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(Jan 22, 2019 3:02 AM) A genius with a troubled mind: Brandon Truaxe, founder of the skin care company Deciem, died on Sunday after months of bizarre online posts. The company did not disclose the cause of death, though police in Toronto said they had recovered the body of somebody who had fallen from the condo building that Truaxe gave as his address in his final Instagram post Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 40-year-old, whose company made the popular The Ordinary skin care line, was ousted as CEO in October because of increasingly strange online behavior, which included rambling personal messages on the company's account and allegations of enormous conspiracies involving celebrities and politicians, the BBC reports. He frequently tagged President Trump in his posts. In a video posted in October of last year, Truaxe, who founded the company in Toronto in 2013, declared that he was shutting down all operations because almost everyone at Deciem has been involved in major criminal activity which includes financial crimes and much other. Estee Lauder, the company's largest shareholder, had him ousted with an injunction, citing outrageous, disturbing, and/or defamatory posts on social media, the CBC reports. On Monday, Estee Lauder issued a statement calling him a true genius and saying his death was a profound loss. Deciem closed all its stores Monday to honor the founder who touched our hearts, inspired our minds, and made us believe that anything is possible.

(Sep 13, 2012 1:08 PM CDT) US health officials say imported Italian ricotta cheese tainted with listeria bacteria is linked to 14 illnesses including at least one death. The ricotta salata cheese distributed by Forever Cheese Inc. of New York is linked to illnesses in 11 US states and the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forever Cheese issued a recall of one lot--800 wheels of ricotta salata, or roughly 4,800 pounds--on Monday. A Forever Cheese rep said the recalled Frescolina brand ricotta salata cheese is from one batch manufactured in Italy's Puglia region, but would not name the Italian company that manufactured it. The Food and Drug Administration confirmed listeria was present in an uncut sample of cheese from that batch. Ricotta salata is a salty, white cheese made from pasteurized sheep's milk. It is not the same as soft ricotta cheese sold in tubs and used to make lasagna.

(Oct 31, 2010 6:59 PM CDT) For the first time in more than five years, Tiger Woods is no longer golf's No. 1 player. Lee Westwood of England took the top ranking today after PGA champion Martin Kaymer failed to finish among the top two at the Andalucia Masters in Spain. Woods had been No. 1 since the week before the 2005 US Open, where he was runner-up. He won the British Open a month later and his ranking rarely has been threatened since. Woods has struggled through his worst season on and off the course. As much as this represents the end of Woods' reign, it also completes an amazing turnaround for Westwood, who had at one point sunk as low as No. 266. This is the 10th time Woods has lost the No. 1 ranking in his career, the longest of which was 26 weeks toward the end of the 2004 season, when Vijay Singh went on a great run. The HSBC Champions in Shanghai has assembled such a strong field that Westwood, Woods, Martin Kaymer, or Phil Mickelson could all be No. 1 by the end of the week.

(Apr 1, 2014 8:33 AM CDT) Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory has issued an apology after reports that he'd built himself a $2.2 million mansion sparked outrage in the diocese. Gregory bought the mansion with a $15 million posthumous gift from Gone With the Wind heir Joseph Mitchell, who wanted the money spent on general religious and charitable purposes, the AP reports. In a post on the archdiocese' news site, Gregory explains that he was generously selling his old home to a nearby cathedral, and building himself a comparable residence. While my advisors and I were able to justify this project fiscally, logistically and practically, I personally failed to project the cost in terms of my own integrity and pastoral credibility, Gregory writes, adding that Pope Francis has set the bar higher for priestly humility. He promises to consult with other church officials and sell the residence if they advise him to. But that promise didn't mollify one vocal parishioner. He needs to speak with the people in the pews instead, she tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Gregory isn't the only bishop being attacked for his luxurious abode. Click for more on a similar fracas in Newark.

(Feb 18, 2011 1:45 PM) Soldiers opened fire today on thousands of protesters defying a government ban and streaming toward the square in Manama that is the symbolic center of their uprising. Officials at the main Salmaniya hospital said at least 50 people were injured, some with gunshot wounds. Medical X-rays shows live bullets were used, and some doctors and medics on emergency medical teams were in tears as they tended to the wounded. This is a war, said Dr. Bassem Deif, an orthopedic surgeon. Protesters described a chaotic scene of tear gas clouds, bullets coming from many directions, and people slipping in pools of blood as they sought cover. Some claimed the gunfire came from either helicopters or sniper nests. It follows the surprise police raid on sleeping protesters that killed five. Click for a primer on the country and the protests.

(Sep 26, 2016 3:06 PM CDT) On the evening of March 26, Kuem Soon Cho, 79, gave her 13-year-old grandson her minivan keys so that he could help her put the minivan in gear in a parking lot on the block where she lived. (Multiple reports don't make it clear exactly what they were trying to do.) The teen put the minivan into reverse, then accidentally pushed the gas pedal instead of the brake, police say. Cho was approaching the driver's side door when that happened; the minivan hit her, and she was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital in a suburb of Chicago. Now, her husband Paul Sang Cho--the boy's grandfather--is suing the teen over the crash, CBS Chicago reports. The male Cho has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging that his grandson was negligent and careless when he failed to keep the minivan under control, failed to give warning of what he was doing, and failed to yield the right of way. He's suing for an unspecified amount of money. An autopsy had ruled the female Cho's death accidental.

(Apr 2, 2015 6:28 AM CDT) Al-Qaeda militants seized a main prison in the Yemeni city of al-Mukalla today, freeing hundreds of inmates in a large-scale attack, locals say. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula first targeted security headquarters, the presidential palace, a Central Bank branch, and other government buildings in the capital of Hadhramaut province in an apparent diversion before moving on the prison, the New York Times reports. The Guardian reports that more than 300 inmates were freed, including regional AQAP leader Khalid Batarfi, who had been locked up for four years. A third of the prisoners are believed to have al-Qaeda ties. Two prison guards and five inmates were killed as gunfire and blasts erupted in the city overnight. Local military units moved in with helicopters to battle the militants early today and many have since backed off, reports CNN, which estimates some 270 inmates have escaped. AQAP, which also took hold of the local radio headquarters, appears to be making the most of what the Times calls a growing anarchy that has sprung up in Yemen in recent weeks. Houthi rebels and their allies, who ousted president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi from power, have been fighting with those loyal to him in the city of Aden, some 300 miles away from al-Mukalla. After Saudi-led airstrikes, Houthi troops withdrew from central Aden today, though they remain in surrounding positions, locals say, per the Telegraph. The US pulled its last troops from Yemen late last month.

(Dec 21, 2012 6:24 AM) At 9:30 this morning, exactly one week after 20 children and six teachers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School, bells will toll 26 times in memorial for the terrible tragedy, reports the Hartford Courant. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy has called for a Day of Mourning today, and many governors across America have said they, too, will hold a moment of silence and ring bells for Newtown. (Though Reuters notes the National Cathedral intends to ring its bell 28 times, in most places no bell will toll for Nancy Lanza, who has been omitted from most memorials.

(Feb 10, 2018 1:39 PM) At least 18 people were killed and nearly 50 more injured when a double-decker bus carrying spectators and workers from a horse-racing track crashed Saturday in Hong Kong, the BBC reports. According to CNN, images from the scene show the bus on its side with its top apparently torn off. Reuters reports firefighters had to cut open the bus' roof to free the passengers inside. Injured passengers were transported to 12 hospitals. The bus was running a special route for race days, but the bus' operator says the driver knew the route and had a good driving record. An elderly man at the scene says the driver had been going much too fast on the major highway, even on curves. An executive with The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. says $10,230 will be paid to the family of each victim. Deadly accidents are rare for Hong Kong's public transportation. Saturday's crash appears to be the worst since a double-decker bus fell off an elevated roadway in 2003, killing 21 people.

(Feb 2, 2014 6:27 PM) Omaha! Omaha! Wha? The Denver Broncos' first play from scrimmage in Super Bowl XLVIII turned into a humiliating safety when the snap sailed by Peyton Manning's head into the end zone. That set the tone for a scoreless Denver first half, as the Seattle Seahawks defense intercepted Manning twice and swarmed Broncos like mad bees. Seahawks kicker Steve Hauschka put two through the uprights, and Seattle piled on with a 1-yard Marshawn Lynch rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Denver responded with its first solid drive, pushing into Seahawks territory--until Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith (the game's eventual MVP) intercepted a hurried Manning pass and ran it back 69 yards for a TD. The second half started with two more Seattle touchdowns: an 87-yard Percy Harvin kickoff return and a Russell Wilson pass to Jermaine Kearse. Denver finally scored a TD in the third quarter, but Seattle responded with one of its own. And so it ended, Seattle 43, Denver 8--the Seahawks' first Super Bowl victory ever. How unhappy are all these companies that bought advertising time in the 4th quarter? asks Matt Williamson at ESPN's Super Bowl blog.

(Feb 7, 2010 5:20 PM) The natural gas explosion that destroyed a Connecticut power plant today killed at least 5 people and injured at least 14, officials said. Police dogs are searching the rubble of the Kleen Energy Systems plant, where about 50 people--not 100, the initial figure--were working, the Hartford Courant reports. It was a massive explosion, a fire official said of the blast, which damaged the foundations of nearby homes and caused some residents to fear an earthquake had struck. Our first concern is to help in locating and providing care for anyone who may have been injured in the explosion, a state official told the Middletown Press. After that critical mission is accomplished there will be time to assess and address any environmental impacts associated with this tragic event.

(Sep 5, 2020 1:00 PM CDT) A wedding reception in Maine has apparently triggered at least 147 cases of COVID-19, including three deaths--a spreading of the virus that one health official likens to a giant tube of glitter. The CDC says the August 7 event in Millinocket spread the disease to a prison and a nursing home that are each more than 100 miles away, CNN reports. What we are dealing with is a giant tube of glitter. You open a tube of glitter in your basement then two weeks later you are in the attic and all you find is glitter and have no idea how it got there, says Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah. That's what Covid-19 is like. You open up glitter in Millinocket and next thing you know you are finding traces of it at a jail complex in York County. CBS News reports that 56 of the infections are among reception guests or their immediate or tertiary contacts. One guest who works at York County Jail sparked an infection there that's risen to 72 cases, including 19 staff and 46 inmates. Another guest's family member works at Maplecrest Rehabilitation Center in Somerset County, which led to at least 19 infections at the nursing home. NBC News reports that Calvary Baptist Church has 10 infections; the church's pastor officiated the wedding. The reception at the Big Moose Inn was attended by 65 people in all, which exceeded the state's indoor limit by 15. Outbreaks are not isolated events, says Shah. One outbreak can quickly lead to several more outbreaks, especially in a close geographic area.

(Apr 4, 2008 4:44 PM CDT) Citigroup will pay $33 million to some 2,500 female brokers to settle a gender-discrimination lawsuit brought by women at its Smith Barney unit, Reuters reports. The bank will also make operational changes in response to the class-action move, adding diversity-watchdog positions, working to retain and promote female workers and adjusting its distribution of accounts and bonuses. We are committed to continuing to provide a professional and respectful work environment to all of our employees, a company rep said today. In 2005, the brokers accused Smith Barney of denying women equal training and a fair shot at bonuses, promotions and accounts. A hearing April 30 will air further details of the settlement, Reuters adds.

