BALTIMORE (AP) — A woman was found pushing her dead 3-year-old son in a park swing Friday, and authorities say she may have been there for hours, or even since the day before.

 There were no obvious signs of foul play, but it has not been ruled out, said Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman with the Charles County Sheriff's Office.

 Richardson said authorities are trying to trace the 24-year-old woman's movements over the past several days "to find out what was going on in her life, what led to this moment."

 Sheriff's deputies went to the park in La Plata, Maryland, about 7 a.m. after being called to check on the welfare of the woman and child, Richardson said. The officers went to remove the boy from the swing and give him first aid, but "it was instantaneously clear the child was dead," she said. There were no signs of trauma to his body.

 Deputies cut the chain on the swing's seat and removed the body, which was taken to the Officer of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore. A spokesman for the medical examiner said he couldn't provide any information.

 The woman, whom police did not identify, was able to answer some of the deputies' questions before being taken to a local hospital for a medical evaluation, Richardson said.

 She listed several addresses, including one in Washington and another in Charles County, where La Plata is located, Richardson said. She said the woman also had stayed with a relative in the county.

 La Plata is about 30 miles southeast of Washington, with a population of about 8,700, according to the town's website.

 "It's a very sad and tragic situation for the mother, her family, the officers," Richardson said. "All of us want answers. We're working very hard on that." ||||| When Charles County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call about a woman pushing a child in a playground swing for an unusually long time, they made a heartbreaking discovery. News4's Derrick Ward reports. (Published Friday, May 22, 2015)

 A toddler was found dead on a playground swing in Charles County, Maryland, Friday morning with his mother still pushing him.

 "A citizen called and said they'd noticed a woman pushing a child in a swing for an unusually long period of time," said Diane Richardson with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.

 Deputies went to Wills Memorial Park about 7 a.m., and as they got close they noticed the 3-year-old boy in the swing was lifeless. They cut the swing down to administer first aid to the child, but it was too late.

 "They were able to get the child out of the swing, but there was really nothing they could do," Richardson said.

 Top News Photos of the Week

 The boy was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy.

 The child's 24-year-old mother was taken to a hospital. No one in the neighborhood knew who she was or where she'd come from with the child.

 The sheriff’s office knows the identity of the mother and child and is trying to find the father.

 Copyright Associated Press / NBC4 Washington ||||| Mom found pushing three-year-old son in La Plata park. (Photo: WUSA9)

 LA PLATA, Md. (WUSA9) -- A Maryland mother was found pushing her dead three-year-old child in a swing at a park Friday morning, according to the Charles County Sheriff's Office.

 Officers responded to Wills Memorial Park located at 500 St. Mary's Avenue around 6:55 a.m. for the report of a woman who had been pushing a child in a swing for an unusually long period of time.

 The 24-year-old mother and her son may have been at the park since the day before, officials said. When officers got to the park, they found the woman pushing the three-year-old in a swing at the playground. Officers noticed right away that the boy was dead.

 There were no signs of trauma, officials said. The child was taken to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore where an autopsy will be done in order to determine the cause of death.

 The mother remains in the hospital for a medical evaluation, officials said Saturday. The investigation is ongoing.

 Anyone with additional information is asked to call Det. C. Shankster at (301) 609-6513.

 OTHER NEWS:

 Police: Woman killed prior to Oxon Hill apartment fire

 Man killed inside Salisbury home

 Death of 3-year-old Vienna boy under investigation

 Read or Share this story: http://on.wusa9.com/1Sp22oC

Summary: – In a tragic and bizarre case, authorities yesterday found a woman pushing her dead son in a park's swing, the AP reports. She may have been at the Maryland park for hours or even overnight, they say. The story began with a call to sheriff's deputies regarding the well-being of the child and mother, according to Charles County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Diane Richardson. "A citizen called and said they'd noticed a woman pushing a child in a swing for an unusually long period of time," she tells NBC Washington. Sheriff's deputies found the 24-year-old woman at about 7am at Wills Memorial Park in La Plata, Md., WUSA9 reports, roughly 30 miles from Washington. Deputies cut the swing's chain and pulled the boy out, but "it was instantaneously clear the child was dead," says Richardson. No trauma was seen on the boy's body, she adds, but foul play is still a possibility. The woman, who remains unidentified, answered questions before being taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. She also gave authorities a few addresses, including at least two of her own in the area and one where she had stayed with a relative. Now authorities are trying to track her activities over recent days. "It's a very sad and tragic situation for the mother, her family, the officers," says Richardson. "All of us want answers. We're working very hard on that."


Even though I have not done anything wrong, it is clear to me that I need to move on, Parmley wrote in his resignation letter. I refuse to be a distraction.

 Jay Parmley, who served less than a year at the helm of the party, denied harassing any employee and blamed right-wing political enemies for spreading a false and misleading story.

 RALEIGH -- The executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party resigned Sunday as questions mounted about a secret agreement to pay a former staffer to keep quiet about sexual harassment allegations.

 But his quick departure  just two days after the matter surfaced  did little to answer questions about the settlement or quiet critics of party Chairman David Parker. A number of party activists, openly and privately, are calling for him to resign, too.

 In a statement, Parker said he accepted Parmleys resignation and defended his decision not to fire him, saying there have not been grounds for termination for cause.

 In this political world of rushing to judgment and the presumption of guilt, however, my legal and personal opinion has been outweighed by this having become a political distraction and issue, said Parker, a Statesville attorney.

 Watt Jones, a member of the state partys executive committee, said Parmley made the right decision for the party. Clearly I think there are others who should resign, too, Jones said.

 Democratic consultant Perry Woods of Raleigh agreed. I think Jay did the right thing, he said. David Parker should join him.

 Rumors of a harassment issue have circulated for months, but the matter was pushed into the public spotlight by internal party emails obtained on Friday by The News & Observer. The emails included questions about a financial settlement and nondisclosure agreement with the former staffer. The documents did not identify the party official responsible nor the former staffer.

 Parkers statement did not mention any settlement or agreement with the former staffer who was fired in November. Parker declined to comment further, citing advice of legal counsel, but he defended Parmleys tenure as a party leader in South Carolina and Oklahoma earlier in his career. There have never been any complaints or allegations concerning Jay Parmley before or since the matter, Parker concluded.

 North Carolina is a battleground state in the presidential race and host of the Democratic convention, and activists suggested that continued negative publicity involving party leaders could taint the state partys efforts in the 2012 election.

 State Rep. Bill Faison, a candidate for governor who challenged Parker for the party chairmanship in 2011, said in a statement Sunday that Parker should resign on behalf of the 2.7 million Democrats in North Carolina so that we can get on with the primary election without further distraction.

 The partys turmoil made for tense conversations Saturday as local Democrats hosted dozens of county conventions across the state. At the Wake County event, Democratic activists introduced a resolution demanding Parker and Parmley resign or be fired. A similar resolution at the Durham County party convention called for a meeting to determine whether the party leaders should be removed.

 The Wake resolution introduced by Woods said the party must deal with sexual harassment claims in an open and transparent fashion.

 Muriel Offerman, treasurer of the state Democratic Party and a Parker ally, spoke against the resolution. This is a personnel matter within the party, she said in an interview afterward. Personnel matters are not to be discussed in public.

 Other Democrats echoed Offermans remarks, and Woods pulled the resolution before a vote took place.

 Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who is seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, suggested party officials should resign or be fired if the allegations are true. We cannot tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace, Dalton said Saturday at the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party convention. If theres any truth to the allegations, somebody should resign or be fired immediately.

 Another leading Democrat seeking his partys gubernatorial nomination, former U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, issued a statement Sunday that said: Mr. Parmley has done the right thing by resigning his position with party. I know that Chairman Parker will also do what is right. ||||| A former North Carolina Democratic Party staffer was sexually harassed by a party official, made a financial settlement with the party and signed a non-disclosure agreement to keep the incident quiet, according to emails obtained by The Daily Caller.

 “If this hits the media, the Democratic Party, our candidates, and our credibility are doomed in this election,” reads one email exchange between state Democratic leaders.

 (UPDATE: Dem official named in same-sex harassment claim by male staffer)

 An email chain between those Democratic leaders, obtained by The Daily Caller, indicates the executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, Jay Parmley, and the alleged sexual harassment victim both signed non-disclosure agreements.

 The email chain does not make clear who was guilty of the alleged harassment, the status of that individual’s employment with the Democratic Party or the identity of the victim.

 State Democratic Party spokesman Walton Robinson did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment on the matter.

 President Obama’s re-election team views North Carolina as an important state in the president’s campaign and Charlotte, N.C. is the site of this year’s Democratic National Convention.

 In the email chain, North Carolina Democratic statehouse candidate Watt Jones complained about the lack of what he considers competent staffers in the state party.

 Though North Carolina Democratic Party chairman David Parker claimed in one email that a supposed ongoing staff exodus was due to staffers leaving for “greener pastures” during the campaign season, Jones rebutted that assertion.

 “In regards to the personnel issues, certain staff leaving for ‘greener grass’ is not the issue,” Jones wrote to Parker. “In fact, some of those staffers who have recently left have also privately spoke of frustration at things occurring within Goodwin House [the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters].”

