Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun departs Manhattan Federal Court in New York on July 2.
By Nate Raymond, Reuters
NEW YORK - A former executive at jeweler Tiffany & Co pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $2 million worth of jewelry from her one-time employer.
Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, 46, a former vice president of product development, pleaded guilty to a count of interstate transportation of stolen property less than a month after she was arrested in connection with the theft.
Among the items were bracelets, earrings and pendants made of diamonds, platinum and gold.
Under a plea agreement, Lederhaas-Okun, a resident of Connecticut, has agreed to forfeit more than $2.11 million and pay $2.24 million in restitution.
Prosecutors said she had been allowed to check out jewelry from Tiffany for reasons that included showing items to potential manufacturers for cost production estimates.
Rather than bringing the jewelry back, Lederhaas-Okun allegedly would report the items missing or damaged. Prosecutors said Lederhaas-Okun subsequently sold some, if not all, of the items to a jewelry reseller.
After Lederhaas-Okun left the company in February in a downsizing, Tiffany took inventory and found she checked out 165 pieces that had not been returned, according to the complaint filed at the time of her arrest.
While Tiffany conducts daily inventories of items worth more than $25,000, the complaint said each piece was worth under $10,000.
Court documents don't name Tiffany, instead calling it a "international jewelry company based in midtown Manhattan."
But a spokeswoman for the luxury New York store had confirmed at the time of Lederhaas-Okun's arrest on July 2, that it was the one cited in court papers. Tiffany declined comment Friday.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan set sentencing for December 10. Federal sentencing guidelines would place her sentence at 37 to 46 months.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
LONDON (AP) ? In choosing to call their first child George Alexander Louis, Prince William and his wife, Kate, selected a first name steeped in British history.
While "George" means farmer and earth worker ? not trades typically associated with U.K. royals ? it has been borne by six British kings, four of whom served in a row.
Below, a look at the British monarchs called George who preceded the 2-day-old prince now third in line to the throne.
GEORGE I: The German-born, first king of Britain from the House of Hanover ? which provided six British monarchs ? acceded to the throne in 1714. The king ? who spoke German, French and a little English ? ruled until his death in 1727.
GEORGE II: Initially unpopular, George II gained greater respect as his reign lengthened. He was the last British king to fight alongside his soldiers, at the age of 60. Because his oldest son had died, George II's grandson inherited the throne upon his death in 1760.
GEORGE III: Upon succeeding his grandfather, George III became the third Hanoverian monarch and the first to be born in England and use English as a first language. He ruled for nearly 60 years, during which time the American colonies declared independence. Once George III became mentally unfit to rule, his eldest son acted as Prince Regent from 1811. The monarch died in 1820.
GEORGE IV: Prior to assuming the throne, George IV secretly and illegally married a Roman Catholic. He later married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, who he tried unsuccessfully to divorce after assuming the throne in 1820. He was known as much for his marriage difficulties as for his interest in art. His only legitimate child died in childbirth, so the crown went to his brother upon his death in 1830.
GEORGE V: He assumed the throne in 1910, and made hundreds of visits to troops and wounded servicemen during World War I. His legacy also includes starting the sovereign's annual Christmas Broadcast ? a tradition that began in 1932. He died one year after celebrating his silver jubilee, leaving his son Edward to take the throne.
GEORGE VI: The father of Queen Elizabeth II was the most recent King George, memorably portrayed in the Oscar-winning film "The King's Speech." His first name was actually Albert, but he selected George ? his fourth name ? to use as sovereign in honor of his father, George V, and to create stability and continuity in the monarchy following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.
Over the last several years, partisan bickering has hamstrung Washington. The extremes of both parties have turned ?compromise? into a bad word, attacking any and all members who dare reach across party lines to engage in honest and thoughtful debate on the issues facing Americans today. Unfortunately we have a political system that reinforces this type of hyper-partisan rhetoric, rewarding members who do nothing but move to their respective ideological corners and throw bombs at the opposing party.
Our country faces great challenges in the years ahead. The debt. Rising health care costs and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. High unemployment. Energy independence. Tax and entitlement reform. These are neither Republican nor Democratic issues, and finding long-term solutions will require the type of meaningful reform that is only possible when Republicans and Democrats have the courage to come together in an honest debate of the issues.
