George Zimmerman Charged With 2nd Degree Murder in Trayvon Martin's Death

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who admits he shot unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, was charged with murder today and has been taken into custody.

The charge of second degree murder was announced by Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey at a news conference this evening.

If convicted of the charges Zimmerman could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"We have to have a reasonable certainty of conviction before filing charges," the prosecutor said. A bond hearing will be held Thursday when Zimmerman can apply for bail, she said.

Zimmerman arrived at the Seminole County Jail in a motorcade of black SUVs, armed agents with automatic weapons guarding him at about 8:24 p.m.

Zimmerman went into the jail wearing what appeared to be a windbreaker or jacket over his head.

He will undergo a medical screening process and then county officials will evaluate whether or not he will go into general population.

Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's new lawyer, said this evening that he intended to seek his release at Thursday's hearing and said that he spoke briefly with Zimmerman.

"He's troubled by the fact that the state decided to charge him," O'Mara said.

The lawyer also said Zimmerman is scared.

"I think anyone who is charged with second degree murder would be scared. Yes, he's frightened," O'Mara said.

Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic neighborhood watch captain, shot and killed Martin, who was 17 and black, on Feb. 26 after following the teenager for several minutes.

Corey opened her news conference by saying that she had spoken with Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, when she took over the case last month and "we told those sweet parents" that they would get answers.

She also worried that the "overwhelming amount of publicity in this case" could complicate efforts to get an impartial jury, adding that there was "so much information on this case that was released that shouldn't have been released."

Martin's parents said at a news conference this evening that were grateful that Zimmerman has been arrested.

"We simply wanted an arrest," Sybrina Fulton said. "We got it and we say thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus."

Tracy Martin said, however, "This is just the beginning. We have a long way to go.. and we will march and march and march until the right thing is done."

O'Mara said that the case has become emotionally charged and that his client "is concerned about getting a fair trial. We need to calm this down and it needs to be tried in a courtroom."

He also said he is worried about Zimmerman's safety.

"If he was walking down the street right now he would be at risk," O'Mara said. "I'm hoping we can keep him safe."

He added, "He is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him."

The charges are certain to provoke controversy in Sanford, Fla., where the shooting took place, and across the country.

Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett held a news conference this evening to ask for "continued calm in the city of Sanford, surrounding areas and across the nation."

Earlier this week, Tripllett said his city has become a "kindling box" due to the high emotions surrounding the case, and that he would "plan for the worst and hope for the best."

He also said that he had faith in the Sanford police department although it had declined to arrest Zimmerman after the shooting.

The case gained national prominence with rallies across the country demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and charged with murder. Zimmerman and his supporters say that the shooting had nothing to do with race and that he shot Martin in self-defense.

The U.S. Justice Department is also carrying out an investigation into the shooting.

Attorney General Eric Holder indicate today that the feds will have a higher bar to establish that the shooting was a hate crime.

"For a federal hate crime we have to prove the highest standard in the law it is something that was reckless, that was negligent... We have to show that there was a specific intent to do the crime with the requisite state of mind," Holder said.

The city of Sanford has been getting increasingly tense as the decision neared. Six shots were fired into an empty police cruiser earlier this week in the neighborhood where Martin was killed.

The New Black Panther Party offered a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman and his lawyers said Zimmerman had received death threats.

The New Socialist Movement, a white supremacy group, said they were patrol Sanford to protect whites and racists comments about the shooting have sprung up on social media sites.

Debate over the shooting became so widespread that even President Obama commented, saying if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.

On his website, Zimmerman released a statement about the shooting this week, calling the incident a "life-altering event."

"As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately my entire life," he wrote.

In a written statement to police on the night of the shooting, Zimmerman said that he'd called 911 to report a suspicious man and that as he returned to his car, Martin attacked him. Zimmerman said that Martin punched him in the nose and knocked him down, slammed his head on the ground and tried to take his gun.

The police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose. His lawyer said later that Zimmerman suffered a broken nose.

After Zimmerman received medical attention, it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford police station for questioning. He was not arrested.

News by ABC

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Gingrich victory in South Carolina jolts Republican race

Newt Gingrich

(Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich trounced frontrunner Mitt Romney in South Carolina on Saturday in a jarring victory that indicates the party's battle to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama may last months, not weeks.