 Jones said that those “personnel issues coming from Goodwin House are now related to allegations of ‘harassment,’ sexual or otherwise, involving staff.”

 He went on to explain how the alleged sexual harassment going on within the Democratic Party’s North Carolina headquarters could be detrimental to the party and may even directly contradict the Democrats’ own immediate agenda.

 “Even with an agreed non-disclosure statement and financial settlement, that appears to be short-lived,” Jones wrote. “It’s making its rounds all over the state and beyond. Is the person responsible still employed? Many questions are unanswered. With a Democratic Party which is suppose [sic] to be fighting to defeat Amendment One [which describes marriage as between one man and one woman] on the May 8 ballot, yet we have this in Goodwin House? How does that look?”

 The question of appearances by Jones may imply that the harassment was same-sex in nature, which might complicate Democratic messaging in the party’s efforts to defeat the anti-gay-marriage amendment.

 “Rest assured there is a statewide gathering (I am told) that are upset over this and want people held accountable,” Jones continued. “In all honesty, I am being told by several reliable sources that the Associated Press is itching to get this out. Thankfully, some are trying to stop it. Do we want the Republicans to get this information? They are also asking questions.”

 Jones added that he expects that the “Democratic Party, our Candidates, and our credibility are doomed in this election,” if the alleged sexual harassment story is made public.

 Follow Matthew on Twitter

 See the emails:

 North Carolina Democrats’ Emails

Summary: – North Carolina's Democratic Party is in turmoil after allegations of sexual harassment and a cover-up, the News & Observer reports. Executive Director Jay Parmley has resigned amid calls for both him and Party Chairman David Parker to step down. "Even though I have not done anything wrong, it is clear to me that I need to move on," Parmley wrote in a resignation letter. According to the Daily Caller, both Parmley and the alleged victim had signed non-disclosure agreements, although the emails obtained by the site don't make the identities of the victim or the alleged harasser clear. The party is accused of paying off the alleged victim, a former staffer who was fired after complaining about harassment by a senior party official earlier this year, and of having him sign the form in order to keep him quiet. Parmley and Parker, who accepted Parmley's resignation but did not step down himself, blamed politics for inflating the issue, but some Democratic activists and party officials still called for Parker to resign as well. The party "must deal with sexual harassment claims in an open and transparent fashion," says one consultant in a resolution, "and event a hint or perception of a cover-up is damaging to the party's credibility."


AMY WINEHOUSE may have beaten her drug addiction but it's left her wide open for another obsession - surgery.

 The troubled star is so pleased with her new ï¿½35,000 boobs, enhanced from a 32B to a 32D just last month, she is thinking of having them enlarged again.

 And Wino has told pals she is also considering BUM implants.

 A source said: "Amy loves her boobs. She can't stop touching them and showing them off to friends.

 "She says she feels womanly again and wants to be more curvy like she used to be.

 "She thinks by having another op and bum implants that she will achieve her dream pin-up look."

 Isn't that how she used to look before she hit the drugs?

 Even her dad MITCH has said how good her new pair are.

 But I bet he won't support her going under the knife again.

 The odd op is OK but just look at past and present stars hooked on plastic such as JORDAN and MICHAEL JACKSON...

 For Wino it must be like ordering a McDonalds - "It's Amy, and I'd like to go super size please." ||||| We were wondering where Amy Winehouse had got to recently, and now we know.

 It seems she has a new addiction... to table tennis.

 Advertisement - article continues below »

 The diva has bought a table for her Barnet home and is throwing ping pong parties.

 A source said: "She barely leaves the house."

 Rock 'n' roll.

 Win a Louis Vuitton luggage set with Mirror.co.uk

Summary: – Amy Winehouse has a new addiction. What vice is it this time: Cocaine? Her ex-husband? Nope. It’s her new ping-pong table. “She barely leaves the house,” a source tells the Mirror. In equally ridiculous Winehouse news, the recently-breast-enhanced singer is now pining for bigger boobs—and considering a butt job. “She thinks by having another op and bum implants that she will achieve her dream pin-up look,” a source tells the Sun.


This undated photo provided by Vanderbilt University shows Brandon Banks, 19, of Brandywine, Md. (Photo: AP) Story Highlights Brandon Banks surrendered to authorities

 Banks was the only player remaining at large in the case

 Banks was charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Brandon Banks, one of the four former Vanderbilt University football players who were charged with rape on Friday, has surrendered to Metro Police.

 He will be taken to General Hospital for the mandatory HIV test and then to jail.

 Banks, 19 from Maryland, was the only player remaining at large in the case.

 EARLIER: Four indicted in rape case

 Brandon Vandenburg, 20, from California; JaBorian "Tip" McKenzie, 18, from Mississippi; and Cory Batey, 19, of Nashville also have been arrested.

 The four men were charged on Friday with five counts each of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery. Vandenburg was also charged with one count of unlawful photography and tampering with evidence.

 McKenzie, 19, surrendered at police headquarters Saturday morning. He was also taken to General Hospital for the mandatory HIV test. He was released from Metro Jail around 1 p.m. after posting a $50,000 bond, according to a dispatcher with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office.

 Vandenburg and Batey remain in Metro Jail in lieu of $350,000 bond following their arrests, according to Metro spokeman Don Aaron.

 Jessica Bliss writes for The Tennessean, a Gannett property. ||||| Three of the four former Vanderbilt football players who were indicted for allegedly raping an unconscious 21-year-old student in a dorm room on the Nashville, Tenn., campus have been arrested, authorities said.

 Brandon Vandenburg, 20, of Indio, Calif.; Cory Batey, 19, of Nashville; Brandon Banks, 19, of Brandywine, Md.; and Jaborian McKenzie, 19, of Woodville, Miss., were each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery on Friday, according to the a Nashville Police Department.

 The four men are charged with raping an unconscious victim inside Vandenburg's Gillette House dorm room on June 23, police said.

 Vandenburg was also charged with tampering with evidence and unlawful photography.

 The incident was brought to university officials' attention after they checked the dorm's surveillance recordings regarding an unrelated matter. The footage revealed "concerning behavior by the defendants," police said.

 The four former football players were dismissed from the team on June 29 and banned from campus pending a six-week investigation,The Associated Press reported.

 Both Vandenburg and McKenzie were booked into the Davidson County Sheriff's Office on Saturday.

 Vandenburg was taken into custody at the Nashville International Airport upon his arrival into the city on Saturday, according to a police statement. He was first taken to Nashville General Hospital for a state-mandated HIV test required for individuals charged with rape before he was booked at approximately 2:05 a.m. The former Commodores tight end is being held on $350,000 bail.

 McKenzie turned himself in at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. He was also taken to the hospital for a mandatory HIV test before he was taken into custody, the news release said.

 The former receiver was released after posting $50,000 bond, according to jail records.

 Batey, a former safety on the team, was arrested at his Nashville home on Friday around 3:30 p.m., taken for a blood test, and then booked into Davidson County Sheriff's Office on a $350,000 bond.

 Banks, who played defensive back, is still at large, police said.

 "Although four people are being charged at this time, the investigation is still on-going into the actions of other individuals and the role(s) they may have played in this incident," District Attorney General Torry Johnson said in a prepared statement.

 Five additional current players on the football team are listed in the indictment as witnesses for the prosecution if the case goes to trial, the AP reported.

 Vanderbilt University's vice chancellor Beth Fortune said the school was "shocked and saddened by the allegations that such an assault has taken place on our campus and that they include members of our football team."

 "The charges brought today against the four former Vanderbilt football players allege conduct which is abhorrent and will never be tolerated," Fortune said in a statement released today. "We will review our athletics program to be sure that it, like all other programs at the university, reflects our culture of community and respect for others and that our student athletes are held to the same high standards of conduct as all our students."

Summary: – Four recently-dismissed members of the Vanderbilt University football team were arrested over the weekend in the alleged rape of an unconscious 21-year-old student in her dorm room. The rape allegedly occurred on June 23. University officials discovered the incident while checking dorm surveillance footage for an unrelated matter. Brandon Vandenburg, JaBorian McKenzie, Cory Batey, and Brandon Banks were all kicked off the football team on June 29 and banned from campus pending an investigation, ABC News reports. The four were all indicted on Friday with five counts of aggravated rape, and two counts of aggravated sexual battery, with Vandenburg also accused of tampering with evidence and unlawful photography. Vandenburg was arrested on Saturday when his plane arrived at Nashville International Airport, and Batey was arrested at his Nashville home, while McKenzie and Banks turned themselves in. McKenzie has since been released on a $50,000 bond, while Vandenburg and Batey remain in jail in lieu of $350,000 bond, USA Today reports.


The so-called "affluenza" teen wants another break.

 The Texas teenager who killed four people in a 2013 drunken-driving wreck is asking the state's Supreme Court to throw out his current two-year jail sentence.

 Ethan Couch was initially sentenced to 10-years probation after successfully arguing that his spoiled childhood was to blame for the accident. However, he later violated his probation by drinking and partying, and fled to Mexico.

