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 The former White House chef whose body was found late Sunday, after a week-long search in the New Mexico mountains, died from drowning, state police said Tuesday.

 Medical examiners ruled 61-year-old Walter Scheib's death as accidental after police saw no signs of foul play, according to a news release. The circumstances surrounding how he died were not immediately known.

 Related: Body of Former White House Chef Missing in New Mexico Mountains Found

 Scheib's body was found off of the Yerba Canyon hiking trail near Taos in northern New Mexico, where he set off on a solo hiking trip June 13, state police said. After an extensive search, rescue crews found him submerged in a mountain drainage that was flowing with runoff. He was wearing a windbreaker jacket, running pants and tennis shoes.

 Scheib served as a White House executive chef under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush after he first caught the attention of Hillary Clinton at a West Virginia resort. He also appeared on Food Network's "Iron Chef America" in 2006. ||||| Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Scheib that she wanted to bring a healthier, lighter, American style of cooking to the White House, and he obliged, seeking out small producers to deliver high-quality ingredients to the table.

 For his first state dinner, in honor of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan, he served an appetizer of quail with corn custard and a tomato-cumin sauce with a Southwestern accent. The entree was grilled Arctic char and lobster sausage with wild mushroom risotto, braised fennel, vegetable ragout and a roasted garlic and lime sauce. Field greens, with goat cheese and basil baked in phyllo and a port wine dressing, followed. The wines were American, and so was the service: individually arranged plates rather than large banquet-style platters.

 “If there is a way to get the fat out without making the taste or texture suffer, we do it,” Mr. Scheib said in an interview before serving a state banquet for Boris N. Yeltsin, the Russian president, in September 1994.

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 The job was a heady experience for him, and he relished it. “I get to do every day what most chefs get to do once or twice in their life, if they’re lucky,” he told The New York Times in 1998. “People will have to pry me out of here with a crowbar.”

 In fact, Mr. Scheib was fired in 2005, after finding himself out of sync with the Bush administration’s food philosophy and with Laura Bush’s social secretary, Lea Berman. He was replaced by Cristeta Comerford, an assistant chef he had hired.

 “We’ve been trying to find a way to satisfy the first lady’s stylistic requirements, and it has been difficult,” Mr. Scheib told The Times after his dismissal. “Basically, I was not successful in my attempt.”

 In a statement posted on the website of the Clinton Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton said that “visitors from around the world loved his delicious and creative meals.”

 They added, “Walter used his immense talents not only to represent the very best of American cuisine to visiting leaders, but to make a difference in people’s lives across the country through his support of numerous charities.”

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 Walter S. Scheib III was born on May 3, 1954, in Oakland, Calif., and grew up in Bethesda, Md., where he attended Walter Johnson High School. His mother, a keen cook, watched Julia Child on television and reproduced dishes like paella valenciana and bouillabaisse for her family.

 After briefly studying at the University of Maryland, he attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., graduating in 1979. He immediately found work at the Capital Hilton in Washington and rose to executive chef within three years. He left the Hilton in 1986 to become the executive chef of the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida, and four years later was hired as executive chef at the Greenbrier, where he directed a staff of 200.

 Behind his back, his wife, Jean, submitted his résumé to the White House after Mr. Chambrin left. After preparing a tryout meal for Mrs. Clinton and her staff, he won the job of executive chef.

 Because of his résumé, Mr. Scheib was pegged as an administrator rather than a creative chef, a description that stung. “I’m not going to respond to anyone who hasn’t spoken to me before or eaten my cooking,” he said in an interview before his first state dinner. “I think I’m pretty creative.”

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 At the same time, he admitted that the White House, where he oversaw five full-time and 20 part-time workers, should not be confused with a four-star restaurant. “These are not Escoffier dinners,” Mr. Scheib said in 1998 before a dinner in honor of Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain. “You can spin it any way you want, it’s still a banquet. How you serve 240 people and have them not think it’s another rubber-chicken-circuit dinner, that’s the job.”

 He enjoyed warm relations with the Clintons. He gave Chelsea Clinton cooking lessons before she left for college. He dedicated his cookbook memoir, “White House Chef: Eleven Years, Two Presidents, One Kitchen,” which was written with Andrew Friedman and published in 2007, to Mrs. Clinton.

 The Bush years were trickier. “President Bush liked things simple,” Mr. Scheib told Highlights magazine in 2012. “No soup, salad, greens or ‘wet fish,’ such as poached. If it wasn’t baked or fried, he wasn’t interested.”

 Mrs. Bush, he recalled for The Times, told him, “Walter, we would like our food to be flavorful, generous and identifiable.”

 Mr. Scheib, whose marriage ended in divorce, is survived by two sons, Walter and Jim, and his father, Walter Scheib Jr. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

 After leaving the White House, Mr. Scheib started a catering and events business, the American Chef, that combined meals and demonstrations with his reminiscences of life in the White House kitchen.

 “I’ve had 11 great years under two administrations,” he told Nation’s Restaurant News in 2005, “and I was lucky enough to be there while American cuisine was changing dramatically and got to do it on the biggest stage.” ||||| Taos, NM (87571)

 Today

 A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 59F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

 Tonight

 A clear sky. Low 28F. SSW winds shifting to NE at 10 to 20 mph.

Summary: – The death of former top White House chef Walter Scheib appears to have been a tragic hiking accident, according to authorities in New Mexico. An autopsy of the 61-year-old determined that the cause of death was drowning, and officials say there was no sign of foul play, NBC News reports. Police say a search and rescue dog detected Scheib's body around 25 yards from the Yerba Canyon Trail outside Taos. Scheib apparently made it to the 12,115-foot summit of Mount Lobo but ran into trouble during stormy weather on the way back down, reports the Taos News, which describes the trail as "challenging in the best of times." "Hillary and I are saddened by the tragic passing" of Scheib, who used "his immense talents not only to represent the very best of American cuisine to visiting leaders, but to make a difference in people's lives across the country through his support of numerous charities," Bill Clinton said in a statement. Scheib spent 11 years at the White House but was fired in 2005 after falling out of favor with the Bushes, the New York Times reports. "President Bush liked things simple," Scheib recalled in an interview with Highlights magazine a few years ago, per the Times. "No soup, salad, greens, or 'wet fish,' such as poached. If it wasn't baked or fried, he wasn't interested."


FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, for the third day... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, for the third day of his confirmation hearing to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Christine Blasey Ford, the... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation for the Supreme Court is taking an uncertain turn as Republican senators express concern over a woman's private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.