(NoneDate) HP's touchscreen tablet is finally here, but it shares very little in common with Apple's iPad or even the new wave of Android tablets. The HP Slate 500 runs Windows 7, has a 9-inch screen, and is aimed at business and industrial users, rather than mainstream consumers, reports CNET. The most surprising thing is the lack of any tablet-like software, from an app store to big finger-friendly buttons. All you get is the basic built-in Windows 7 on-screen keyboard. And, unlike the $500 iPad, the HP Slate 500 is $799, although it includes a docking stand and a case. For CNET's review and hands-on video, click here. Two other videos are in the gallery.

(Nov 16, 2016 7:10 PM) During his 60 Minutes interview Sunday, Donald Trump said that he will take the minimum presidential salary allowed by law, probably $1 per year. Before you praise him for such a public-spirited sacrifice, consider that this is actually not in the public's best interest, writes author and former House and Senate speechwriter Rob Goodman on Politico. George Washington, our first independently wealthy president, also declared he wouldn't take a salary--despite the fact that the American Framers considered payment of the presidential salary an important duty under the Constitution, so this was essentially Washington declaring that a portion of the Constitution didn't apply to him. Congress shot that idea down, and in doing so, consciously set a precedent for the future, Goodman writes. It did not want to risk that Washington's refusal would become the norm rather than the exception. Why was this so important to the founders? They wanted to ensure that the president serves the public, and not the other way around. A president who wasn't being paid a consistent amount could be swayed by the promise of money from a special interest or certain members of Congress. Though that concern would seem only to apply to presidents who don't have wealth of their own and who are completely above corruption for profit, the founders basically decided it would be a bad idea to assume that would be the case for all future presidents. Thus, the salary requirement was written into the Constitution. If we start setting a $1 salary precedent, we risk turning our already money-filled political culture into one that even more openly celebrates its exclusivity. In such a political culture, we would increasingly question the capacity of anyone other than the wealthy to serve the public with integrity. Goodman's full column is worth a read.

(Sep 5, 2016 5:57 AM CDT) North Korea on Monday fired three medium-range missiles that traveled about 620 miles and landed near Japan in an apparent show of force timed to coincide with the Group of 20 economic summit in China, South Korean officials said. North Korea has staged a series of recent missile tests with increasing range, part of a program that aims to eventually build long-range nuclear missiles capable of striking the US mainland. Such tests are fairly common when international attention is turned to Northeast Asia, and this one came as world leaders gathered in eastern China for the G-20 summit, reports the AP. China is North Korea's only major ally, but ties between the neighbors have frayed amid a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and what many outsiders see as other provocations in recent years. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the three ballistic missiles, all believed to be Rodongs, were launched from the western North Korean town of Hwangju and flew across the country before splashing into the sea. A Joint Chiefs of Staff statement described the launches as an armed protest meant to demonstrate North Korea's military capability on the occasion of the G-20 summit and days before the North Korean government's 68th anniversary. All three missiles Monday fell in Japan's exclusive economic zone, the 200-nautical-mile offshore area where a nation has sovereign rights for exploring and exploiting resources. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the launches a serious threat to Japanese security and said that Tokyo protested to North Korea via the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. The United States also condemned the launches, saying it was discussing with allies the proper response and plans to raise concerns at the UN.

(Feb 2, 2011 5:06 PM) President Obama's goal of getting 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on America's roads by 2015 is all but certain to fail, concludes a new report done in conjunction with the auto industry. Despite decent debuts from the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf, major manufacturers won't be producing the volume of vehicles necessary to make it happen, reports the Washington Post. There is a big challenge in going from marketing the Leaf or the Volt to early adopters to selling them to mainstream retail car-buyers, said John Graham, author of an Indiana University study--its panel included a Ford exec, a federal scientist, and environmental advocates--that analyzed all aspects of the electric car industry. Until then, the automakers' production plans will be quite cautious.

(Jul 6, 2016 3:53 AM CDT) Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, with the judge who decided the punishment calling the double-amputee Olympian a fallen hero. South Africa's minimum sentence for murder is 15 years, but the judge said substantial and compelling circumstances existed to give Pistorius a lesser sentence for shooting Steenkamp at his home in 2013, the AP reports. Judge Thokozile Masipa described Pistorius as a good candidate for rehabilitation. Prosecutors had sought at least 15 years in prison for the 29-year-old Pistorius. His defense lawyers had asked for no jail time at all for the athlete and that he be allowed to do charity work with children. Pistorius has lost his career and been ruined financially. He cannot be at peace, the judge said. In 2014, Masipa acquitted Pistorius of murder following a dramatic seven-month trial. He was instead convicted of manslaughter and served one year in prison. His conviction was upgraded to murder last year when prosecutors appealed to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal. Pistorius' defense lawyers say they won't be appealing the sentence. Prosecutors may still appeal, but supporters of the Steenkamp family say the law has run its course, the Guardian reports. Nothing will bring Reeva back. The best thing to do is to maintain a dignified silence, says a family lawyer. (Pistorius recently told an interviewer that Steenkamp wouldn't have wanted him to serve a long sentence.)

(May 7, 2018 7:27 AM CDT) When Sylvia Bloom died at the age of 96 in 2016, her niece experienced an oh my God moment. I realized she had millions and she had never mentioned a word, says Jane Lockshin, also the executor of Bloom's estate. More than $9 million, in fact, a surprising amount to amass considering Bloom was a legal secretary for nearly 70 years--and an amount that has allowed her to join the ranks of unassuming and magnanimous millionaires next door, who have died with fortunes far larger than their lifestyles ever would have suggested, per the New York Times. How the Brooklynite built up her surprise nest egg, one that even her late husband may not have known about: by closely observing the investments of the lawyers she worked for, then making the same investments (but in amounts she could afford). Bloom's riches came to light when her will revealed she was donating more than $8 million to scholarship funds that help disadvantaged students attend college. We were all ... just blown away, says David Garza, executive director of the Henry Street Settlement, which received the bulk of Bloom's money--$6.24 million, said to be the largest single endowment by one person his group had ever received. No one suspected Bloom harbored socialite-level bank accounts because she lived frugally in a rent-controlled apartment, took public transit, and dressed modestly. She was a child of the Depression and she knew what it was like not to have money, says a good friend and HR exec at the law firm Bloom worked for. She had great empathy for other people who were needy and wanted everybody to have a fair shake. (Meet Percy Ross, America's blue-collar millionaire. )

(Nov 2, 2016 2:48 PM CDT) Hulk Hogan has settled with the smoldering ashes of Gawker Media for $31 million, CNN reports. Gawker was appealing the $140 million a jury awarded Hogan earlier this year. The saga is over, Gawker founder Nick Denton says. Hulk Hogan's retirement will be comfortable. Hogan's invasion of privacy lawsuit against Gawker was funded by billionaire Peter Thiel. According to the New York Times, Denton says it would have cost too much to continue fighting an all-out legal war against him. All parties have agreed it is time to move on, CNN quotes Hogan's attorney as saying. As part of the settlement, three Gawker articles will be scrubbed from the internet.

(Feb 14, 2014 11:14 AM) A massive time capsule put in the ground during 1983's Aspen International Design Conference earned the nickname the Steve Jobs Time Capsule after he dropped his own computer mouse into it. The pod was supposed to be unearthed in 2000, but construction in Aspen caused organizers to lose track of it for some time. Now, an 80's gold mine and a rare piece of Apple history, has been unveiled, or so says the website for National Geographic show Diggers. It zeroed in on the capsule in September, but video of it is only coming out now, revealing its haul: A Rubik's Cube, a Moody Blues eight-track, and some very old Balantine beer are among its hundreds of items. We just freaked out, George Wyant, a co-host of the show, told CNET. As for Jobs' mouse, it comes from the Apple Lisa--the precursor to the first Macintosh computer released in 1984--and he used it while giving a talk at the conference, the Telegraph reports. After the conference, hundreds of other items, many protected in plastic bags, were packed along with the mouse into a 13-foot metal pipe and buried. You can get a good look at the dig later this month when the whole thing airs Feb. 25.

(Mar 27, 2016 12:33 PM CDT) Jim Harrison, the fiction writer, poet, outdoorsman, and reveler who wrote with gruff affection for the country's landscape and rural life and enjoyed mainstream success with his historical saga Legends of the Fall, has died at 78. A rep for Harrison's publisher told the AP that Harrison died Saturday at his home in Patagonia, Ariz. The cause of death was unknown. Harrison's wife of more than 50 years, Linda King Harrison, died last fall. The versatile author completed more than 30 books, most recently the novella collection The Ancient Minstrel, and was admired worldwide. Sometimes likened to Ernest Hemingway for the range and kinds of his interests, he was a hunter and fisherman who savored his time in a cabin near his Michigan hometown, a drinker and Hollywood script writer who was close with Jack Nicholson and came to know Sean Connery, Orson Welles, and Warren Beatty. He was a sports writer and a man of extraordinary appetite who once polished off a 37-course lunch, a traveler and teller of tales. Published in 1979, Legends of the Fall was a collection of three novellas that featured the title story about Montana rancher Col. William Ludlow and his three sons, the narrative extending from before World War I to the mid-20th century, from San Francisco to Singapore. Late in October 1914 three brothers rode from Choteau, Montana to Calgary, Alberta to enlist in the Great War, reads Harrison's celebrated opening sentence. The book was a best-seller, and Harrison worked on the script for an Oscar-nominated 1994 film. But he would liken the nerve wracking process to being trapped in a shuddering elevator and reminded himself of his marginal status by taping a putdown by a Hollywood exec, You're just a writer, on a piece of paper above his desk. Click for the AP's full obituary.

(Apr 10, 2008 1:09 PM CDT) Victims' families in the Virginia Tech shootings have settled with the state for $11 million in a deal to prevent future lawsuits, lawyers said today. The lawyers, who represented 21 families, are mum on details pending finalization, reports the Roanoke Times. At least 20 families had earlier warned they might sue over the tragedy last April 16, when student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 and wounded more at the school before killing himself. The deal comes with the first anniversary of the massacre approaching, and To be candid, the families are more focused on more personal things at the moment, said one lawyer. An earlier deal had proposed $100,000 for the families of each of those killed, with an $800,000 fund for those wounded; an additional $1.75 million was set aside for the victims, and a meeting with the governor was planned.

