Gov.'s office asks that SF transit talks continue

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? California Gov. Jerry Brown's office has asked that two of San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's largest unions and management return to the bargaining table as a possible strike looms.

Marty Morgenstern, Brown's secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, requested that talks continue between Service Employees International Union Local 1021, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and BART representatives, Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said Sunday.

Westrup added that the governor will not call for a "cooling off period" and state mediators will continue assisting the negotiating parties as the unions' contracts are set to expire at midnight.

"BART and its labor unions owe the public a swift resolution of their differences," Westrup said. "All parties should be at the table doing their best to find common ground."

Both unions were scheduled to meet at noon Sunday to discuss their next steps, an SEIU spokeswoman said, one day after union negotiators said they would likely strike, which would cripple the region's Monday morning commute.

BART spokesman Rick Rice said the transit agency had scheduled a 1 p.m. Sunday meeting with the unions with hopes talks will continue.

"We're certainly expecting to have conversations today," Rice said. "We'll be there."

As the deadline nears, both sides said Sunday they were far apart on key sticking points including salary, pensions, health care and safety as anticipated around-the-clock negotiations fell apart as the unions packed up and left after talks stalled Saturday afternoon.

The unions want a 5 percent annual raise over the next three years. BART said Saturday that train operators and station agents in the unions average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually. The workers also pay a flat $92 monthly fee for health insurance.

Rice said BART's latest proposal offered an 8 percent salary raise over the next four years, instead of its original offer of 4 percent. The proposed salary increase is on top of a 1 percent raise employees were scheduled to receive Monday, Rice added.

The transit agency also said it offered to reduce the contribution employees would have to make to their pensions, and lower the costs of health care premiums they would have to pay.

But ATU Local President Antonette Bryant said Sunday that BART's latest proposal is not an actual pay increase, calling it "surface bargaining."

"They are not straight across-the-board raises. They haven't provided us with the information that we need, numbers on the budget are bouncing all over the place, they change almost daily," Bryant said. "We can't bargain with incorrect or misinformation."

Josie Mooney, an SEIU chief negotiator, said Saturday after talks stalled that there was "a 95 percent chance" that her union and the ATU would strike.

"I'm afraid I don't see a way we will avoid a strike," Mooney said, claiming that the unions have met with BART's management for only 10 minutes in the past 36 hours.

The two unions, which represent nearly 2,400 train operators, station agents, mechanics, maintenance workers and professional staff, had no plans to meet with BART on Sunday.

But, with a walkout that could derail the more than 400,000 riders who use the nation's fifth-largest rail system and affect every mode of transportation, clogging highways and bridges throughout the Bay Area, the governor's office request may salvage talks.

Rice said Sunday that BART's latest proposal may not be its best last offer.

"We need to have some substantial discussions," Rice said. "I hope we can make some progress."

BART's last strike lasted six days in 1997. On Friday, other area transit agencies urged commuters to consider carpooling, taking buses or ferries, working from home and, if they must drive to work, to leave earlier or even later than usual.

A strike would be "an absolute nightmare," said Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy organization.

"Our transportation system simply does not have the capacity to absorb the more than 400,000 BART riders who will be left at the station," Wunderman said Saturday. "There will be serious pain."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gov-office-asks-sf-transit-talks-continue-185720411.html

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Brooke Hogan: Engaged to Phil Costa!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/brooke-hogan-engaged-to-phil-costa/

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Supreme Court petitioned to reimpose California gay marriage ban (reuters)

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Culture wars: Why gay marriage and abortion have been ?decoupled?

Public opinion on abortion has held constant for 30 years. But on gay marriage, acceptance has grown dramatically in just 10 years ? most notably among young evangelical Protestants.

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / June 29, 2013

Governor Rick Perry addresses a large audience in attendance at the National Right To Life Convention, Thursday in Grapevine, Texas. The Republican has called a second special legislative session beginning July 1, allowing the GOP-controlled statehouse another crack at passing restrictions opponents say could shutter nearly all the abortion clinics across the state.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

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The contrasting images on the news this week could not have been more stark: On the steps of the Supreme Court, supporters of gay marriage celebrated two victories ? and a new sense of momentum.