 Couch was later apprehended and last year was given the two-year sentence, 180 days for each victim.

 Father of 'affluenza teen' avoids jail time for impersonating cop

 "Affluenza" teen Ethan Couch is serving a two-year jail sentence. (POOL/POOL)

 His lawyers argue that the judge only had jurisdiction over criminal cases and that juvenile matters are civil.

 Ethan Couch's lawyers also tried for the teen's release last year, but was rejected by a judge. At the time, they asked for the removal of District Judge Wayne Salvant from the case.

 The teen, who was 16 at the time, crashed his pickup truck into a crowd of people on June 15, 2013. The group was trying to help another driver.

 The teen killed four people in a drunken-driving wreck in 2013. (Tarrant County Sheriff's Office)

 His lawyers said that he was not responsible because he was coddled as a child by his wealthy parents, and initially avoided jail time.

 'Affluenza' teen's request to get judge removed is denied

 Couch would skip parole meetings and bolted to Mexico with his mother. Tonya Couch could face up to 10 years in prison for helping her son elude law enforcement officials.

 Just a few months ago Ethan Couch's father Fred avoided jail time for impersonating a Texas police officer in 2014.

 With News Wire Services

 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| facebook twitter email Share More Videos 1:06 Peaches ripe for the pickin' Pause 0:31 Tarrant County's 10 Most Wanted Criminals, July 5 2:31 Fallen Dallas officers remembered at memorial dedication 6:29 'Our world has been turned upside down' 2:21 Emergency team jumps into action to rescue stranded teen 6:00 Swift water rescue team pulls teen from creek in North Richland Hills 0:33 Video: North Fort Worth neighborhood floods 0:36 Several hundred pounds of fireworks confiscated in Fort Worth 1:41 Firsthand tour of Las Vegas Trail 1:39 Possum Kingdom Lake recovers from wildfires and drought Share Video Video link: Select Embed code: Select

 facebook

 facebook twitter

 twitter email Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced the 'affluenza' teen to nearly two years in jail on concurrent terms on Wednesday in a Fort Worth courtroom. Pool video

 Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced the 'affluenza' teen to nearly two years in jail on concurrent terms on Wednesday in a Fort Worth courtroom. Pool video ||||| Lawyers for a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving crash have turned to the Texas Supreme Court in an effort to secure his release from jail.

 The motion filed Friday on behalf of 19-year-old Ethan Couch argues that a judge had no authority to sentence Couch to nearly two years in jail after his case was moved from juvenile to adult court.

 Couch's attorneys argue that the judge only had jurisdiction over criminal cases and that juvenile matters are civil.

 Couch was given 10 years' probation after killing four people in a 2013 crash. He later violated his probation.

 RAW VIDEO: Judge's Ruling in Couch Hearing

 During his first appearance in adult court Wednesday, a North Texas teen who used an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken driving crash was ordered to spend nearly two years behind bars as part of his probation. (Published Wednesday, April 13, 2016)

 A defense expert invoked the term "affluenza" in arguing during the sentencing phase of the teenager's trial that he was coddled into a sense of irresponsibility.

 Copyright Associated Press

Summary: – Lawyers for Ethan Couch are asking the Texas state Supreme Court to release the "affluenza teen" from jail, NBC DFW reports. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a judge sentenced Couch to 720 days in jail last April after he skipped a probation check-in and ran to Mexico with his mother. The pair went on the lam following the release of a video that apparently showed Couch partying in violation of his parole. Lawyers for Couch say the judge didn't have the authority to sentence Couch to jail time because the judge only has purview over criminal cases. They say Couch's is a civil case because it originated in juvenile court, the New York Daily News reports. Couch's case was transferred to adult court when he turned 19. Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation in 2013 when he crashed his pickup truck into a group of people helping a disabled vehicle. Couch was drunk at the time, and four of the people died. A psychologist defending Couch said the teen never learned the difference between right and wrong and was suffering from "affluenza" thanks to his rich upbringing. Couch's lawyers filed the motion to release him from jail last Friday. The motion has already been denied twice in lower courts.


Crops are wilting, schools have shut their bathrooms and government officials are bathing in lagoons because of a severe shortage of fresh water in a swath of the South Pacific.

 The island groups of Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared emergencies, relying on bottled water and seeking more desalination machines. Parts of Samoa are starting to ration water.

 Supplies are precariously low after a severe lack of rain in a region where underground reserves have been fouled by saltwater from rising seas that scientists have linked to climate change.

 While nobody has gone thirsty yet, officials worry about the logistics of supplying everyone with enough water to survive and the potential health problems that might arise. And exactly how the islands will cope in the long term remains a question mark.

 "We are praying that things will change," Samoan-based official Jovilisi Suveinakama said.

 Six months of low rainfall have dried out the islands. Climate scientists say it's part of a cyclical Pacific weather pattern known as La Nina _ and they predict the coming months will bring no relief, with the pattern expected to continue.

 Rising sea levels are exacerbating the problem, as salt water seeps into underground supplies of fresh water that are drawn to the surface through wells.

 On the three main atolls that make up isolated Tokelau, the 1,400 residents ran out of fresh water altogether last week and are relying on a seven-day supply of bottled water that was sent Saturday from Samoa, Suveinakama said.

 Suveinakama said that some schools no longer have drinking water available, and that the students often need to return home if they want to use a bathroom.

 "In terms of domestic chores, like washing clothes, everything's been put on hold," he said. "We are cautious of the situation given the possible health issues."

 Suveinakama said that Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand, has tapped emergency funds to buy desalination machines, which turn salt water into fresh water. He hopes those will be shipped to the islands soon.

 In Tuvalu, a nation of low lying atolls that is home to less than 11,000 people, Red Cross team leader Dean Manderson described the situation as "quite dire."

 He said that on the island of Nukulaelae, there were only 16 gallons of fresh water remaining Tuesday for the 350 residents and that the Red Cross was sending over two small desalination machines.

 He said much of the well water on Tuvalu is unusable because it has become contaminated with salt water.

 The New Zealand government this week flew a defense force C-130 plane to Tuvalu stocked with Red Cross supplies of bottled water and desalination machines. Officials including High Commissioner Gareth Smith also flew over to assess the situation.

 Smith said the coconut trees on Tuvalu are looking sickly and that the edible breadfruit, which grow in trees, are much smaller than usual. He said other local fruits and vegetables, including a type of giant taro, are not growing well or are in short supply.

 He said people in the capital of Funafuti are permitted a ration of two buckets of water per day and that government ministers have been bathing in the lagoon to preserve water.

 Funafuti residents have been relying on a large desalination machine for much of their daily water supply, said Manderson. The Red Cross has been helping improve the function of that machine and has been fixing other such machines that have broken down, he added.

 New Zealand climate scientist James Renwick said the rainfall problems can be traced back 12 months, when the region began experiencing one of the strongest La Nina systems on record.

 La Nina is sparked when larger-than-normal differences in water temperature across the Pacific Ocean cause the east-blowing trade winds to increase in strength, Renwick said. That, in turn, pushes rainfall to the west, leaving places like Tuvalu and Tokelau dry.

 Last year's La Nina system dwindled by June but has begun picking up again just ahead of the November rainy season, Renwick said, meaning that there is no relief in sight for island groups like Tuvalu, Tokelau and Samoa.

 "Low rainfall continues to be on the cards, at least through the end of the year," Renwick said.

 Officials say they are concentrating on the short-term supply problems and have not yet had time to think about longer term solutions for the islands. But they say that the combination of rising water levels and low rainfall mean makes life on the islands look increasingly precarious. ||||| Image caption Water supplies will have to be brought to Tokelau by barge from ships anchored offshore

 A second South Pacific community is suffering a severe water shortage due to an ongoing drought crisis.

 Tokelau declared a state of emergency late on Monday, following a similar move in neighbouring Tuvalu, where water is already being rationed.

 A New Zealand-administered territory of three islands, Tokelau's 1,400 people have less than a week's drinking water left.

 The lack of rainfall is blamed on the La Nina weather pattern.

 Officials said Tokelau had run out of natural fresh water and was relying solely on bottled water.

 New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said other islands in the South Pacific were also reporting water shortages.

 Parts of Samoa have begun rationing water.

 He said New Zealand was rushing to assess the situation throughout the region, amid fears the crisis could escalate.

 This is having a severe impact on crops, so there's likely to be a food shortage as well Murray McCully, NZ Foreign Minister

 New Zealand was "making sure we deal with the drinking water issue most urgently", he said.

 A New Zealand Air Force plane landed in Tuvalu on Monday carrying containers of water and desalination units.

 Tuvalu, one of the world's smallest independent nations, with a population of about 11,000, lies about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Tokelau is about 500km (310 miles) to the east.

 Impact on crops

 Mr McCully said the situation was urgent in parts of Tuvalu.

 He said there was less than a week's supply of drinking water on Funafuti, the main island of Tuvalu.

 "I understand one of the other outlying islands, Nukulaelae, has a more urgent shortage and there is a desalination plant on the way there," Mr McCully said.

