have energy-absorbing SAFER barriers. There are barriers on the inside of some of the walls, but portions of the track between Turns 1 and 2 and Turns 3 and 4 are not protected.

Track spokesman David Talley said Monday the SAFER barriers are installed upon NASCAR's recommendation, and track officials will wait to see what, if anything, NASCAR recommends after Hamlin's accident.

"NASCAR is reviewing the incident and any improvements that can be made, will be made," Talley said. "If NASCAR feels that additional SAFER Barriers are needed, then we will absolutely make those enhancements. SAFER barrier recommendations are based on past history and this is a situation we, nor NASCAR has ever seen at this track before."

IndyCar last year returned to Auto Club Speedway for the first time since 2005 and the season finale is scheduled to be held at the track in October.

But the issue of the SAFER barriers and Hamlin's impact seemed to be overshadowed by the most recent flare-up in this new feud.

Logano managed to finish third despite wrecking into the outside wall after hitting Hamlin, who spun Logano last week at Bristol to spark a bitter post-race confrontation.

Because of the recent bickering between the former teammates, Logano was somewhat defiant after Sunday's accident.

"He probably shouldn't have done what he did last week, so that's what he gets," Logano said.

On Monday, Logano's car owner said the driver was unaware of Hamlin's condition when he made the comment during a television interview.

"That's a tough thing, Joey had no idea what the situation was with Denny when he was doing the interview," Roger Penske said. "It's one of those things that came out and taken out of context isn't what he meant. He can't take it back, but people are certainly blowing that up to mean something different than what he knew at the time."

Tony Stewart also got into a post-race shoving match with Logano, who aggressively blocked Stewart on a late restart. Stewart claimed Logano threw a water bottle at him when he approached, but crews separated the two before it turned into a full fight.

Stewart later railed against the 22-year-old Logano in several interviews and accused him of being "nothing but a little rich kid that's never had to work in his life."

Logano was 18 when he broke into NASCAR with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 with the nickname "Sliced Bread." He'd risen rapidly through the racing ranks with the financial backing from his father, Tom, who used funds from the family's Connecticut waste management company to help his two children pursue their dreams.

Logano had the means to pursue a racing career, and was in Georgia racing quarter midgets at the age of 6 while his older sister chased a life of competitive ice skating.

But Tom Logano's near-constant presence at the NASCAR races hurt Logano's reputation, and him angrily demanding his son go after Kevin Harvick after a 2010 incident at Pocono only made things worse.

On Monday, Patricia Driscoll, girlfriend of Kurt Busch, referred to Logano as (hash)TrustFundRacer in a series of tweets that accused him of reckless racing with "no less than 5 drivers."

"We were lucky that none of the others were hurt by his actions," Driscoll tweeted.

An agitated Penske thought the criticism of Logano's upbringing was out of line.

"He's a solid young man and his family has supported him in racing as many families of professional athletes do in every sport," Penske said. "Anyone who looks at that as a criticism, to focus on that is just petty."

He also said he supported his driver, who signed last year to join the Penske Racing organization as teammate to defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.

"Listen, Joey is a great driver and what happened at the end there wasn't anything more than hard racing," Penske said. "I stand behind him and I think he's going to go down as one of the greatest drivers to ever race."

It never developed at JGR, where Logano replaced Stewart in 2009 and was teammates with Busch and Hamlin. Signs of a rift between Hamlin and Logano didn't show publicly until after this year's season-opening Daytona 500, when the two exchanged barbs on Twitter.

Then came an on-track incident at Bristol last week, more exchanges on Twitter, and finally their last-lap battle for the win at Fontana. Although the crash seemed to be a result of hard racing, Logano's lack of empathy immediately after the race gave the impression his contact with Hamlin was intentional.

Hamlin got himself out of the car, but then slumped to the ground beside it before an ambulance arrived. He was eventually airlifted out due to traffic around the track.

The injury is a bit more common in open-wheel racing, which has had three incidents of drivers breaking their backs since 2009.

Will Power broke several vertebrae in his lower back in a 2009 crash during practice at Sonoma and missed that event and the final three races of the season. He couldn't train for two months and wore a back brace for almost four months.

He also suffered a compression fracture of his fourth thoracic vertebra in the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas but missed no racing as he healed during the offseason.

Justin Wilson fractured his fifth thoracic vertebra in 2011 and missed the last six races of the season. Wilson said he was in a back brace for 10 weeks.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti fractured the L1 vertebra in his back in a 2003 motorcycle accident. He needed surgery and was out of a race car for almost nine months.

