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Family members on Monday said she previously had suffered from emotional problems.

Jennifer Ellis-Seitz was reported missing from Norwegian Pearl just before 5 a.m. Friday. According to news reports, there is video of a woman going overboard about eight hours earlier.

“The family suspects that Jennifer chose an unfortunate ending to her life,” family members said in a press release e-mailed to FLORIDA TODAY. “She was a beautiful and caring person and will be truly missed by all who love her.”

Family members say that Ellis-Seitz and her husband, Raymond, were celebrating their one-year anniversary on the cruise. They had invited Ellis’ mother along.

“There were no outward signs or indication of anything being wrong or unusual,” both families said in the joint statement. “Jennifer, however, has had previous emotional issues.”

The family said her husband and mother discovered her missing at around 2 a.m., saying it was common for her to walk the ship late at night when she could not get to sleep.

Ellis-Seitz worked at FLORIDA TODAY from 2000 to 2004, mainly covering breaking news for www.floridatoday.com. She recently had been working as a free-lance writer.

During the recent elections, she worked for the Polk County Supervisor of Elections Office. Records show her most recent address is in Winter Haven.

“It was a seasonal job,” said spokeswoman Judy Walker with the election’s office. “Our hearts go out to her family and our prayers and thoughts are that she will be found OK.”

Mexican Navy and U.S. Coast Guard boats and helicopters searched the waters off the Caribbean resort of Cancun for Ellis-Seitz.

Fifth Naval Regional Command said in a statement it had found no sign of Seitz. The search took place over 17 miles east of Cancun and beyond. Crews covered more than 2,500 square miles searching for Seitz.

Family members said that Ellis-Seitz often walked the ship into the late hours when she was having trouble sleeping. Her husband and mother did not become alarmed until 2 a.m. when she had not returned to their cabin. They searched the ship for her before alerting authoritiees an hour later.

Norwegian Cruise Line said the ship returned to Miami Sunday after a seven-day cruise.

Ellis-Seitz’s former husband, Michael Rich of Brevard County, confirmed the news. Rich said he was shocked, but did not wish to comment further. They were married in 2005 for a year.

The family press release also said: “Jennifer was in a very happy and uplifted mood both before and during the cruise. She was excited about starting a new job and her future career with a local newspaper.

Owner of NewsHound Communications Orlando area

Current Trainer/Writer at Supervisor of Elections Owner at NewsHound Communications Past Instructor at Brevard Community College Reporter at Florida Today Education: Queens University of Charlotte

Summary:

Twelve years of teaching and training experience, combined with seven years of reporting and writing experience. When I’m not teaching, writing or writing teaching materials I skydive, snorkel, SCUBA and hold a CDL Class B with passenger endorsement. I’ve also been know to karoke a mean tune.

Experience:

Trainer/Writer Supervisor of Elections (Government Administration industry)

June 2008 – Present (7 months)

Writer, producer and online enhancer of materials related to training poll workers for the upcoming elections. Specific duties include writing, creating and presenting training relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act and HAVA. In addition, I also teach classes presenting materials to classrooms of poll workers.

Owner NewsHound Communications (Media Production industry)

January 2000 – Present (9 years)

*Freelance editing, writing and media relations business specializing in Central Florida’s travel and tourism industry. Clients include editorial services for a bi-monthly newspaper in Celebration, FL. Additional services include writing, radio voice-over work, commercial writing, jingles Web design, video taping and graphic visual design.

*Supervise a staff of up to 20. Prepared press releases have picked up by several world-wide publications; a PSA for the health care agency was aired on the number one Arbitron rated afternoon show in Orlando.

*Edit, proofread and streamline materials to meet clients needs.

Instructor Brevard Community College August 2003 – December 2006 (3 years 5 months) Instructor of Prep Writing, Prep Reading

Reporter Florida Today August 2000 – May 2004 (3 years 10 months)

*Wrote, compiled and posted breaking news stories for online Web site floridatoday.com as well as print editions of Florida Today.

*Web production: Responsible for production, proofing and multimedia components of floridatoday.com.

*Collaborated as on-air personality with news partner WKMG Local 6 ( CBS) First News.

*Position required fast thinking, attention to detail and ability to work under pressure with constant deadlines.

Education:

Queens University of Charlotte BA, English/Communications, 1993 – 1995 Activities and Societies: Chamber Singers, student government, college newspaper, YMCA

Honors:

Member Phi Theta Kappa national honor society

Member, Florida Council of Teacher’s of English

Member, Society of Professional Journalists

Knight Center for Specialized Journalism Fellowship, University of Maryland

They mixed samples of the 1918 influenza strain with modern seasonal flu viruses to find the three genes and said their study might help in the development of new flu drugs.