 "There are going to be some flow-on effects here, clearly this is having a severe impact on crops, so there's likely to be a food shortage as well."

 La Nina causes extreme weather, including both drought and floods, and was blamed for floods in Australia, South East Asia and South America in late 2010 and early 2011.

 David Hebblethwaite, a water conservation expert with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, said Tuvalu had experienced low rainfall for the past three years and there had been no precipitation at all for seven months.

 He said Funafuti and Nukulaelae both lacked groundwater supplies, making them dependent on rainfall collected from the roofs of homes and government buildings.

 Mr Hebblethwaite said the islands may also need extra medical supplies if water shortages lead to sanitation issues and consequent health problems.

Summary: – Some island groups in the South Pacific, already in danger of being swamped by rising seas, have run out of fresh water. Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared states of emergency because of the water crisis, caused by six months of low or no rainfall and by groundwater becoming contaminated with seawater, the BBC reports. New Zealand's air force has rushed bottled water and desalination machines to the areas most in need. In Tuvalu, a nation of atolls that is home to around 11,000 people, the situation is "quite dire," a Red Cross team leader says. The crisis is spreading, with Samoa now rationing water, and experts believe that because of La Niña, the region won't see any rainfall until at least until the end of the year. The water crisis is expected to trickle down into food shortages, and sanitation and public health problems, the AP reports, and officials say the future of the island nations is looking increasingly uncertain.


You may have arrived at this page because you followed a link to one of our old platforms that cannot be redirected.

 Cambridge Core is the new academic platform from Cambridge University Press, replacing our previous platforms; Cambridge Journals Online (CJO), Cambridge Books Online (CBO), University Publishing Online (UPO), Cambridge Histories Online (CHO), Cambridge Companions Online (CCO), and Shakespeare Survey Online (SSO) which no longer exist.

 All content from these platforms is now available on Cambridge Core.

 In order to find the content you are looking for, use the search box at the top right of the page to search Cambridge Core or follow the links below to our key product areas.

 Useful links

 Collections & Series

 Journals

 Books

 eBook content from our publishing partners (previously published on UPO)

 Open access ||||| This teenage girl was buried in a Polish cemetery with a sickle over her neck, possibly to ward off demons. She was also buried with a copper headband and a copper coin, archaeologists found.

 How do you keep a demon from disturbing the living? A blade to the throat should do the trick.

 A few skeletons unearthed in a 400-year-old Polish cemetery have been discovered with sickles placed around their necks. Archaeologists believe this strange burial practice is evidence of a belief in magic and a fear of demons.

 The sickle burials were found at Drawsko cemetery, a site in northeastern Poland that dates from the 17th to the 18th centuries. Archaeologists, including Marek Polcyn, a visiting scholar at Lakehead University in Canada, have excavated more than 250 graves there since 2008.

 Among those graves were four skeletons with sickles placed at their throats, and a fifth skeleton with a sickle placed over its hips. Previously, these burials had been described as "vampire" burials, with the sickles interpreted as a way to prevent the dead from reanimating and terrorizing the living. But in a new study detailed in the journal Antiquity, Polcyn and co-author Elzbieta Gajda, of the Muzeum Ziemi Czarnkowskiej, now reject that characterization. ("We deliberately dismiss the interpretation of a revenant (i.e. vampire)," isn't something you read in an academic paper every day.) [See Photos of the Sickle Burials at Drawsko Cemetery]

 Instead, the archaeologists prefer to use the blanket term "anti-demonic" to talk about these burials, partly because vampires weren't the only kinds of evil incarnations of the dead, according to traditional folk beliefs in the region. But also, the sickle graves were afforded funerary privileges that weren't usually extended to "vampires" buried elsewhere: They were given Christian burials in sacred ground alongside other members of the community, and their corpses do not appear to have been desecrated or mutilated.

 In another sign that the people buried with sickles probably were not outsiders, scientists who studied chemical signatures locked in the teeth of these corpses found that all five individuals were locals. (They published those results in a paper in PLOS ONE last year.)

 "The magical and ritual meaning of this gesture seems beyond doubt," Polcyn and Gajda wrote, adding, however, that the sickle might have had more than one ritualistic meaning. The tool may have been intended to keep the dead in their graves under the threat of cutting their throat, but it also might have been used to prevent evil forces from tormenting their souls. What's more, the use of a tool made of iron, which had to undergo a transformation in fire, could symbolize the passage from life to death, the authors wrote. [7 Strange Ways Humans Act Like Vampires]

 Even though Christianity was the dominant religion in Poland at the time this cemetery was used, traditions from old Slavic pagan faith and folk belief systems still existed, including a belief in demons. Besides the sickles, there is not much that makes these graves unique, so the scientists aren't sure exactly what about these people made them demonic. They may have been thought to have supernatural powers in life, or they might have had physical characteristics considered suspicious (which might have included "an exceptionally hairy body," a unibrow, a large head and a red complexion, the authors said, citing traditional Polish folklore).

 These people also might have died in a traumatic fashion, without any time for the appropriate rites and rituals to make for a smooth spiritual transition into death — a concept some archaeologists call a "bad death." While some of the people buried with sickles may have simply died of old age, one of them, a girl, died as a teenager. The authors speculated that she might have met a violent and untimely end, perhaps through drowning, suicide or murder. Unfortunately for archaeologists, however, this death didn't leave its mark on the girl's bones.

 Polcyn and Gajda wrote that they hope further scientific tests on the corpses, such as biomolecular analyses, will help them understand more specifically what led the dead in Drawsko to be buried with sickles.

 Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| This amber and a gold earring from burial of a lady close to Stonehenge shows the detailed decoration on other Bronze Age artifacts from the time of Stonehenge. MORE: Stonehenge Intricate Treasures Made by Children

 Although the purpose of the gold lozenge remains a mystery — interpretations have ranged from an elaborate button to an astronomical instrument -- its precise decorations, made of impressed lines, reveals a detailed knowledge of mathematics and geometry.

 On the chest of the Bush Barrow tribal chief there was a beautifully decorated gold lozenge. It was made of sheet gold with finely incised decoration.

 Some of the thousands of studs from the dagger. Each stud is thinner than a human hair. They were set into the wood at a density of over 1,000 per square centimeter to create a zig-zag pattern.

 Produced nearly 4,000 years ago, more than 1,000 years before the invention of any form of magnifying glass, the dagger was decorated with 140,000 tiny studs. The ultra-fine craftwork entailed extremely tiny components such as microscopic gold pins and gold wires. According to optic experts, only children and teenagers, and those adults who had become myopic naturally or due to the nature of their work as children, would have been able to create and manufacture such tiny objects. The eye-stressing work would have blinded most child workers. The image shows how the studs are placed in straight lines and the heads overlap each other like fish scales.

 This watercolor shows the dagger handle as excavated by William Cunnington in 1808.

 Among the buried objects, one of the finest was a dagger with an intricately decorated wooden handle. Today only fragments of the original handle survive. Here fragments of the 4,000-year-old wooden handle is mounted on a modern wood reconstruction.

 Reconstruction of the burial of the Bush Barrow mound. The burial contained the skeleton of a chieftain who lived almost 4,000 years ago. He was laid to rest in regal splendor with objects known today as the Stonehenge treasure. NEWS: Stonehenge Intricate Treasures Made by Children

 Evidence of “anti-demonic” funerary practices, with sickles placed around the throats of the deceased possibly to ward off demons, has been found in a 400-year-old cemetery in Poland.

 Researchers examined more than 250 human skeletons which were excavated since 2008 from a post Medieval cemetery in Drawsko, a rural settlement site in northwestern Poland.

 Dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, the remains represented individuals of all ages and both sexes and included five unique interments with sickles.

 Photos: Intricate Treasures From Stonehenge Burial

 Play Video Ancient Lost Army Found? The Persian army of 50,000 soldiers supposedly perished in a sandstorm in ancient Egypt 2500 years ago. Researchers have located a valley of bones they think may belong to the fabled army. DCI

 “In four of these burials the sickles were placed on the bodies of the dead with the cutting edge tightly against the throat, while the fifth was located on the pelvis,” Marek Polcyn, a visiting scholar at Lakehead University in Canada, and Elzbieta Gajda, of the Muzeum Ziemi Czarnkowskiej, wrote in the current issue of the journal Antiquity.

 The skeletons with the sickles around the throat were those of an adult male who died between 35–44 years of age, two adult females who died around 30–39 years of age, and an adolescent female who at around 14–19 years old.

 There was also an adult female aged 50–60 years interred with a large, arch-curved sickle placed across her hips. A stone was placed directly on top of the throat, while a coin was found in her toothless mouth.

 Ice Age Infant Skeletons Hint at Burial Rites

 Previously, it was suggested these people were buried as “vampires.” In this view, the sickle placed across the throat was intended to remove the head, should the vampire attempt to rise from the grave.

 But Polcyn and Gajda argue these burials should be rather interpreted as “anti-demonic.” They noted the sickle burials have none of the characteristics of so-called anti-vampiric practices.

 They were interred in sacred ground following conventional Christian burial patterns, with the head placed towards the west, and their graves did not appear to have been desecrated.

