Article:
In this Feb. 12, 2018, photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt attends a meeting with state and local officials and President Donald Trump about infrastructure in the State Dining... (Associated Press)

 In this Feb. 12, 2018, photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt attends a meeting with state and local officials and President Donald Trump about infrastructure in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. Pruitt has broken months of silence about his frequent... (Associated Press)

 In this Feb. 12, 2018, photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt attends a meeting with state and local officials and President Donald Trump about infrastructure in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. Pruitt has broken months of silence about his frequent... (Associated Press) In this Feb. 12, 2018, photo, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt attends a meeting with state and local officials and President Donald Trump about infrastructure in the State Dining... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Environmental Protection Agency has broken months of silence about his frequent premium-class flights at taxpayer expense, saying he needs to fly first class because of unpleasant interactions with other travelers.

 EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt spoke about his flight costs on Tuesday in a pair of interviews in New Hampshire, following a first-class flight to meet with the state's Republican governor and tour a toxic waste site.

 Pruitt told the New Hampshire Union Leader he had some "incidents" on flights shortly after his appointment by President Donald Trump last year.

 "We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment," said Pruitt, who confirmed to the newspaper that he had flown first class from Washington to Boston before continuing on to New Hampshire. "We've reached the point where there's not much civility in the marketplace and it's created, you know, it's created some issues and the (security) detail, the level of protection is determined by the level of threat."

 Pruitt is the first EPA administrator to have a 24-hour security detail that accompanies him at all times, even at the agency's headquarters in Washington. He has also taken other security precautions, including the addition of a $25,000 soundproof "privacy booth" to prevent eavesdropping on his phone calls and spending $3,000 to have his office swept for hidden listening devices.

 Pruitt said he was not involved in the decision for him to fly first class.

 "There have been instances, unfortunately, during my time as administrator, as I've flown and spent time, of interaction that's not been the best," Pruitt told WMUR TV in Manchester, New Hampshire. "And, so, ingress and egress off the plane ... that's all decisions all made by our (security) detail team, by the chief of staff, by the administration. I don't make any of those decisions. They place me on the plane where they think is best from a safety perspective."

 Pruitt was asked about the issue following a Washington Post report on Sunday that detailed some of his travel expenses, including a $1,641.43 first-class seat for a short flight in June from Washington to New York City. Pruitt's ticket cost six times what EPA paid for his aides seated in coach.

 The Associated Press reported in July and again in December that spending on commercial airline tickets purchased for Pruitt indicated he was flying in premium-class seats. EPA's press office has repeatedly refused to comment on whether Pruitt was flying first class.

 Federal regulations allow government travelers to fly business class or first class when no cheaper options are "reasonably available" or if there are exceptional security circumstances. However, past federal audits have found that those rules have been routinely violated by high-ranking government officials under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

 The use of luxury air travel by members of Trump's Cabinet has been under scrutiny for months, after the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price in September following media reports he spent at least $400,000 in taxpayer funds on private jets for himself and his staff.

 A report released Wednesday by the inspector general at the Department of Veterans Affairs found that Secretary David Shulkin and his staff made "false representations" to justify his wife accompanying him at taxpayer expense on an 11-day European trip that mixed business and sightseeing.

 Records show Pruitt has taken at least four flights on non-commercial aircraft, costing more than $58,000. EPA has said all of those flights were necessary and pre-approved by ethics lawyers.

 EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about whether Pruitt had been granted similar waivers allowing him to fly premium class or about the past security incidents to which Pruitt referred.

 Pruitt's frequent government-funded travel, which records show has often included weekend layovers in his home state of Oklahoma, is currently under review by EPA's internal watchdog. The office of EPA Inspector General Arthur Elkins said Wednesday it expects to release the results of its investigation by summer.

 Meanwhile, the White House's budget proposal for EPA released earlier this week seeks to cut $3.7 million, or 9 percent, in funding for Elkins' office. His spokeswoman, Jennifer Kaplan, said that would impair the ability of the inspector general to perform investigations like the one into Pruitt's spending.

 "Without sufficient resources, we would not be able to take on many discretionary audits and investigations that the OIG believes yield considerable value and return on investment," Kaplan said.

 ___

 Follow AP environmental writer Michael Biesecker at http://Twitter.com/mbieseck ||||| EPA's Scott Pruitt flies 1st class to talk Superfund in NH

 By MICHAEL COUSINEAU

 New Hampshire Union Leader

 EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester on Tuesday. (DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER) EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks with the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester on Tuesday.

 — Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said security decisions made by others have dictated he fly first class or on military jets at taxpayer expense.“Unfortunately, ... we’ve had some incidents on travel dating back to when I first started serving in the March-April timeframe,” Pruitt said during an interview at the New Hampshire Union Leader on Tuesday.“We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment,” said Pruitt, who confirmed he flew first class from the Washington area to Boston to reach New Hampshire.“We’ve reached the point where there’s not much civility in the marketplace and it’s created, you know, it’s created some issues and the (security) detail, the level of protection is determined by the level of threat.” The Washington Post reported that taxpayers funded at least $90,000 for Pruitt and his top aides to fly during one stretch last June. It included first-class seats and a ride on a military jet, the newspaper reported.“I’m not involved in any of those decisions,” Pruitt said in his first interview since the report was published. “Those are all made by the (security) detail, the security assessment in addition to the chief of staff.”Pruitt questioned what the Obama administration accomplished environmentally.“Everybody looks at the past administration as being an environmental savior,” Pruitt said.He said 40 percent of the country lived in areas that didn’t meet air quality standards — covering 120 million Americans.“You had more sites on the Superfund list when they left office than when they came in,” Pruitt said. “Now, I just ask you, objectively: What did they do to improve the environment compared to what we’re doing?”Pruitt said he wants to get Superfund sites cleaned up more quickly than past administrations.Tom Irwin, vice president and New Hampshire director of the Conservation Law Foundation, said the Obama and Trump administrations differ on how they view science.“I think it’s fair to say the current administration in many ways is outright abandoning science,” Irwin said.Pruitt also met with Gov. Chris Sununu and visited Central Paper in Manchester Tuesday.“We discussed wide-ranging issues facing New Hampshire, and it is critical that our priorities are heard,” the governor said in a statement. “I was pleased to hear the EPA agreed to expedite the bedrock water table testing to further ensure that the Seacoast’s drinking water has not been contaminated by the Coakley Landfill (in North Hampton).“I am confident that the state, and our towns, will have a positive and productive relationship with the EPA moving forward,” Sununu said.The governor also discussed eradicating lead poisoning in New Hampshire.Licensed forester Charlie Niebling listened to Pruitt at Central Paper.“I liked his matter-of-fact, no-BS approach to his responsibilities,” said Niebling, a partner in the consulting firm Innovative Natural Resource Solutions in Antrim. “I respect the importance of regulatory certainty for the business community.”The White House plan to cut the EPA budget by 23 percent next fiscal year “cuts a swath through EPA’s personnel and programs in ways that are going to harm the public and public health in the long-term,” said Elgie Holstein, spokesman for the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington.Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, recently said that Pruitt “only represents the special interests. He should be removed immediately,” according to media reports.Asked about the comments, Pruitt said: “They just don’t know me.”“When you look at having an objective, to having better management, oversight, outcomes with respect to Superfunds, how is that a political issue,” Pruitt said. “How is that a bad thing?”Pruitt — who also visited the Mohawk Tannery Superfund site in Nashua — said he wants his agency to work with industry more than in prior years.“I believe most states, most citizens, most companies, most industry want to protect the air they breathe, the water they drink, and why this agency, the EPA, or any agency would treat them as an adversary is wrong-headed,” Pruitt said.“We will prosecute bad actors and we have already with the Department of Justice,” he said.“But here’s the issue: Why do you start from a premise that the industry and those folks are bad actors and not partners to begin with? That’s how you reach bad outcomes as opposed to good outcomes.”Irwin said Pruitt’s comments were based on “the false assumption this is about attacking certain industries” versus protecting the environment.Pruitt said more work needs to be done to clean up higher-than-allowed levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and/or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) found around Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics site in Merrimack and the Coakley Landfill.“It is a major concern — a major concern for me, a major concern for the agency,” Pruitt said.An EPA health advisory dated November 2016 said studies on animals showed that exposure above certain levels “may result in adverse health effects,” including developmental effects to fetuses during pregnancy as well as certain cancers.mcousineau@unionleader.com

 Politics ||||| EPA on Wednesday retracted its claim that Administrator Scott Pruitt has received a “blanket waiver” to fly first class whenever he travels, after POLITICO pointed officials to federal travel rules that appeared to bar such arrangements.

 Pruitt has been routinely flying first class at taxpayers’ expense after securing what EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox had described as "blanket waiver,” POLITICO reported Tuesday. But the General Services Administration says federal rules require agencies’ oversight staffers to sign off on officials’ first- or business-class travel "on a trip-by-trip basis ... unless the traveler has an up-to-date documented disability or special need.”

 Story Continued Below

 Wilcox changed his explanation after POLITICO pointed out that section of the regulations. GSA does allow first-class travel for security reasons, but only if agencies request a waiver for each trip.

 "As such, for every trip Administrator Pruitt submits a waiver to fly in either first or business class," Wilcox said, amending the agency's earlier statement, which yielded criticism from Republican lawmakers and led Democrats to request an inspector general investigation.

