title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The stadium opened in autumn 1961 as District of Columbia Stadium (often shortened to D.C. Stadium). The new venue opened for football even though construction was not completed until the following spring.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Its first official event was an NFL regular season game on October 1, ten days after the final MLB baseball game at Griffith Stadium. The Redskins lost that game to the New York Giants before 36,767 fans, including President John F. Kennedy. This was slightly more than the attendance record at Griffith Stadium of 36,591 on October 26, 1947 (in a game vs the Bears).


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: At a college football game labeled the "Dedication Game," the stadium was dedicated on October 7. George Washington University became the first home team to win at the stadium with a defeat of VMI.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Its first sell-out came on November 23, 1961, for the first of what were to be annual Thanksgiving Day high-school football games between the D.C. public school champion and the D.C. Catholic school champion: Eastern was defeated by St. John's.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The first Major League Baseball game was played on April 9, 1962, after two exhibition games against the Pirates had been cancelled. President Kennedy threw out the ceremonial first pitch in front of 44,383 fans, who watched the Senators defeat the Detroit Tigers and Senators shortstop Bob Johnson hit the first The previous Washington baseball attendance record was 38,701 at Griffith Stadium on October 11, 1925, at the fourth game of the World Series, and was the largest ever for a professional sports event in Washington. The previous largest baseball opening day figure had been 31,728 (on April 19, 1948).


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: When it opened, D.C. Stadium hosted the Redskins, the Senators, and the GWU Colonials football team, all of whom had previously used Griffith Stadium: the GWU Colonials shut down their football team at the end of the 1966 season, while the Senators moved to at the end of the 1971 season, and became the Texas Rangers, playing in Arlington Stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1961, Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall refused to integrate his team, but President Kennedy forced his hand by refusing to allow the team to play in the stadium, which was on Federal land, unless he desegregated the organization. In 1962, Marshall relented and drafted a black player, Ernie Davis. Davis was traded, but Marshall eventually hired five African-American players for the Redskins 1962 roster, and became the last NFL owner to integrate.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1961 and 1962, D.C. Stadium hosted the annual city title game, matching the D.C. public school champion and the winner of the area's premier Catholic league, played before capacity crowds on Thanksgiving Day. The November 22, 1962, game between St. John's, a predominantly white school in Northwest D.C., and Eastern, a majority-black school just blocks from the stadium, ended in a racially motivated riot.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1964, the stadium emerged as an element in the Bobby Baker bribery scandal. Don B. Reynolds, a Maryland insurance businessman, made a statement in August 1964 which he claimed that Matthew McCloskey, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and Kennedy's ambassador to Ireland, paid a $25,000 kickback through Reynolds and at the instruction of Baker to the Kennedy-Johnson campaign as payback for the stadium construction contract. Baker later went to jail for tax fraud, and the FBI investigated the awarding of the stadium contract, although McCloskey was never charged.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The stadium was renamed in January 1969 for U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in Los Angeles seven months earlier. The announcement was made by Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall on January 18, in the last days of the Johnson Administration. The dedication ceremony at the stadium was held several months later on June 7.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Senators' final game was at RFK on Thursday night, September 30, 1971, with less than 15,000 in attendance. Rains from Hurricane Ginger threatened the event, but the game proceeded. Fan favorite Frank "Hondo" Howard hit a home run (RFK's last until 2005) in the sixth inning to spark a four-run rally to tie the game; the Senators scored two more in the eighth to go up but the game was forfeited to the Yankees after unruly fans stormed the field with two outs in the top of the ninth. Subsequent efforts to bring baseball back to RFK, including an attempt to attract the San Diego Padres in , and a plan to have the nearby Baltimore Orioles play eleven home games there in 1976, all failed. The former was derailed by lease issues with the city in San Diego, and the latter was shot down by commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who had planned to expand the league with four teams (aiming for Seattle, New Orleans, Toronto and Washington that would see an 14-team NL and AL). The expansion for was later reduced to two teams to be placed in the American League with Toronto and Seattle, and the next wasn't until (speculation for expansion had started as early as 1989 with Washington as a city in mind, but it proved fruitless). In the mid-1990s RFK was planned to be the home of the yet-to-be-named Washington team, a charter franchise of the United League (UL) which was planned to be a third league of Major League Baseball (MLB).


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: For much of the 1970s and 1980s, RFK was primarily known as the home of the Redskins, where they played during their three Super Bowl championship seasons. It also hosted several short-lived professional soccer teams and in 1983–1984 the Washington Federals of the USFL. In 1980, it hosted the Soccer Bowl, the championship game of the NASL.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Major changes to the stadium came in 1996. Following the success of hosting matches in the 1994 World Cup and 1996 Summer Olympics, RFK became home to one of the charter teams of the new Major League Soccer. On April 20, 1996, it played host to the first home match of D.C. United, a 2–1 loss to the LA Galaxy.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: However, later that year the stadium hosted the Redskins' final home game in Washington, DC. After nearly a decade of negotiating for a new stadium with Mayors Sharon Pratt Kelly and Marion Barry, abandoning them in 1992 and 1993 in search of a suburban site and then having a 1994 agreement collapse in the face of neighborhood complaints, environmental concerns and a dispute in Congress (over what some members viewed as the team's racially insensitive name and the use of federal land for private profit), Jack Kent Cooke decided to move his team to Maryland. On December 22, 1996, the Redskins won their last game at RFK Stadium 37–10 over the Dallas Cowboys, reprising their first win there in 1961, before 56,454, the largest football crowd in stadium history. The Redskins then moved east to FedExField in 1997, leaving D.C. United as the stadium's only major tenant for much of the next decade, though from 2001 to 2003 they were joined by the Washington Freedom of the short-lived Women's United Soccer Association.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: After hosting 16 exhibition games after the Senators' departure, baseball returned to RFK temporarily in 2005. That year the National League's newly renamed Washington Nationals made it their home while a new permanent home, Nationals Park, was constructed. On April 14, 2005, before a crowd of 45,496 including President Bush and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5–3 victory in their first game at RFK. President George W. Bush, formerly a part-owner of the Texas Rangers (the former Senators), threw out the first pitch becoming the last president, and the first since Richard Nixon, to do so in RFK Stadium. Bush threw a ball saved by former Senators pitcher Joe Grzenda from that teams ill-fated final home game—the ball Grzenda would have pitched to Yankee second baseman Horace Clarke when fans rioted and forced the forfeit. The last MLB game at RFK, a 5–3 Nationals win over the Phillies, was played on September 23, 2007, and in 2008 the Nationals moved to their new stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 2008, RFK was once again primarily the host of D.C. United, though it also hosted a college football bowl game, the Military Bowl, from 2008 to 2012, before it moved in 2013 to in Annapolis, Maryland. On July 25, 2013, the District of Columbia and D.C. United announced a tentative deal to build a $300 million, 20,000–25,000-seat stadium at Buzzard Point. Groundbreaking on the new soccer stadium, Audi Field, occurred in February 2017, and on October 22, 2017, RFK hosted its last MLS match, a 2–1 D.C. United loss to the New York Red Bulls.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: On September 5, 2019, Events DC announced plans to demolish the stadium by 2021. Officials said the decision would save $2 million a year on maintenance and $1.5 million a year on utilities. One year later, they hired a contractor to oversee the demolition, which was expected to begin in 2022 and cost $20 million. In July 2022, Events DC announced that the removal of hazardous materials had begun and would "take several months," and that demolition would "be completed by the end of 2023." In November 2022, a sale of stadium seats was announced ahead of the 2023 demolition.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: On July 5, 2022, several fires occurred inside the stadium. The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department firefighters and emergency workers were responded and extinguished them. They indicated that the fires were in "below grade levels". No injuries were reported, and cause of the fires is currently under investigation.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The stadium opened in October 1961 named the District of Columbia Stadium, but the media quickly shortened that to D.C. Stadium and sometimes, in the early days, as "Washington Stadium". On January 18, 1969, in the last days of the Johnson Administration, Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall announced that the stadium would be renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, in Kennedy's honor. The official renaming ceremony was held but by then many had already been referring to it as "RFK Stadium" or simply "RFK". Coincidentally, following the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Armory Board had directed that the stadium be renamed for him, but the plan faltered when a few weeks later the Philadelphia city council passed a bill renaming Philadelphia Stadium as "John F. Kennedy Stadium".


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Robert Kennedy was not without connection to the stadium; as attorney general in the early 1960s, his Justice Department played a role in the Redskins' racial integration. Along with Udall, Kennedy threatened to revoke the team's lease at the federally owned stadium until it promised to sign African American players. His brother John attended the first event there and threw out the first pitch. In 2008, a nearby bridge was renamed for Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's wife.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: On April 14, 2005, just before the Nationals' home opener, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission announced an agreement with the Department of Defense under which the military would pay the city about $6 million for naming rights and the right to place recruiting kiosks and signage in the stadium. In return, the stadium would be dubbed "Armed Forces Field at RFK Stadium". This plan was dropped within days, however, after several prominent members of Congress questioned the use of public funds for a stadium sponsorship.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Similar proposals to sell the naming rights to the National Guard, ProFunds (a Bethesda, Maryland investment company), and Sony were formed and discarded in 2005 and 2006.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK Stadium was home to the Washington Redskins for 36 seasons, from 1961 through 1996. The football field was aligned northwest to southeast, along the first baseline.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Redskins' first game in D.C. Stadium was its first event, a 24–21 loss to the New York Giants on October 1, 1961. The first win in the stadium came at the end of the season on December 17, over its future archrival, the struggling second-year Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins played 266 regular-season games at RFK, compiling a record, including an impressive record in the playoffs.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In its twelfth season, RFK hosted its first professional football playoff game on Christmas Eve 1972, a 16–3 Redskins' win over the Green Bay Packers. It was the city's first postseason game in three decades, following the NFL championship game victory in 1942. The stadium hosted the NFC Championship Game five times (1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, and 1991), 2nd only to Candlestick Park, and the Redskins won them all. They are the only team to win five NFC titles at the same stadium. In the subsequent Super Bowls, Washington won three (XVII, XXII, XXVI).