In my experience, neither party has a monopoly on good ideas, and compromise does not even have to be exclusive to those who identify as moderates. There are plenty of members in Congress on both sides of the aisle who are committed to working across party lines to come to principled compromises on the important issues facing the country. The problem is that there are those in Washington and across the country who still consider compromise a bad word and who continue to promote the partisan status quo that has brought Washington to a stalemate.
This is why at Center Forward, we are an organization dedicated to taking a practical approach to addressing the partisan gridlock in Congress. We have a responsibility not only to hold our members of Congress accountable, but also to promote open and honest dialogue where it exists. Without public support for this type of levelheaded, sensible debate, we end up making no progress on issues that are important to Americans like you and me.
Center Forward is working to provide a forum for reasonable cross-party dialogue in Washington, and we are committed to putting considerable resources behind candidates who are willing to reach across the aisle in the best interest of the country. We invite you to join us by visiting our website at www.center-forward.org or following us on Facebook and Twitter. But most importantly, GET INVOLVED. There are simply not enough Americans out there who are willing to speak up and tell Congress to stop the fighting, set aside the partisan rhetoric, and get to work solving our problems in a real and meaningful way.
To be sure, this is no easy task. But we have always been and always will be a nation of problem solvers. Americans work together everyday to make difficult decisions. Our elected officials should be held to the same standard. Join us at Center Forward and together we will be sure to hold them to task.
Robert ?Bud? Cramer Former Member of Congress from Alabama and Chairman of Center Forward
An image of Trayvon Martin and a bullet shell keychain hanging from a protester's lanyard are seen during a demonstration in reaction to the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Monday, July 15, 2013, in Los Angeles. Anger over the acquittal of the U.S. neighborhood watch volunteer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager continued Monday, with civil rights leaders saying mostly peaceful protests will continue this weekend with vigils in dozens of cities. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
An image of Trayvon Martin and a bullet shell keychain hanging from a protester's lanyard are seen during a demonstration in reaction to the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Monday, July 15, 2013, in Los Angeles. Anger over the acquittal of the U.S. neighborhood watch volunteer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager continued Monday, with civil rights leaders saying mostly peaceful protests will continue this weekend with vigils in dozens of cities. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Defense attorney Mark O'Mara, right, questions Sanford, Fla., police officer Chris Serino during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court, Tuesday, July 2, 2013 in Sanford. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)
MIAMI (AP) ? As they began deliberating in George Zimmerman's murder trial, three of the six jurors wanted to acquit him while the other three wanted to convict him of either murder or manslaughter, one of the jurors said.
The six-woman jury ultimately voted to acquit Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in last year's shooting but the jury also was allowed to consider manslaughter.
The woman, known as Juror B37, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday that when the jury began deliberations Friday, they took an initial vote. Three jurors? including B37 ? were in favor of acquittal, two supported manslaughter and one backed second-degree murder. She said the jury started going through all the evidence, listening to tapes multiple times.
"That's why it took us so long," said B37, who said she planned to write a book about the trial but later had a change of heart.
When they started looking at the law, the person who initially wanted second-degree murder changed her vote to manslaughter, the juror said. Then they asked for clarification from the judge and went over it again and again. B37 said some jurors wanted to find Zimmerman guilty of something, but there was just no place to go based on the law.
B37 said jurors cried when they gave their final vote to the bailiff.
"I want people to know that we put everything into everything to get this verdict," said the juror, whose face was blacked out during the televised interview but who appeared to become choked up.
The interview came two days after the jury acquitted Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. Martin was black, and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. Zimmerman was not arrested for 44 days, and the delay in charging him led to protests from those who believed race was a factor in the handling of the case.
While prosecutors accused Zimmerman of profiling Martin, Zimmerman maintained he acted in self-defense.
Juror B37, the only juror to speak publicly about the case so far, said Monday that the actions of Zimmerman and Martin both led to the teenager's fatal shooting, but that Zimmerman didn't actually break the law.
While Zimmerman made some poor decisions leading up to the shooting, including leaving his car when police told him not to, Martin wasn't innocent either, the juror said.
