Syria fight rages after U.S. recognition

NEW: Syrian forces have fired at least four Scud missiles inside Syria, U.S. officials say At least 70 dead in fighting, opposition group says Opposition leader calls for the United States to rescind its terrorist designation of al-Nusra Russia's foreign minister questions the U.S. decision to recognize the rebel coalition (CNN) -- Syrian forces in Damascus loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fired at least four Scud missiles inside Syria, presumably at rebel groups, a U.S. official said Wednesday. U.S. military satellites picked up and confirmed the infrared signature of the four short-range Scud missiles, which were launched from the Damascus area to northern Syria, said the official. Separately, NATO issued a statement saying that the alliance had "detected the launch of a number of unguided, short-range ballistic missiles inside Syria this week," and that the "trajectory and distance traveled indicate they were Scud-type missiles." The move represents an escalation in the fighting in the 20-month civil war. It came as Syria's newly formed opposition coalition won recognition from international supporters on Wednesday in Morocco. The Friends of Syria group, representing more than 100 countries and organizations, agreed Wednesday to recognize the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The designation immediately broadens international recognition for the coalition and should pave the way for additional support for the rebel cause, said Brookings Institution analyst Salman Shaikh, who attended the session in Marrakech, Morocco. "What this recognition does, I think, is give the coalition more confidence in its workings," Shaikh said. Securing Syria's chemical weapons Obama recognizes Syrian opposition Syrian uses sugar, scraps to make bombs Men warm themselves by a fire on a street corner in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, December 9. Click through to view images of the fighting from December, or see photos of the conflict from November. A rebel soldier watches Al-Jazeera news in a shop near the front lines in Aleppo on December 9. A rebel soldier prays in a shop in Aleppo on December 9. Syrians mourn a fallen fighter at a rebel base in the al-Fardos area of Aleppo on Saturday, December 8. A Syria rebel commander sits behind a desk in his bombed-out position in Aleppo on December 8. A Syrian rebel fighter emerges from a hole in a wall in Aleppo on December 8. Rebel fighters take part in a demonstration against the Syrian regime after Friday prayers in Aleppo on December 7. A wounded rebel fighter is transported to a hospital in the back of a truck in Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday, December 6. At least 23 people died in Syria on Thursday, most of them in Damascus and Aleppo, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria. Rebel soldiers stand guard inside a building in Aleppo on December 6. Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, meets with Syrian refugees at the Zaatari refugee camp outside Mafraq, Jordan, on December 6. In this handout from the Shaam News Network, Free Syrian Army fighters stand guard against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Al-khalidiya neighborhood of Homs on Tuesday, December 4. In this handout from the Shaam News Network, Free Syrian Army fighters take cover in destroyed buildings during clashes with regime forces on December 4. Syrians cross the border from Ras al-Ain, Syria, to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar on Tuesday, December 4. Boys walk through a damaged area In Aleppo, Syria, seen through a destroyed car on December 4. A man inspects rubble in a neighborhood of Aleppo on Sunday, December 2. The bodies of three children reportedly killed in a mortar shell attack are laid out for relatives to identify at a makeshift hospital in Aleppo on December 2. Smoke rises from fighting in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts of Aleppo on Saturday, December 1. Syrian-Kurdish women and members of the Popular Protection Units, an armed opposition group to the Syrian government, stand guard during a comrade's funeral in a northern Syrian border village on December 1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Photos: Showdown in Syria Previously, several Arab and European states, including France and the United Kingdom, had recognized the group. The recognition, however, did little to soothe opposition leaders stung by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision Tuesday to list one rebel group as a terrorist organization. Opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib urged the United States to rescind its decision to list the al-Nusra organization as a terrorist group and impose sanctions on its leaders, saying the coalition rejects radical violence. Al-Nusra is not part of the coalition but has fought against Syria's government and, consequently, has support among Syrians sympathetic to the rebellion, Shaikh said. Read more: Aleppo Today TV becomes vital news source amid Syria's chaos The United States sent Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to the Friends of Syria meeting, which came a day after Obama said his administration had decided to grant recognition to the coalition. "We've made a decision that the Syrian opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime," he told ABC's Barbara Walters. At the Morocco meeting, Burns told Syrian rebel leaders that their newfound recognition is freighted with the weight of international expectations. Read more: As fighting subsides, Aleppo residents find little left "This leadership comes with real responsibilities," he said, according to a transcript posted on the State Department's website. "We look to the coalition to continue creating more formal structures within the opposition and to accelerate planning for a democratic political transition that protects the rights, the dignity, and the aspirations of all Syrians and all communities. That means taking concrete steps to include women and minorities; engage with religious leaders and civil society; and discourage reprisals and inter-communal violence." On top of previous commitments, Burns said the United States will provide $14 million for emergency medical care and for supplies to help Syrians live through the coming winter, including plastic insulation, boots and nutritional supplies. Saudi Arabia also pledged $100 million in aid Wednesday, Shaikh said. Read more: An afternoon with a Syrian bombmaker Obama's statement Tuesday came as a surprise to Russia, said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov said an agreement he had worked out in Geneva, Switzerland, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out a path for a negotiated transfer of power, but he said the new coalition's goals call for it to "overturn the regime, dismantle government institutions and refuse dialogue with the Syrian government." "We inquired with our American partners as to how that conforms with the logic of the Geneva communique, and they told us that the most important thing is to unite the opposition, and its platform can, quote, 'be corrected,' " Lavrov said. As the diplomatic talks were going on in Morocco, violence continued in Syria. State TV showed images of an explosion outside the Interior Ministry in Damascus, saying it was part of a three bombings that killed five people and injured 23. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion killed eight Syrian soldiers and wounded 40. The state-run SANA news agency said two bombs exploded behind the Justice Palace, injuring one person. The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said at least 70 people had died in fighting Wednesday, including two children. The group said government warplanes struck at targets in the suburbs of Damascus as rebels and government forces clashed nationwide.

