An update to an election forecasting model announced by two University of Colorado professors in August continues to project that Mitt Romney will win the 2012 presidential election.
According to their updated analysis, Romney is projected to receive 330 of the total 538 Electoral College votes. President Barack Obama is expected to receive 208 votes -- down five votes from their initial prediction -- and short of the 270 needed to win.
While many election forecast models are based on the popular vote, the model developed by Bickers and Berry is based on the Electoral College and is the only one of its type to include more than one state-level measure of economic conditions.
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The backlog of veterans’ disability claims has jumped by 179 percent during President Barack Obama’s first term in office, reaching 883,949 outstanding claims, according to Veterans Administration
(VA) statistics
When Obama took office, there were approximately 390,000 outstanding claims, of which only 22 percent had been pending for more than 180 days.
The backlog problem has more than doubled in the past two years alone. In January 2012, pending claims stood at about 880,000, with 64 percent backlogged for more than 125 days. That number was up approximately 116,000 over the previous year.
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Jose Antonio Vargas, the writer and activist who went public last year with his status as an undocumented immigrant, was arrested for a driving infraction in Minnesota on Friday, but federal immigration authorities did not detain him or take any other action, officials said Saturday.
Vargas, a former Washington Post reporter who revealed his status in The New York Times Magazine and touched off a debate in the journalistic community, was initially pulled over by a state trooper for driving while wearing head phones.
When the trooper ran the license, it showed the status [of the license] was canceled. It also indicated there may have been fraudulent activity associated with the license. That’s why [it might have been] canceled. That triggered the trooper to look into that further and contact ICE
An ICE official with knowledge of the situation wrote in an email that "Mr. Vargas was not arrested by ICE and no detainer was issued."
Vargas was arrested by the state patrol and put in jail for not having a valid driver’s license, Roeske said. He was released several hours later and is slated to appear in district court on Oct. 18.
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PIGS are being given toys to play with in their pens - because happier pigs make tastier bacon.
On farms across Great Britain, pigs are being treated to an array of playthings to bite into – including ropes, footballs traffic cones, rubber boots, chains and even rubber hoses hanging down from the ceiling.
One big hit with the pigs has been a plastic gadget known as a Porcichew, which the animals can swing on in circles like children on a roundabout.
The toys are part of a project funded by the British Pig Executive (BPEX) to improve conditions for pigs.
Anxious pigs release more of the stress hormone cortisol, which affects muscles and so the quality of meat. Pork from stressed pigs is paler and softer.
If a pig is less stressed you get better-tasting bacon, ham and pork.
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Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the main event!
In the red corner, topping out at 270 pounds in pregnancy, the bionic baby-maker, a 14-round champ on the birthing table -- eight times in one amazing swoop -- Nadya "The Octomom" Suleman!
In the blue corner, weighing in at ... well who cares she's really really tan ... a woman so tough not even UV rays can penetrate her. The crispy creamer! The epidermal apocalypse! Give it up for Patricia "Tanning Mom" Krentcil!
The mom now famous for denying that she brought her 6-year-old daughter into a tanning booth challenged quite possibly the most infamous mother on the planet -- Octomom -- to a couple rounds in the ring. Finally.
Patricia Krentcil -- who's now on the road to better skin after a bout with the law and the media earlier this year -- said that she could destroy Nadya Suleman in a celebrity boxing match.
"I could beat her," Krentcil said, holding up her fists. "But I'd probably break a nail.
Celebrity Boxing CEO Damon Feldman "I would love to see this match -- it would be amazing," Feldman said. "Personally I think Octomom would win. She's in great shape. She works out two, three hours a day. She's a physical woman. But Tanning Mom would be interesting, she'd be a personality and would be competitive."
Alas, the match is just out of reach. Suleman hung up when HuffPost Weird called for comment. But Feldman vowed to make it happen, some day.
His odds for the match?
"Two-to-one Octomom, but it's boxing, you never know."