 The White House and other Kavanaugh supporters had dismissed the allegation of sexual misconduct when it was initially conveyed in a private letter. With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending President Donald Trump's nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement.

 The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appeared nonetheless committed to a vote later this week despite Christine Blasey Ford's account in The Washington Post. Kavanaugh, she said, pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Kavanaugh repeated his previous denial that such an incident ever took place.

 A split seemed to be emerging among the GOP.

 As Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, called for a delay in the vote, two committee Republicans — all 11 on the GOP side are men — Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said they wanted to hear more from Ford. Flake went as far as to say he was "not comfortable" voting for Kavanaugh for the time being. A potential "no" vote from Flake would complicate the judge's prospects. A Republican not on the committee, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said the vote should be postponed until the committee heard from Ford. Contacted Sunday by CNN, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, wouldn't say if the vote should be postponed.

 Some Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

 A committee spokesman said late Sunday that its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, was trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., before Thursday's scheduled vote. Critics have already accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by Oct. 1, the first day of the fall term.

 The allegation against Kavanaugh first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that had been for some time in the possession of Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and one of its four female members. On Sunday, The Washington Post published an interview with Ford, who after months of soul-searching decided to go public.

 "I thought he might inadvertently kill me," said Ford, 51, a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing." She told the Post that she was able to escape after a friend of Kavanaugh's who was in the room jumped on top of them and everyone tumbled.

 Through the White House, Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, said Sunday: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."

 Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

 In considering their options Sunday, Republicans largely settled on the view that Ford's story alone was not enough to delay Kavanaugh's confirmation.

 Grassley could invite Ford to testify, likely in closed session before Thursday. Kavanaugh would also probably be asked to appear before senators. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Mark Judge, Kavanaugh's friend and classmate who Ford says jumped on top of her and Kavanaugh. Judge has denied that the incident happened.

 Republicans have not settled on the strategy, the person familiar with the situation said, but were weighing options, including doing nothing.

 Republicans say the allegations have already cast a shadow over Kavanaugh but that it does not appear to be enough to change the votes in the narrowly divided 51-49 Senate. Key will be the views of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

 The White House has accused Feinstein of mounting an "11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation." The White House has also sought to cast doubt about Ford's allegation by noting that the FBI has repeatedly investigated Kavanaugh since the 1990s for highly sensitive positions he has held, including in the office of independent counsel Ken Starr, at the White House and his current post on the federal appeals court in Washington.

 Kavanaugh's nomination had already sharply divided the Senate along party lines. But the allegations of sexual misconduct, particularly coming amid the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, coupled with Ford's emergence could complicate matters, especially as key Republican senators, including Collins and Murkowski, are under enormous pressure from outside groups who want them to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that as a justice he could vote to undercut the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in the U.S.

 Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh and a friend — both "stumbling drunk," she says — corralled her in a bedroom when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it. Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when Judge jumped on them.

 Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ford attended a nearby school.

 In the interview, Ford says she never revealed what had happened to her until 2012, when she and her husband sought couples therapy. Ford's husband, Russell Ford, said he recalled his wife using Kavanaugh's last name and expressing concern that Kavanaugh — then a federal judge — might someday be nominated to the Supreme Court.

 Sixty-five women who knew Kavanagh in high school defended him in a separate letter, circulated by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who "always treated women with decency and respect."

 ___

 Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

 ___

 Follow Darlene Superville and Lisa Mascaro on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap and http://www.twitter.com/LisaMascaro

 ___

 This story has been corrected to show the name is Dianne, not Diane. ||||| Washington (CNN) Debra Katz, the lawyer for a woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, said Monday that her client would be willing to testify in public to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 "The answer is yes," Katz, who represents Christine Blasey Ford, said on CNN's "New Day."

 Ford's willingness to testify before Congress marks both a major development from a woman previously reluctant to face the brunt of public scrutiny and a significant pressure point on Kavanaugh's nomination, which could decide the balance of the nation's top court for a generation.

 Ford is the author of a private letter sent to California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein alleging that during a party in their high school years, Kavanaugh pushed her into a bedroom, tried to remove her clothes and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Kavanaugh said in a statement that he "unequivocally" denies the allegation.

 After her allegations surfaced over the past week, Ford opted to come forward publicly in an article The Washington Post published Sunday.

 Read More ||||| Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake is one of 11 Republicans on the narrowly divided Senate Judiciary Committee. | Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Kavanaugh Confirmation Flake opposes quick vote on Kavanaugh, putting confirmation in doubt And Bob Corker urges the vote on the Supreme Court nominee to be postponed.

 Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court hit a serious roadblock Sunday night, as GOP Senate Judiciary Committee member Jeff Flake said he is uncomfortable voting to advance Kavanaugh's nomination later this week after the nominee's sexual assault accuser went public.

 Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is not a member of the committee but whose vote is critical to Kavanaugh's confirmation, similarly said late Sunday that the committee should pause.

 Story Continued Below

 Flake (R-Ariz.) said he needs to hear more about the allegations raised publicly by Christine Blasey Ford on Sunday in a Washington Post article, and said other Republicans share his view. Flake is one of 11 Republicans on the narrowly divided panel and without his support, the committee cannot advance his nomination. However, GOP leaders could try to bring Kavanaugh‘s nomination directly to the Senate floor.

 "If they push forward without any attempt with hearing what she's had to say, I'm not comfortable voting yes," Flake said. "We need to hear from her. And I don't think I'm alone in this."

 Asked if the committee vote should be delayed to hear out Ford, Corker replied: "I think that would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly." Republicans control just 51 seats in the Senate, so the comments of the two retiring senators are highly consequential.

 Later Sunday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a moderate who had yet to say how she will vote, echoed the notion that the vote might need to be delayed. “If there is real substance to this, it demands a response,” she told CNN.

 Flake declined to address whether Kavanaugh should withdraw his nomination: "I'm not responding to that question at all." The retiring Arizona Republican has long been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump, refusing to support his campaign in 2016 and often critiquing his policies and rhetoric. In return, Trump has repeatedly mocked Flake.

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 Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is also seeking more information on Ford's account that Kavanaugh groped her, tried to pull off her clothes and covered her mouth when she tried to scream at a party in Maryland more than three decades ago. A spokesman for Grassley said that given the new information about Kavanaugh and Ford revealing her identity after the allegations were first revealed anonymously, "Grassley is actively working to set up ... follow-up calls with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote."