Gingrich's come-from-behind triumph in the primary in the conservative southern state injects unexpected volatility into a Republican nominating race that until this week appeared to be a coronation for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and private-equity chief.

Instead, voters in South Carolina rejected Romney's pitch that he is the best bet to fix a broken U.S. economy and defeat Obama, a Democrat, in the November 6 election.

Three different candidates - Gingrich, Romney and former U.S. senator Rick Santorum - now have won the first three contests in the state-by-state battle for the Republican presidential nomination to face Obama.

Gingrich's triumph may lead to a protracted battle of attrition as Republican candidates spend millions of dollars to tear each other down rather than uniting behind a standard-bearer to take back the White House.

With nearly all the votes counted, Gingrich had pulled in 40 percent of the vote, followed by Romney with 28 percent, networks reported. Santorum was in third with 17 percent and U.S. congressman Ron Paul in fourth with 13 percent.

The next contest is the Florida primary on January 31.

Riding a series of feisty debate performances, the former speaker of the House of Representatives captured the lingering unease of conservative voters in South Carolina who view Romney's moderate past and shifting policy stances with suspicion. Gingrich argued that he would be able to better articulate the party's conservative ideals.

South Carolina was a stunning turnaround for Gingrich, whose campaign barely survived after top staff quit last June and stumbled to a disappointing finish just three weeks ago in Iowa, the first Republican nominating contest. He finished fourth in both Iowa and New Hampshire a week later as conservatives split their votes among several candidates.

Gingrich contrasted his sometimes-chaotic management style with Romney's buttoned-down approach, arguing that his campaign was powered by ideas rather than logistics. Romney is one of the wealthiest candidates ever to run for president and his campaign is well financed.

"We don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates have. But we do have ideas and we do have people," Gingrich told supporters in a 22-minute tirade against Obama, the news media, judges and other "elites."

Romney acknowledged that there will be a long primary season. He said he would continue to run on his business record and paint Gingrich as a creature of Washington in the weeks ahead.

"I don't shrink from competition, I embrace it," Romney told supporters. "I believe competition makes us all better. I know it's making our campaign stronger."

Obama, who does not face a primary challenger, will have his turn in the spotlight on Tuesday with his State of the Union address. In a message to supporters on Saturday, he said the speech would focus on "building an economy that works for everybody, not just a wealthy few."

ON TO FLORIDA

Heading into Florida, Romney starts off with a wide lead in the polls and a distinct edge in logistics and fund-raising, which will be crucial in a state with 10 separate media markets.

Campaigns must spend at least $1 million each week to reach voters in the sprawling southern state, according to local political officials. Romney's allies have already spent $5 million, mostly on ads attacking Gingrich. No other candidate has a significant presence in the state.

Animosity between Gingrich and Romney has been festering since December, when a group supporting Romney launched a blitz of negative TV ads in Iowa that ruined Gingrich's campaign there. In South Carolina, a state with a reputation for rough and tumble politics, the gloves came off.

Gingrich attacked Romney's business record at private equity firm Bain Capital and his reluctance to release personal tax information, while Romney pointed to Gingrich's past ethics lapses and alluded to his messy personal life.

South Carolina Republican voters said they were focused on fixing the sluggish economy and finding the strongest candidate to defeat Obama. Some 78 percent said they were "very worried" about the economy and 45 percent said that the most important trait in a candidate was the ability to beat Obama, according to exit polls released by CNN.

Those issues are the twin pillars of Romney's candidacy.

But Gingrich's wide-ranging stump speeches and red-meat attacks against Obama convinced many voters that he had the fire in the belly to take on the incumbent.

"A vote for Newt was a vote against Obama," said Charleston photographer Kim Woods, who voted for Gingrich.

Romney saw his aura of inevitability erode in South Carolina after leading opinion polls by 10 percentage points a week ago. He suffered a setback on Thursday when Iowa officials declared in a recount that he had actually come in second place in that state, instead of winning narrowly as initially announced.

Romney took a swipe at Gingrich for criticizing his conduct at Bain Capital, calling it an "assault on free enterprise."