Opinion: 401(k) plans endangered

IBM plans to contribute only once every December to its employees' 401(k) accounts. IBM said it would contribute once every December to its employees' 401(k) plans Teresa Ghilarducci: This type of payment benefits the company rather than workers She says relative to other companies, IBM actually has a good retirement plan Ghilarducci: Most companies are reducing retirement benefits; workers lose Editor's note: Teresa Ghilarducci is a professor of economics and director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School. (CNN) -- IBM, one of America's largest companies, shook the employee compensation world when it announced recently that it would contribute only once every December to its employees' 401(k) accounts. Any employee who leaves before December would not be able to collect the company's match. Workers at IBM aren't marching to the picket line like Walmart workers and longshoreman who protest pay and working conditions, but you just never know. Only about 9% of the nation's employers make matches once a year. IBM's move is paving the way for big companies to go down this road. If I were an IBM manager, I would love this once-a-year lump payment. First, my buddies in Human Resources would have much less hassle with fewer deposits to make. By delaying payment to the end of the year, "the float" -- interest accrued -- would go to the company instead of the workers. In other words, the company saves money. Moreover, few IBM workers are going to voluntarily leave before December, which means projects can be planned better and employees can be asked to do more. A few years ago, in 2008, IBM made news by transforming its traditional defined benefit plan, a pension, into a 401(k)-type plan. That move saved money, but the company lost an important personnel tool. Defined benefit plans are designed to encourage employees to exit or retire when it is optimal for the company. A 401(k) is cheaper, but it is a "cash and carry" account that does not have the element of timing finesse. A 401(k) plan does not reward loyalty, and its value is not predictable as it fluctuates all over the place depending on the financial markets. How important is saving for retirement? Investment options for a 401(k)? By making workers stay until December before they can receive the company's 401(k) match, IBM is putting back, albeit with an anemic substitute, a reward for workers to stay at least until December. The company can be pretty sure that there will be very few workers exiting during crunch time season: September, October and November. It would really be IBM's choice in determining which employees to let go. This incremental addition to IBM's control over their employees is surely the main reason IBM changed its 401(k) payment timing. But let's step back. Relative to other companies, IBM actually has a good retirement plan. It matches more than 6% of a worker's contribution, which is above the national average. Only 7% of companies do not make matches to 401(k) plans, so at least IBM is, for now, in the majority of companies that match their employees' contributions. Not many people know that just because a company sponsors a 401(k) plan doesn't mean that it will pay a cent. In the Great Recession of 2008 to 2009, more than 11% of companies stopped their 401(k) match. Because they are voluntary, most workers do not even have a retirement account plan, which means many middle-class and upper-middle-class workers will only have Social Security to rely on for retirement. These workers face considerable chance of downward mobility later in life because Social Security is not designed to replace pre-retirement living standards for anyone but the lowest paid workers. Middle-class workers will need at least a $500,000 payout on top of Social Security checks to have a chance of remaining middle class when they retire. Most of us could only dream of accumulating that amount or its equivalent by saving for retirement at work or being in a pension plan. IBM looks better than most companies because most companies are whacking their workers' retirement plans or don't sponsor any at all. GM offered its salaried, white-collar workers a lump sum -- the worst way to get a retirement account because people spend a lump sum too fast -- instead of an annuity. Ford will