(Jan 7, 2017 4:07 PM) Koala, Yellow, Npeter, Quail, Uxorious, Wigbert, Xman, and Scar. These are just a few of the poshest baby names for 2017, the Telegraph reports. The list was compiled by fancy-pants British magazine Tatler, which claims that despite seeming down-right odd they're the real deal and some of the poshest names known to man. Tatler points out that some of the names are hundreds of years old, adding, Let's make them popular again. Easier said than done. Here are 2017's five poshest baby names for each gender: Girls

(Jun 16, 2020 12:40 AM CDT) A 911 dispatcher who was watching the arrest of George Floyd live via a surveillance camera feed called a Minneapolis Police Department sergeant to describe what was going on, Fox 9 reports. You can call me a snitch if you want to, she says, adding that the officers involved in Floyd's arrest, which left him dead, sat on this man. The call was released along with two other 911 calls that were made by onlookers during the arrest, CNN reports. In one, an unidentified off-duty firefighter says, I literally watched police officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man ... they f---ing killed him. In the other, the bystander says, Yes, yeah, we just watched Officer #987 kill a, ah... a citizen in front of a Chicago ah... store. He just pretty much just killed this guy that wasn't resisting arrest. He had his knee on the dude's neck the whole time, Officer #987. ... [Floyd] was already in handcuffs. No supervisor arrived at the scene until Floyd had already been loaded into an ambulance. At least seven Minneapolis police officers have quit since Floyd's death and seven more are in the process of quitting, the AP reports. They're reportedly upset that the mayor abandoned the Third Precinct station during protests over Floyd's death; demonstrators set it ablaze.

(Dec 16, 2014 9:16 PM) With little fanfare to mark a rare bipartisan achievement, President Obama has signed a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government operating over the next nine months. The legislation was a compromise that angered liberals and conservatives alike but avoided a government shutdown and put off partisan clashes over immigration to next year. It was one of the last acts of Congress under the current Republican House and Democratic-controlled Senate. In January, the new Congress will return with Republicans in charge of both chambers. The measure retains cuts negotiated in previous budget battles and rolls back some banking regulations. But it also retains spending for Obama's health care law and pays for the administration's fight against Ebola. The Department of Homeland Security, however, will only receive its money through Feb. 27, a condition demanded by Republican leaders to appease critics of Obama's immigration measures.

(Dec 13, 2008 5:52 PM) A wayward Honda smashed into an SUV carrying the two daughters of Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen today, but both girls are unhurt, TMZ reports. Their nanny was driving Sam and Lola Rose Sheen, 4 and 3, up the Pacific Coast Highway when a Honda cut them off, causing a four-car accident. Only the Honda driver was hurt. Police made no arrests after the incident.

(Nov 8, 2010 2:43 AM) Newly minted US Senator-elect Rand Paul scrambled yesterday when pressed to come up with federal cost cuts--but finally said he'll aim to slice the number of federal workers and their wages by 10%. Pit bull reporter Christine Amanpour repeatedly needled Paul on ABC's This Week to move beyond slogans and platitudes, and to name specifics on how the GOP will balance the budget and its $1.3 trillion debt. Paul said he'd push for a balanced budget amendment and repeatedly said he would look at cuts across the board, dodging questions about Medicare and Social Security. When pressed again to name one specific, Paul responded: I would freeze federal hiring. I would maybe reduce federal employees by 10%. I'd probably reduce their wages by 10%. The average federal employee makes $120,000 a year. The average private employee makes $60,000 a year. Let's get them more in line. It wasn't clear where Paul obtained his statistics, or how much those cuts would amount to. He'll also consider military cuts and raising the retirement age. The other Tea Party powerhouse-apparent, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, yesterday urged a return to pre-Obama spending, which Meet the Press host David Gregory noted wouldn't be anywhere near a balanced budget. For more, check out the Huffington Post here.

(Nov 1, 2017 10:50 AM CDT) Anna Graham Hunter was a 17-year-old high school senior in 1985 when she got an internship as a production assistant on the set of the Death of a Salesman TV movie. In a column for the Hollywood Reporter, using her own letters from her five weeks on set as a guide, she recounts how Dustin Hoffman allegedly sexually harassed her on set. Her interactions with him started when he asked her to massage his feet one day during lunch (his daughter, who was in eighth grade at the time, was in the room) and progressed to flirtatious behavior like asking her if she had sex over the weekend, talking about breasts in front of her, teasing her about wanting to sleep with Warren Beatty, and telling her he wanted a hard-boiled egg ... and a soft-boiled clitoris for breakfast one morning. Hunter's letters say that she realized Hoffman was a lech around the time he started allegedly groping her butt; she says when he did that she hit his hand away and told him he was a dirty old man. She says another production assistant called him a pig when he said he wanted her breasts for lunch, and that the office manager said if the producer found out about it, she would have been gone in a second --causing Hunter to wonder if she'd be fired should someone find out she was rejecting Hoffman's advances. She eventually stood up to Hoffman and he apologized, even though her supervisor had told her that for the sake of the production she needed to let certain things roll over [her] head. In response to the Reporter, Hoffman said he feels terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry.

(Apr 21, 2016 11:23 AM CDT) We all know Donald Trump isn't a fan of political correctness. That's why he's also not a fan of Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the new $20 bill. I don't like seeing it. Yes, I think it's pure political correctness, Trump tells Today, per Politico. Jackson--who many condemn for owning slaves and removing Native Americans from their lands-- had a history of tremendous success for the country and should stay put on the bill, Trump continues. (Jackson is to be moved to the back of the bill.) Tubman was fantastic, but would be more appropriate on the $2 bill or some other denomination, Trump adds. He was actually repeating an idea of Ben Carson's. I love Harriet Tubman. I love what she did, but we can find another way to honor her. Maybe a $2 bill, he said Wednesday on Fox Business, per Politico. He added Jackson was a tremendous president and the last president who actually balanced the federal budget, where we had no national debt. Hillary Clinton had a different take. A woman, a leader, and a freedom fighter. I can't think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman, she tweeted Wednesday. I cannot think of an American hero more deserving of this honor, added rival Bernie Sanders.

(Apr 13, 2018 8:13 AM CDT) If you find yourself forced to write a check to the IRS come April 17, know that John Paulson feels your pain--and owes more than can fit on a single check. Paulson put down big stakes against subprime mortgages before the 2008 crash and earned billions in the process. Now, the tax bill has come due, and it's eye-popping: $1 billion in state and federal taxes, sources close to the hedge-fund manager tell the Wall Street Journal. This after he paid about $500 million toward the end of 2017. The Journal reports the amount is so huge that even the process of paying it is thorny: Wiring it is an option, but paying via check is more advantageous, as Paulson could keep earning interest on his money until the check is cashed. The catch: The max the IRS will accept from a single check is $99,999,999. The Journal gets into the nitty-gritty of the tax loophole that allowed Paulson to punt on the payment until now, and explains that when it comes to paying it, Paulson isn't as loaded as he once was. To come up with the cash, sources say the 62-year-old has sold investments, including roughly a third of his 28 million shares of Caesars Entertainment Corp. Head to the Journal for the full read, which includes background on Paulson, who hadn't made much of a mark before his trade of a lifetime, and has seen a reversal in fortune since.

(Oct 24, 2009 4:38 PM CDT) A female Saudi journalist has been sentenced to 60 lashes for her involvement in a TV show that featured a man detailing his sexual conquests. The court also banned Rosanna Al-Yami from leaving the country for two years, sources tell CNN. She is believed to be the first Saudi journalist ever sentenced to lashes, though it's not clear she was even involved in the controversial episode. Al-Yama works for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. as a show coordinator, but she apparently had no direct involvement in the episode of A Thick Red Line that caused all the fuss. No matter--the judge sentenced her as a deterrence, she tells the AP. I am too frustrated and upset to appeal the sentence, she adds. As for the man who boasted of his sex life on the show: he's currently serving a 5-year sentence.

(Jan 27, 2010 6:42 PM) A 17-year-old Haitian girl was pulled from the rubble of her Port-au-Prince school today, 15 days after the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation. She just said 'thank you,' she's very weak, the search team commander tells AFP of Darlene Etienne, who appeared to suffering from dehydration and perhaps a leg injury. She was in a pocket surrounded by concrete.

(Jan 9, 2011 10:22 AM) Born on Sept. 11, 2001, Christina-Taylor Green came into the world in the midst of a national tragedy, and she left it yesterday, an innocent bystander in the hail of bullets that cut down Gabrielle Giffords. Mom Roxanna Green gave an emotional interview with MSNBC this morning, reports Politico, noting that Christina had been featured in a book called Faces of Hope. I just want her memory to live on, she's a face of hope, a face of change, Green said. Stop the violence, stop the hatred. Green added that she thought Christina had been hurt in a car wreck when her neighbor, who had taken Christina to meet Giffords, called to say they were on the way to the hospital. The 9-year-old was shot in the chest, and did not survive. They tried to save her but she just couldn't make it...I saw her right after that. I spent a lot of time with her, and I said goodbye to her, said Green. The AP notes that Christina was the granddaughter of former baseball great and Phillies manager Dallas Green--and the only girl on her softball team.

(Sep 26, 2009 5:43 AM CDT) Two suicide car bombs killed 16 people and wounded about 150 others in separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan today, just days after the Taliban warned suicide strikes were coming if the military pressed forward with an offensive to rout the insurgents. The bombs were detonated outside a bank affiliated with the army in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, and at a police station in the province's Bannu district. A third bomb injured four in the restive region. The strikes came two days after the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan threatened to step up suicide attacks in the region unless the army ends its offensive to roust the militants from the region. We have enough suicide bombers and they are asking me to let them sacrifice their lives in the name of Islam, a Taliban trainer told the AP in an interview, but we will send suicide bombers only if the government acts against us.

(Nov 6, 2017 6:05 PM) Jacob Thompson is celebrating Christmas early because this year's holiday will likely be his last one. The Maine 9-year-old, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at age 5, was told in early October the cancer would likely take his life in a month. But his request for his final Christmas is simple: He wants cards. He got some cards from this Halloween, and he opened up and saw them and it was like getting a gift. He read it to us and had a big smile on his face and his nose scrunched, Jacob's dad tells CNN. He was excited to see what people had to say and it just brightened his day. Now the family is asking for people everywhere to send their son holiday cards. Jacob's early Christmas celebration will take place this weekend, WCSH reports, and will also include snow, a decorated tree, and a visit from Santa Claus. He's already received thousands of cards, including one from Antarctica--particularly exciting because Jacob loves penguins. For those looking for ideas of what type of card Jacob might like, he also loves Minecraft, Legos, Star Wars, photography, singing, and comedy. Anyone who wants to send more can send iTunes gift cards to help Jacob play SimCity, his dad says. Any toys sent to him will be shared with the other children at Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center. A GoFundMe campaign is raising money for Jacob's eventual funeral expenses. CNN has the address where cards to Jacob can be mailed.

