Husband charged in Wis. officer's shooting death

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? An Iraq War veteran charged with ambushing his wife Christmas Eve as she worked as a Milwaukee-area police officer told investigators he shot her in the head repeatedly because he didn't want her to suffer before she died.

Benjamin Gabriel Sebena, 30, acknowledged to detectives that he was a jealous husband, police said. Still, they declined to speculate on a motive for the killing, saying Thursday their probe was ongoing.

Investigators said Ben Sebena told them he had been stalking his wife, Jennifer Sebena, for a few days. He said he waited a few hours near the fire department where officers often take breaks, and when he saw her squad car he rushed her and opened fire. They said when the officer reached for her weapon, her husband grabbed it from her holster and used it to shoot her three or four times in the face.

"Benjamin Sebena stated that he wanted to make sure she was dead so she wouldn't suffer," the criminal complaint said.

He was charged Thursday with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of Jennifer Sebena, who was also 30. During a brief court appearance, Ben Sebena was ordered held on $1 million cash bond. He wasn't required to enter a plea, and his attorney, Michael Steinle, didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Two hours after Jennifer Sebena was found dead, police monitored her husband on closed-circuit TV as he stood in an empty room at the police station. A detective heard Ben Sebena ask himself "How could I do that to her," after all the help she gave him, the criminal complaint said.

Officers went to check on Jennifer Sebena about 4:30 a.m. Monday after she didn't respond to radio calls. Sebena, who joined the Wauwatosa police force two years ago, was patrolling alone on the night she was killed.

"She was everything I could hope for in a young police officer: intelligent, energetic, willing to be of service and wanting to be a great police officer," Wauwatosa Chief Barry Weber said at a news conference.

Investigators said they found a number of details tying Ben Sebena to the killing. Surveillance video showed a vehicle that matches his in the area near the time of the shooting, and detectives who searched the couple's home found a gun in the attic that fires ammunition matching the bullet casings found at the scene. They also found Jennifer Sebena's service weapon hidden in the attic.

The investigation began when Ben Sebena called police Monday about 6:30 a.m. asking them to check on his wife's well-being. A police sergeant called him back five minutes later telling him to come to the station because his wife had been involved in an incident.

Ben Sebena didn't ask what happened, the complaint said. Later, when he was told at the station that his wife had been killed, he still didn't ask what happened to her.

During the interview, Ben Sebena "stated that he had been jealous of other men with regards to his wife," the complaint said.

Jennifer Sebena told a colleague earlier this month that her husband had acted violently toward her and put a gun to her head, prosecutors said.

The police chief said he wasn't aware of issues that would have been a cause for concern for Jennifer Sebena's safety. The state Justice Department is assisting in the investigation, and the director of the department's criminal investigation operations, Dave Spakowicz, said authorities are not speculating on what motivated the shooting.

Ben Sebena served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged in 2005 after suffering severe arm and leg injuries in a mortar attack that year. The 10 medals or commendations he was awarded include a Purple Heart, a Good Conduct medal and a rifle-expert badge.

In a 10-minute video for his church made in 2010, Ben Sebena described his transformation from an angry teen into a decorated war veteran who rediscovered his faith in God.

"Before I went in I was pretty much a hippie. I was very laid back but the anger was there ? it was just very hidden," he said.

He said he joined the military because he felt unloved and unimportant and that even though the Marines helped him centralize the anger, the rage persisted when he returned to the U.S. He said he would ignore red lights and tear down the freeway on his motorcycle at 150 mph.

He also discussed his blossoming relationship with Jennifer, whom he knew from high school and with whom he exchanged emails during his recovery.

"Our love flourished. We became actually infatuated with each other," he said in the video for Elmbrook Church in nearby Brookfield. The church's pastor, Scott Arbeiter, confirmed to The Associated Press that it was Ben Sebena in the video.

Jennifer Sebena's funeral is scheduled for Saturday.

___

Associated Press writer Carrie Antlfinger contributed to this report.

___

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/husband-charged-wis-officers-shooting-death-080636659.html

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Fiscal deal still eludes both sides as deadline nears; debt ceiling rises in the horizon (Star Tribune)

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Drink Recipe: Hibiscus Ginger Punch Recipes from The Kitchn | The ...