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Redskins' last game at the stadium was a victory, as 56,454 saw a win over the division champion Cowboys on December 22, 1996.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: D.C. United of Major League Soccer played over 400 matches at RFK Stadium from the team's debut in 1996 until 2017, when they moved to a new stadium. During that time, RFK hosted three MLS Cup finals, including the 1997 match won by D.C. United. At RFK, they compiled a record, winning more games at RFK than any team other than the Senators.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: With its new stadium, Audi Field, opening in 2018, D.C. United played its final game at RFK on October 22, 2017, completing 22 seasons at the stadium, during which the team won four league titles. At the time, RFK Stadium was the longest-used stadium in MLS and the only one left from the league's debut season. When they shared the stadium with the Nationals from 2005 to 2007, the playing surface and the dimensions of the field that resulted from baseball use drew criticism. D.C. United's departure left RFK with no professional sports tenant; however, after moving to Audi Field, D.C. United continued to use the outer practice fields at RFK for training and leased locker room and basement space there.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Washington Senators of the American League played at RFK Stadium from 1962 through 1971. They played their first season in 1961 at Griffith Stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In its ten seasons as the Senators' home field, RFK Stadium was known as a hitters' park, aided by the stagnant heat (and humidity) of Washington summers. Slugger Frank Howard, (, ), hit a number of "tape-measure" home runs, a few of which landed in the center field area of the upper deck. The seats he hit with his home runs are painted white, rather than the gold of the rest of the upper deck. Howard came to the Senators from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1965. He hit the Senators' final RFK homer, in the sixth inning on September 30, 1971. With two outs in the top of the ninth, a fan riot turned a 7–5 Senators lead over the New York Yankees into a 9–0 forfeit loss, the first in the majors in 17 years.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: These Senators' only winning season came in 1969 at ; they never made the postseason. They had a home record at RFK of representing the most games, wins, and losses by any team at RFK in any sport. The stadium hosted the All-Star Game twice, in 1962 (first of two) and 1969, both won by the visiting National League. Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all attended games there. President Johnson was scheduled to throw out the first pitch in 1968, but the opening game was delayed following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., so Vice President Hubert Humphrey got the privilege. President Nixon was to throw out the first ball at the 1969 game to celebrate baseball's centennial, but it was postponed due to rain and so Nixon chose instead to greet the Apollo 11 astronauts. Vice President Spiro Agnew filled in.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Between 1974 and 1990, three soccer teams played at RFK under the name Washington Diplomats. In 1974, two Maryland businessmen purchased the rights to the Baltimore Bays of the semi-professional American Soccer League, moved the team to the District and renamed it the Washington Diplomats. They signed a lease calculating that an average of 12,000 spectators would allow them to break even. Despite white flight, owners thought that recent completion of the Beltway, the stadium's 12,000 parking spaces and future completion of a Metro station would facilitate attendance. Games were scheduled for Saturday and prices were set low. The Diplomats inaugural game was on May 4 with an attendance of 10,175; Mayor Walter Washington ceremonially kicked off the game, but the Dips lost 5–1 to the defending NASL champion Philadelphia Atoms. Attendance dropped throughout the season.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1975, the Diplomats were informed that the recently installed natural turf at RFK would not be ready for opening day, so they scheduled their first two home games that season for W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, Virginia. After the games attracted more than 10,000 fans each, the Diplomats moved most of their home games to Woodson, but then moved the last five back to RFK once soccer superstar Pelé was added to the roster of the New York Cosmos. Pelé was so popular that the 1975 Cosmos-Diplomats match broke the NASL attendance record at 35,620. Even with the success of the Cosmos game, attendance declined again and before the 1976 season the Diplomats announced that they had scheduled every home game, except the one against the Cosmos, at Woodson. During the season, they moved that game to Woodson.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: After averaging 5,963 at Woodson, the Diplomats decided to ramp up their marketing and move back to RFK in 1977. The team changed everything from the uniforms to the cheerleaders, but the team's disappointing on-the-field performance hurt attendance (a ~31,000 fan game against Pelé and the Cosmos notwithstanding). In 1978, attendance continued to fall, even though the Dips made the playoffs. Success on the field during the 1978 and 1979 seasons (including a franchise-best 19 wins in '79) did not translate to ticket sales and even with a negligible amount of revenue from "indoor Dips" games at the D.C. Armory during the offseason, the franchise continued to lose money.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1980, they signed Dutch international superstar Johan Cruyff, the Pelé of the Potomac, from the Los Angeles Aztecs. Needing 20,000 fans per game to break even, they managed to attract 24,000 for the opener and a District record 53,351 for the game against the Pelé-less Cosmos (the fifth-largest soccer crowd at RFK ever), but the team failed to break-even financially. After racking up debts of $5 million, the first incarnation of the Dips folded.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Three months later, the Detroit Express announced a move to D.C. for 1981, and that they would also be the Diplomats. They had trouble attracting fans; and soon folded.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Diplomats of the NASL, racked up an impressive record at RFK, the best winning percentage of any RFK home team, and were in the playoffs.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1987, a new soccer team also called the Washington Diplomats, was formed. They played at RFK, and sometimes at the RFK auxiliary field, for three seasons as part of the ASL and then the APSL. They won the ASL Championship in 1988 but often drew fewer than 1000 fans. In 1990 they finished last in the Southern Division of the APSL East, were unable to pay the rent and folded in October 1990. Over the course of 4 seasons they were at RFK, and 2–0 at the RFK auxiliary field.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The other team to move from Griffith to D.C. Stadium was the George Washington University Colonials college football team. The stadium was dedicated during the October 7, 1961, game against VMI, the first college football game there, which GWU won 30–6. The Colonials were forced to play their first three games on the road to allow the stadium to be completed. In the following years, because the Senators had priority, GWU waited until October (when baseball season was over) to schedule games. From 1961 to 1964 they played road games in September, and in 1965 and 1966 they played at high school stadiums in Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Colonials had no real success at D.C. Stadium. GWU was during its D.C. Stadium years and never posted a winning record. The Colonials weren't much better at D.C. Stadium where their record was , facing off against Army twice and against a Liberty Bowl-bound West Virginia in 1964 (all losses). Perhaps their biggest win was the 1964 upset of Villanova, which came to Washington with a 6–1 record. Sophomore quarterback Garry Lyle, the school's last NFL draftee, led the Colonials to a