 Ancient Priest's Tomb Painting Discovered Near Great Pyramid

 “Confining the deceased in the grave by means of a sickle may have been a measure to prevent the demonized soul threatening the living, or could have been a reference to biblical symbolism in an attempt to prevent the soul from becoming demonized,” Polcyn and Gajda wrote.

 Vampires were not the only mythical creatures feared in Poland in the 17th century. As wars, hunger, pestilence, and poverty devastated the country, Slavic pagan faiths resurrected.

 “The development of the Counter-Reformation was a significant turning point as it brought cultural and intellectual regression, religious fanaticism and a growing climate of terror, deliberately stoked by Catholic clergy spreading fear of the devil and witchcraft,” the researchers wrote.

Summary: – Want to keep a demon-skeleton from haunting your rural settlement? Just bury it with a sickle at its throat. That's what researchers are saying about four skeletons from the 17th and 18th centuries found buried with iron sickles around their necks in a Polish cemetery, Discovery reports. Writing in Antiquity, Marek Polcyn and Elzbieta Gajda say the skeletons—two adult females, an adult male, and an adolescent female excavated with over 250 human remains starting in 2008—may have been feared as possible demons in Drawsko, northwestern Poland. The sickles "may have been a measure to prevent the demonized soul threatening the living, or could have been a reference to biblical symbolism in an attempt to prevent the soul from becoming demonized," the authors write. They dismiss the theory that the villagers feared vampirism, saying the burials were conventionally Christian, with heads pointing west, and the graves don't seem desecrated. Perhaps the burials followed the folk belief that a person with a "bad death" (like drowning, suicide, or death during childbirth) was prone to being inhabited by one of fourteen demons. Such beliefs persisted alongside Slavic pagan faith and Christianity in Poland at the time, Live Science reports. Interestingly, a fifth skeleton had the sickle around her hips, a stone at her neck, and a coin in her mouth. "Coins were placed in the mouth to favor the deceased's passage into the afterlife," one expert says. "The sickle and the stone would have prevent[ed] the dead from returning." (Read about self-identified vampires who have "a real fear.")


About 190 workers, mostly Somali, were let go after they left the meatpacking line to protest changes to prayer policy

 Somali immigrant Halimo Ahmed places her cut on the fastpaced belt during her shift in manufacturing at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan. ( Joe Amon, The Denver Post file )

 Cargill Meat Solutions said Thursday it tried to resolve a workplace prayer dispute with Somali workers at its Fort Morgan meatpacking plant that led to the firing of about 190 employees.

 The workers who lost their jobs were mostly immigrants from Somalia, and their termination came after they failed to report to work for three consecutive days last week to protest what they say were changes in times allowed for Muslim prayer.

 Workers including Somalis trim beef in manufacturing at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

 Cargill says, however, it makes every "reasonable attempt" to provide religious accommodation for all of its employees at the Fort Morgan plant without interrupting operations.

 "At no time did Cargill prevent people from prayer at Fort Morgan," said Michael Martin, a spokesman for the Wichita-based company, which is part of the agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. " Nor have we changed policies related to religious accommodation and attendance. This has been mischaracterized."

 Cargill also said while reasonable efforts are made to accommodate employees, accommodation is not guaranteed every day and depends on changing factors in the plant.

 Advertisement

 "This has been clearly communicated to all employees," Martin said.

 But the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is representing more than 100 of the fired employees, said Thursday that messaging from plant supervisors has not always been so clear.

 On Dec. 18, the Friday before employee protests began Dec. 21, "the workers were told: 'If you want to pray, go home,' " CAIR spokesman Jaylani Hussein said.

 "To these employees, that is what it is. Maybe Cargill never changed its policy, but to these employees, they feel whatever the policy is, or how it is implemented, there was a change put in place," Hussein said.

 Cargill provides a "reflection room" at the plant where observant Muslim workers are allowed to pray, something that has been available since 2009.

 Hussein said depending on the season, the workers pray at different times of the day, typically taking five to 10 minutes away from their work. The time was carved out of a 15-minute break period or from the workers' unpaid 30-minute lunch breaks.

 Many of the workers banded together and decided to walk off the job in an attempt to sway plant managers to reinstate the prayer policy.

 "They feel missing their prayer is worse than losing their job," Hussein said. "It's like losing a blessing from God."

 On Dec. 23, Cargill fired the holdouts who had not returned to work, citing a company policy that employees who do not show up for work or call in for three consecutive days will be let go.

 "It's an unfortunate situation that may be based somewhere in a misunderstanding," Martin said. "But the policies have been in place, and we go over the policies for all people who are newly hired to the company when they are hired."

 All of the terminated employees worked the second shift on the plant's fabrication floor, where chilled beef carcasses are broken down into smaller cuts and packaged, Martin said.

 Of those involved, "fewer than 20" employees walked out in the middle of a shift, he said. About 160 failed to report to work, and 10 resigned.

 Before the walkout, Cargill employed roughly 600 Somali workers at the Fort Morgan plant. More than 400 still work there, Martin said, and accommodations are still being made to allow Muslims to leave the floor in small groups to pray.

 "There has been a desire among some employees to go in larger groups of people to pray. We just can't accommodate that," Martin said. "It backs up the flow of all the production. We're a federally inspected, USDA inspected plant. We have to ensure food safety. We have to ensure the products we produce meet consumer expectations."

 The workers earn $14 per hour and up and are represented by a union, Teamsters Local 455. More than 2,000 people are employed at the plant.

 Cargill has a policy stating that any workers who are terminated cannot reapply for a position for six months. CAIR continues to talk with Cargill, and Hussein said he hopes the six-month freeze is waived and that the workers will be allowed back.

 "I'm confident in our upcoming negotiations that we can come to a resolution," Hussein said.

 Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or @emilierusch ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share Nearly 200 Muslim workers say they were fired from a Colorado meat packing plant after walking off the job during a dispute over workplace prayer.

 Some of the Somali workers from Cargill and their translator (Photo: Chris Hansen/9NEWS)

 DENVER — About 190 workers, most of them immigrants from Somalia, have been fired from a Colorado meat-packing plant after walking off the job during a dispute over workplace prayer.

 The workers walked off their jobs at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colo., last month.

 Jaylani Hussein with the Council on American-Islamic Relations says that depending on the season, the Muslim workers prayed at different times of the day.

 The workers say that earlier in December the plant's policy toward allowing them to pray on the job was changed, which made some of them unable to pray at all.

 Hussein says that on Tuesday, Minnesota-based Cargill fired most of the workers who walked out.

 "Prayer is the first priority to every Muslim. We can sustain without a job, but we cannot sustain without prayer," according to Khader Ducal, who is assisting the Somali workers file for unemployment.

 Cargill spoke to KUSA-TV to clarify their side of the story, saying their attendance and religious accommodation policy had not changed.

 "In the Fort Morgan plant, a reflection area for use by all employees to pray was established in April 2009 and is available during work shifts based on our ability to adequately staff a given work area," Cargill said in a statement.

 "While reasonable efforts are made to accommodate employees, accommodation is not guaranteed every day and is dependent on a number of factors that can, and do, change from day to day," the company said.

 The company maintains that the workers were fired due to a violation of company policy for not reporting to work for three consecutive days without calling to explain why.

 According to Cargill, the first shift at the Fort Morgan plant was fully staffed, but the second shift was short due to about 200 Somali employees not reporting to work.

 "Multiple attempts were made to discuss the situation with local Somali employees without a successful resoluting, including a Tuesday meeting at the plant management's request," the Cargill statement reads.

 Cargill spokesman Mike Martin said multiple attempts were made to communicate to employees who did not show up for work that their jobs were in jeopardy.

 According to the company, plant management and union representatives met with Somali leaders without resolution earlier this week.

 It was at that point and due to the work policy that Cargill decided to terminate about 190 people.

 Under federal law, employers must provide employees with reasonable accommodation for religious practice, as long as it doesn't create an undue hardship for the company. Legal experts say those terms are often hard to define and left up to the courts to decide.

 A spokesperson for the Council on American Islamic Relations said in a press conference Wednesday night that a possible deal is being brokered to allow the fired workers to reapply for their jobs sometime next week.

 Contributing: The Associated Press

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1R3itIk

Summary: – Nearly 200 Muslim workers—mostly Somali immigrants—were fired by a Colorado meat-packing plant last month for walking off the job over claims their employer was preventing them from praying, USA Today reports. "Prayer is the first priority to every Muslim," a man assisting the fired employees says. "We can sustain without a job, but we cannot sustain without prayer." A spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations tells the Denver Post Muslim employees were told Dec. 18, "If you want to pray, go home." In response, approximately 190 Muslim employees refused to work Dec. 21. According to USA Today, most of those employees were fired Dec. 23. A company policy states if employees are out for three days without "calling in," they can be fired, KUSA reports. Cargill Meat Solutions has a special area for employees to pray during the day, but it can only be used if they have enough staff to cover for the praying employees, KUSA reports. "While reasonable efforts are made to accommodate employees, accommodation is not guaranteed every day and is dependent on a number of factors that can, and do, change from day to day," according to a Cargill statement. The company says that policy hasn't changed. "It's an unfortunate situation that may be based somewhere in a misunderstanding," a Cargill spokesperson tells the Post. CAIR claims Cargill's prayer policies are not always clearly communicated to employees. The meat-packing plant still has more than 400 Somali employees, and the company is working with them on the prayer issue.