(May 20, 2013 2:22 AM CDT) The FBI is mourning two members of its elite Hostage Rescue Team who were killed in a helicopter training accident off the coast of Virginia. The agents--part of the team tasked with the most difficult and urgent missions in the US--were not killed by gunfire, an FBI spokeswoman says, but few other details on the deaths were released, the Washington Post reports. Both agents were married with young families. We mourn the loss of two brave and courageous men, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe. Only two other agents have been killed in training accidents in the 30-year history of the team, which was created 30 years ago amid fears terrorists would strike the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

(Jul 14, 2018 9:30 AM CDT) Nancy Sinatra Sr., the childhood sweetheart of Frank Sinatra who became the first of his four wives and the mother of his three children, has died. She was 101, the AP reports. Her daughter, Nancy Sinatra Jr., tweeted that her mother died Friday and a posting on her web page said she died at 6:02pm but didn't indicate where she died. She was a blessing and the light of my life, her daughter says. Nancy and Frank Sinatra had been dating as teenagers and married at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic church in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Feb. 4, 1939, just as Frank's singing career was about to take off. Three years before marrying the former Nancy Barbato, he had landed a 15-minute radio show on local station WAAT.

(Jan 14, 2020 3:33 AM) A suspected serial killer strangled a suburban Chicago teenage girl in 1976 and likely killed another woman just days before she was to testify in court that he raped her, police said Monday. Lisle Police Detective Chris Loudon, who investigated the Jan. 1976 slaying of 16-year-old Pamela Maurer of Woodridge, said during a news conference that DNA recovered from the remains of Bruce Lindahl indicated he killed the teen, the AP reports. I suspect him to be a serial killer, Loudon said of Lindahl, whose body was exhumed in November. The announcement came on the 44th anniversary of the day a motorist found Maurer's body by the side of a road. At the time, police concluded that her body may have been placed there by her killer to make her death look like a hit-and-run. The coroner determined she had been strangled.

(Dec 1, 2016 7:07 AM) It's not really a surprise that Prince was worth a whole lot of money when he died in April, but now there's a number on it. The singer's estate is estimated to be worth $200 million, per a court filing, which is about half of what David Bowie's will estimated his own estate was worth when he passed away in January, the AP notes. The news agency figured out this estimate by taking the monthly fee charged by the company overseeing Prince's estate, per a memo, then extrapolating that based on the company's fee schedule, which is based on the worth of an estate; two estate lawyers not tied to the case agree it's a fair estimate. There's no known will in Prince's case, so after taxes (which will probably slash the estate's worth in half or so), his sister and five half-siblings aim to split the estate equally.

(Jan 19, 2009 7:32 PM) Uniformed Hamas fighters emerged on Gaza City's streets today as leaders of the group vowed to restore order in the shattered Palestinian territory, the AP reports. Hamas proclaimed victory as Gazans picked through the rubble, which included some 4,100 homes and 1,500 factories valued at nearly $2 billion. Hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid will be needed immediately to help Gazans survive, a UN chief said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to travel to Gaza tomorrow to inspect damage and visit UN facilities hit in the fighting. Israelis hope Gaza's civilians will blame their militant rulers for provoking the Israeli assault, the AP notes. Hamas, however, raced to capitalize on anger toward Israel. We are still ready and capable of firing more rockets, a Hamas spokesman said.

(Aug 5, 2011 7:45 AM CDT) Hiring picked up slightly in July and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.1%, an optimistic sign after the worst day on Wall Street in nearly three years. The Labor Department says employers added 117,000 jobs last month, an improvement from the past two months. The Wall Street Journal notes that economists had only expected 75,000 jobs to be added, and calls the jobs report surprisingly good. Still, the economy needs twice as many net jobs per month to rapidly reduce unemployment. The rate has topped 9% in every month except two since the recession officially ended in June 2009. The unemployment rate fell partly because some unemployed workers stopped looking for work, which means they are no longer counted as unemployed.

(Jun 26, 2008 9:07 AM CDT) At its height, al-Qaeda had mastered how to amplify the effect of real-world attacks with virtual representations--videos, audio recordings, and articles reproducing its mayhem online. But as the Web has transformed into a more social entity, the terrorist organization is stuck in 1.0, writes analyst Daniel Kimmage in the New York Times. If America and its allies want to win the war on terror, they should look to YouTube. The early web was a haven for anonymity and accessibility, the central elements of al-Qaeda's distribution. But a social web that can unite a fragmented silent majority has been far less kind to Islamic extremists, blasting their propaganda on YouTube, social networks, and blogs. It's unfortunate, then, that many Mideast countries censor the Internet; free access is a very practical means of countering al-Qaeda.

(Aug 7, 2016 11:08 AM CDT) Suicide Squad took outraged critics directly to the bank, where it gave them a $135.1 million shakedown in one of the year's biggest debuts and the biggest August debut ever, reports USA Today. That tops the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool. It wasn't all love notes for Suicide Squad, though: The AP notes that after drawing heavy crowds on Thursday and Friday, ticket sales fell off steeply on Saturday--suggesting that audiences could be belatedly agreeing with the film's scathing reviews. Rounding out the top five: Jason Bourne with $22.7 million; Bad Moms with $14.2 million; The Secret Life of Pets with $11.6 million; and Star Trek Beyond with $10.2 million.

(Dec 6, 2016 9:06 AM) To be circumcised should be an informed, personal choice, or so thinks the Danish Medical Association, which on Friday issued its recommendation that no boy under age 18 in the country be circumcised. Going that route then leaves the door open for the male to make a decision of his own when he has come of age, says Lise Moller, the head of the association's ethics board. That's not to say the doctors' group is calling for a ban, which it says it weighed and decided against due to cases where male circumcision is medically necessary and for the potential for clandestine botched procedures, says Moller. Had they wanted a ban, they'd possibly face a steep slope. In a June report to the UN, Denmark agreed with Egypt's stance that it is a parental right to circumcise one's male child, reports the Copenhagen Post. Still, the Local reports that 74% of respondents to a 2014 survey said they'd support a full or partial ban. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 circumcisions take place in Denmark each year, and the country should have a firmer idea of that number as of Jan. 1, after which all circumcisions must be logged in Denmark's national patient registry, reports the Local. Doctors who fail to do so will be fined, reports the Post. The CDC reports that in 2010, an estimated 58% of male newborns were circumcised in the US. (This mom went into hiding and then to jail in an attempt to avoid circumcising her son.)

(Jun 10, 2015 4:03 PM CDT) When Mary Smith was 11, her dad died at the age of 45 of a heart attack. Her mom was receiving help for mental illness, so her older first cousin, Muriel Clayton, who had four young girls of her own, welcomed Smith permanently into her own home after Smith was shuffled around for a while among other relatives. Now, more than 60 years later, the unofficial mother-daughter duo have made it official: The 76-year-old Smith was adopted yesterday in a Dallas courtroom by her 92-year-old surrogate mom, and the scene as described by the Dallas Morning News was an emotional one. I feel very happy, Smith said. She has been Mom for a long time, and now it's official, with Clayton adding, This is what I have wanted to do for a long, long time, and now it has come to pass. There was a compelling and thoughtful reason it took so long to seal the deal: respect for Mary's biological mother, who lived to the age of 73 but spent much of her life in mental institutions. I couldn't have done that to her [while she was still alive], Clayton tells the Morning News. She was a dear, dear person. Clayton popped the question to Smith on Mother's Day this year, she tells WFAA: I said, 'I have been thinking about adopting you, how do you feel about that?' And her little face just lit up! Her daughter's reply: 'Little face' ... isn't that sweet? Clayton sums up the adoption with a touching analogy. I have worked jigsaw puzzles, and my life had been a beautiful picture, she tells WFAA. But one piece was missing, and that was Mary. And now I've got that piece in place. (This adopted Ohio woman found her birth mother ... at work.)

(Dec 23, 2011 12:21 PM) Hark! A sizable majority of Americans believe the herald angels really might be practicing their chorus. A new AP-GfK poll shows that 77% of adults think angels are real. That's significantly lower than the 92% who professed belief in God in a May poll, but a lot higher than the 34% of people who said, in a 2007 poll, that they believe in non-religious fantastical entities like ghosts or UFOs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 88% of Christians and 94% of those who attend weekly religious services buy into the existence of angels, but they weren't alone; a majority of non-Christians and 4 in 10 of those who never attend religious services believe as well. Interestingly, those over 30 are more likely than younger adults to think they exist.

(Nov 23, 2011 6:04 PM) A Massachusetts fisherman nearly caught a fortune in the form of an 881-pound bluefin tuna, but it's now the property of the US government. A fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael snagged the massive fish inadvertently in its trawling net, reports the Standard-Times of New Bedford. It could have been a huge payday considering that a 754-pound specimen sold for nearly $400,000 in Tokyo earlier this year. Rafael called a bluefin tuna hot line to report the catch--the fish is closely regulated because of shrinking numbers--and soon was met by agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. They confiscated the bluefin because it was caught in a net instead of with a rod and reel. It will now be sold overseas, and Rafael might not see a cent. However, an NOAA official says the proceeds will be kept in an account until the case is fully investigated.

(Dec 21, 2010 4:43 AM) A Spanish gang of late contenders for the Dumbest Criminal of 2010 award offered to sell a scrap merchant an iron sculpture worth close to $1 million ... for just $65, police say. The artwork, by Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida, has been recovered, along with works by Pablo Picasso and Fernando Botero that were stolen when crooks made off with a truckload of artworks from a Madrid warehouse last month, the Guardian reports.

(Aug 23, 2011 1:22 AM CDT) Some 45 people were arrested yesterday during the latest protest against San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit's decision to cut cellphone service to foil a demonstration earlier this month. The protests forced the closure of two stations at rush hour, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. BART police arrested five who were protesting at the Civic Center platform; city police busted 40 others when they refused to disperse from two street-level protests. Witnesses described shouting matches between the demonstrators and angry commuters facing chaos for the second time in seven days, the Los Angeles Times reports, and the Chronicle paints a picture of what commuters had to deal with: The Powell Station was opened and closed four times and the Civic Center station three times, as BART officials warily eyed the shifting protests. The BART board meets tomorrow to discuss the possibility of adopting a policy on when, if at all, the agency can cut its wireless network.

(Oct 22, 2010 1:31 PM CDT) Diabetes is a big problem--and it's about to get a whole lot bigger: The number of Americans living with the disease is projected to explode from the current rate of 1 in 10 to as much as 1 in 3 by 2050, according to a new report from the CDC. Among the reasons for the boost: More and more Americans are becoming overweight; the population of Hispanics and blacks, who have a higher risk for the disease, is growing; and improved medications are allowing those with diabetes to live longer. The cost of such an increase will be a hefty one: Diabetes is the No. 1 cause of adult blindness, kidney failure, and limb amputation, and has been linked to everything from dementia to heart attacks to cancer. The CDC currently pegs the cost of the disease at $174 billion a year, two-thirds of which is spent on direct medical costs, reports USA Today. There's a dual message here: prevention where it's feasible, and critical and early intervention for those already diagnosed, says the chief medical officer of the American Diabetes Association.