Most punch recipes cater to a single crowd: drinkers or non-drinkers. This one is delicious either way. Whether you fizz it up with champagne or mineral water, hibiscus ginger punch will put a colorful sparkle in your celebrations.

When I started dreaming of a festive punch, I initially considered cranberry or pomegranate but, frankly, I was a bit tired of these ingredients, which appear in every other beverage this time of year. Instead, I turned to a holiday tradition from Jamaica, where a drink called "sorrel" is made from hibiscus blossoms. Throughout the world, dried hibiscus or roselle is steeped in water to make crimson-colored tisanes, juices, and punches, and in Jamaica especially the hibiscus is combined with ginger for a tart and pleasantly spicy beverage.

To make this punch, I mixed a rich hibiscus and ginger base with ginger ale and then either champagne, sparkling white wine, or sparkling mineral water. For the non-alcoholic version I recommend using a true mineral water (like Perrier) rather than other carbonated waters. Its subtle mineral flavor and more delicate bubbles are a sophisticated substitute for the alcohol. But use any fizzy water that works for you.

On the subject of substitutions, what if you can't find dried hibiscus blossoms (also known as "flor de jamaica" in Latin American markets)? Try making a strong brew with hibiscus tea bags; Celestial Seasonings and The Republic of Tea are two widely available brands.

Hibiscus Ginger Punch

Serves about 12

4 1/2 cups water
1 cup dried hibiscus blossoms
2-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
4 cups chilled ginger ale
2 750-mL bottles chilled champagne, sparkling white wine, or sparkling mineral water
Optional: ice, garnishes of mint, lemon or lime slices

Combine water, hibiscus blossoms, and ginger in a pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in sugar. Let cool, strain, and chill. (If you like, save some of the plumped-up hibiscus blossoms for garnish.)

To make punch, stir hibiscus juice with ginger ale and champagne or mineral water. Garnish if desired and serve immediately.

Related: Recipe: Hibiscus-Earl Grey Iced Tea

(Images: Emily Ho)

Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/drink-recipe-hibiscus-ginger-punch-recipes-from-the-kitchn-181852

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Hashtags, Latt?s, and the Power of PR | Business 2 Community

Starbucks, the international brewer of overpriced venti cappuccinos, recently launched a Twitter hashtag campaign entitled, ?#SpreadTheCheer.?

The idea was that users would jump on the hashtag to spread good will and holiday spirit, all while promoting the Starbucks brand. A seemingly harmless plan, users set out in droves to use the hashtag.

Unfortunately for Starbucks, they were also making news on another plain. According toBranding Magazine, which was citing research from Reuters, ?the company devised a legal way of making fake losses through royalty payments for use of the brand and other global fees, and that way the company cut income tax. Starbucks UK has paid less then 1% in corporation tax over 14 years. Now they have to pay an amount of ?$20 million in taxes in two years.?

Ouch. This news, coinciding with a hashtag campaign about spreading cheer, proved to be a PR nightmare for Starbucks.

And it gets worse. At the Natural History Museum in London, where Starbucks sponsors the ice rink on the premises, there was a large screen displaying all of the Tweets containing that hashtag?as they came in.?140-character bundles of venom, profanity and all, were displayed for all to see.

Additionally,?it was revealed earlier this month?that Starbucks would be cutting employee benefits ? including maternity leave, paid lunch breaks and sick leave. This revelation only fueled the fire of an already angry Twitterverse.

If your business is ever running a hashtag campaign, let the plight of Starbucks be a cautionary tale. We had planned on embedding some of the Tweets in this blog, but, frankly, this is a family-friendly site.

If you run a Twitter hashtag campaign, there are three crucial things to remember.

1. Hashtags don?t go away if the conversation isn?t over.

As recently as one hour prior to this blog being written, there were still Tweets wishing ill-will towards Starbucks, and this hashtag was launched well over a week ago.

2. Social media are the front lines of public relations.

Public sentiment is more accessible than ever, and no one will hold back. Starbucks was caught in a hurricane of profanity and ugly customer interaction. That?s what happens when you cut wages and benefits. Even the most savvy and proficient PR directors are helpless in a violent social media avalanche.

