Hi I'm the driving force behind collegiate rape culture and I should be banned from campus Posted by Ian Oliver on Saturday, August 22, 2015

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 NORFOLK

 ODU President John Broderick said students could face disciplinary action after a photo of sexually suggestive banners welcoming freshmen women to Old Dominion University sparked a furor on social media Saturday.

 The three signs at the house, which have been taken down, read: “ Rowdy and fun. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time …”, “Freshman daughter drop off” with an arrow pointed to the front door and “Go ahead and drop off mom too …”

 Freshmen spent much of the past few days moving in.

 On Twitter and the university’s Facebook page Saturday, many people expressed outrage over the sentiment.

 ODU shared a statement on Facebook from Ellen Neufeldt, vice president of student engagement and enrollment services: “Messages like the ones displayed yesterday by a few students on the balcony of their private residence are not and will not be tolerated. The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed.”

 Late Saturday night, ODU President John Broderick emailed students and faculty to express his dismay and reiterated "there is zero tolerance on this campus for sexaul assault and sexual harassment."

 "This incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some," he wrote.

 He also said any student found to have violated the code of conduct would face disciplinary action.

 A message from Vice President of Student Engagement and Enrollment Services Ellen Neufeldt: "Messages like the ones... Posted by Old Dominion University on Saturday, August 22, 2015

 On Saturday afternoon, spray paint that matched the signs was visible on the driveway of a house in the 1500 block of W. 43rd St., presumably where the paint bled through the banners. The house, across the street from campus, appeared to be the same one pictured in the photograph that circulated on the web.

 A man at the house Saturday who declined to be identified said the signs were never hung there. When a reporter pointed out the spray paint on the driveway, he admitted the signs were made there but insisted they were hung at a different house on the street.

 A half hour later, the wayward spray paint in the driveway was covered by plywood.

 Katie Vizzi, a 20-year-old international business finance major, saw the banners hanging Friday afternoon as she drove home from her job as a nanny.

 “It was pretty trashy,” she said.

 Especially, Vizzi said, because seeing the signs might be the first experience parents might have with the university.

 Neufeldt’s statement said the banners “are not representative of our 3,000 faculty and staff, 25,000 students and our 130,000 alumni.”

 The post linked to a video in which young people in ODU clothing, presumably students, discussed rape culture, saying victims should not be blamed. The video ended with the group saying “it’s on us to stop sexual assault.” ||||| Related Coverage Students react to Welcome Week banners at OSU

 NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Viewers contacted 10 On Your Side after they saw upsetting signs hanging from a home just outside the Old Dominion University campus.

 In a photo posted on WAVY’s Facebook page, the signs appear to be hanging from the home’s second story balcony and read “Rowdy and fun. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time,” another with an arrow pointing to the home’s front door said “Freshmen daughter drop off,” and a third painted on what appears to be a large white sheet says, “Go ahead and drop off mom too.”

 “I think the perception that was there was that this is not a welcoming environment, and that we do not take an approach to combat sexual assault, which is not true,” said Chris Ndiritu, student government president.

 WAVY.com reached out to ODU. The school’s spokesperson, Giovanna Genard, confirms the signs were hanging from a private residence on 43rd Street in Norfolk. Genard also provided a statement from Ellen Nuefeldt, Vice President of Student Engagement and Enrollment Services.

 “Messages like the ones displayed [Friday] by a few students on the balcony of their private residence are not and will not tolerated. The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed. At ODU, we foster a community of respect and dignity and these messages sickened us. They are not representative of our 3,000 faculty and staff, 25,000 students and our 130,000 alumni.

 ODU is a community that works actively to promote bystander intervention and takes a stand denouncing violence against women. The “It’s on Us” video is just one example of ODU students’ leadership on this topic.

 In addition, the University ensures all students receive education on the prevention of sexual harassment and relationship violence.”

 The President of ODU, John R. Broderick, sent WAVY.com this statement Saturday night, which was sent to all faculty, staff and students:

 Dear Colleague: I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street. Our students, campus community and alumni have been offended. While we constantly educate students, faculty and staff about sexual assault and sexual harassment, this incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some. A young lady I talked to earlier today courageously described the true meaning of the hurt this caused. She thought seriously about going back home. But she was heartened, she explained, when she saw how fellow students were reacting to this incident on social media. She realized this callous and senseless act did not reflect the Old Dominion she has come to love. The Student Government Association has recently developed the “Monarchs Raising Up” campaign educating our students on prevention of sexual and relationship violence, bystander intervention, and off-campus responsible behavior. Through video, online and in-person content, we layer education on these topics for all of our students throughout the year. All new freshman just received education this weekend on preventing discrimination and sexual assault in sessions we call “First Class.” Here is a link to a video from our student leaders responding to this event–just one example of how Old Dominion University students take a stand every day in regards to respecting each other and promoting responsible behavior: https://youtu.be/NC72ruvRtdY I said at my State of the University address that there is zero tolerance on this campus for sexual assault and sexual harassment. This incident will be reviewed immediately by those on campus empowered to do so. Any student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action. Sincerely, John R. Broderick President

 According to the ODU website, this weekend is freshmen move-in weekend. ||||| The link you followed may have expired, or the Facebook Page may only be visible to an audience you're not in. ||||| Freshman women at Old Dominion University were given a very special welcome last week when they arrived on campus: Large banners that read “Rowdy and fun/Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time,” “Freshman daughter drop off,” and “Go ahead and drop off mom too.” Photos of the helpful offers to fornicate with women across multiple generations in the university community have since gone viral.

 ODU’s administration responded to the signage on August 22, issuing the following statement:

 “Messages like the ones displayed yesterday by a few students on the balcony of their private residence are not and will not [be] tolerated. The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed. At ODU, we foster a community of respect and dignity, and these messages sickened us. They are not representative of our 3,000 faculty and staff, 25,000 students, and 130,000 alumni.

 Ours is a community that works actively to promote bystander intervention and takes a stand denouncing violence against women. The ‘It’s on Us’ video is just one example of ODU students’ leadership on this topic. In addition, the University ensures all students receive education on the prevention of sexual harassment and relationship violence.”

 Ellen Neufeldt, Vice President of Student Engagement and Enrollment Services signed her name to this statement.

 That same day, Old Dominion’s Student Government Association also issued their own verbal condemnation of the incident. They filmed a video directly addressing the banners and stated:

 “An incident occurred this weekend that does not reflect the University’s commitment to the prevention of Sexual Assault and Dating Violence. Not only do these actions taken by a few individuals undermine the countless efforts at Old Dominion University to prevent sexual assault, they are also unwelcoming, offensive, and unacceptable. Over the past year, our community, partners, faculty/staff, and student leaders have stood side-by-side to inform and educate our campus on Sexual Assault prevention. This issue is not new, rather, it is one that continues to be prevalent around the world. It is very important for all of us to take action and be part of the solution! These actions do not reflect the students’ views at Old Dominion University. We encourage YOU to continue to raise awareness, hold each other accountable, take care of one another, and be responsible citizens of the Monarch Community.”

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 At roughly 9 p.m. on the same day, university president John Broderick sent a message to the university community—also posted to ODU’s Facebook page—emphasizing his outrage over the banners. He concludes with the suggestion that disciplinary action may be taken, though it’s unclear how this behavior will be assessed in the context of the school’s code of conduct:

 “I said at my State of the University address that there is zero tolerance on this campus for sexual assault and sexual harassment. This incident will be reviewed by those on campus empowered to do so. Any student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action.”