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The final George Washington football game to date, and the last at D.C. Stadium, came on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1966, when the team lost to , 16–7.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: After the season was over, GW President Dr. Lloyd H. Elliott chose to reevaluate GW's football program. On December 19, 1966, head coach Jim Camp, conference coach of the year, resigned citing the uncertainty. The next day, a member of the Board of Trustees announced that the school would drop football. On January 19, 1967, the decision became official. GW decided to use the football program's funding to eventually build the Charles E. Smith Center for the basketball team. Poor game attendance and the expense, estimated at $254,000 during the 1966 season, contributed to the decision. Former GW player Harry Ledford believed that most people were unwilling to drive on Friday nights to D.C. Stadium, which was perceived as an unsafe area and lacked rail transit. Maryland and Virginia were nationally competitive teams that drew potential suburban spectators away from GW.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: After playing as the Montreal Expos from 1969 to 2004, the Expos franchise moved to Washington, D.C., to become the Washington Nationals for the 2005 season. The Nationals played their first three seasons (2005–2007) at RFK, then moved to Nationals Park in 2008. While the Nationals played at RFK, it was the fourth-oldest active stadium in the majors, behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: During the Nationals' three seasons there, RFK then became known as a pitchers' park. While Frank Howard hit at least 44 home runs for three straight seasons at RFK for the second Washington Senators franchise from 1968 through 1970, the 2005 Nationals had only one hitter with more than 15 home runs, José Guillén with 24. However, in his lone season with the team in 2006, Alfonso Soriano hit 46 home runs.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: During their three seasons at RFK, the Nationals failed to make the playoffs or post a winning record. They went 41–40 at home in 2005 and 2006 and 40–41 in 2007 to finish with a record at RFK.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: No team has a longer history with RFK Stadium than the Howard Bison football team, who played there 42 times over nearly 46 years (the Detroit Tigers are 2nd by ~8 months, having played their first game there April 9, 1962, and their last on June 20, 2007). Between their first game in 1970 and last, in 2016, they earned a record, winning more games at RFK than any other college football program.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Looking to play on a bigger stage than Howard Stadium, they began scheduling games at RFK. Howard's first RFK game was a 24–7 victory over Fisk on October 24, 1970. From 1974 to 1976, Howard played all but one of their home games at RFK and in 1977 they played half their home games there. After the 1977 season they returned to Howard Stadium, but continued to play their annual homecoming game at RFK through 1985. After the 1985 season, Howard Stadium was refurbished and renamed, and for the next 7 years, Howard played all of their home games there.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1992 they returned to RFK for a game against Bowie State that was marked by taunting and a game-ending scuffle. From 1993 to 1999 Howard played at least one game a year at RFK including the Greater Washington Urban League Classic, at one point called the Hampton-Howard Classic, against Hampton from 1994 to 1999. In 2000 that game moved to Giants Stadium and Howard spent more than a decade away from RFK.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Starting in 2011 and through the 2016 season, Howard played in the Nation's Football Classic at RFK, matching up against Morehouse at first and then Hampton again. In 2017, Events DC announced that they would discontinue the Classic and thus the last Bison game at RFK Stadium was a 34–7 loss to Hampton on September 16, 2016.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: For three seasons, RFK was home to the Women's United Soccer Association team, the Washington Freedom. On April 14, 2001, the Freedom defeated the Bay Area CyberRays 1–0 in WUSA's inaugural match before 34,198 fans, the largest crowd in WUSA history and the largest crowd to watch a women's professional sports event in DC history (the largest crowd for a women's sporting event was 45,946 for the 1996 women's Olympic soccer tournament, also at RFK). Over three years, the Freedom racked up a 15–9–6 record at RFK and finished as one of the league's top teams. They came in 2nd in 2002 and won the league's Founder's Cup in 2003. They played all of their home games at RFK, except for one in 2001 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to avoid the Washington Grand Prix. Their last game at RFK as part of WUSA was on August 2, 2003, when they defeated the San Jose Cyber Rays. They won the final Founder's Cup in August 2003 and returned to RFK a few days later – minus the players who were playing in the 2003 Women's World Cup – for a victory celebration with the fans, which would be their final WUSA event at RFK. WUSA suspended operation the next month. Their victory in the Founders Cup means that the Freedom won both the first and last games in WUSA history. For a time, their championship banner hung in RFK, but when the Nationals moved in, the banner was moved to the Maryland Soccerplex.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Freedom continued, first as an exhibition team called the Washington Freedom Soccer Club, and then as a member of the W-League and the Women's Professional Soccer league in 2006. Their home stadium was the Maryland Soccerplex, but they continued to play a few games at RFK. In 2004 they played an exhibition against Nottingham Forest, which they won 8–0. They returned on June 22, 2008, in a W-League match, which they won 5–0, against the Richmond Kickers Destiny that was part of a doubleheader with DC United. In 2009, the Freedom moved to the WPS and while they continued to play most of their home games in Maryland, they played 3 of 10 home games at RFK in 2009 and one game there in 2010. In the years after WUSA suspended operations, the Freedom went 5–0–1 at RFK, bringing their combined RFK total to . After the 2010 season, the Freedom's owners had had enough and sold the team to Dan Borislow, owner of the phone service MagicJack. He moved them to Boca Raton, Florida for the team's last season. The Freedom's final game at RFK was a 3–1 victory over Saint Louis Athletica on May 1, 2010.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1967, D.C. Stadium became the home of its first professional soccer team, the Washington Whips. They played 23 regular-season games at D.C. Stadium over 16 months, putting together a home record as well as losing an exhibition against Pelé and his standout Brazilian club Santos FC, for a total RFK record of . 20,189 fans attended the Santos exhibition, more than three times as large as a typical Whips match, making it the most heavily attended soccer game in DC history at the time. The game was heavily promoted in the local press and the Whips, who were struggling to attract fans to their regular matches, provided additional incentive through a "Meet Pelé" contest.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK served as the venue for the inaugural match of the United Soccer Association (USA), a May 26, 1967, match between the Whips and the Cleveland Stokers, won by the Stokers.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In their first season, the Whips were one of the league's top teams and they were staffed by the Aberdeen Football Club of the Scottish Football League or the Aberdeen Dons. They finished 5–2–5, good enough to win the Eastern Division and play for the USA Championship against the Los Angeles Wolves.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The owners estimated that they needed to attract 16,000 fans per game, but they never broke 10,000 and averaged only 6,200. Towards the end of the 1967 season, the Whips resorted to organizing British Isles sporting contests such as cricket, hurling, and rugby before games in hopes of luring expatriates.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1968, to stay viable, they negotiated a reduction in the lease payment and reduced admission prices by one-third; among other discounts. The USA merged with the National Professional Soccer League to form the new North American Soccer League. Despite problems on and off the field, the team found itself in a battle for a playoff spot and towards the end of the season crowds swelled to as much as 14,227 in what proved to be the deciding match for the NASL Atlantic Division title. This September 7, 1968, match against the Atlanta Chiefs was the last for the Whips at D.C. Stadium. That season, the team went 15–10–7 drawing an average of 6,586 fans. After a tour of Europe, the Whips folded in October 1968.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Washington's only USFL team, the Washington Federals, played two seasons at RFK and during that time, they had the league's worst record each season, and, in 1984, the lowest per-game attendance. For the opening game, 38,000 fans showed up to see the return of former Redskins coach George Allen, the coach of the Chicago Blitz, in a game, the Federals lost, 28–7. But attendance quickly dropped off, with as few as 7,303 showing up for a late-season game against the Boston Breakers. The team went 4–14 in 1983 and 3–15 in 1984, averaging 7,700 fans.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: With six games remaining in the 1984 season, owner Berl Bernhard sold the team to Florida real estate developer Woody Weiser. In the off-season, that deal fell through. Donald Dizney bought the team, moved it to Orlando and renamed it the Renegades.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: After going overall, and at RFK, the Federals ended their run with a 20–17 win over the New Orleans Breakers on June 24, 1984.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Team America was a professional version of the United States men's national soccer team which played like a franchise in the North American Soccer League (NASL) during the 1983 season. The team played its home games at RFK Stadium and was intended by the NASL and the United States Soccer Federation to build fan support for the league and create a cohesive and internationally competitive national team. However, the team finished in last place drawing 12,000 fans per game.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Team America played 19 games at RFK. In those games they went 5–10 in NASL matches and tied three friendlies against Watford F.C. (from the United Kingdom), FC Dinamo Minsk (from the Soviet Union), and Juventus F.C. (from Italy) for a final record of .


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The team's attendance averaged 19,952 through the first seven home matches, including the 50,108 who attended a match vs. Fort Lauderdale that featured a free Beach Boys concert. Losses led to declining attendance as the season wore on. Attendance averaged 13,002 for the entire 1983 season, having played only a single season.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The stadium's design was circular, attempting to facilitate both football and baseball. It was the first to use the so-called "cookie-cutter" concept, an approach also used in Philadelphia, New York, Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Diego, Cincinnati, Oakland, and Pittsburgh.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: While the perimeter of the stadium is circular, the front edge of the upper and lower decks form a "V" shape in deference to the baseball configuration. The rows of seating in the upper and lower decks follow the "V" layout, and the discrepancy between the shapes of the inner and outer rings permits more rows of seats to be inserted along the foul lines than at home plate and in the outfield. As a result, the height of the outside wall rises and falls in waves, and this is echoed in the roof, resulting in a "butterfly" appearance when seen at ground level from the west. This feature is unique among the circular stadiums of the 1960s.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In 1961, the stadium represented a new level of luxury. It offered 50,000 seats, each wide (at a time when the typical seat was only ), air-conditioned locker rooms and a lounge for player's wives. It had a machine-operated tarpaulin to cover the field, yard-wide aisles, and ramps that made it possible to empty the stadium in just 15 minutes. The ticket office was connected to the ticket windows by pneumatic tubes. The press boxes could be enclosed and expanded for big events. The stadium had a holding cell for drunks and brawlers. It had 12,000 parking spaces and was served by 300 buses. It had lighting that was twice as bright as Griffith Stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: It was not ideal for either sport, due to the different geometries of the playing fields. As the playing field dimensions for football and baseball vary greatly, seating had to accommodate the larger playing surface. This would prove to be the case at nearly every multi-purpose/cookie-cutter stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: As a baseball park, RFK was a target of scorn from baseball purists, largely because it was one of the few stadiums with no lower-deck seats in the outfield. The only outfield seats were in the upper deck, above a high wall. According to "Sporting News" publications in the 1960s, over 27,000 seats—roughly 60% of the listed capacity of 45,000 for baseball—were in the upper tier or mezzanine levels. The lower-to-upper proportion improved for the Redskins with end-zone seats. The first ten rows of the football configuration were nearly at the field level, making it difficult to see over the players. The baseball diamond was aligned due east (home plate to center field), and the football field ran along the first baseline (northwest to southeast).