(Sep 11, 2011 4:00 PM CDT) Ten years later, and still no great 9/11 novels? Yes, because at its heart, 9/11 was meaningless, writes Laura Miller at Salon. I realize that sounds inflammatory, but hear me out. A novelist explores the winding and unwinding of long strands of cause and effect, in the reasons people do things and the often unanticipated results they get. And it's hard to infuse that into the 2,996 deaths of 9/11. Those deaths were simply abrupt and unanticipated, as is the case with most disasters. Miller admits that police and firefighters are the great exception because they sacrificed their lives on 9/11--yet a firefighter who dies in any fire is no less brave or heroic. Some novelists have tried to find meaning in 9/11 deaths anyway, but Miller considers their efforts sentimental or self-aggrandizing. She prefers less literal books, like James Hyne's Next, about a self-absorbed man about to die in a 9/11-like attack. Yet the novel never reaches his demise, because there is next to nothing, perhaps nothing at all, to say about death itself. Silence, too, can be eloquent.

(Jan 25, 2008 12:34 AM) Embarrassed executives at Charter Communications have given $50 credits to each of 14,000 customers who had their email accounts accidentally wiped out, the AP reports. A company spokeswoman apologized for the technical error that saw active accounts erased in a routine clearout of unused email accounts.The cable company didn't realize their mistake until complaints started flooding in. The thing that really makes me sick is that a lot of family photos that people had emailed me and a lot of artist photos were lost, said a customer who lost 7 years of emails. I never thought to download them onto something else. Charter say they are changing their procedures to prevent any more such mass deletions.

(Mar 26, 2019 7:06 AM CDT) Last year, there were 372 cases of measles reported in the US, the second-highest number in more than 20 years--which is why this year's numbers just through the first three months have health officials concerned. The CDC notes that between Jan. 1 and March 21, 314 measles cases in 15 states have been documented, with outbreaks (defined as three or more cases) reported in Texas, California, Illinois, Washington, New York City, and Rockland County in New York. The outbreaks have been tied to people who traveled to Ukraine and Israel, where measles is running rampant. CNN notes an uptick is happening in certain areas where schools allow for more vaccination waivers, with health officials pointing to the proliferation of anti-vaccination talk as a factor in the jumping number of measles cases. Still, a CDC spokesman says it's not definite that 2019 will speed by 2018 in the numbers by year's end, noting the agency doesn't attempt to predict how many cases we will have in any particular year or when we might surpass the number of cases that occurred in a previous year. Meanwhile, one country is now considering making vaccinations mandatory: Deutsche Welle reports Germany, which has seen its own spike in measles cases, is considering it, though some officials think such a compulsory move would be counterproductive and that parents should simply be educated better about the benefits of vaccination. (A family visiting Costa Rica brought measles back there.)

(Aug 28, 2016 1:37 PM CDT) For years Wanda Witter, an 80-year-old retired machinist wandered the streets of Washington, DC, with three suitcases crammed full of Social Security paperwork that she insisted proved the government owed her a lot of money. People called her crazy and a hoarder, especially because she slept in shelters or on the streets. But when a social worker began looking into the case last year, she concluded Witter was correct, reports the Washington Post. That social worker got an attorney to investigate, and this week, the feds deposited $99,999 into Witter's bank account. She may be getting more. I wasn't crazy, says Witter. The Post first covered Witter's 16-year predicament last week. She began collecting Social Security in 2006, but the check amounts varied wildly from month to month. Knowing something was wrong, she refused to cash them and instead returned them with the word void written across the front. In the meantime, she ran out of money and ended up homeless. Now she's found a $500 apartment, indulged in a pillow, and hopes to reunite with her four adult children and grandkids, whom she refused to let see her on the streets.

(Dec 27, 2011 7:39 AM) It's another whoops for Newt Gingrich: CNN yesterday broke the news that the candidate's story about how his first divorce went down wasn't exactly true. The Wall Street Journal today reveals the results of its own digging. It seems that while Gingrich has publicly panned Mitt Romney's Massachusetts healthcare law (calling it one more big-government, bureaucratic, high-cost system ), he actually gave it the thumbs up when it passed by way of an April 2006 newsletter published by his former consulting company, the Center for Health Transformation. The health bill that Governor Romney signed into law this month has tremendous potential to effect major change in the American health system, reads the unsigned essay in the Newt Notes newsletter, which the Journal was able to track down online though it is no longer live on the center's website. A follow-up essay published four months later called it the most interesting effort to solve the uninsured problem in America today. A rep said the essays weren't actually penned by Gingrich, were not meant to be an endorsement of RomneyCare, and actually questioned whether it would actually work. Being critical ... isn't endorsing it, noted the rep. Click to read more passages from the newsletter.

(Apr 23, 2020 12:24 AM CDT) President Trump is getting his wish. Harvard University said Wednesday it would not accept $8.7 million in federal aid from the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package. Stanford, Princeton, and Yale also announced they would not take the millions set aside for them, as scrutiny of the wealthy universities' acceptance of the funds increased. Harvard said in a statement that while the COVID-19 pandemic will cause significant financial issues for the school, it feared the intense focus by politicians and others would undermine the relief fund, which allocated $14 billion for colleges and universities. That amount was divvied up based on school size and how many students come from low-income backgrounds, the Guardian reports. Trump had said Harvard didn't need the aid since it has an endowment of nearly $40 billion, a concern that was echoed by others--even including some Harvard alums. While we understand any reallocation of these resources is a matter for the Department of Education, we hope that special consideration will be given to Massachusetts institutions that are struggling to serve their communities and meet the needs of their students through these difficult and challenging times, Harvard said in a statement that also noted it had never actually applied for the aid, MassLive reports. Also Wednesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called out schools that do not primarily serve low-income students, saying they do not need or deserve the funds. Schools with large endowments should not apply for funds so more can be given to students who need support the most, she said. Politico notes the four schools that have now rejected the funds are the wealthiest in the US. Cornell and Notre Dame still plan to accept their funds; MIT and Duke are as yet undecided. Trump on Wednesday thanked the affluent schools that turned down the money.

(Aug 12, 2020 3:50 PM CDT) Three alleged R. Kelly associates are now, like him, behind bars--accused of trying to manipulate women who accuse him of sex crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Federal prosecutors say they've charged Richard Arline Jr., 31, Donnell Russell, 45, and Michael Williams, 37, in separate schemes of trying to bribe, intimidate, and harass the R&B singer's alleged victims. Arline, who's described as Kelly's self-proclaimed friend, allegedly discussed paying one victim $500,000 to keep her quiet. Per the feds, Arline said in a recorded phone call that he'd talked to Kelly while the singer was behind bars, saying that he gonna pay her ... off to be quiet, adding that she got too much. She got too much. Russell allegedly threatened to release one victim's sexually explicit photos and even sent versions of them to executives and producers of A&E and Lifetime in 2018 on the day Lifetime was set to screen some of the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries, per NPR. That screening and panel were later canceled due to a gun threat. Williams is accused of setting fire to an SUV parked outside the Florida home of a Kelly accuser in June; her father had signed the vehicle's lease. A Kelly attorney promptly denied the singer's involvement in any of the schemes. Kelly is facing a slew of federal criminal charges for allegedly abusing 11 women and girls between 1994 and 2018. (Another Kelly charge involves a hidden STD.)

(Oct 4, 2018 9:15 AM CDT) The Department of Justice is condemning a judge's ruling that blocks the Trump administration from ending protections for 300,000 immigrants living and working in the United States. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary injunction Wednesday that bars the administration from ending a program that allowed people from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador to stay in the US temporarily, the AP reports. The Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS, granted temporary protection to people because of war, epidemics, or natural disasters in their home countries, per CNN.

(Jun 22, 2017 12:37 AM CDT) Global liquor behemoth Diageo says it will pay up to $1 billion to buy a tequila brand co-founded by movie star George Clooney. Clooney founded the Casamigos brand four years ago with partners Rande Gerber and Mike Meldma. Diageo says it will pay $700 million for Casamigos at first, and then pay another $300 million over 10 years if the brand reaches certain performance milestones, the AP reports. London-based Diageo's other brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Captain Morgan. Clooney and Gerber, an entrepreneur who is married to model Cindy Crawford, have appeared in ads for the brand. Diageo says the founders will continue to promote Casamigos and have a say in its future. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year. If you asked us four years ago if we had a $1 billion company, I don't think we would have said yes. This reflects Diageo's belief in our company and our belief in Diageo, Clooney wrote in a statement. We'll still be very much a part of Casamigos. Starting with a shot tonight. Maybe two. (George and Amal Clooney welcomed twins earlier this month.)

(Nov 2, 2020 12:17 PM) A 13-year-old boy in Missouri has become the state's youngest coronavirus fatality. The Washington School District says the family of eighth-grader Peyton Baumgarth has confirmed that he died from COVID-19 complications over the weekend, NBC reports. Peyton last attended school on Oct. 22 and went into quarantine on Oct. 26. He was hospitalized days later after his symptoms worsened. His family asks that we all remember to wear masks, wash hands frequently, and follow guidelines, his family said in a statement released by district superintendent Dr. Lori VanLeer. COVID-19 is real and they want to remind students and parents to take these precautions in and outside of school. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to the family and ask that the public respects their privacy, VanLeer said. The district said counselors will be available when students return to in-person classes on Wednesday. According to data released by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Peyton is the first person under 18 in the state to die from COVID-19, KSDK reports. The department says five people between 18 and 24 have died from the virus, per the Missourian. Peyton's death comes as cases are rising sharply in the state, with authorities warning that health services are on the verge of being overwhelmed.

(Oct 26, 2011 11:23 AM CDT) A few weeks ago, a boozed-up father had his daughter climb on a booster seat and take him shopping; now childhood designated-driving is turning into a quasi-epidemic. A Wyoming man visiting Orlando felt he and his wife had had a few too many on Saturday, so he instructed his son, age 9, to drive the van, MyFox Orlando reports. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the kid drove into the arm bar of a security gate--and a deputy happened to witness the crash, notes the AP. Nathan Sikkenga, 31, has been charged with child neglect. And lest you think quasi-epidemic is an overstatement, the Miami New Times reports that this is at least the third such incident in the state in recent memory: A 10-year-old hit several cars and a house last year during a driving lesson ; and an 11-year-old crashed an SUV while learning to drive in July. (Click for another Parent of the Year story.)

(Jul 14, 2014 1:43 AM CDT) The controversial but undeniably brilliant conductor Lorin Maazel has died at the age of 84--some 75 years after he began conducting orchestras as a 9-year-old child prodigy. Maazel, who conducted an average of two orchestras a week during his long career and performed with more than 200 orchestras, died of pneumonia at his farm in Virginia yesterday, reports the Los Angeles Times. He resigned with a heavy heart as music director of the Munich Philharmonic last month because of health concerns, but was still preparing for his annual Castleton Festival summer series. Maazel, born in Paris to American parents in 1930, was recognized early on as a prodigy and conducted most of the major American orchestras before he was 15, NPR reports. Throughout his career, his perfomances could seem coolly fastidious and emotionally distant, writes Allan Kozinn at the New York Times, yet such performances were regularly offset by others that were fiery and intensely personalized. Among his many high-profile jobs, he was the first American to be principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, and he served as director of the New York Philharmonic--which he led in a 2008 visit to North Korea--for seven years. I never thought conducting could be a career, he said a few years ago. It became one. It's been a long and interesting road, and I've had a very full, rich and marvelous life doing things I wanted to do. I took four sabbaticals, learned many languages, traveled extensively and had a very rich personal life.