Jenn Gibbons, seen on the Chicago River in 2010, is more than halfway to her goal of raising $150,000 to help breast cancer survivors. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune / )

 Chicago rowing coach and charity founder Jenn Gibbons says she plans to continue her 1,500-mile rowing journey around the perimeter of Lake Michigan after surviving a sexual assault in her rowboat Sunday.

 "Quitting is an option," said Gibbons, who is rowing to raise awareness and money for breast cancer survivors. "I don't think people would think I let them down or I was a failure. But it's not what I want to do."

 Gibbons, 27, was in the cabin of Liv, her 700-pound rowboat, while it was tied to a dock around 4 a.m. Sunday in an area along Lake Michigan in Schoolcraft County, Mich. Details of the attack are being withheld because the investigation is ongoing

 Though shaken, Gibbons spent Tuesday working with detectives and reaching out to the news media to help find her attacker. Her primary concerns, she said, are starting the healing process and finishing what she has begun.

 "I've trained enough physically, spiritually and mentally," Gibbons said by phone. "Every single day I have had ups and downs. I'm constantly improvising. I've trained well. This just requires pushing through an obstacle that's bigger than the rest."

 About 8 a.m. Tuesday, Gibbons posted a statement on her Facebook page and on the site row4row.org vowing to continue her journey. By the afternoon she had 60 missed phone calls and had received hundreds of emails. Support has come from a wide range of people: friends, strangers, breast cancer survivors and victims of sexual assault.

 "Because this has been such a public thing from the start and I have an audience, I think it's important that I share (what happened)," she said. "When I do share, people have been able to relate and gain some kind of strength or inspiration from what I've been going through. And it helps me share, too."

 She also hopes it will help authorities find her attacker. Police are still investigating the incident and searching for a white man they describe as in his 30s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall with facial hair, light eyes and an average build. He was wearing a grayish green T-shirt, jean shorts and tennis shoes. A news release from Michigan police says a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler was seen in the area of the attack. It has a spare tire on the back with a yellow happy face on it.

 Gibbons expects to continue her journey around the lake later this week, riding 80 miles a day on a bicycle with a support crew. She plans to get back on the water near Muskegon, Mich., sometime next week. Some changes will be made to ensure her safety, she said, including that she no longer will be traveling alone. Her trip is expected to end when she gets back to Chicago in mid-August, as was originally planned.

 Recently named one of 20 inspiring women by Today's Chicago Woman magazine, Gibbons has been rowing 10 to 13 miles a day since she left from Diversey Harbor in her bright yellow vessel June 15. Her plan was to stop only to visit 10 port towns along the lake to raise money for her charity Recovery on Water — the team's boats cost about $25,000 each — and highlight the vital role exercise plays in the fight against breast cancer.

 Before she left she packed 210 dehydrated meals and hundreds of Luna bars into the Liv. She sleeps buckled up inside the 19-foot boat, which has two air- and watertight cabins and a ventilator for fresh air. So far she has raised $80,000, more than halfway to her goal of $150,000.

 Gibbons, who grew up in Battle Creek, Mich., and rowed for Michigan State University, never expected the trip to be easy.

 The wind, "which will not let me get from A to B," has been especially vexing, she said. "I'm dependent on the weather, and it changes every day."

 But the last several weeks have been particularly tough. Setbacks included 6-foot waves that had her throwing up on the Liv's ceiling, a broken GPS, a problematic anchor and the death of a grandmother July 13.

 "I want progress — but today can't be that day," she wrote July 18 after being grounded by wind gusts. "Practicing acceptance and remembering to believe in myself. I can and will do this. I can and will do this."

 Still, Gibbons also has written about plenty of joyful, inspiring moments. On June 27 she woke up at 5 a.m. to find a kayaking cancer survivor next to her boat. He paddled with her for a few miles, sharing his cancer experience and how it led him to meet his wife. He told her how, as an elite marathoner in his 30s, he started a program to get survivors exercising in Sheboygan, Wis.

 It's the same goal Gibbons is pursuing.

 "Thank you Tim for spending your morning with me and sharing your story with me," she wrote on her blog. "You are amazing-an inspiration-a gift. GO ROW."

 Anyone with information on the attack should call Michigan State Police at 1-866-411-0018.

 mmanchir@tribune.com

 jdeardorff@tribune.com ||||| So here I am, nearly a year later and back to the blog I started years ago, the Lake Michigan adventure that I’m proud of, thankful for and always learning from.

 And here I am again- sharing and vulnerable- because that’s how I roll.

 The new bike adventure website will launch in the next two weeks. It’s exciting- and I thought about writing this blog when we went live with it- but I also think it’s important that I give this blog a proper farewell.

 February of 2013 I sold Liv after my Lake Michigan adventure and with letting her “go”, I think I also began to come in to a new phase of recovery, of hurt, of life, of growth.

 When you plan a single event, or in my case, 59 days of events to consume your life- it’s not just about the 59 days. I spent nearly two years planning, training and fundraising to make my way around the perimeter of Lake Michigan. I put stress on every relationship I had, my body, my finances- just about anything that could take a toll, did. While I came home and was hungry for adventure- I was also (perhaps, unconsciously) hungry to heal. It wasn’t just the 59 days I had to “come down” from, it was the years of dedication, of sacrifice, of love and energy spent.

 Over the last year I’ve been stopped by strangers on the street, at the pharmacy, at the gym- sharing their support of me, my cause, and my work. I spoke and traveled the country to talk about my adventure and to inspire others to overcome adversity. I had always been public about my life and it always helped people understand and connect to what I was doing-I always thought of it as a strength.

 While I tried hide it, 2013 was also full of a lot of pain and healing wounds I never knew I had. Privately, I struggled with my assault. I leaned on people to stall the process of accepting problems I spent months denying I had. I hurt people I love. I spent a lot of time questioning my identity – who was I if I wasn’t the girl that rowed around Lake Michigan? What was I worth without it and who was I supposed to become now that it was over?

 I struggled with it all- I felt powerless, weak, and depressed- all those not so fun things and not so fun things to talk about. I overcame them with therapy, fell back in to them again- overcame them again, numerous times. The healing process was painful, long, and I can honestly say- the most challenging thing I have ever faced.

 As far as I know it will always be a process- but it hasn’t been easy. I’m sharing this here and now because I don’t want there to be any misconceptions about me or the last year before we launch this new website and adventure.

 I could have kept the last year to myself, but I don’t want anyone to think that I went from rowing and experiencing sexual assault to hopping on a bike with ease two years later. That’s not what happened. I don’t want someone to find this blog or learn about me, unaware that I went through all those things or didn’t struggle with them. It was hard. It was damn hard. And I didn’t do it alone.

 I am beyond thankful to my family and friends for getting me through this last year. My boyfriend Andy and my dog Sam deserve trophies for their endless amounts of unconditional love and support. The real heros are these two.

 I’m human, it’s a beautiful thing, You’re human, it’s a beautiful thing.

 So hello, goodbye…. to this adventure. See you soon for the next one and all the good, the bad, the ugly it brings. Thank you for sharing this journey with me, for all of your love and your support.

 GO ROW!

 -Jenn

Summary: – A 27-year-old woman rowing 1,500 miles around Lake Michigan for charity says she will continue her journey despite being sexually assaulted on Sunday, reports the Chicago Tribune. Jenn Gibbons was attacked while sleeping in her rowboat by a man who was apparently following her journey online. "Every single day I have had ups and downs," said Gibbons, founder of Recovery on Water, a charity that emphasizes the importance of exercise in fighting breast cancer. "I'm constantly improvising. I've trained well. This just requires pushing through an obstacle that's bigger than the rest." "Quitting is an option," said Gibbons. "I don't think people would think I let them down or I was a failure. But it's not what I want to do." Gibbons has rowed 10 to 13 miles a day since beginning her journey on June 15, and raised $92,000 toward her goal of $150,000. For more details about Gibbons' journey, check out her website Row4row.org, or to donate, go here.


One unsuspecting woman was wearing her engagement ring for over a year without even realizing it.

 How exactly is this possible, you might ask? It all started when an Australian man named Terry made his girlfriend Anna a necklace out of Huon pine ― a wood native to Tasmania ― for their one-year anniversary in 2015. Unbeknownst to Anna, Terry had hidden an engagement ring inside the necklace.

 Courtesy of the couple The ring was hidden inside the necklace for over a year.

 For a year and a half, Anna wore that necklace almost every day without knowing there was anything, let alone an engagement ring, inside.

 Courtesy of the couple Anna sporting the anniversary necklace.

 During a trip to Smoo Cave in northern Scotland in November 2016, Terry was finally ready to pop the question and to reveal the big surprise.

