Tip led to capture of man suspected in Northridge kidnapping

A phone tip, perhaps prompted by a $25,000 reward, led investigators to the man suspected in the kidnapping and assault of a 10-year-old Northridge girl, authorities said.Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said authorities received the information late Tuesday night about Tobias Dustin Summers, roughly three weeks after surveillance footage captured Summers crossing into Tecate, Mexico. Authorities then focused their search south of the border, he said, where the FBI offered a "highly publicized" $25,000 reward.Baja California state police arrested Summers, 32, Wednesday morning at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center at Las Misiones, a small community about 200 miles south of the border, according to Alfredo Arenas, commander of the Baja California state police fugitive squad.Arenas said Summers gave up without incident and police confirmed his identity through the Superman logo tattoo on his chest. Summers was surprised and frightened by the sight of the police officers, Arenas said. "I'm very happy that we caught this trash," Arenas said. "I always make a point to capture people that have sex with children. Because if given the opportunity, they will rape a Mexican child."At a noon press conference in Los Angeles, Tim Delaney, the special agent in charge of the FBI's L.A. field office, said FBI agents and LAPD officers had brought Summers back to the U.S. and he is en route to Los Angeles.The investigation was conducted by the L.A. fugitive task force, which includes the LAPD and FBI, with the help of Mexican authorities and the San Diego police department.Beck told The Times he was "extremely pleased" at the arrest, but cautioned "there's a long way left to go in this case.""We can never make whole the lives of that family and the young girl after this horrific event," Beck said later at the media conference. "But we can and we will and we do make plain to anybody in this city that thinks they can commit that kind of crime and remain free after doing so -- we can make sure that they know that is not true."

LED street light pilot

During an LFI press conference at LFI, GE Lighting made bold claims about it work with the City of Los Angeles and the GE LightGird technology that presumably will place network connectivity and a GPS receiver on every street light fixture. While energy efficiency is part of the story, GE insisted that automated maintenance that will eliminate outages is the key reason that Los Angeles may install the system on a broad basis.Full details of the system aren’t available and GE won’t formally announce it until later this year. But Los Angeles has already conducted a trial and is moving to implement and extended pilot program. The wireless nodes will be installed in the NEMA socket where photocells are typically installed. Networked lights will communicate to gateways that serve many lights. Previously Los Angeles had installed the Acuity Roam network system in at least pilot projects. GE Lighting executives wouldn't explicitly say whether their technology was displacing Roam. But Jaime Irick, GE general manager of North America professional solutions, said that commissioning lights on the GE system takes less than a minute whereas other technologies that Los Angeles had tested could take 45 minutes.A quote attributed to Ed Ebrahimian, director of the Bureau of Street Lighting for Los Angeles, seemingly confirmed the win for GE. "The City of Los Angeles has led the nation in the installation of energy-efficient LED light fixtures and remote monitoring units," said Ed Ebrahimian, director, Bureau of Street Lighting, City of Los Angeles. "Based on our latest evaluation of remote monitoring and control technologies, we are proceeding with a large scale pilot installation and evaluation of the GE system."

Artists transform houses facing wrecking ball

Spring is the season for young artists to turn our expectations about art on their heads, it seems.Tucked away in between the Safeway on 10th Street and the C Train tracks, the 809 Gallery was a garage art gallery that was a launching pad for a lot of the city's art school grads."It kind of revolutionized the way the art scene thought about showing art beyond school,"will now buy a car in Overland Park. says artist Caitlind r.c. Brown. "It was a really accessible space that just about anyone could show work in if they proposed a show and it was accepted."One day, artist Shawn Mandowske, one of the guys who ran the 809 Gallery he lived in the house in front of the garage which was always a temporary scenario to begin with, discovered that their entire block 11 houses was slated for demolition.That's when they gave Brown a call and suggested there might be a way to turn the destruction of 11 houses into an temporary art show."Initially" Brown says, "we thought it would be 11 (houses), because 11 are being demolished, but in the end, I think it's nine houses, three garages and a greenhouse." It's also over 100 artists who were recruited by curators who were put in charge of a house apiece, all of whom have transformed houses on the verge of a wrecker's ball into a place for the community to gather and pay their last respects to them."It's like a wake, only not a sad wake," says artist Camille Betts. "More like a Mardi Gras wake."The entire budget for a nine house, one greenhouse, three garage art extravaganza?"We've told the artists that we have no confirmed budget at all," says Brown, "besides the $1000 from the Awesome Foundation that we spent on insurance — so please work for free, because we probably can't pay you back."(As a result), a lot of the artists have just been taking materials from the buildings," adds Brown, (who is just back from Moscow, where she and co-creator Wayne Garrett built a light bulb sculpture called Cloud made out of 6,000 repurposed, burnt-out light bulbs), "reappropriating them elsewhere, cutting through the drywall and using the houses ... where you cut holes in things and expose its orifices, maybe dissect the buildings a little bit, which has been really fascinating."In one house, Matthew Mark Bourree is transforming a stairway into a hanging bridge of sorts that turns into a kind of pirate ship.

