Teen Death Enters National Debate

NPR/THE GRIO
Hadiya Pendleton's shooting death Tuesday in a park just a mile from President Obama's home in Chicago has generated outrage "from City Hall to the White House" and is now part of the "national debate over guns and crime," The Chicago Tribune writes.
     The Chicago Police Depart-ment on Friday announced an increase in the reward being offered for information leading to the killer of Hadiya Pendleton. Pendleton, 15, was shot to death January 29th as she stood at a bus stop with friends after final exams at her school. A boy was wounded in what police believe was a drive-by in which Pendleton was not a target. She was shot in the back and died at the hospital.
     The increase in the reward came via an additional $15,000 from St. Sabina, which describes itself as “an African-American Catholic community of faith” in Chicago. The organization had previously donated $10,000 to the reward fund.
     Police say tips are pouring in already in the case, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has called on citizens to ignore the “stop snitching” credo that often keeps people silent out of fear of retaliation if they talk to police about a crime.
     The teen was shot on the 4500 block of S. Oakenwald Street in Chicago, and anyone with information in the case was being asked to call 312-747-8380. READ FULL ARTICLE

Modest Job
Growth For January

MSNBC
The U.S. economy created a modest 157,000 jobs in January as the sluggish recovery from the recession of 2007 continued to leave millions of Americans job seekers sidelined and without a paycheck. Despite the net gain in jobs for the month, the unemployment rate edged higher to 7.9 percent, consistent with a recovery that is just ambling along, at best.
     The Labor Department's report Friday included a few positive signs, including a stronger pace of hiring at the end of 2012 than initially reported. That may dispel some worries that followed a separate report this week showing economic growth came to an abrupt halt as 2012 drew to a close.
     On Wednesday, the government reported that the gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced by the nation, came to a standstill. Deep cuts in government spending and a big drawdown in inventories offset underlying strength in business and consumer spending.
     “January's employment report should help to soothe any lingering concerns, after the negative GDP (data), that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist for Capital Economics.
     Fresh data from other sources seemed to confirm that any pause in growth late last year was only temporary. READ FULL ARTICLE