Chris Kelly of Kris Kross performs in February 2013.
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News
Kris Kross rapper Chris Kelly's death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose, Cpl. Kay Lester, a spokeswoman for Atlanta's Fulton County police, told NBCNews.com.
Information obtained from family members and others at the scene helped lead the investigation in that direction, but more information won't be known until toxicology results are back from Kelly's autopsy, Lester said.
That autopsy, completed Thursday morning in Atlanta, showed no signs of foul play or trauma, the Fulton County medical examiner's office told NBCNews.com. Toxicology results will be available in approximately three weeks, a spokeswoman said.
Kelly, 34, was discovered unresponsive in his Atlanta home Wednesday and pronounced dead early that evening. Kelly and childhood friend Chris Smith traveled the world as 1990s rap group Kris Kross when they were just 13, and their hit song "Jump" was certified double platinum.
On Thursday, both Chris Smith and Kelly's family issued statements mourning Kelly.
"His legacy will live on through his music, and we will forever love him," said the statement from Kelly's mother,?Donna Kelly Pratte, and his record label So So Def.
In his statement, Kelly's musical partner Smith said, "Our friendship began as little boys in first grade. We grew up together. It was a blessing to achieve the success, travel the world and entertain Kris Kross fans all around the world with my best friend."
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Jackson's mother sat in court Thursday as a police detective testified that she told him the family had tried drug interventions for the singer, believing he was addicted to painkillers.
But Detective Orlando Martinez said Katherine Jackson told him her son refused any help, saying he didn't have a drug problem.
The testimony came under questioning by lawyers for concert promoter AEG Live LLC, which is being sued by Katherine Jackson for negligence in the star's death.
Martinez, who took the lead investigating Michael Jackson's June 25, 2009, death, said he first interviewed his mother at the hospital. But six months later, he decided to go back to her and check out "some things regarding family meetings about addiction." He said it was then that she told him about several attempts by the family to hold interventions and get Jackson into rehab.
"Mrs. Jackson said the family tried to help him but he would have nothing to do with it," Martinez said. "She had asked Michael if he was taking any drugs, and he denied it."
Martinez said Katherine Jackson told him she believed her son was taking medicine for back pain and might have become addicted.
"What did Mrs. Jackson tell you?" asked AEG attorney Marvin Putnam.
"The family attempted several interventions," said the witness. "She had talked to her son about drugs herself."
She said the efforts produced no results, Martinez said, because "he denied having a problem."
Katherine Jackson also told the detective the first time she ever met Dr. Conrad Murray was at the hospital the day her son died. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after giving the anesthetic propofol to the pop star. Bottles containing pain killers also were found in the singer's bedroom.
Martinez said he also interviewed Jackson's son Prince at the hospital. But his handwritten notes of that interview were not allowed in evidence because the interview was not recorded.
Earlier, Martinez said that five days before Jackson died, his manager called the singer's doctor, told him Jackson was sick, and implored him to have blood tests done, according to a voicemail played in court.
The message left by Frank Dileo was retrieved by police from Murray's cellphone.
"I'm sure you're aware he had an episode last night," the message said. "He's sick. ... We gotta see what he's doing."
Plaintiff's lawyer Brian Panish acknowledged outside court that the episode occurred on the day Jackson was told by Kenny Ortega, the director of his "This is It" concert, to go home from a rehearsal because he was pale and shivering.
Panish suggested that if Dileo was aware of the incident, so were AEG executives. Jurors were not given any further details on the episode.
Katherine Jackson's lawsuit claims AEG didn't properly investigate Murray.
AEG denies it hired the doctor, and it is likely to blame Jackson for insisting on having Murray as his doctor because of his dependence on propofol, which Jackson used to sleep. The company alleges Jackson was addicted to numerous drugs.
Apr. 28, 2013 ? As temperatures warm, plants release gases that help form clouds and cool the atmosphere, according to research from IIASA and the University of Helsinki.
The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, identified a negative feedback loop in which higher temperatures lead to an increase in concentrations of natural aerosols that have a cooling effect on the atmosphere.
"Plants, by reacting to changes in temperature, also moderate these changes," says IIASA and University of Helsinki researcher Pauli Paasonen, who led the study.
Scientists had known that some aerosols -- particles that float in the atmosphere -- cool the climate as they reflect sunlight and form cloud droplets, which reflect sunlight efficiently. Aerosol particles come from many sources, including human emissions. But the effect of so-called biogenic aerosol -- particulate matter that originates from plants -- had been less well understood. Plants release gases that, after atmospheric oxidation, tend to stick to aerosol particles, growing them into the larger-sized particles that reflect sunlight and also serve as the basis for cloud droplets. The new study showed that as temperatures warm and plants consequently release more of these gases, the concentrations of particles active in cloud formation increase.
