surveillance footage shows shot cop killing robber

The NYPD released dramatic surveillance footage Thursday showing a wounded, off-duty police officer clutching his bloody chest 27 year old transit cop Ivan Marcano a four year veteran was shot in the chest Wednesday evening as he left his car to help a man who was being pistol whipped by muggers on Harrison Avenue  in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx. When the officer flashed his shield and identified himself he was shot by one suspect in the chest. Marcano got back into his car which was being driven by his girlfriend and she started heading for a hospital. Thats when fate intervened. The surveillance footage shows the officers white car getting stuck behind a white Mustang at a traffic light  at the intersection of Harrision and West Burnside Avenues. The Mustang lurches forward hits a black livery cab and careens onto the sidewalk. Thats when Officer Marcano is seen leaving his own car realizing the suspects who shot him just fled the Mustang.
Holding his left hand over his wound with his gun in his right hand Officer Marcano moved to the middle of the street Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly explained took cover behind the livery cab yelled to passersby to get down and fired. He moved a second time still holding a hand over his wound to the west side of Harrison Avenue where he took cover behind a parked car and fired another round at the suspects. In a remarkable display of marksmanship and cool under fire Officer Marcano fired striking one of the suspects in the head.  That suspect died on the sidewalk next to the Mustang.The dead suspect was identified late Thursday afternoon as 18 year old Prince James of the Bronx. The NYPD also released a photo of 20 year old Jason Leiva identifying him as a person of interest in the case. Leiva was described as a male Hispanic 5’8 tall about 148 pounds.Officer Marcano underwent surgery Thursday to have the bullet removed from his chest and was expected to make a good recovery. Aldo Valencia a senior citizen who lives near the crime scene heard at least eight gunshots last evening. When he heard about Marcanos heroics he saidGod bless him! Hes still alive! Hes got guts this guy.PBA President Patrick Lynch visited the wounded officer at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Thursday afternoon and talked about the brazen new criminals not afraid to shoot a cop. A day before Officer Marcano was nearly killed an onduty Nassau County police officer Arthur Lopez was fatally shot point blank in the chest during a traffic stop on the Queens Nassau border.
Right now theyre not afraid and theyre trying to kill us Lynch said of armed thugs. The union president attributed the daring attitudes to a reduction in the number of police officers on the NYPD force.   Were down seven thousand police officers Lynch said. Officer Ivan Marcano works in Transit District 12 in the Bronx and has been on the job about four years.

Dolphin tries attacking people

Stinky the dolphin is lonely and hes getting way too frisky with humans.
The lone male bottlenose dolphin has been cavorting for months in waters off the Cayman Islands a rare case of a solo dolphin far from a pod of his fellows.The sight of the dolphin has delighted many boaters swimmers and divers but his antics confuse scientists who traveled to the archipelago to study him. They say Stinky is a danger to humans and they also worry the dolphin could hurt himself.He spent a fair amount of time engaging in very high risk behavior said Laura Engleby a marine mammal branch chief with the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There is concern for his safety.She noted the dolphin has a fondness for boat propellers in motion and that he also likes to rub against anchors channel markers and mooring buoys cutting himself in the process.Scientists estimate he is roughly 20 years old given his worn down teeth and aging scars.Hes certainly been around the block said Trevor Spradlin a marine mammal biologist with NOAA who also traveled to the Cayman Island.sIt is unusual for bottlenose dolphins to separate from their pods with only about 30 such cases reported worldwide scientists said. Also puzzling is how Stinky arrived in the Cayman Islands given that the nearest pods of bottlenose dolphins are in Cuba and the Bahamas said Dr. Chris Dold vice president of veterinary services for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment who also studied the dolphin.Dold said the absence of female dolphins might help explain Stinkys behavior.Whats unusual about this of course is not necessarily the behavior that this male dolphin is demonstrating, but that those behaviors appear to be directed toward people he said.Cayman Islands videographer Michael Maes can attest to that.He was scuba diving with his wife and a friend near Grand Cayman when he spotted Stinky. He tried to catch his wifes attention to no avail.I turned my head away from her and Stinky was there maybe 15 inches 38 centimeters away from me Maes said. His eyes went straight into my eyes so I went crazy like Hello Theres a dolphin.He began to film until his wife urged him to surface and leave Stinky alone.My wife he tried to eliminate her Maes said. He charged her like five times but forcefully.The dolphin then tried to mate with Maes who at one point put his back against a coral wall as he does when sharks approach.But a dolphin he just joins you Maes recalled with a laugh.The incident was caught on a sometimes frightening video that has been viewed nearly half a million times on YouTube.Maes said he posted the video to warn people to leave Stinky alone. This is not a swim with the dolphins sort of animal. He said a few days after his encounter a woman tried to ride Stinkys dorsal fin and bit.People just don't get the message he said. Leave those dolphins alone.The Cayman Islands Department of Environment has said it will launch an education campaign to highlight that message.The NOAA biologists urged people to get out of the water if they spot Stinky because they could get injured. The dolphin has demonstrated aggressive behavior such as opening his mouth wide which some people misinterpret as a welcoming smile that is quite the contrary Spradlin said.He has done jaw pops tail slapping chuffing pushing charging he said. People need to understand these warning signs.Spradlin said that integrating Stinky into a pod of dolphins elsewhere in the region is not realistic because scientists do not know enough about him. There are two types of bottlenose dolphins those who live near coastal areas and those who live in deep water.It is unclear to which group Stinky once belonged.Hes left by himself Spradlin said. Hes been socializing obviously with people and with vessels.Local government officials also considered placing Stinky in captivity especially since the island already has two dolphinariums.But Engleby rejected that idea saying its best to keep the dolphin in its natural environment.A public display would be an option of absolute last resort she said. This situation can be managed as long as people manage their behavior
.Stinky the angry dolphin