In NASCAR, Sterling Marlin missed the last seven races of the 2002 season with a fractured vertebra in his neck.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-25-CAR-NASCAR-Hamlin-Hurt/id-c581ef068b7b453e96991c96885cf09b

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Super batteries? Hybrid ribbons a gift for powerful batteries

Mar. 25, 2013 ? Hybrid ribbons of vanadium oxide (VO2) and graphene may accelerate the development of high-power lithium-ion batteries suitable for electric cars and other demanding applications.

The Rice University lab of materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan determined that the well-studied material is a superior cathode for batteries that could supply both high energy density and significant power density. The research appears online this month in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters.

The ribbons created at Rice are thousands of times thinner than a sheet of paper, yet have potential that far outweighs current materials for their ability to charge and discharge very quickly. Cathodes built into half-cells for testing at Rice fully charged and discharged in 20 seconds and retained more than 90 percent of their initial capacity after more than 1,000 cycles.

"This is the direction battery research is going, not only for something with high energy density but also high power density," Ajayan said. "It's somewhere between a battery and a supercapacitor."

The ribbons also have the advantage of using relatively abundant and cheap materials. "This is done through a very simple hydrothermal process, and I think it would be easily scalable to large quantities," he said.

Ajayan said vanadium oxide has long been considered a material with great potential, and in fact vanadium pentoxide has been used in lithium-ion batteries for its special structure and high capacity. But oxides are slow to charge and discharge, due to their low electrical conductivity. The high-conductivity graphene lattice that is literally baked in solves that problem nicely, he said, by serving as a speedy conduit for electrons and channels for ions.

The atom-thin graphene sheets bound to the crystals take up very little bulk. In the best samples made at Rice, fully 84 percent of the cathode's weight was the lithium-slurping VO2, which held 204 milliamp hours of energy per gram. The researchers, led by Rice graduate student Yongji Gong and lead author Shubin Yang, said they believe that to be among the best overall performance ever seen for lithium-ion battery electrodes.

"One challenge to production was controlling the conditions for the co-synthesis of VO2 ribbons with graphene," Yang said. The process involved suspending graphene oxide nanosheets with powdered vanadium pentoxide (layered vanadium oxide, with two atoms of vanadium and five of oxygen) in water and heating it in an autoclave for hours. The vanadium pentoxide was completely reduced to VO2, which crystallized into ribbons, while the graphene oxide was reduced to graphene, Yang said. The ribbons, with a web-like coating of graphene, were only about 10 nanometers thick, up to 600 nanometers wide and tens of micrometers in length.

"These ribbons were the building blocks of the three-dimensional architecture," Yang said. "This unique structure was favorable for the ultrafast diffusion of both lithium ions and electrons during charge and discharge processes. It was the key to the achievement of excellent electrochemical performance."

In testing the new material, Yang and Gong found its capacity for lithium storage remained stable after 200 cycles even at high temperatures (167 degrees Fahrenheit) at which other cathodes commonly decay, even at low charge-discharge rates.

"We think this is real progress in the development of cathode materials for high-power lithium-ion batteries," Ajayan said, suggesting the ribbons' ability to be dispersed in a solvent might make them suitable as a component in the paintable batteries developed in his lab.

Co-authors of the new paper are Rice graduate students Daniel Hashim and Lulu Ma; research scientist Zheng Liu; former Rice visiting researcher Liang Zhan, now an associate professor at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai; and faculty fellow Robert Vajtai. Ajayan is the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, chemistry, and chemical and biomolecular engineering.

The work was funded by the U.S. Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research through a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship grant.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University. The original article was written by Mike Williams.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Shubin Yang, Yongji Gong, Zheng Liu, Liang Zhan, Daniel P. Hashim, Lulu Ma, Robert Vajtai, Pulickel M. Ajayan. Bottom-up Approach toward Single-Crystalline VO2-Graphene Ribbons as Cathodes for Ultrafast Lithium Storage. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130314101516006 DOI: 10.1021/nl400001u

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/MgNIdDGu0nc/130325125607.htm

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EU chief to try to get last-minute Cyprus deal

The Cypriot, left, and EU flag are seen at the Cypriot delegation building in Brussels on Sunday, March 24, 2013. The EU says a top official will chair a high-level meeting on Cyprus in a last-ditch effort to seal a deal before finance ministers decide whether the island nation gets a 10 billion euro bailout loan to save it from bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

