Saturday, 26 April 2014

Breaking down 8 streaming TV devices






A growing number of products can stream Web content onto users' televisions. Here is our look at some of the market's top devices.A growing number of products can stream Web content onto users' televisions. Here is our look at some of the market's top devices.

The latest entry in an increasingly crowded Web-streaming market, Amazon's Fire TV lets the user search content with their voice.The latest entry in an increasingly crowded Web-streaming market, Amazon's Fire TV lets the user search content with their voice.

The Apple TV box can stream content from iTunes, which is a bonus if you're a heavy Apple user.The Apple TV box can stream content from iTunes, which is a bonus if you're a heavy Apple user.

At $35, Google's Chromecast is the least expensive streaming device and maybe the easiest to use.At $35, Google's Chromecast is the least expensive streaming device and maybe the easiest to use.

As a gaming console, the PS4 obviously has other uses. But it streams video from some key apps -- and offers a Blu-ray player.As a gaming console, the PS4 obviously has other uses. But it streams video from some key apps -- and offers a Blu-ray player.

With more than 1,000 channels, the Roku 3 may offer the widest selection of any streaming device.With more than 1,000 channels, the Roku 3 may offer the widest selection of any streaming device.

At $50, the Streaming Stick offers the same wealth of content as the Roku 3, although it's a bit slower from time to time.At $50, the Streaming Stick offers the same wealth of content as the Roku 3, although it's a bit slower from time to time.

This $150 media player replaces the user's cable box and offers content from more than 100 apps (but not Hulu).This $150 media player replaces the user's cable box and offers content from more than 100 apps (but not Hulu).

Microsoft's Xbox One console can play live television as well as streamed video from Netflix and other top apps.Microsoft's Xbox One console can play live television as well as streamed video from Netflix and other top apps.









  • Amazon's Fire TV further crowds the market for streaming devices

  • Apple, Google, Roku and Samsung are also key players

  • Report: 7.6 million U.S. households exclusively use Web streaming and downloads

  • We compare details on some of the field's top devices




(CNN) -- When Amazon released its Fire TV system this month, it propelled the company into the increasingly competitive marketplace of devices that stream Web content into the living room.


The set-top box now competes with Apple, Google and Samsung, as well as early innovator Roku and even the gaming world's top consoles for the eyeballs of people who stream services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube onto their televisions.





Binge viewing fuels streaming demand




The digital streaming revolution




Amazon takes aim at Roku and Apple TV

These devices are relatively new innovations: Roku first announced a simple Netflix-streaming box in 2008. But in recent years, more and more people have begun using devices that harness the Internet's bountiful offerings and send them, usually via Wi-Fi, to a TV set.


According to Experian, almost half of all U.S. adults and 67% of young adults now watch streamed or downloaded video at least once a week.


And 7.6 million households in the United States have "cut the cord," using Web streaming and downloading exclusively instead of cable, satellite or broadcast, for their television viewing, the company said in a report this week.


But it's still a new concept for a lot of folks. And with so many players in the game, not to mention a new wave of "smart TVs" that hook up to the Web on their own, it can be hard to pick a favorite.


If you own a smart TV, you may not need a separate device for streaming. But the software on many smart TVs is still clunky, and most Web-streaming gadgets offer a larger menu of apps and channels.


Here, we break down the top players in the Web television market and compare details about their products.


Amazon Fire TV


Price: $100


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Amazon (obviously), Spotify, YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Watch ESPN, Showtime


Works with: Android or iOS devices


Storage: 8 GB


Notes: No HBO Go, but a new deal offers limited HBO programming (Sorry, no "Game of Thrones"). Features voice search for shows, movies, actors or genres. Doubles as a casual gaming device with titles like "Minecraft."


Apple TV


Price: $100


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, HBO Go


Works with: Apple mobile devices


Storage: None on device


Notes: No Amazon. Streams music and video from iTunes, as well as content from iPhones and iPads. Ideal for someone who owns several Apple devices.


Google Chromecast


Price: $35


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go, Pandora, MLB.tv


Works with: Android, iOS


Storage: None on device


Notes: No Amazon. Easy setup; this little dongle basically works like a thumb drive.


PlayStation 4


Price: $400


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Hulu, Netflix, Amazon


Works with: Android, iOS, PlayStation Vita


Storage: 500 GB


Notes: Also features a Blu-Ray player. More expensive but obviously a more diverse device.


Roku 3


Price: $100


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Spotify, Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon, Showtime


Works with: Android, iOS


Storage: None on device, but you can expand it with a memory card


Notes: Wide app selection. With more than 1,000 channels, offers perhaps the widest variety of content. Not compatible with 4K televisions.


Roku Streaming Stick


Price: $50


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Same as Roku 3


Works with: Android, iOS


Storage: None on device


Notes: An answer to Chromecast, this little stick offers more content than the Google product. Some reviewers have said it's slow loading some popular apps (but they work fine once loaded).


Samsung Smart Media Player


Price: $150


Resolution: 1080p


Key apps: Netflix, YouTube, Amazon


Works with: Android, iOS


Storage: None on device, but you can expand it with a memory card


Notes: Replaces the user's cable box. Includes browser for Web surfing. Pricier than other dedicated media players.


Xbox One


Price: $500


Resolution: 1080p


Key Apps: YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Skype, ESPN, NFL


Works with: Android, iOS, Xbox Smartglass


Storage: 500 GB


Notes: Includes Blu-ray player. Allows users to watch live television. Also more expensive but more diverse.



'It is spring! We are going to die'





  • Stephen Burt: National Poetry Month and onset of spring both great reasons to try poetry

  • He says poets have long explored the warring emotion that change of season brings

  • He says beauty, life, death collide. "It is spring! We are going to die," wrote Louise Gluck

  • Burt: Poems help us express feeling. They are to be read, written, memorized. Try it!