"Those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow," Romney told supporters.

Voters said they viewed Romney's business background as an asset. But he waffled this week when asked whether he would release his tax records, and acknowledged that he pays a much lower tax rate than many Americans, around 15 percent.

In his speech, Gingrich took aim at Obama, painting him as a weak president, "truly a danger to the country" with his energy policies and "out of touch with reality." He also lashed the news media and condemned what he called "the growing anti-religious bigotry of the elites" in America.

'PUNCH IN THE MOUTH'

"This is the punch in the mouth/wake up call Romney needed if he wanted to be a strong general election candidate," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said in a Twitter message, referring to the South Carolina results.

Romney has attacked Gingrich's ties to mortgage giant Freddie Mac and criticized his time in the nation's capital. His campaign also highlighted Gingrich's $300,000 fine due to ethics lapses while serving as House speaker 15 years ago.

The thrice-married Gingrich has fended off publicity about his turbulent marital history. On Thursday, he rejected his second wife's accusation that he had asked her for an "open marriage" while he was having an affair with another woman in the 1990s.

South Carolina has been a tough state for Romney's presidential ambitions. In his previous run for the White House in 2008, Romney finished a poor fourth, with just 15 percent of the vote, behind winner and eventual Republican nominee John McCain. McCain endorsed Romney in the current campaign.

The winner of South Carolina's Republican presidential primary has gone on to win the party's nomination in every presidential election since 1980.

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Romney eyes New Hampshire win despite late attacks

Romney in talking

(Reuters) - Mitt Romney was poised to take a big step toward the Republican U.S. presidential nomination on Tuesday by capturing New Hampshire, hoping to ride out last-minute attacks labeling him a corporate raider who enjoyed firing workers.

The former governor of neighboring Massachusetts carried a sizeable lead in polls into voting day, a sufficient cushion that should force rivals Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum into a battle for second place.

Romney, 63, would be the first Republican who is not an incumbent president to win the first two early voting states, after his slim eight-vote victory over former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum a week ago in the Iowa caucuses.

A more resounding win would provide momentum going into South Carolina on January 21 and Florida on January 31. He leads in polls of both states and victories there could all but sew up his nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election.

A Suffolk University/7 News tracking poll on Tuesday showed Romney with 37 percent support among New Hampshire voters, versus 18 percent for Paul, 16 percent for Huntsman, 11 percent for Santorum, 9 percent for Gingrich and 1 percent for Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Seven percent of voters were undecided in the telephone survey on Sunday and Monday, which had an error margin of 4.4 percentage points.

The same poll on Monday had Romney at 33 percent, Paul at 20 percent, Huntsman with 13 percent, Gingrich at 11, Santorum 10 and undecided at 12 percent.

"You're going to make a big statement tomorrow, let's take it to the next step, give me the boost I need, I hope," said Romney in Bedford on Monday night at his final rally of the day.

It was unclear how much damage had been done by a mess of his own making in which Romney declared "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me," in discussing the need for greater competition between health insurance companies.

Romney's opponents seized on the comment as evidence that the former venture capitalist is an out-of-touch politician and coupled it with attacks over his record at Bain Capital, a firm that bought companies and restructured them.

"Governor Romney enjoys firing people. I enjoy creating jobs," Huntsman said.

In a sharp departure for a party known as friendly to business, Republicans seeking to slow Romney sounded more like populists as they bashed his work as a venture capitalist.

Former House Speaker Gingrich, brooding over negative attacks from Romney and his backers that knocked him out of the front-runner position, has launched the toughest onslaught.

"Mitt Romney was not a capitalist during his reign at Bain. He was a predatory corporate raider," a video produced by a pro-Gingrich group said.

New Hampshire voting stations close at 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT). About 250,000 people are expected to vote in the Republican primary while 75,000 are likely to vote to endorse Obama's re-election.

In Dixville Notch, the tiny village that traditionally votes at midnight to kick off New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary, the nine voters were split at two votes each for Romney and Huntsman.

WHO CAN DEFEAT OBAMA?

Some voters expressed strong support for Romney.

"I saw him work as a businessman, he sees what needs to be done and gets it done," said nurse Dennis Hamson, 58, who was voting in Londonderry early on Tuesday.