 A GSA spokesperson confirmed its ban on blanket waivers to POLITICO Wednesday but would not discuss Pruitt's specific circumstances.

 Morning Energy newsletter The source for energy and environment news — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

 The EPA spokesman said anyone seeking additional details about Pruitt’s travels would have to formally request them under the Freedom of Information Act, a process that can take months or years. In fact, the agency has not yet responded to POLITICO's June request information about travel authorizations.

 Two House Democrats asked an agency watchdog earlier Wednesday to review EPA's "blanket waiver" policy.

 The questions add to growing scrutiny over the high-flying travel expenses of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, five months after former HHS Secretary Tom Price stepped down following POLITICO’s reporting on his use of more than $1 million in taxpayers’ money for trips on private jets and government planes.

 Pruitt and his staff say he can't fly coach because of security concerns. He regularly purchases first-class tickets on trips as short as D.C. to Boston and on long-haul flights to the Middle East.

 But Norm Eisen, the former top ethics lawyer for the Obama administration and a critic of Trump, said Pruitt should not be allowed to routinely ignore regulations that are meant to ensure government officials do not waste taxpayer dollars.

 "It’s nonsense, whereas no such thing as providing a blanket waiver of that kind. It’s contrary to all ethics practices," Eisen said. "If you’re going to use the people’s money in this way, there needs to be an individual waiver each time."

 Information about Pruitt’s travel expenses has come out only in response to specific public records requests, including one that a court ordered EPA to respond to in mid-January from a watchdog group called the Environmental Integrity Project. It’s not possible to tally how much Pruitt has spent on first-class trips in total, but The Washington Post reported over the weekend that in early June, Pruitt and other EPA staff racked up more than $90,000 in travel bills.

 Records also show Pruitt spending $1,641 for a flight from D.C. to New York City and back — a route that often costs as little as $250 with a few days’ notice.

 Pruitt also may have an armed agent flying with him at the first-class price level, but EPA excluded some of the travel records in its disclosure to the environmental group, citing security concerns.

 Pruitt’s high-priced trips run contrary to the practices of previous administrations, when top EPA officials typically flew coach, and ethics officials allowed first-class trips only in special circumstances. Staffers for President Barack Obama’s EPA chief, Gina McCarthy, recall her flying coach to and from Africa and Asia.

 Some Republican lawmakers have criticized Pruitt’s flights, adding to angst over other Trump officials’ travel practices. Besides Price, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin have been under scrutiny for their expenses.

 Eisen, now chairman of the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that when he was working in the White House from 2011 to 2014 he only rarely allowed non-coach travel, when State Department officials had to make flights of 14 hours or more. Trips of that length justify first-class tickets, according to federal regulations.

 GSA rules clearly prohibit blanket authorizations for commercial flights in virtually all circumstances.

 “Blanket authorization of other than coach-class transportation accommodations is prohibited and shall be authorized on an individual trip-by-trip basis, unless the traveler has an up-to-date documented disability or special need,” the Federal Travel Regulation says.

 However, agencies can apply waivers to use government aircraft, in certain situations.

 Other former federal officials speaking on background said they'd also never heard of a blanket waiver.

 An advance staffer for an Obama-era Cabinet member said first class didn’t seem to offer security benefits.

 “Security [staff], in my experience, doesn’t care so much what cabin the principal sits in," the former advance staffer said. "They care much more about where their seat is in the plane."

 EPA's Office of Inspector General, which investigates threats against Pruitt, said last fall that he received up to five times as many threats as his immediate predecessor, McCarthy.

 It is not clear how many of those threats have been deemed credible; the instances revealed so far have included threatening tweets and a menacing postcard. The internal watchdog did not immediately respond to a request on Wednesday for updated statistics on threats against Pruitt.

 A former TSA official noted that everyone who flies, in coach or otherwise, is subject to security screening.

 "Everyone in that aircraft went through TSA security screening," the official said. "It’s a safe environment like you’d go through the Capitol building on Capitol Hill. Everyone has gone through a metal detector, same as on an aircraft."

 Other security experts told POLITICO that there are genuine protective advantages to traveling in first class.

 Airlines will often work with high-profile travelers to board them separately from the general public. Flying first class also grants access to secured lounge areas, and first-class passengers disembark first. And while in the air, the first-class area is more tightly controlled than coach.

 “You want to minimize as much potential problems as you can,” said Joe Funk of TorchStone Global, a private security firm. Funk spent 21 years in the Secret Service and more recently provided security for presidential candidates Obama, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.

 “If you reduce the exposure of your protectee, your VIP, from the entire airport audience to a smaller group that is in the lounges, you’ve eliminated or minimized” threats, he added.

 While flying first class could allow Pruitt access to special lounges where there are fewer passengers waiting for a plane, former federal agency staffers say VIPs are often offered that option even with just a coach ticket. Some airports ask high-level officials to disembark directly to their vehicles rather than walking through the terminal, a former EPA staffer said. And armed guards and the people they are protecting typically board planes first, former government employees familiar with the process said.

 “As much as you can keep your principal away from other people,” you should, said John Sexton of Sexton Executive Security in Fairfax, Va. |||||Summary:

– Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt says he needs to fly first-class because of a toxic environment—the political one. He says he wasn't involved in the decision to put him in first class when he travels, which he says was made after some unpleasant interactions with travelers opposed to administration policies. "We live in a very toxic environment politically, particularly around issues of the environment," he tells the New Hampshire Union Leader. He says his security team and the administration "place me on the plane where they think [it's] best from a safety perspective." He was speaking days after the Washington Post reported that Pruitt, whose predecessors mostly flew coach, has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in first-class and military jet travel costs, including $90,000 during a busy stretch in early June. Pruitt's government-funded travel is being reviewed by the EPA's internal watchdog, which says the results of its investigation should be released by the summer, the AP reports. Earlier this week, EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox claimed Pruitt had a "blanket waiver" allowing him to choose first class whenever he travels, but he retracted the statement after Politico pointed out that federal rules require a waiver for every taxpayer-funded first-class trip when it's for security reasons. Wilcox, whose earlier statement was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans, now says Pruitt "submits a waiver to fly in either first or business class" for every trip he makes. (Pruitt is the first EPA chief to be accompanied by a 24-hour security detail.)


Summary

 Investigative Highlights

 State employees and agencies engaged in various improper governmental activities, including the following:

 » Four employees at several agencies misused state time and cost the State approximately $160,000.

 Two employees either took extended breaks or left the premises over a five‑year period.

 One employee regularly left early from work over two years.

 One employee slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours.

 » A nursing director removed an LVN, who was her personal friend, from her assigned nursing position to perform duties typically performed by an office technician.

 » An official built an unauthorized structure on state property with the help of on‑duty staff under his command.

 Results in Brief

 The California Whistleblower Protection Act (Whistleblower Act) empowers the California State Auditor's Office (State Auditor) to investigate and report on improper governmental activities by agencies and employees of the State. Under the Whistleblower Act, an improper governmental activity includes any action by a state agency or employee related to state government that violates a law; is economically wasteful; or involves gross misconduct, incompetence, or inefficiency.

 From July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018, the State Auditor conducted investigative work on 1,481 cases. This report contains seven examples of investigations that substantiated improper governmental activities, including misuse of state time and inaccurate attendance records, economically wasteful activities, and misuse of government property. In addition, during the past year, the State Auditor issued nonpublic reports regarding nepotism, bad-faith hires, improper promotions, and other misconduct by executive management within two state entities. It provided these reports to those who could remediate the problems and ensure that the management teams involved did not retaliate against perceived whistleblowers.

 California State University, Fresno

 Two facilities operations employees at California State University, Fresno engaged in egregious and continued time and attendance abuse by taking extended breaks or leaving campus without accounting for their time. From 2013 through 2017, two employees failed to account for more than 5,100 hours of work, costing the State more than $111,000 in salary paid for work not performed. Furthermore, the employees were dishonest in their attempts to conceal their time and attendance abuse.

 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Kern Valley State Prison

 For about two years, an employee at Kern Valley State Prison misused state time by regularly leaving work up to 45 minutes early as a result of inadequate supervision. We estimated that the employee failed to account for 312 hours of missed work time, costing the State nearly $9,000.

 Department of Motor Vehicles

 A key data operator at the Department of Motor Vehicles failed to perform her essential duties over a period of nearly four years because she slept at her desk for extended periods of time during work hours. From February 2014 through December 2017, the employee misused more than 2,200 hours of work time as a result of sleeping on the job, costing the State more than $40,000.

 California Correctional Health Care Services

 From May 2015 through July 2016, a director of nursing (nursing director) at a Southern California adult prison removed a licensed vocational nurse (LVN), who was her personal friend, from her assigned nursing position—or post—providing patient care and reassigned her to perform nurse scheduling duties typically performed by an office technician. During this period, the LVN continued to receive her pay as a nurse even though she provided patient care only when she worked occasional overtime shifts, causing California Correctional Health Care Services (Correctional Health Care) to waste $10,500 in unnecessary salary payments. Furthermore, the nursing director's decision cost the State an additional $18,700 in unnecessary overtime payments that Correctional Health Care paid to other nurses to cover the LVN's originally assigned post, resulting in total waste of nearly $30,000.