Editor's note: Stephen Burt is the author of three poetry collections, including "Belmont," and several critical books, including "Close Calls with Nonsense," a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is professor of English at Harvard University and lives in Belmont, Massachusetts. You can find him on Twitter at @accommodatingly. He spoke with CNN.com/OPINION for a video interview at the 2013 TED Global conference.


(CNN) -- If you like to put words together in new ways, if you use your imagination when you use language, if you listen to how words sound, or if you have ever worked hard to say how you feel, you might -- by some great definitions -- be making poetry: You might be ready to read some.


April -- America's National Poetry Month -- makes as good a time as any to start. That it is spring after a super cold winter only helps. The season summons all the feelings of joy, and sometimes struggle, that change can bring.


"Nothing is so beautiful as spring," declared Gerard Manley Hopkins, the Victorian poet and priest. But spring also brought him down: In one of his last poems, he complained, "Birds build — but not I build," he could "not breed one work that wakes."



Stephen Burt


For as long as there has been something called poetry, maybe far longer, poets have observed the changing seasons and welcomed new life, celebrating the return of water in dry climates, warmth in cold ones. The author of Psalm 107 thanks the God who can turn "dry ground into watersprings," who can "sow fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase."


But poetry also comes to us as dissatisfaction. We feel something; we want something; we perceive something that just cannot fit the language of everyday life. It's too strange, or too private, or too intense, so we try to find a way to say this. We need a language whose shapes and symbols, whose sounds and intensities, give voice to our complaint.


"You want something: that's the pretext," writes the contemporary poet Rae Armantrout. We turn to poetry when we want something that the rest of life will not let us have. Henry Howard, the 16th century poet who helped invent the sonnet, wrote a poem that his earliest editor labeled "A Description of Spring, wherein each thing renews, save only the lover," bees make honey, snow melts, the turtle doves pair up, "and yet my sorrow springs." He has no mate.


When T. S. Eliot began his most famous poem "April is the cruelest month," he, too, complained that fertility had left him behind.


And spring poets after him would complain in new ways. For the contemporary poet Juliana Spahr, spring in Ohio prompts memories of a creek where "our hearts took on the brilliant blues, reds and oranges of breeding male rainbow darters and our hearts swam to the female rainbow darter."





Young poets empower each other




Angelou: Nelson Mandela was on a journey




Spring Allergies

But those memories prompt fears about water pollution, climate change, extinction: "gentle now," Spahr tells the endangered American species, "don't add to heartache."


Ann Kim looks at spring and sees human helplessness: "who would argue/ a hyacinth/ out of the woods?" The former U.S. poet laureate Louise Glück finds spring even harder to bear: In her poem "For Jane Meyers," "the mild harping of the breeze," "the daffodils flocking and honking" like demented geese, lead her to exclaim "It is spring! We are going to die!"


And we are going to die. So are the flowers, and so are the rainbow darters, and so are the bees. But poetry can also work to fend off our mortality, bringing together words so powerful, so memorable, that they might preserve something about us for many springs after we are gone. "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments/ Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme," promised Shakespeare.


Other poets have been more pessimistic about the same goal: in the poetry of Juan Felipe Herrera, poet laureate of California, "we pick up stones and scratch our names on sand." William Butler Yeats sometimes imagined that poetry could leave nature behind, separating the soul from the "dying animal." His poem "Sailing to Byzantium" asks the masters of an ancient art to "gather me/ Into the artifice of eternity."


With its rich rhyme scheme, its "hammered gold and gold enamelling," it is a poem fit to memorize. And spring is as good a time as any to find, and memorize, a favorite poem (you might find some here). Today we can find poems, and music and pictures and stories and video records, online with ease (that is one reason slam and performance poetry, meant for the stage, has done so well these days).


But in centuries past, when paper could be expensive and pixels were unheard of, the patterns that made poems easy to share and remember were one way to keep any memory alive. When we memorize poetry — as so many of our grandmothers and grandfathers did, whether in English or in Bengali or in Ghanaian Twi — we participate in the power of poetry to keep something alive long after its creators die. To read poetry, to write poetry, to study poetry, in the right spirit, is to make something bloom that can last far longer than any particular flower or leaf.


We have libraries — and, now, glowing screens — in which a world of poetry can come to you and you can take it with you, away from school, and out of the house. One of the most important poets in English, William Wordsworth, hoped you would do just that: In a poem entitled "The Tables Turned," Wordsworth asked his "Friend" to "quit your books," "let Nature be your teacher," and "Close up those barren leaves;/ Come forth, and bring with you a heart/ That listens and receives." More than 200 years later, poetry still encourages you to do just that; you might even bring a poem of your own along.


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Report: Team owner linked to racist comments





  • TMZ posts audio allegedly of Clippers owner Donald Sterling arguing with his girlfriend

  • Argument is over V. Stiviano associating in public with African-Americans

  • Speaker particularly upset over an Instagram she took with Magic Johnson

  • NBA is conducting investigation; Magic Johnson says he'll boycott team




(CNN) -- Longtime NBA team owner Donald Sterling is being roundly criticized for remarks he allegedly made regarding African-Americans that many would view as racist.


Sterling, who has owned the Los Angeles Clippers for nearly three decades, made the comments in a 10-minute argument he had with girlfriend V. Stiviano on April 9, according to TMZ, which posted the audio Saturday.


Reaction: 'Disturbing and offensive'


Multiple calls to the Clippers organization Saturday were not returned. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the recording.


TMZ does not say who made the recording or how the celebrity-centric website obtained it.


Attempts to reach Stiviano on Saturday also were unsuccessful.


