Ursid Meteor Shower Peaks Saturday

When skywatchers think of meteor showers during the month of December, they immediately think of the Geminids, which over the years have evolved into the most prolific and reliable of the dozen or so annual meteor displays that take place. And yet, there is also another notable meteor shower that occurs during December, which, in contrast, hardly gets much notice at all: the December Ursids. 

This year, the peak of this meteor display is due during the morning hours of Saturday, Dec. 22.

The Ursids are so named because they appear to fan out from the vicinity of the bright orange star Kochab, in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. Kochab is the brighter of the two outer stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper (the other being Pherkad), that seem to march in a circle like sentries around Polaris, the North Star. 

These meteors are sometimes called the Umids, in a rather unsuccessful attempt to make clear that their radiant is in Ursa Minor, not Ursa Major. [How Meteor Showers Work (Infographic)]

Underdog meteors

The fact that Kochab is positioned so near to the north pole of the sky means that it almost never sets for most viewers in the Northern Hemisphere. And since the Ursids seem to fan out from this particular region of the sky, you can look for these faint, medium-speed meteors all through the night if you care to. 

The fact that the Ursids reach their peak on the night of Dec. 21 to Dec. 22 at first appears not to be good news, since the moon will be at a waxing gibbous phase, lighting up the night sky all through the evening hours and on into the first hours of Saturday morning.

However, the moon will set at around 2 a.m. Saturday, leaving the balance of the night with dark skies.  As British meteor expert Alastair McBeath notes in the 2012 Astronomical Calendar (edited by astronomer Guy Ottewell), “although the waxing gibbous moon does not set until roughly two a.m. on the 22nd, this return (of the Ursids) is not wholly unfavorable.”

This is indeed a fortunate circumstance because the Ursids “badly need observing,” according to the British Astronomical Association.

Wintry shooting stars

That observers have neglected the Ursids is not surprising. Everything about them is wintry. 

They usually coincide with the winter solstice, and are best seen by polar bears since they come from near the celestial north pole. In contrast to the Geminids, which can produce up to 120 meteors per hour, the usual Ursid rate is but a fraction of that; generally speaking they produce about a dozen or so per hour at their peak. 

The Ursids are actually the dusty debris shed by the periodic comet Tuttle 8P/Tuttle, which circles the sun in a 13.6-year orbit and was last seen in early 2008. 

On occasion, Earth has interacted with a dense, narrow stream of particles shed by this comet, which has caused brief outbursts of Ursid meteors numbering in the dozens per hour, such as in 1945 and 1986. Counts reached 30 per hour in 2000 and during the years 2006 through 2008. But unfortunately no such interaction is expected this year. 

Still, you never know — meteor showers have surprised us before, so it’s always worth taking a look.

Editor’s Note: If you snap a nice photo of the Ursids or any other night sky target and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible story or gallery, please send the photo and comments to [email protected]

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Goodbye, U.S. Postal Service?

This Christmas could be the Post Office's last, says John Avlon.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The U.S. Postal Service is bleeding money and heading toward insolvency


• John Avlon: Congress can save the postal service in deal on the fiscal cliff


• He says the urgency is clear, let's hope for a Christmas miracle


• Avlon: But be prepared that Washington dysfunction can doom the postal service

Editor's note: John Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He is co-editor of the book "Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspaper Columns." He is a regular contributor to "Erin Burnett OutFront" and is a member of the OutFront Political Strike Team. For more political analysis, tune in to "Erin Burnett OutFront" at 7 ET weeknights.

(CNN) -- It's the time of year for dashing through the snow to the crowded post office, with arms full of holiday gifts for family and friends.

Not to break the atmosphere of holiday cheer, but this Christmas could be the last for the U.S. Postal Service. It is losing $25 million dollars a day and staring down insolvency -- unless Congress steps in to pass a reform package that reduces its costs.

With just a few days left in the congressional calendar, there is still some small hope for a Christmas miracle -- maybe the Postal Service can be saved as part of a deal on the fiscal cliff. But with even Hurricane Sandy relief stalled, skepticism is growing.

John Avlon

The real question is, what's taken them so long? After all, back in April the Senate passed an imperfect but bipartisan bill by 62-37. It would have saved some $20 billion, cut some 100 distribution centers, and reduced head count by an additional 100,000 through incentives for early retirement, while reducing red tape to encourage entrepreneurialism and keeping Saturday delivery in place for at least another two years. At the time, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware said, "The situation is not hopeless; the situation is dire. My hope is that our friends over in the U.S. House, given the bipartisan steps we took this week, will feel a sense of urgency."

To which the House might as well have replied, "Not so much."