 The tipster who sent us a link to one of the originating Facebook post complained that the homemade signage was draped across the balcony of a house where members of a fraternity live. While the house responsible was unidentified in the post, a source on campus told us that several members of Sigma Nu live there. For comparison, here is a photograph from the chapter’s Instagram account (which they’ve since made private). The photo is also used as the header photo in the fraternity’s official Twitter account:

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 Sigma Nu’s official “vision” is “Excelling with Honor,” their values “Love, Honor, Truth.”

 I called the number listed on the Sigma Nu chapter’s Facebook page, hoping to get a statement from the brotherhood. But when I asked if I had reached the chapter’s residence, the individual who answered the phone replied, “No.” Fred Dobry, Sigma Nu’s national Director of Risk Reduction suggested that Sigma Nu members who live in the house were not responsible for the banners outside of their house. He tells Jezebel,

 Sigma Nu Fraternity is investigating this matter, and based on what we know at this point, Fraternity members at ODU are not responsible for these offensive banners. While four members of the ODU chapter live in the building where the banners were displayed, initial information indicates individuals not associated with Sigma Nu Fraternity are responsible for the banners. Our investigation is continuing.

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 Reporters who physically visited the house were also given the dodge. Here’s the Virginian-Pilot:

 On Saturday afternoon, spray paint that matched the signs was visible on the driveway of a house in the 1500 block of W. 43rd St., presumably where the paint bled through the banners. The house, across the street from campus, appeared to be the same one pictured in the photograph that circulated on the web.

 A man at the house Saturday who declined to be identified said the signs were never hung there. When a reporter pointed out the spray paint on the driveway, he admitted the signs were made there but insisted they were hung at a different house on the street.

 A half hour later, the wayward spray paint in the driveway was covered by plywood.

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 Despite the chapter’s silence, on August 23, Jezebel received email confirmation from ODU Interfraternity Council President Michael Faust that “several fraternity members”—the chapter was not named—were responsible:

 “...in response to the incident that occurred on Friday, August 21 in which several fraternity members placed highly offensive banners off their balcony, I would like to make a point that this was an embarrassing, unacceptable action that the general Greek community strongly denounces. The actions of these few fraternity members do not represent the values that they pledged to uphold. The Interfraternity Council’s judicial board will review this incident.”

 ODU student Mary Coleman, who originally posted the image to Facebook on Saturday afternoon, wrote in an email: “I feel very strongly about how the attitude towards sexual assault on campuses is met with a slap on the wrist.” She suggests that campus efforts do not reflect the media’s burgeoning focus on systemic sexual violence: “As a woman, it’s frustrating to see the media bring awareness to the issue and then witness something related in your own community/school and see that nothing is changing.”

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 Coleman’s original post inspired a thread of comments, including a response from the ODU Facebook account. One of the first people to share the photo, with the caption “Gotta love ODU,” was Norfolk police officer Ryan Shepherd.

 Twitter’s response to these signs has ranged from amusement:

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 To bewilderment:

 To outrage:

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 This isn’t the first time, of course, that frat boys have shown their asses in such a fashion. In 2010, DKE pledges at Yale walked around campus chanting, “No means yes/ Yes means anal,” which Anna North described at this website as a “transparent plea for attention.” Texas Tech frat boys put up a similar sign last year. Over the summer, a Sigma Nu member at the University of Central Florida was caught on video chanting “Let’s rape some sluts,” only months after being accused of sexual assault by a fellow UCF student.

 We’re currently awaiting statements from Sigma Nu Fraternity and ODU’s Interfraternity Council, and will keep you updated as things continue to develop.

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 Contact the author at rachel.vorona.cote@jezebel.com.

 Top Image from Facebook. Embedded Images and Screengrabs from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

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 NORFOLK, Virginia – Old Dominion University officials took time from their weekend to respond to some banners hung up at an off-campus home that are upsetting many.

 “At ODU, we foster a community of respect and dignity and these messages sickened us,” said ODU spokeswoman Giovanna Genard in a statement provided to NewsChannel 3. The signs displayed at a home on 43rd street had messages like:

 “Rowdy and Fun. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good

 time.”

 time.” “Freshman daughter drop off.”

 “Go ahead and drop off mom too.”

 WTKR reports ODU officials say they believe the people who live at the private residents are students and say they are investigating. The University sent this statement in full:

 “Messages like the ones displayed yesterday by a few students on the balcony of their private residence are not and will not be tolerated. The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed. At ODU, we foster a community of respect and dignity and these messages sickened us. They are not representative of our 3,000 faculty and staff, 25,000 students and our 130,000 alumni. Ours is a community that works actively to promote bystander intervention and takes a stand denouncing violence against women. The “It’s on Us” video is just one example of ODU students’ leadership on this topic.

 In addition, the University ensures all students receive education on the prevention of sexual harassment and relationship violence. Any student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action.”

 The banners also prompted a response from ODU’s Student Government Association:

 “An incident occurred this weekend that does not reflect the University’s commitment to the prevention of Sexual Assault and Dating Violence. Not only do these actions taken by a few individuals undermine the countless efforts at Old Dominion University to prevent sexual assault, they are also unwelcoming, offensive, and unacceptable,” said Chris Ndiritu, President of the Student Government Association.

 Students tell NewsChannel 3 there are Sigma Nu fraternity brothers that live in the home.

 ODU President John R. Broderick sent this message to faculty, staff and students:

 I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street. Our students, campus community and alumni have been offended. While we constantly educate students, faculty and staff about sexual assault and sexual harassment, this incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some. A young lady I talked to earlier today courageously described the true meaning of the hurt this caused. She thought seriously about going back home. But she was heartened, she explained, when she saw how fellow students were reacting to this incident on social media. She realized this callous and senseless act did not reflect the Old Dominion she has come to love. The Student Government Association has recently developed the “Monarchs Raising Up” campaign educating our students on prevention of sexual and relationship violence, bystander intervention, and off-campus responsible behavior. Through video, online and in-person content, we layer education on these topics for all of our students throughout the year. All new freshman just received education this weekend on preventing discrimination and sexual assault in sessions we call “First Class.” Here is a link to a video from our student leaders responding to this event–just one example of how Old Dominion University students take a stand every day in regards to respecting each other and promoting responsible behavior:

 Sincerely,

 John R. Broderick” “Dear Colleague:I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street. Our students, campus community and alumni have been offended. While we constantly educate students, faculty and staff about sexual assault and sexual harassment, this incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some. A young lady I talked to earlier today courageously described the true meaning of the hurt this caused. She thought seriously about going back home. But she was heartened, she explained, when she saw how fellow students were reacting to this incident on social media. She realized this callous and senseless act did not reflect the Old Dominion she has come to love. The Student Government Association has recently developed the “Monarchs Raising Up” campaign educating our students on prevention of sexual and relationship violence, bystander intervention, and off-campus responsible behavior. Through video, online and in-person content, we layer education on these topics for all of our students throughout the year. All new freshman just received education this weekend on preventing discrimination and sexual assault in sessions we call “First Class.” Here is a link to a video from our student leaders responding to this event–just one example of how Old Dominion University students take a stand every day in regards to respecting each other and promoting responsible behavior: https://youtu.be/NC72ruvRtdY I said at my State of the University address that there is zero tolerance on this campus for sexual assault and sexual harassment. This incident will be reviewed immediately by those on campus empowered to do so. Any student found to have violated the code of conduct will be subject to disciplinary action.Sincerely,John R. Broderick” ||||| Old Dominion University issued multiple statements and circulated two YouTube videos over the weekend after a group of students put up three banners decried as offensive and an example of rape culture.