If authentic, the remarks seem to reflect Sterling's embarrassment and frustration with Stiviano over her associating with African-Americans at Clippers games and for posting such pictures on her Instagram account.


Stiviano is part African-American, according to the recording.


The man alleged to be Sterling takes particular exception to a photo she posted to Instagram with NBA icon Earvin "Magic" Johnson.


"In your lousy f**ing Instagrams, you don't have to have yourself with -- walking with black people," the man says.


"If it's white people, it's OK?" she responds. "If it was Larry Bird, would it make a difference?"


Bird, the longtime Boston Celtics star, was Johnson's NBA rival.


"I've known [Magic] well and he should be admired .... I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately," the man on the recording says. "Admire him, bring him here, feed him, f**k him, but don't put [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games."


Johnson responded Saturday afternoon via his verified Twitter account.


"I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans" read a tweet from @MagicJohnson. "I will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner," read another.


The NBA weighed in as well.


"We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ," Mike Bass, executive VP for communications, told CNN. "The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information."


The Clippers are set to play the Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Sunday in the fourth game in their best-of-seven playoff series.



New rules give him hope for future





  • Tyler is among the thousands serving life sentences for non-violent drug crimes

  • The Justice Department recently announced changes in clemency rules

  • The new criteria could shorten prison stays for many inmates




(CNN) -- "I did not really realize I was getting life until the date of sentencing. When my attorney told me, I told him that I wanted to take back my guilty plea... they denied me."


Timothy Tyler says his life ended when he was 23-years-old. That was two decades ago, when he was arrested and later sentenced to a mandatory double-life term in prison without the possibility of parole for conspiracy to possess LSD with intent to distribute. A self-described "Deadhead," Tyler was busted after mailing five grams of the hallucinogenic drug to a friend who was working as an informant for the federal government.


He's had more than 20 years to fixate on that moment, years of "what ifs" and "whys." More than 20 years of feeling like he died, until now.


Changes on the horizon





Clemency changes to free drug offenders



Timothy Tyler is serving two life sentences.

Timothy Tyler is serving two life sentences.



Though the Obama administration has been campaigning for prison reform for some time, it has recently begun to take concrete steps to alleviate overcrowded federal prisons that are flooded with non-violent offenders.


The Justice Department announced changes to its clemency criteria this week, a move that will likely lead to a wave of sentence commutation requests being sent to President Barack Obama by thousands of prisoners who've been convicted of non-violent drug crimes.


"We are launching this clemency initiative in order to quickly and effectively identify appropriate candidates, candidates who have a clean prison record, do not present a threat to public safety, and were sentenced under out-of-date laws that have since been changed, and are no longer seen as appropriate," Deputy Attorney General James Cole said at a news conference Wednesday.


The clemency changes would be open to prisoners who have met a set of specific conditions: they must be low-level, non-violent offenders without a significant criminal history and must be serving a federal sentence that would likely be shorter if they were convicted today. They must have served at least 10 years of their sentence and have demonstrated good conduct in prison, with no history of violence before or during their prison term.


The pending changes are the latest step in an ongoing effort Attorney General Eric Holder calls "Smart on Crime," which also seeks to remedy the once-common wide disparity in sentences handed down over powder versus crack cocaine, based on guidelines first enacted by Congress more than 25 years ago.


In January, Holder urged Congress to pass the bipartisan "Smarter Sentencing Act," which would allow judicial leniency in the sentencing of those convicted of federal non-violent drug crimes.


And in April, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to back a Justice Department proposal to change the sentencing formula for drug offenders that could shorten prison stays for as many as 70% of federal drug defendants. "This reduction in the federal sentencing guidelines, while modest, sends a strong message about the need to reserve the harshest penalties for the most serious crimes," Holder commented.


Of the more than 200,000 inmates in the federal prison system, some estimates show the new clemency criteria could apply to about 2,000 prisoners. But the number is likely to fall to perhaps hundreds after government lawyers review the applications.


Sentencing guidelines


The history of federal mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses dates back to the 1950s, when a mandatory 10-year sentence could be imposed for crimes such as selling heroin to a juvenile. In the 60s, then-President Richard Nixon proposed sentencing reforms that would eventually result in nearly all mandatory minimum penalties for drug offenses being repealed. But the alarming rise of cocaine use, particularly crack cocaine, in the 1980s sent Congress scrambling to react to the epidemic and prompted the hasty revival of the laws that had been viewed so unfavorably two decades before.


Though the primary goal of legislation such as The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was to target and successfully prosecute "kingpins" or major drug traffickers, thousands of low-level offenders, like Tyler, have been swept up and imprisoned based on outdated guidelines.


While he understands why some may have trouble sympathizing with a three-time drug offender, Tyler offers perspective.


"A life sentence, people don't really understand it. A man raped his daughter, got probation. A man killed people with his car, got probation. They don't understand. If they did 10 days in jail they would understand... they can't comprehend."


In 1991, Tyler was a fixture in the Grateful Dead fan community. His days were often spent crisscrossing the country alongside fellow "Deadheads." Now, his days are spent alongside convicted murderers and rapists, his nights locked down at 9:45 p.m. "I actually thought that I would get 262 months-327 months, which is a lot of time, but it had a release date," he explained.


Tyler was arrested on his way to a Grateful Dead concert in California and was eventually extradited back to Florida, the state in which he mailed his LSD delivery. On the day he was sentenced, he tried his best to conceal his emotions for the sake of his sister, who was present in the courtroom. But "once I walked out of the courtroom while seeing my sister's eyes tearing up, I could not hold back my own," he remembered.