In August, the Postal Service defaulted for the first time, unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to fund future retirees' health benefits. The headline in Government Executive magazine said it all: "Postal Service defaults, Congress does nothing."

The usual suspects were at fault -- hyperpartisan politics and the ideological arrogance that always makes the perfect the enemy of the good.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa greeted the news of the Senate bill by calling it a "taxpayer-funded bailout." His primary complaint was that the Senate bill did not go far enough. He was not alone -- Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe also expressed disappointment at the scope of the Senate bill, saying that it fell "far short of the Postal Service's plan."

But Issa's alternative couldn't even get to a vote in the Republican-controlled House. And so nothing happened. Even after the USPS defaulted on a second $5.5 billion payment, the response was crickets.

Washington insiders said that action would be taken after the election, when lawmakers would be free to make potentially unpopular decisions. But despite a series of closed-door meetings, nothing has been done.

It's possible that the nearly $20 billion in savings could be part of a fiscal cliff deal. Sen. Joseph Lieberman has suggested that ending Saturday delivery, except for packages, could be part of a compromise that could save big bucks down the road. Another aspect of a savings plan could be suspending the USPS' onerous obligation to fully fund its pension costs upfront, a requirement that would push many businesses into bankruptcy. And last fiscal year, the post office posted a record $15.9 billion loss.

"As the nation creeps toward the 'fiscal cliff,' the U.S. Postal Service is clearly marching toward a financial collapse of its own," says Carper. "The Postal Service's financial crisis is growing worse, not better. It is imperative that Congress get to work on this issue and find a solution immediately. ... Recently key House and Senate leaders on postal reform have had productive discussions on a path forward, and while there may be some differences of opinion in some of the policy approaches needed to save the Postal Service, there is broad agreement that reform needs to happen -- the sooner the better."

The urgency couldn't be clearer -- but even at this yuletide 11th hour, signs of progress are slim to none. If Congress fails to pass a bill, we'll be back to square one in the new year, with the Senate needing to pass a new bill which will then have to be ratified by the House. There is just no rational reason to think that lift will be any easier in the next Congress than in the current lame duck Congress, where our elected officials are supposedly more free to do the right thing, freed from electoral consequences.

So as you crowd your local post office this holiday season, look around and realize that the clock is ticking. The Postal Service is fighting for its life. And Congress seems determined to ignore its cries for help.

"Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor gloom of night" can stop the U.S. Postal Service from making its appointed rounds -- but congressional division and dysfunction apparently can.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.

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Captured bank robber makes polite appearance in court

Hezekiah Harper-Bey, 19, describes what he saw last night when FBI agents and Chicago police arrested Joseph Banks, who escaped from federal jail earlier this week. (Posted on: Dec. 21, 2012)

After a brazen escape and three days on the run, Joseph “Jose” Banks was quiet and respectful in court today as he made his initial appearance following his capture overnight on the North Side.

Banks, who was shackled at his wrists and ankles, answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier politely – a sharp contrast to his defiant behavior during his trial last week on bank robbery charges in the same Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.

A lawyer did not fight Banks’ detention, knowing that would be futile for a convicted bank robber who had just made a daring escape early Tuesday from a federal jail in the South Loop, scaling down from some 15 stories with a rope fashioned from bedsheets.

Attorney Beau Brindley, who formerly represented Banks on the bank robbery charges and stood with him in court today, called his client a “mild-mannered” individual whose statements at trial were misconstrued as threats toward the court system.

“This is not a violent person,” Brindley told reporters after Banks’ court appearance. “He’s a talented artist and clothing designer.”

Brindley said the news media had misreported Banks’ comment when he told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer after his conviction: “You’ll hear from me.”
 
Brindley said that was a reference to post-trial motions Banks intended to file.
 
“That statement was taken totally out of context,” Brindley said.

Banks faces one count of escaping federal custody that carries a sentence of up to 5 years in prison on conviction. He also faces sentencing in March for his conviction last week on two bank robberies and two attempted holdups.

Banks was taken into custody by FBI agents and Chicago police around 11:30 p.m. Thursday in the 2300 block of North Bosworth Avenue, according to the FBI.

A neighbor, the Rev. Baggett Collier, said she heard a loud bang and looked out her window.

"We heard a big boom first," she said. "We thought a transformer burst or there was a traffic accident. Later, my daughter called and said police were out there. I went out and I saw him. He was cuffed. His head was down. I didn't hear him say anything. They got him into the wagon peacefully. The police were pretty calm bringing him out.

"He was just normal," Collier added. "There were so many police there."