 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

 The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) overpaid a staff services analyst (analyst) at one of its prisons nearly $3,000 from July 2016 through March 2017. The analyst, her manager, an associate warden, and a personnel specialist all failed to follow CDCR procedure and the California Department of Human Resources' policy regarding inmate supervision pay, which resulted in the overpayments. In addition, the associate warden violated state law by choosing not to initiate any collection efforts after two internal audits in 2017 documented the error in pay and recommended the recovery of the overpayments.

 California State University, Dominguez Hills

 In March 2013, a manager at California State University, Dominguez Hills directed a member of his staff to purchase a Nissan-manufactured electric vehicle quick charger for nearly $7,000 before the manager had performed the due diligence necessary to ensure that the equipment was compatible with the energy resource plan for the campus. The quick charger has remained unused for five years, its warranty lapsed in 2014, and Nissan is no longer manufacturing replacement parts. As of February 2018, the campus told us it will be unable to install the quick charger before 2020 or 2021, if at all.

 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

 A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) assistant chief misused state resources when he violated his rental agreement by building an unauthorized structure on state property using on-duty staff under his command. In 2016 the assistant chief built a 16-foot-by-20-foot structure with plumbing, electrical, and sewer connections in the backyard of the state residence he rented from CAL FIRE without written approval from CAL FIRE to build the structure as his rental agreement required. He also did not have approval from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, which is responsible for inspecting state‑owned buildings.

 Footnote

 For more information about the State Auditor's investigations program, please refer to the Appendix. Go back to text

 Back to top ||||| Don’t miss a story on California pensions, state workers and dozens of government departments. Sign up for state worker news alerts here.

 A California DMV data operator slept three hours a day at her desk for three years, and the department failed to take disciplinary action — despite complaints from her colleagues, according to an audit released Tuesday.

 Four witnesses told investigators from the California State Auditor’s office that the DMV employee consistently slept at her desk. The auditor estimated the employee misused 2,200 hours of work time between February 2014 and December 2017.

 The employee continues to work for the state, according to the audit.

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 That report was one of several included in the State Auditor’s twice-a-year report on state worker misconduct.

 It also found:

 A high-ranking Cal Fire chief had two state employees build an addition to a state-owned house he rented during their work hours. The addition had plumbing, electrical and sewer connections. The chief did not get permission to build the structure. Photos of the building show it was decorated as a tiki room, and the chief invited people to drink alcohol with him in the building. The assistant chief was punished with a 30-day suspension, and Cal Fire has demolished the structure, according to the audit.

 Two Fresno State University operations employees “engaged in egregious and continued time and attendance abuse” by taking extended breaks over a four-year period. They allegedly wasted 5,100 hours and cost the state about $111,000 in salary paid for work not performed.

 The director of nursing at a Southern California prison reassigned a licensed vocational nurse to a position for which she was overqualified. The nurse was reported to be a friend of the director. It cost the state about $30,000, including overtime, because other employees had to cover for the nurse in her regular job.

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 Trends in the state workforce and at PERS and STRS.

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 The DMV worker who slept at her desk might have had a medical condition that made it difficult for her to work on a regular schedule. In 2016, her doctor informed the department that she could not perform the duties the job required.

 The DMV reassigned her to another position in January 2017, but she continued to sleep at work. ||||| In this Jan. 2 file photo, people line up at a California Department of Motor Vehicles office to register for drivers licenses in Stanton. (Photo: AP)

 A California Department of Motor Vehicles employee slept thousands of hours on the job since 2014, a report released Tuesday from the state's auditor says.

 The report estimates the employee slept three or more hours daily at her desk since February 2014, totaling over 2,200 hours of work time and costing more than $40,000.

 The employee worked as a key data operator. Her duties included "routine data entry for change of address and new vehicle ownership forms," the report says.

 She processed less than half the documents that she was expected to – an average of 200 documents a day, when key data operators are expected to process more than 550, according to the report.

 While her supervisors were aware of the issue, the report found that they underestimated the amount of time the employee was sleeping on the job and did not properly follow disciplinary procedures.

 A supervisor reported waking the employee up "three to four times each day," the report says. It says the work the employee did complete "was often so inaccurate" that coworkers wouldn't trust her to correctly enter their address or vehicle ownership change.

 Supervisors suspected a medical issue was contributing to the employee's problems, which led them to be "reluctant to take further steps to address the employee’s sleeping and poor production."

 The employee's doctor told the DMV she was unable to perform the duties associated with her job. Subsequently, the employee obtained a physician's release saying she was able to perform her job's duties, the report says.

 Earlier this year, the DMV said it was unable to proceed with disciplinary action because the issues had not been adequately documented. The report says that documentation was completed in March of this year.

 The state auditor's office investigated 1,481 instances of alleged improper governmental activities in the past year, the report says.

 California lawmakers have scheduled an August hearing to examine complaints of long DMV waits, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2uMeFFg |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– An employee responsible for logging changes in address and vehicle ownership at the California DMV slept at least three hours a day at her desk for nearly four years—and still has a job. The woman's 2,200 hours spent napping between February 2014 and December 2017 meant she completed less than half of her expected amount of work and cost the state more than $40,000, according to a worker misconduct report released Tuesday by the state's auditor. Per USA Today, the woman's doctor told the DMV that she was unable to perform her work duties, though a later doctor's note said the opposite. The employee continues to work for the state, per the Sacramento Bee.


Write a summary based on this article:

I wonder if she's still smiling now that @ElCerritoPD has put her picture out there? pic.twitter.com/tJS6E8ZXab — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 19, 2015

 .@ElCerritoPD getting many tips about woman. Think suspect uploaded selfies from stolen phone to iCloud by mistake. pic.twitter.com/S2p8AxX2iR — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 18, 2015

 .@ElCerritoPD Cops don't think this suspect knew her selfies would transfer to ICloud from phone stolen from teen. pic.twitter.com/BwgIOmdfgN — Laura Anthony (@LauraAnthony7) November 18, 2015

 Police in El Cerrito are asking for the public's help to catch a woman they say is a violent suspect who may get caught because of her own mistake. And the case may be cracked by a selfie.According to authorities, the smiling woman in the selfies is actually a violent thief who beat up a teenage girl to steal the phone that took these pictures.A young El Cerrito High School student was walking to class talking on her iPhone when a car rolled up and a woman jumped out and demanded her phone and backpack and then started punching the girl."She hit the juvenile in the head several times causing some minor injuries to her facial area," said Sgt. Ian Wong. And actually caused her to lose consciousness and go to the ground."Several days later, while recovering from her injuries, the young victim found the selfies on her iCloud account and recognized the woman as her attacker."I don't think she knew it was being uploaded to the cloud. I think they were assuming it was on the factory default settings," Wong said.Students say nearly everyone has a smartphone, but some protect them better than others.While one student said she probably wouldn't do anything different, student Devin Emelo said, "Don't like be showing and trying to be flashy with your phone and stuff like that. Stop showing people you have nice stuff, because people might be wanting the stuff that you have."As for the woman who snapped those incriminating selfies, another student said, "That's kinda dumb to take pictures of yourself." ||||| The women demanded the girl's cellphone and backpack, police said. After the girl refused, the woman punched her in the head, knocking her unconscious, took the phone and backpack and got back into the car and drove away, police said. |||||

– People just don't learn, do they? A woman who allegedly stole a high school student's iPhone in California has given police a break in the case thanks to … a selfie—or rather, several of them. Police say an as-yet unidentified woman approached the 15-year-old student in El Cerrito on Nov. 5, demanding that she hand over her phone and backpack, reports the Los Angeles Times. When the girl refused, the suspect allegedly knocked her unconscious with a punch, took the student’s phone, dragged her a short distance, then took the girl's backpack, per the Oakland Tribune. The woman then escaped in a tan Honda or Toyota which was also carrying four males, authorities say. Days later, the student, who had to visit a hospital for treatment, found several smiling selfies of her alleged attacker on her iCloud account and sent them to police. "I don't think she knew it was being uploaded to the cloud. I think they were assuming it was on the factory default settings," an officer tells ABC7. Authorities have released three images of the woman—which show many more selfies were taken—and say tips are pouring in. (Click for more ill-advised selfies.)


Here is a news article: Nevest Coleman officially started as a Chicago White Sox groundskeeper Monday after spending more than two decades behind bars for crimes he didn't commit. Coleman, 49, reflected on returning to his old job, reuniting with his family and his championship hopes for the White Sox.

 "I was proud to come back here," Coleman told CBS News in phone interview. "I love the atmosphere."

 Coleman's day began with power-washing the entrance to Guaranteed Rate Field where the team's 2005 World Series commemoration plaza and sculpture are located, CBS Chicago reports.

 His situation now is vastly different than it was over the last 23 years, when he was sitting in jail as an innocent man. He kept out of trouble, spent most of his time reading books, such as those in the popular series "Game of Thrones" and "Harry Potter," and tried to avoid the "routine" of television.

 When asked what kept him going, he replied, "My family."

 "I know I didn't do it," he said. "My family was always behind me. My goal was to see everybody."

 In November, Coleman was released from prison after DNA evidence led prosecutors to vacate his conviction in a 1994 rape and murder. A county judge granted him a certificate of innocence this month.