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: A complex conversion was necessary, at a cost of $40,000 each time, to change the stadium from a football configuration to baseball and back again; in its final form, this included rolling the third-base lower-level seats into the outfield along a buried rail, dropping the hydraulic pitcher's mound into the ground, and laying sod over the infield dirt. Later facilities were designed so the seating configuration could be changed more quickly and at a lower cost. The conversion was required several times per year during the Senators' joint tenancy with the Redskins (1962–71) but became much more frequent during the Nationals/D.C. United era; in 2005, the conversion was made over twenty times.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Originally the seats located behind the stadium's third-base dugout were removed for baseball games and put back in place when the stadium was converted to the football (and later soccer) configuration. When these sections were in place, RFK seated approximately 56,000. With the Nationals' arrival in 2005, this particular segment of the stands was permanently removed to facilitate the switch between the baseball and soccer configurations. These seats were not restored following the Nationals' move to Nationals Park, leaving the stadium's seating capacity at approximately 46,000. The majority of the upper-deck seats normally were not made available for D.C. United matches, so the stadium's reduced capacity normally was not problematic for the club.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: During the years when the stadium was without baseball (1972–2004), the rotating seats remained in the football configuration. If an exhibition baseball game was scheduled, the left-field wall was only from home plate, and a large screen was erected in left field for some games.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Some of RFK's quirks endear the venue to fans and players. The large rolling bleacher section is less stable than other seating, allowing fans to jump in rhythm to cause the whole area to bounce. Also, despite its small size (it never seated more than 58,000), because of the stadium's design and the proximity of the fans to the field when configured for football, the stadium was extremely loud when the usual sell-out Redskins crowds became vocal. Legend has it that Redskins head coach George Allen would order a large rolling door in the side of the stadium to be opened when visiting teams were attempting field goals at critical moments in games so that a swirling wind from off the Potomac and Anacostia rivers might interfere with the flight of the kicked ball.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Since the stadium is on a direct sightline with the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, light towers were not allowed; instead, arc lights were placed on its curved, dipping roof.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Events D.C.—the city agency which operates RFK Stadium—began a strategic planning process in November 2013 to study options for the future of the stadium, its campus and the nonmilitary portions of the adjacent D.C. Armory. Events D.C. said one option to be studied was demolition within a decade, while another would be the status quo. The strategic planning process also included the design and development of options. The agency said that RFK Stadium has generated $4 million to $5 million a year in revenues since 1997, which did not cover operating expenses. In August 2014, Events D.C. chose the consulting firm of Brailsford & Dunlavey to create the master plan.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The dimensions of the baseball field were down the foul lines, to the power alleys and to center field during the Senators' time. The official distances when the Nationals arrived were identical, except for two additional feet to center field. After complaints from Nationals hitters it was discovered in July 2005 that the fence had actually been put in place incorrectly, and it was to the power alleys in left; to the right-field power alley; and to center field. The section of wall containing the sign was moved closer to the foul lines to more accurately represent the distance shown on the signs but no changes were made to the actual dimensions.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Two major league teams called RFK home, the Senators (1962–71) and the Nationals (2005–07). In between, the stadium hosted an assortment of exhibition games, old-timer games, and at least one college baseball exhibition game. In addition, from 1988 to 1991 the RFK auxiliary field served as the home stadium of the George Washington Colonials college baseball team, and hosted some Howard University and Interhigh League and D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association championship baseball games.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The last winning pitcher in any baseball game at RFK was Luis Ayala of the Nationals, the last runner to score was Chase Utley of the Phillies and the last home run was also hit by Chase Utley the day before off of Tim Redding.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK was the home of two professional football teams, two college football teams, a bowl game and more than one college all-star game. It hosted neutral-site college football games, various HBCU games, and high school regular season and championship games.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK has occasionally hosted high school football games, but never has done so regularly. On August 14, 2018, DC Events announced the DC Events Kickoff Classic, a football tripleheader featuring six Washington, D.C., high schools, with games between Dunbar and Maret, Archbishop Carroll and Woodrow Wilson, and Friendship Collegiate Academy and H. D. Woodson. The first Classic was held on September 15, 2018, and the second, only a double-header, was the following year. The 2019 Classic represented the last official event in the stadium, coming days after the announcement that the stadium would be razed and months before the coronavirus pandemic. In the final game of any sport at RFK Stadium, Friendship Collegiate defeated H.D. Woodson, 34–6 to win the Clash of Ward 7 Titans trophy. The last touchdown scored at RFK was on a pass from Collegiate's Dyson Smith to Taron Riddick.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Although not designed for soccer, RFK Stadium, starting in the mid-1970s, became a center of American soccer, rivaled only by the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in terms of its history as a soccer venue. It is the only facility in the world to have hosted the FIFA World Cup (in 1994), the FIFA Women's World Cup (in 2003), Olympic group stages for men and women (in 1996), the MLS Cup (in 1997, 2000, and 2007), the North American Soccer League's Soccer Bowl (in 1980) and CONCACAF Champions' Cup matches (in 1988 and 1998). The United States men's national soccer team played more of its matches at RFK stadium than at any other site, and D.C. United played 347 regular-season matches there.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: In addition to being the home stadium of DC United, the Diplomats, the Freedom, the Whips and Team America, RFK also hosted three friendly Washington Darts games in 1970.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK hosted at least two college soccer games, once when Maryland moved their game there due to wet field conditions at Ludwig Field and again for a scheduled game following their national championship season. It has hosted several other Maryland games at the auxiliary field.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The United States men's national soccer team has played more games at RFK Stadium than any other stadium. At times it was suggested that due to the nature of RFK and its quirkiness that it would be a suitable national stadium if US Soccer were ever to seek one out. Several prominent members of the national team have scored at RFK, including Brian McBride, Cobi Jones, Eric Wynalda, Joe-Max Moore, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, and Landon Donovan. Winners are listed first.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Late on May 22, 1993, 9,000 saw Riddick Bowe record a second-round knockout over Jesse Ferguson to retain his WBA heavyweight On the same day Roy Jones recorded a unanimous decision over Bernard Hopkins to capture the vacant IBF middleweight title.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: On July 21, 2002, the Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., was run over a temporary circuit laid out in the RFK stadium parking lot. The 140-lap race was the American Le Mans Series' first event in the District of Columbia, and the city's first major motor sports event in 80 years.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Before the race, residents living near the stadium expressed concerns about traffic, parking, and the noise the lengthy event would create. Two months before the race, "The Washington Post" reported that District officials had ignored laws and regulations requiring an environmental impact assessment for the race, and that Le Mans officials had lied to the city about noise levels. After the race, American Le Mans officials reneged on a promise to remove the Jersey barriers outlining the racecourse, leaving the unsightly structures in the parking lots for removal at the city's expense. When the American Le Mans organization tried to hold a second race at RFK in 2003, outraged residents forced D.C. officials to cancel the city's 10-year lease with the company. No more races were ever held.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The venue saw a return to racing in 2014 with the Global Rallycross Championship. Much like most of the circuits for GRC at the time, the track was a temporary circuit laid out across the stadium's parking lot. Patrik Sandell won the first race, and the event returned for 2 more years.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The final stage of the 1992 Tour DuPont was a time trial from RFK to Rock Creek Park and back. Greg LeMond came in third for the stage and won the Tour, the last major win of his career. He won $50,000 and a kiss from Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. Steve Hegg won the stage.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: On June 2, 2018, Wales national rugby union team played the South Africa national rugby union team at RFK Stadium. It was "Wales' fifth test on US soil, the previous four outings all against the United States national rugby union team. " Wales ran out winners 22–20 in front of a crowd of 21,357.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The Grateful Dead performed here on 6/9/73, 6/10/73, 7/6/86, 7/7/86, 7/12/89, 7/13/89, 7/12/90, 6/14/91, 6/20/92, 6/25/93, 6/26/93, 7/16/94, 7/17/94, 6/24/95, and 6/25/95.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Pink Floyd performed a concert here on June 1, 1988, as part of their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour and two concerts on July 9 and 10, 1994, as part of their The Division Bell Tour.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: Genesis performed here on May 26, 1987, as part of their Invisible Touch Tour, and on May 19, 1992, as part of their We Can't Dance Tour.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: From 1993 to 1999 and from 2001 to 2004, rock radio station WHFS held its annual HFStival rock concert at RFK Stadium.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: The stadium was featured in the climax of the 2014 film "". In the film, the stadium is damaged when Magneto uses his powers to place it as a barricade around the White House. At the end of the film, a newspaper article announces the stadium is to begin reconstruction. (RFK is shown being prepped for a baseball game; however, the movie is set in 1973, two years after the Senators left for Texas.)


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: During the Redskins' tenure, the Washington Hall of Stars was displayed on a series of white-and-red signs hung in a ring around the stadium's mezzanine, honoring D.C. sports greats from various sports. With the reconfiguration of the stadium, it was replaced by a series of dark-green banners over the center-field and right-field fences in order to make room for out-of-town scoreboards and advertising signage. There are 15 separate panels honoring 82 figures. Nationals Park also hosts a smaller version of the display.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: To the right of Panel 15 were four banners honoring D.C. United's MLS Cup wins: 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2004. To the right of these banners was D.C. United's "Tradition of Excellence" banner, which honors John Harkes and Marco Etcheverry. To the left of those banners were four banners honoring D.C. United's MLS Supporters Shield wins: 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2007. Those moved to Audi Field with D.C. United.


title: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium

text: RFK Stadium sits from the Stadium-Armory station of the Washington Metro. The station is served by the Blue, Orange, and Silver Lines. It is also served directly by Metrobus lines B2, D6, 96 and 97.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculidae (); commonly referred to in North America as chiggers and in Britain as harvest mites, but also known as berry bugs, bush-mites, red bugs or scrub-itch mites, are a family of mites. Chiggers are often confused with jiggers – a type of flea. Several species of Trombiculidae in their larva stage bite their animal or human host and by embedding their mouthparts into the skin cause "intense irritation" or "a wheal, usually with severe itching and dermatitis".