Crack cocaine at heart of once-common sentencing disparity


Wouldn't take plea deal


Tyler was initially offered a plea bargain with a 10-year sentence in exchange for testimony against his co-defendants. Had he accepted the deal, he would have been released about 10 years ago. But the decision wasn't that easy. One of his co-defendants was his own father. Tyler maintains that his father had never ingested LSD, but like his son, was only assisting a friend in obtaining the drug. Tyler did not testify against his father, who was convicted on a lesser offense.


"My dad was just helping his friend acquire some because he knew I was able to get it," Tyler told CNN over the phone from Canaan Federal Prison in Pennsylvania. "He certainly did not think he could get 10 years for a simple envelope."


Admittedly, Tyler was an avid user of LSD and was often called upon by friends to procure the illegal drug, which was often in abundance at Grateful Dead concerts. "When I was arrested, me and my friends considered LSD to be sacred or a sacrament," he said.


And though his two previous encounters with law enforcement for similar crimes had resulted only in probation, his third offense triggered the federal government's mandatory sentencing guidelines that would ensure he never spends another day as a free man.


According to Tyler, his public defender never explained to him the federal minimum mandatory guidelines, and by the time he did learn about them, it was too late. The guidelines did not allow the judge to take into consideration Tyler's age, mental state, drug addiction, or the absence of violence when he decided his punishment. The guilty plea he thought would soften his sentence and spare his father effectively ended Tyler's chances of ever stepping outside of prison again. "I loved my father just like I loved my adopted family at the concerts, so I could not go against him or them."


Following sentencing they sat together in prison, father and son, contemplating the bleak future that awaited them both. "He did tell me after sentencing while we were in the same jail together that he would not live long enough to complete his sentence," Tyler remembers. His father's premonitions proved true when he passed away in federal prison in April of 2001, with only 18 months left to serve.


Does the punishment fit the crime?


Tyler's supporters -- including his most ardent advocate, his sister Carrie -- don't think his punishment fits his crime. "I don't think I've done more wrong to society than has been done to me," Tyler explains. He can't help but get emotional thinking of his father. "My dad died in prison, how much blood does society feel they need?"


Many of his supporters believe that minimum mandatory sentencing is an inhumane and inefficient way to fight the war on drugs. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for clemency in Tyler's case. In addition, groups such as Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the ACLU, and the Clemency Project are lobbying for his release. "People have been becoming more aware, evolving it seems. Based on that and the current President and Attorney General Holder, maybe there is hope for others too because there are about 3,700 others who are doing life for non-violent [offenses]," Tyler explains.


And though legislation such as the "Smarter Sentencing Act" is a perfect example of the turning tide on the issue, Tyler says only one person can help him gain his freedom. "The only thing I can wish for now is a commutation of sentence from the President."


Considering that Obama issued clemency in December of 2013 for eight non-violent drug offenders, and the recent changes in clemency criteria, this isn't out of the realm of possibility.


While daydreaming about freedom may be a nice thought for Tyler, he's cautiously optimistic about his chances of actually being released. "I never thought about it 'til recently. I never thought about it but I have some supporters out there and maybe I will. I know my sister is wishing that would happen."


As he waits, Tyler -- or Inmate #99672-012 -- takes it one day at a time. "I hold out, live day to day, stay healthy, keep a positive attitude."


"I can beat any man around in handball, which is a big thing in prison."


CNN's Evan Perez contributed to this report.



More offenders eligible for clemency






<a href='http://ift.tt/1gUnE75' target='_blank'>Timothy Tyler</a>, an LSD addict and nonviolent drug offender, was arrested in 1992 and sentenced in 1994 for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute LSD. Because of two prior LSD distribution charges, the sentence was life in prison.Timothy Tyler, an LSD addict and nonviolent drug offender, was arrested in 1992 and sentenced in 1994 for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute LSD. Because of two prior LSD distribution charges, the sentence was life in prison.

Stephanie Nodd emerged from federal prison in 2011 after spending 21 years for her first and only conviction: conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. Under new guidance announced recently by Attorney General Eric Holder, today she'd likely spend no more than 10 years in prison, and perhaps less. Stephanie Nodd emerged from federal prison in 2011 after spending 21 years for her first and only conviction: conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. Under new guidance announced recently by Attorney General Eric Holder, today she'd likely spend no more than 10 years in prison, and perhaps less.

In 1991, plainclothes officers at a train station in Maryland stopped <a href='http://ift.tt/1gUnH2O' target='_blank'>Ricky Darden</a> because he looked "worried and nervous," according to <a href='http://famm.org' target='_blank'>Families Against Mandatory Minimums</a>. Darden refused to let the officers search his bag, and a drug dog was brought in to search it. They found 217.7 grams of crack in the bag. A Maryland judge threw Darden's case out claiming the officers did not have sufficient cause to detain his bag, and the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the ruling saying it was unconstitutional. The federal government prosecuted Darden and found him guilty of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Because of two prior offenses, Darden's mandatory minimum sentence was life in prison.In 1991, plainclothes officers at a train station in Maryland stopped Ricky Darden because he looked "worried and nervous," according to Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Darden refused to let the officers search his bag, and a drug dog was brought in to search it. They found 217.7 grams of crack in the bag. A Maryland judge threw Darden's case out claiming the officers did not have sufficient cause to detain his bag, and the Maryland Supreme Court upheld the ruling saying it was unconstitutional. The federal government prosecuted Darden and found him guilty of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. Because of two prior offenses, Darden's mandatory minimum sentence was life in prison.

In 1999, <a href='http://ift.tt/1gUnJHI' target='_blank'>Sharanda Jones</a> was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole, her first and only conviction. Jones bought cocaine from a Houston supplier and brought it to Dallas to be turned into crack cocaine. She was considered the leader of the conspiracy and had her sentence enhanced because she possessed a legally purchased firearm.In 1999, Sharanda Jones was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole, her first and only conviction. Jones bought cocaine from a Houston supplier and brought it to Dallas to be turned into crack cocaine. She was considered the leader of the conspiracy and had her sentence enhanced because she possessed a legally purchased firearm.