 CBS Chicago

 "It took a lot of weight off my shoulders," Coleman said. "Just to look around and be on my front porch. Take a shower, sit in a tub. I take it one day at a time. Now, I just have to enjoy life."

 He hadn't been with his son and daughter since they were 3 months old and 2 years old, respectively. He now has grandchildren and makes a point to keep in touch with the entire family.

 "It's real now," he said. "I call them every day. I call my grand-babies every day. It's like we started all over again."

 Coleman's childhood priest reached out to the White Sox on his behalf in February. After an interview, the team welcomed him back.

 On Monday, he stepped onto Guaranteed Rate Field -- which he knew back when it was called Comiskey Park. Now, apart from spending more time with his loved ones, Coleman wishes his White Sox would win the title this year.

 "I hope we win a World Series because I'm out now," he said.

 The White Sox say they're grateful that "justice has been carried for Nevest." ||||| CHICAGO (CBS) — A Chicago man who served 23 years for a rape and murder he didn’t commit returned to his old job on Monday, working on the grounds crew for the White Sox.

 Guaranteed Rate Field has gone through a few different names, not to mention some major renovations since Coleman last worked on the grounds crew, but to Nevest Coleman it’s still Comiskey Park.

 Flanked by former colleagues who are still on the grounds crew, a thankful Coleman stepped onto the grass at 35th and Shields for the first time in more than two decades.

 For Coleman, the return to the ballpark the White Sox call home is more than just having his old job back, it’s about gaining independence many men don’t get after leaving prison, even when they’ve had their names cleared as Coleman has.

 “I don’t have to worry about everybody giving me things. I can support myself now,” he said.

 Coleman was released from prison in November, after DNA evidence cleared him and a co-defendant of the 1994 rape and murder of Antwinica Bridgeman.

 He interviewed with the White Sox in February, after his childhood priest reached out to the team on Coleman’s behalf. Coleman had worked a variety of jobs, often more than one at a time, when he caught on with the Sox before the 1992 season.

 “I felt comfortable here; everyone was like family to me,” Coleman said. “I’d wake up in the morning and be proud to come to work.”

 Since stepping away from the decades of wrongful imprisonment, Coleman’s family has been in awe of his optimism.

 “If I’m miserable, that means everybody else around me will be miserable,” he said. “So if I’m happy, everybody else will be happy. I don’t have time to be miserable, you know?”

 During his time in jail, Coleman often saw old colleagues pulling the rain delay tarp across the field on TV. He bumped into some of them when officially accepting the job in February, and said seeing them in person set him at ease.

 His new duties on Monday started with power-washing the Gate 4 entrance to Guaranteed Rate Field, where the team’s 2005 World Series commemoration plaza and sculpture are located.

 Coleman has said he hopes to move up to full-time staff in the future. ||||| Nevest Coleman looked around the White Sox ballpark in wonder as he walked down the third base line.

 Flanked by colleagues, Harry Smith and Jerry Powe, Coleman marveled at how much the stadium had changed since 1994, when he last worked for the team. As he took in the sights, legendary head groundskeeper Roger “The Sodfather” Bossard came over and embraced Coleman in a quick hug.

 “I saved your spot for you,” Bossard said. “I knew you’d be back.”

 And he told him, “Just remember, I’m counting on you to help me with that tarp, too.”

 “I’m ready,” Coleman replied.

 Coleman’s first day back at work Monday couldn’t be more remarkable. He’d been on the White Sox groundskeeping crew in 1994 when he was charged with a heinous rape and murder.

 He spent the next 23 years behind bars until DNA evidence last November led prosecutors to vacate Coleman's conviction, leading to his freedom. A Cook County judge granted him a certificate of innocence this month, clearing his name.

 Soon after, the White Sox agreed to give him his old job back, helping Coleman realize a dream he often discussed in prison.

 Local and national news reporters waited for Coleman’s return at 7 a.m. Smith stood outside the stadium, too, waiting for his old friend.

 As Coleman approached Gate 4 at Guaranteed Rate Field, Smith remarked, “He got a little fatter, but that’s him.”

 The two men hugged one another, and went inside, where Coleman, Smith and Powe shared a private moment in the tunnel leading to the field.

 Back in the 1990s, the three men worked together on the grounds crew. Prosecutors pushed for Coleman to receive the death penalty after his trial in 1997, but a long line of character witnesses stood up for him at his sentencing hearing, including three White Sox employees.

 Smith and Powe remain, while the other no longer works for the team. Powe is now Coleman’s supervisor.

 “Glad to see him out. Glad to see him back,” Powe said. “I’m so happy for him, me and the White Sox.”

 From the time he left high school, Coleman said he's been on the job. He always wanted to be independent.

 "I don't like to ask anybody for anything,” Coleman told the Tribune last week — a point he emphasized again Monday.

 Even while incarcerated, Coleman kept working, including a job making socks. Still, he particularly enjoyed his time with the Sox and said he considered it a “family.”

 “I’d wake up in the morning proud to go to work,” Coleman said Monday. “A lot of times, you get people who get jobs, you go to work, you be like, ‘I don’t want to go.’ Here, I loved it.”

 His Monday morning included a flurry of interviews. He sat in the home dugout talking to reporters.

 At times, Coleman gazed at the giant advertisements, billboards, and television in the outfield, amazed by the changes.

 Reflecting on his newfound freedom, Coleman said, “You get tired sitting around the house.”

 “You won’t be sitting” here, Smith replied.

 After about an hour reuniting with his friends, Coleman changed into a yellow rubber suit. He put on gloves and goggles then headed outside, where Power handed him a power washer to spray the ground clean.

 The fairy tale return for Coleman was set in motion by friends and loved ones after he left prison in November. Speaking of his plans after his release, Coleman often mentioned the White Sox.

 “I want to sit back for a while, get to know my family, and when the time comes around, go back to Comiskey Park,” Coleman recalled saying.

 Nevest Coleman was freed on Nov. 20, 2017, after Cook County prosecutors agreed to a retrial for Coleman, who was convicted of a 1994 rape and murder that recent DNA testing suggests he did not commit. He was given his job back at the White Sox grounds crew and started on Monday, March 26, 2018. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)

 The White Sox heard his story, then invited him to 35th and Shields for a job interview. To Coleman’s delight, the team agreed to bring him back.

 “We’re grateful that after more than two decades, justice has been carried out for Nevest,” the team said in a statement. “It has been a long time, but we’re thrilled that we have the opportunity to welcome him back to the White Sox family. We’re looking forward to having Nevest back on Opening Day at home in our ballpark.”

 The Rev. William Vanecko, Coleman’s attorney Russell Ainsworth and a cousin, Richard Coleman, were instrumental in making Nevest Coleman’s wish come true.

 Ainsworth said he reached out to share Coleman’s story through a relative who works in White Sox ticketing.

 Vanecko knew Coleman from his days at Visitation Church in Englewood, down the block from the Coleman family home. The retired Catholic priest called the White Sox and told them about Coleman.

 Vanecko said he wanted to ask, “Do you think you can give him 23 years seniority for the (time) he missed?” but bit his tongue.

 Coleman’s cousin Richard also called the team.

 “His first wish, before he wished for a hamburger, was to work for the White Sox,” Richard Coleman said. “That’s exactly what I told them.”

 Familiar faces

 The White Sox that Coleman knew in 1994 have changed.

 The ballpark changed names from Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field and is now Guaranteed Rate Field. Seats are green instead of blue. The franchise lopped off several rows from the upper deck. There’s ivy on the center field backdrop and a bar in right field.

 Frank Thomas, the league MVP when Coleman last worked for the Sox, went into the Hall of Fame in 2014. Ozzie Guillen and Robin Ventura, stars on the field when Coleman was incarcerated, each went on to manage the White Sox.

 Guillen led the team to the 2005 World Series. Coleman remembers hearing a roar in his cell that October.

 “I go, ‘What’s going on?’ ” he said. “The White Sox won.” Coleman recalled feeling happy for the team and city.

 Since coming out of prison, he has stayed true to his word. He’s spent the past four months bonding with his four siblings, two children and three grandchildren: Shaniya, Harmony and Nyla.

 Now he’s ready to be back with the Sox as part of the grounds crew.

 Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan contributed.

 gpratt@chicagotribune.com

 Twitter @royalpratt

 2 inmates serving life for 1994 rape, murder: 'If the DNA is not me, why am I still here?' »

 Two Chicago men freed from prison after DNA tests prompt retrials » |||||
A summary of this is?

– It's been nearly a quarter-century since Nevest Coleman helped powerwash and pull back the tarp at Comiskey Park, the Chicago White Sox stadium now known as Guaranteed Rate Field. But the 49-year-old is back on the job, after 23 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. The Chicago Tribune reports Coleman, whose conviction for a 1994 rape and murder was overturned in November after DNA evidence cleared him, would often watch his former groundskeeping colleagues taking care of the rain-delay tarp on TV in prison, and once released, he talked fondly about his old role at the stadium. "I'd wake up in the morning proud to go to work," he tells the Tribune. "I loved it." When the White Sox got wind of his desire to return, they called him in for an interview, and to Coleman's delight he got the gig, which started Monday, per CBS News. The head groundskeeper greeted him with: "I saved your spot for you. I knew you'd be back," per the Tribune. As for the White Sox, they said in a statement, "We're grateful that after more than two decades, justice has been carried out for Nevest. It has been a long time, but we're thrilled that we have the opportunity to welcome him back to the White Sox family." Coleman, who kept his mind occupied in prison by reading the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter books, among others, is now looking forward to spending time with his kids (whom he left on the outside when they were babies) and grandkids and getting used to all the changes at the park. And he's done looking back at the past, per CBS Chicago. "If I'm happy, everybody else will be happy," he says. "I don't have time to be miserable, you know?"