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But in Texas, abortion rights were under siege in the state legislature, as Gov. Rick Perry (R) sought to join the wave of states imposing sweeping restrictions on the procedure. The effort failed, with a dramatic filibuster, but he?ll try again Monday.

What?s going on?

The ?values? issues that used to move in lock step in American opinion have been ?decoupled,? say experts on public attitudes. Public opinion on abortion has held remarkably constant in the last 30 years. But on gay marriage, acceptance has grown dramatically in just 10 years ? most notably among young evangelical Protestants.

?Gay rights and abortion were the heart of the culture war debate for years, and we talked about them synonymously,? says Daniel Cox, research director at the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in Washington. ?That?s changing.?

For now, there?s little overlap between states that have legalized gay marriage or may get there in the next few years (all of them Democratic or battleground states) and states that are cracking down on abortion (most of them solidly Republican). These divergent social trends are producing a nation that is, more than ever, a cultural patchwork.

But that could change, at least on gay marriage, given the generational differences in opinion. A March poll by PRRI shows nearly a 40-point generation gap between Millennials (age 18 to 29) and seniors (65 and older) on the issue of same-sex marriage. Seventy-two percent of Millennials favor it, compared with 36 percent of seniors.

Even among white Millennial evangelical Protestants, a majority ? 52 percent -- support gay marriage. Among all white evangelicals, 24 percent favor the right to same-sex marriage. So on this issue, Mr. Cox points out, young white evangelical Protestants more closely resemble those in their age cohort than their coreligionists.

?It often comes down to personal experience,? says Cox. ?Young people are more likely to have friends or family who are gay or lesbian, and that has a profound impact on attitudes about that issue ? it trumps ideology and theology.?

Of course, Americans of all ages have grown more comfortable with homosexuality, as gays and lesbians have become more open about their identity, and about pressing for the same rights as heterosexual couples and families.

It?s no accident that conservatives with gay family members have been among the first prominent Republicans to endorse the right to same-sex marriage, such as former Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio.

Societal experience with gay marriage in the 10 years since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize it has also helped build support.

?There was a traditional argument that the law had to defend marriage or terrible things would happen,? says John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. ?Apparently, really terrible things haven?t happened.?

Hollywood has also helped, with sympathetic depictions of gay relationships and families that are now commonplace.

Defenders of traditional marriage say that gay relationships are unnatural ? or sinful, in the eyes of some ? and should not be granted societal sanction. Children need a mother and father, they say.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington, suggests it?s too soon to conclude that same-sex marriage won?t be harmful to society.

?As the American people are given time to experience the actual consequences of redefining marriage, the public debate and opposition to the redefinition of natural marriage will undoubtedly intensify,? Mr. Perkins says.

Time will tell. But there?s no doubt that it?s easier to argue the downside to abortion, which sets up a ?clash of absolutes,? as legal scholar Laurence Tribe puts it ? the woman?s rights versus the rights of the fetus, which grow as a pregnancy progresses.

?With abortion, there seems to be evident harm,? says Mr. Green. ?Even people who are prochoice and don?t believe life begins at conception recognize there?s a consequence to abortion.?

And so while it?s possible to foresee a day when gay marriage is largely uncontroversial, the same can?t be said for abortion. That element of the culture war appears to be here to stay.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zm89ShIaWOc/Culture-wars-Why-gay-marriage-and-abortion-have-been-decoupled

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Video: End of the Year Dow Forecast

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52344855/

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Berlin police shoot naked man wielding knife

BERLIN (AP) ? Police have shot a naked man who brandished a knife at officers in a landmark Berlin fountain.

The man later died.

Police spokesman Stefan Redlich said passers-by reported early Friday that a man was behaving strangely and carrying a long knife in the Neptune fountain, near Berlin's city hall.