"Everyone knows the scent of the forest," says Ari Asmi, University of Helsinki researcher who also worked on the study. "That scent is made up of these gases." While previous research had predicted the feedback effect, until now nobody had been able to prove its existence except for case studies limited to single sites and short time periods. The new study showed that the effect occurs over the long-term in continental size scales.
The effect of enhanced plant gas emissions on climate is small on a global scale -- only countering approximately 1 percent of climate warming, the study suggested. "This does not save us from climate warming," says Paasonen. However, he says, "Aerosol effects on climate are one of the main uncertainties in climate models. Understanding this mechanism could help us reduce those uncertainties and make the models better."
The study also showed that the effect was much larger on a regional scale, counteracting possibly up to 30% of warming in more rural, forested areas where anthropogenic emissions of aerosols were much lower in comparison to the natural aerosols. That means that especially in places like Finland, Siberia, and Canada this feedback loop may reduce warming substantially.
The researchers collected data at 11 different sites around the world, measuring the concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, along with the concentrations of plant gases, the temperature, and reanalysis estimates for the height of the boundary layer, which turned out to be a key variable. The boundary layer refers to the layer of air closest to the Earth, in which gases and particles mix effectively. The height of that layer changes with weather. Paasonen says, "One of the reasons that this phenomenon was not discovered earlier was because these estimates for boundary layer height are very difficult to do. Only recently have the reanalysis estimates been improved to where they can be taken as representative of reality."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Pauli Paasonen, Ari Asmi, Tuukka Pet?j?, Maija K. Kajos, Mikko ?ij?l?, Heikki Junninen, Thomas Holst, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Almut Arneth, Wolfram Birmili, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Amar Hamed, Andr?s Hoffer, Lauri Laakso, Ari Laaksonen, W. Richard Leaitch, Christian Plass-D?lmer, Sara C. Pryor, Petri R?is?nen, Erik Swietlicki, Alfred Wiedensohler, Douglas R. Worsnop, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Markku Kulmala. Warming-induced increase in aerosol number concentration likely to moderate climate change. Nature Geoscience, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1800
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.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. said on Sunday Matt Zames will fully assume the role of chief operating officer as his former partner in the job leaves, which was part of the latest management shakeup at the U.S. biggest bank.
Zames, who has been seen as a strong candidate to succeed the bank's chief executive and chairman Jamie Dimon, had been co-chief operating officer with Frank Bisignano, the New York-based bank said in a statement.
As earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal, Bisignano will leave JPMorgan's senior ranks to head payroll processor First Data Corp. Bisignano played a major role in the bank's effort to get back on track after suffering a loss of more than $6 billion due to soured, risky bets.
First Data announced Bisignano's appointment as its chief executive officer effective Monday, after the Journal report.
Zames "is a proven business executive, who has performed exceptionally well since coming into his corporate role in May of last year. He'll continue to have an important impact on our company," Dimon said in a statement.
Of Bisignano, Dimon said, "I have worked with Frank for many years, and he has proven himself time and again as a highly talented executive willing to take on difficult challenges and get the job done."
Other changes in the bank's latest management shuffle involved the co-chief administrative officers of corporate and investment banking, which have been held by Paul Compton and Louis Rauchenberger.
Compton will become the chief administrative officer of JPMorgan Chase and report to Zames, while Rauchenberger will become the sole chief administrative officer of corporate and investment banking, the bank said.
PARIS (Reuters) - France's ruling Socialist party will remove strongly worded criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel from a draft text on Europe that revealed the level of hostility Berlin's focus on austerity, its coordinator for Europe said on Sunday.
Cooperation between France and Germany has long provided the main motor for decision-making in the European Union. But a debt crisis has strained those ties in the past year as ideologically opposed leaders have disagreed on points of economic policy.
A document to be presented at a June party brainstorming conference on Europe had described the German leader as "self-centered" and said her austerity policies were hurting Europe.
But this "stigmatizing language used towards Angela Merkel" would now be removed, Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, deputy-chairman of the Party of European Socialists (PES), said on his website.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also stepped in to stress the importance of the Franco-German dialogue and praised the friendship between Paris and Berlin which he said was indispensable to the European project and economic recovery.
"We will not solve Europe's problems without an intense and sincere dialogue between France and Germany," Ayrault, a former German teacher, said in tweets posted both in French and German.
The tone of the initial document added to growing criticism of Berlin from France after Socialist National Assembly speaker Claude Bartolone this week raised the prospect of a "confrontation" with Merkel.
A source in President Francois Hollande's office said on Friday that the document represented only the party, but did not dispute its central message.
In its first reaction to the comments on Merkel, Berlin played down any tension between the two countries.