Here is a news article: The statue of Jefferson Davis, once president of the Confederate States, stands just south of the Main Building on UT's campus on June 22, 2015.

 Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout.

 Just days after an advisory panel recommended the University of Texas at Austin relocate some or all of its statues of Confederate leaders, UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves announced that the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis will soon have a new home.

 UT is relocating the Davis statue to an exhibit in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Four other statues the panel considered relocating — including ones of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston — will remain on the university’s South Mall, but Fenves will consider adding explanatory plaques to place them in historical context.

 “While every historical figure leaves a mixed legacy, I believe Jefferson Davis is in a separate category,” Fenves wrote in a letter to the UT-Austin community, “and that it is not in the university’s best interest to continue commemorating him. Davis had few ties to Texas; he played a unique role in the history of the American South that is best explained and understood through an educational exhibit.”

 The statue of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson will also be relocated to another outdoor location, but for symmetrical reasons: He stands opposite Davis on South Mall. The Davis statue will likely be removed in the next two days, UT-Austin spokesman Gary Susswein said. It will be refurbished and relocated to the Briscoe Center in the next 18 months.

 In June, Fenves assembled a 12-member panel of students, professors and alumni to assess the appropriateness of the statues. The panel solicited more than 3,100 opinions from the public and released its recommendations Monday. Its report presented five options, four of which involved moving some or all of the statues to a history center on campus. Another option would have left the statues in place but called for explanatory plaques.

 UT-Austin student government President Xavier Rotnofsky and Vice President Rohit Mandalapu made removal of the Davis statue a central part of their platform when running for office. Both served on the advisory panel and said they were happy to see their goal achieved.

 "If there is a statue to be relocated it should be Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy," Mandalapu said. "Now it can be moved to a place where it can be contextualized and studied within the scope of history."

 The other Confederate statues of Lee, Johnston and Confederate Postmaster General John Reagan — and one of former Texas Gov. James Hogg — have strong ties to Texas, Fenves said in his letter, noting Lee's legacy "should not be reduced to his role in the Civil War."

 Moving the Davis statue, while leaving the other four in place is a respectful decision that still honors the heritage of the United States and the university, Fenves said.

 The Davis statue has been the most controversial of the ones commemorating Confederate leaders. In March, the student assembly passed a resolution asking UT to remove the statue of Davis. In April, it was vandalized with the phrase “Davis Must Fall.” A week after June's deadly shooting at a black church in South Carolina, the statues of Davis, Lee and Johnston were tagged with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”

 "Statues have layers of meaning: aesthetic, historical, aspirational and educational. History is not innocent; it is the living foundation for the present," the report said. "The university’s approach to changing and replacing monuments on campus should be conservative but not uncritical."

 While applauding UT's decision, state Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo reiterated their call for examination of Confederate monuments on the Capitol grounds.

 "We hope the conversation at UT will encourage state leaders to have a similar debate about the numerous Confederate statues that dot the Capitol grounds," they said in a statement. "We renew our previous request — one that's been echoed by many legislators, both Democrat and Republican — to create a task force to begin a serious conversation about how best to honor Texas' past, ensure historical accuracy and celebrate figures who are relevant to our state and worthy of our praise."

 Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here. ||||| Updated throughout at 10:21 a.m.

 AUSTIN — The University of Texas at Austin will move the statue honoring Jefferson Davis to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, President Greg Fenves announced on Twitter Thursday morning.

 The other four confederate statues will remain in place.

 “James Stephen Hogg, Albert Sidney Johnston, and John Reagan had deep ties to Texas,” Fenves wrote in a letter to the UT community. “Robert E. Lee’s complicated legacy to Texas and the nation should not be reduced to his role in the Civil War.”

 Fenves said he will consider placing a plaque on the Littlefield Fountain to explain the context behind the four remaining statues.

 “This combination of locating the Jefferson Davis statue in a center devoted to history and keeping the remaining statues along the Main Mall is both respectful of the heritage that is important to many and serves as a poignant display of our nation’s and university’s history,” Fenves wrote.

 To preserve symmetry on campus, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson will be moved to another exterior location on campus. Currently Wilson and Davis sit atop the main mall together, overseeing UT’s South Mall lawn.

 Earlier this week, a task force formed to study the statues released a report that offered up five solutions for the statues, which have garnered controversy. Just one would have left the statues where they are located, but the task force wrote that this option could prolong the controversy.

 Fenves’ decision is the latest in a series of backlashes the Confederate symbol has faced nationwide since Dylann Roof, the white suspect in the fatal shootings at a black church in Charleston. S.C., was shown in a photo with the Confederate battle flag.

 This is a developing story — check back later for updates. |||||
A summary of this is?

– In the midst of a continued backlash against Confederate symbols following the deadly shooting at a black church in South Carolina, the University of Texas at Austin said today it will be relocating a statue of Jefferson Davis, the Dallas Morning News reports. The statue of the Confederate president, which is located on UT's Main Mall, had been defaced in recent months with the phrases "Davis Must Fall" and—following the church massacre—"Black Lives Matter," according to the Texas Tribune. While the statue of Davis will be moved to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, four other statues of Confederate leaders, including Robert E. Lee, will remain on the Main Mall because of their relationship to Texas history, the Morning News reports. Earlier this week, the school created an advisory panel of students, professors, and alumni to make recommendations about the statues, of which Davis was the most controversial. After announcing his decision to move Davis, UT's president said it wasn't "in the university's best interest to continue commemorating" him. He is also considering plaques to give historical context for the remaining Confederate statues. The Morning News reports the university is also moving a statue of former President Woodrow Wilson, which had been located across from the statue of Davis, for symmetry purposes.


News article:

Meet "Joe"

 "Joe" is a baby dinosaur, measuring under 6 feet long and a year old when it died. Careful study reveals that "Joe" was a young Parasaurolophus--the iconic tube-crested dinosaur that lived in southern Utah over 75 million years ago.

 This website is a virtual museum exhibit, highlighting the story of "Joe" and what this fossil tells us about our planet's history.

 "Joe" is named in honor of Joe Augustyn, a long-time supporter of the museum whose family sponsored the preparation of the fossil skeleton. ||||| Kevin Terris discovered the skeleton of a baby dinosaur named Joe in 2009, when he was a high-school student.

 It's amazing enough that a 17-year-old high-school student was behind the discovery of the youngest fossil skeleton from a weird-looking breed of boneheaded dinosaur. But it's even more amazing that two professional paleontologists walked right past the bones before the kid spotted them.

 "It's a little embarrassing to walk by something like that," admitted Andrew Farke, curator of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology at The Webb Schools, "but he was just in the right place at the right time, looking in the right direction."

 Farke and the California museum's director, Don Lofgren, had checked out the territory at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, and passed within several feet of the exposed fossil. A couple of days later, they brought their Webb students through the place for a field trip — and it was 17-year-old Kevin Terris who spotted the first bone.

 "At first, I was interested in seeing what the initial piece of bone sticking out of the rock was," Terris recalled in a news release. Then he called Farke over to investigate. Together, they picked away at the overlying rock to see what lay beneath. "When we exposed the skull, I was ecstatic," Terris said.

 An artist's conception shows the baby dinosaur in its environment.

 That was back in 2009. Today, Terris is an aspiring paleontologist at Montana State University, and his discovery is the subject of a research paper published Tuesday by the journal PeerJ. In that paper, Farke and his colleagues report that the fossil is the "youngest and most complete specimen" representing Parasaurolophus, one of the strangest creatures in the dinosaur menagerie.

 Crazy crest

 Parasaurolophus was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived throughout western North America about 75 million years ago. Its most notable feature was a long hollow crest that stuck up from its head. Paleontologists believe the crest served not only as a kind of visual display, like the cockscomb on a rooster, but also as a resonator for deep, booming calls. (Check out this archived news release and audio file to sample the dinosaur's sound.)

 During the four years that followed the find, researchers carefully excavated Terris' discovery, had it airlifted to the lab, analyzed the fossilized bones and put the skeleton on display at the Alf Museum. It's been nicknamed "Joe" — in honor of the late Joseph Augustyn, a contributor to the museum.

 The skeleton of the baby Parasauropholus is on display at the Alf Museum.

 Little Joe would have been about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long in life, compared with a typical length of 33 feet (10 meters) for an adult Parasaurolophus. A sample taken from the fossil's leg bone indicated that Joe was less than a year old when it died.

 "Dinosaurs have yearly growth rings in their bone tissue, like trees. But we didn't see even one ring," one of the PeerJ study's co-authors, Sarah Werning of Stony Brook University, explained. "That means it grew to a quarter of adult size in less than a year."

 Woofers and tweeters

 Joe also had made a good start on its crest — which came as a surprise, because previous studies suggested that related types of dinosaurs didn't start sprouting their ornamentation until they were at least half of their adult size. The researchers suggest that Parasaurolophus youngsters had to start early in order to develop the ornate crest that the grownups had.