She said agents also took into custody a man who was living in the townhouse where Banks was found. He also was in handcuffs and placed in another squadrol. "A really good guy, well-disciplined, somebody a mother would be proud of."

The man and his two teen-aged sons live in the townhouse with a woman and her two younger sons, Collier said. "Very humble people, they take very good care of their children."

Collier said she saw the woman last evening at a neighborhood store. "She seemed nervous and upset," she said. "Looking back, it's like she wanted to tell me something but was afraid to say anything. She had gotten what she wanted and just stood there. I said, 'How you doing?' She said, 'OK.' But you know when something doesn't seem right. I believe she might have been afraid."

Collier said she was shocked by the arrest. "I had talked to my daughter yesterday. I told her, 'I don't want you walking in the neighborhood because those robbers are out there.' "

Hezekiah Harper-Bey, 19, was watching television in his bedroom when he noticed a man outside wearing a white T-shirt and blue shorts. He heard a “loud boom” and looked outside to see the FBI with their guns pointed at the man, who turned out to be Banks.

“Then I saw him run past a little field and into a house,” he said. Harper-Bey said he walked outside and saw Banks in handcuffs.

“He had a white T-shirt with blue shorts. I saw him but I didn’t pay him no mind,” he said. “I just started to watch TV. That's when I heard the loud boom and that’s when I looked, then I put two and two together. I’m like, that was the bank robber. I never knew I could get the $60,000 (reward). I watched the news so I seen his face, so I knew it was him when I saw him.”

Banks was using a cell phone just minutes before the arrest, Harper-Bey said. “I thought he was a regular person who lived around here,” he said. “Then I saw the FBI with their guns pointed out and they said he ran into a house. Then I went downstairs before he got into the wagon. That's when I saw him.

"It was like 30, 20 of them (FBI agents). There was a lot of them," Harper-Bey said. "He was in handcuffs, tied to the back. There were like three cops with him.

"Before he came out, they (FBI agents) came out with a shoebox and I’m thinking it’s the money. Two seconds later, he came out," Harper-Bey said. "He didn’t put up a fight."

He said he had not noticed Banks in the neighborhood before. Harper-Bey said he believes Banks had stayed inside the townhouse for days and no one in the neighborhood suspected he was there.

Another witness, Colm Marron, said he stepped out of a bar on Fullerton Avenue and saw about a half-dozen unmarked police cars gathering in the Walgreens parking lot around the corner from the building.

“They flew out, just down there,” he said, motioning from inside the bar toward Bosworth Avenue. Seconds later he heard a “huge bang.”

“I was surprised how loud the bang was. It wasn’t like any thunder I’ve ever heard,” he said. “There wasn’t any echo to it, just that loud, off the bat.”

A few minutes later, a handful of marked Chicago police cars arrived, he said.

Banks and his cellmate, Kenneth Conley, both convicted bank robbers awaiting sentencing, were last accounted for at 10 p.m. Monday during a routine bed check at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, authorities said.

About 7 a.m. Tuesday, jail employees arriving for work saw ropes made from bedsheets dangling from a hole in the wall near the 15th floor. The two had put clothing and sheets under blankets in their beds to throw off guards making nighttime checks, authorities said.

Cameras mounted to the side of the 28-story federal jail captured Banks and Conley sliding down the building shortly after 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to an employee who wished to remain anonymous.

The men left view briefly, but it was believed they landed on the roof of a garage below. Moments later, footage from a different camera showed them hopping a black fence marking the perimeter of the property, the employee said.

The FBI said a surveillance camera a few blocks from the jail showed the men, wearing light-colored clothing, hailing a taxi at Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue. They also appeared to be wearing backpacks, according to the FBI.

The manhunt for the inmates included several high-profile raids Tuesday in the southwest suburbs of Tinley Park and New Lenox, where Conley's family and associates lived. Conley is still unaccounted for as of Friday morning.

A $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the two fugitives was announced by the FBI.

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Too big to jail? Execs avoid laundering charges

When the Justice Department announced its record $1.9 billion settlement against British bank HSBC last week, prosecutors called it a powerful blow to a dysfunctional institution accused of laundering money for Iran, Libya and Mexico's murderous drug cartels.

But to some former federal prosecutors, it was only the latest case of the government stopping short of bringing criminal money laundering charges against a big bank or its executives, at least in part on the rationale that such prosecutions could be devastating enough to cause such banks to fail.

They say it sounds a lot like the "too big to fail" meme that kept big but sickly banks alive on the support of taxpayer-funded bailouts. In these cases, they call it, "Too big to jail."

"Shame on the Department of Justice. Shame on them," said Jimmy Gurulé, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at the University of Notre Dame.

