First immigrants OK'd for deportation deferral program

First immigrants OK'd for deportation deferral program

First approvals of deportation deferral program come just two months before presidential election in which Hispanic vote almost certain to prove pivotal

(AP) WASHINGTON — Less than two months before a presidential election in which both parties are fighting for the key Hispanic vote, the Obama administration has approved the first wave of applications from young illegal immigrants hoping to avoid deportation and get a work permit.

The Homeland Security Department is notifying a small group of people this week that they have been approved to stay in the country for two years as part of President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The first approvals come just three weeks after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services started accepting applications for the program Mr. Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano first announced June 15.

In an internal document obtained by The Associated Press, the government had estimated previously that it could take months for each application to be reviewed and approved. So far, about 72,000 people have applied to avoid deportation.

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San Jose meth bust: 750 lbs

A Palo Alto police investigation into stolen iPads has led to one of the largest methamphetamine busts in the country's history, federal investigators said Saturday.

Police and federal agents seized 750 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $34 million, from a San Jose apartment Thursday after Palo Alto investigators spotted the drugs while following up on stolen iPads, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The bust "is one of the largest we are aware of," DEA Special Agent Casey Rettig said.

Investigators found "boxes and boxes and boxes containing bags and bags and bags of methamphetamine" inside the apartment, Rettig said.

The 750 pounds, or 340 kilograms, of methamphetamine confiscated in San Jose is equal to about 16 percent of all methamphetamine seized across the country last year, according to figures on the U.S. Department of Justice website.

Three people were arrested on state drug violations after the raid on an apartment in the 4400 block of Woods Drive, authorities said. They have not released their identities. Rettig described the investigation as "very fluid" and said "there is definitely the potential for more arrests."

The home is part of the Woods, a subdivision in south San Jose that its website highlights as a "park-like setting of mature trees, formal landscaped gardens, greenbelts and tranquil ponds maintained to award-winning standards."

Palo Alto detectives pursuing the electronics theft conducted a preliminary search of the apartment and saw "a large quantity of methamphetamine," according to the DEA. They then called in help from San Jose police and the Santa Clara County district attorney, who called the DEA.

Investigators believe the home was being used both as a residence and as a laboratory where powdered methamphetamine was converted into a crystal form, also referred to as "ice." Such methamphetamine has an appearance often described as that of broken glass or shattered ice and is ingested by smoking, federal officials said.

Rettig said it was too early in the investigation to link the lab to known drug cartels or trafficking networks, but she indicated that the trend in large methamphetamine busts in Central and Northern California involves ice conversion labs for drugs primarily smuggled in from Mexico.

Last month, the Mexican army seized 15 tons of pure methamphetamine with an estimated U.S. street value of $4 billion. The sheer size of the haul from that raid in western Mexico "could potentially put a huge dent in the supply chain in the U.S," DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said at the time.

Investigators in the San Jose raid also found stolen items that had initially led Palo Alto police there, Rettig said, including iPads.

Chronicle news services and San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

John Coté is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Quote of The Day

"Belief in yourself, can be very uplifting, do not let doubters get the best of you, and cause you to doubt yourself, that is the only true sense of defeat." - Oh Zee - 2012

This Song Is So Meaningful To Me

This Song so reminds me of my wonderful wife. "She talks to angels" is the only way I can explain how Strong of a woman she is. Some women think they are strong, but it's not only mental strength, but her passions, goals, and the fact that she resembles what it means to be independent. She is the most courageous woman I have met. What she feels is right, usually is, but sometimes she can go overboard.

I will be the first to admit she has a tendency to take things to early extremes, and this is why most will push away from her. If you can get past her initial always right attitude, you will learn a lot from her, I know I did!!

Silicon Valley: The rise of the adolescent CEOs

By Sarah McBride

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Josh Buckley, chief executive of an online gaming start-up, is looking forward to next month's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, particularly for the parties and the accompanying schmoozing with industry A-listers.

There's one problem: Buckley, who will turn 20 this week on February 22, may be turned away from many of the parties because he is not old enough to drink. His fake ID was recently confiscated, and the two new ones he ordered from a company in China have not yet arrived.

Such are the dilemmas facing the ever-younger entrepreneurs that Silicon Valley investors are backing these days. While little data on the phenomenon exists, venture capitalists say they are funding more chief executives under age 21 than ever before.

"At a certain point, they can't get much younger or we're going to be invested in preschool," quipped Marc Andreessen, whose venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is one of several that backs Buckley's company, MinoMonsters.

Andreessen and other venture capitalists say the entrepreneurs they fund at 18 or 19 typically have been prepping for years -- learning computer code, taking on ambitious freelance projects and educating themselves on the Internet.

Some are self-consciously molding themselves in the image of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 27, who created computer games as a child and was taking a graduate-level computer course by his early teens. Internet businesses that target consumers make a sweet spot for the baby-faced, because online companies often require relatively little capital. A semiconductor start-up might require $10 million to $20 million in the early stages, noted Joe Kraus of Google Ventures, and that would be tough even for the most talented youngster.

Fun To Write Your Mind

"Fountains ascending from hillsides, spewing the semi-liquid sand, that wasn't fluid in any sense. It was almost indescribable, however it sounded like it was floating out or some odd radiating vibration was piercing my senses from every known direction." - Oh ZEe

Rate on 30-year mortgage drops to record 3.89 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates fell once again to a record low, offering a great opportunity for those who can afford to buy or refinance homes. But few are able to take advantage of the historic rates.

Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.89 percent. That's below the previous record of 3.91 percent reached three weeks ago.

Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.16 percent. That's down from a record 3.21 percent three weeks ago. Mortgage rates are lower because they track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent. They could fall even lower this year if the Fed launches another round of bond purchases, as some economists expect.

Average fixed mortgage rates hovered around 4 percent at the end of 2011. Yet many Americans either can't take advantage of the rates or have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don't want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Mortgage applications have fallen slightly on a seasonally adjusted basis over the past four weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said that until hiring picks up and unemployment drops significantly, the impact of lower mortgage rates will remain muted.

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