The Cypriot, left, and EU flag are seen at the Cypriot delegation building in Brussels on Sunday, March 24, 2013. The EU says a top official will chair a high-level meeting on Cyprus in a last-ditch effort to seal a deal before finance ministers decide whether the island nation gets a 10 billion euro bailout loan to save it from bankruptcy. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Bank employees protest outside the ministry of finance on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Thousands of bank employees took part in a protest that ended outside the Cypriot parliament. Politicians in Cyprus were racing Saturday to complete an alternative plan raising funds necessary for the country to qualify for an international bailout, with a potential bankruptcy just three days away. Banner at right reads: "Who voted for you members of parliament? The Troika?" (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Bank employees protest outside the ministry of finance on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Thousands of bank employees took part in a protest that ended outside the Cypriot parliament. Politicians in Cyprus were racing Saturday to complete an alternative plan raising funds necessary for the country to qualify for an international bailout, with a potential bankruptcy just three days away. Banner at left reads: We fight not only for our jobs but also for people's savings" and banner at right reads: "Dimitriadis resign, you and your consultants". (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A bank employee holds a placard that reads in Greek: ''Bums, Traitors, Politicians, Same'' protest on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Thousands of bank employees took part in a protest that ended outside the Cypriot parliament. Politicians in Cyprus were racing Saturday to complete an alternative plan raising funds necessary for the country to qualify for an international bailout, with a potential bankruptcy just three days away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Bank employees protest in Nicosia, on Saturday, March 23, 2013. Thousands of bank employees took part in a protest that ended outside the Cypriot parliament. Politicians in Cyprus were racing Saturday to complete an alternative plan raising funds necessary for the country to qualify for an international bailout, with a potential bankruptcy just three days away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? A top European official will chair a high-level meeting on Cyprus on Sunday afternoon in a last-ditch effort to seal a deal before finance ministers decide whether the country gets a 10 billion euro bailout loan to save it from bankruptcy.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Finance Minister Michalis Sarris were flying to Brussels early Sunday. The day of talks could prove critical ? not only for the future of their small island nation, but for that of the 17-nation eurozone, as well.

Spokesman Preben Aamann could not confirm who would participate in the meeting, but said it would be led by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. The Council is the gathering of 27 EU heads of state and government.

Cyprus said European Council President Jose Manuel Barroso would also participate in the meeting led by Van Rompuy. The Council is the EU's executive arm.

Following that session, Anastasiades will meet with Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, Christodoulides said.

Cyprus has been told it must raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in order to secure the loan from the IMF and other eurozone countries. The IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission will determine whether any plan put forward by Cyprus ? or negotiated in the Van Rompuy meeting ? meets that requirement.

The requirement is that Cyprus' debt, including any new bailout loan, be sustainable over the long run, considering the size of the country's economy.

To avoid bankruptcy or the collapse of its banking system, Cyprus needs significantly more than the 10 billion euros the international creditors are willing to lend it. For that reason, the country must somehow raise ? and not through borrowing ? the additional money.

The original plan, agreed to in marathon negotiations, called for a one-time "levy" on all bank depositors in Cypriot banks. The proposal ignited fierce anger among Cypriots and failed to garner a single vote in the Cypriot Parliament.

Any new proposal would have to be approved Sunday evening by the Eurogrop, the gathering of finance ministers from the 17 EU countries that use the euro currency.

If Cyprus or its banks were to collapse, officials fear that a lack of confidence could spread to other countries that use the euro, triggering higher borrowing costs or capital flight from those countries.

___

Don Melvin can be reached at https://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-24-Cyprus-Financial%20Crisis/id-96634a5408424bf9b9e033655219a7fd

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Metro Phoenix housing rises across the board

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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/20130323phoenix-housing-prices-rise.html

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Pope Francis tells Benedict: "We're brothers"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) ? Pope Francis has traveled to Castel Gandolfo to have lunch with his predecessor Benedict XVI in a historic and potentially problematic melding of the papacies that has never before confronted the Catholic Church.

The Vatican said the two popes embraced on the helipad. In the chapel where they prayed together, Benedict offered Francis the traditional kneeler used by the pope. Francis refused to take it alone, saying "We're brothers," and the two prayed together on the same one.

Outside the villa, the main piazza of Castel Gandolfo was packed Saturday with well-wishers hoping to catch a glimpse of history: two popes breaking bread together and presumably discussing the future of the Catholic Church. They chanted "Francesco! Francesco!"

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said he understands Benedict offered his pledge of obedience to the new pope, while Francis thanked Benedict for his ministry. He said they both wore white, though Benedict was in a simple cassock without the traditional sash and cape worn by Francis.

Benedict has been living at the papal summer villa since he resigned Feb. 28, the first pope to step down in 600 years. He has said he plans to live out his final years in prayer and remain "hidden from the world."

Benedict's dramatic departure that day ? flying by helicopter from the helipad in the Vatican gardens with his weeping secretary by his side and circling St. Peter's Square in a final goodbye ? is one of the most evocative images of this remarkable papal transition.