 Three banners were displayed at a private, off-campus house in Norfolk, Virginia, reading "Freshman Daughter Drop Off," with an arrow pointing at the front door, "Go Ahead And Drop Off Mom Too ..." and "Rowdy And Fun, Hope Your Baby Girl Is Ready For A Good Time ..." The students removed the banners after the university contacted them, school officials said.

 ODU President John R. Broderick said Sunday in a statement that he was "outraged about the offensive message directed toward women," noting that multiple students also shared his disgust on social media.

 A Virginia man posted the photos Friday afternoon on Facebook. A screengrab captured by The Huffington Post is displayed below:

Summary: – Students, college officials, and the public at large are infuriated after banners hung from a private house near Virginia's Old Dominion University "welcomed" this year's freshman class with banners described by WAVY as "upsetting." A photo captured in a screengrab by the Huffington Post (which says it was originally posted on a Virginia man's Facebook page) that started circulating online Friday shows what appear to be three white sheets hanging from the second-story balcony of a Norfolk off-campus house, with the following messages scrawled on them: "Rowdy and fun. Hope your baby girl is ready for a good time," "Freshmen daughter drop off" (with a helpful arrow pointing down to the residence's front door), and "Go ahead and drop off mom too." Sources have told both NewsChannel 13 and Jezebel that members of the Sigma Nu frat live in the house. (Jezebel only got official word from the head of ODU's Interfraternity Council that "several" members of an unnamed fraternity were responsible.) A school spokeswoman says the signs were hung from a residence on 43rd Street, and university officials are blasting the banners. "The moment University staff became aware of these banners, they worked to have them removed. … These messages sickened us," a school VP said in a statement, per WAVY, while President John R. Broderick sent a message that read, "I am outraged about the offensive message directed toward women that was visible for a time on 43rd Street. ... While we constantly educate students, faculty and staff about sexual assault and sexual harassment, this incident confirms our collective efforts are still failing to register with some." A Jezebel writer tried calling the number on the Sigma Nu house's Facebook page to see if it was the same house, but she appears to have gotten the runaround, as did a reporter from the Virginian-Pilot who went to a house on that block whose driveway had spray paint in it matching that of the banners.


BOSTON (CN) – Showcasing the diversity of Howard Stern’s appeal, a woman suing the IRS says an agent who had been calling into the show inadvertently gave the shock jock and his listeners an earful of their conversation on a private tax matter.

 Judith Barrigas of Sandwich, Massachusetts, filed the federal complaint Monday in Boston, nearly two years after her debut on satellite radio left her in a state of humiliation and anxiety.

 She says it all started on May 19, 2015, when she called the IRS to discuss a private tax matter. During that 45-minute call with agent Jimmy Forsyth, Barrigas allegedly began receiving numerous text messages from unknown people because her call was being broadcast live on “The Howard Stern Show.”

 In addition to her phone number, which Stern fans promptly began dialing up, Barrigas says other personal information she shared during the course of the call included her tax-return and -refund issues, and the details of a repayment plan for certain tax liabilities.

 Stern’s program draws approximately 1.2 million listeners to SiriusXM every day.

 The shock jock apparently got access to the call because the agent with whom Barrigas was speaking, Jimmy Forsythe, was on hold with Stern when he took the Barrigas call on another line.

 “Mr. Stern and The Stern Show joked about the publication and broadcast of Mrs. Barrigas’s tax and personal information and conversation with the IRS’s Agent Forsythe and used the broadcast and the humiliation of Mrs. Barrigas as a source of amusement for their listeners,” the complaint states.

 Barrigas says hundreds of thousands of people have heard her call already thanks to Stern, and that she received hundreds of phone calls about it in the days afterward, “leaving Mrs, Barrigas in a frantic, high anxiety state.”

 Despite her efforts to close this Pandora’s box, according to the complaint, Stern left the episode up for weeks on his website. By now the call is all over the internet.

 Barrigas says the IRS was apparently planning to ignore her complaint altogether until she not reported the incident to the consumer helpline run by local news outlet WCVB-TV.

 “Only upon notice from WCVB did the IRS begin an investigation into the matter and place Agent Forsythe on administrative leave,” the complaint states.

 Representatives for the IRS and Stern have not returned requests seeking comment.

 Barrigas is represented by Sol Cohen of Cohen & Sales in Waltham. She seeks punitive damages, alleging invasion of privacy, emotional distress and other claims.

 Like this: Like Loading... ||||| An IRS agent called in to the radio show and was put on hold. Then …

 Donald Trump never did sue The New York Times for revealing he took a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns. He threatened, but to date, no lawsuit has come. That leaves some unanswered questions about the legality of a media outlet disclosing one's tax information, since there are many statutes that broadly guard the confidentiality of tax returns. Can Howard Stern fill the void?

 On Monday, Stern was sued by a woman named Judith Barrigas, whose tax information was disseminated in the oddest way.

 According to her complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court, she called the IRS's service center on May 19, 2015, to discuss how the tax agency had applied prior year liabilities to her tax refund. She got connected to Jimmy Forsythe, an IRS agent.

 Before the two connected, Forsythe had called in to The Howard Stern Show using another phone line. While on hold, Forsythe took Barrigas' call and proceeded to spend 45 minutes with her discussing her tax case. Apparently, during this conversation, someone at Stern's show heard what was happening and decided to air the discussion live on satellite radio.

 "While on the phone with Agent Forsythe, Mrs. Barrigas suddenly began to receive a barrage of text messages and phone calls from unknown callers/individuals," states the complaint. "The text messages were informing Mrs. Barrigas that her personal information and phone number was being aired live on The Stern Show."

 The lawsuit says that the phone call in question can still be accessed on the internet, and after what happened, Forsythe was put on administrative leave. Barrigas claims the "outrageous violation" of her privacy has resulted in difficulty finding employment, anxiety, loss of sleep and irregular eating patterns.

 She is suing the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act and for an unlawful disclosure of her tax return.

 But she's also asserting negligence and an invasion of her privacy against Stern and his show.

 "The defendants breached their duty of reasonable care by broadcasting the private phone conversation between Mrs. Barrigas and the IRS on May 19, 2015, and thereby publicly disseminating private tax return and identity information of Mrs. Barrigas’s to over one million people worldwide," states the lawsuit demanding compensatory and punitive damages.

 In Bartnicki v. Vopper, the Supreme Court protected a radio broadcaster who disclosed the contents of an illegally intercepted communication. That case turned on a media outlet's lawful obtainment of tapes and the First Amendment. Here, the IRS agent called in, but arguably there wasn't much that was newsworthy about Barrigas' tax situation. Plus, it all happened live.

 Now Stern and the government under Trump are co-defendants in a suit over tax disclosures. THR will provide updates on this case as it develops. In the meantime, here's the full complaint.

Summary: – Taxpayers who call the IRS for advice should have a reasonable expectation that their call will not be broadcast on Howard Stern's radio show, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts this week. In the lawsuit, Judith Barrigas says she called the IRS to discuss a private tax matter in 2015, only to discover that IRS agent Jimmy Forsythe was on the phone to the satellite radio Howard Stern Show on another line during their 45-minute call—and much of their conversation had been broadcast to the show's 1.2 million listeners, Courthouse News reports. Barrigas is suing both Stern and the IRS, saying personal information including her phone number and tax details were shared with Stern's listeners. "While on the phone with Agent Forsythe, Mrs. Barrigas suddenly began to receive a barrage of text messages and phone calls from unknown callers/individuals," telling her that her phone number had been aired on Stern's show, the lawsuit states, per the Hollywood Reporter. It says someone from the Stern show heard the separate Barrigas-Forsythe conversation taking place and decided to air it. The show, the lawsuit alleges, "used the broadcast and the humiliation of Mrs. Barrigas as a source of amusement for their listeners." Barrigas is seeking punitive damages for invasion of privacy. Forsythe was placed on administrative leave, per the lawsuit. (Stern is worried about his friend, the current president.)


Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 755 US diplomats to leave the country in retaliation for Congress’ approving new sanctions for Moscow’s interference in the 2016

 presidential election.

 “We waited for quite some time that maybe something will change for the better, had such hope that the situation will somehow change, but, judging by everything, if it changes, it will not be soon,” Putin said in an interview on Russian television, according to Interfax news agency.

 Putin made good on a threat he issued on Friday when he said he would expel 455 US diplomatic staff in Russia and seize two American properties after the Senate and the House voted overwhelmingly for new sanctions against Moscow.

 The diplomats have to leave Russia by Sept. 1.

 He said the ouster of the US diplomatic personnel will put the two former Cold War foes on equal footing.

 “The personnel of the U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia will be cut by 755 people and will now equal the number of the Russian diplomatic personnel in the United States, 455 people on each side,” Putin said.

 The Russian president left open the possibility that he could take additional measures against the US.

 “I am against it as of today,” he said.

 Earlier Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, appearing on ABC’s “This Week” said retaliation is “long, long overdue” after the Senate “voted so overwhelmingly on a completely weird and unacceptable piece of legislation. It was the last drop.”

 Asked how Russia would strike back, Rybakov said the Kremlin has a long list of options.

 “We have a very rich toolbox at our disposal. It would be ridiculous on my part to start speculating on what may or may not happen,” he said, adding “I can assure you that different options are on the table and consideration is being given to all sorts of things.”

 Russia has denied it meddled in the election despite the US intelligence community concluding otherwise.

 The Senate approved the bill by a 98-2 vote last week. The House previously approved the measure by a 419-3 margin.

 It awaits President Trump’s signature, and the White House said he “intends” to sign it.

 Russia has denied meddling in the election despite the US intelligence community concluding otherwise.

 A number of congressional panels – as well as the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller – are investigating Russian involvement and whether Trump associated colluded.

 Moscow is also still fuming over former President Obama’s decision in December to oust 35 diplomats and seize two Russian diplomatic compounds in Maryland and Long Island because of the Kremlin’s involvement in the election.

 Still, Rybakov said he hopes that the US and Russia can find common ground on other issues.

 “I believe there are several areas where the U.S. and Russia can and should work together cooperatively. Nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, countering terrorism, illicit immigration, trafficking in people, climate change, you name it,” he said.

Summary: – Russian President Vladimir Putin says the US embassy in Moscow will have to cut staff by 755 under new Russian sanctions, reports the AP. The move comes swiftly after the sanctions were overwhelmingly approved by Congress and the White House announced that President Trump intends to sign the legislation. The measure, which will limit Trump's ability to suspend sanctions, targets Russia for interfering in the 2016 US election and for military aggression in Ukraine and Syria. According to the New York Post, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said moving forward with such sanctions would cause retaliation. “We have a very rich toolbox at our disposal. It would be ridiculous on my part to start speculating on what may or may not happen?,” he said early Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “I can assure you that different options are on the table and consideration is being given to all sorts of things.” An official from the US Embassy in Moscow told the Post that there are currently around 1,100 diplomatic and support staff serving in Russia.


In the tissue-thin pages of “The Norton Anthology,” the canon of world literature looks delicate and staid, but it’s as violent a Darwinian contest as any fought in the primeval forest. Strong, adaptable stories survive; muddled, time-bound stories die. Euripides’ “Medea” still roars over the millennia. George Lillo’s “The London Merchant” might have taken the 18th century by storm, but now it sleeps with the woolly mammoth.

 Sigmund Freud, in his foundational work “The Interpretation of Dreams,” considered why, despite the passage of 2,500 years, “Oedipus Rex” is still capable “of moving modern men no less than it moved the contemporary Greeks.” He speculated that “there must be a voice within us which is prepared to recognize the compelling power of fate in ‘Oedipus.’ ” He went on to recognize in this dysfunctional family — long before “Cougar Town” came to ABC — a basic pattern of psychological development: a sexual desire for one’s mother and a murderous rage against one’s father. Psychology has evolved since those heady days in Vienna, but there’s no denying the immutable terror of Sophocles’ tragedy. Like other archetypal stories, it lends itself to creative retelling, restaging and reinterpretation.

 Which only adds to our eager anticipation of David Guterson’s new novel, “Ed King,” a modern-day version of “Oedipus Rex.” In the three novels since his spectacularly successful debut, “Snow Falling on Cedars” (1994), Guterson has focused on alienated people driven into the woods by shame, or illness, or a thirst for the truth. The disgraced king of Thebes would seem to fit comfortably in that line of his tragic loners, and, indeed, there’s something weirdly titillating about seeing the ancient details of Sophocles’ story transferred to the late 20th century. But that titillation isn’t enough to animate this ill-conceived novel, which somebody should have strangled at birth.

 The opening, though, when Guterson sets down the terms of his re-imagined tale, is perversely appealing. Walter Cousins is a philandering actuary who “weighs risks for a living” but now finds himself troubled by fate. With his wife in the hospital, he’s left alone with his children’s nanny, Diane, a flirtatious young Brit who was “a drop-dead ringer for the sixteen-year-old Disney darling who’d been in newspapers and magazines lately for turning down the lead role in ‘Lolita.’ ” On a family outing to the Fine Arts Pavilion one afternoon, they all stare at a painting called “Oedipus and the Sphinx.” With those allusions firmly in place, events proceed apace in a sweaty-palmed narrative that finds 15-year-old Diane pregnant and Walter’s life on the edge of ruin.

 This first section is far and away the most engaging, and the themes of risk, fate and family determinism all cleverly point toward trouble. Walter’s panic tests his faith in statistics and his power to control events, and Diane’s transformation from cute temptress to steely extortionist is even more delicious (she’s the whore with a heart of bile who enlivens every scene). But once Diane abandons her baby on a random doorstep, the novel begins to skate through unfolding events. Where Sophocles holds us arrested for a single day, Guterson zips through the years in a kind of narrative shorthand that tracks events in the Greek play without translating its meaning, its power or its horror. The characters are set at such a dulling distance from us that usually we can’t feel anything but distaste for them.

 “Ed King: A Novel” by David Guterson. (Knopf)

 Baby Ed grows up to be a wild, brilliant young man (perfect except for his slightly deformed ankles). His adoptive Jewish parents, the Kings, treat him like a prince. (Get it?) He has a nasty run-in with you-know-who on the highway. But later, as an amalgamation of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Page, he makes a fortune by figuring out how to solve impossibly difficult riddles on the Internet. And then he meets a sexy older woman . . . .

 At that point, Guterson stops the action and addresses us directly in a licentious tone that should excite any middle-school boy who makes it this far: “Now we approach the part of the story a reader couldn’t be blamed for having skipped forward to.” Actually, I wouldn’t blame you for skipping this book entirely, but if you must, turn to page 236. What follows are three pages that might very well win the Literary Review’s annual Bad Sex Award, including my personal “ick” moment: “Ed smelled vulnerably digestive.” In the smutty hands of Chuck Palahniuk, all this might have been a gas, but here it just made me want to take my wife’s hairpins and stab out my eyes.

 So what exactly are we to make of this novel, which eventually sees Ed at the height of his hubris evolve into a billionaire version of Ray Kurzweil, determined to live forever “in the very heart and mind of God”?