<a href='http://ift.tt/1iRCbV9' target='_blank'>DeJarion Echols</a> was arrested in Waco, Texas, in 2004 after police obtained a search warrant for his home and discovered 44 grams of crack cocaine, an unloaded rifle and $5,700 in cash. However, Echols was held responsible for approximately 500 grams of crack because of the Drug Enforement Agency's conversion rate for the $5,700 was considered equal to an additional 450 grams. He is serving 20 years in prison and is projected to be released in February 2023. At Echols' sentencing, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. said, "This is one of those situations where I'd like to see a congressman sitting before me."DeJarion Echols was arrested in Waco, Texas, in 2004 after police obtained a search warrant for his home and discovered 44 grams of crack cocaine, an unloaded rifle and $5,700 in cash. However, Echols was held responsible for approximately 500 grams of crack because of the Drug Enforement Agency's conversion rate for the $5,700 was considered equal to an additional 450 grams. He is serving 20 years in prison and is projected to be released in February 2023. At Echols' sentencing, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. said, "This is one of those situations where I'd like to see a congressman sitting before me."

In 2006, <a href='http://ift.tt/1gUnHjc' target='_blank'>Telisha Watkins</a> was arrested in North Carolina and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. She is serving a 20-year sentence. Watkins arranged for a former neighbor, who was a police informant, to purchase cocaine from a dealer. However, crack cocaine was found in the dealer's van, for which Watkins was held responsible. Because of her prior convictions and the crack cocaine, she was given a much harsher sentence.In 2006, Telisha Watkins was arrested in North Carolina and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. She is serving a 20-year sentence. Watkins arranged for a former neighbor, who was a police informant, to purchase cocaine from a dealer. However, crack cocaine was found in the dealer's van, for which Watkins was held responsible. Because of her prior convictions and the crack cocaine, she was given a much harsher sentence.

In 2008, <a href='http://ift.tt/1gUnHje' target='_blank'>Jack Carpenter</a> was arrested in his California home and charged with conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana. Carpenter obtained a medicinal marijuana license in California in 1996 to treat stomach pains he suffered since childhood. He grew the plant in his home for personal use. Carpenter began to distribute to medicinal marijuana dispensaries, and he grew plants in three houses, all of which went to the dispensaries. Police found 2,846 plants from the three houses, and $16,000 in cash belonging to one of Carpenter's employees. Carpenter was considered the leader of a conspiracy to distribute at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and sentenced to 10 years. His project release date is 2017.In 2008, Jack Carpenter was arrested in his California home and charged with conspiracy to grow and distribute marijuana. Carpenter obtained a medicinal marijuana license in California in 1996 to treat stomach pains he suffered since childhood. He grew the plant in his home for personal use. Carpenter began to distribute to medicinal marijuana dispensaries, and he grew plants in three houses, all of which went to the dispensaries. Police found 2,846 plants from the three houses, and $16,000 in cash belonging to one of Carpenter's employees. Carpenter was considered the leader of a conspiracy to distribute at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and sentenced to 10 years. His project release date is 2017.









  • Rules change is beginning of end of "mass incarceration," advocate says

  • The Justice Department announced new rules for non-violent offenders

  • Up to 2,000 federal prisoners could be eligible for reduced sentences

  • The U.S. criminal justice system must be perceived as being fair, Cole says




Washington (CNN) -- More federal prisoners serving sentences for non-violent crimes can apply for clemency after the Justice Department announced new rules Wednesday.


Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced that the department would broaden the criteria for clemency, a move that is expected to lead to thousands of prisoners -- most serving drug sentences -- filing applications to President Barack Obama seeking to commute their sentences.


The changes are part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to modify sentencing laws, allowing for use of rehabilitation and other alternatives to deal with non-violent drug offenders and those who previously faced tough mandatory minimum sentences.


Attorney General Eric Holder previewed some of the changes Monday by announcing plans to assign more lawyers to handle an anticipated flood of clemency requests.





Clemency changes to free drug offenders




Obama commutes 8 crack cocaine cases




Obama commutes 8 crack sentences

Crack cocaine at heart of once-common sentencing disparity


"We are launching this clemency initiative in order to quickly and effectively identify appropriate candidates, candidates who have a clean prison record, do not present a threat to public safety, and were sentenced under out-of-date laws that have since been changed, and are no longer seen as appropriate," Cole said at a news conference.


The clemency changes would be open to prisoners who have met a set of specific conditions: they must be low-level, non-violent offenders without a significant criminal history and must be serving a federal sentence that would likely be shorter if they were convicted today. They must have served at least 10 years of their sentence and have demonstrated good conduct in prison, with no history of violence before or during their prison term.


The pending changes are the latest step in an ongoing effort Holder calls "Smart on Crime," which also seeks to remedy the once-common wide disparity in sentences handed down over powder versus crack cocaine, based on guidelines first enacted by Congress more than 25 years ago.


Earlier: Eric Holder seeks to cut mandatory minimum drug sentences


Of the more than 200,000 inmates in the federal prison system, some estimates show the new clemency criteria could apply to about 2,000 prisoners. But the number is likely to fall to perhaps hundreds after government lawyers review the applications.


The Justice Department says it doesn't know how many people will end up qualifying because it depends on the applications and how they fit the new criteria. The President has final authority to decide who gets clemency.


Obama has been criticized by some civil rights groups for being stingy with his pardons and commutations. But many praised the Justice Department's decision as a good initial step, including a coalition of groups working on sentencing guidelines.