 "If adult Parasaurolophus had 'woofers,' the babies had 'tweeters,'" Farke said in the news release. "The short and small crest of baby 'Joe' shows that it may have had a much higher pitch to its call than did adults. Along with the visual differences, this might have helped animals living in the same area figure out who was the big boss."

 Webb Schools student Brandon Scolieri looks in on the bones of the baby Parasaurolophus as they're being prepared for a CT scan. Scolieri is one of the authors of a newly published paper on the fossil.

 The research team had Joe's bones scanned to produce a virtual 3-D representation of the skeleton, which is being made available via the DinosaurJoe website. That way, scientists and the public will get access to Terris' find even if they can't see Joe in person at the Alf Museum in Claremont, Calif.

 Dinosaur skeletons are bought and sold for millions of dollars, but Farke declined to say how much Joe would be worth on the fossil market. It can't be sold, because it was found on federal property. "We can't actually place a value on it," Farke told NBC News. "Its primary value is scientific."

 Meanwhile, Terris isn't resting on his dino-finding laurels. The Houston native, who attended The Webb Schools because of its paleontology curriculum, told NBC News he's already working on his next publication.

 "Paleo is something I've been interested in since I was a kid," he said.

 More about dinosaurs:

 In addition to Farke and Werning, the authors of "Ontogeny in the Tube-Crested Dinosaur Parasaurolophus (Hadrosauridae) and Heterochrony in Hadrosaurids" include high-school students Derek Chok, Annisa Herrero and Brandon Scolieri. The fossil was collected under a permit from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the Bureau of Land Management.

 Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding +Alan Boyle to your Google+ circles. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds. ||||| The skeleton of "Joe" is the smallest, most complete and youngest Parasaurolophus ever found.

 A dinosaur skeleton discovered by an eagle-eyed high-school student turns out to be the smallest, youngest and most complete duck-billed dinosaur of its kind ever found.

 This Cretaceous-era herbivore, Parasaurolophus, walked the Earth some 75 million years ago. The dinosaurs in this genus are best known for their impressive tube-shaped head crests, which may have been used for display or perhaps to amplify the animals' calls. The little specimen, dubbed "Joe," was so young that its crest was a mere bump on its head.

 "We now understand a lot more about how Parasaurolophus grew its crest," said Andrew Farke, a paleontologist and curator at Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in Claremont, Calif. [See Photos of the Baby Dinosaur Discovery]

 Lucky find

 The museum is affiliated with The Webb Schools, a private high-school campus outside of Los Angeles. The students at the schools participate in paleontology fieldwork as part of their coursework, which is how student Kevin Terris came to discover "Joe" in 2009.

 Farke and a group of students were prospecting for fossils in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, surveying ground Farke had already covered. Terris spotted a little sliver of bone sticking out from under a boulder and alerted Farke, who thought it looked like a piece of dinosaur rib — nice, but not really worth the trouble of excavating.

 "We were going to try to see if we could get something better," Farke told LiveScience.

 He walked around the other side of the boulder and picked up what looked like a large cobblestone, turning it over in his hands. A dinosaur skull stared back at him.

 In light of the skull, Farke thought it wise to go re-check Terris' discovery. A closer look revealed it to be a string of toe bones.

 "We have the skull on one side of this boulder and the toes on the other side. That means the whole dinosaur skeleton has to be in between," Farke said. "So we got pretty excited."

 Growing baby

 The team had to line up permits to excavate on the public land; they returned in 2010 to dig the bones from the ground. Surrounded by an 800-pound (363 kilograms) armor of rock, the bones had to be airlifted out of the rugged backcountry by helicopter. [Video: Airlifting a Baby Dino]

 The skull of baby "Joe" sports a small bump that would have grown into an impressive tube-liked crest. Credit: Copyright Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.

 After 1,300 painstaking hours of cleaning, chiseling and picking, technicians revealed the fossil buried in all that stone. The completeness of the skeleton turned out to be "pretty spectacular," Farke said.

 The paleontologists realized they had an amazing example of a baby Parasaurolophus on their hands. Even better, they were able to sample the baby's leg bone. As dinosaur bones grow, they develop ring patterns, much like trees.

 "It didn't have any rings at all," Farke said of "Joe." "So what that shows is that this animal was under a year old when it died."

 The infant dinosaur was already 6 feet (1.8 meters) long, however, an impressive feat when you consider that duck-billed dinos hatched at about the same size as a human infant. The fact that "Joe" was already sprouting a crest bump so young suggests that Parasaurolophus started growing its crest earlier than other duck-billed dinosaurs.

 "It finally lets us understand how Parasaurolophus evolved that big crest, just by shifting around events in its development," Farke said.

 "Joe" will go on display at the Alf museum beginning today (Oct. 22) to coincide with a publication about the discovery in the journal PeerJ. A digital exploration of the skeleton will also be available at dinosaurjoe.com.

 As for Terris, the student who found the little duck-bill, he's now in college, studying geology, Farke said.

 Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– A California high school student made a find LiveScience calls "amazing": While doing paleontology fieldwork for school in Utah in 2009, Kevin Terris helped to discover an almost complete baby Parasaurolophus skeleton—in fact, the most complete one ever found. Nicknamed "Joe," it also turned out to be the smallest and youngest Parasaurolophus fossil ever found at under a year old and 6 feet long. The herbivore is known for its tube-shaped head crest, and this one was so young the crest is just a bump. "We now understand a lot more about how Parasaurolophus grew its crest," says a paleontologist. Specifically, the fact that the crest was already in existence on such a young dinosaur suggests that Parasaurolophus crests started growing earlier than those of other duck-billed dinosaurs. "It finally lets us understand how Parasaurolophus evolved that big crest, just by shifting around events in its development," the paleontologist says. Why so much time between the discovery and its reporting? The team couldn't even dig up the bones until 2010, because of the need for permits, and it took 1,300 hours of cleaning and chiseling to unearth the fossil—the completeness of which is "pretty spectacular," according to the paleontologist. Fun side note: Terris spotted the first bone after two professional paleontologists walked right by it, which one of them tells NBC News is "a little embarrassing."


Article:
Based on reporting by RFE/RL, AP, and dpa

 Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has assigned a team to investigate claims by the United Nations that prisoners in government custody were being tortured and abused.A presidential office statement on January 22 said the delegation will "fully investigate the claims of torture, mistreatment, death threats, and sexual abuse" in detention facilities.The statement said the delegation should report back to Karzai within two weeks "so that follow-up measures can be taken."In a report issued on January 20, thethat "torture persists and remains a serious concern in numerous detention facilities across Afghanistan."The report said that such practices continue despite efforts by the United Nations and international forces during the past year.Afghan authorities have denied the UN report's claims. ||||| The Afghan government has set up a delegation to investigate reports of torture in Afghan-run detention facilities.

 The delegation, which was announced on Tuesday, was created two days after the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan published a report on the "ill-treatment of conflict-related detainees in Afghan custody."

 The fact-finding team - including advisors from the interior ministry and the National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, which were both implicated in the report - will be "tasked to fully investigate the claims of torture, mistreatment, death threats and sexual abuse in prisons, and any faults or misconduct during questioning and trial of detainees."

 The UN report, based on interviews with hundreds of detainees held in 89 facilities between October 2011 and October 2012, details 14 abusive practices, including the twisting of genitals, extracting fingernails and electric shock.

 Perhaps most damning is a statement by an unnamed operative within the agency, who is quoted as saying "NDS has several secret places in which they detain and torture people."

 Conflicted relationship

 The response to the allegations has highlighted the conflicted relationship that Afghan officials have with international agencies.

 The initial response upon the report's January 20 publication was denial. An NDS official, speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, called the claims against the intelligence agency baseless.

 "People say they were beaten, but where are the bruises? If we rip out people's fingernails, then show the scars. Prove it," the official said, adding that the NDS only detains "the enemies of Afghanistan."

 "When people manage to speak to them alone, the stories change. They are looking to defend themselves, so they make up these false stories."

 The official argued that the 635 detainees interviewed by the UN were duped by a "welcoming war" of words by critics of the Afghan government, an increasingly common narrative in Kabul.

 These doubts were echoed by Aimal Faizi, a presidential spokesman. "While the Afghan government takes very seriously the allegations made in the UN report, we also question the motivations behind this report and the way it was conducted," he said.

 When asked about the claim in the report that "all tortured detainees were taken out of their cells... and they were transferred to another building inside the same compound to hide them," the NDS official said countless groups have observed the agency's practices. "Anyone we interrogate, we document it all. Everything we've done is in writing."

 Both the official and Faizi pointed to "numerous groups" that have observed the conditions in Afghan-run detention facilities to question the findings of the report.

 A tweet sent by Faizi only hours after the report's publication said "the Red Cross and human rights groups have full access to all our detention facilities and the detainees within these facilities."

 "Why would we torture? It doesn't work. I was arrested by the communists. The more they tortured, the less it made me want to speak. " - NDS official speaking to Al Jazeera

 In a statement to Al Jazeera, the International Committee of the Red Cross said they have "good access to detention facilities in Afghanistan and good collaboration with Afghan and international military forces in the country."