(Jun 15, 2017 2:40 PM CDT) Authorities say a 14-year-old boy accidentally shot his twin brother to death when he fired at a snake Monday in Texas. Liberty County Sheriff's Office says they don't anticipate any charges to be filed in the shooting. Sheriff's officials said the twin who was shot died Tuesday night at a Houston hospital. The boys' names have not been released, the AP reports. Investigators say the twins fetched two .22-caliber rifles from their home near Dayton after spotting a snake in a water-filled ditch. Deputy John Tucker says one of the teens bent over toward the snake just as his brother aimed and fired. Tucker says the victim was shot in the head. Dayton is 35 miles northeast of Houston.

(Jan 14, 2015 3:46 PM) A woman in Myrtle Beach, SC, filed a missing person report this week over a teenage son who left 20 years ago, reports the Smoking Gun. Strange? Yes, but this might be the answer to the mystery of Grateful Doe, an unidentified car-crash victim from 1995. Start here: Margaretta Evans says that in June 1995, son Jason Callahan left their South Carolina home to follow the Grateful Dead on tour. She never heard from him again. Later that month, a young man was killed in a car accident in Emporia, Va. He was a passenger, likely a hitchhiker, and police were never able to identify him, in part because the accident disfigured his face. But he wore a Grateful Dead shirt and had Grateful Dead ticket stubs in his pocket, along with a note addressed to Jason, reports MyrtleBeachOnline. The victim has been known as Grateful Doe ever since, and he's had supporters trying to unravel his identity all this time. A few years ago, Virginia police issued a composite sketch, and the case has been generating interest on social media, complete with specific pages on Facebook and Reddit. A seemingly big break came recently when a man in Urbana, Ill., saw the sketch online and recognized the victim as a fellow Deadhead named Jason, though he couldn't remember a last name, reports Illinois Homepage. He posted more photos to social media sites trying to crack the case, and it appears that this renewed interest is related to the filing of the missing person report. A Myrtle Beach PD rep says DNA samples are being evaluated in an attempt to link Grateful Doe to Callahan, who would now be 38. (This missing person case had a happy ending.)

(Mar 2, 2020 3:13 PM) The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,200 points, or 5%, on hopes that central banks will take action to shelter the global economy from the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the AP reports. The huge gains clawed back some of the ground lost in a massive sell-off last week. Technology companies led the gains. The Dow jumped 1,293 points to 26,703. It was the biggest-ever point gain for the Dow and the biggest percentage gain since March 2009. The S&P 500 index rose 135 points, or 4.6%, to 3,089. The Nasdaq added 384 points, or 4.5%, to 8,952. Bond prices rose again, sending yields lower.

(Aug 23, 2012 2:33 AM CDT) Ever wonder how many black voters support Mitt Romney? The simple answer is: 0%. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has found that 94% of blacks back President Obama, compared to zilch for Romney. The poll also found that Obama is doing better among Latinos, voters under 35, and women. Romney fares better with whites, rural voters, and seniors. Overall, the news isn't good for Romney as he's about to head to the GOP convention. A Romney-Paul Ryan ticket rates 4 points behind an Obama-Joe Biden ticket, the poll finds. Fears about the economy continue to create problems for the president, but voter concerns about Romney's tax returns and Medicare plans present even bigger obstacles for Mitt, notes NBC. Observers point out, however, that Obama isn't out of the woods until he passes the 50% mark in polling. When a guy gets stuck at 48%, it doesn't mean they are out in the clear, says GOP pollster Republican pollster Bill McInturff. It means they are in an incredibly competitive campaign.

(Jan 17, 2017 4:14 PM) A man who was abandoned as a newborn in a Newark McDonald's restroom has reunited with his biological family, 39 years later. David Volk publicized his search for his birth mother on Facebook in 2014, and now--also on Facebook--he reveals that the search has come to an end. Volk, who was adopted when he was about a year old, reconnected with Wilhelmenia Dinkins, the then-McDonald's manager who rescued him from the restaurant's bathroom in 1977 and called authorities, within months of starting his search. They now have a relationship, the Express-Times reports. It took longer to find his biological family. In June 2015, a DNA testing service helped him to locate a man believed to be his second cousin; in 2016, he found his brother, sister, and mother. He waited on DNA testing results--and those came back last month, confirming they are his immediate family. He announced the news on Facebook Monday, but tells the Express-Times that while he's relieved to be done searching, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Volk, who was in tremendously good health when he was found, per the New York Daily News, is not revealing the identities of his family members, but says he's met his siblings and has exchanged emails with his biological mother. He hopes to meet her in person soon. (This mom was just arrested and accused of kidnapping her own daughters 32 years ago.)

(Aug 15, 2017 7:03 AM CDT) The wife of Zimbabwe's president handed herself over to police in South Africa on Tuesday after being accused of assaulting a young woman Sunday night at an upscale Johannesburg hotel, South Africa's police minister said. Grace Mugabe was due to appear in court Tuesday afternoon, local news outlet eNCA reported. The 52-year-old is not under arrest because she cooperated and handed herself over, Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula said in a video posted on eNCA. Gabriella Engels, 20, has accused Mugabe of assaulting her while she was visiting Mugabe's sons in a hotel room. She claims the first lady's bodyguards stood by and watched as Mugabe attacked her. Engels posted several photos on social media showing a gash in her forehead, which she calls a result of the alleged encounter, reports the AP. Engels told News24 she had no idea who Mugabe was when she walked into the room with an extension cord and just started beating me with it. ... She flipped and just kept beating me with the plug. Engels claims the first lady accused her of living with her sons. The investigation into this case has already reached an advanced stage, a police statement on Tuesday said. The BBC reports Mugabe was in the country to receive treatment for an ankle injury; she reportedly injured it in July when the presidential limo began to drive away as she was climbing in.

(Dec 12, 2011 5:04 AM) An extremely rare, 224-year-old gold doubloon has been sold to a Wall Street investment firm for $7.4 million, reports AP. Minted by Ephraim Brasher, a neighbor of George Washington, the 1787 Brasher doubloon is believed to be the first American-made gold coin issued in dollars. The coin contains 26.66 grams of gold, just less than one ounce, which would make the gold value about $1,500 today. The company behind the deal did not disclose details about the seller or buyer. The US Mint in Philadelphia didn't begin producing coins until the 1790s, notes the AP.

(May 13, 2019 3:14 PM CDT) Stocks are closing sharply lower as an escalating trade war between the US and China rattles investors, the AP reports. Technology companies, which do a lot of business with China and would stand to lose greatly in an extended trade battle, fell far more than the rest of the market Monday. Apple gave up almost 6%. Industrial stocks including Deere and Boeing also fell sharply. Utilities, a haven for fearful investors, were among the few stocks that rose. Prices for other safe-play assets like bonds and gold also rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 617 points, or 2.4%, to 25,324. The S&P 500 fell 69 points, or 2.4%, to 2,811. The Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, plunged 269 points, or 3.4%, to 7,647, its biggest drop of the year.

(Sep 2, 2011 10:20 AM CDT) Religious rioting in the troubled central Nigeria city of Jos has killed at least 21 people in recent days, as authorities seem to be unable to curb the rising violence. An AP journalist counted the bodies awaiting burial at the city's central mosque today. Doctors at a university hospital collected at least 12 bodies bearing gunshot and machete wounds; another 82 people were wounded in fighting in the city, said a hospital boss. It is unclear if the 12 dead at the hospital were included among the dead collected at the mosque. The violence began Monday in Jos, on the volatile dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north. A group of rioters attacked Muslims praying over the end of Ramadan in a primarily Christian neighborhood, using knives, machetes, and bows and arrows, officials said. Though army and police units moved into the affected neighborhood, the violence spilled into other neighborhoods as the unrest continued throughout the week. Days earlier, a UN building in Nigeria was bombed.

(Jul 14, 2009 7:37 AM CDT) Exxon Mobil, the biggest oil company in the world, will invest $600 million in turning algae into fuel, the New York Times reports. Known for blowing off concerns about global warming and dismissing biofuels--its CEO famously called ethanol moonshine --Exxon Mobil has in fact been researching alternative fuels for years, says a VP. The current plan involves a partnership with a biotech company founded by Craig Venter, known for his work on the human genome. Exxon says algae can produce 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre, compared to 250 for corn. But don't expect big changes too soon: It could be a decade before we see big algae-based fuel plants, notes the Exxon VP. This is not going to be easy. Environmentalists say they'll reserve judgment on Exxon despite the plan. The question is whether companies are simply paying lip service to something or whether they are putting their weight and power behind it, notes one. After all, $600 million is a fraction of the $45.22 billion Exxon earned last year.

(Jan 14, 2009 4:08 PM) Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's Fantasy Island, died today at his California home at age 88. A generation of TV watchers knew Montalban as the faintly mysterious, white-suited Roarke, who presided over a resort where visitors were able to fulfill lifelong dreams. Fantasy Island received high ratings for most of its 1978-84 span on ABC-TV and still appears in reruns. Before that, however, Montalban had been a star in Mexican movies when MGM brought him to Hollywood in 1946. He was cast in the leading role opposite Esther Williams in Fiesta. He also starred with the swimming beauty in On an Island with You and Neptune's Daughter.

(Jun 17, 2016 7:49 AM CDT) A group of nearly three dozen migrants, most of them kids, paid smugglers to whisk them out of Niger and Nigeria and to a new life to the north--but instead paid the ultimate price. The five men, nine women, and 20 minors were found dead Sunday in the Sahara, per Niger's Ministry of Interior, apparently ditched by those they'd hoped would save them and likely victims of extreme thirst, ABC News reports. The interior minister said the migrants had perished between June 6 and June 12 near Assamaka, per the BBC, with the Guardian noting that temps in the desert can soar upward of 105 degrees Fahrenheit. What transpired isn't an uncommon consequence: Thousands of people have lost their lives as a result of the indifferent or even deliberate actions of migrant smugglers, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says on its website, noting that as borders have become more tightly policed, migrants have become more wary of trying to cross over on their own. Which often leads to a highly profitable endeavor for the smugglers, who enjoy low risk of detection and punishment, and tragedy for the smuggled, who may pay upward of $345 each for the chance to escape, per an International Organization for Migration report. The IOM notes that Niger is a waypoint for escapees on their way to Algeria and Libya (and Europe after that), with migrants usually hailing from Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea-Bissau. What made this group of doomed deserters unusual: the number of children. Per the IOM report, a tracking tool showed that between February and April, the 60,000-plus migrants who passed through Niger were overwhelmingly male and between the ages of 18 and 59. (A drowned baby has become a crushing symbol of Europe's migrant crisis.)