The Vatican is downplaying the luncheon in keeping with Benedict's desire to remain in private and not interfere with his successor's papacy. There was to be no live coverage of the private meeting by Vatican television, only a few still photos from the official Vatican photographer and perhaps a video released after the fact.

The Vatican said Benedict was at the helipad in the villa gardens to welcome Francis, and that the two were meeting in Benedict's library and having lunch together. Francis will then return to his makeshift home at the Vatican hotel at an unspecified time later in the day.

The Vatican spokesman promised a general comment about the meeting, but no detailed statement.

All of which has led to enormous speculation about what these two men in white might have to say to one another after making history together: Benedict's resignation paved the way for the first pope from Latin America, the first Jesuit, and the first to call himself Francis after the 13th century friar who devoted himself to the poor, nature and working for peace.

Perhaps over their primo, or pasta course during Saturday's lunch, the two popes might discuss the big issues facing the church: the rise of secularism in the world, the drop in priestly vocations in Europe, the competition that the Catholic Church faces in Latin America and Africa from evangelical Pentecostal movements.

Or maybe during their secondo, or second course of meat or fish, they'll discuss more pressing issues concerning Francis' new job: Benedict left a host of unfinished business on Francis' plate, including the outcome of a top-secret investigation into the leaks of papal documents last year. Francis might want to sound Benedict out on his ideas for management changes in the Holy See administration, a priority given the complete dysfunctional government he has inherited.

Then over coffee, they might discuss the future of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Benedict's trusted aide who has had the difficult task of escorting his old pope into retirement and then returning to the Vatican to serve his successor in the initial rites of the office.

Gaenswein, who wept as he and Benedict made their goodbyes to staff in the papal apartment on Feb. 28, has appeared visibly upset and withdrawn at times as he has been by Francis' side. The Vatican has said Francis' primary secretary will be Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, who had been the No. 2 secretary under Benedict.

Benedict's resignation ? the emeritus pope's personal choices about his future ? have raised the question of how the Catholic Church will deal with the novel situation of having one reigning and one retired pope living side-by-side, each of them called "pope," each of them wearing papal white and even sharing the same aide in Gaenswein.

After a few months in Castel Gandolfo, Benedict is to return to the Vatican to live in a converted monastery in the Vatican gardens, just a short walk from St. Peter's Basilica and the shrine devoted to the Madonna where Francis went to pray on one of his first walks as pope.

___

Nicole Winfield reported from Vatican City.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-tells-benedict-were-brothers-125541394.html

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Washington man calls police to report he's shot his two adult children

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

Police near Tacoma, Wash. say they discovered two people shot in the head after a 69-year-old man called authorities and told them he had shot his two adult children.

Police arrived at a home in Puyallup, Wash. where they talked the man into putting down his gun after receiving the call around 3:30 a.m. local time, according to King5.com.

Inside the home, police found an adult male and an adult female each shot in the head in different rooms, authorities said. The victims appeared to have been shot in their sleep.

The female died and the male is reportedly in critical condition at Tacoma General Hospital, according to KING 5.

Two young children and the suspect's wife were found in the home unhurt, according to police. Authorities believe the male shooting victim is the father of the two smaller children.

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'Spring Breakers' actor, rapper wanted by police

Christopher Polk / Getty Images, file

By Jason Lipshutz, The Hollywood Reporter

Gucci Mane is reportedly wanted by the Atlanta Police Department after a soldier claimed that he was assaulted by the rapper at a local club last week.

According to Atlanta's Channel 2 (via WSBTV), an arrest warrant was issued for the troubled MC after a soldier approached Mane in the VIP section of the Harlem Nights club on the evening of Mar. 15. When the soldier, who is only referring to himself as "James" in media interviews, asked a security guard if he could take a picture with the rapper, Mane reportedly hit the man over the head with a champagne bottle.

STORY:?Rapper Gucci Mane arrested for pushing woman out of car

"And as I looked at him in the shock of why, one of his friends hit me in the side of my face," says James, who was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital and received 10 stitches for the cut on his head. James, who serves in the Army, was out with friends to celebrate his birthday.

Atlanta police have since issued a warrant for the rapper (real name: Radric Davis) for aggravated assault. Mane was at Harlem Nights promoting his new mixtapes "Trap Back 2" and "East Atlanta Memphis," the latter a joint release with Young Dolph.

The 33-year-old MC has spent much of his career battling legal issues: Mane has been arrested for battery, probation violation and reckless driving, among other disturbances. The rapper -- who co-stars in the recently released "Spring Breakers" -- served a six-month jail sentence in 2011.

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Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/03/23/17431368-spring-breakers-actor-rapper-gucci-mane-wanted-by-police?lite

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