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculidae live in forests and grasslands and are also found in the vegetation of low, damp areas such as woodlands, berry bushes, orchards, along lakes and streams, and even in drier places where vegetation is low, such as lawns, golf courses, and parks. They are most numerous in early summer when grass, weeds, and other vegetation are heaviest. In their larval stage, they attach to various animals, including humans, and feed on skin, often causing itching. These relatives of ticks are nearly microscopic, measuring 400 µm (1/60 of an inch) and have a chrome-orange hue. There is a marked constriction in the front part of the body in the nymph and adult stages. The best known species of chigger in North America is the hard-biting "Trombicula alfreddugesi" of the Southeastern United States, humid Midwest and Mexico. In the UK, the most prevalent harvest mite is "Neotrombicula autumnalis", which is distributed through Western Europe to Eastern Asia.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculid mites go through a lifecycle of egg, larva, nymph, and adult. The larval mites feed on the skin cells of animals. The six-legged parasitic larvae feed on a large variety of creatures, including humans, rabbits, toads, box turtles, quail, and even some insects. After crawling onto their hosts, they inject digestive enzymes into the skin that break down skin cells. They do not actually "bite", but instead form a hole in the skin called a stylostome and chew up tiny parts of the inner skin, thus causing severe irritation and swelling. The severe itching is accompanied by red, pimple-like bumps (papules) or hives and skin rash or lesions on a sun-exposed area. For humans, itching usually occurs after the larvae detach from the skin.


title: Trombiculidae

text: After feeding on their hosts, the larvae drop to the ground and become nymphs, then mature into adults, which have eight legs and are harmless to humans. In the postlarval stage, they are not parasitic and feed on plant material. The females lay three to eight eggs in a clutch, usually on a leaf or under the roots of a plant, and die by autumn.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculidae, from Greek ("to tremble") and Latin ', genitive ' ("gnat" or "midge"), was first described as an independent family by Henry Ellsworth Ewing in 1944. Then, when the family was first described, it included two subfamilies, Hemitrombiculinae and Trombiculinae. Womersley added another, Leeuwenhoekiinae, which at the time contained only "Leeuwenhoekia". Later, he erected the family Leeuwenhoekiidae for the genus and subfamily, having six genera; they have a pair of submedian setae present on the dorsal plate.


title: Trombiculidae

text: References to chiggers, however, go as far back as sixth-century China, and by 1733, the first recognition of trombiculid mites in North America was made. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described a single species, "Acarus batatas" (now "Trombicula batatas"). However, most information about chiggers came from problems that arose during and after World War II.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculid mites are found throughout the world. In Europe and North America, they tend to be more prevalent in the hot and humid regions. In northern Europe, including the British Isles where they are called harvest mites, the species "Neotrombicula autumnalis" are found during the summer and autumn (in French, harvest mites are called "" because they are common in August). In the United States, they are found mostly in the Southeast, the South, and the Midwest. They are not present, or barely found, in far northern areas, high mountains, and deserts. In North America the species "Trombicula alfreddugesi", and the species "Trombicula (eutrombicula) hirsti", which are found in Australia and are commonly called the scrub-itch mite.


title: Trombiculidae

text: The length of the mite's cycle depends on species and environment, but normally lasts two to 12 months. The number of cycles in a year depends on the region. For example, in a temperate region, only three per year may occur, but in tropical regions, the cycle might be continuous all year long. Adult harvest mites winter in protected places such as slightly below the soil surface. Females become active in the spring, and once the ground temperature is regularly above , they lay eggs in vegetation, up to 15 eggs per day. The eggs are round and are dormant for about six days, after which the nonfeeding prelarvae emerge, with only three pairs of legs. After about six days, the prelarvae grow into their larval stage.


title: Trombiculidae

text: The larvae, commonly called chiggers, are about in diameter, normally light red in color, and covered in hairs; they move quickly relative to size. The larvae congregate in groups on small clods of soil, in matted vegetation, and even on low bushes and plants, where they have more access to prospective hosts.


title: Trombiculidae

text: The larval stage is the only parasitic stage of the mite's lifecycle. They are parasites on many animals. About 30 of the many species in this family, in their larval stage, attach to various animals and feed on skin. This often causes intensely itchy, red bumps in humans.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Chiggers attach to the host, pierce the skin, inject enzymes into the bite wound that digest cellular contents, and then suck up the digested tissue through a tube formed by hardened skin cells called a stylostome. They do not burrow into the skin or suck blood, as is commonly assumed. Itching from a chigger bite may not develop until 24–48 hours after the bite, so the victim may not associate the specific exposure with the bite itself. The red welt/bump on the skin is not where a chigger laid eggs, as is sometimes believed. The larvae remain attached to suitable hosts for three to five days before dropping off to begin their nymphal stage. They tend to attach where clothing has restrictions, such as belt lines, or behind the knees when wearing jeans.


title: Trombiculidae

text: During the wet season, chiggers are usually found in tall grass and other vegetation. During dry seasons, chiggers are mostly found underneath brush and shady areas. Standing still or lying in tall grass gives them more time to climb onto a person.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Once the larva has engorged itself on skin and has fallen off its host, it develops to its nymph stage. The nymph is sexually immature, but more closely resembles the adult.


title: Trombiculidae

text: This stage consists of three phases, the protonymph, deutonymph, and tritonymph. The protonymph and tritonymph morphologies are unusual in species of Trombiculidae. The protonymph phase combines larval and protonymph characteristics with deutonymph and tritonymph morphology. The protonymph is an inactive transitional stage. The active deutonymph develops an additional pair of legs (for a total of eight). Lastly, it re-enters inactivity during its transitional tritonymph phase before growing to adulthood.


title: Trombiculidae

text: As deutonymphs and adults, trombiculid mites are independent predators that feed on small arthropods and their eggs, and are also found to eat plant material. They live in soil, and are often found when digging in yards or gardens or in compost bins.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Recently (2018), methods based on autofluorescence microscopy were developed to enable identification of trombiculid mites to the species level on the basis of morphological traits without any special preparation.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Trombiculosis, also called trombiculiasis and trombiculidiasis, is the term coined for the rash or infestation caused by trombiculid mite larvae.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Because chigger wounds are a complex combination of enzymatic and the resulting mechanical damage, plus allergy and immune responses, plus possible secondary bacterial infection subject to local influences, no one remedy works equally well for most people.


title: Trombiculidae

text: The chiggers' digestive enzymes in the saliva cause "the intensely itchy welts". The itching can be alleviated through use of over-the-counter topical corticosteroids and antihistamines. According to Mayo Clinic, the chiggers "fall off after a few days, leaving behind red, itchy welts", which normally heal on their own within one to two weeks. Hot showers or baths also help reduce itching. In cases of severe dermatitis or secondary infection associated with chigger bites, a doctor should be consulted.


title: Trombiculidae

text: According to an Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet: ... After returning from a chigger-infested area, launder the field clothes in soapy, hot water (125°F.) ... As soon as possible, take a good hot bath or shower and soap repeatedly. The chiggers may be dislodged, but you will still have the stylostomes, causing the severe itch. Scratching deep to remove stylostomes can cause secondary infections. For temporary relief of itching, apply ointments of benzocaine, hydrocortisone, calamine lotion, New Skin, After Bite, or others recommended by your pharmacist or medical doctor. ... (The sooner the treatment, the better the results.)


title: Trombiculidae

text: Home remedies to "suffocate" the mite, such as applying clear nail polish, rubbing alcohol, or bleach, may have little benefit since the mites do not burrow into the skin. However, since the mite may still be attached for up to 3 days, these treatments could possibly kill the mite, reducing further damage.


title: Trombiculidae

text: Although the harvest mite chigger usually does not carry diseases in North American temperate climates, "Leptotrombidium deliense" is considered a dangerous pest in East Asia and the South Pacific because it often carries "Orientia tsutsugamushi", the tiny bacterium that causes scrub typhus, which is known alternatively as the Japanese river disease, scrub disease, or "tsutsugamushi". The mites are infected by the "Rickettsia" passed down from parent to offspring before eggs are laid in a process called transovarial transmission. Symptoms of scrub typhus in humans include fever, headache, muscle pain, cough, and gastrointestinal symptoms.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: The Naked Gun media franchise, also known as Police Squad!, consists of several American crime spoof-comedies, based on an original story written by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. The installments include one television series, and three theatrical films. The plot centers around a police detective with a lot of heart, despite being less-than intelligent. Leslie Nielsen stars in each installment in the protagonist role of Det. Sgt. Franklin "Frank" Drebin, with a fourth film starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in active development as of 2022.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: The franchise was met with mostly positive critical reception, and the films were a financial box office success. As of 2021, Seth MacFarlane is developing a sequel.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: An American crime spoof-comedy television series that was broadcast through the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network in 1982. The series starred Leslie Nielsen in the first franchise installment as Franklin "Frank" Drebin, and was co-created/written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. Parodying police procedurals, the series featured the use of sight gags, wordplay and non sequiturs. Although the show was canceled after six episodes, it was later followed by the successful film series, and in 2013 "TV Guide" ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) tries to uncover a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, who is on a state visit to the USA. The main suspect is Vincent Ludwig, a rich businessman (Ricardo Montalbán), who uses a hypnotic device to turn others into murderers. As with previous ZAZ spoof comedies, the plot was mostly culled from another—more serious—movie. In this case, it was "Telefon" wherein people were triggered into assassins via hypnotic phone calls (indeed, dialogue in the post-hypnotic suggestion demonstration scene is copied word-for-word from "Telefon").