 It remains unclear whether Ford wants to appear before the committee or whether Grassley wants her to testify. Flake said he was not sure what forum would be appropriate: "I don't know what she's comfortable with ... we need to hear from her."

 Another Judiciary Committee Republican, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, echoed Flake's view that Ford should be heard by the Senate if she wants to. He did not, however, call for the panel vote to be delayed: “If the committee is to hear from Ms. Ford, it should be done immediately."

 But Democrats on the Judiciary panel promptly signaled their resistance to Grassley's proposal for follow-up conversations, pressing instead for a fuller inquiry into the allegation. "There's a lot of information we don’t know and the FBI should have the time it needs to investigate this new material," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said through a spokesman. "Staff calls aren’t the appropriate way to handle this.”

 Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, an undecided Republican moderate, spoke to Kavanaugh on Friday after the allegations were raised anonymously. She told CNN that Kavanaugh "denied" the allegations and said she was discussing whether the hearing should go forward with her Senate colleagues.

 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had planned to confirm Kavanaugh before the new session of the Supreme Court on Oct. 1, but a spokesman offered no new timetable on Sunday afternoon.

 Ford wrote a letter to a Democratic congresswoman detailing the incident, which were then passed along to Feinstein and gradually leaked out over the past week. Feinstein said on Sunday afternoon that Ford's allegations "bear heavily on Judge Kavanaugh’s character." She is one of a growing number of Democrats calling on the nomination process to be stopped and a Thursday committee vote to be delayed.

 "To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

 Ford told the Post that at the time of the alleged assault she thought Kavanaugh "might inadvertently kill me."

 "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing," she said.

 poster="http://v.politico.com/images/1155968404/201807/3793/1155968404_5807576973001_5807596031001-vs.jpg?pubId=1155968404" true

 Ford, 51, is a professor at Palo Alto (Calif.) University and she graduated from the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md., in 1984. (Kavanaugh graduated from Georgetown Prep in 1983.) She told the Washington Post she took a polygraph regarding the incident, which the paper reviewed, and she passed.

 Republicans are now left wondering whether Grassley will move forward with a committee vote this week without hearing testimony from Ford. And it is still unclear if undecided moderates Collins or Murkowski will support Kavanaugh, though GOP leaders have been supremely confident in his confirmation prospects until Sunday.

 Judiciary Committee Republicans sent out a memo criticizing "Democrats' tactics and motives" and calling on Feinstein to release "the letter she received back in July so that everyone can know what she’s known for weeks." And four people close to the White House said they expected Republicans to question the accuser's vague memories and why Feinstein, up for reelection in November with the Democratic base hungry for anti-Trump fodder, sat on the accusation for months.

 Three of those people also said they expect the president to go after Kavanaugh's accuser rather than to turn on the judge. They noted that Trump has done so before, not just denouncing his own accusers but also attacking those of others, notably, failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

 A lawyer close to the White House said the nomination will not be withdrawn.

 “No way, not even a hint of it,” the lawyer said. “If anything, it’s the opposite. If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried. We can all be accused of something.”

 The White House issued the same statement on Kavanaugh's behalf that it did last week: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” The White House began hearing rumors of the new allegations last week, and White House counsel Don McGahn received a redacted version of the letter Friday and sent it to Capitol Hill, according to a person familiar with the events.

 On Sunday morning before Ford's story emerged, Senate Republicans pledged to move forward with President Donald Trump’s pick, in part because Ford's allegations have been anonymous until now. Just hours before Ford went public, Sen. John N. Kennedy (R-La.) of the Senate Judiciary Committee predicted Kavanaugh will win narrow confirmation.

 “They’ve had this stuff for three months; if they were serious about it, they should have told us about it,” Kennedy said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think every Republican will vote for Judge Kavanaugh. I think at least two, and maybe more, Democrats will” vote for him.

 Kavanaugh needs 50 votes to be approved, meaning GOP leaders are relying on either Murkowski or Collins to break the logjam. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) was just appointed to the Senate to replace the late John McCain, giving the GOP one more pro-Kavanaugh vote.

 Ford had no intention of going public with her accusations and requested them to be confidential. She told the Post that she escaped after Mark Judge, a friend of Kavanaugh's, jumped on top of them. Judge has denied that the incident occurred.

 Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who has not met with Kavanaugh, plans to bring up the claims if he is able to sit down with the nominee this week and said on CNN that his Democratic colleagues should have brought up the matter earlier in the confirmation process, at least in private meetings.

 "These disturbing allegations deserve a thorough vetting and the American people deserve answers. We have to hit pause on this process until we have more information," Jones said on Twitter after Ford went public.

 Jones is among a small group of undecided Democrats, a list that also includes Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

 Donnelly, Heitkamp and Manchin voted for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch last year. Manchin is requesting a second meeting with Kavanaugh.

 Kavanaugh has passed numerous FBI background checks, but the letter was only added to his file after Feinstein referred it to the Department of Justice. Now, senators will all have access to the letter now that it has been added to background files.

 “I support Mrs. Ford’s decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee," Feinstein said Sunday afternoon.

 Elana Schor, Darren Samuelsohn and Eliana Johnson contributed to this report. ||||| Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is sworn in during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Sept. 4 in Washington. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

 The White House on Sunday stood by Brett M. Kavanaugh after a woman publicly accused him of sexual assault decades ago, an allegation that triggered the most concrete signs yet of Republican resistance to President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

 With the nomination suddenly in doubt, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) was working to arrange follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who said he assaulted her when the two were in high school.

 Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), Republicans who are retiring at the end of this term, joined Democrats in urging a delay in the vote until the committee hears from Ford. The panel is scheduled to vote Thursday afternoon on Kavanaugh’s nomination.

 The Washington Post published a story Sunday afternoon that included an interview with Ford. The report marked the first time her identity had been revealed publicly and her first public comments about the allegation.

 Ford told The Post that one summer in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend — both “stumbling drunk,” Ford alleges — corralled her in a bedroom during a gathering of teenagers at a house in Montgomery County, Md.

 While his friend watched, she said, Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed on her back and groped her over her clothes, grinding his body against hers and clumsily attempting to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she wore over it. When she tried to scream, she said, he put his hand over her mouth.

 Kavanaugh “categorically and unequivocally” denied the accusation in a statement, and the White House maintained on Sunday that it is not withdrawing its nomination. The developments marked the latest chapter of a contentious battle over Trump’s nominee that has grown increasingly divisive as it approaches its final stages.

 In an interview with The Post, Flake said that Ford “must be heard” before a committee vote.