But not everyone was happy about voting for him.

Eli Haykinson of Bedford said he did not want to vote for Romney but might have to because he could have the best chance to defeat Obama. "I personally don't like his huge campaign style. You don't really get to feel him at all," Haykinson said.

Romney's rivals were mostly waging a fierce battle to sway undecided voters their way and win second place. "He's a homeboy. He's been here for a whole lot of years... you serve in the neighboring state as governor, you've got a lot of advantages in terms of name recognition," Huntsman said on MSNBC.

Both libertarian U.S. Representative Paul and Huntsman, a former Utah governor who was the U.S. ambassador to China, have been on the rise in recent days.

Santorum, who nearly won Iowa by appealing to social conservatives, has not seen that message resonate in New Hampshire.

Voter Luke Breen, 52, a financial analyst voting in Londonderry, where many residents commute to Boston, said he would not support a candidate who seemed intolerant and had backed Huntsman.

"He seemed to be more worldly," he said. "I know gay people and everyone has to have gay rights under our constitution."

Santorum and Perry, along with Gingrich, are looking ahead to South Carolina to challenge Romney.

Romney leads there for now but Gingrich backers have launched $3.4 million worth of ads in South Carolina to try to slow him down in the more conservative southern state.

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50 Secrets Your Nurse Won’t Tell You

Nurse giving advice to the patient

Dirty Little Secrets

1. "We're not going to tell you your doctor is incompetent, but if I say, 'You have the right to a second opinion,' that can be code for 'I don't like your doctor' or 'I don't trust your doctor.'" — Linda Bell, RN, clinical practice specialist at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in Aliso Viejo, California

2. "When a patient is terminally ill, sometimes the doctor won't order enough pain medication. If the patient is suffering, we'll sometimes give more than what the doctor said and ask him later to change the order. People will probably howl now that I've said it out loud, but you have to take care of your patient." — A longtime nurse in Texas

3. "Feel free to tell us about your personal life, but know that we're here for 12 hours with nothing to talk about. So the stuff you tell us will probably get repeated." — A nurse in St. Petersburg, Florida

4. "A lot of my patients are incontinent, and I'm supposed to just use a wet washcloth to clean them. But if it's a patient who's been really nice and appreciative, I'll go all the way to intensive care to get some of the heated wet wipes, which are a lot more gentle. Somebody who's constantly yelling at me? I just use the washcloth." — A nurse in St. Petersburg, Florida

5. "I've had people blow out arteries in front of me, where I know the patient could bleed to death within minutes. I've had people with brains literally coming out of their head. No matter how worried I am, I'll say calmly, 'Hmmm, let me give the doctor a call and have him come look at that.'" — A longtime nurse in Texas

6. "I'd never tell a patient that he's a moron for waiting a week for his stroke symptoms to improve before coming to the hospital. Although I'd like to. Especially if his wife then complains that we're not doing anything for the guy." — A longtime nurse who blogs at head-nurse.blogspot.com

7. "If you're happily texting and laughing with your friends until the second you spot me walking into your room, I'm not going to believe that your pain is a ten out of ten." — A nurse in New York City

8. "When you tell me how much you drink or smoke or how often you do drugs, I automatically double or triple it." — A longtime nurse in Texas

9. "Your life is in our hands — literally. We question physicians' orders more often than you might think. Some of the mistakes I've headed off: a physician who forgot to order a medication that the patient was taking at home, a doctor who ordered the incorrect diet for a diabetic, and one who tried to perform a treatment on the wrong patient." — A nurse from Pennsylvania

10. "These days, you can't get admitted unless you're really sick, and you'll probably get sent home before you're really ready. So we don't get any easy ones anymore." — Kathy Stephens Williams, RN, staff development educator for critical care at St. Anthony's Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri

11. "People have no idea of the amount of red tape and charting we have to deal with every day. We spend hours at the computer just clicking boxes. They tell us, 'If it wasn't charted, it didn't happen.' So I always chart with a jury in the back of my mind." — An intensive-care nurse in California

12. "Despite nurses' best efforts, hospitals are still filthy and full of drug-resistant germs. I don't even bring my shoes into the house when I get home." — Gina, a nurse who blogs at codeblog.com