3. Even Santa can?t salvage a brand image.

Starbucks was banking on the spirit and cheer of the holidays to inspire its audience. We live in an age of disdain towards corporations. If shady practices are brought to light, particularly on a stage as large as the one Starbucks lives on, that will take precedent. People are always more likely to act when they are furious. Starbucks learned that the hard way.

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Got more questions about online strategy and social media management? Get them answered here.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/public-relations/hashtags-lattes-and-the-power-of-pr-0364913

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Colleges help students put best Web foot forward

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Samantha Grossman wasn't always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name.

"It wasn't anything too horrible," she said. "I just have a common name. There would be pictures, college partying pictures, that weren't of me, things I wouldn't want associated with me."

So before she graduated from Syracuse University last spring, the school provided her with an online tool that allowed her to put her best Web foot forward. Now when people Google her, they go straight to a positive image ? professional photo, cum laude degree and credentials ? that she credits with helping her land a digital advertising job in New York.

"I wanted to make sure people would find the actual me and not these other people," she said.

Syracuse, Rochester, and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore are among the universities that offer such online tools to their students free of charge, realizing ill-considered Web profiles of drunken frat parties, prank videos and worse can doom graduates to a lifetime of unemployment ? even if the pages are somebody else's with the same name.

It's a growing trend based on studies showing that most employers Google prospective hires and nearly all of them won't bother to go past the first page of results. The online tools don't eliminate the embarrassing material, they just put the graduate's most flattering, professional profile front and center.

"These students have been comfortable with the intimate details of their lives on display since birth," said Lisa Severy, president-elect of the National Career Development Association and director of career services at the University of Colorado-Boulder, which does not offer the service.

"The first item on our 'five things to do before you graduate' list is 'clean up your online profile,'" she said. "We call it the grandma test ? if you don't want her to see it, you probably don't want an employer to, either."

After initially supplying BrandYourself accounts to graduating seniors, Syracuse University this year struck a deal with the company ? begun by a trio of alumni ? to offer accounts to all of its undergraduate and graduate students and alumni at no additional charge. About 25,000 people have access to it so far.

"It's becoming more and more important for students to be aware of and able to manage their online presence, to be able to have strong, positive things come up on the Internet when someone seeks them out," said Mike Cahill, Syracuse's career services director.

Online reputation repair companies have been around for at least a couple of years, often charging hundreds or thousands of dollars a year to arrange for good results on search engine result pages. BrandYourself, which normally charges $10 a month for an account, launched two years ago as a less expensive, do-it-yourself alternative after co-founder Pete Kistler ran into a problem with his own name.

"He couldn't get an internship because he was getting mistaken for a drug dealer with the same name," said co-founder Patrick Ambron. "He couldn't even get calls back and found out that was the problem."

An April survey of 2,000 hiring managers from CareerBuilder found nearly two in five companies use social networking sites to research job candidates and 11 percent said they planned to start. A third of the hiring managers who said they research candidates reported finding something like a provocative photo or evidence of drinking or drug use that cost the candidate a job.

"We want our students and alumni actively involved in shaping their online presence," said Johns Hopkins Career Center Director Mark Presnell. Students are encouraged to promote positive, professional content that's easily found by employers, he said.

BrandYourself works by analyzing search terms in a user's online profile to determine, for example, that a LinkedIn account might rank 25th on Google searches of the user's name. The program then suggests ways to boost that ranking. The software also provides alerts when an unidentified result appears on a user's first page or if any links rise or fall significantly in rank.

Nati Katz, a public relations strategist, views his presence online as a kind of virtual storefront that he began carefully tending while in graduate school at Syracuse.

Google his name and up pops his LinkedIn page with a listing of the jobs he's held in digital media and the "500+ connections" badge of honor. His Facebook account is adorned with Katz smiling over an elegant Thanksgiving dinner table. There are a couple of professional profiles and his Tumblr link, one after another on the first page of results and all highlighting his professional experience.

Before his 2011 graduation, he took the university up on its offer of the BrandYourself account and said it gave him a leg up with potential employers and internship supervisors.

"Fortunately, I didn't have to deal with anything negative under my profile," said Katz, who used the reputation website BrandYourself.com while pursuing dual degrees in public relations and international affairs. "What I was trying to form was really a nice, clean, neat page, very professional."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colleges-help-students-put-best-180600913.html

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