 “I’ve made it clear that I’m not comfortable moving ahead with the vote on Thursday if we have not heard her side of the story or explored this further,” said Flake, who is one of the committee’s 21 members. Republicans hold an 11-to-10 majority on the panel, and Flake’s opposition to a vote could stall the nomination.

 Flake would not specify what form the communication with Ford should take or how he would vote. But he emphasized the significance of the allegations.

 “For me, we can’t vote until we hear more,” he said.

 In a statement to The Post, Feinstein said: “I agree with Senator Flake that we should delay this week’s vote. There’s a lot of information we don’t know and the FBI should have the time it needs to investigate this new material. Staff calls aren’t the appropriate way to handle this.”

 In a statement, Corker said a delay “would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly.”

 Senate Republicans hold a 51-49 majority and cannot afford the loss of two or more senators voting for Kavanaugh’s confirmation unless they can pick up Democratic votes.

 Judiciary Committee spokesman Taylor Foy said in a statement that “given the late addendum to the background file and revelations of Dr. Ford’s identity, Chairman Grassley is actively working to set up such follow-up calls with Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote.”

 Republicans reached out to Democrats on Sunday to try to schedule separate calls for Monday with Kavanaugh and Ford. But Democrats had not agreed, officials familiar with the back-and-forth said, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) demanded that the FBI reopen its background investigation of Kavanaugh, 53.

 Garrett Ventry, another spokesman for committee Republicans, said in response: “Democrats have chosen once again to call for delay.”

 The allegation injects uncertainty into the prospects for Trump’s second nominee for the court, roils the midterm elections — which have seen a record number of women seek elected office — and carries high-stakes implications for the court.

 If the White House withdrew the nomination or Kavanaugh bowed out, the Senate would not have enough time to confirm a justice before the new court session begins Oct. 1, leaving it with eight justices. The court operated with eight justices for about 14 months after the February 2016 death of Antonin Scalia and Republicans’ subsequent refusal to consider Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s pick.

 Any new nominee may have to wait until after the midterm elections, with increasing signs that Democrats could capture the Senate majority. Senate Republicans had argued that the position of red-state Democrats on Kavanaugh would be a factor in their reelection — an issue that would be moot if the nomination is scuttled.

 Republicans face a potential backlash from female voters, especially suburban women, if they press ahead despite the allegation. In 1991, outrage over the Senate confirmation of Clarence Thomas despite allegations of sexual misconduct from his former colleague Anita Hill was among the factors that led to the election of dozens of female candidates.

 Twenty-seven years later, the Senate is considering another Supreme Court nominee in the #MeToo era, which has seen a wave of allegations that have cost many prominent men in business, the media and Congress their jobs.

 Earlier Sunday, Republicans had signaled that they planned to try to confirm Kavanaugh by the end of the month.

 Foy issued a statement vouching for Kavanaugh’s integrity and saying it was “disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July.”

 Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he agreed with the committee’s concerns about the “substance and process” regarding Ford’s allegation — although he said he would “gladly” listen to her if she wanted to talk to lawmakers.

 “If the committee is to hear from Ms. Ford, it should be done immediately so the process can continue as scheduled,” Graham, a member of the committee, said Sunday afternoon.

 Senate Democrats in leadership and on the committee swiftly called for a delay.

 “To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

 In a tweet after The Post’s report, Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said it was “a very brave step” by Ford to come forward.

 “It is more important than ever to hit the pause button on Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until we can fully investigate these serious and disturbing allegations. We cannot rush to move forward under this cloud,” said Jones, a potentially key swing vote who has not announced whether he will support Kavanaugh’s nomination.

 A representative for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not comment.

 Hours before The Post’s report was published Sunday, Jones, a centrist Democrat, and two Republican colleagues argued that the allegation against Kavanaugh — which at that point Ford had not confirmed publicly — should have been raised sooner in the Senate and predicted that it would not prevent the chamber from moving forward with Kavanaugh’s nomination.

 In televised interviews, Jones, Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) expressed concerns that a letter outlining the allegation that Feinstein received was not shared with fellow lawmakers earlier in Kavanaugh’s nomination process.

 Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that now that Ford has shared her story, “it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee.”

 The FBI doesn’t plan to investigate the allegation as a criminal matter, but Feinstein wants the bureau to review it as part of Kavanaugh’s background check, a spokesman said.

 Feinstein also wrote an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday formalizing her opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination and briefly referencing her decision to share the letter’s contents with the FBI.

 Many Democratic senators have declared their opposition to Kavanaugh, but not a single Republican has publicly opposed him.

 The two most closely watched Republican senators are Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), moderates who favor abortion rights and have broken ranks with their party in the past, including during the failed Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act last year.

 Neither has said how she plans to vote on Kavanaugh. Representatives for the two senators did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

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Summary: – Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court no longer appears to be a sure thing. After detailed accusations from a woman who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both teenagers were published Sunday, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he was "not comfortable" voting to advance the nomination until more is heard from the woman, Politico reports. "We need to hear from her," Flake said of Christine Blasey Ford. "And I don't think I'm alone in this." Sen. Lindsey Graham, another Republican on the committee, also said Sunday that Ford should be heard by the committee, if that is what she wants. Ford's lawyer told CNN on Monday that her client is willing to testify before the committee. "The answer is yes," Debra Katz says. Responded White House rep Kellyanne Conway: "She should be heard." A vote is scheduled for Thursday. Republicans have an 11 to 10 majority on the committee, meaning that if Flake won't vote to advance the nomination, it will be stalled unless a Democrat votes in favor. Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican not on the committee, has also called for a delay in the wake of the accusations, which Kavanaugh has denied. Republicans had hoped to have Kavanaugh confirmed by Oct. 1, but Senate Democrats say a delay in voting is now essential, the Washington Post reports. "To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. But a source tells the AP that most Senate Republicans—and the White House—see no need to postpone the vote.


These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Kansas state government is on the verge of a financial windfall with the auctioning of thousands of sex toys seized by the revenue department for nonpayment of income, withholding and sales taxes, an official said Wednesday.

 Online shoppers for adult DVDs, novelty items, clothing and other products can participate in a bonanza shopping experience resulting from the four-county raid on a Kansas company known as United Outlets LLC.

 Owner Larry Minkoff, who was doing business under the Bang label, apparently resisted requests from the Kansas Department of Revenue for payment of $163,986 in state taxes. It is unclear how much he still owes the state, because those precise records aren’t open to the public.

 Agents took action in July to seize business inventory at outlets in Topeka, Wichita, Junction City and Kansas City, Kan., under Minkoff’s control. Two of the five business locations were in Topeka.