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: On the case, Drebin falls in love with Ludwig's assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). She knows nothing about Ludwig's plot, and after the pair spends the night together, Jane helps with Frank's investigation.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: Frank discovers that Jane's new boyfriend, Quentin Hapsburg (Robert Goulet), is involved in an evil plan to kidnap Dr. Albert S. Meinheimer (Richard Griffiths), a scientist whom President George H. W. Bush (John Roarke) has chosen to determine a new national energy policy. Hapsburg plans to kidnap the real Dr. Meinheimer and replace him with a lookalike named Earl Hacker (also portrayed by Griffiths) who will endorse an energy policy according to the dictates of the energy lobby.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: In the third film of the series, Frank is married to Jane, and he has retired from Police Squad. The film introduces the criminal Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward), who is stuck in prison. He is contacted by someone called Papshmir to be given a target for a bombing. Frank is pulled out of retirement. He goes undercover pretending to be a prisoner named "Nick 'the Slasher' McGurk Jr., III" at the jail where Dillon is being held, and they break out of jail. Outside they are escorted by Dillon's gangster mother (Kathleen Freeman) to his country retreat, where Frank also meets Rocco's voluptuous moll (Anna Nicole Smith). The gang plots to blow up the Academy Awards. When Jane arrives looking for Frank, she is taken hostage.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: In December 2013, Paramount Pictures announced that a reboot of "The Naked Gun" franchise was in development with Ed Helms cast in the role of Frank Drebin, while the script was being co-written by Thomas Lennon and R. Ben Garant. By January 2014, Garant revealed that the working title of the project is "Episode IV: A New Hope", while announcing that it is intended to be a sequel to the original films. Helms was intended to portray a character that introduces himself as "Frank Drebin, no relation" so that the movie can introduce a new protagonist without contradicting what came before. In March 2015, David Zucker stated that he was offered a producing role on the project, but had denied being involved as he felt like it would differ in comedic style and ultimately be inferior to his original films. In August 2015, Helms confirmed that the script was still being written, while acknowledging the concerns that Zucker had with modern-day audience reception, and a need for something other than the spoof genre of the previous movies. By March 2017, a re-write of the script was being completed by David Zucker and Pat Proft, with the plot being reworked to feature the son of Frank Drebin.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: In January 2021, it was announced that Seth MacFarlane had been hired to further develop the project. After MacFarlane had previously expressed interest in casting Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in 2015, the filmmaker was hired by the studio. Neeson revealed that the filmmaker alongside Paramount Pictures had approached him with a pitch to star in the movie. In June of the same year, Neeson stated that MacFarlane was working on a new draft of the script, with the studio additionally negotiating the filmmaker's potential role as director. He expressed excitement for the project and the opportunity to explore a more comedic role, should he decide to star in the movie; while stating that development on the project is ongoing. In February 2022, Neeson again confirmed that Paramount is still courting him to star in the legacy sequel.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: In October 2022, the film was officially greenlit with Neeson in the lead role. Directed by Akiva Schaffer, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand where hired to write a new draft of the script, from a previous draft with contributions from Mark Hentemann and Alec Sulkin. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins will serve as producers, with a production start date pending. The project will be a joint-venture production between Paramount and Fuzzy Door Productions.


title: The Naked Gun (franchise)

text: "The Naked Gun: ICUP", a point and click and adventure game, was released by Gamecentric Media and Paramount in 2011. The story and concept were penned by Robert LoCash, a writer of the . A press release by Gamecentric about the read "Spoofing modern crime dramas and lampooning popular video games, THE NAKED GUN: ICUP is designed as a continuation of the classic film franchise for the digital age. The game will be serialized over six episodes starting this fall with a new episode debuting monthly. Each episode will be fully voice-acted by top Hollywood talent to deliver a classic story-driven adventure supported by the itemized incentive structure of current popular social network games." Due to Leslie Nielsen's death in 2010, voice actor A. J. Locascio took over as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the original character.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Substance use disorder (SUD) is the persistent use of drugs (including alcohol) despite substantial harm and adverse consequences as a result of their use. Substance use disorders are characterized by an array of mental/emotional, physical, and behavioral problems such as chronic guilt; an inability to reduce or stop consuming the substance(s) despite repeated attempts; driving while intoxicated; and physiological withdrawal symptoms. Drug classes that are involved in SUD include: alcohol; cannabis; phencyclidine and other hallucinogens, such as arylcyclohexylamines; inhalants; opioids; sedatives, hypnotics, or anxiolytics; stimulants; tobacco; and other or unknown substances.


title: Substance use disorder

text: In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (2013), also known as DSM-5, the DSM-IV diagnoses of substance abuse and substance dependence were merged into the category of substance use disorders. The severity of substance use disorders can vary widely; in the DSM-5 diagnosis of a SUD, the severity of an individual's SUD is qualified as "mild", "moderate", or "severe" on the basis of how many of the 11 diagnostic criteria are met. The International Classification of Diseases 11th revision (ICD-11) divides substance use disorders into two categories: (1) harmful pattern of substance use; and (2) substance dependence.


title: Substance use disorder

text: In 2017, globally 271 million people (5.5% of adults) were estimated to have used one or more illicit drugs. Of these, 35 million had a substance use disorder. An additional 237 million men and 46 million women have alcohol use disorder as of 2016. In 2017, substance use disorders from illicit substances directly resulted in 585,000 deaths. Direct deaths from drug use, other than alcohol, have increased over 60 percent from 2000 to 2015. Alcohol use resulted in an additional 3 million deaths in 2016.


title: Substance use disorder

text: This section divides substance use disorder causes into categories consistent with the biopsychosocial model. However, it is important to bear in mind that these categories are used by scientists partly for convenience; the categories often overlap (for example, adolescents and adults whose parents had (or have) an alcohol use disorder display higher rates of alcohol problems, a phenomenon that can be due to genetic, observational learning, socioeconomic, and other causal factors); and these categories are not the only ways to classify substance use disorder etiology.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Similarly, most researchers in this and related areas (such as the etiology of psychopathology generally), emphasize that various causal factors interact and influence each other in complex and multifaceted ways.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Among older adults, being divorced, separated, or single; having more financial resources; lack of religious affiliation; bereavement; involuntary retirement; and homelessness are all associated with alcohol problems, including alcohol use disorder.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Psychological causal factors include cognitive, affective, and developmental determinants, among others. For example, individuals who begin using alcohol or other drugs in their teens are more likely to have a substance use disorder as adults. Other common risk factors are being male, being under 25, having other mental health problems (with the latter two being related to symptomatic relapse, impaired clinical and psychosocial adjustment, reduced medication adherence, and lower response to treatment), and lack of familial support and supervision. (As mentioned above, some of these causal factors can also be categorized as social or biological). Other psychological risk factors include high impulsivity, sensation seeking, neuroticism and openness to experience in combination with low conscientiousness.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Children born to parents with SUDs have roughly a two-fold increased risk in developing a SUD compared to children born to parents without any SUDs.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Individuals whose drug or alcohol use cause significant impairment or distress may have a substance use disorder (SUD). Diagnosis usually involves an in-depth examination, typically by psychiatrist, psychologist, or drug and alcohol counselor. The most commonly used guidelines are published in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). There are 11 diagnostic criteria which can be broadly categorized into issues arising from substance use related to loss of control, strain to one's interpersonal life, hazardous use, and pharmacologic effects.


title: Substance use disorder

text: DSM-5 guidelines for the diagnosis of a substance use disorder require that the individual have significant impairment or distress from their pattern of drug use, and at least two of the symptoms listed below in a given year.


title: Substance use disorder

text: There are additional qualifiers and exceptions outlined in the DSM. For instance, if an individual is taking opiates as prescribed, they may experience physiologic effects of tolerance and withdrawal, but this would not cause an individual to meet criteria for a SUD without additional symptoms also being present. A physician trained to evaluate and treat substance use disorders will take these nuances into account during a diagnostic evaluation.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Substance use disorders can range widely in severity, and there are numerous methods to monitor and qualify the severity of an individual's SUD. The DSM-5 includes specifiers for severity of a SUD. Individuals who meet only two or three criteria are often deemed to have "mild" SUD. Substance users who meet four or five criteria may have their SUD described as "moderate," and persons meeting six or more criteria as "severe." In the DSM-5, the term "drug addiction" is synonymous with "severe substance use disorder". The quantity of criteria met offer a rough gauge on the severity of illness, but licensed professionals will also take into account a more holistic view when assessing severity which includes specific consequences and behavioral patterns related to an individual's substance use. They will also typically follow frequency of use over time, and assess for substance-specific consequences, such as the occurrence of blackouts, or arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol, when evaluating someone for an alcohol use disorder. There are additional qualifiers for stages of remission that are based on the amount of time an individual with a diagnosis of a SUD has not met any of the 11 criteria except craving. Some medical systems refer to an Addiction Severity Index to assess the severity of problems related to substance use. The index assesses potential problems in seven categories: medical, employment/support, alcohol, other drug use, legal, family/social, and psychiatric.