Officers tried to persuade the man to put the knife away, but instead he started cutting himself. A policeman climbed into the water to try to stop him, whereupon the man advanced on the officer with the knife.

Another officer shot the man after he ignored calls to back off. He died at the scene.

Police say an autopsy was being conducted to determine whether the man, apparently aged around 20, died from the shot or his self-inflicted injuries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/berlin-police-shoot-naked-man-wielding-knife-120515156.html

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This New Contact Lens Basically Turns Your Eye Into a Telescope

Contact lenses are great if your only issue is near or farsightedness, but for those struggling with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among older adults, those flimsy little lenses ain't going to cut it?or at least not the kind of contact lenses you're used to. But soon, AMD-sufferers could see their vision vastly improving thanks to a slim, adjustable telescope that sits right in the middle of their eye.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fweZ0XRhjEc/this-new-contact-lens-basically-turns-your-eye-into-a-t-598794815

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Congresswoman who shamed contractor: ?I stood up for veterans?

Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic congresswoman and disabled Iraq War vet, says her shaming of an IRS contractor claiming his decades-old football injury at a military prep school entitled his IT business to government contracts was done out of respect for all veterans.

"Yesterday, I stood up for our Veterans and taxpayers in a hearing on abuse of small business programs," Duckworth wrote on Twitter. She added on Facebook: "I hope you will join me."

The Illinois lawmaker lost her legs and the use of her right arm in Iraq in 2004 when the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. On Wednesday, she berated Braulio Castillo, the chief executive of Leesburg, Va.-based Strong Castle, during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Capitol Hill.

Tammy Duckworth grills Braulio Castillo. (YouTube)

"Your foot hurt?" Duckworth asked Castillo.

"Yes ma'am," he replied.

"My feet hurt, too," Duckworth said. "In fact, the balls of my feet burn continuously and I feel like there's a nail being hammered into my heel right now. So I can understand pain and suffering and how service connection can cause unremitting, unyielding, unstoppable pain. So I'm sorry twisting your ankle in high school has now come back to hurt you in such a painful way, and also opportune for you to gain this status for your business."

Castillo, whose friendship with a top IRS official has come under House scrutiny, says he broke his foot at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School in 1984.

According to its website, Strong Castle is "a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Center for Veteran Enterprise (CVE) verified Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), and a Commonwealth of Virginia Small, Women, and Minority (SWaM) certified Minority-Owned Small Business." In May, the company was a runner-up for the Veterans Affairs Award at a local business awards event.

During the hearing, Duckworth read aloud a letter Castillo had sent to Veterans Affairs seeking set-aside contract status. It read in part: "These are crosses that I bear due to my service to our great country and I would do it again to protect this great country.?

?I?m so glad that you would be willing to play football in prep school again to protect this great country,? Duckworth told Castillo. ?Shame on you, Mr. Castillo. Shame on you. You may not have broken any laws, but you certainly broke the trust of this great nation. You broke the trust of veterans.

"Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now are waiting an average of 237 days for an initial disability rating," she continued. "It is because people like you who are gaming the system are adding to that backlog that young men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress, who are missing limbs cannot get the compensation and the help that they need."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/news/tammy-duckworth-shame-veteran-hill-hearing-video-194338630.html

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911 dispatcher helps Michigan man deliver baby

ANN ABROR, Mich. (AP) ? A woman who didn't expect to give birth until mid-July delivered a healthy baby girl along a Michigan roadway with help from her husband and coaching from a 911 dispatcher.

Nicole Culwell, of Howell, was heading to St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital on Monday with her husband, Matthew, when she realized she wouldn't make it in time. So her husband pulled over along U.S. 23 in the Ann Arbor area, and Susannah was born, AnnArbor.com reported.

"He was great and stayed calm about it," Nicole Culwell said of her husband. "I don't even really remember her being born. I just remember holding her after and patting her back to make sure she was breathing."

The Culwells were about 10 minutes from the hospital when they stopped, and a 911 dispatcher talked them through the delivery.