follow GM's example next year. Fortunately, very few auto managers and workers are taking up such an offer; they must know an annuity is more valuable. What is there to stop companies from ending retirement accounts altogether? Nothing. Unions represent less than 11% of the private sector workforce and the unemployment rate is high enough that anyone who has a job feels lucky to have a job. I don't see anything on the horizon that will encourage companies to maintain or improve retirement programs at the workplace. Political leadership and bravery is needed to call out the failure of the voluntary retirement system and to secure retirement income and savings for all American workers. Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Teresa Ghilarducci.

Gun control group sues Armslist.com in woman's death

Dupage County Sheriff's Office Dimtry Smirnov pleaded guilty to murder. By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent A national gun control group is suing the operators of a website that connects sellers of firearms with buyers, claiming that its design facilitates illegal sales. The Brady Center of Washington, DC filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Illinois against Armslist.com, contending that the website "facilitates illegal gun sales to unlawful gun buyers with no background checks and no questions asked." The suit was filed on behalf of Alex Vesely of Cook County, Ill. His sister, 36-year-old Jitka, was gunned down in the parking lot of a Chicago-area museum last year by a former boyfriend, Dmitry Smirnov of Canada, who shot her a dozen times then turned himself into police and later pleaded guilty. Federal court documents say Smirnov bought the gun, a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol, from a Washington state dealer, Benedict Ladera, who advertised it on the Armslist website. Federal law prohibits non-licensed dealers from selling guns to out-of-state buyers. Ladera pleaded guilty in March to selling the gun illegally and was sentenced to a year in federal prison. The lawsuit claims Armslist fails to restrict potential buyers to seeing only firearms legally for sale within a buyer's state. The website's design, the suit contends, "encourages and enables users to evade laws that limit the sale of firearms by private gun owners to residents of their own states by enticing prospective buyers to search for and find gun sellers throughout all 50 states." Armslist requires users to advertise their firearms nationally, the lawsuit says, and "steers buyers to view potential firearms from all 50 states, including the 49 states where every buyer could not legally purchase firearms directly from a private seller." Armslist's conduct, the suit maintains, "was the proximate cause of Jitka's death." It's believed to be the first lawsuit accusing a gun website of causing a shooting. Private sales, such as those facilitated through Armslist, are not subject to federal background checks. The Brady Center says they account for 40 percent of all U.S. gun sales. Craigslist and eBay have stopped allowing the use of their sites for private gun sales, the lawsuit notes. Armslist did not respond to requests for comment. But its terms of use, posted on the web site, notify users that they are responsible for obeying all firearms laws and regulations. By using the site, they agree that they will contact the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives if they are "at all unsure about firearm sales or transfers." "Responsible gun sellers and web site operators, like most Americans, recognize that guns should be sold with the greatest care, to prevent arming dangerous people with the means to kill," said Jonathan Lowy, Legal Action Project director for the Brady Center. "Gun sellers and website operators who facilitate the arming of killers and criminals must be held accountable," he said. More content from NBCNews.com: Oregon shopping mall gunman identified; motive unclear Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice 'Unique' smuggling attempt: $42,500-worth of marijuana shot into Ariz. by cannon Much-criticized 'drum major' quote on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to be removed Video: Driver ticketed for truck covered in Christmas lights Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