title: Substance use disorder

text: There are several different screening tools that have been validated for use with adolescents, such as the CRAFFT, and with adults, such as CAGE, AUDIT and DALI. Laboratory tests to detect alcohol and other drugs in urine and blood may be useful during the assessment process to confirm a diagnosis, to establish a baseline, and later, to monitor progress. However, since these tests measure recent substance use rather than chronic use or dependence, they are not recommended as screening tools.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Depending on the severity of use, and the given substance, early treatment of acute withdrawal may include medical detoxification. Of note, acute withdrawal from heavy alcohol use should be done under medical supervision to prevent a potentially deadly withdrawal syndrome known as delirium tremens. See also Alcohol detoxification.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Therapists often classify people with chemical dependencies as either interested or not interested in changing. About 11% of Americans with substance use disorder seek treatment, and 40–60% of those people relapse within a year. Treatments usually involve planning for specific ways to avoid the addictive stimulus, and therapeutic interventions intended to help a client learn healthier ways to find satisfaction. Clinical leaders in recent years have attempted to tailor intervention approaches to specific influences that affect addictive behavior, using therapeutic interviews in an effort to discover factors that led a person to embrace unhealthy, addictive sources of pleasure or relief from pain.


title: Substance use disorder

text: From the applied behavior analysis literature and the behavioral psychology literature, several evidence-based intervention programs have emerged, such as behavioral marital therapy, community reinforcement approach, cue exposure therapy, and contingency management strategies. In addition, the same author suggests that social skills training adjunctive to inpatient treatment of alcohol dependence is probably efficacious.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) refers to the combination of behavioral interventions and medications to treat substance use disorders. Certain medications can be useful in treating severe substance use disorders. In the United States five medications are approved to treat alcohol and opioid use disorders. There are no approved medications for cocaine, methamphetamine, or other substance use disorders as of 2002.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Medications, such as methadone and disulfiram, can be used as part of broader treatment plans to help a patient function comfortably without illicit opioids or alcohol. Medications can be used in treatment to lessen withdrawal symptoms. Evidence has demonstrated the efficacy of MAT at reducing illicit drug use and overdose deaths, improving retention in treatment, and reducing HIV transmission.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Rates of substance use disorders vary by nation and by substance, but the overall prevalence is high. On a global level, men are affected at a much higher rate than women. Younger individuals are also more likely to be affected than older adults.


title: Substance use disorder

text: In 2020, 14.5% of Americans aged 12 or older had a SUD in the past year. Rates of alcohol use disorder in the past year were just over 5%. Approximately 3% of people aged 12 or older had an illicit drug use disorder. The highest rates of illicit drug use disorder were among those aged 18 to 25 years old, at roughly 7%.


title: Substance use disorder

text: There were over 72,000 deaths from drug overdose in the United States in 2017, which is a threefold increase from 2002. However the CDC calculates alcohol overdose deaths separately; thus, this 72,000 number does not include the 2,366 alcohol overdose deaths in 2017. Overdose fatalities from synthetic opioids, which typically involve fentanyl, have risen sharply in the past several years to contribute to nearly 30,000 deaths per year. Death rates from synthetic opioids like fentanyl have increased 22-fold in the period from 2002 to 2017. Heroin and other natural and semi-synthetic opioids combined to contribute to roughly 31,000 overdose fatalities. Cocaine contributed to roughly 15,000 overdose deaths, while methamphetamine and benzodiazepines each contributed to roughly 11,000 deaths. Of note, the mortality from each individual drug listed above cannot be summed because many of these deaths involved combinations of drugs, such as overdosing on a combination of cocaine and an opioid.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Deaths from alcohol consumption account for the loss of over 88,000 lives per year. Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death, responsible for greater than 480,000 deaths in the United States each year. These harms are significant financially with total costs of more than $420 billion annually and more than $120 billion in healthcare.


title: Substance use disorder

text: According to Statistics Canada (2018), approximately one in five Canadians aged 15 years and older experience a substance use disorder in their lifetime. In Ontario specifically, the disease burden of mental illness and addiction is 1.5 times higher than all cancers together and over 7 times that of all infectious diseases. Across the country, the ethnic group that is statistically the most impacted by substance use disorders compared to the general population are the Indigenous peoples of Canada. In a 2019 Canadian study, it was found that Indigenous participants experienced greater substance-related problems than non-Indigenous participants.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Statistics Canada's Canadian Community Health Survey (2012) shows that alcohol was the most common substance for which Canadians met the criteria for abuse or dependence. Surveys on Indigenous people in British Columbia show that around 75% of residents on reserve feel alcohol use is a problem in their community and 25% report they have a problem with alcohol use themselves. However, only 66% of First Nations adults living on reserve drink alcohol compared to 76% of the general population. Further, in an Ontario study on mental health and substance use among Indigenous people, 19% reported the use of cocaine and opiates, higher than the 13% of Canadians in the general population that reported using opioids.


title: Substance use disorder

text: Historical and ongoing colonial practices continue to impact the health of Indigenous Australians, with Indigenous populations being more susceptible to substance use and related harms. For example, alcohol and tobacco are the predominant substances used in Australia. Although tobacco smoking is declining in Australia, it remains disproportionately high in Indigenous Australians with 45% aged 18 and over being smokers, compared to 16% among non-Indigenous Australians in 2014–2015. As for alcohol, while proportionately more Indigenous people refrain from drinking than non-Indigenous people, Indigenous people who do consume alcohol are more likely to do so at high-risk levels. About 19% of Indigenous Australians qualified for risky alcohol consumption (defined as 11 or more standard drinks at least once a month), which is 2.8 times the rate that their non-Indigenous counterparts consumed the same level of alcohol.


title: Substance use disorder

text: However, while alcohol and tobacco usage are declining, use of other substances, such as cannabis and opiates, is increasing in Australia. Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Australia, with cannabis usage being 1.9 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians. Prescription opioids have seen the greatest increase in usage in Australia, although use is still lower that in the US. In 2016, Indigenous persons were 2.3 times more likely to misuse pharmaceutical drugs than non-Indigenous people.


title: Virgin Killer

text: Virgin Killer is the fourth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions. It was released in 1976 and was the band's first album to attract attention outside Europe. The title is described as being a reference to time as the killer of innocence. The original cover featured a nude prepubescent girl, which stirred controversy in the UK, US and elsewhere. As a result, the album was re-issued with a different cover in some countries.


title: Virgin Killer

text: The image again gave rise to controversy in December 2008, when the British Internet Watch Foundation placed certain pages from Wikipedia on its internet blacklist, since it considered the image to be "potentially illegal" under the Protection of Children Act 1978, effectively classifying the website as child pornography. This resulted in much of the UK being prevented from editing Wikipedia and significant public debate on the decision. The decision was reversed by the IWF after four days of blocking.


title: Virgin Killer

text: "Virgin Killer" "failed to attain any serious attention in the United States" but was "quite popular in Japan" where it peaked at number 32 in the charts. The album was another step in the band's shift from psychedelic music to hard rock. Critic Vincent Jeffries of AllMusic contend that the album was "the first of four studio releases that really defined the Scorpions and their urgent metallic sound that was to become highly influential." He also counts the title track and "Pictured Life" among the "all-time Scorpions standouts." Uli Jon Roth considers "Virgin Killer" and the previous release "In Trance", his favourite Scorpions albums.


title: Virgin Killer

text: The original cover art for the album depicted a nude ten-year-old girl, with a shattered glass effect obscuring her genitalia. The image was designed by Steffan Böhle who was then the product manager for the West German branch of RCA Records. In an interview conducted in early 2007 Francis Buchholz (the bassist for the band) recollects that the model depicted on the cover was either the daughter or the niece of the cover designer. The photograph was taken by Michael von Gimbut. The band's rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker offers the following description of the circumstances behind the album cover:


title: Virgin Killer

text: We didn't actually have the idea. It was the record company. The record company guys were like, "Even if we have to go to jail, there's no question that we'll release that." On the song "Virgin Killer" time is the virgin killer. But then, when we had to do the interviews about it, we said "Look, listen to the lyrics and then you'll know what we're talking about. We're using this only to get attention. That's what we do." Even the girl, when we met her fifteen years later, had no problem with the cover. Growing up in Europe, sexuality, of course not with children, was very normal. The lyrics really say it all. Time is the virgin killer. A kid comes into the world very naive, they lose that naiveness and then go into this life losing all of this getting into trouble. That was the basic idea about all of it.


title: Virgin Killer

text: In a separate interview Schenker also notes that he thought the cover art was a "great thing" and that he had "pushed the band to really stay behind it" as he felt that people would "think differently" when they looked at the lyrics and realized that the cover art was only being used as "a symbol of the lyrics." Schenker added: "We would never again do something like this". The band's former lead guitarist Uli Jon Roth notes that the cover art of the "old Scorpion albums" were "usually done by other people". He has since expressed regret over the original album cover:


title: Virgin Killer

text: Looking at that picture today makes me cringe. It was done in the worst possible taste. Back then I was too immature to see that. Shame on me—I should have done everything in my power to stop it. The record company came up with the idea, I think. The lyrics incidentally were a take-off on Kiss, whom we had just supported on a tour. I was fooling around and played the riff of the song in the rehearsal room and spontaneously improvised 'cause he's a virgin killer!' trying to do a more or less way-off-the-mark Paul Stanley impersonation. Klaus immediately said 'that's great! You should do something with it.' Then I had the unenviable task of constructing a meaningful set of lyrics around the title, which I actually managed to do to some degree. But the song has a totally different meaning from what people would assume at first. Virgin Killer is none other than the demon of our time, the less compassionate side of the societies we live in today—brutally trampling upon the heart and soul of innocence.


title: Virgin Killer

text: In 2008, photographer Michael von Gimbut emphasized that he, his wife, the model's mother, sister, and three female assistants had been present during the shooting and stated: "Back then, we loved and protected children and did not sleep with them."