"You can see the baby's head coming out," Matthew Culwell tells dispatcher Carol Lellis at the beginning of the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Later, he says: "Oh my God. The baby's out. The baby's out," before asking Lellis: "What do I do?"

Matthew Culwell said it was a "huge relief" to hear the cries of his new daughter along the roadside. Help soon showed up, and a firefighter cut the umbilical cord before Nicole Culwell and the baby were transported to the hospital with her husband driving behind them.

"It's not often that you get to see your name as the person who made the delivery on your daughter's birth certificate," Matthew Culwell said.

Lellis told WDIV-TV that hearing the cry was a relief to her as well, because that assured her the baby would be OK. She said she was honored to be part of the couple's big day, and she wanted to wish the new parents good luck ahead.

Nicole Culwell said she was in denial earlier Monday about being so close to having her baby, because her due date was July 14. She said she went into labor around 5 a.m., and by 9:30 a.m. the couple decided to begin the roughly 40-minute drive to the hospital.

"I just kept thinking 'No, this can't happen,'" Nicole Culwell said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-06-28-Roadside%20Delivery-Michigan/id-1e8e319e875c4e2db81266f35fe797a3

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HTC One launches in 'glamor red', arrives in the UK next month (update: pricing)

Flush from launching in the US in a Google-heavy iteration, HTC is rewarding its UK fans with a sultry "glamor red" option of the One smartphone. It'll arrive at retailer Phones 4U in mid-July, although there's no specifics yet on storage (16 or 32GB?), or whether there will be any price difference between the new colorful hue and existing silver and black options.

Update: Phones4U has confirmed it'll be selling this boudoir of a phone starting at £33 per month on contract.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/w2639o8FyaI/

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Texas woman set to be 500th execution in state

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) ? Texas, the nation's busiest death penalty state, is set to mark a solemn moment in criminal justice Wednesday with the execution of convicted killer Kimberly McCarthy.

If McCarthy is put to death in Huntsville as planned, she would become the 500th person executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 1982. The 52-year-old also would be the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2010.

McCarthy's attorney, Maurie Levin, said she has exhausted all efforts to block the execution, after denials by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"If there was something to appeal, I would," said Levin.

Texas has carried out nearly 40 percent of the more than 1,300 executions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. The state's standing stems from its size as the nation's second most populous state as well as its tradition of tough justice for killers.

With increased debate in recent years over wrongful convictions, some states have halted the practice entirely. However, 32 states have the death penalty on the books. Still, it's clear the debate over capital punishment has touched Texas, with lawmakers providing more sentencing options for juries and courts narrowing the cases for which death can be sought.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Huntsville prison ahead of the execution, carrying signs saying "Death Penalty: Racist and Anti-Poor," ''Stop All Executions Now" and "Stop Killing to Stop Killings." In recent years, Texas executions have generally drawn fewer than 10 protesters. About 40 people were protesting Wednesday afternoon.

Death penalty opponents used a small speaker and microphone to address the protesters, who were on a street corner about a block from the prison, in front of yellow police tape. About 15 to 20 officers stood on the other side of the tape.

"The death penalty is guilty and should be shut down. How dare the state carry out 500 executions," said Gloria Rubac, with the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement in Houston.

McCarthy faces execution for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of retired college psychology professor Dorothy Booth. Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher knife at her home in Lancaster, about 15 miles south of Dallas. Authorities say McCarthy cut off Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.

Police also had linked two other slayings to McCarthy, a former nursing home therapist who became addicted to crack cocaine.

In her appeals, McCarthy contended prosecutors improperly excluded black jurors and that her lawyers failed to challenge the moves at trial or in early appeals. McCarthy is black, and Booth was white. All but one of the 12 jurors at McCarthy's trial were white.

In January, McCarthy had been moved to a small holding cell a few steps from the Texas death chamber when a Dallas judge moved her execution to April. That timing then was reset for June when Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he wanted to await the outcome of capital punishment-related bills before lawmakers in Austin.

On Tuesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to reconsider its denial a day earlier of McCarthy's appeal, saying her claims should have been raised previously.