13. "The No. 1 thing you should never say to me: 'You're too smart to be a nurse.' I went to nursing school because I wanted to be a nurse, not because I wanted to be a doctor and didn't make it." — A longtime nurse in Texas

14. "Grey's Anatomy? We watch it and laugh. Ninety percent of the things doctors do on the show are things that nurses do in real life. Plus, there's no time to sit in patients' rooms like that." — Kathy Stephens Williams, RN

15. "The sicker you are, the less you complain. I'll have a dying patient with horrible chest pain who says nothing, because he doesn't want to bother me. But the guy with the infected toe — he can't leave me alone." — An intensive-care nurse in California

16. "No matter how many times you use your call light, even if it's every ten minutes, I will come into your room with a smile. However, if you don't really need help, I will go back to the nurses' station and complain, and this may affect how the nurses on the next shift take care of you." — A cardiac nurse in San Jose, California

17. "When your provider asks for a list of the medications you're taking, make sure you include over-the-counter drugs and herbals. People think that if an herb is 'all natural' and 'organic,' it's not a medication. But that's not true. Herbals can interact with other medications and can cause serious complications." — Kristin Baird, RN, a health-care consultant in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin

18. "This is a hospital, not a hotel. I'm sorry the food isn't the best, and no, your boyfriend can't sleep in the bed with you." — A nurse in New York City

19. "I know you asked for mashed potatoes, but that sound you hear is my other patient’s ventilator going off." — A nurse in New York City

20. "If you ask me if your biopsy results have come back yet, I may say no even if they have, because the doctor is really the best person to tell you. He can answer all your questions." — Gina, a nurse who blogs at codeblog.com

21. "When you ask me, 'Have you ever done this before?' I'll always say yes. Even if I haven’t." — A nurse in New York City

22. "In my first nursing job, some of the more senior nurses on the floor refused to help me when I really needed it, and they corrected my inevitable mistakes loudly and in public. It's a very stressful job, so we take it out on each other." — Theresa Brown, RN, an oncology nurse and the author of Critical Care: A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between

23. "It can be intimidating when you see a physician who is known for being a real ogre make a mistake. Yes, you want to protect your patient, but there's always a worry: Am I asking for a verbal slap in the face?" — Linda Bell, RN

24. "Every nurse has had a doctor blame her in front of a patient for something that is not her fault. They're basically telling the patient, 'You can't trust your nurse.'" —Theresa Brown, RN

25. "If you have a really great nurse, a note to her nurse manager that says 'So-and-so was exceptional for this reason' will go a long way. Those things come out in her evaluation — it's huge." — Linda Bell, RN

26. "If you've been a patient in a unit for a long time, come back and visit. We'll remember you, and we'd love to see you healthy." — An intensive-care nurse in California

27. "I once took care of a child who had been in a coma for more than a week. The odds that he would wake up were declining, but I had read that the sense of smell was the last thing to go. So I told his mom, 'Put your perfume on a diaper and hold it up by his nose to see if it will trigger something.' The child woke up three hours later. It was probably a coincidence, but it was one of my best moments as a nurse." — Barbara Dehn, RN, a nurse-practitioner in Silicon Valley who blogs at nursebarb.com

28. "Now that medical records are computerized, a lot of nurses or doctors read the screen while you're trying to talk to them. If you feel like you're not being heard, say, 'I need your undivided attention for a moment.'" — Kristin Baird, RN

29. "Never talk to a nurse while she's getting your medications ready. The more conversation there is, the more potential there is for error." — Linda Bell, RN

30. "Some jobs are physically demanding. Some are mentally demanding. Some are emotionally demanding. Nursing is all three. If you have a problem with a nurse or with your care, ask to speak to the charge nurse (the one who oversees the shift). If it isn't resolved at that level, ask for the hospital supervisor." — Nancy Brown, RN, a longtime nurse in Seattle

31. "If the person drawing your blood misses your vein the first time, ask for someone else. I've seen one person stick someone three times. They need to practice, but it shouldn't be on you!" — Karon White Gibson, RN, producer-host of Outspoken with Karon, a Chicago cable TV show

32. "Never let your pain get out of control. Using a scale of zero to ten, with ten being the worst pain you can imagine, start asking for medication when your pain gets to a four. If you let it get really bad, it's more difficult to get it under control." — Nancy Beck, RN, a nurse at a Missouri hospital

33. "Ask the nurse to wet your bandage or dressing before removal — it won’t hurt as much." — Karon White Gibson, RN

34. "If you're going to get blood drawn, drink two or three glasses of water beforehand. If you're dehydrated, it's a lot harder for us to find a vein, which means more poking with the needle."