title: Virgin Killer

text: The cover generated controversy: the album could only be sold sealed in black plastic in several countries and the cover was replaced in some countries with an alternative cover art depicting the band members. The original is named in various "worst album cover" lists: "Cracked" magazine online named it the No. 1 "Worst Album Cover of All-Time", while Gigwise.com lists it as No. 1 on its March 2008 "The 50 Most Controversial Album Covers of All Time!" list. It was named by UGO Networks as one of the "Weirdest Album Covers" and placed No. 6 on the "All-Time Worst Album Covers" list made by "two.one.five" magazine.


title: Virgin Killer

text: This would not be the last time that the band attracted controversy with its album covers. "Taken by Force" originally featured cover art that depicted "children playing with guns at a military cemetery in France and some people found that offensive". "Lovedrive" featured a "bizarre artwork" that depicts "a woman on the back seat of a car with bubblegum over her breast." Both covers were replaced by an alternative design. Vocalist Klaus Meine explains that the band's penchant for controversial cover art stems from a desire "to go over the edge" and not "to offend some people or make the headlines [as] that would be stupid", contrasting guitarist Rudolf Schenker's earlier statement: "We're using this only to get attention." In a 2010 interview Meine commented on the cover art again stating:


title: Virgin Killer

text: Back in those days [the 1970s] it was RCA, our record label then, went over the edge with Virgin Killer. Today when you think of child pornography on the net, you would never do something like that. We never did this in the sense of pornography, we did it in the sense of art. It is about the song and the label was pushing the idea because they wanted to get the controversy to help the album sale and you cannot get better promotion than that. Looking back from the band point of view it was never an album cover that we took home to our parents and said, "Look what we just released.." There was always mixed feelings about it and even 30 years later it caused a scandal at Wikipedia because the site for that album was blocked and even the FBI was getting involved. All of that after so many years, can you believe that?


title: Virgin Killer

text: In May 2008, the US-based social conservative site "WorldNetDaily" reported the cover image on Wikipedia to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A subsequent investigation by the FBI concluded that the artwork did not violate any US laws. "EContent" magazine subsequently reported the Wikipedia community's internal debate: "Prior discussion has determined by broad consensus that the "Virgin Killer" cover will not be removed" and asserted that Wikipedia contributors "favour inclusion in all but the most extreme cases".


title: Virgin Killer

text: In December 2008, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), a UK-based non-government organization added the Wikipedia article "Virgin Killer" to its internet blacklist due to concerns over legality of the image, which had been assessed as the lowest level of legal concern: "erotic posing with no sexual activity". As a result, people using many major UK ISPs were blocked from viewing the entire article by the Cleanfeed system. A large part of the UK was blocked from editing Wikipedia. Following representations by the Wikimedia Foundation (which hosts the Wikipedia website) and public complaints, the IWF reversed their decision three days later and confirmed that in future they would not block copies of the image that were hosted overseas. The IWF stated that one of the reasons for reversing their decision was that it had increased public interest in the image—an example of the Streisand effect.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: Darya "Dasha" Alexandrovna Zhukova (; born 8 June 1981) is a Russian-American art collector, businesswoman, magazine editor, and socialite. She is the founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and "Garage Magazine".


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: Darya Alexandrovna Zhukova was born in Moscow on 8 June 1981. Her father is Alexander Zhukov, an oil trader. Her mother is Yelena Zhukova, a Russian-Jewish scientist of molecular biology. Her parents separated when she was 3. In 1991, she moved with her mother to the United States, settling in the Houston area as her mother had relocated due to work. They later moved to Los Angeles, California. By the time Yelena retired, she was a professor of molecular biology at UCLA, as well as an authority on diabetes.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: Zhukova attended a Jewish day-school in California. It was a Hebrew college, Dasha's first school in the US, and she attended it for three years. She attended Pacific Hills School, graduating in 1999. She graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara with degrees in Slavic studies and literature. After becoming involved with Roman Abramovich, she returned to Moscow and later moved to London, where she enrolled at the London's College of Naturopathic Medicine but did not complete the program.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In 2006, Zhukova co-founded the fashion label "Kova & T". She currently sits on the boards for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Shed.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In 2008, Zhukova founded the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (part-funded by Abramovich) in Moscow, a nonprofit organization supporting the advancement of contemporary art and culture in Russia and abroad. In 2012, the center launched the first comprehensive art education program and public archive of Russian art in the country. In 2014, the institution changed its name to Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and, the following year, moved to its first permanent home in Gorky Park. The building, designed by Rem Koolhaas, is a preservation project that transformed a 1968 Soviet Modernist restaurant into a radical space for exhibitions, publishing, research, and education.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In February 2009, Zhukova was appointed editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine "Pop". Many in the industry saw her as an unlikely replacement for launch editor Katie Grand. In an interview at the time she was unable to name a single artist she admired, saying she was bad with names. She resigned from the position after three issues in November 2010.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In addition, Zhukova is the editor-in-chief of "GARAGE" magazine, a biannual print publication that focuses on the collaboration between contemporary art and fashion. Since its inception, "GARAGE" magazine has worked with some of the world's most celebrated creators, and initiated global artistic dialogues. Among the magazine's contributors are artists such as Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Nick Knight, Marc Jacobs, Richard Prince, John Baldessari, Inez & Vinoodh, and Patrick Demarchelier. The magazine took its name and spirit from Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. She also is a founding member of the Culture Shed in New York.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In 2014, a photograph of Zhukova sitting on a chair designed as a mannequin of a black woman was featured on , an online fashion publication. The photograph was widely criticized as racist. cropped the chair from the photo and Zhukova apologised, describing the chair as artwork and as "commentary on gender and racial politics". Zhukova added, "I utterly abhor racism and would like to apologise to those offended by my participation in this shoot".


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: Zhukova donated to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. She also donated to the Democratic National Committee.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: In 2008, Zhukova married Roman Abramovich, a Russian businessman and investor who is the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC. The couple had two children, a son and daughter, who were both born in the United States. In August 2017, the couple announced that they would separate.


title: Dasha Zhukova

text: On 11 October 2019, Zhukova married Stavros Niarchos II, son of Philip Niarchos, in a civil ceremony in Paris, France. In March 2021, she gave birth to her third child, and her first with Niarchos, a son named Philip Stavros Niarchos.


title: Lisa Banes

text: Lisa Lou Banes (July 9, 1955 – June 14, 2021) was an American actress known for more than 80 film and television roles, as well as stage appearances on Broadway and elsewhere.


title: Lisa Banes

text: Banes won a 1981 Theatre World Award for her performance as Alison Porter Off-Broadway in "Look Back in Anger", and in 1984 was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Isn't it Romantic?". She played Lady Croom in the 1995 American premiere of Tom Stoppard's play "Arcadia". In film, she appeared in "Cocktail" (1988), "Freedom Writers" (2007), "Gone Girl" (2014), and as Hollis in "A Cure for Wellness" (2016).


title: Lisa Banes

text: Banes appeared on Broadway several times. She played Cassie in the Neil Simon play "Rumors" in 1988 with Christine Baranski, Margaret Lord in the musical "High Society" with Anna Kendrick in 1998, was in "Accent on Youth" with David Hyde Pierce in 2009, and most recently in the 2010 revival of "Present Laughter" with Victor Garber.


title: Lisa Banes

text: On television, Banes had regular roles as Doreen Morrison in "The Trials of Rosie O'Neill" starring Sharon Gless, and as Mayor Anita Massengil on the Fox comedy series "Son of the Beach" (2000–01). She also had recurring roles on "The King of Queens" as Carrie's boss Georgia Boone, "Six Feet Under" as Victoria, on "One Life to Live" as Eve McBain, and on "Nashville" Season 6 as the Ranch Director. She also guest starred as a Trill doctor in the "" episode "Equilibrium". Banes played Anne Kane in the 1985 TV miniseries "Kane & Abel". Her other television credits include "China Beach"; "Murder, She Wrote"; "The Practice"; "NYPD Blue"; "Desperate Housewives"; ""; "The Good Wife"; "NCIS"; and "Once Upon a Time". From 2010 to 2016, she had a recurring role as Ellen Collins on "Royal Pains".


title: Lisa Banes

text: Banes also starred as Mrs. Berry in "The Hotel New Hampshire" (1984), Bonnie in "Cocktail" (1988), Flora in "Dragonfly" (2002), and Christina Ricci's mother in "Pumpkin" (2002). In 2014, she appeared in David Fincher's "Gone Girl" as Marybeth Elliott, mother of Amy Elliott (Rosamund Pike).


title: Lisa Banes

text: On June 4, 2021, Banes, while in a crosswalk, was struck by a person operating an electric scooter. The scooter rider, who had gone through a red light, fled the scene of the hit and run collision on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Prior to the crash, Banes was crossing the street to go to the Juilliard School. She was admitted to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital with a traumatic brain injury and died there on June 14 at the age of 65. The suspect later drove to an Upper Manhattan shop to get his vehicle fixed.


title: Lisa Banes

text: On August 5, 2021, police arrested 26-year old Brian Boyd at his apartment. He was jailed on a bail of $30,000 cash or $100,000 bond. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, and failure to yield to a pedestrian. On September 28, 2022, Boyd pled guilty to manslaughter and was scheduled to be sentenced on November 30, 2022. Boyd was sentenced to up to three years in prison.