Levin, a University of Texas law professor, said because the court's ruling focused on a procedural and not a substantive issue, the case cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The shameful errors that plague Ms. McCarthy's case ? race bias, ineffective counsel and courts unwilling to exercise meaningful oversight of the system ? reflect problems that are central to the administration of the death penalty as a whole. For this to be the emblem of Texas' 500th execution is something all Texans should be ashamed of," Levin said.

McCarthy declined to speak with reporters as her execution date neared.

McCarthy would be the 13th woman nationwide and the fourth in Texas put to death since 1976. In the same period, more than 1,300 men have been executed nationwide, 496 of them in Texas. Virginia is a distant second, nearly 400 executions behind.

Federal statistics show that over the past three decades women account for about 10 percent of convicted murderers. According to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, there were 63 women on death row in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, representing 2 percent of the nation's 3,125 condemned prisoners.

Prosecutors showed that McCarthy stole Booth's Mercedes and drove to Dallas, pawned the wedding ring she had removed from the woman's severed finger for $200 and then went to a crack house to buy cocaine. Evidence also showed she used Booth's credit cards at a liquor store.

Booth's DNA was found on a 10-inch butcher knife recovered from McCarthy's home.

McCarthy blamed the crime on two drug dealers, but there was no evidence either existed.

Blood DNA evidence also tied McCarthy to the December 1988 slayings of 81-year-old Maggie Harding and 85-year-old Jettie Lucas. Harding was stabbed and beaten with a meat tenderizer, while Lucas was beaten with both sides of a claw hammer and stabbed.

McCarthy, who denied any involvement in the attacks, was indicted but not tried for those slayings.

McCarthy is a former wife of Aaron Michaels, founder of the New Black Panther Party, and he testified on her behalf. They had separated before Booth's slaying.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-woman-set-500th-execution-state-073800079.html

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Noel, Len atop an NBA draft full of questions

NEW YORK (AP) ? Nerlens Noel is coming off a major knee injury. Alex Len is in a walking boot.

One of them could be the No. 1 pick Thursday in an NBA draft that appears short on stardom, and neither looks ready to get his career off to a running start.

"This draft is really unpredictable, a lot of guys with injuries and you don't have any, like, LeBron James," Len said Wednesday. "So it's going to be interesting."

Ten years after James climbed on stage to start a draft that goes down as one of the best in recent memory, the No. 1 pick again belongs to Cleveland.

The Cavaliers won't find anyone who can play like James on the court ? if they keep the pick ? and even the climbing the stage part will be a challenge for the big men who opened their college seasons against each other and are competing again now.

Noel tore the ACL in his left knee on Feb. 12, ending his lone season at Kentucky. The 6-foot-11 freshman led the nation in shot blocking and his conference in rebounding, but hasn't been able to show the Cavaliers if his offensive game has grown.

The only basketball work he did during his visit to Cleveland was shooting some free throws. Perhaps the pants he wore with his sports jacket and orange tie were just too tight, but Noel was walking gingerly as he exited a hotel ballroom after meeting with the media Wednesday.

"I wanted to do more. Unfortunately I got hurt, but I mean I definitely felt right before I got injured I was really coming along as a player and just really coming into my own during that part of the season," Noel said. "But like I said, unfortunately I got hurt, so I wasn't able to show as much as I wanted to."

Nor has Len, but that hasn't stopped the 7-1 center from the Ukraine who spent two seasons at Maryland from climbing into the mix at No. 1. His left foot started bothering him around February, and he found out after the season that it was a stress fracture.

He was aware he was projected as a top-10 pick before the draft combine, but may go much higher even though his visits to teams have consisted of nothing more than interviews. He no longer needs crutches but will be in the boot for perhaps two more weeks.

So, with all these injury questions, what about playing it safe and picking a healthy guy?

"I mean, probably a lot of people wish it could be that easy," Kansas guard Ben McLemore said. "But it's a process for the teams, they've got to see what's available and what they really need. And like I said, this draft is up in the air and nobody knows what's going to happen, who's going to get drafted in which order."