AP: Sen. Menendez had intern who was illegal immigrant, sex offender

New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez talks to NewsNation's Tamron Hall about his knowledge of the situation surrounding the arrest of an unpaid intern working for him. By The Associated Press U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender, now under arrest by immigration authorities, The Associated Press has learned. The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP. Luis Abrahan Sanchez Zavaleta, an 18-year-old immigrant from Peru, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in front of his home in New Jersey on Dec. 6, two federal officials said. Sanchez, who entered the country on a now-expired visitor visa from Peru, is facing deportation and remains in custody. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of Sanchez's immigration case. A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for further details. Menendez, D-N.J., who advocates aggressively for pro-immigration policies, was re-elected in November with 58 percent of the vote. Congressional staffers who work for Menendez were notified about Sanchez's case shortly after the arrest. Sanchez told ICE agents that he worked on immigration issues for the senator. A spokesman for Menendez said she was looking into the matter. Online jail records did not indicate whether Sanchez has an attorney. Immigration officials there were relaying a request from the AP to speak with Sanchez in jail. The prosecutor's office in Hudson County, N.J., said Sanchez was found to have violated the law in 2010 and subsequently required to register as a sex offender. The exact charge was unclear because Sanchez was prosecuted as a juvenile and those court records are not publicly accessible. The prosecutor's office confirmed to AP that Sanchez registered as a sex offender, although his name does not appear on the public registry. Authorities in Hudson County notified ICE agents in early October that they suspected Sanchez was an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender and who may be eligible to be deported. ICE agents in New Jersey notified superiors at the Homeland Security Department because they considered it a potentially high profile arrest, and DHS instructed them not to arrest Sanchez until after the November election, one U.S. official told the AP. ICE officials complained that the delay was inappropriate, but DHS directed them several times not to act, the official said. It was not immediately clear why federal immigration authorities would not have been notified sooner about Sanchez's status. During discussions about when and where to arrest Sanchez, the U.S. reviewed Sanchez's application for permission to stay in the country as part of President Barack Obama's policy to allow up to 1.7 million young illegal immigrants avoid deportation and get permission to work for up to two years. As a sex offender, he would not have been eligible. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, notified Sanchez of that shortly before his arrest, one official said. During the final weeks of President George W. Bush's administration, ICE was criticized for delaying the arrest of President Barack Obama's aunt, who had ignored an immigration judge's order to leave the country several years earlier after her asylum claim was denied. She subsequently won the right to stay in the United States after an earlier deportation order, and there was no evidence of involvement by the White House. In that case, the Homeland Security Department had imposed an unusual directive days before the 2008 election requiring high-level approval before federal agents nationwide could arrest fugitive immigrants including Zeituni Onyango, the half-sister of Obama's late father. The directive from ICE expressed concerns about "negative media or congressional interest," according to a copy of that directive obtained by AP. The department lifted the immigration order weeks later. More content from NBCNews.com: Oregon shopping mall gunman identified; motive unclear Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice 'Unique' smuggling attempt: $42,500-worth of marijuana shot into Ariz. by cannon Much-criticized 'drum major' quote on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to be removed Video: Driver ticketed for truck covered in Christmas lights Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Typo takes 'L' out of 'public' in charter schools ad