The announcement "marks the beginning of the end of the age of mass incarceration," said Jerry Cox, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "We must seize this historic opportunity to start the process of remedying decades of cruel and unnecessarily harsh sentencing policies."


Cole also announced the appointment of Deborah Leff to lead the department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which has come under fire for being slow to review a backlog of applications.


Cole said the department was setting up an online application system and working with pro-bono attorneys who will assist prisoners in their applications.


Mary Price, general counsel for the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which advocates for changes to drug sentencing laws, welcomed Cole's announcement. "The doors of the Office of the Pardon Attorney have been closed to petitioners for too long. This announcement signals a truly welcome change; the culture of 'no' that has dominated that office is being transformed," she said.


The push to relax sentencing laws has the support of some conservative Republican lawmakers, who believe it is a way to reduce spending on federal prisons and to use alternatives to incarceration to deal with drug problems. However, lawmakers want the changes to be made through Congress rather than through the president's executive power.


"I hope President Obama is not seeking to change sentencing policy unilaterally. Congress, not the President, has authority to make sentencing policy. He should continue to work with Congress rather than once again going it alone, and I'm willing to work with the President on these issues." Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said this week.


Cole, in his remarks Wednesday, said the issue is one of fairness. "Older, stringent punishments that are out of line with sentences imposed under today's laws erode people's confidence in our criminal justice system, and I am confident that this initiative will go far to promote the most fundamental of American ideals -- equal justice under law," Cole said.


Three years ago, Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act to address the larger issue of drug sentencing disparities. Sentencing guidelines provided for a 100-to-1 ratio between the penalties for crack cocaine offenses versus those for powdered cocaine, but the fair sentencing law reduced the disparity to 18-to-1.


CNN's Bill Mears contributed to this report.



Children viewed as a family's treasure





  • Thousands pay their respects at a memorial in Ansan

  • Even those without a connection to the disaster are heartbroken

  • Yellow ribbons have become a symbol of mourning




(CNN) -- The middle-aged man stands in line, patiently waiting. He's wearing the de facto uniform of the Seoul businessman, a fitted black suit and thin tie. He's driven an hour to be here at the memorial site at Ansan, joining the 100,000 mourners paying their respects before the school portraits of children who will never grow old.


"I'm a father of two kids," he weeps, his hand firmly over his chest, as if to press in a breaking heart. "I just am very sorry because I can do nothing for these families. I just want to come here to say I'm very sorry to these families."


He knew no one aboard the Sewol ferry -- his life in Seoul should be blissfully separate from the unfolding disaster at sea. But he embodies the grief, guilt and anger that leaves virtually no one in South Korea untouched.


Nation in yellow


The main road into Jindo is lined with yellow. Every 6 feet, another yellow ribbon waves in the wind of the passing cars. At Danwon High School in Ansan, where the junior class lost three quarters of its students in the ferry disaster, yellow ribbons are tied at the gates. But these ribbons didn't start at the disaster site or the school.









Divers search for people still missing from the sunken ferry Sewol in the waters off the southern coast near Jindo, South Korea, on Saturday, April 26. More than 100 people have died and many more are missing after the ferry sank Wednesday, April 16, as it headed to the resort island of Jeju from the port of Incheon.Divers search for people still missing from the sunken ferry Sewol in the waters off the southern coast near Jindo, South Korea, on Saturday, April 26. More than 100 people have died and many more are missing after the ferry sank Wednesday, April 16, as it headed to the resort island of Jeju from the port of Incheon.



People attend a memorial for the victims of the sunken ferry on April 26.People attend a memorial for the victims of the sunken ferry on April 26.



A diver jumps into the sea near the sunken ferry on Friday, April 25. A diver jumps into the sea near the sunken ferry on Friday, April 25.



A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken ferry weeps while waiting for news of his missing loved one at a port in Jindo on April 25.A relative of a passenger aboard the sunken ferry weeps while waiting for news of his missing loved one at a port in Jindo on April 25.



People attend a memorial for the victims of the Sewol at the Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan, South Korea, on Thursday, April 24. People attend a memorial for the victims of the Sewol at the Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan, South Korea, on Thursday, April 24.



Yellow ribbons honoring the missing and dead flap in the wind as a hearse carrying the body of a victim leaves Danwon High School in Ansan on April 24.Yellow ribbons honoring the missing and dead flap in the wind as a hearse carrying the body of a victim leaves Danwon High School in Ansan on April 24.



People attend a memorial for the victims at Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan.People attend a memorial for the victims at Olympic Memorial Hall in Ansan.



Search personnel dive into the sea on Wednesday, April 23.Search personnel dive into the sea on Wednesday, April 23.



Flares light up the search area on Tuesday, April 22.Flares light up the search area on Tuesday, April 22.



The sun sets over the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of the South Korean island of Jindo on April 22.The sun sets over the site of the sunken ferry off the coast of the South Korean island of Jindo on April 22.



A relative of a passenger aboard the ferry prays as she waits for news in Jindo on April 22.A relative of a passenger aboard the ferry prays as she waits for news in Jindo on April 22.



The search for victims continues in the waters of the Yellow Sea on April 22.The search for victims continues in the waters of the Yellow Sea on April 22.



Rescue workers carry the body of a passenger on Monday, April 21, in Jindo.Rescue workers carry the body of a passenger on Monday, April 21, in Jindo.



Divers jump into the water on April 21 to search for passengers near the buoys which mark the site of the sunken ferry.Divers jump into the water on April 21 to search for passengers near the buoys which mark the site of the sunken ferry.



A relative of a passenger looks at the lists of the dead in Jindo on April 21.A relative of a passenger looks at the lists of the dead in Jindo on April 21.