 In a negotiated arrangement between the state and owner, the merchandise was released back to Minkoff.

 He subsequently entered into a contract to sell the holdings at public auction and apply the money toward payment of taxes owed the state of Kansas.

 The contract is with equip-bid.com auction company.

 Consumers interested in the auction of “1000s of items” can examine the goods online or personally preview products Monday at a warehouse in Kansas City, Mo. The auction closes Tuesday.

 The online site lists about 400 lots — individual lots can contain dozens of items — that include the Pipedream Fantasy Love Swing, books, hundreds of DVDs, sex and drinking games, a wide assortment of sexually oriented equipment, carrying cases for devices, the Glass Pleasure Wand, bundles of lingerie and the Cyberskin Foot Stroker.

 One of the lots contained 50 “premium” vibrators and a teddy bear. The bidding was at $10.

 Also available: two sets of sparkling sequin lounge pants, sizes large and small, as well as the Good Girl, Bad Girl Wrist Cuffs.

 “What is different is the titillation factor of what we're selling,” said Jeannine Koranda, spokeswoman for the Kansas revenue department. “This is an unusual lot of items.”

 Typically, she said, the mundane relics of a business are gathered along with confiscation of bank accounts and on-site cash when agents execute tax warrants despite lengthy action to recover the debt.

 On Wednesday, attempts to contact Minkoff were unsuccessful.

 The state revenue department executes warrants on debt when other collection attempts, including multiple letters, telephone calls, letters of impending legal action, tax liens filed with the district court, bank levies and on-site till taps were unsuccessful in satisfying the debt.

 Only after exhaustion of other remedies does the state agency take action to close a business, Koranda said.

 Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, said there was irony in disclosure of the sex toy sale, while political allies of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback denounced Democratic gubernatorial nominee Paul Davis for a recent report that Davis had been in a Kansas strip club 16 years ago at the same time law enforcement officers raided the nightspot.

 “Brownback is so desperate to fill the massive hole in the state budget caused by his reckless income tax cuts that the state of Kansas is now in the porn business,” the Topeka legislator said. “This is the same governor whose supporters spent this past week attacking his opponent for a strip club incident.”

 Eileen Hawley, spokeswoman for the governor, said the state was taking steps necessary to sell business inventory and apply proceeds to taxes owed.

 “While we do not agree with the type of business involved here, it was nonetheless a legal business that was closed due to failure to pay taxes,” Hawley said. “The state cannot legally destroy the property. Returning the property to the owner would have rewarded the business that violated state tax law. This is the same process used by previous administrations.”

Summary: – In the market for love, ahem, accessories? Try shopping with the state of Kansas, which is behind an online auction of a large volume of sex toys—ranging from vibrators and handcuffs to a "fantasy love swing" and pornographic films—in an effort to recoup the $163,986 an erotic chain store owes in back taxes. Department of Revenue agents began to seize the inventory at shops across the state in July after the owner of United Outlets LLC, aka Bang, failed to pay the delinquent bill, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. Kansas Senate Democratic leader Anthony Hensley, who says allies of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback had just recently accused Democratic gubernatorial nominee Paul Davis of being in a strip club 16 years ago, says the governor is "so desperate" to balance the budget "that the state of Kansas is now in the porn business." But a Brownback spokesperson says the state is simply selling business inventory to compensate for taxes owed—a common and typically boring practice. A spokeswoman for the revenue department, meanwhile, tells the Kansas City Star that the state itself isn't selling the items because the property had been released back to the owner, who had contracted with the auction company to sell the items and pay the bill. (Meanwhile, how do sex toys and gun safety belong in the same story?)


ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that police in Ferguson and St. Louis County used excessive force and falsely arrested innocent bystanders amid attempts to quell widespread unrest after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

 The five plaintiffs in the suit in St. Louis include a clinical social worker who said she and her 17-year-old son were roughed up and arrested after not evacuating a McDonald's quickly enough. They also include a 23-year-old man who said he was shot multiple times with rubber bullets and called racial slurs by police while walking through the protest zone to his mother's home, and a man who said he was arrested for filming the disturbances.

 "The police were completely out of control," said attorney Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice, a group whose members sought to quell tensions at the nightly protests that stretched for more than week after Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who is white, shot the unarmed Brown, who is black. "In those initial days, it was virtually a police riot."

 The lawsuit seeks $40 million in damages and names Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma, several unnamed officers identified collectively as John Doe, and the city and county governments.

 Shabazz said the suit could be broadened to include additional plaintiffs. A St. Louis County police spokesman referred inquiries to County Counselor Patricia Redington, who said she had not seen the suit and declined comment. A public relations consultant working for the city of Ferguson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 In the immediate days after Brown's shooting, local police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who refused to disperse and, at times, broke into nearby stores. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon eventually placed the State Highway Patrol in charge of securing Ferguson with a more relaxed approach. Nixon later imposed a curfew that was lifted after several nights of clashes between police and protesters, and called in the National Guard, whose members have since departed Ferguson.

 Plaintiff Tracey White said she and her son, a high school junior, were waiting for a ride from her husband at a West Florissant Avenue McDonald's after attending an Aug. 13 "peace and love" rally at a Ferguson church when several rifle-carrying officers told her she was being arrested because she would not "shut up." White said she and her son were detained for five hours at the county jail on charges of failing to disperse, but she said she was not provided with any records reflecting that charge or a future court date.

 "It was so horrifying," she said. "We did nothing wrong."

 Dwayne Anton Matthews Jr. said he was confronted by eight officers that same night while walking to his mother's home after the bus route he normally takes stopped short of his destination because of the unrest. The suit alleges that after Matthews was shot multiple times with rubber bullets, he fell into a creek or sewer, where police officers "pounced on him, slammed his face into the concrete and pushed his head under water to the point that he felt he was going to be drowned."

 Matthews, who styles his hair in long dreadlocks, told reporters at a Thursday press conference outside the St. Louis federal courthouse that he was called a "coon" and a "mophead," among other racial slurs.

 Meanwhile, St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez told The Associated Press in an interview that Lt. Ray Albers resigned Thursday. Albers was the police officer shown on cellphone video pointing his rifle at demonstrators on Aug. 19 in Ferguson and threatening them.

 On the video, a man is heard saying, "Oh my God! Gun raised!" as the officer approaches. The officer walks near the man, gun pointed, and appears to threaten to kill him. A St. Louis County police sergeant forced the officer to lower the weapon and escorted him away.