(Feb 22, 2011 9:42 AM) Trips to the gas station could get a whole lot more painful soon, now that the unrest sweeping the Middle East has hit an oil-producing nation. Crude prices shot up 7% yesterday, and were still rising this morning, after BP and Norway's Statoil evacuated workers from Libya, USA Today reports. If this thing escalates, and there's a good chance that there'd be a shift in supplies, $5 gas isn't out of the question, one senior energy analyst says. Gas prices are already up 20% from last year's levels, and within the next few days are expected to rise another 2.5% to $3.25. Analysts think old-fashioned consumption will drive it to between $3.75 and $4 by midsummer, even without additional political upheaval. We have all the wrong things working together at the right time, says another analyst. If unrest hits other oil-producing nations, you're easily talking $5 gas.

(May 19, 2008 4:20 AM CDT) At least 12 foreigners were shot, stabbed, beaten or burned to death over the weekend in anti-immigrant protests in and around Johannesburg. Thousands of terrified immigrants, many of them Zimbabweans fleeing problems in their own country, are now seeking refuge in churches or police stations, reports the New York Times. Immigrants have become the scapegoat for problems in the nation, rocked by a 23% unemployment rate, soaring food prices and one of the highest crime levels in the world. We should be the last people to have this problem of a negative attitude toward our brothers and sisters who come from outside, said the president of the African National Congress.

(Aug 28, 2013 1:42 AM CDT) A Montana teacher found guilty of raping a troubled 14-year-old girl who later committed suicide will spend just 30 days in jail because the judge decided the girl was older than her chronological age and was as much in control of the situation as her teacher. After the girl's suicide just before her 17th birthday made the case hard to prosecute, teacher Stacey Dean Rambold, 54, entered a deferred prosecution agreement--which he violated by missing sex offender treatment meetings and having unsupervised visits with minors, the Billings Gazette reports. Rambold--who had previously been warned to avoid touching female students--targeted the troubled girl and violated his position of trust by beginning a sexual relationship with her, said prosecutors, who asked for a sentence of at least 20 years, with 10 suspended. His defense argued that he had already been punished enough by the loss of his career and his marriage. The girl's mother, who testified that the relationship with Rambold was a major factor in her daughter's suicide, screamed You people suck! after the sentence was announced.

(Jun 25, 2010 8:10 AM CDT) With the 60th anniversary of the Korean War fast approaching, cash-strapped North Korea is demanding that the US pay it nearly $65 trillion to repay it for the damage caused by those decades of hostility, the AFP reports. According to the regime's inscrutable math, the US owes $26.5 trillion to cover wartime atrocities, $13.7 trillion in losses from economic sanctions, and $16.7 trillion in property losses. The country says it's not counting any losses incurred due to sanctions in place since 2006, when it performed a nuclear test. North Korea's news agency says the country has a justifiable right to the money--and Newser says good luck with that.

(Jul 16, 2013 3:31 PM CDT) The UN's new population forecast for the world has some eye-popping figures, especially about Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. Its charts show that Nigeria, about the size of Texas, will surpass the entire US in population by 2050, reports the Guardian. By 2100, it is expected to have an astonishing 1 billion people and be poised to overtake China, writes Max Fisher in the Washington Post. (The latter country will be shrinking and likely headed for a demographic nightmare.) As for the African continent, it will see a population explosion nearly unprecedented in human history, he adds. The biggest nation in 2100, however, is expected to be India, with a population somewhere around 1.5 billion. But its growth will level off around 2065--meaning Nigeria looks on track to be No. 1 in the subsequent decades. As for the US, its growth will rise slowly but steadily over the century and should be around 500 million by 2100. The world's overall population, now at 7.2 billion, is expected to be at 11 billion by then.

(Apr 8, 2008 12:02 AM CDT) Advanced Micro Devices will shed 10% of its workforce this year and predicts a 15% first-quarter revenue drop, down to $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. Slumping desktop sales and the company's line of defective chips and have hurt AMD, which will lay off workers worldwide at all levels within the company, a spokesman told the San Jose Mercury News today. The Silicon Valley-based company took on heavy debt in 2006 by acquiring ATI Technologies Inc., then rolled out a line of defective chips in a bid to compete with Intel. Since then, Wall Street has waited for AMD to announce cost-cutting plans, perhaps by outsourcing manufacturing. Company stock traded today at $6.34, an 11-cent increase, but fell to $6.22 after-hours following the announced layoffs.

(Oct 26, 2020 12:02 AM CDT) A New York Police Department officer who was recorded touting President Trump's re-election campaign over his squad car's loudspeaker has been suspended without pay, USA Today reports. Trump 2020. Put it on YouTube. Put it on Facebook. Trump 2020, the unidentified cop can be heard saying to the person recording him, as his marked NYPD SUV was parked in a crosswalk with lights flashing in Brooklyn on Saturday night. One hundred percent unacceptable. Period, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted. Law enforcement MUST remain apolitical, reassuring the public that we will enforce the law fairly and without prejudice regardless of anyone's political beliefs. The incident is under investigation, CNN reports. (In Miami, a cop is in hot water over a Trump mask.

(Mar 26, 2013 6:08 AM CDT) Bodega owner Pedro Quezada has seen his share of hard times. The 44-year-old father of five lives with his wife and kids in Passaic, one of the poorest areas of North Jersey; years ago, a fire destroyed much of their store, and just one year later, thieves stole everything they could from the family's apartment. But now, finally, Quezada's luck has changed: On Saturday, as he did every night, he bought a Powerball ticket from Eagle Liquors--but this time, his was the winning ticket. He returned to Eagle Liquors last night to reveal himself to his excited neighbors as the winner of the $338 million jackpot. With the lump sum payment, he'll take home about $152 million after taxes, the Record reports. He also broke the news to his family: He called them only after signing the ticket, telling his wife, I'm a millionaire, Ines. Did you hear? Neighbors described the couple as quiet but hard-working, and expressed happiness at their good fortune. I'm just glad it went to somebody that could use it, says one. Another calls the win a blessing for the neighborhood, because it gives people hope that there is a blessing somewhere, for somebody. As for what Quezada will do with the money, he says, I want to help a lot of people, in whatever they need, in rent, in whatever. First, he'll help his family, the AP reports. In Spanish, he told reporters that he's very happy.

(Aug 31, 2015 12:00 PM CDT) Last week, Gizmodo claimed that an investigation showed most of the female user profiles on Ashley Madison were either fake or inactive--the same complaint hackers had about the site before leaking a massive amount of data--and now the cheating website is hitting back. Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise of Ashley Madison are greatly exaggerated, Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison's parent company, says in a statement picked up by Reuters. In fact, the company claims that not only have hundreds of thousands of people signed up for Ashley Madison accounts in the past week, but 87,596 of those people are women. Today's statement notes that an unnamed reporter--presumably referring to the Gizmodo writer--incorrectly calculated the number of active female users when looking at the leaked data, and that in truth, last week alone, women sent more than 2.8 million messages within our platform. Ars Technica notes that there's no way to confirm the number of new sign-ups, and as for those 2.8 million messages, the company ... made no assurances that the female messages weren't generated by automated scripts. And Engadget notes that while Avid Life Media's statement also claims the ratio of men to active ladies on the site is 1.2 to 1, the company isn't outlining the ratio of real to fake women, so it's not clear whether real women are bountiful or needles in the proverbial haystack. On another note, the leaked Ashley Madison data revealed that Avid Life Media had been struggling to sell itself or raise funds in the three years before the hack, Reuters reports.

(Jan 1, 2018 6:26 AM) At least 12 people have been killed in the ongoing protests in Iran, and armed protesters have tried to take over police stations and military bases, state TV reported Monday. The protests began Thursday in Mashhad over economic issues and have since expanded to several cities, with some protesters chanting against the government and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the AP reports. Hundreds of people have been arrested. The state TV report said 10 were killed during clashes Sunday night, including six in the western town of Tuyserkan, 185 miles southwest of Tehran. Two demonstrators were killed during a protest in western Iran late Saturday.

(Jun 18, 2020 7:24 AM CDT) A mother arrested for not properly wearing a mask plans to file a $10 million notice of claim against New York City for excessive force, arguing police officers put a knee on her neck in front of her 5-year-old son. Kaleemah Rozier, 22, and her son were inside a Brooklyn subway station last month when they were approached by officers who said Rozier would be ejected if she didn't properly cover her nose and mouth--a state requirement when unable to keep 6 feet from others. According to police, Rozier refused and threatened to cough on officers, per WABC. The outlet reports she was escorted twice from the station before returning. A two-minute video posted to social media then shows six officers surrounding Rozier and bringing her to the ground. Police said she struck an officer as she tried to pull away and later apologized, per WABC and the New York Daily News. But Rozier says her son was pulled away from her even though she wasn't resisting, according to the notice of claim obtained by ABC News. It claims she was pushed in the back of her head and neck to the ground, had her arm pulled and twisted, [and] had a knee pressed in the back of her neck, leaving her with injuries to the neck, back, left wrist, right wrist, left hip, left knee. Rozier's attorney, Sanford Rubenstein, also describes psychological injuries to the mother and son, who were separated as Rozier sat in jail. She's charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and harassment, though those charges may be dropped. She told the Daily News she'd only pulled down her mask to talk on her phone. Per ABC News, the NYPD issued 374 summonses for social distancing violations from March 16 to May 5, with 193 applying to African Americans, 111 to Hispanics.

(Apr 8, 2011 11:11 AM CDT) Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships and jets killed 54 alleged militants in a much-contested region near the Afghan border, a government official said today. Three troops also died in the clashes. Pakistani troops were doing routine patrolling in the Mohmand tribal region when they came under attack, according to a deputy administrator in the region. The troops returned fire and killed 10 insurgents, but also called for backup in the air. The army sent helicopters and jets to target militant positions, killing 44 more insurgents and wounding several others, the official said. He noted that two or three civilians died when a mortar shell hit a home in the region, but he would not speculate which side fired the shell. Today also saw a roadside bomb explode in Peshawar, wounding a local police officer, and the killings of three men in North Waziristan. The Taliban left notes on their bullet-riddled corpses accusing them of being US spies.

(Dec 3, 2017 12:40 PM) Pixar's Coco is the top film at the box office for the second straight week, the AP reports. According to estimates Sunday, Coco led all films with $26.1 million. The acclaimed animated film has already racked up a global total of $280 million.

(Aug 15, 2017 3:58 PM CDT) The Department of Justice is demanding the IP addresses of more than 1.3 million people who visited an anti-Trump website, TechCrunch reports. According to Fortune, that information--along with photos, email content, and more being sought by the DOJ--could be used to identify anyone who visited DisruptJ20.org, which was used to organize protests during President Trump's inauguration. DreamHost, which hosts DisruptJ20.org, was served a warrant by the DOJ in July, but the warrant wasn't made public until Monday when DreamHost filed arguments to fight it, the Guardian reports. DreamHost says the warrant chills free association and the right of free speech afforded by the Constitution and should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone's mind. The Electronic Frontier Foundation calls the DOJ warrant unconstitutional and a fishing expedition. The digital rights organization, which is advising DreamHost, says no plausible explanation exists for a search warrant of this breadth, other than to cast a digital dragnet as broadly as possible. Similar warrants have been used to go after websites disseminating illegal content, such as child pornography, but DreamHost says DisruptJ20.org was only used to facilitate legal political speech. The DOJ has been serious about prosecuting anti-Trump protesters; one indictment filed in Washington DC following inauguration protests charged more than 217 people with identical crimes.