By NBC News staff and affiliates There are some words that auto-correct or spell-checkers just don't catch. They might be spelled right, but mean something oh-so-wrong in the context. And this one proved an embarrassment for a charter school organization in Washington state. An advertisement that ran in the Sunday and Monday editions of The News Tribune in Tacoma left out a single letter in quite the unfortunate spot, NBC station KING of Seattle reported. "Are you interested in Pubic Charter Schools?" the ad mistakenly read. "This was our mistake," Jim Spady, a spokesperson for the Washington Charter School Resource Center, told KING. The center wrote the newspaper ad, which was supposed to publicize an upcoming conference. The News Tribune also reportedly did not notice that "public" was misspelled. "It's an honest error," The News Tribune's marketing manager, Sue Piotrkowski, told KING. The newspaper ran a corrected version of the ad Wednesday, according to KING. Correction: University of Texas doesn't have school of 'pubic' affairs Last month, Washington state voters passed an initiative that allows for charter schools, The Seattle Times reported. Drew Mikkelsen, KING's south bureau chief, contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: Oregon shopping mall gunman identified; motive unclear Girl, 15, shot in Oregon mall cheats death twice 'Unique' smuggling attempt: $42,500-worth of marijuana shot into Ariz. by cannon Much-criticized 'drum major' quote on Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to be removed Video: Driver ticketed for truck covered in Christmas lights Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Census: Whites no longer a majority in US by 2043

WASHINGTON (AP) — White people will no longer make up a majority of Americans by 2043, according to new census projections, part of a historic shift that is already reshaping the nation's schools, workforce and electorate. The official projection, released Wednesday by the Census Bureau, now places the tipping point for the white majority a year later than previous estimates, which were made before the impact of the recent economic downturn was fully known. America continues to grow and become more diverse due to higher birth rates among minorities, particularly for Hispanics who entered the U.S. at the height of the immigration boom in the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the mid-2000 housing bust, however, the arrival of millions of new immigrants from Mexico and other nations has slowed, pushing minority growth below its once-torrid pace. The country's changing demographic mosaic has stark political implications, shown clearly in last month's election that gave President Barack Obama a second term – in no small part due to his support from 78 percent of non-white voters. RELATED:  Help the Census figure out Latinos The non-Hispanic white population, now at 197.8 million, is projected to peak at 200 million in 2024, before entering a steady decline in absolute numbers as the massive baby boomer generation enters its golden years. "The fast-growing demographic today is now the children of immigrants," said Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, a global expert on immigration and dean of UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, describing the rate of minority growth in the U.S. as dipping from "overdrive" to "drive." Even with slowing immigration, Suarez-Orozco says, the "die has been cast" for strong minority growth from births. As recently as 1960, whites made up 85 percent of the U.S., but that share dropped after a 1965 overhaul to U.S. immigration laws opened doors to waves of new immigrants from Mexico, Latin America and Asia. By 2000, the percentage of U.S. whites had slid to 69 percent; it now stands at roughly 64 percent. "Moving forward, the U.S. will become the first major post-industrial society in the world where minorities will be the majority," Suarez-Orozco said. "With the white baby boomer population now leaving the work force, the most fundamental challenge will be connecting with this fast-growing U.S. group in terms of their education." RELATED:  Census -Minorities now surpass whites in US births The U.S. has nearly 315 million people today. According to the projections released Wednesday, the U.S. population is projected to cross the 400 million mark in 2051, reaching 420.3 million a half century from now in 2060. By 2060, whites should drop to 43 percent of the U.S. At that time, blacks will make up 14.7 percent, up slightly from today. Hispanics, currently 17 percent of the population, will more than double in absolute number, making up 31 percent, or nearly 1 in 3 residents. "Hispanic youth will play a large role in shaping the U.S., says Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center.  "How Hispanic youth come of age and what types of education and jobs they get will have implications for how the country will be in 2060," Lopez adds.   We are already seeing the trend of more Latino attending college, Lopez says, but the largest growth will come from Latino children who are currently a growing part of the nation's public schools. Asians are expected to increase from 5 percent of the population to 8 percent. The point when minority children become the majority is expected to arrive much sooner – 2019. Last year, racial and ethnic minorities became a majority among babies ages 1 and younger for the first time in U.S. history. At the same time, the U.S. population as a whole is aging, driven by white baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. Over the next half century, the "oldest old" – those ages 85 and older – is projected to more than triple to 18.2 million, reaching 4 percent of the U.S. population. The actual shift in demographics will be influenced by a host of factors that can't always be accurately pinpointed – the pace of the economic recovery, cultural changes, natural or manmade disasters, as well as an overhaul of immigration law, which is expected to be debated in Congress early next year. "The next half century marks key points in continuing trends – the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority," said acting census director Thomas Mesenbourg. Republicans have been seeking to broaden their appeal to minorities, who made up 28 percent of the electorate this year, after faring poorly among non-whites on Election Day, when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney carried only about 20 percent of non-white voters.. The race and ethnic changes are already seen in pockets of the U.S. and in the younger age groups, where roughly 45 percent of all students in K-12 are Hispanics, blacks, Asian-Americans and others. Already, the District of Columbia and four states – Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas – have minority populations greater than 50 percent; across the U.S., more than 11 percent of counties have tipped to "majority-minority" status. Last month, nearly all voters over age 65 were white (87 percent), but among voters under age 30, just 58 percent were white. "Irrespective of future immigration and minority fertility patterns, the U.S. is facing a stagnating white population," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. "The biggest shift will occur over the next 20 years as the mostly white baby boom generation moves into traditional retirement years. It is in the child and early labor force ages where we must be ready for the greatest changes as new American minorities take over for aging whites." The rapidly growing non-white population gives the U.S. a bit of an economic advantage over other developed nations, including Russia, Japan and France, which are seeing reduced growth or population losses due to declining birth rates and limited immigration. The combined population of more-developed countries other than the U.S. has been projected to decline beginning in 2016, raising the prospect of prolonged budget crises as the number of working-age citizens diminish, pension costs rise and tax revenues fall. Depending on future rates of immigration, the U.S. population is estimated to continue growing through at least 2060. In a hypothetical situation in which all immigration – both legal and illegal – immediately stopped, previous government estimates have suggested the U.S. could lose population beginning in 2048. — AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.  Sandra Lilley from NBC Latino contributed to the article. Like this: Be the first to like this.