 Robin Waudo, a communications coordinator, said "if the [Red Cross] delegates witness ill-treatment first-hand while being present at a detention facility anywhere in the world, they would in every case intervene immediately and urge the authorities to put an end to it."

 But Sayed Mohammad Saeeq Shajjan, a Harvard law graduate now running a law firm in Kabul, said when legal and rights groups observe the conditions in the facilities, it is a closely monitored and guided process.

 The president's commission, which will conduct a two-week investigation, will "also not find anything," Shajjan said. "They will only speak in front of NDS authorities, to people they are confident will not speak up against the detention authorities."

 A Kabul-based judge, speaking on condition of anoymity, because he is not authorised to speak to the media, agreed.

 "The NDS utilises not one, but several abusive methods to obtain information. But there is nothing we can do, no one is allowed to interfere, especially in terrorism-related cases," the judge said.

 Arrest first

 Shajjan said he has heard repeated stories of torture methods being used for false confessions in cases based on false accusations.

 He recalled one client, Shah Mahmood, who turned to show Shajjan where the blood would drip from on his back after being lashed by ropes. "During his detention in Takhar, he was tortured badly, he was beaten with ropes, slapped and punched," Shajjan said.

 Unarmed at the time of his arrest, Shah Mahmood, an Uzbek, was accused of being a member of the Taliban by a district governor in northern Takhar province.

 "The district governor wanted Shah Mahmood to divorce his wife, who was known for her beauty. After demanding he divorce his wife three times, the district governor, who wanted to marry Shah Mahmood's wife, accused Shah Mahmood of being part of the Taliban."

 Shah Mahmood spent nine months in NDS detention where he was beaten on a daily basis until he would confess to being a member of the group.

 In another case, Shajjan said, Asef, a Kabul resident, "was deprived of his sleep, beaten with cables, received electric shocks and hanged from his hands for anywhere from three to 12 hours at a time" while in NDS custody.

 The torture led to a false confession and a 16-year sentence on allegations Asef had planted explosives in the house of a neighbour he was having a civil dispute with.

 Another detainee reported threats of sexual abuse using bottles if they do not confess, a practice documented in the latest UNAMA report.

 Like Shah Mahmood and Asef, Shajjan said many in NDS custody are innocent, but "they always arrest first and ask later".

 Follow Ali M Latifi on Twitter: @alibomaye |||||Summary:

– Hamid Karzai has ordered an investigation into reports of torture at Afghanistan's prisons, in the wake of a UN report claiming that nearly a third of detainees NATO had transferred into Afghan custody had been abused or tortured. But the team Karzai appointed includes advisers from the interior ministry and the National Directorate of Security, both of which were implicated in the UN report, al-Jazeera reports. Afghanistan's initial response to the report was to deny it. "If we rip out people's fingernails, then show the scars. Prove it," one official was quoted as saying. Now Karzai is promising the team will "fully investigate" the claims, and report back in two weeks "so that follow-up measures can be taken," according to Radio Free Europe. But one Kabul lawyer predicts the panel will conveniently find nothing. "They will only speak in front of NDS authorities, to people they are confident will not speak up."


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– A month after stunning Hollywood and sparking questions about her mental stability with the news of her retirement, Amanda Bynes wants a do-over. "I've unretired," the 24-year-old on-again-off-again actress tweeted. She's a co-star of the buzzed-about high school comedy Easy A, notes People—and within minutes of "unretiring," Bynes was tweeting about the trailer.


Here is a news article: SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The hotly anticipated initial public offering of Facebook Inc. on Friday largely fizzled, as the social network’s debut was racked by technical problems as well as a market-wide selloff that clipped nearly all of the stock’s gains by the closing bell.

 Reuters Facebook debuted on the Nasdaq Friday morning, but lost most of its gains by the end of the session.

 Facebook FB, -0.21% shares closed Friday at $38.23 — just 23 cents above its IPO price following a volatile session that had the shares up as much as 18% at one point, only to lose most of those gains by the end.

 Many factors contributed to the weak debut. A broad-based selloff hit the market late in the day, pinching more than 70 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.92% and causing the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.52% to drop 1.2% by the closing bell. What’s more, some believe the massive size of the Facebook offering itself caused some complications.

 “I think that the market was not there for this many shares,” said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities. “They priced it right if the goal was for the stock to trade flat, but it appears that the addition of 50 million shares on Wednesday night caused a supply/demand imbalance, and the market appetite wasn’t sufficient to support the stock above issue price.”

 There were also technical glitches on the Nasdaq itself, which delayed the opening of the shares by 30 minutes, and caused confusion for brokers and traders trying to place their orders. Read WSJ story on Nasdaq's problems with Facebook IPO.

 Some analysts believe the offering was priced too high, maximizing the return for the company itself, but not leaving sufficient room for an upside in trading — or that first-day pop that many Internet debuts have experienced. LinkedIn Corp. LNKD saw its shares jump more than 100% on their first day of trades last May, while Yelp Inc. YELP, -0.05% surged nearly 64% in its own debut in early March. Google Inc. GOOG, +0.47% which went public in August 2004, saw a first-day gain of 18%, according to data from S&P’s CapitalIQ.

 Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee said it was “surprising that they didn’t get the pop that many were expecting.” He has a 12-month price target of $46 on the shares.

 “It seems the underwriters did not leave much upside, or perhaps investors were signaling that they would buy a lot more shares than they ended up actually buying,” he added.

 The underwriters reportedly had to step in and help provide “liquidity support” for the offering during the day. Morningstar IPO analyst James Krapfel said the underwriters appeared to keep the stock from falling below its IPO price.

 “Facebook debuted at an inopportune time, as the recent stock market swoon clearly pressured the shares,” he said. “Had the company gone public a couple of weeks earlier, first day performance would likely have been much better.”

 Susquehanna analyst Herman Leung pointed to lingering questions about Facebook’s valuation and potential, saying that the market “would like to see the company prove itself before coming more convinced about the story.” Some concerns have risen about the company’s business, such as the news earlier in the week that General Motors Co. GM, -0.73% pulled its advertising from Facebook, questioning the effectiveness of the social network as an advertising channel.

 “It comes down to what investors want to pay for Facebook’s potential,” he added. “What’s exciting about Facebook, not right now, but two years or five years from now?”

 Leung also said Facebook sold a relatively bigger chunk of its total shares, which he estimated at about 18%, in its IPO. In comparison, LinkedIn offered only about 8% when it went public while Groupon offered roughly 5% when it launched. “There are a lot more shares in the marketplace to satisfy the demand from retail investors. A lot of people expected the pop — I would point to that as the first reason.”

 The company priced its offering of 421.2 million shares on Thursday afternoon, making for the largest technology IPO ever. Underwriters have been granted overallotment options worth about 63.2 million shares, which could bring the total value of the debut to about $18.4 billion.

 Facebook’s open also seemed to suck the wind out of other firms in social networking. Zynga Inc. ZNGA, +0.25% shares fell more than 13% by the close; the social-game maker draws the vast majority of its revenue from Facebook. Shares of Yelp were down more than 12% while LinkedIn slipped by 5.6%. Read more about social-media shares swooning in the wake of Facebook’s IPO.

 Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and chief executive, rang the opening bell of the Nasdaq Stock Market’s Friday session remotely from his company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

 According to data from Dealogic, Facebook’s deal ranks as the second-largest IPO by a U.S. company in history, including the shares in the overallotment. Visa Inc. V, +0.21% went public in 2008 in a $19.7 billion debut. Google, which went public in August 2004, sold about $1.9 billion worth of shares in that offering.

 Facebook priced its IPO at the high end of its expected range of $34 to $38 per share. That range was raised earlier in the week from $28 to $35 per share, and the company added more shares to the deal as well — although all of those came from selling shareholders that included several early backers. Read about Facebook's IPO pricing.

 With its shares at the $38 level, Facebook commands a market cap of about $104 billion. That puts it ahead of many more established and larger tech and Internet companies such as Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.15% eBay Inc. EBAY, +0.23% and Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, +0.85%

 Facebook is now has about half the market cap of Google, despite only one-tenth the revenue. It had revenues of $3.7 billion last year, with net income of $1 billion. The company says it has about 901 million monthly active users, a number that experts believe will cross into the 1 billion territory later this year.

 The offering by Facebook was widely expected to be the high point in a wave of social-networking deals. LinkedIn shares more than doubled in its IPO in May last year. Groupon rose 31% when it went public in November, while Yelp jumped more than 60% in its debut last March.

 One recent disappointment was Zynga, which saw its stock slip 5% in its December 2011 IPO. ||||| &lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=2c80bf265a" &gt;Facebook IPO: Live Blog&lt;/a&gt;

 NEW YORK ( TheStreet ) -- Ending months of feverish anticipation, FB ) made an eventful debut as a public company on Friday, dashing investor hopes of a massive IPO pop.

 After pricing its IPO at $38 a share late on Thursday, the social networker's stock opened at $42.05 at roughly 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning, 30 minutes after the scheduled time. Facebook shares briefly jumped to a high of $45 before running down toward its pricing level. Despite repeatedly touching $38 just before market close, the stock avoided negative territory, and closed at $38.23.

 The biggest-ever tech IPO, however, caused theexchange to struggle with phenomenally heavy volume as more than 573 million Facebook shares changed hands. Nasdaq even resorted to manually delivering executions to brokerage houses.