35. "Don't hold your breath when you know we're about to do something painful, like remove a tube or take the staples out of an incision. Doing that will just make it worse. Take a few deep breaths instead." — Mary Pat Aust, RN, clinical practice specialist at American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in Aliso Viejo, California

36. "If you have a choice, don't go into the hospital in July. That's when the new crop of residents starts, and they're pretty clueless." — A nurse supervisor at a New Jersey hospital

37. "Doctors don't always tell you everything. They'll be in the hallway saying, 'She has a very poor prognosis. There's nothing we can do.' Then they don't say that in the room. Sometimes I try to persuade them to be more up-front, but I don't always succeed." — Theresa Brown, RN

38. "There are a few doctors at every hospital who just don't think that they need to wash their hands between seeing patients. Others get distracted and forget. So always ask anyone who comes into your room, 'Have you washed your hands?'" — Kathy Stephens Williams, RN

39. "Many doctors seem to have a lack of concern about pain. I've seen physicians perform very painful treatments without giving sedatives or pain medicine in advance, so the patient wakes up in agony. When they do order pain medicine, they're so concerned about overdosing, they often end up underdosing." — A nurse supervisor at a New Jersey hospital

40. "When you're with someone who is dying, try to get in bed and snuggle with them. Often they feel very alone and just want to be touched. Many times my patients will tell me, 'I'm living with cancer but dying from lack of affection.'" — Barbara Dehn, RN, NP

41. "It's the little things that make a difference for people who are sick. One of the best things you can do is wrap them in a warm blanket or towel. Throw the towel in the dryer before they are bathed. If they're in a hospital, find out where the blanket warmer is." — Barbara Dehn, RN, NP

42. "I'll never tell you to change your code status to Do Not Resuscitate, even though I might cringe at the thought of having to break your ribs during CPR. With certain patients, however, I may talk to family members to clarify their goals for the patient's care. This sometimes leads to an elderly person being placed on comfort care rather than being continually tortured by us with procedures that aren't going to help." — A cardiac nurse in San Jose, California

43. "Husbands, listen to your wives if they tell you to go to the hospital. Today a man kept fainting but wouldn't go to the hospital until his wife forced him. He needed not one, not two, but three units of blood — he was bleeding internally. He could have had a cardiac arrest. Another man complained to his wife that he didn't feel 'right.' His wife finally called me to come over to their house. His pulse was 40. He got a pacemaker that evening." — Barbara Dehn, RN, NP

44. "The doctors don't save you; we do. We're the ones keeping an eye on your electrolytes, your fluids, whether you're running a fever. We're often the ones who decide whether you need a feeding tube or a central line for your IV. And we're the ones who yell and screech when something goes wrong." — A longtime nurse in Texas

45. "If you do not understand what the doctor is telling you, say so! I once heard a doctor telling his patient that the tumor was benign, and the patient thought that benign meant that he had cancer. That patient was my dad. It was one of the things that inspired me to become a nurse." — Theresa Tomeo, RN, a nurse at the Beth Abraham Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Queens, New York

46. "At the end of an appointment, ask yourself: Do I know what's happening next? If you had blood drawn, find out who's calling who with the results, and when. People assume that if they haven't heard from anyone, nothing is wrong. But I've heard horror stories. One positive biopsy sat under a pile of papers for three weeks." — Kristin Baird, RN

47. "As a nurse, sometimes you do nothing but run numbers and replenish fluids. Sometimes you're also the person who reassures the teenager that 'everybody' gets her period on the day of admission, the person who, though 30 years younger than the patient, tells that patient without blushing or stammering that yes, sex is possible even after neck surgery. You're the person who knows not only the various ways to save somebody else's life but also how to comfort those left behind." — A longtime nurse who blogs at head-nurse.blogspot.com

ask us on a date. We're busy. It's unethical. And, really, I already know you better than I want to." — A longtime nurse in Texas