will now buy a car in Overland Park

"I think we're probably the first car dealer in the United States" to accept bitcoins, said Norman Vialle, president and owner of Overland Park Jeep Dodge Ram Chrysler.There are no buyers yet, Vialle said, though he has had some inquiries.The car dealer at 87th Street and Metcalf Avenue signed up earlier this month with BitPay Inc., a bitcoin version of the popular PayPal online payment service.It's another important step for bitcoins as they move out of the shadows of seedier transactions that skirt government oversight and sometimes the law.When they first pinged across the Internet, bitcoins could buy almost nothing.Now there's almost nothing the cybercurrency can't buy, from hard drugs to hard currency, songs to survival gear, cars to consumer goods. Retailers are welcoming the virtual currency, whose unofficial symbol looks like a dollar sign with B instead of an S. Advocates describe bitcoins as the foundation stone of a Utopian economy: no borders, no change fees, no closing hours and no one to tell you what you can and can't do with your money.At a Starbucks in Buenos Aires, Argentinean Patricio Fink recently converted $600 into bitcoins. The software developer delivered cash to a pair of Australian tourists who wanted to pick up some spending money at unofficial currency conversion rates without risking Argentina's black market exchanges.In the safety of the coffee shop, the tourists transferred their bitcoins to Fink by using an app on their smartphone."It's something that is new," said Fink, 24, who described the deal to The Associated Press over Skype. "And it's working."It's transactions like these — up to 70,000 of them each day over the past month — that have propelled bitcoins from Internet oddity to the cusp of mainstream use, a remarkable breakthrough for a currency that made its online debut only four years ago.

New Generation LED Lamp Line

Light-emitting diodes (LED) - known for lighting flat-screen televisions and tablet PCs - are increasingly replacing other lights in homes, stores and on streets because they use less energy and are more durable.But they cost much more than incandescent bulbs or compact fluorescent lights, putting off consumers from buying LED lighting for their homes.A spokesman for Osram, which is being spun off by engineering conglomerate Siemens, said on Monday the company's new LED replacement for 40 watt incandescent bulbs would retail at 9.95 euros in Germany from June. Most comparable LED bulbs in Europe currently cost more than 15 euros.Osram's announcement comes only six weeks after U.S.-based Cree raised its quarterly earnings forecast as it announced it would sell a new LED bulb replacing 40 watt bulbs for less than $10 in the United States.Consultancy McKinsey has estimated that the market for LEDs will grow more than sevenfold to almost 65 billion euros by 2020, Go Green LED Bulbs Encourages Customers .accounting for the bulk of global demand for lighting. It expects the market for replacement bulbs to reach its peak next year and then slow as LED bulbs last significantly longer than other types of lamps, meaning customers buy new bulbs less often.Osram said its new LED bulb lasts for 15 years. It will also offer LED replacements for 60 watt incandescent bulbs for less than 10 euros for a short time as a sales promotion. "In order to achieve this level of technical integrity, we use high quality components and superior engineering to deliver a premium product line that fulfills customer demands and performs consistently," added Interiano.