 Almost every line is infected with an acid tone meant to punish these trite, ambitious, self-absorbed people. Guterson’s criticism of the corrosive effects of vanity, money and media mania, which animated his far more thoughtful novels “Our Lady of the Forest” and “The Other,” is in these pages relentless and obvious. He’s knocking on the doors of Claire Messud, Jonathan Franzen and Lionel Shriver, but he doesn’t demonstrate the requisite wit or stylistic panache to pull off that kind of satire. The result is a mirthless story that’s tedious where it should be suspenseful, bitter where it should feel cathartic.

 A tragedy, indeed.

 Charles is The Post’s fiction editor. You can follow him on Twitter @RonCharles. ||||| Topics: Books, Sex

 What’s more cringe-worthy: Haruki Murakami’s comparison of “a freshly made ear” to “a freshly made vagina” or the scene from “Ed King,” David Guterson’s modern retelling of the Oedipus myth, in which the title character ends 12 hours of marathon lovemaking with his mother with one last quickie in the shower?

 According to the U.K.’s Literary Review, it’s definitely the shower. The journal has awarded Guterson (also the author of “Snow Falling on Cedars”), its Bad Sex in Fiction Award for 2011. (Whether either finalist really compares to Rowan Somerville’s now-infamous 2010 sentence — “Like a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect with a too blunt pin he screwed himself into her” — is another question entirely.)

 The novel’s “victory” might not surprise readers and reviewers; as GalleyCat’s Jason Boog points out, Ron Charles of the Washington Post anticipated that its awkward descriptions of an awkward encounter might make it a strong contender for the prize.

 These two paragraphs from “Ed King,” specifically cited on the Literary Review’s website, helped bring home the prize:

 These sorts of gyrations and five-sense choreographies, with variations on Ed’s main themes, played out episodically between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., when Diane said, “Let’s shower.” In the shower, Ed stood with his hands at the back of his head, like someone just arrested, while she abused him with a bar of soap. After a while he shut his eyes, and Diane, wielding her fingernails now and staring at his face, helped him out with two practiced hands, one squeezing the family jewels, the other vigorous with the soap-and-warm-water treatment. It didn’t take long for the beautiful and perfect Ed King to ejaculate for the fifth time in 12 hours, while looking like a Roman public-bath statuary. Then they rinsed, dried, dressed and went to an expensive restaurant for lunch.

 In a recent essay for the Financial Times, Literary Review senior editor Jonathan Beckman called the prize “a comic coda to the literary year and a gentle spoof of a culture in which awards have proliferated at speed.” He added: “Despite murmurings to the contrary, the mere presence of a sex scene does not inevitably lead to a pillorying. Every year we rule out many examples sent to us by enthusiastic readers on the grounds of utter competence.” Earlier this year, Salon published its first Good Sex Awards, judged by Laura Miller, Louis Bayard, Maud Newton and Walter Kirn. Read their discussion of “What makes a good sex scene?” here.

 Continue Reading

 Close ||||| Image caption The book was described by one reviewer as a "sweaty-palmed narrative"

 An account of a frenzied encounter in a shower has earned US writer David Guterson the annual Bad Sex In Fiction Award.

 He beat the likes of Stephen King with a scene from his novel Ed King, a modern version of the fable of Oedipus.

 The offending passage in the book is introduced as "the part where a mother has sex with her son".

 On hearing of his win, Guterson said: "Oedipus practically invented bad sex, so I'm not in the least bit surprised."

 The author, who is based in the US, was unable to attend the prize ceremony at the In and Out Naval and Military Club in London.

 Instead, EastEnders star Barbara Windsor presented the award to his publishers.

 The ceremony is now in its 19th year, having been established by Auberon Waugh in 1993.

 Previous winners include Norman Mailer, AA Gill, Melvyn Bragg and Tom Wolfe.

 The award is run by The Literary Review, which says its purpose is to "draw attention to the crude, tasteless, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it".

 Guterson is the author of the best-selling Snow Falling on Cedars, which was turned into a film starring Sam Shepard and Ethan Hawke in 1999.

 Ed King, his fifth novel, takes the Sophoclean tragedy Oedipus Rex (the title is a pun on the original) and transports it to late 20th Century Seattle.

 Image caption David Guterson lives and works in Washington State

 The story revolves around a baby boy who is given up for adoption and goes on to become one of the world's most powerful men, killing his father and sleeping with his mother in the process.

 Branded a "sweaty-palmed narrative" by the Washington Post, the novel contains several pages of explicit exposition.

 One goes into exhaustive detail about an erotic massage, where the protagonist "massaged, kneaded, stretched, rubbed, pinched, flicked, feathered, licked, kissed, and gently bit her shoulders".

 But judges said they were finally swayed by a passage that begins: "Ed stood with his hands at the back of his head, like someone just arrested, while she abused him with a bar of soap."

 The scene concludes: "Then they rinsed, dried, dressed, and went to an expensive restaurant for lunch."

 Reviewing the novel in the Express, David Robson argued that "Guterson's descriptions of hyperactive incest are absolutely unbearable and not in a good way".

 Other nominees this year included Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey, Chris Adrian's The Great Night and Lee Child's The Affair.

Summary: – Ron Charles of the Washington Post wins the prognosticator award among book critics. When he reviewed (and panned) David Guterson's novel Ed King, he took note of one part: "What follows are three pages that might very well win the Literary Review’s annual Bad Sex Award." Well, that award came out today, and ... congratulations, Mr. Guterson (who is also the Snow Falling on Cedars author). The UK publication singled out Guterson's modern version of Oedipus Rex for a lengthy scene in which the main character has some intimate moments in the shower with, yes, his mother, reports the BBC. A few examples: "In the shower, Ed stood with his hands at the back of his head, like someone just arrested, while she abused him with a bar of soap." “Ed smelled vulnerably digestive.” "Then they rinsed, dried, dressed and went to an expensive restaurant for lunch." Salon has a more complete excerpt here, along with an antidote-like link to a discussion about good sex scenes.


Trump To Unveil Long-Awaited $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

 Enlarge this image Evan Vucci/AP Evan Vucci/AP

 President Trump will finally be unveiling his long-awaited $1.5 trillion plan to repair and rebuild the nation's crumbling highways, bridges, railroads, airports, seaports and water systems Monday. But, the proposal will not be one that offers large sums of federal funding to states for infrastructure needs, but it is instead a financing plan that shifts much of the funding burden onto the states and onto local governments.

 Critics say that will lead to higher state and local taxes, and an increased reliance on user fees, such as tolls, water and sewer fees, transit fares and airline ticket taxes.

 Senior White House officials who briefed reporters over the weekend say the plan is aimed at fixing the current system of funding infrastructure that they say is broken in two ways.

 The first is that the country has been under-investing in infrastructure, leading a state of growing disrepair. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the nation a grade of D+ for the condition of transit, highway, bridge, rail, water and other infrastructure, and says the country is in need of an investment of $2 trillion more than is currently budgeted.

 The second way the White House says the system is broken is in the lengthy federal permitting process, which officials say can take five to 10 years or longer, driving up costs.

 A program that would flip funding burden

 Administration officials say the president's plan addresses the funding shortfall by committing $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years to stimulate state and local spending and private investment. Half of the funding, $100 billion, will be used as incentives to entice cities, counties and states to raise at least 80 percent of the infrastructure costs themselves.

 So, for example, if a state has a project or need identified and can come up with 80 or 90 percent of the funding for it through increased state or local taxes, like the gas tax, or with user fees like tolls, then under this plan, the federal government would kick in the rest.

 Critics worry that would lead to only projects that could generate revenue, such as toll roads or bridges, getting funded.