 A message left on Albers' home phone Thursday was not returned.

 ___

 Associated Press reporter Jim Salter in St. Ann, Missouri, contributed to this report.

 ___

 Follow Alan Scher Zagier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/azagier . ||||| Story highlights The office of the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney declined comment

 A lawsuit accuses police of violating rights and making unjustified arrests

 Five people arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, are seeking $40 million in damages

 Police in Ferguson and St. Louis County are defendants in the federal lawsuit

 In a $40 million federal lawsuit, five people arrested recently in Ferguson, Missouri, accuse police of using "wanton and excessive force" and treating U.S. citizens "as if they were war combatants."

 A complaint filed Thursday alleges that police officers from Ferguson and St. Louis County used unnecessary force and made unjustified arrests as they cracked down on protests after the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown earlier this month.

 The lawsuit lists Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma, several unnamed officers and the city and county governments as defendants.

 A St. Louis County police spokesman declined to comment Friday, referring inquiries to the county prosecuting attorney's office. The St. Louis County prosecuting attorney's office told CNN it has no comment on the lawsuit.

 The suit -- which includes accusations of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision, and assault and battery -- details circumstances allegedly surrounding several arrests between August 11-13:

 -- Tracey White was about to buy an ice cream sundae at McDonald's when officers "in what appeared to be army uniforms, carrying rifles and sticks and wearing helmets" entered and ordered her to leave, according to the lawsuit. She was told to shut up, thrown to the ground and handcuffed after criticizing officers for the way they were treating her son, the lawsuit claims.

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 -- Dewayne Matthews was walking to his mother's house when a group of officers in military uniforms shot rubber bullets at him, the lawsuit alleges. He fell into a creek or sewer, the suit says, where officers "pounced on him, slammed his face into the concrete, and pushed his head into the water to the point that he felt he was going to be drowned."

 -- Kerry White was shooting footage and holding his camera out his car window when an officer snatched his camera, "took out his memory card and threw it to the ground," the lawsuit says.

 -- Damon Coleman and Theophilus Green were peacefully protesting, the lawsuit says, when police in riot gear fired tear gas and what appeared to be stun grenades in their direction, then "hurled racial epithets at them, while punching and kicking them the entire time."

 CNN has not independently confirmed details of the arrests.

 Police tactics to calm the crowds drew sharp criticism, including a rebuke from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

 "At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message," Holder said as the protests unfolded.

 As criticism of police tactics mounted, Gov. Jay Nixon Missouri tapped State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson to head up security in Ferguson on August 14.

 Belmar, the St. Louis County Police Chief, told reporters on Wednesday that he doesn't regret his agency's decisions to fire tear gas at protesters. That approach, he said, was much better than using nightsticks or dogs.

 Even though President Barack Obama has called for a review of military equipment sales to local police departments in light of the clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Belmar said that such equipment is often necessary.

 "I never envisioned a day that we would ever see that kind of equipment used against protesters," he said. "But I also never imagined a day in 28 years when we would see that kind of criminal activity spin out of peaceful demonstrations."

Summary: – A Missouri man who says he was just trying to get to his mom's house and a woman who says she was waiting for a ride and a sundae at McDonald's with her teenage son are among the five plaintiffs who have filed a $40 million lawsuit against Ferguson and St. Louis County police alleging "excessive force" in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, reports the AP. The suit filed yesterday charges cops with "intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent supervision, and assault and battery" and for treating local citizens "as if they were war combatants," reports CNN. Tracey White says she was waiting for her husband to pick up her and her son, a high school junior, from McDonald's when police with rifles reportedly burst into the fast-food restaurant and arrested her because she wouldn't "shut up," the suit says, according to the AP. Meanwhile, Dwayne Matthews Jr. says that his bus couldn't drop him off near his mom's house because of the protests and that he was confronted by eight cops as he was walking, shot with rubber bullets, face-slammed into concrete, pushed underwater "to the point that he felt he was going to be drowned," and insulted with racial slurs. "The police were completely out of control. … It was virtually a police riot," says attorney Malik Shabazz, adding that other plaintiffs may join the suit. (In related news: Ray Albers, a local officer who allegedly threatened protesters on camera with a rifle, resigned yesterday, reports the AP.)


WASHINGTON – It was a good day for Bernie Sanders – and it came just when he needed one.

 In a string of victories Thursday morning for the insurgent Democratic presidential candidate, Sanders announced that his campaign had hit its goal of receiving 2 million individual campaign contributions, picked up the endorsement of the 700,000-member strong Communications Worker of America and earned a nod from the liberal group Democracy for America.

 It’s a much needed boost for a candidate whose campaign’s momentum seemed to stall a bit lately, and it comes just two days before the party’s next presidential debate in the crucial state of New Hampshire.

 Introducing Sanders at a joint press conference at the union’s headquarters here as “the next president of the United States,” CWA President Chris Shelton said the union decided to back Sanders only after its members had made their preference overwhelmingly clear in an online poll.

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 “The executive board stayed out of this, we did not want to influence what our members decided, they decided this on their own,” Shelton said. “This is absolutely a democratically come to decision.”

 Sanders has lost out on endorsements from a string of other major unions, who sided instead with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. But Sanders and Shelton suggested that the leadership of the unions might be out of step with their membership.

 Close video Can Sanders slow Clinton’s momentum? Hillary Clinton may be the prohibitive Democratic favorite, but Bernie Sanders just got a big boost to his campaign from the Communications Workers of America. CWA President Chris Shelton joins Chris Matthews. embed like save share group

 “What we are seeing is a lot of grassroots support in union after union throughout this country, but that support has not necessarily trickled up to the leadership,” Sanders said.

 “I can’t tell you what every member of the AFT or the NEA believes,” he said, referring to two major teachers unions that backed Clinton. “So the answer is, what I would have hoped is that unions who believe in democracy would have done what the CWA did, which was to really bring a wide open process … I think we would have won a lot more union support than is currently the case.”

 It’s a complaint common among Sanders supporters in the labor movement.

 “I believe that’s the way it should be done because I think an endorsement coming from me or our executive board alone would have been an empty endorsement,” added Shelton of his union’s process.

 The unusual process did not include the executive board interviews common in other unions, though CWA officials did interview the candidates when they appeared at the AFL-CIO’s summer meeting this year. CWA’s immediate past president Larry Cohen, joined Sanders’ campaign as a advisor shortly after stepping down this summer.

 Clinton is still ahead when it comes to organized labor, however, with 18 national labor unions and alliances in her column.