"I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into," said the juror. "I think they both could have walked away."
The juror said Sanford Police Detective Chris Serino made a big impression on her, because he would have been accustomed to dealing with murders and similar cases. He would have known how to spot a liar, and yet he testified that he believed Zimmerman, the juror said.
Legal analysts agreed that Serino's testimony was a blow to the state's case. The Sanford police were criticized last year for not arresting Zimmerman, and Gov. Rick Scott later appointed a special prosecutor, who brought charges against the neighborhood watch volunteer.
The juror said she didn't think Martin's race was the reason Zimmerman followed him on a dark, rainy night. She said she also believed Martin threw the first punch and that Zimmerman, whom she referred to as "George," had a right to defend himself.
"I have no doubt George feared for his life in the situation he was in at the time," the juror said.
The juror said she was not impressed by the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, who was talking with Martin by cellphone moments before he was fatally shot by Zimmerman.
"I didn't think it was very credible, but I felt very sorry for her," the juror said. "She didn't want to be there."
The juror also commented on defense attorney Don West's knock-knock joke about knowing who Zimmerman was during opening statements.
"The joke was horrible. Nobody got it," she said.
Juror B37 outlined to CNN the process she and the other five jurors went through in their deliberations. She said they spent the first day electing a foreman and getting organized. She said the jury instructions weren't immediately clear and the evidence was in no order whatsoever.
She said it was a difficult process.
"We thought about it for hours and cried over it afterwards," she said. "I don't think any of us could ever do anything like that ever again."
Martin Literary Management announced Monday that it was representing B37 and her husband, who is an attorney. The names of the jurors have not been released, but during jury selection it was disclosed that B37 works in an unspecified management position and has two adult children.
But agency head Sharlene Martin released a statement late Monday saying she was no longer representing the juror and that the juror had dropped the book idea. It included a statement that she said was crafted in conjunction with agency in which the juror explained that being sequestered had kept her shielded "from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of the case." The juror said that the book was meant to show that our justice system "can get so complicated that it creates a conflict with our 'spirit' of justice."
The Associated Press was unable to reach the juror.
In a separate interview, Jeantel was asked by CNN's Piers Morgan whether she thought race was a factor in Zimmerman's decision to follow Martin prior to their fight.
"It was racial," she said. "Let's be honest. Racial. If he were white, if Trayvon was white and he had a hoodie on, what would happen?"
She noted that the altercation happened in the early evening, when many people are out walking their dogs or doing other things.
Morgan played back a recording of the juror's comments to CNN about Jeantel's education level and speech, and the witness said it made her sad and angry. Jeantel, who is black, said she also had a feeling that the jury would return a not-guilty verdict.
"They're white," she said of the jury at one point. "Well, one Hispanic. But she's stuck in the middle. I had a feeling it was going to be a 'not guilty.'"
While the court did not release the racial makeup of the jury, the panel appeared to reporters covering jury selection to be made up of five white women and a sixth who may be Hispanic.
This has been a good week for the app prospects of Windows Phone. A few days back it was announced the Path and Flipboard are going to be released soon for Microsoft?s mobile platform. Twitter has confirmed that Vine too will be released for WP8 in the near future. WhatsApp has been available for Windows Phone for quite some time, it has now been updated with a number of improvements as well as new features.
The background API now lets users play music, they also have the ability to initiate voice calls from inside the app itself. There are new smileys and support for fixed notifications. Smileys are now also shown on the double wide tile. On start-up the app now asks users if they want to back up their chat history, this can also be done through settings. There?s support for Emoji as well, yet another feature that brings this app at par with its counterparts on iOS and Android.?The updated app bumps version number up to 2.10.431.0. Weighing in at just 6MB, this update is now live and available for download via Windows Phone Store.
Prior flu exposure dictates your future immunity, allowing for new, rationally developed regimentsPublic release date: 15-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Greg Lester glester@wistar.org 215-898-3934 The Wistar Institute
Findings offer alternative approach to creating a universal influenza vaccine
A team of scientists, led by researchers at The Wistar Institute, has determined that it might be possible to stimulate the immune system against multiple strains of influenza virus by sequentially vaccinating individuals with distinct influenza strains isolated over the last century.