Orlando has the No. 2 pick, followed by Washington, Charlotte and Phoenix.

McLemore, Indiana's Victor Oladipo, Georgetown forward Otto Porter and national player of the year Trey Burke of Michigan are among the other players who will hear their names called early at Barclays Center by NBA Commissioner David Stern in his final draft.

It's a class that won't draw any comparisons to the one that James led, which featured future Miami Heat teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, along with NBA scoring champion Carmelo Anthony among the first five picks.

Brooklyn Nets general manager Billy King said a number of teams are trying to trade out of the draft and acquire extra picks for next year, which is expected to be a stronger class. But he doesn't know if there will be enough teams interested in being trade partners to get those deals done.

"There are good players in this draft, but right now, there are not impact players. What I mean by that is that there's no one you look at in this draft that within two years will be an All-Star, say like Kyrie Irving was, players like that," said Minnesota Timberwolves president Flip Saunders, referring to the guard Cleveland took with the No. 1 pick in 2011.

"And so in order for you to move up and dilute your talent pool and your roster, you've got to get an impact-type player, and I just don't believe ... there's good players, probably pretty good players in this league, but are they going to be that impact player who's going to be an All-Star or future Hall of Famer? That's what you don't see. And sometimes that's something you don't see for two or three years in a row."

McLemore has in some ways been hurt by healthy, since by being able to work out he's given teams something to nitpick. Noel and Len have been largely free of criticism while sitting on the sideline.

Instead, Len is hoping his first impression of the season is one that holds up, when he had a career-high 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks against Noel in Maryland's loss to Kentucky, right in the building where they will be Thursday.

"I did well against him. So, it's not up to me, it's up to teams," Len said of a team choosing between the two.

Neither player said he knows what the Cavs will do. There has been speculation they are open to dealing the pick, something teams rarely consider in a year with a clear-cut No. 1.

Noel said he had gotten no sense from the Cavs that they had concern about his knee, which could keep him off the court until early in the regular season. And in a draft full of questions, he believes selecting him is the right answer.

"I'm a good teammate, I definitely love to work," Noel said. "I want to get better. I want to be great, I want to reach my potential, be the best player I can be. I definitely do countless hours in the gym and I'm definitely working to get there."

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/noel-len-atop-nba-draft-full-questions-211509916.html

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PFT: Hernandez to appeal bail ruling, per source

AP

There are two big reasons to believe the Dolphins will have a more effective passing offense in 2013.

The first is that the team went out and added three targets to their receiving corps in an effort to give quarterback Ryan Tannehill more to work with than he had in his rookie season. Wide receiver Mike Wallace was the headline name in that group, but Wallace thinks that it is going to be the quality of a group including wide receiver Brandon Gibson and tight end Dustin Keller that winds up making life difficult for defenses.

?We all present a different type of challenge for the defense,? Wallace said, via the team?s website. ?We?re all different types of players. When you get us all together, it?s going to be fun.?

It?s not all newcomers, of course. Brian Hartline is back after a breakout 2012 season and he outlined the other reason why optimism is everywhere you look in Miami. That would be Tannehill with a year of experience under his belt.

?I mean everyone said, all the quote unquote experts say that there?s a big jump for a lot of guys from year one to year two and with Ryan I fully expect it,? Hartline said. ?I think at this point he?s focusing on taking it one day at a time, understanding that he has to go through all of camp and get into the season and play through the whole season, so there?s a lot of football to go to get evaluated on. But I couldn?t ask for more, he?s making every throw, his deep ball looks awesome, intermediate ball is great, he has great touch, you don?t feel like it?s a rocket coming into your hands. His improvement has been amazing.?

The revamped Dolphins offense is one of many things we?re excited to see in action when players put on pads upon their return to work in a month or so. If Wallace and Hartline are on point, opposing defenses may not feel the same way.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/26/appeal-of-decision-to-hold-hernandez-without-bail-coming-soon/related/

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