49. "Positive attitude is everything. I have seen many people think themselves well." — Nancy Beck, RN

50. "A simple 'Thank you' can really make my day." — A nurse in New York City

News by RD


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Michelle Parker Missing: Ex-Fiance Dale Smith Not Involved In His Second Wife's Death

Michelle Parker

The case of missing Florida mom Michelle Parker is quickly becoming the focus of national headlines and talking head TV shows. As a result, growing attention has been focused on Parker's ex-fiance, Dale Smith.

While there is no mistaking the fact that Smith has a history of arrests and has been named a prime suspect in Parker's case, not all of the details of his past that have been made public by the media are particularly relevant to his former fiancee's disappearance. As a result, there is increasing suspicion that Smith may have been involved in the death of his second wife, Shannon Smith, but the suspicions surrounding his fiancee's death may be leading many to overlook the facts.

Smith married Shannon Kathleen Collins-Smith on Feb. 7, 2000, roughly one year after he divorced his first wife, Amanda Pernice, because their marriage, according to court documents obtained by HuffPost Crime, was "irretrievably broken."

At the time of his second marriage, Dale Smith was a U.S. Marine, stationed in Beaufort, S.C.

The marriage quickly soured, and on Sept. 15, 2000, Shannon Smith was treated for a head injury at Port Royal Naval Hospital in Beaufort. Dale Smith was arrested for criminal domestic battery.

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According to court documents, Dale Smith told police that he had been in a bar fight that night and that his wife became angry when he came home and told her about it.

"He stated that she got mad and started slapping him in the face and calling him a drunk. ... He said he then grabbed her by the leg and [dragged] her outside. Once he had her outside he said she hit her head on the railing to the apartment and started to bleed," the police report reads.

Smith said he took his wife to the hospital, after stopping along the way to pick up two friends.

Shannon Smith told police that her husband had initiated the altercation, and "threw her against the metal railing." The report further states that Dale Smith "made many comments about wanting to die for hurting his wife." He was determined to have been the primary aggressor, according to the report, because "no visible red or finger marks were noted on his face."

According to court records, Dale Smith was later convicted by a general court martial on domestic violence and drug-related charges. While in the stockade, Dale Smith was charged by military authorities with a drug violation "in reference to an on-going military investigation involving the illegal drug ecstasy and other controlled substances."

Dale and Shannon Smith separated, and she moved to Orlando, Fla., where she began working as a personal trainer.

In April 2001, Shannon Smith died during a party at a friend's house. Some reports have suggested that Smith's death was suspicious and point to blunt-force trauma that she suffered.

According to the medical examiner, Smith died from methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) intoxication, and her manner of death was "accidental."

A witness who was inside the home at the time of Shannon Smith's death indicated she may have been having sexual relations with another man inside the home.

"Leonard told Deputy [Richard] Hartsuff that when he woke he found Shannon Smith lying in bed with him unconscious with blood on her nose," the police report states.

Leonard told police that he tried to revive Shannon Smith and carried her into a shower, placing her on a ceramic tiled built-in-corner seat.

"Leonard stated that when he stepped away from Shannon Smith, she fell from the seat, striking her head on a tile floor," the report continues. "Leonard contacted emergency medical services ... when he was unable to wake Shannon Smith."

In October 2001, Detective Charles Deisler wrote a follow-up report to the case in which he noted, "Numerous in-person attempts have been made to question Leonard at his residence concerning the events leading to the death of Shannon Smith. ... He has refused to discuss the case beyond what he provided in his written statement and has repeatedly referred me to his attorney."

No one has reported yet, however, that Dale Smith, according to police documents, was not in the state of Florida at the time of his wife's death. Indeed, he was still in a South Carolina military stockade. Smith's attorney's office confirmed this information to The Huffington Post on Friday.

While Dale Smith has had other run-ins with the law, it is exceptionally improbable that he was involved in the death of his second wife.