Pa. couple forced dogs to 'fight and win, or die,' DA says

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com. By Tim Furlong and David Chang, NBCPhiladelphia.com Charges were announced Wednesday morning against a Chester County, Pa., couple accused of running a major dogfighting operation out of their home on Manor Road in West Brandywine. Prosecutors say Shane Santiago and his wife were running the operation while their five children lived at the home. Officials say the couple raised pit bulls, trained them on treadmills and gave them steroid-type medicines to make them stronger. They then taught the dogs to kill other dogs, according to prosecutors. Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said the couple had the stronger dogs practice on weaker dogs. Dogfighters from other states allegedly came to their home and watched the dogs fight, often to the death. While the winning dogs were taken home, the losing dogs either died in the ring or were killed by the owners, according to prosecutors. Hogan said officials recovered jumper cables with hair on them in Santiago's basement. Santiago allegedly used the cables to electrocute the dogs. "The dogs lived by one rule," said Hogan. "Fight and win, or die. At least 10 dogs died by defendant Shane Santiago's hands, and countless more were maimed in these dogfights." Also on NBCPhiladelphia.com: Mix-up causes gas stations to pump jet fuel into cars Hogan said authorities were alerted to the possibility of dogfighting in the western part of Chester County when they received reports of dead and mutilated pit bulls along roadsides over the last few months. Officials originally targeted Santiago as part of a drug operation, which eventually led them to the dogfighting connection, according to investigators. Santiago and his wife were both charged with animal cruelty and child endangerment. They are in custody.