"We work very well together. We don't have the feeling that there is a change in policy," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told Le Monde newspaper.
ISOLATED
Hollande was critical of Merkel's insistence on budget consolidation while he was running for president last year, but has adopted a more conciliatory tone since becoming president.
He often describes France's ties with EU paymaster Germany as defined by "friendly tension" between equal partners but some Socialists, including Bartolone, think this friendliness overstated.
Senior opposition politician and former Prime Minister Alain Juppe said told Le Monde he thought the trust between France and Germany had been broken and said that France had lost the credibility for a tough dialogue with Berlin.
"France is totally isolated," he said.
Hollande must rely on a solid Socialist majority in parliament to pass structural reforms this year, including overhauls of the jobless and pension systems. But a small camp of dissidents is growing, threatening his Senate majority.
The left-wing of the party accepted the idea of a single text to be presented at a meeting of the European Socialist in late June, but several disagreements remained, Cambadelis said, without detailing them.
"The battle for an alternative majority to the governing right-wing in Europe has begun," he said.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Kennecott ? S. L. County residents could face a property tax hike to make up for decline in company?s valuation.
The massive landslide at Kennecott?s Bingham Canyon mine could hit Salt Lake County taxpayers in the pocketbook next year.
With the slide expected to reduce the mine?s production by 50 percent this year, Kennecott?s assessed valuation as of Jan. 1, 2014, is likely to plummet as well, which means the company?s property tax bill will go down.
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A briefing
The Salt Lake County Council is scheduled to receive an update on the Bingham Canyon mine situation at its meeting Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. in Room 2003, North Building, County Government Center, 2001 S. State.
But since Truth in Taxation laws guarantee that taxing entities ? from Salt Lake County and Jordan School District to the Unified Fire Authority and mosquito abatement districts ? are entitled to receive as much property tax revenue in one year as the year before, the extra money would have to come from higher locally assessed taxes on residents and businesses.
"If the value of this [mine] goes down," Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said Thursday during a company-organized tour of the April 10 slide site, "the property tax [burden] is shifted to other taxpayers by formula."
Just how much is shifted depends on how quickly the company is able to bounce back.
Kennecott President and CEO Kelly Sanders said he hopes to have a plan in place by late August to restore the mine to full production. But accomplishing that goal will take time. The volume of the slide debris alone amounts to almost two-thirds of the ore-bearing rock moved by the company last year.
In 2011, Kennecott?s valuation was about $4.1 billion, according to the latest figures available from the State Tax Commission.
"We look at the company?s cash flows to determine its market value," said Denny Lytle, director of the State Tax Commission?s property tax division. Because of the landslide, "we know that as of Jan. 1, 2014, those will be reduced from the 2013 data. We don?t know how much at this point ? and I don?t think Kennecott knows at this point. ? It could be substantial. But if they get up and running more quickly than anticipated, it might not be as material as we?re thinking at this moment."
Exactly how much property tax Kennecott pays is hard to pin down. But it is significant enough that the Salt Lake County Council has given the District Attorney?s Office an extra $800,000 since August to cover costs of teaming with the Tax Commission to contest Kennecott?s appeal of its 2009 assessment and tax bill.
A slide-driven reduction in Kennecott?s 2014 assessment would impact the taxes by all Salt Lake County taxpayers for their countywide services, from flood control to human services. Last year that represented about 17 cents of every $1 in property taxes distributed by the county to taxing entities.
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School districts received the largest share, almost 45 cents of each $1, so Jordan and Granite districts could take big hits. Both districts are taking a wait-and-see approach at this point.
"We?re in a holding pattern like everyone else," said Jordan District spokeswoman Sandy Riesgraf. "It may have an impact on us. We just don?t know what that will be."
Added Granite District spokesman Ben Horsley: "If [Kennecott?s] overall valuation comes down, there would be negative connotations. But its greatest impact would be offsetting new growth in property tax revenue."
That new growth raises the county?s overall property tax value by about $750 million a year, said Darrin Casper, Salt Lake County?s financial director. So growth could offset some or all of Kennecott?s diminished value, but if the resumption of full-scale mining is slow, homeowners and businesses could be required to pick up the tab for what Kennecott no longer pays.
It?s definitely a concern for the Unified Police Department as well as the Unified Fire Authority, both of which depend on property tax to provide public-safety services for the unincorporated county and several cities.
"There?s going to be pain, no matter what. That?s not in doubt," said Richard Snelgrove, a county councilman who serves on the Unified Fire Authority board.
"If this drags on longer because of the magnitude of the slide, it could take a significant toll," he added. "Getting Kennecott back on its feet is in everybody?s best interest."
mikeg@sltrib.com
Twitter: @sltribmikeg
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