25 species on brink of extinction

Twenty five species of monkeys langurs lemurs and gorillas are on the brink of extinction and need global action to protect them from increasing deforestation and illegal trafficking researchers said Monday.Six of the severely threatened species live in the island nation of Madagascar off southeast Africa. Five more from mainland Africa five from South America and nine species in Asia are among those listed as most threatened.The report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature was released at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity being held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.Primates mankinds closest living relatives contribute to the ecosystem by dispersing seeds and maintaining forest diversity.Conservation efforts have helped several species of primates that are no longer listed as endangered said the report prepared every two years by some of the worlds leading primate experts.The report which counts species and subspecies of primates across the world, noted that Madagascars lemurs are severely threatened by habitat destruction and illegal hunting which has accelerated dramatically since the change of power in the country in 2009.Among the most severely hit was the northern sportive lemur with only 19 known individuals left in the wild in Madagascar.Lemurs are now one of the worlds most endangered groups of mammals after more than three years of political crisis and a lack of effective enforcement in their home country Madagascar said Christoph Schwitzer of the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation one of the groups involved in the study.A similar crisis is happening in Southeast Asia where trade in wildlife is bringing many primates very close to extinction Schwitzer said.More than half of the worlds 633 types of primates are in danger of becoming extinct because of human activity such as the burning and clearing of tropical forests the hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade.While the situation appears dire for some species wildlife researchers say conservation efforts are beginning to pay off with several primates being removed from the list now in its seventh edition.
Indias lion tailed macaque and Madagascars greater bamboo lemur have been taken off the endangered inventory for 2012 after the targeted species appeared to have recovered.
Also, conservation efforts have ensured that the world did not lose a single primate species to extinction in the 20th century and no primate has been declared extinct so far this century said Russell  Mittermeier president of Conservation International and the chairman of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's primate specialist group.Amazingly we continue to discover new species every year since 2000. What is more primates are increasingly becoming a major ecotourism attraction and primate watching is growing in interest Mittermeier said.In a separate report on global urbanization released Monday at the Hyderabad conference, the United Nations urged urban planners to incorporate green spaces in cities as more and more people move away from rural areas in search of work.Green areas in big cities perform important ecological functions like filtering dust absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and improving air quality the Convention on Biological Diversity said in its new assessment.The Cities and Biodiversity Outlook is the first global analysis of how urban land expansion will impact biodiversity in the coming decades.The worlds total urban area is expected to triple between 2000 and 2030 with urban populations set to double to around 4.9 billion in the same period.Data from the United Kingdom show that a 10 percent increase in tree canopy cover in cities may result in a 3 to4 degree Celsius decrease in ambient temperature thus reducing energy used for air conditioning the report said.Urban biodiversity also delivers important health benefits, with studies showing that proximity to trees can reduce the prevalence of childhood asthma and allergies.

Miami marlins Adam Greenberg gets second chance

The roaring crowd rose as one when Adam Greenberg walked to the plate for the first time in seven years and Marlins teammates leaning over the dugout railing joined the applause.
Three strikes later they were cheering still. Greenbergs second chance in the major leagues went a lot better than the first one even though he struck out.
It was magical he said. The energy in the stadium was something I never experienced and I dont know if I will ever experience it again. You could just feel the genuine support. It was awesome.
Beaned by the first pitch he saw in the majors in 2005 Greenberg made a comeback Tuesday Greenberg signed a oneday contract before the game and led off the sixth inning against New York Mets 20 game winner R.A. Dickey who threw him three consecutive knuckleballs. Greenberg took the first for a strike then swung at the next two and missed. He fanned on three pitches as a pinch hitter for Miami. The Marlins won 4-3 in 11 innings.The game was Greenbergs first since his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs in 2005 when he was hit in the back of the head by the first pitch he saw  a 92 mph fastball that derailed his career.Back in the big leagues at age 31 Greenberg took part in batting practice and then watched the early innings from the bench. After Rob Brantly homered he received a celebratory chest bump from a grinning Greenberg in the dugout.
By the fifth inning Greenberg had a bat in his hands as he paced in the dugout. In the sixth manager Ozzie Guillen sent him up to bat for outfielder Bryan Petersen.
Guillen a former player watched as Greenberg walked to the plate and the ballpark shook with a roar.
You know what went through my mind? Guillen said. I said how lucky I was to get 10,000 at bats in the big leagues.
Greenberg swung under an 80 mph knuckler for strike three and the crowd groaned then renewed its cheers as Greenberg returned to the bench. He smiled as he received a hug and back slaps from Jose Reyes high fives from other teammates and a whisper in the ear from Guillen.
A lot of mixed emotions there getting high fived after a strikeout by the entire team Greenberg said. It was different.
When Greenberg slipped his bat into the rack he was still grinning. The at bat had lasted 33 seconds.
Its going to last an eternity for me he said.
Guillen replaced him in the lineup before the next inning.