Their results also suggest that world health experts might need to re-evaluate standard tests used for surveillance of novel influenza strains. Their findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, available online now.
According to the Wistar researchers, their analysis could lead to an alternative approach to creating a "universal" flu vaccinea vaccine that would provide resistance to seasonal and pandemic influenza strains over many years, negating the need for an annual flu shot.
"Influenza vaccines are very safe and provide good protection. However, we need to continuously update seasonal flu vaccines because influenza viral proteins change over time," said Scott Hensley, Ph.D., an assistant professor at The Wistar Institute and corresponding author on the study. "Since influenza viruses are constantly changing, we all have unique pre-exposure histories that depend on when we were born and the specific types of viruses that circulated during our childhood."
Vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to produce antibody proteins against particles (called antigens) from an infectious agent, such as bacteria or a virus. The immune system saves the cells that produce effective antibodies, which then provide immunity against future attacks by the same or similar infectious agents. Despite the availability of a vaccine, seasonal influenza typically kills 36,000 Americans, alone, and nearly a half million individuals around the world, in total.
Most current efforts to create universal vaccines hinge on the idea of generating antibodies against a portion of the virus that is relatively unchanged year-to-year.
"Our studies demonstrate that individuals that are infected sequentially with dramatically different influenza strains mount antibody responses against a conserved region of influenza virus," Hensley said. "Since we now know that pre-exposure events can influence vaccine responsiveness in a predictable way, we can begin to design vaccine regiments that preferentially elicit antibody responses against conserved regions of influenza virus."
The researchers began their current work by studying human antibody responses against the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus. The 2009 strain is antigenically distinct from recently circulating seasonal H1N1 strains, and a distant relative of the virus that caused the devastating "Spanish Flu" of the early 20th century. The most effective antibodies are those that bind to a particular portion (or "epitope") of hemagglutinin (HA), a protein produced by the influenza virus.
According to Hensley, however, their chief insight occurred when his team hit the "sort" button on a spreadsheet document, thereby arranging all samples by age of the donor. Different aged people, they found, mount vastly different antibody responses to pandemic H1N1, depending on whether or not they were exposed to a seasonal H1N1 years earlier. "We can now accurately predict how individuals will respond to the pandemic H1N1 strain based on the year that they were born," Hensley said.
Their investigation also suggests that ferrets with no prior influenza exposure might not be the most reliable predictor of human immune responses. Anti-seraor blood containing antibodies--created in these "nave" ferrets are commonly used for influenza surveillance. The researchers found that nave ferrets mount a response to an epitope in a decidedly different portion of HA than do most humans, but subsequently infecting these ferrets with other historical influenza strains can shift the antibody response toward the epitope that human antibodies recognize. This shift might also be replicable in humans through multiple infections or vaccinations, the researchers believe.
According to Hensley, one strategy would be to sequentially vaccinate children with antigenically distinct viral strains. "Babies are born with an immunological blank slate," Hensley said. "We may be able to strategically vaccinate our children with antigenically diverse influenza strains to elicit antibodies against conserved viral epitopes."
###
The portion of this research conducted at The Wistar Institute was funded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant K22AI091651, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania CURE Program, and a University of Pennsylvania Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics grant.
Members of the Hensley laboratory that co-authored this study include Yang Li, Jaclyn L. Myers, Ph.D., Colleen B. Sullivan, Jonathan Madara, and Susanne Linderman. Additional co-authors also include Qin Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of Wistar; Joshua B. Plotkin, Ph.D., and David L. Bostick, Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania; Susanna Esposito, M.D., and Nicola Principi, M.D. from the University of Milan, Donald M. Carter, Ph.D., and Ted M. Ross, Ph.D., formerly of the University of Pittsburgh; Jens Wrammert, Ph.D., and Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D., of Emory University, and Patrick Wilson, Ph.D. of University of Chicago.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Prior flu exposure dictates your future immunity, allowing for new, rationally developed regimentsPublic release date: 15-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Greg Lester glester@wistar.org 215-898-3934 The Wistar Institute
Findings offer alternative approach to creating a universal influenza vaccine
A team of scientists, led by researchers at The Wistar Institute, has determined that it might be possible to stimulate the immune system against multiple strains of influenza virus by sequentially vaccinating individuals with distinct influenza strains isolated over the last century.