 “I picked Smoo Cave because it was a place we had talked about visiting since we first met, and ‘smoo’ comes from an old Norse word for ‘hiding place,’ so I think I get extra points for that one,” Terry told HuffPost.

 Just before the proposal, Terry asked Anna for the necklace, telling her he was going to take a nice photo of it propped up on some rocks.

 That’s when he grabbed a knife to secretly break a seal he had placed on the piece of jewelry.

 Courtesy of the couple "I made the necklace with two small bits of Huon pine glued together with a thin sheet of paper between them (and a space carved out for the ring to fit into). The glue held it together but the paper acted like a seam that I could split open with a knife," Terry explained.

 He told Anna, “Oh, I forgot to give you your necklace back,” pulled the jewelry from his pocket, got down on one knee and cracked it open while asking her to marry him.

 “She stood there with this completely confused and dumbfounded look on her face, and when she finally worked out what had just happened, she yelled, ‘Yes!’ and pounced on me,” he told HuffPost.

 Courtesy of the couple Terry set up a camera to take photos of the proposal.

 “It actually took her a couple of moments to understand that the ring had been in the necklace the entire time since I gave it to her,” he continued. “She flipped out ― ‘Wait, it’s been in there the entire time?! I could have lost it, you f**king idiot!’, which was a hilarious mix of happy and angry.”

 Courtesy of the couple The happy couple post-proposal.

 The couple is saving up to buy a home and hopes that they will someday be able to host their wedding at the house.

 “We are hoping to buy a house with land so we can have the wedding at home with our friends and family, in a very relaxed fashion that we think matches us ― rather than having a gigantic, glamorous wedding, which isn’t like us at all,” Terry said. ||||| There are many different ways a man can propose to his girlfriend - you could go all out and spend £220,000 on an elaborate day, you could write love letters for years that contain a hidden message, or you could simply get down on one knee in your living room and pop the question.

 Another approach would be to get your girlfriend to unknowingly wear her engagement ring for over a year before proposing. For that is exactly what an Australian man called Terry did.

 On their one year anniversary, Terry gave his girlfriend Anna a necklace that he’d made himself. It was made out of Huon pine - a wood native to Tasmania - but little did Anna know there was something much more precious inside.

 The necklace contained a hidden engagement ring.

 “I had always loved the idea of giving someone a gift where they didn't know its true value until years later,” Terry explained to The Independent.

 “After my girlfriend and I had been together for eleven months I decided I wanted to ask her to marry me, but I wanted to do something unique. I also wanted to start doing wood carving and I had this idea for the necklace, so I decided I would give it a go. I found the ring I knew suited her and started working on it.”

 For a year and a half, Anna wore the necklace almost every day with no clue that there was something special about it.

 “I gave the necklace to her on our one year anniversary and she absolutely loved it. She wore it every day and everywhere we went, and pretty much never took it off,” Terry said.

 “There were some occasions where I was really worried; at one point, I thought she was going to trade it with a blacksmith at a market (the blacksmith loved the necklace, and she loved the blacksmith’s work) but luckily I didn't need to crash tackle her.

 “My biggest moment of panic was when we went through airport security the first time. I hadn't thought about the fact that she might be asked to put it through the X-Ray, which could have very quickly turned into an airport security proposal!”

 But in November 2016, Terry decided to finally pop the question.

 On a trip to Smoo Cave in northern Scotland, the true contents of the necklace was revealed.

 “I picked Smoo Cave because it was a place we had talked about visiting since we first met, and ‘smoo’ comes from an old Norse word for ‘hiding place,’ so I think I get extra points for that one,” Terry told HuffPost.

 How did he do it? Terry asked Anna for the necklace, saying that he wanted to take a nice picture of it propped up on some rocks.

 “It had a really small amount of glue holding the two parts together,” he explained, “So I loosened it with a knife quickly before we took the picture (which broke the top part off unfortunately...) and then put it in my pocket ready. ”

 Anna didn’t see him break the seal though.

 “Oh, I forgot to give you your necklace back,” Terry said to his girlfriend, and as he got the necklace out of his pocket, he got down on one knee, opened the necklace and asked her to marry him.

 “She stood there with this completely confused and dumbfounded look on her face, and when she finally worked out what had just happened, she yelled, ‘Yes!’ and pounced on me,” he said.

 “It actually took her a couple of moments to understand that the ring had been in the necklace the entire time since I gave it to her. She flipped out - ‘Wait, it’s been in there the entire time?! I could have lost it, you f***ing idiot!’, which was a hilarious mix of happy and angry.”

 Terry had set up a camera to take pictures of him and Anna too.

 The couple are currently saving up to buy a house, where they hope they’ll eventually be able to host their wedding.

 “We are hoping to buy a house with land so we can have the wedding at home with our friends and family, in a very relaxed fashion that we think matches us - rather than having a gigantic, glamorous wedding, which isn’t like us at all,” Terry said.

 The Independent's Millennial Love group is the best place to discuss to the highs and lows of modern dating and relationships. Join the conversation here.

Summary: – An Australian man may have outdone pretty much everyone when it comes to perfecting the marriage proposal. Using only first names, the man named Terry tells HuffPost the story of how he gave his girlfriend Anna a necklace on their one-year dating anniversary. Using Huon pine, a wood native to Tasmania, he carved the necklace himself, and she wore it almost every day for the next year. What she didn't know was that inside the necklace he'd hidden an engagement ring. "It was literally under her nose," writes the Independent. Flash forward to November 2016. They took a trip to Smoo Cave in Scotland, a place they'd talked about visiting since they first met. On location, Terry asked for the necklace so he could take a photo of it. Secretly, he broke the seal she didn't know was there with a knife. With his camera rolling, Terry pulled the necklace out of his pocket, got down on one knee, cracked it open, and popped the question. After initial shock and confusion, Anna "finally worked out what had happened" and yelled "Yes!" before she "pounced on me," he tells HuffPost. Too sappy for you? She also kind of flipped out, saying: "It's been in there the entire time? I could have lost it, you f---ing idiot!" Terry tells the Independent he had a few nervous moments along the way, too: At one point Anna considered trading the necklace with a blacksmith for some of his work. They're now saving to buy a house and hope to marry in it. Smoo, by the way, means "hiding place." (This newborn helped his dad propose.)


Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 / Updated By Alex Seitz-Wald

 PHILADELPHIA — Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been ousted as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee on the eve of the party's convention. It's an abrupt end to a chairmanship marked by controversy, which came to a head this weekend following revelations from leaked internal emails.

 "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention," Wasserman Schultz said in a lengthy statement Sunday announcing her resignation, referring to her desire to unify the party.

 Wasserman Schultz said she plans to step down at the end of the convention, though some Democrats are already saying she may not last that long. "As Party Chair, this week I will open and close the Convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," Wasserman Schultz added.

 Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge has been selected to serve as chair of the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Monday. Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Donna Brazile will serve as Interim Chair through the election, a DNC spokesperson said on Twitter.

 As recently as Friday, there was no sign of trouble and Wasserman Schultz was set to lead the convention, according to sources.

 Wasserman Schultz spoke at two Hillary Clinton rallies in Florida Friday and Saturday, including the one where presumptive vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine appeared publicly for the first time.

 But opposition to Wasserman Schultz, both public and private, had been gaining steam following the publication late last week of leaked emails which seemed to show a plot by DNC officials to damage Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

 The revelations created doubts from various sectors of the party about how Wasserman Schultz could oversee a convention meant to showcase party unity.

 By late Saturday, opposition inside the party "spread like wildfire," according to a Democratic source close to the matter. It resulted in a tense confrontation Sunday when officials told Wasserman Schultz she had to go.

 Wasserman Schultz had become toxic to supporters of Sanders, who accused her of rigging the Democratic presidential nominating process in favor of Clinton.

 Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Richard Drew / AP

 In a statement, Sanders said that Wasserman Schultz had made "the right decision" but repeated his criticism of the party for what he describes as the DNC putting its thumb on the scale during the primary contest.

 "Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made the right decision for the future of the Democratic Party," he said. "While she deserves thanks for her years of service, the party now needs new leadership that will open the doors of the party and welcome in working people and young people. The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race."

 But starting even before that, many Democrats had privately lost confidence in her leadership.

 "She's essentially a pariah in every corner of the party," said one veteran Democratic strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal politics. "This has needed to happen for a long time."

 For instance in late May, after a news report that Democrats were considering ousting Wasserman Schultz, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called her to say he would not put out a statement defending her.

 Wasserman Schultz also overrode the White House and the Clinton campaign in her choice of communications director for the DNC last fall. The key role went vacant for five months as the various parties tried to find a candidate acceptable to her, with some allies criticizing the process and outcome.

 Even Clinton allies questioned the DNC's heavy-handed approach to dealing with the Sanders campaign during a data breach incident in December, worrying that it would undermine the credibility of a nominating process they hoped to win.

 Wasserman Schultz had already effectively lost control of the DNC after Clinton's campaign inserted operative Brandon Davis to run operations on a day-to-day basis.

 The Clinton campaign also recently sent a second staffer, Adam Parkhomenko, from its Brooklyn headquarters to serve in a senior role on the committee.