Go Green LED Bulbs Encourages Customers

Although other types of light bulbs may be energy efficient as well, most of them contain hazardous chemicals that are not only harmful to humans, but to the environment, as well. Because they contain these chemicals, they are difficult to dispose of. There are no harmful chemicals in LED light bulbs and is no threat if broken. LEDs can also be easily recycled.The first Earth Day was a success and partially helped create the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as pushed for the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Act. Finally, in 1990, Earth Day went global and was recognized by nearly 150 countries across the globe. This particular Earth Day encouraged the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Each year, thousands and thousands of environmental groups team up to work towards a more sustainable earth. Individuals can help by donating to these various groups, or can volunteer to help these groups. Go Green LED Bulbs encourages customers to vow to become more eco-friendly in their everyday lifestyles by carrying out simple tasks. One of those tasks can be using energy efficient lighting. LED light bulbs are the most energy-efficient light bulbs available today, and significantly reduce the energy consumption for lighting in homes. Consequently, since they save energy, they also save homeowners money on electricity costs. LED light bulbs may cost more when purchasing than other types of light bulbs, but they offer a great return on investment when it comes to energy costs. LED light bulbs are also more durable than other types of light bulbs, and will last for decades, rather than years. This saves individuals the time and money on replacing burnt out bulbs around the home. LED bulbs are also versatile in that they can be used in many other applications beyond the home. Some include office buildings, marquee lighting, parking lot lighting, roadway lights and many more.

Simple ways to save energy

The average consumer household has about 24 electronic products, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, and old or outdated electronics represent one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. Recycling electronic waste, or e-waste, such as cell phones, televisions and computers can save energy and scarce resources by reducing the amount of raw materials extracted from the earth, as well as preventing harmful materials from ending up in the environment. For example, recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent of the electricity used by 3,657 homes each year in the U.S., according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.The U.S. Campaigning for science.Environmental Protection Agency also offers online resources for safe e-waste disposal, or you can ask your local municipality if they offer e-waste collection programs.The waste, the washer and the wardrobeDoing laundry is a household necessity. Energy Star-qualified washers use about 20 percent less energy and 35 percent less water than standard washers. Larger-capacity machines save energy because you can wash more clothes in fewer loads.When available, use natural lighting to light your home. On dark days and after sunset, light your home only in the areas you are using. When it comes to lights, one of the simplest yet most impactful ways to go green is to switch to LED light bulbs. They're the most energy efficient option and last 10 times longer than compact fluorescent bulbs. A cool lighting option, LED bulbs do not use mercury, so you're not putting extra toxins into landfills when the bulb does expire.When shopping for new bulbs, look for the Energy Star label. If just one light bulb in every American home was replaced with an Energy Star bulb, we would save about $600 million in annual energy costs, plus save enough energy to light 3 million homes for an entire year.

Campaigning for science

Ryan Hamilton, an astronomy graduate student at New Mexico State University, says he turned to crowdfunding because "my adviser and I had been perpetually starved for funding." Hoping to raise money to attend a conference in Barcelona, Spain, Hamilton applied to SciFund Challenge. The nonprofit coordinates Web-based tutorials to help scientists create the best possible appeals, and then groups of participants run their campaigns in concert on RocketHub. Among other things, the participants critique each other's campaigns. "It was a good experience," says Hamilton, whose campaign ended up covering three-quarters of his airfare, "but it was a heck of a lot of work. Cataclysmic variables are hard to pitch."Another crowdfunding example is the Intergalactic Travel Bureau, an outreach project that mixes astronomy and theater. Visitors are asked what kind of vacation they would like to take, and a "travel agent" then recommends an extraterrestrial trip. For a sporty vacation, the agent might recommend Mars. "It has the highest mountains in the solar system," says Mark Rosin, a UCLA postdoc in mathematical physics and one of the project's creators. "And the 1- to 3-inch layer of dust is great for sand boarding." Trips are planned around scientific content, he says. The money goes toward props and the actors who play the travel agent, Rosin says.Projects that involve a product often do well with crowdfunding. An example is an energy-efficient light bulb designed by three engineers who met as students a few years ago while working on a solar car Their Kickstarter campaign ended up attracting 5746 donors to pledge 273 278, exceeding their goal by more than a factor of 10; they plan to start delivering the NanoLight next month. "We had no other medium to promote our product on," says partner Gimmy Chu. "If we tried to approach distributors, they would want us to produce something before giving us funding. That could be a catch-22. We needed a way to prove we have a good product."A crowdfunding campaign starts with packaging. In most cases, the fundraisers create a brief video that explains their goals and how they will use the money they raise. Many platforms vet projects.