The discovery, published in Tuesday’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could also point to mutations that might turn ordinary flu into a dangerous pandemic strain.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin and colleagues at the Universities of Kobe and Tokyo in Japan used ferrets, which develop flu in ways very similar to humans.

Usually flu causes an upper respiratory infection affecting the nose and throat, as well as so-called systemic illness causing fever, muscle aches and weakness.

But some people become seriously ill and develop pneumonia. Sometimes bacteria cause the pneumonia and sometimes flu does it directly.

During pandemics, such as in 1918, a new and more dangerous flu strain emerges.

“The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating outbreak of infectious disease in human history, accounting for about 50 million deaths worldwide,” Kawaoka’s team wrote.

It killed 2.5 percent of victims, compared to fewer than 1 percent during most annual flu epidemics. Autopsies showed many of the victims, often otherwise healthy young adults, died of severe pneumonia.

“We wanted to know why the 1918 flu caused severe pneumonia,” Kawaoka said in a statement.

The three genes — called PA, PB1, and PB2 — along with a 1918 version of the nucleoprotein or NP gene, made modern seasonal flu kill ferrets in much the same way as the original 1918 flu, Kawaoka’s team found.

Most flu experts agree that a pandemic of influenza will almost certainly strike again. No one knows when or what strain it will be but one big suspect now is the H5N1 avian influenza virus.

H5N1 is circulating among poultry in Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. It rarely affects humans but has killed 247 of the 391 people infected since 2003.

A few mutations would make it into a pandemic strain that could kill millions globally within a few months.

The Cabinet, in a statement carried by the state-owned Kuwait News Agency, said the venture, known as K-Dow Petrochemicals, was “very risky” in light of the global financial crisis and low oil prices. The move came just days before the Jan. 1 startup date for the joint venture.

Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step.

As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.”

What that means is explained on the governor’s website:

“As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”

According to the policies he has outlined online, Kulongoski proposes to continue the work of the special task force that came up with and tested the idea of a mileage tax to replace the gas tax.

The governor wants the task force “to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive.”

The online outline adds: “The governor is committed to ensuring that rural Oregon is not adversely affected and that privacy concerns are addressed.”

When the task force’s study and test were in the news in 2006 and 2007, critics worried that the technology could be used to track where vehicles go, not just how far they travel, and that this information would somehow be stored by the government.

In more than one interview with the Democrat-Herald and others, James Whitty, the ODOT official in charge of the project, tried to assure the public that tracking people’s travels was not in the plans.

The task force’s final report came out in November 2007. It was based largely on a field test in which about 300 motorists in the Portland area and two service stations took part over

10 months, ending in March 2007.

A GPS-based system kept track of the in-state mileage driven by the volunteers. When they bought fuel, a device in their vehicles was read, and they paid 1.2 cents a mile and got a refund of the state gas tax of 24 cents a gallon.

The final report detailed the technical aspects of the program. It also stressed the issue of privacy.

“The concept requires no transmission of vehicle travel locations, either in real time or of travel history,” the report said. “Accordingly, no travel location points are stored within the vehicle or transmitted elsewhere. Thus there can be no ‘tracking’ of vehicle movements.”

Also, the report said, under the Oregon concept of the program, “ODOT would have no involvement in developing the on-vehicle devices, installing them in vehicles, maintaining them or having any other access to them except, perhaps, in situations involving tampering or similar fee evasion activities.”

Equipment for the Oregon test was developed at Oregon State University.

Whitty said last year it might take about $20 million to establish that the mileage tax is commercially viable. Eventually, GPS devices would have to start being built into cars, and fueling stations would have to be similarly equipped.

That is the assessment of the United Nations regional envoy, Professor Richard Falk.

Yesterday, Professor Falk accused Israel of targeting civilians and of a disproportionate response to the threat posed by Hamas’ equally illegal rocket attacks on its southern border.

An emeritus professor of international law at Princeton University and a trenchant critic of the Bush Administration’s foreign policy, Professor Falk was again at odds with the White House, which has blamed Hamas for breaking the Gaza ceasefire.

The US used veto rights to block a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to the Israeli attacks. The council instead issued a statement calling for a halt to violence.

While Israel said it targeted Hamas militants, Professor Falk said its air strikes hit the most densely populated area of the Middle East.

He said Israel’s blockade of Gaza led to food shortages and prevented medical aid from reaching the injured.