 That's a radical departure from the way many projects are funded now. Funding for federal-aid highways, including interstates, is usually allocated in an 80-20 federal-state split. This program would flip that funding burden. Major mass transit projects are often funded on a 50-50 federal-local basis. Again, this plan puts a much greater burden on local taxpayers and users.

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Alex Brandon/AP

 To address concerns that projects in rural areas don't have the ability to generate much in user fees, the White House plan calls for spending $50 billion of the $200 billion on rural infrastructure needs. That funding would go to states in the form of block grants, giving governors and state legislatures the authority to figure out the best way to spend that money.

 And $20 billion would go to federal loan programs that are aimed at attracting private investment in infrastructure, and into private activity bonds.

 Projects with an eye to the future

 The White House also wants to earmark $20 billion in funding for "transformative" projects, which a White House official says "have a vision towards the future." These would be "projects that can lift the American spirit, that are the next-century-type of infrastructure as opposed to just rebuilding what we have currently."

 The remaining $10 billion would go into a capital financing fund, which the administration says would go toward funding federal government office building infrastructure.

 The $200 billion in federal funding would not be new revenue but would come from cuts "in other areas of the federal budget," some of which will be outlined in the president's budget plan that will also be released Monday. That includes funding cuts to existing federal transit programs, the TIGER grant program "and things where the administration thinks that infrastructure funds haven't been spent efficaciously," said a senior administration official.

 But the White House officials say this new infrastructure plan "is a program that sits on top of existing programs. So we're not proposing eliminating the Highway Trust Fund, or changing the state revolving funds. So to the extent that communities are eligible for federal funds already, that eligibility remains."

 Trump wants to streamline federal environmental review

 The president's plan does not address a huge yearly shortfall in the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is funded by the federal gasoline tax. That tax of 18.4 cents a gallon for unleaded, 24.4 cents a gallon for diesel, hasn't been raised in 25 years and because of improvements in fuel efficiency and inflation, it raises less money now than it did when last raised in 1993. So Congress is already using deficit spending to pay for some transportation infrastructure needs funded by existing programs.

 In addition to the financing component of the plan, Trump wants to significantly streamline the federal environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure construction projects, which they say can often involve several different federal agencies that can drag the process out. The president's plan will call for the creation of "One Agency, One Decision" type of process that would put one lead federal agency in charge of completing an environmental review within 21 months.

 President Trump will outline some of these principles in a meeting with mayors and other state and local leaders at the White House Monday. Trump will work with Congress to make changes, if needed. The infrastructure spending plan would need 60 votes to pass in the Senate so it will need democratic support, but the White House officials say this is one issue on which there should be room to compromise, because they say the president's infrastructure plan is in line with priorities and objectives outlined by members of both parties in Congress, even if not in the way it would be funded.

 "This is in no way, shape or form ... a take it or leave it proposal," said one senior administration official. "This is the start of a negotiation."

 "The president has said he is open to new sources of funding," the White House aide said. "We want it to be bipartisan." ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will roll out an infrastructure plan on Monday that already faces significant hurdles in Congress because it does not offer as much new federal funding as Democrats want or directly address how to pay for the effort.

 The plan to use $200 billion in federal funds to try to stimulate $1.5 trillion in infrastructure improvements over 10 year could reshape how the federal government funds roads, bridges, highways and other infrastructure. The administration also says it will eliminate bureaucratic roadblocks to completing projects that can tie up new roads for years.

 White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on Sunday that in addition to the $200 billion the administration seeks for its infrastructure proposal, the White House wants $21 billion over two years for infrastructure that was part of a budget framework deal approved last week in Congress.

 Mulvaney said in a statement that the plan “reduces the regulatory burdens we face, shortening and simplifying the approval process for projects, and eliminating barriers that prevent projects from being efficiently developed.”

 But in the face of a divided U.S. Senate and congressional elections in November, administration officials acknowledged the plan faced a difficult road to winning approval.

 House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s plan “shifts the burden onto cities and states.”

 White House aides told reporters in a phone briefing on Saturday that the proposal, billed only as “infrastructure principles” and to be part of Trump’s budget plan on Monday, was just a starting point.

 “This in no way, shape or form should be considered a take-it-or-leave-it proposal. This is the start of a negotiation - bicameral bipartisan negotiation - to find the best solution for infrastructure,” said a senior official, who was not allowed to be identified under the ground rules for the briefing.

 The White House is pointing to a wide variety of potential cuts in its budget proposal that could be used to offset the costs of the plan.

 U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 HIKE IN GAS TAX?

 The White House proposal will offer $100 billion in incentives to state and local governments, but will propose a smaller percentage of matching finds than the federal government has typically offered.

 The remaining $100 billion involves $50 billion for rural project grants distributed to all states, $30 billion for government financing of projects and $20 billion toward “transformative projects” or new ideas that are not simply repairing existing infrastructure.

 Democrats insist that any plan must include new revenue, which could mean raising the federal gas tax. That levy has been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993, and inflation as well as rising vehicle fuel efficiency have reduced its usefulness in raising enough money to keep pace with repair needs.

 Government auditors note Congress transferred $140 billion to the Highway Trust Fund from 2008 through 2015. Lawmakers, to maintain current spending levels, would need to approve an additional $107 billion from 2021 through 2026.

 Trump has not ruled out a gas tax hike and some in Congress have said they are open to the idea. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently came out in support of an increase.

 Democrats in Congress called last week for $1 trillion in direct federal spending, including $100 billion on schools alone as well as billions to expand rural broadband internet service, improve airports, mass transit, roads and ports, boost energy efficiency and improve aging water systems.

 The Democratic proposal did not identify any specific plan to pay for improvements, but aides said they were committed to finding a way.

 FILE PHOTO: White House budget director Mick Mulvaney holds a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., January 19, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

 The administration also plans on Monday to unveil workforce training proposals, including expanding apprenticeships and seeking changes to federal work-study programs that typically are used by students at four-year institutions. It would allow more students interested in skilled trades to use them.

 It will propose as well that states that accept federal funds for infrastructure projects would have to accept workers with out-of-state skilled-trades licenses on those projects.

 Trump will meet with state and local officials including the governors of Wisconsin, Louisiana, Virginia and Maine on Monday, before meeting with congressional leaders on Wednesday. He will head to the Orlando, Florida, area on Friday to tout the plan, officials said. ||||| File- In this May 19, 2017, file photo, a man works on the Southern Nevada portion of U.S. Interstate 11 near Boulder City, Nev. President Donald Trump on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, will unveil his long-awaited... (Associated Press)

 File- In this May 19, 2017, file photo, a man works on the Southern Nevada portion of U.S. Interstate 11 near Boulder City, Nev. President Donald Trump on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, will unveil his long-awaited infrastructure plan, a $1.5 billion proposal that fulfills a number of campaign goals, but... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday will unveil his long-awaited infrastructure plan, a $1.5 trillion proposal that fulfills a number of campaign goals, but relies heavily on state and local governments to produce much of the funding.

 The administration's plan is centered on using $200 billion in federal money to leverage local and state tax dollars to fix America's infrastructure, such as roads, highways, ports and airports.

 "Every federal dollar should be leveraged by partnering with state and local governments and — where appropriate — tapping into private sector investment to permanently fix the infrastructure deficit," Trump said at last month's State of the Union address.

 Trump has repeatedly blamed the "crumbling" state of the nation's roads and highways for preventing the American economy from reaching its full potential. Many in Washington believe that Trump should have begun his term a year ago with an infrastructure push, one that could have garnered bipartisan support or, at minimum, placed Democrats in a bind for opposing a popular political measure.