Their results also suggest that world health experts might need to re-evaluate standard tests used for surveillance of novel influenza strains. Their findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, available online now.
According to the Wistar researchers, their analysis could lead to an alternative approach to creating a "universal" flu vaccinea vaccine that would provide resistance to seasonal and pandemic influenza strains over many years, negating the need for an annual flu shot.
"Influenza vaccines are very safe and provide good protection. However, we need to continuously update seasonal flu vaccines because influenza viral proteins change over time," said Scott Hensley, Ph.D., an assistant professor at The Wistar Institute and corresponding author on the study. "Since influenza viruses are constantly changing, we all have unique pre-exposure histories that depend on when we were born and the specific types of viruses that circulated during our childhood."
Vaccines work by stimulating the immune system to produce antibody proteins against particles (called antigens) from an infectious agent, such as bacteria or a virus. The immune system saves the cells that produce effective antibodies, which then provide immunity against future attacks by the same or similar infectious agents. Despite the availability of a vaccine, seasonal influenza typically kills 36,000 Americans, alone, and nearly a half million individuals around the world, in total.
Most current efforts to create universal vaccines hinge on the idea of generating antibodies against a portion of the virus that is relatively unchanged year-to-year.
"Our studies demonstrate that individuals that are infected sequentially with dramatically different influenza strains mount antibody responses against a conserved region of influenza virus," Hensley said. "Since we now know that pre-exposure events can influence vaccine responsiveness in a predictable way, we can begin to design vaccine regiments that preferentially elicit antibody responses against conserved regions of influenza virus."
The researchers began their current work by studying human antibody responses against the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus. The 2009 strain is antigenically distinct from recently circulating seasonal H1N1 strains, and a distant relative of the virus that caused the devastating "Spanish Flu" of the early 20th century. The most effective antibodies are those that bind to a particular portion (or "epitope") of hemagglutinin (HA), a protein produced by the influenza virus.
According to Hensley, however, their chief insight occurred when his team hit the "sort" button on a spreadsheet document, thereby arranging all samples by age of the donor. Different aged people, they found, mount vastly different antibody responses to pandemic H1N1, depending on whether or not they were exposed to a seasonal H1N1 years earlier. "We can now accurately predict how individuals will respond to the pandemic H1N1 strain based on the year that they were born," Hensley said.
Their investigation also suggests that ferrets with no prior influenza exposure might not be the most reliable predictor of human immune responses. Anti-seraor blood containing antibodies--created in these "nave" ferrets are commonly used for influenza surveillance. The researchers found that nave ferrets mount a response to an epitope in a decidedly different portion of HA than do most humans, but subsequently infecting these ferrets with other historical influenza strains can shift the antibody response toward the epitope that human antibodies recognize. This shift might also be replicable in humans through multiple infections or vaccinations, the researchers believe.
According to Hensley, one strategy would be to sequentially vaccinate children with antigenically distinct viral strains. "Babies are born with an immunological blank slate," Hensley said. "We may be able to strategically vaccinate our children with antigenically diverse influenza strains to elicit antibodies against conserved viral epitopes."
###
The portion of this research conducted at The Wistar Institute was funded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant K22AI091651, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania CURE Program, and a University of Pennsylvania Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics grant.
Members of the Hensley laboratory that co-authored this study include Yang Li, Jaclyn L. Myers, Ph.D., Colleen B. Sullivan, Jonathan Madara, and Susanne Linderman. Additional co-authors also include Qin Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of Wistar; Joshua B. Plotkin, Ph.D., and David L. Bostick, Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania; Susanna Esposito, M.D., and Nicola Principi, M.D. from the University of Milan, Donald M. Carter, Ph.D., and Ted M. Ross, Ph.D., formerly of the University of Pittsburgh; Jens Wrammert, Ph.D., and Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D., of Emory University, and Patrick Wilson, Ph.D. of University of Chicago.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 15-Jul-2013
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