 The IPO price of $38 a share gave Facebook a valuation of $104 billion, significantly above the market caps of tech heavyweights DELL ) and HPQ ). At $38 a share, the offering has raised more than $16 billion for the Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm.

 ReadLive Blog recap for more details of Facebook's historic IPO:

 --Written by James Rogers and Chris Ciaccia in New York.

 >To follow the writers on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/jamesjrogers and http://twitter.com/Commodity_Bull

 >To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com

 Check out our new tech blog, Tech Trends . Follow TheStreet Tech on your wireless devices ||||| Facebook's public debut had plenty of buzz but not much pop. The shares opened 11% higher, but soon struggled to stay above their offering price. David Benoit and Shayndi Raice have details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters.

 Facebook Inc. took eight years to stage one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever. The anticlimax came Friday, as Wall Street bankers struggled to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with a loss.

 The stock had been widely predicted to soar on its first day. Instead, up until the closing moments of the trading session, Facebook's underwriters battled to keep the stock from slipping below its offering price of $38 a share. Such a stumble would have been a significant embarrassment, particularly for a prominent new issue like Facebook, the most heavily traded IPO of all time.

 In the end, the bankers succeeded. When trading on Nasdaq ended at 4 p.m., the social network's stock was up just a hair, 0.6%, at $38.23.

 The roller-coaster day—Facebook's shares started out jumping roughly 11%, before cooling off—was also beset by trading glitches and a 30-minute delay in the opening of trading. Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. didn't respond to requests for comment.

 Facebook was also hurt by investors' high expectations of a healthy first-day pop in the price, according to people familiar with the matter. When that pop didn't happen, it prompted a selloff, these people said.

 That's when Facebook's underwriters had to step in to support the company's share price, people familiar with the matter said. In particular, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley was assigned to be the deal's "stabilization agent"—meaning it was the firm's job to keep the shares above the offering price, these people said. In that role, Morgan Stanley was forced to buy Facebook shares as the price slid toward $38 in order to prevent the price from crossing into negative territory, according to these people.

 Live Chat Recap How did WSJ's David Benoit, Steven Russolillo, Stephen Grocer and Paul Vigna field reader questions in the early hours of trading?

 Morgan Stanley, which led the platoon of 11 Wall Street banks that arranged the listing, had to dip into an emergency reserve of around 63 million Facebook shares—worth more than $2.3 billion at the offer price—to boost the price and create a floor around $38 a share, according to people close to the situation. In successful IPOs, the reserve, known as the "overallotment" or "green shoe," is used by underwriters to meet soaring demand but in this case, it was used to prop up Facebook's ailing share price.

 The process is common in IPOs and works like this: The underwriters have the extra shares available to either sell or buy for a period after the IPO. If demand is strong, they sell them like all the other shares. But if the stock price falls, they can buy them back, effectively creating a floor for the price.

 Facebook's price began falling almost immediately after shares began trading. It is unclear exactly when Morgan Stanley stepped in, but traders said that the price movements throughout the day, with the shares occasionally touching the IPO price but never crossing below it, suggested the firm was active throughout much of the session.

 Facebook's opening-day travails suggested how tough it can be to live up to high expectations in the market. "There's been way, way too much hype, so it may be impossible not to have it be anticlimactic," said Peter Falvey, managing director of the Boston-based investment bank Falvey Partners LLC.

 Photos: Facebook's First Day of Trading View Slideshow

 The stock's 0.6% rise was far below the first-day performance of other companies that raised $5 billion or more in their IPOs, such as United Parcel Service Inc., which experienced a 36% first-day pop in 1999, according to Dealogic. Some Web-company IPOs over the past year, such as the social network LinkedIn Corp., more than doubled on their first days, though game maker Zynga Inc. closed down 5% on its December debut.

 Still, at a market capitalization of nearly $105 billion by day's end, Facebook took its place among the nation's corporate giants. Its stock market capitalization makes Facebook bigger than computer firm Hewlett-Packard Co., and puts it in the same league as PepsiCo Inc.

 At Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., the mood was celebratory, according to people on the company's campus. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the company from his Harvard dorm room in 2004 and who is now worth $19.25 billion, rang the Nasdaq opening bell from there early Friday morning amid a gathering of around 2,000 employees.

 Related Video

 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addresses employees before ringing the Nasdaq bell ahead of Facebook's IPO on Friday. Video: Facebook.

 Mean Street host Evan Newmark calls on WSJ's Thorold Barker and Rolfe Winkler to discuss the delay and then relatively slow start by Facebook shares following the start of trading. Photo: Getty Images.

 In his On the Mark segment, Mean Street host Evan Newmark points out that Facebook's slow start out of the IPO gate gives him lots of hope. Photo: AP.

 WSJ's 'Intelligent Investor' Jason Zweig visits Mean Street and looks at the unique way in which Facebook is intertwined with the lives of its customers and asks 'How much is too much to pay for a piece of yourself?' Photo: Getty Images.

 Flanked by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Mr. Zuckerberg told the crowd to remember the IPO was just one day. "Going public is an important milestone," said the 28 year old, sporting his trademark hoodie. "But here's the thing. Our mission isn't to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected." He closed with, "Stay focused and keep shipping."

 The social network last month reported that its first-quarter sales declined from the prior quarter, and that profit also slumped, though revenue was up from a year earlier. Advertisers such as General Motors Co. have publicly questioned the utility of Facebook's ads. And Facebook must grapple with privacy issues as well as concerns over its strategy in mobile devices and the complex China market, among other things.

 "Facebook's got a great run ahead of it, but things keep moving," said Deepak Kamra, a general partner at venture-capital firm Canaan Partners. "Platforms come and go."

 For the day, however, the offering drew in investors large and small. Theophilus Hodges, a 36-year-old property manager, stopped into an E*Trade branch in downtown Chicago Friday morning specifically to open an account to buy Facebook shares. Mr. Hodges said he plans to invest $10,000 in Facebook shares, using $4,500 of his own money and $5,500 from his mother. "If it wasn't for Facebook, I wouldn't be here," he said.

 Some investors who had bought Facebook shares in private transactions in the so-called secondary market before the IPO said they were disappointed the social network didn't have a strong first-day pop. "If the stock were trading in the $50s right now, I might be fighting off some momentary giddiness, but I can't take giddiness to the bank," said Kevin Landis of the $85 million technology fund Firsthand Capital in San Jose, Calif., which bought Facebook at about $31 a share on the secondary market.

 Yet even if some institutional investors felt let down, Facebook's early venture-capital investors were jazzed. David Sze, a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners, which invested about $12 million in Facebook in 2006 at a $525 million valuation, faced criticism at the time for what was viewed as an expensive deal. Greylock now owns a stake in Facebook valued at as much as $1.15 billion. "No one ever believes at the beginning," Mr. Sze said, adding that his partners are "feeling very happy."

 The hours leading up the IPO on Friday morning were busy at Facebook. Late into Thursday night, hundreds of employees huddled around their computer screens and goofed off, playing hockey or giving impromptu concerts.

 At around 6:30 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, hundreds more employees returned to the campus to watch Mr. Zuckerberg ring in Nasdaq's opening bell. Facebook engineers had rigged the button to automatically post the message, "Mark Zuckerberg has listed a company on NASDAQ - FB," on his own Facebook profile as he rang the bell.

 But on the other side of the country, on Wall Street, traders were exasperated by a 30-minute delay in the opening of the stock, which didn't begin trading till around 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Nasdaq officials told members in a notice at noon that its staff was "investigating an issue in delivering trade execution messages" from trades made in Facebook's IPO. Around 1 p.m., Nasdaq indicated it would provide a "manual report" to brokers with information on Facebook trades.

 Once the stock opened, trading was robust. More than 200 million shares changed hands in the first hour, as investors rushed in to buy, and some who had received stock from the IPO cashed out. By day's end, 571 million shares traded hands.

 The glitches that beset Nasdaq on Friday helped contribute to the lackluster price for Facebook shares, according to people familiar with the snafus. One of the biggest problems, these people said, was that buyers and sellers of Facebook shares weren't provided confirmation of their trades until 2 p.m. That's akin to people not knowing how much money is in their bank account, and therefore not knowing whether to go out and spend more money or save.

 Lead underwriter Morgan Stanley received about 38% of the IPO shares to distribute, while J.P. Morgan got 20% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s allotment was roughly 15%. Morgan Stanley is expected to command the largest percentage of more than $175 million in fees from the IPO.

 —John Letzing, Owen Fletcher, Geoffrey A. Fowler and Jenny Strasburg contributed to this article.

 Write to Shayndi Raice at shayndi.raice@wsj.com, Ryan Dezember at ryan.dezember@dowjones.com and Jacob Bunge at jacob.bunge@dowjones.com |||||
A summary of this is?

– Facebook has seen a mixed start to its IPO: Initially priced at $38 each, shares in the company quickly jumped about 11%, opening at $42. But things cooled off, and at one point in the first half-hour, shares were back down to about $38, notes the Wall Street Journal. They were hovering just under $40 around mid-day. “I think it’s surprising that they didn’t get the pop that many were expecting,” one analyst tells MarketWatch. “It seems the underwriters did not leave much upside, or perhaps investors were signaling that they would buy a lot more shares than they ended up actually buying.” TheStreet.com has a liveblog here.