 But internal DNC emails posted online by Wikileaks late last week became the catalyst for her official removal.

 One email showed the party's finance chairman suggesting the DNC use what they assumed to be Sanders' atheism against him in Kentucky and West Virginia, religious states where it might not play well.

 Others showed Wasserman Schultz criticizing Sanders for not being a member of the party and saying he would never be president.

 The emails were apparently stolen by hackers working for the Russian government, and Clinton officials have said their posting is an attempt to sway the election for Donald Trump.

 The emails implicate other DNC officials, including CEO Amy Dacey, a close Wasserman Schultz ally who is well respected by other Democrats, and communications department officials.

 Meanwhile, Wasserman Schultz is facing a surprisingly tough congressional reelection campaign back home in Florida against a primary candidate backed by Sanders.

 Wasserman Schultz, who began her tenure as chair in 2011, proved herself to be a prodigious fundraiser for fellow Delegates and an effective party surrogate and attack dog.

 "I want to thank my longtime friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her leadership of the Democratic National Committee over the past five years," Clinton said a statement accepting the chairwoman's resignation.

 Wasserman Schultz served as a co-chair of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign and Clinton said Sunday that the Floridian will serve as "honorary chair" of her campaign's 50-state program and continue to serve as a surrogate for her campaign nationally and in Florida.

 Her detractors inside the party had resigned themselves to Wasserman Schultz's leadership through November, comforted by the fact that she had been marginalized by Clinton aides.

 Even some critics in the Clinton campaign and White House thought it would be better to keep Wasserman Schultz than to risk presenting an image of disunity by forcing her out.

 On Sunday, critics passed around a tweet Wasserman Schultz sent last week to her counterpart at the Republican National Committee, Reince Preibus. "Hey @Reince — I'm in Cleveland if you need another chair to help keep your convention in order," she wrote.

 Priebus, who faced his own challenges managing a fractured party at the GOP's convention in Cleveland last week, told reporters Sunday that Wasserman Schultz's resignation was "inevitable," adding "it shows what an uphill climb the Democrats are facing this week in unifying the party." ||||| (CNN) The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday without its outgoing Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, following a chaotic scene at a morning meeting where she was loudly jeered by Bernie Sanders supporters.

 "I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention," Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel newspaper in an interview.

 Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who is also the Democratic National Committee's secretary, handled the gaveling instead.

 "Delegates, alternatives, standing committee members and all of our honored Democrats and other guests here in Philadelphia and all of you who have joined us by television, radio and online, here in the United States and around the world," she said, "I hereby call the 47th quadrennial Democratic National Convention to order."

 Wasserman Schultz will also not speak tonight or throughout the duration of the convention, a Democrat close to her says. She will remain in Philadelphia until Friday when she formally steps down as leader of the committee.

 Wasserman Schultz changed her plans as the fallout deepened from leaked DNC emails that appeared to show the committee favoring presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Sanders during the primary. It became clear Monday that the convention floor could erupt in anger if she gaveled the convention into session or sought to speak.

 And the Democratic National Committee issued an apology to Sanders moments after the convention opened, likely hoping to help soothe tensions heading into the week.

 "On behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Sen. Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the statement said. "These comments do not reflect the values of the DNC or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process. The DNC does not -- and will not -- tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. Individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the DNC is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again."

 The morning Florida delegate meeting descended into chaos when Wasserman Schultz took the stage, with critics holding up signs with the word "emails," and Sanders supporters booing the congresswoman loudly, even after she began speaking.

 "We have to make sure that we move forward together in a unified way," Wasserman Schultz said during brief remarks. "We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive, we know that is not the Florida that we know. The Florida that we know is going to make sure that we continue to make jobs."

 The audience was roughly half supportive of Wasserman Schultz and half detractors, though the angry participants were louder than the other half. Those attendees began to chant, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" while Wasserman Schultz was speaking.

 Sanders tried to quell some of his dissatisfied supporters at a rally before his expected speech Monday.

 "We have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine," Sanders said, which prompted some attendees to shout him down.

 JUST WATCHED Sanders booed after voicing support for Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders booed after voicing support for Clinton 01:18

 Alternate plans

 Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday she is stepping down as chairwoman of the DNC at the end of the party's convention. The drama reinforced concerns about Democratic party unity.

 Former Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver tried to show a unified Democratic Party on Monday, the morning after Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation.

 "This happened, we knew it happened then, now is the time to go forward,' Weaver told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" on Monday. "Now is the time to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump."

 Wasserman Schultz talked with both President Barack Obama and Clinton before making announcing her upcoming resignation, a Democratic source said.

 "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals [which include electing Clinton president] is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention," Wasserman Schultz said in the statement.

 "As party chair, this week I will open and close the Convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," she said.

 JUST WATCHED Sanders campaign manager: We must elect Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders campaign manager: We must elect Clinton 00:56

 DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile will serve as interim chair through the election. She had been a CNN political commentator, but CNN and Brazile have mutually agreed to suspend their contract, effective immediately, although she will remain on air during the convention week in an unpaid capacity, CNN said. CNN will revisit the contract once Brazile concludes her role.

 Separately, a Democratic operative said Hispanic leaders close to Clinton and her high command were discussing Housing Secretary Julian Castro as a possible successor to Wasserman Schultz at the DNC helm, among a number of other candidates whose name are being mentioned.

 Chants of "Debbie is done!" and "Debbie resigned!" broke out at a pro-Sanders rally Sunday in Philadelphia after the news was announced.

 Party officials decided Saturday that Wasserman Schultz would not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week. The DNC Rules Committee has named Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a DNC source. She will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed.

 "She's been quarantined," another top Democrat said of Wasserman Schultz, following a meeting Saturday night but before her announcement that she was leaving.

 Both sides of the aisle react

 Obama issued a statement, saying, "For the last eight years, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back. This afternoon, I called her to let her know that I am grateful."

 And Clinton thanked Wasserman Schultz for her leadership of the party.

 "I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year's historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," Clinton said.

 After slamming Wasserman Schultz as "highly overrated," Trump, speaking at a rally in Roanoke, Virginia, knocked Clinton for being disloyal to the soon-to-be former DNC chair.

 "How about that for disloyalty in terms of Hillary Clinton. Because Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been so much for Hillary Clinton," Trump said. "These politicians. There's no loyalty there. No loyalty. None whatsoever."

 "It gets a little heat and they fire her," Trump said. "Debbie was totally loyal to Hillary and Hillary threw her under a bus and it didn't take more than five minutes to make that decision."

 Wasserman's Republican counterpart, Reince Priebus, said, "I think the day's events show really the uphill climb Democrats face this week."

 "The extreme left will not be satisfied by one person's resignation," the Republican party national chairman added.

 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said Clinton should follow Wasserman Schultz out the door.

 "Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned over her failure to secure the DNC's email servers and the rigged system she set up with the Clinton campaign," he said in a statement. "Now Hillary Clinton should follow Wasserman Schultz's lead and drop out over her failure to safeguard top secret, classified information both on her unauthorized home server and while traveling abroad."

 Weaver called Wasserman Schultz's departure a win on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Sunday.

 "I think what the signal was today is that the voices of Bernie Sanders supporters have been heard," he said. "And other people, frankly, in the party, Hillary Clinton supporters, who felt this was the last straw, that she had to go, and this shows they have been heard and gives us opportunity to move forward toward November -- united to deal with the problem of Donald Trump."

 Wasserman Schultz's stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, but her removal from the convention stage comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails.

 One email appears to show DNC staffers asking how they can reference Sanders' faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters. Another seems to depict an attorney advising the committee on how to defend Clinton against an accusation by the Sanders campaign of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement.

 JUST WATCHED Sanders: No question DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sanders: No question DNC was supporting Hillary Clinton 02:08

 Before the announcement, Sanders on Sunday told Tapper the release of the DNC emails that show its staffers working against him underscores the position he's held for months: Wasserman Schultz needs to go.

 "I don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the DNC, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the DNC, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and I don't think her leadership style is doing that," Sanders told Tapper on "State of the Union," on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

 "I am not an atheist," he said. "But aside from all of that, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying: The function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates -- to be fair and even-minded."

 He added: "But again, we discussed this many, many months ago, on this show, so what is revealed now is not a shock to me." ||||| 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.

Summary: – Embattled Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Sunday that she will step down, CNN reports. The announcement that she will resign following the party convention, which begins Monday, comes on the heels of leaked emails that appear to show that DNC officials were working to sabotage Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Wasserman Schultz's role at the convention already had been reduced to simply opening and closing the event. "I am confident that the strong team in place will lead our party effectively through this election to elect Hillary Clinton as our 45th president," she said in a statement, adding, "Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention." Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge will chair the convention, the New York Daily News reports. And, per NBC News, Vice Chair Donna Brazile will steer the DNC through the election as interim chair. "I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year's historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," Clinton said in a statement. Republican nominee Donald Trump tweeted, "I always said that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was overrated. The Dems Convention is cracking up and Bernie is exhausted, no energy left!"