"These are actions that facilitated major international drug cartels to continue their operations," he said. "Now, if that doesn't justify criminal prosecution, I can't imagine a case that would."

Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley shot off a letter to U.S. Attorney Eric Holder after the HSBC settlement, saying the government "appears to have firmly set the precedent that no bank, bank employee, or bank executive can be prosecuted even for serious criminal actions if that bank is a large, systemically important financial institution."

Neil Barofsky, the former inspector general of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program and a former federal prosecutor in New York, warned that big banks could interpret the Justice Department's leniency as "a license to steal."

Since 2009, several European banks have paid heavy settlements related to allegations they moved money for people or companies on the U.S. sanctions list: Switzerland's Credit Suisse, $536 million; British bank Barclays, $298 million; British bank Lloyds, $350 million; Dutch bank ING, $619 million; and the Royal Bank of Scotland, $500 million for alleged money laundering at Dutch bank ABN Amro.

While those cases involved deals with such countries as Iran, Libya, Cuba and Sudan, the HSBC case was notable for the government's allegation that it also helped launder $881 million in drug-trafficking proceeds for Mexican drug cartels.

As bad as those allegations were, prosecutors say they could not prove HSBC executives conspired to aid drug organizations or rogue nations. Breakdowns in security controls within the company had occurred gradually, over decades, with a motive of increasing profits rather than committing crimes, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors also expressed fear of "collateral consequences" — that going further could have sunk a company that employs tens of thousands of people and is tied tightly to the economies of the roughly 80 countries where it does business.

Such a collapse has happened in white-collar prosecutions before, most notably in 2002 when the huge accounting firm Arthur Andersen was convicted for destroying Enron-related documents before the energy giant's collapse. It was forced to surrender its accounting license and to stop conducting public audits. Only after 85,000 people worldwide lost their jobs did the court case ultimately play out, with the Supreme Court overturning the conviction too late to save the doomed Chicago-based business.

"From a policy standpoint, it's a pretty compelling argument," said Kevin O'Brien, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice. "Employees lose their jobs, towns where these businesses are located are negatively affected, stockholders which include a lot of moms and pops lose their savings and none of that is really fair. Even a large fine can sometimes have a negative effect on employees and shareholders."

Bill Black, a former financial regulator who was instrumental in uncloaking the savings-and-loan crisis in the 1980s, scoffed at such a notion. "Seriously, you want to keep felons in charge of a bank for bank stability?" he said.

To Black and other critics of the government's approach, the HSBC case is a replay of the years immediately after the 2008 financial crisis, when the people most responsible for it were never really punished. No high-profile bankers have gone to jail in the wake of the financial crisis, nor has there been any well-known, large-scale effort to recover the giant bonuses awarded to executives of failed or nearly failed banks.

In the HSBC case, the bank has rescinded deferred compensation bonuses given to its most senior executives and agreed to partially defer bonus compensation for its most senior executives during the next five years.

"The guy who filed a false tax return, he's probably doing five years in prison," said Notre Dame's Gurulé. "And these guys — transactions with Iran, threatening to jeopardize U.S. national security — they don't even get prosecuted. The fairness of that system is very suspect."

The government's charges against HSBC are grim. They sketch a picture of a bank that systemically and purposefully skirted the law.

HSBC willfully failed to keep proper anti-laundering programs in place and to conduct due diligence on its customers, the government says. Court documents showed that the bank let over $200 trillion between 2006 and 2009 slip through relatively unmonitored, including more than $670 billion in wire transfers from HSBC Mexico, making it a favorite of drug cartels. At the same time, the bank gave Mexico its lowest risk rating for money laundering.

The cartels are a deadly force, controlling large swaths of Mexico as virtual mafias. The government of former President Felipe Calderon started reporting drug-related killings when it took office in late 2006, but stopped more than a year ago when the toll reached 47,500. Many private groups now put the number close to 60,000.

In July, the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations produced a damning 334-page report that told a similar story.

In one email cited in the Senate committee's report, an HSBC executive pushed to reopen a part of the bank's business that had been closed to a Saudi Arabian bank with possible links to the Sept. 11 attacks.

At a hearing with the committee in July, the bank's head of group compliance broke from his prepared testimony to resign.

Henry Pontell, a criminologist who teaches at the University of California-Irvine, was underwhelmed by the $1.9 billion in fines against HSBC, given its $17 billion in profits last year.

"The notion that 'Oh, they paid a big fine, that will scare everyone else,' is nonsense," Pontell said. "Those individuals that did this, they didn't pay the $1.9 billion. The company did. And that's supposed to be an effective deterrent? A white-collar criminal, the biggest thing they fear is being put into prison."

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