Search operations continue as flares illuminate the scene near Jindo on Sunday, April 20.Search operations continue as flares illuminate the scene near Jindo on Sunday, April 20.



Relatives of missing passengers from the Sewol ferry grieve on April 20 in Jindo.Relatives of missing passengers from the Sewol ferry grieve on April 20 in Jindo.



Relatives of passengers look out at the sea from Jindo on April 20.Relatives of passengers look out at the sea from Jindo on April 20.



A relative of a missing passenger struggles with a policeman as he tries to march toward the presidential house in Jindo on April 20 to protest the government's rescue operation.A relative of a missing passenger struggles with a policeman as he tries to march toward the presidential house in Jindo on April 20 to protest the government's rescue operation.



Police officers stand guard Saturday, April 19, at the port in Jindo to prevent relatives of the ferry's missing passengers from jumping in the water. Some relatives have said they will swim to the shipwreck site and find their missing family members by themselves.Police officers stand guard Saturday, April 19, at the port in Jindo to prevent relatives of the ferry's missing passengers from jumping in the water. Some relatives have said they will swim to the shipwreck site and find their missing family members by themselves.



Family members of missing passengers hug as they await news of their missing relatives at Jindo Gymnasium in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea, on April 19. Family members of missing passengers hug as they await news of their missing relatives at Jindo Gymnasium in the southwestern province of South Jeolla, South Korea, on April 19.



South Korean Navy Ship Salvage Unit members prepare to salvage the sunken ferry and search for missing people on April 19.South Korean Navy Ship Salvage Unit members prepare to salvage the sunken ferry and search for missing people on April 19.



Oil from the sunken ferry appears near the wreckage site on April 19.Oil from the sunken ferry appears near the wreckage site on April 19.



Lee Joon Suk, the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol, is escorted to the court that issued his arrest warrant Friday, April 18, in Mokpo, South Korea. It is not yet known what caused Wednesday's deadly accident.Lee Joon Suk, the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol, is escorted to the court that issued his arrest warrant Friday, April 18, in Mokpo, South Korea. It is not yet known what caused Wednesday's deadly accident.



Offshore cranes wait near buoys that mark the location of the sunken ferry near Jindo, South Korea, on April 18.Offshore cranes wait near buoys that mark the location of the sunken ferry near Jindo, South Korea, on April 18.



A U.S. helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard during search-and-rescue operations on April 18.A U.S. helicopter takes off from the flight deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard during search-and-rescue operations on April 18.



A woman cries as she waits for news on missing passengers April 18 in Jindo.A woman cries as she waits for news on missing passengers April 18 in Jindo.



A searchlight illuminates the capsized ferry on Thursday, April 17.A searchlight illuminates the capsized ferry on Thursday, April 17.



The ship's captain, Lee Joon Suk, arrives at the Mokpo Police Station in Mokpo on April 17. His head and face covered, he broke down in tears when reporters asked whether he had anything to say.The ship's captain, Lee Joon Suk, arrives at the Mokpo Police Station in Mokpo on April 17. His head and face covered, he broke down in tears when reporters asked whether he had anything to say.



A woman cries during a candlelight vigil at Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea, on April 17. Most of the people on board the ferry were high school students on their way to the resort island of Jeju.A woman cries during a candlelight vigil at Danwon High School in Ansan, South Korea, on April 17. Most of the people on board the ferry were high school students on their way to the resort island of Jeju.



Rescue personnel dive April 17 during search operations.Rescue personnel dive April 17 during search operations.



Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry gather at a gymnasium in Jindo on April 17.Family members of passengers aboard the sunken ferry gather at a gymnasium in Jindo on April 17.



The body of a victim is moved at a hospital in Mokpo on April 17.The body of a victim is moved at a hospital in Mokpo on April 17.



Relatives of a passenger cry at a port in Jindo on April 17 as they wait for news on the rescue operation.Relatives of a passenger cry at a port in Jindo on April 17 as they wait for news on the rescue operation.



South Korean coast guard members and rescue teams search for passengers at the site of the sunken ferry on April 17.South Korean coast guard members and rescue teams search for passengers at the site of the sunken ferry on April 17.



A relative of a passenger cries as she waits for news on Wednesday, April 16.A relative of a passenger cries as she waits for news on Wednesday, April 16.



Rescue teams and fishing boats try to rescue passengers on April 16.Rescue teams and fishing boats try to rescue passengers on April 16.



Relatives check a list of survivors April 16 in Jindo.Relatives check a list of survivors April 16 in Jindo.



Relatives of missing ferry passengers wait for news at a gym in Jindo.Relatives of missing ferry passengers wait for news at a gym in Jindo.



Rescue crews attempt to save passengers from the ferry on April 16.Rescue crews attempt to save passengers from the ferry on April 16.



A South Korean coast guard helicopter lifts passengers off the vessel on April 16.A South Korean coast guard helicopter lifts passengers off the vessel on April 16.



Police and rescue teams carry a passenger at the port in Jindo on April 16. Police and rescue teams carry a passenger at the port in Jindo on April 16.



A relative waits for a missing loved one at the port in Jindo.A relative waits for a missing loved one at the port in Jindo.



Parents at Danwon High School search for names of their children among the list of survivors. Ansan is a suburb of Seoul, the South Korean capital.Parents at Danwon High School search for names of their children among the list of survivors. Ansan is a suburb of Seoul, the South Korean capital.



Helicopters hover over the ferry as rescue operations continue April 16.Helicopters hover over the ferry as rescue operations continue April 16.



A man in Seoul watches a news broadcast about the sinking vessel.A man in Seoul watches a news broadcast about the sinking vessel.



Officials escort rescued passengers April 16 in Jindo.Officials escort rescued passengers April 16 in Jindo.