 But the administration chose to begin with health care and relations with Democrats have only grown more strained during a turbulent, contentious year. The White House, now grappling with the fallout from the departure of a senior aide after spousal abuse allegations, may not have an easy time navigating a massive infrastructure plan through a polarized Congress. It just grappled with two federal government shutdowns and will soon turns its attention to immigration.

 Administration officials previewing the plan said it would feature two key components: an injection of funding for new investments and help speed up repairs of crumbling roads and airports, as well as a streamlined permitting process that would truncate the wait time to get projects underway. Officials said the $200 billion in federal support would come from cuts to existing programs.

 Half the money would go to grants for transportation, water, flood control, cleanup at some of the country's most polluted sites and other projects.

 States, local governments and other project sponsors could use the grants — which administration officials view as incentives — for no more than 20 percent of the cost. Transit agencies generally count on the federal government for half the cost of major construction projects, and federal dollars can make up as much as 80 percent of some highway projects.

 About $50 billion, would go toward rural projects — transportation, broadband, water, waste, power, flood management and ports. That is intended to address criticism from some Republican senators that the administration's initial emphasis on public-private partnerships would do little to help rural, GOP-leaning states

 Early reaction to the proposal was divided.

 Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, saluted Trump "for providing the leadership we have desperately needed to reclaim our rightful place as global leader on true 21st-century infrastructure."

 "When ports are clogged, trucks are delayed, power is down, water is shut off, or the internet has a lapse, modern manufacturers' ability to compete is threatened and jobs are put at risk," said Timmons. "There is no excuse for inaction, and manufacturers are committed to ensuring that America seizes this opportunity."

 But a number of Democrats and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have pushed the administration to commit far more federal dollars, funded by tax increases, or by closing tax loopholes. And environmental groups expressed worry about its impact.

 "President Trump's infrastructure proposal is a disaster," said Shelley Poticha, of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It fails to offer the investment needed to bring our country into the 21st century. Even worse, his plan includes an unacceptable corporate giveaway by truncating environmental reviews."

 ___

 This story has been corrected to show that the infrastructure plan is a $1.5 trillion plan, not a $1.5 billion plan.

 ___

 Associated Press writer Joan Lowy contributed reporting.

 ___

 Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and Crutsinger at http://twitter.com/@mcrutsinger

Summary: – Both parties agree that America's infrastructure is in need of some serious work after decades of under-investment, but the $1.5 trillion plan President Trump plans to roll out Monday is still expected to be controversial—especially because of disagreements over where the $1.5 trillion is supposed to come from. The plan involves around $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years, to be taken from cuts to other programs, including $100 billion in incentives to state and local governments to stimulate spending on infrastructure such as highways, ports, and airports, reports Reuters. Democrats had sought greater federal funding and new revenue, possibly through a hike in the gas tax, though White House aides say the Trump plan is just the starting point for negotiations. The proposal requires cities, counties, and states to put up at least 80% of a project's cost themselves before they can get 20% federal funding, which reverses the 80-20 federal-state funding split in place for many highways, NPR reports. The federal funding to be announced Monday also includes around $50 billion toward rural infrastructure projects. Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, praised the proposals, the AP reports. "When ports are clogged, trucks are delayed, power is down, water is shut off, or the internet has a lapse, modern manufacturers' ability to compete is threatened and jobs are put at risk," he said. "There is no excuse for inaction." Critics, however, said the plan needs more federal investment—and called moves to speed the approval process, including reducing environmental reviews, a "corporate giveaway."


The European Space Agency took the closest look yet Saturday at asteroid Lutetia in an extraordinary quest some 280 million miles in outer space between Mars and Jupiter.

 Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea Accomazzo controls the Rosetta asteroid mission at the Space Operations Centre of ESA (European Space Agency) in Darmstadt, Germany, on Saturday, July 10, 2010. ESA's... (Associated Press)

 Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea Accomazzo controls the Rosetta asteroid mission at the Space Operations Centre of ESA (European Space Agency) in Darmstadt, Germany, on Saturday, July 10, 2010. ESA's... (Associated Press)

 The comet-chaser Rosetta flew by Lutetia as close as 1,900 miles (3,200 kilometers) and had about two hours to capture images of the asteroid with its high-tech cameras, the space agency said in Darmstadt, Germany.

 Though Lutetia was discovered some 150 years ago, for a long time it was little more than a point of light to those on Earth. Only recent high-resolution ground-based imaging has given a vague view of the asteroid, the agency said.

 "At the moment we know very little about it," project scientist Rita Schulz said in a webcast presentation from Darmstadt.

 Lutetia is believed to be 83.3 miles (134 kilometers) in diameter with a "pronounced elongation," but scientists have been puzzled as to what type of asteroid it is _ a "primitive" one containing carbon compounds or a metallic asteroid.

 "We are now going to get the details of this asteroid, which is very important," Schulz said. "There will be a lot of science coming from that mission."

 Scientists hope to find in the information and images gathered by Rosetta clues to the history of comets and asteroids and of the solar system, Schulz said.

 For Rosetta, examining Lutetia and other asteroids is only an event on its long journey to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko _ the mission's, said project manager Gerhard Schwehm.

 Rosetta was launched in 2004 and is expected to reach its target in 2014.

 Though the wait is long, scientists are certain it is going to be worthwhile, Schwehm said.

 "We want to study the material out of which the planets formed," he said. This is possible only close up, he said. ||||| Europe's Rosetta space probe has flown past the Asteroid Lutetia, returning a stream of scientific data for analysis.

 The rock - some 120km (75 miles) in its longest dimension - is the biggest asteroid yet visited by a satellite.

 Pictures showed Lutetia to be quite irregular in shape, its surface marked by a number of wide impact craters and even some intriguing grooves.

 Rosetta's encounter with the asteroid occurred some 454 million km from Earth, beyond the orbit of Mars.

 "It's a new world discovered by Rosetta and it will keep scientists busy for years," said Holger Sierks, the principal investigator on the Osiris camera system which acquired the images on this page.

 "The pictures are majestic; they take my breath away," Professor David Southwood, the European Space Agency's director of science, told BBC News.

 "It is an historic day, Europe once again proving it can do major steps in Solar System exploration. Everything worked like clockwork. It really was picture perfect," he said.

 Scientists hope the data can help them determine Lutetia's true nature. Earth-based telescopes have had great difficulty in classifying the rock.

 Some observations had suggested it was a very primitive body, little changed since its formation (a so-called C-type asteroid).

 Other measurements, though, had spied what appeared to be metals in its surface, indicating the rock might have undergone a greater degree of evolution (M-type asteroid).

 Lutetia could even be the fragmented remains of a much larger asteroid smashed apart in a great collision.

 Nearly all of the Rosetta mission's instruments were switched on for a period of several hours around closest approach (1544 GMT; 1644 BST; 1744 CEST on Saturday).

 ASTEROID 21 LUTETIA Continue reading the main story It was discovered in 1852 by Hermann Goldschmidt in Paris

 Lutetia was the name of a pre-Roman town on the site of Paris

 The designation "21" refers to the order of asteroid discoveries Read Esa's Rosetta blog Dawn - Nasa's asteroid probe

 Multi-wavelength cameras and spectrometers, magnetic field and plasma experiments, dust instruments, a radio science experiment - all were tasked with gathering as much information as possible as the spacecraft whizzed by at the relative speed of 15km/s (9 miles/s) and a minimum distance of 3,162km (1,964 miles).

 "It has an interesting surface and from the look of it, I would say it is more of a C-type asteroid - but we can't really say anything yet," said Dr Rita Schulz, the Rosetta project scientist.