 “Hillary Clinton is humbled to have such tremendous support from labor unions who represent a diverse coalition of millions of hardworking union men and women across the country. She shares their commitment to fighting for an economy that works for every single American, not just those at the top,” said Clinton spokesperson Jesse Ferguson Thursday.

 Sanders, who has sworn off super PACs, has faced questions over spending on his behalf from a super PAC affiliated with a nurses union that endorsed him. CWA has it’s own super PAC and Shelton did not rule out using it to support Sanders. “Bernie doesn’t want to it take it – OK, I respect that,” he said. “We’ll do everything I can to get the vote out to make sure he’s the next president.”

 Sanders said comparing a super PAC funded by wealthy donors to one funded by union dues is a “false comparison.”

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 The endorsement came the same day as Sanders’ campaign announced they had received 2 individual contributions, more than any non-incumbent presidential candidate in history. Just 261 of the campaign’s donors given the legal maximum contribution of $2,700, the campaign touted. “You can’t level the playing field with Wall Street banks and billionaires by taking their money,” Sanders says in new TV advertisement touting the number.

 And shortly after Sanders left CWA, Democracy for America, the liberal organizing group that grew out of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, threw its support behind Sanders. (Dean has personally endorsed Clinton.) DFA’s move was no major surprise, since the group tried to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 race, but it said nearly 90% of the members picked Sanders as their top choice.

 “Bernie Sanders is an unyielding populist progressive who decisively won Democracy for America members’ first presidential primary endorsement because of his lifelong commitment to taking on income inequality,” said DFA executive director Charles Chamberlain.

 Clinton has left few major endorsements still on the table after locking down support from huge swaths of Congress and among state elected officials in key states across the country, but allies say that’s fine with them.

 Last week, the Vermont senator also earned the backing of the Working Families Party, a labor-backed liberal group and political party that started in New York and has since expanded to nine other states. “The political revolution Bernie Sanders has called for is already starting to take shape. Young people and grassroots activists are volunteering in droves for Senator Sanders. Now, important progressive groups are adding their voices. Combined, those are the ingredients of a winning campaign,” said Working Families Party national director Dan Cantor Thursday. ||||| Sanders Passes 2 Million Donations, Nabs Two Endorsements

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images

 With voting in the first presidential nominating contests just weeks away, Bernie Sanders is trying to make a push before the end of the year.

 His campaign announced that he has surpassed 2 million donations. The only other person to do that at this point in a presidential campaign was Barack Obama in 2011. (Clinton had 600,000 donations from 400,000 donors through the end of the third quarter — end of September.)

 Sanders has been raising the bulk of his money in small donations — 71 percent of his donations were $200 or less in the third quarter. Clinton, on the other hand, has relied on larger donors — 74 percent of contributions to her campaign were $1,000 or more, according to numbers from the Campaign Finance Institute.

 The reliance on small donations is certainly on message for Sanders, who has consistently blasted America's campaign finance system as being "corrupt."

 "What our vision of a political revolution has already accomplished is to show that we can run a strong and we believe winning campaign without a super PAC, without contributions from millionaires and billionaires," Sanders said in a message to supporters.

 The obvious downside is that small donations are harder to add up to big numbers. By the end of the third quarter, Clinton's campaign had raised more than double Sanders' campaign overall.

 Sanders also got two endorsements Thursday — one from the Communications Workers of America, a major union with 700,000 members, the other from the progressive group Democracy For America, which is chaired by Jim Dean, Howard's brother. (Howard Dean has endorsed Clinton.) DFA endorsed after nearly 90 percent of its members said they backed Bernie.

 That's in addition to a CNN/WMUR poll that showed Sanders leading in New Hampshire by 10 points — 50 percent to 40 percent over Clinton.

 Clinton continues to hold large leads in national polls — but national polling won't determine the way forward in the campaign's immediate future. It's the early states that matter, and right now the two early contests — Iowa and New Hampshire — are a split decision.

 Things can change on a dime, as voters learned in 2008. Obama led Clinton by high single digits in every poll after his big win in Iowa, but Clinton wound up winning in a surprise. And her husband, Bill, was dubbed the "Comeback Kid" there.

 After Iowa, the contest moves on to New Hampshire, but it won't end there. The Clinton campaign sees a firewall in the South, where black voters are key. The Clintons have deep ties to the black community and Sanders is less known. But he's working on that and hopes a win in New Hampshire can be a springboard.

 A lot will shake out between Clinton and Sanders in the next few weeks, and the bigger key will be how the two camps come together. For all the talk of Donald Trump and his strength on the right, it's clear there's a very deep cadre of grass-roots support on the Democratic side, too.

Summary: – While Bernie Sanders may not have [expletive] around and got a triple-double, Ice Cube's good day doesn't have anything on the one Sanders is having. NPR reports the Sanders campaign was already celebrating receiving 2 million donations when news came in Thursday that two major endorsements had gone their way. According to MSNBC, the Communications Workers of America endorsed Sanders after an "overwhelming" victory in an online poll of its 700,000 members. That was followed by Democracy for America—a progressive group founded by Howard Dean's brother—throwing its support behind Sanders, NPR reports. "It’s a much needed boost for a candidate whose campaign’s momentum seemed to stall a bit lately," MSNBC states. The Sanders campaign announced hitting 2 million donations Wednesday night, the Washington Post reports. That's more than any other candidate from either party. In fact, Sanders is only the second presidential candidate ever to surpass 2 million donations—and his campaign is confident he can break the 2.2 million record set by Obama's reelection campaign. The average donation to the Sanders campaign is $30. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has raised nearly double what Sanders has—despite having only 600,000 donations at the end of September, according to NPR. Nearly 75% of donations to the Clinton campaign are $1,000 or more. A statement from the Sanders campaign states the 2 million donations show "we can run a strong and we believe winning campaign without a super PAC, without contributions from millionaires and billionaires." (Check out a rapper interviewing Sanders.)


FILE - In this March 10, 2008 file photo, journalists appear silhouetted against a Mayan temple, before covering the meeting of 'Indigenous People to Heal Our Mother Earth'' in Palenque, Mexico. Archaeologists... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this March 10, 2008 file photo, journalists appear silhouetted against a Mayan temple, before covering the meeting of 'Indigenous People to Heal Our Mother Earth'' in Palenque, Mexico. Archaeologists... (Associated Press)

 MEXICO CITY (AP) — Archaeologists at the Mayan ruin site of Palenque said Monday they have discovered an underground water tunnel built under the Temple of Inscriptions, which houses the tomb of an ancient ruler named Pakal.

 Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez said researchers believe the tomb and pyramid were purposely built atop a spring between AD 683 and 702. The tunnel led water from under the funeral chamber out into the broad esplanade in front of the temple, thus giving Pakal's spirit a path to the underworld.

 Attention has focused on the heavily carved stone sarcophagus in which Pakal was buried, and which some erroneously believe depict the Maya ruler seated at the controls of a spaceship.

 But Gonzalez said carvings on a pair of stone ear plugs found in the grave say a god "will guide the dead toward the underworld, by submerging (them) into the water so they will be received there."

 Pakal, in other words, didn't fly off into space; he went down the drain. "There is nothing to do with spaceships," Gonzalez said.

 The tunnel, which connects to another, is made of stone and is about two feet (60 centimeters) wide and tall.

 The director of archaeology for the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Pedro Sanchez Nava, said the theory makes sense in light of other pre-Hispanic peoples, such as those who lived at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City, where another water tunnel was found.

 "In both cases there was a water current present," said Sanchez Nava. "There is this allegorical meaning for water ... where the cycle of life begins and ends."

 The dig began in 2012, when researchers become concerned about underground anomalies detected with geo-radar under the area in front of the pyramid's steps.

 Fearing a hole or geological fault that could cause the pyramid to settle or collapse, they dug at the spot — and uncovered three layers of carefully fitted stone covering the top of the tunnel.

 Gonzalez said the same type of three-layered stone covering has been found in the floor of Pakal's tomb, within the pyramid.

 He said there appears to be no shaft or connection between the tomb and the tunnel, but adds the conduit hasn't been fully explored yet because it is too small to crawl through.

 Researchers had to send a robot with a camera down to view much of the underground horizontal shaft.

 Francisco Estrada-Belli, an assistant professor of archaeology at Boston University who was not involved in the dig, wrote, "I believe that building a tomb over a canal certainly does fit with the belief that water and water bodies were entrances to the underworld."

 "Several cases of temples (and the associated tombs) are known to be built over natural caves that may or may not have held water," Estrada-Belli wrote.

 Author Erich von Daniken suggested in his 1968 book "Chariots of the Gods?" that Pakal's stance in the engraving on the stone sarcophagus lid resembled the position of astronauts and that he appeared to be seated in a contraption with flames coming out of it and controls.

 Experts say that the "flames" are in fact depictions of the Maya's "World Tree" or "Tree of Life," whose roots were believed to reach into the underworld. ||||| Mexico City (AFP) - Mexican archeologists have discovered a canal system under the pyramid containing the tomb of a Mayan ruler, suggesting the water tunnel could represent a symbolic path to the underworld.

 The Temple of the Inscriptions at the archaeological site of Palenque in the Mexican state of Chiapas. © INAH/AFP MEXICO CITY — Mexican archaeologists have discovered a canal system under the pyramid containing the tomb of a Mayan ruler, suggesting the water tunnel could represent a symbolic path to the underworld.

 The hydraulic system was found under the Temple of the Inscriptions, which houses the seventh-century tomb of Pakal "The Great" in Palenque, the ancient Mayan city in southern Chiapas state, the National Anthropology and History Institute announced Monday.

 "The presence of these canals is very important and very significant," said Arnoldo Gonzalez, the directory of archaeology in Palenque.

 An inscription in the tomb says that to be accepted in the underworld the dead must be submerged in the water of a god called Chaac.

 The underground network of canals has different levels and goes in different directions, and it was built "well before" the pyramid, according to the national anthropology institute.

 Water was still running through the main canal when it was discovered, suggesting that its source is a natural spring.

 But archaeologists have been unable to determine the length of the tunnel or where it begins.

 Gonzalez did not rule out the possibility that the canals were part of a drainage or water-supply system.

 "We must also consider that the ancient Palenque residents designed the hydraulic system to metaphorically reproduce the path that led K'nich Janaab' Pakal to the waters of the underworld," Gonzalez said.

 The canal system was discovered with sonars. Archaeologists initially thought it could have been a fault line, but cameras mounted on small vehicles confirmed the existence of the system, which was built with large stones.

Summary: – When researchers grew concerned about underground anomalies detected near the Mayan ruins of Palenque in Mexico, they began a dig to figure out whether the pyramid was in danger of collapse. This week, researchers announced that what they found was no anomaly but rather a small canal system, reports the AP. They now think the tomb of the ancient ruler Pakal was built atop a natural spring about 700 AD, with tunnels that directed water to the esplanade in front of the temple in the hope of giving Pakal's spirit a way into the underworld. In fact, an engraving at the site reads that the dead gain entrance to the underworld in such a manner via the god Chaac, who will "will guide the dead toward the underworld by submerging [them]." The site previously gained fame when author Erich von Daniken posited in his 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? that Pakal looked like an astronaut at the helm of a spaceship on a carved stone sarcophagus. But archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez says the dig has turned up "nothing to do with spaceships" and that the "flames" of the so-called spaceship engine in fact depict the Mayan "Tree of Life." The main underground tunnel is only two feet wide and two feet tall, and thus too small to crawl through, but the team is exploring it via robotic devices. AFP reports that water was still running through it, so the source is likely a spring, though it has not been found. Also possible is that the tunnels were part of a water-supply system built before the temple. (Mayans may have had a "drought cult.")


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 Tiger Woods‘ “mistress No. 1,” Rachel Uchitel, has landed a TV job on “Extra.” Uchitel, who was interviewed last night by the show’s Mario Lopez, “so impressed producers that she’s been offered a job as a special correspondent,” a rep told us. We’re told she’ll report for “Extra” on nightlife “hot spots.” A show source added, “She won’t talk about Tiger, but she talks about how she wants to find a husband and have kids. She only has a few real friends left whom she trusts. She is alone a lot and spends time with her two dogs. She seems very vulnerable.”

 See the “Extra” video. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.

Summary: – Apparently, being one of Tiger Woods' women-on-the-side is lucrative in more ways than one. Rachel Uchitel, aka Mistress No. 1, has scored a job as a special correspondent for Extra, where she'll report on hot nightlife spots. The gig came about after Uchitel impressed Extra producers during her exclusive interview last night, which you can watch here. "She won't talk about Tiger, but she talks about how she wants to find a husband and have kids," a source tells the New York Post. "She only has a few real friends left whom she trusts. She is alone a lot and spends time with her two dogs. She seems very vulnerable."