A passenger is helped onto a rescue boat on April 16.A passenger is helped onto a rescue boat on April 16.



A passenger is rescued from the sinking ship on April 16.A passenger is rescued from the sinking ship on April 16.







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Photos: South Korean ship sinksPhotos: South Korean ship sinks






Fisherman rescued students from ferry




Sunken ferry builder's similar disaster




Authorities investigating ferry company

In the nation that refers to itself as the most wired in the world, South Korea's ribbons began online, as a simple yellow square with the outline of a bow. University students designed the image and began to spread it on an instant messaging site in South Korea called Kakao Talk on April 19. The meaning began as a hopeful one, "one small step, big miracle." As the death toll continues to rise, it's evolved into a national sign of grief.


People are tying ribbons to their homes and schools across the country. The ribbons prominently appear on television news programs nearly every half hour, somber music sometimes playing underneath the slow-motion images of the yellow across the country. The prim presenters of South Korea's television programs, whose female anchors tend to favor hot pink and royal blue, are all wearing grey and black suits. One story dominates the news channels -- the Sewol ferry disaster, from the investigation to the national mourning.


On Korean language Twitter and Facebook, users share their grief in short messages with a yellow ribbon. Overwhelmingly, the messages tend to focus on a sense of rage and helplessness. "I am sorry that I couldn't rescue you and help you," Twitter uses @sbja22 wrote.


Children, a nation's treasure


The palpable desire to rescue the victims centers around who the passengers are -- students from Danwon High School. Juniors in South Korea's high schools have traditionally been granted a special outing or field trip before notoriously rigorous college entrance exams. The teenagers who boarded the Sewol ferry were experiencing a national rite of passage that turned to horror.


Children in South Korea are considered a family's treasure, the ones who have traditionally been doted on and showered with attention. Obedience in the young is prized. Parental protection is the reward.


The Sewol disaster tears through much of the cultural structure expected in modern Korean society of children and elders. The first emergency call from the doomed ferry came from a Danwon student, 17 year old Choi Duk-ha.


"Save us. We are on a ship, and I think it's sinking," he pleaded as he called emergency services. The adults on the ship failed to make the first distress call and would follow three minutes later. Choi Duk-ha would die on the Sewol ferry.


The crew, the ones trained to protect the passengers, issued a ship-wide announcement for passengers to remain in their cabins, instead of heading to the deck and the life rafts. The high school students, raised in that culture of obedience, overwhelmingly listened to that announcement. Survivors say the passengers who listened to that order were the ones who never made it off.


The crew then abandoned ship, being some of the first rescued by the coast guard. Television news broadcast images fueling national outrage -- the captain jumping into a rescue boat as his young passengers remained trapped, wearing life vests that prevented them from swimming out of flooding rooms.


System-wide failure


The Sewol ferry was first known as the Ferry Naminoue, built in Japan. It operated in Japan from 1994 to 2012. The Chonghaejin Marine Co. purchased the ferry on October 2012 and refurbished it. Chonghaejin added extra passenger cabins on the third, fourth and fifth decks, raising passenger capacity and altering the weight and balance of the vessel.





Who are the victims of the sunken ferry?




Ferry advisory board: 'Be patient'




Ferry's cargo, renovation being probed




School hit by ferry tragedy reopens

The ferry, renamed the Sewol, went through regulatory and safety checks, conducted by the Korean Register of Shipping. On its website, it lists its mission as "protecting life and property." The organization says it has the ability to inspect vessels in 65 nations, from Australia to Spain. The organization is private but works on behalf of the government. In the case of the Sewol, the Korean Register of Shipping conducted safety inspections, investigating its design and technology. The Sewol's modifications passed inspection and began sailing with passengers last year, operating between Incheon and the resort island of Jeju.


"The modification was part of the reason for the (Sewol) accident," believes Yutaka Watanabe, a marine science and technology professor at Tokyo University who has studied maritime accidents, including a similar ferry disaster in Japan in 2007. "They bought a used vessel from Japan and added lots of cabins, and these cabins were built on the top part of the ship. It shifted the center of gravity upward."


In the wake of the Sewol sinking, Mokpo prosecutors have raided the Chonghaejin Marine Co. and the Korean Register of Shipping. Prosecutors tell CNN while they will not have a conclusion on what caused the accident for months, they are focusing on the retrofit of the Sewol and the shifting and overloading of cargo.


The prosecutor's office also says the Mokpo Joint Investigation Force found serious safety failures on a sister ship, the Ohamana, also owned by the Chonghaejin Marine Co. Investigators found of the life rafts on board the Ohamana, 40 did not work. The emergency slides also did not work. The Ohamana did not have any equipment to tie down cars being ferried on board. Shipping containers being transported did have equipment to tie them down, but it did not work very well. Korea's Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries says the Ohamana ceased operations after the Sewol accident.


The sense of failure to protect the passengers extends to the South Korean Coast Guard and its rescue of the passengers who did make it to the upper decks of the Sewol. Television images showed the coast guard pulling crew members to safety, while the ferry bobbed on its side.


As Koreans look inward on this disaster, the sinking of the ferry is being viewed as an outrageous system failure, from the company that sought to increase passenger loads to the very government charged with protecting the passengers.


"It makes us wonder if we have to take charge of our own safety," says Cynthia Yoo, assistant professor at Kyung Hee University. "We can't take it for granted that there are proper government safeguards or proper inspections of safety requirements in place to protect us. I think the Sewol is a classic case of corruption or collusion between government agencies, associations and corporations. And it's something that as a nation we must try to fix."


The funerals are well underway, the school pictures of teenagers and teachers being broadcast on television and the Web part of the nation's mourning process. But there is another call beyond the cries of grief, an inward alarm to repair the flaws and prevent another disaster with such an immense loss.