Meanwhile, police are still trying to locate Smith's former fiance.

Parker, 33, vanished on Nov. 17, the same day that her appearance with Smith aired on "The People's Court." The couple was in dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring. After hearing both sides, Judge Marilyn Milian ordered Parker to pay Smith $2,500.

A few hours after the episode aired, Parker dropped her 3-year-old twins off at Smith's condo for scheduled visitation. Parker's 2008 black Hummer H3 was found the following day in a parking lot on the west side of Orlando. Decals for Parker's Glow mobile tanning business had been removed from the windows, police said.

Attorney Mark NeJame speaks during a news conference about his client Dale Smith in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011. Smith has been identified by the Orlando Police Department as the primary suspect in the disappearance of Michelle Parker.

Police initially said that Smith was cooperating and was not considered a suspect, but during a press conference on Monday Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney named Smith as the primary suspect in Parker's disappearance. Rooney did not elaborate on why Smith was considered a suspect, but detectives have said he has refused to take a polygraph test.

Smith's lawyer, Mark NeJame, has not responded to multiple requests for comment from The Huffington Post.

According to a former FBI agent who has worked on dozens of missing-person cases, significant others are often the first looked at as suspects or as persons of interest.

"People are generally not victims of random acts of violence when you are talking about a disappearance or something of this nature," said Harold Copus, now head of Copus Security Consultants in Atlanta. "When you are looking at this from the position of an investigator, you have to determine who had the most access to the person. It's usually a significant other or spouse, so naturally you focus on those people first."

Copus cautioned that, while the perpetrator is most often known to the victim, he or she may still have been a random target. "You can't ignore the possibility," he said.

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NASA rover launched to seek out life clues on Mars

Video, Reuters

(Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Saturday, launching a $2.5 billion nuclear-powered NASA rover toward Mars to look for clues on what could sustain life on the Red Planet.

The 20-story-tall booster built by United Launch Alliance lifted off from its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:02 a.m. EST (3:02 p.m. GMT).

It soared through partly cloudy skies into space, carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory on a 354-million mile (556 million km), nearly nine-month journey to the planet.

"I think this mission is an important next step in NASA's overall goal to address the issue of life in the universe," lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, told reporters shortly after the launch.

The car-sized rover, nicknamed Curiosity, is expected to touch down on August 6, 2012, to begin two years of detailed analysis of a 96-mile (154-km) wide impact basin near the Martian equator called Gale Crater.

The goal is to determine if Mars has or ever had environments to support life. It is the first astrobiology mission to Mars since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

Scientists chose the landing site because it has a three-mile-high (4.8-km high) mountain of what appears from orbital imagery and mineral analysis to be layers of rock piled up like the Grand Canyon, each layer testifying to a different period in Mars' history.

The rover has 17 cameras and 10 science instruments, including chemistry labs, to identify elements in soil and rock samples to be dug up by the probe's drill-tipped robotic arm.

'LONG SHOT'

The base of the crater's mountain has clays, evidence of a prolonged wet environment, and what appears to be minerals such as sulfates that likely were deposited as water evaporated.

Water is considered to be a key element for life, but not the only one.

Previous Mars probes, including the rovers Spirit and Opportunity, searched for signs of past surface water.

"We are not a life-detection mission," Grotzinger said. "We have no ability to detect life present on the surface of Mars. It's an intermediate mission between the search for water and future missions, which may undertake life detection."

With Curiosity, which is twice as long and three times heavier than its predecessors, NASA shifts its focus to look for other ingredients for life, including possibly organic carbon, the building block for life on Earth.

"It's a long shot, but we're going to try," Grotzinger said.

Launch is generally considered the riskiest part of a mission, but Curiosity's landing on Mars will not be without drama.

The 1,980-pound (898 kg) rover is too big for the airbag or thruster-rocket landings used on previous Mars probes, so engineers designed a rocket-powered "sky-crane" to gently lower Curiosity to the crater floor via a 43-foot (13-meter) cable.

"We call it the 'six-minutes of terror,'" said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, referring to the landing. "It is pretty scary, but my confidence level is really high."

Curiosity is powered by heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium. It is designed to last one Martian year, or 687 Earth days.

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