“Certainly the rocket attacks against civilian targets in Israel are unlawful,” Professor Falk said.

Yet even by WaMu’s relaxed standards, one mortgage four years ago raised eyebrows. The borrower was claiming a six-figure income and an unusual profession: mariachi singer.

Mr. Parsons could not verify the singer’s income, so he had him photographed in front of his home dressed in his mariachi outfit. The photo went into a WaMu file. Approved.

“I’d lie if I said every piece of documentation was properly signed and dated,” said Mr. Parsons, speaking through wire-reinforced glass at a California prison near here, where he is serving 16 months for theft after his fourth arrest — all involving drugs.

While Mr. Parsons, whose incarceration is not related to his work for WaMu, oversaw a team screening mortgage applications, he was snorting methamphetamine daily, he said.

“In our world, it was tolerated,” said Sherri Zaback, who worked for Mr. Parsons and recalls seeing drug paraphernalia on his desk. “Everybody said, ‘He gets the job done.’ ”

At WaMu, getting the job done meant lending money to nearly anyone who asked for it — the force behind the bank’s meteoric rise and its precipitous collapse this year in the biggest bank failure in American history.

On a financial landscape littered with wreckage, WaMu, a Seattle-based bank that opened branches at a clip worthy of a fast-food chain, stands out as a singularly brazen case of lax lending. By the first half of this year, the value of its bad loans had reached $11.5 billion, nearly tripling from $4.2 billion a year earlier.

Interviews with two dozen former employees, mortgage brokers, real estate agents and appraisers reveal the relentless pressure to churn out loans that produced such results. While that sample may not fully represent a bank with tens of thousands of people, it does reflect the views of employees in WaMu mortgage operations in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.

Their accounts are consistent with those of 89 other former employees who are confidential witnesses in a class action filed against WaMu in federal court in Seattle by former shareholders.

According to these accounts, pressure to keep lending emanated from the top, where executives profited from the swift expansion — not least, Kerry K. Killinger, who was WaMu’s chief executive from 1990 until he was forced out in September.

Between 2001 and 2007, Mr. Killinger received compensation of $88 million, according to the Corporate Library, a research firm. He declined to respond to a list of questions, and his spokesman said he was unavailable for an interview.

During Mr. Killinger’s tenure, WaMu pressed sales agents to pump out loans while disregarding borrowers’ incomes and assets, according to former employees. The bank set up what insiders described as a system of dubious legality that enabled real estate agents to collect fees of more than $10,000 for bringing in borrowers, sometimes making the agents more beholden to WaMu than they were to their clients.

WaMu gave mortgage brokers handsome commissions for selling the riskiest loans, which carried higher fees, bolstering profits and ultimately the compensation of the bank’s executives. WaMu pressured appraisers to provide inflated property values that made loans appear less risky, enabling Wall Street to bundle them more easily for sale to investors.

Police departments across the country say that shoplifting arrests are 10 percent to 20 percent higher this year than last. The problem is probably even greater than arrest records indicate since shoplifters are often banned from stores rather than arrested.

Weak house price data and figures showing that homeowners are choosing to repay their mortgages rather than spending, pushed the currency lower.

Low trading levels in the foreign exchange markets also helped to force sterling down to 1.029 euros.

Many analysts believe parity with the euro is now only a matter of time.

The rate for tourists buying their currency before they travel has almost reached parity, where one pound buys one euro. At one major High Street currency exchange, 100 euros currently costs £99.11.

Downward pressure

“So we can sit here and talk about the long record, but what I would say to you is that this president has faced tougher circumstances than perhaps at any time since the end of World War II, and he has delivered policies that are going to stand the test of time,” Rice said in an interview that aired on CBS’ “Sunday Morning.”

The factory west of Shanghai in the city of Suzhou makes compressors for General Motors Corp. Calls to the plant rang unanswered Monday.

“The sudden and unprecedented decline in (car) sales globally has resulted in our only customer, General Motors North America, announcing plant closures and plant stoppages,” the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post quoted a Delphi internal document as saying.

“Unfortunately our only customer in 2009 is GMNA, and this has placed the Suzhou compressor plant in a very dangerous position,” it said.

A staffer on duty at Delphi’s Shanghai office, which was closed this week for the New Year holiday, confirmed that the facility had temporarily suspended work due to the slowdown in demand as GM cuts back on output.

The staffer gave only his surname, Zhao, as is common with many media-shy Chinese.

Troy, Michigan-based Delphi is a former subsidiary of General Motors that filed for protection from bankruptcy in October 2005. It has more than $500 million in mainland Chinese assets, the Post report said.