 "We must wait for the infrared data. This will be the key I think in understanding this asteroid," she told BBC News.

 About 400 images were obtained during the pass, and with each picture taking about 10 minutes to come down it will be some days, if not weeks, before all the data from the flyby is transferred Earth.

 Science teams expect to make public their preliminary findings at the Europlanet conference in Rome, Italy, in late September.

 THE ROSETTA PROBE MAKES ITS CLOSE PASS OF ASTEROID LUTETIA Asteroids are the ancient remnants left over from the formation of the Solar System Most are made of rock, but some are also composed of metal, mostly nickel and iron Their sizes range from small boulders to objects that are hundreds of km in diameter Most asteroids reside in the vast region of space that exists between Mars and Jupiter

 Before this flyby, the largest asteroid encountered by a spacecraft was Mathilde, which is a little over 50km (30 miles) wide.

 Mathilde was visited by the US space agency's (Nasa) Near-Shoemaker probe in 1997.

 Rosetta itself has already made one close asteroid flyby, of the Steins rock in 2008.

 With this latest pass complete, Rosetta is now heading out to its meeting with the Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, set for the May of 2014.

 The probe will go into orbit around the 4km-wide ball of ice and dust and even place a small lander called Philae on its surface.

 Asteroids are the object of keen interest currently. The Japanese Hayabusa mission has recently returned from the Itokawa space rock, and next year the US Dawn mission will go into orbit around Asteroid Vesta.

 The American President Barack Obama says Nasa should also have the goal of trying to send astronauts to an asteroid sometime in the 2020s.

Summary: – The European Space Agency is pulling off a nifty feat 280 million miles from home. Its comet-chasing space probe Rosetta is making a flyby of the biggest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft, reports the BBC. Rosetta will be sending back photos of Lutetia, which was first spotted 150 years ago between Mars and Jupiter but remains a relative mystery. "At the moment we know very little about it," said one project scientist. "We are now going to get the details of this asteroid, which is very important—there will be a lot of science coming from that mission." After this, Rosetta will continue on toward its main target, the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, notes AP. It's got another 4 years of flying to get there.


SERBIAN police have been fighting running battles with thugs and anti-gay protestors in Belgrade. The headquarters of the ruling Democratic Party was briefly set on fire with Molotov cocktails and several shops were attacked. A mobile mammography unit was stoned; cars, buses, trams and the headquarters of Serbian television were also attacked. By early afternoon more than 100 police and civilians were reported to have been injured. The demonstrators, several hundred-strong: “Death to homosexuals!” and “Go to Kosovo!”.

 The attacks are believed to have been organised by small extreme nationalist groups. Last year threats from such groups led to the cancellation of the country's Gay Pride march, which was seen as a huge blow for tolerance in the country and made the government look weak. After that debacle, this year's event had become a test of the government's will. And outsiders took a keen interest. The march was addressed by Vincent Degert, the head of the EU delegation in Serbia, who said: “We are here to celebrate this very important day... to celebrate the values of tolerance, freedom of expression and assembly." The presence of Mr Degert showed how seriously the government was taking the test. Police with armoured vehicles protected the event.

 Last Thursday Svetozar Čiplić, Serbia's minister for human rights, said he would attend the march. Ivica Dacić, the interior minister, said: “This is one way to test whether we in Serbia are ready and able to organise something that most citizens dislike.” But Srdjan Nogo, a member of Dveri, one of the far-right groups which was mobilising against the march, said: “They [the government] have destroyed everything, and now they want our family. This is the defence of the family and the future of the Serbian people.”

 By mid-afternoon Serbia's leaders were rallying in defence of the march and condemning the violence. Dragan Djilas, the mayor of Belgrade, said that the damage amounted to €1m. President Boris Tadić said that an attack on the police was an attack on the state of Serbia itself. With Hilary Clinton, the US secretary of state, due to pay him a visit on Tuesday, today's riots were a problem he could have done without. ||||| Anti-gay protesters have fought running battles with police in an effort to disrupt a Gay Pride march in Belgrade - the first in the city since 2001.

 Rioters threw petrol bombs and stones at armed police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

 The office of the ruling Democratic Party was briefly set on fire, and at least one shot was fired.

 Calm was eventually restored but more than 100 people, mostly police, were injured, with another 100 arrested.

 Sunday's march was the first Gay Pride parade in Serbia since a 2001 event was broken up in violent clashes provoked by far-right extremists.

 'Hooligan gangs'

 Before the march, the head of the EU mission in Serbia, Vincent Degert, addressed around 1,000 gay activists and their supporters who gathered at a park in downtown Belgrade surrounded by riot police and armoured vehicles.

 "We are here to celebrate the values of tolerance, freedom of expression and assembly," Mr Degert told the crowd.

 While the Gay Pride parade was moving though the city, several hundred protesters began chanting at those taking part as they tried to get close to the march.

 "The hunt has begun," the AFP news agency reported them as saying. "Death to homosexuals."

 Reports told of gangs of skinheads roaming the streets, throwing petrol bombs and setting off firecrackers as police battled to hold them back.

 Thousands of police had sealed off central Belgrade to protect the event.

 While the march took place in a heavily-protected area in and around Manjez park, violence flared at several points further afield in central Belgrade.

 At the scene As Gay Pride ended the street protests gathered pace. I stood on Terazije boulevard watching demonstrators hurl rocks at armed police, who responded with tear gas. Some officers retreated, bleeding. Battles erupted in other parts of the city, too, and there is considerable damage to street furniture, including bus shelters and signposts. This is not the image Serbia wants the world to see. A successful gay parade was supposed to be an indication of how far this country has come from the ultranationalism and violence of the 1990s. The protection of minorities is crucial to Serbia's EU aspirations. Chaos on the streets will anger a government determined to move on from a troubled past.

 The Terazije boulevard was littered with rocks and debris by the time the rioting was quelled. Several cars were overturned and had been set on fire.

 Democratic Party spokesperson Jelana Trivan said the violence had nothing to do with moral values.

 "These are hooligan gangs which must be punished severely," Ms Trivan said.

 The mayor of Belgrade, Dragan Djilas, said the rioters had used Gay Pride as an excuse for a brawl.

 "What's going on now has nothing to do with the Pride parade. Unfortunately there are always people who will use every opportunity to destroy their own city. Fortunately no lives were lost - this is the most important thing."

 Marchers also bemoaned the continued evidence of agressive homophobia among some sections of Serbian society.

 "It is a shame for me to march, to stand for what I am, and to have thousands of cops protect me from hysteric [sic] nationalists," lesbian activist Milena, 36, told Reuters.

 A gay pride march planned last year was cancelled amid fears of violence.

 On Saturday, several thousand people had protested against the march. Right-wing groups say that homosexuality is contrary to Serbian religious and family values.

 The Serbian Orthodox Church condemned the parade on Friday but also warned against violence against participants.

 The BBC's Mark Lowen says homosexuality is still largely a taboo in Serbia, a conservative and religious nation.

 This year's event was being seen as a test of how far the country has come from the ultra-nationalism and violence of the 1990s and on its path to EU membership.

Summary: – Serbia's first Gay Pride parade in nearly a decade was disrupted yesterday by anti-gay riots that left 100 people injured and saw another 100 arrested. The rioters threw petrol bombs and stones at the police during the march in Belgrade, and the office of the ruling Democratic Party was briefly on fire, reports the BBC. Extreme nationalist groups are believed to be responsible; shouts of “Death to homosexuals!” and “Go to Kosovo!” were heard, notes the Economist.