(Nov 9, 2011 8:56 AM) Silvio Berlusconi's promises to resign haven't done much to calm European markets--or Wall Street. The Dow opened sharply lower today on the news that Italian bond yields spiked above 7%, the level that caused Greece, Portugal, and Ireland to seek bailouts; Italy's debt, however, is too big to bail out, notes the AP. The Dow sank 228 points, bringing it below 12,000 to 11,943, reports MarketWatch. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 28 and 62 points, respectively.

(Mar 8, 2017 11:48 AM) Robert Foisie has donated $63 million to Massachusetts' Worcester Polytechnic Institute over the years, making him the largest donor in its history, per the Worchester Business Journal. His ex-wife, however, says some of that money should instead be in her pockets. In a lawsuit, Janet Foisie explains she and Robert were married for 50 years before they opted to divorce in 2010. The couple agreed to split their assets and eventually did so; during the process, Robert stated he did not have any offshore assets, the lawsuit says. But that wasn't in fact the case, alleges Janet, who claims Robert had $4.5 million hidden in a Swiss account and transferred the money to WPI as part of a $40 million donation in 2014, per the Telegram & Gazette. Like one laundering the proceeds of a criminal enterprise, Robert sought to dispose of the funds for a purpose of his personal preference and choosing, rather than give it to his legitimate creditor Janet, who agreed to a smaller award of marital assets than she would have agreed to had she known the truth, per the lawsuit, which names WPI but not Robert. The suit asks that a temporary injunction be issued to keep WPI from using any funds given to it by Robert since 2011, and that a receiver be appointed to control the money. In a statement, WPI says, We have no knowledge of any of the improper conduct alleged in the lawsuit and hope the Foisies are able to work out their differences. MassLive notes the Foisies divvied up their homes and each walked with $20 million worth of securities.

(Apr 24, 2018 2:06 AM CDT) An unruly passenger on a flight from Miami to Chicago never made it off the ground before he was Tased 10 times and removed from the plane, police say. According to a police report, 28-year-old Jacob Garcia was initially moved to a different seat on the American Airlines flight after a female passenger accused him of groping her. Police say they were called after Garcia started screaming insults at the woman and her boyfriend, the Miami Herald reports. All passengers were told to leave the plane but Garcia refused to exit the aircraft and wrapped his legs around a seat, yelling at officers to try it and see what happens. He was just being really argumentative, kind of combative with everyone, passenger Kaitlin Water tells CBS Miami. Police say that during the struggle, which was captured on video, an officer discharged his Taser, which cycled 10 times due to Mr. Garcia's actions and the close quarters of the engagement. Police say that after they carried Garcia off the plane, still yelling, he went limp to make himself harder to move then grabbed the gun of an officer, who slapped his hand away. The flight to Chicago took off an hour late without Garcia, who was booked on charges including battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting an officer.

(Jun 19, 2019 8:13 AM CDT) A slew of child pornography charges is just the latest twist in an Alaskan murder case in which a developmentally disabled woman was bound and killed, allegedly by her best friend. Police say Indiana's Darin Schilmiller, 21, posed online as a millionaire, offering 18-year-old Denali Brehmer at least $9 million to rape and murder someone in Alaska. Prosecutors say Brehmer recruited four teens to take part in a plan to kill her friend, 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman, with the promise of money. Hoffman was shot in the back of the head on a trail northeast of Anchorage on June 2 before her body, bound with duct tape, was found in a river, per CBS News. Prosecutors say Brehmer--charged with first-degree murder alongside Kayden McIntosh, 16, who allegedly pulled the trigger--sent images of Hoffman to Schilmiller before and after the killing, per Anchorage Daily News. Their online relationship apparently went further than that. After Schilmiller directed Brehmer to record assaults on girls, the teen responded with evidence of her sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl, police say, adding Brehmer also admitted to assaulting a girl aged 8 or 9. Brehmer was indicted on four federal child pornography charges Tuesday. Arrested last week on similar charges, Schilmiller is further accused of production of child pornography, receipt and distribution of child pornography, and coercion and enticement of a minor. He's to be extradited to Alaska in the next month. Two unnamed juveniles, a male and female, also face charges related to Hoffman's death, as does 19-year-old Caleb Leyland, who allegedly provided Brehmer and McIntosh with his car. Police say Leyland is also accused of sexually assaulting the female juvenile suspect.

(May 23, 2011 5:15 PM CDT) Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars today in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital. At least 116 people died, making it the nation's deadliest single tornado in nearly 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in a month. An unknown number of people were hurt. Authorities feared the toll could rise as the full scope of the destruction comes into view: House after house reduced to slabs, cars crushed like soda cans, shaken residents roaming streets in search of missing family members. And the danger was by no means over. Fires from gas leaks burned across town, and more violent weather loomed, including the threat of hail, high winds, and even more tornadoes.

(Oct 21, 2020 12:56 AM CDT) President Trump was interviewed for 60 Minutes on Tuesday, for a segment airing this coming Sunday, and after multiple outlets reported the POTUS had abruptly cut the sit-down short, Trump offered his take on things. I am pleased to inform you that, for the sake of accuracy in reporting, I am considering posting my interview with Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes, PRIOR TO AIRTIME! This will be done so that everybody can get a glimpse of what a FAKE and BIASED interview is all about, he tweeted. Everyone should compare this terrible Electoral Intrusion with the recent interviews of Sleepy Joe Biden! He also referenced the incident at a rally Tuesday night, promising the crowd they would get a kick out of what we do to the show. Per CNN, after halting the interview 45 minutes in, Trump also refused to participate in a joint walk and talk that had been planned with Mike Pence. Pence instead taped his interview solo. Trump also tweeted video of a maskless Stahl. Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come, he wrote. A CBS News official tells the Hill that the White House agreed to tape the interview for archival purposes only ; it's not clear exactly what that means. The official also says Stahl wore a mask up until the time of the sit-down, and that the image tweeted by Trump was from immediately after the interview, before she had returned to her personal belongings to retrieve her mask. Another says all of the CBS staff had been tested for COVID. It's not clear what exactly transpired to cause the drama, nor how Trump might manage to leak the interview early. Sources tell Fox News Stahl was extremely hostile, and a source who was in the room tells Politico that Trump was pissed. Per the site, Trump was frustrated with the line of questioning and how the interview was being conducted.

(Mar 18, 2013 8:52 AM CDT) French President Francois Hollande is trying to fix the country's debt problems--but he's being foiled just a bit by his predecessor. French taxpayers spend $2.6 million a year, possibly more, on Nicolas Sarkozy's upkeep, Bloomberg reports. That's because former French presidents are entitled to an office, staff, and security paid for with tax dollars and--unlike in the US--no law exists to cap those benefits. It must stick in Hollande's craw a bit, since his austerity measures have made him France's least popular president of the past three decades--and 53% of the country thinks Sarkozy would have done a better job. The other two living ex-presidents, Jacques Chirac and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, aren't cheap, either, costing taxpayers between $1.9 million and $2.6 million per year, according to one lawmaker's estimate. It would be considered stingy for a current president to crimp his predecessor's lifestyle, notes one expert. Some of the perks granted to Sarkozy: A 3,230-square-foot office with at least eight staffers (including Carla Bruni's stepsister), 10 security guards (including two chauffeurs), and a monthly allowance of almost $7,800. Plus, he gets another monthly allowance of almost the same size because he's a lifetime member of the Constitutional Council.

(Dec 23, 2016 6:09 AM) A hijacking drama unfolded on an airport tarmac in Malta Friday, but it ended without violence. It began when two hijackers commandeered an aircraft carrying 118 people in the skies over Libya and diverted it to the Mediterranean island, reports Reuters. Claiming to have a hand grenade, the hijackers threatened to blow up the Afriqiyah Airways A320, which had been en route from one Libyan airport to another. After a few hours of negotiations once the plane landed, the hijackers freed everybody on board, then turned themselves over to troops, reports the Times of Malta. Their motives remain unclear, but they appear to revolve around the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The hijackers said they belonged to a group called Al Fatah Al Gadida, which is loyal to Gadhafi, and they had promised to release all passengers if their demands were met. Those demands haven't been made public, though one unconfirmed report says they called for the release of Gadhafi's son Saif, per Morroco World News. The Times reports it's the first significant hijacking involving the country since 1985. On Nov. 23 of that year, an EgyptAir Boeing 737 plane was forced to land on the island. A 1986 People article about a survivor of the deadly incident reported 57 of the 92 passengers died during the rescue effort.

(Feb 19, 2014 12:20 AM) An Iowa man who only won $100 in 19 years of playing the same Powerball numbers has become a millionaire in his 20th year of sticking with them. Rob Winburn won $1 million of Saturday's jackpot by matching five of the numbers, which correspond to numbers he assigned to the letters in his last name, KCCI reports. He had the first five numbers of 2-9-14-21-23, but missed the Powerball number: 3. His odds of winning that $1 million prize were 1 in 5,153,633. When the winning ticket registered as such at a self-check machine the next day, I did tell the guy next to me, 'I don't believe this,' Winburn says. And he leaned over and I did it again and he says, 'Sign it and get the heck out of here.' He tells WOI-DT that he plans to pay off some bills, buy a new car, and invest the remainder. Nobody won the $330 million jackpot so tonight's jackpot is expected to be around $400 million, and it will top $500 million on Saturday if it rolls over again, the Los Angeles Times notes. (Click to read about another wild lottery win.)

(Feb 19, 2016 9:28 AM) Footage found in the possession of a man arrested after the Paris terror attacks may point to a plot involving radioactive material. Authorities say a 10-hour surveillance video seized from Mohamed Bakkali on Nov. 30 shows the home of a senior Belgian nuclear official who has access to secure areas of the Belgian Nuclear Research Center in Mol, report the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. The purpose of the footage, whose existence was confirmed this week, isn't clear. A rep for Belgium's federal prosecutor says there is no element that says that this was to perpetrate an attack. But some suggest it may have been groundwork for a plan to abduct the official to gain access to material needed to create a dirty bomb--basically a normal bomb but with radiological material strapped to it, an expert tells the Times. Belgium's interior minister says government officials who watched the undated footage--apparently shot from a camera placed in nearby bushes, reports AFP--found there was a threat to the person in question, but not the nuclear facilities. Sebastien Berg, a rep for Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control, however, says authorities had concrete indications that showed that the terrorists involved in the Paris attacks had the intention to do something involving one of our four nuclear sites, the others being two power plants and a producer of medical isotopes. Berg says workers at the Mol facility had been advised to be extra watchful, but that no extra security staff was put in place.

(Nov 25, 2009 10:41 AM) Oh, the aughts had their moments, what with disputed elections, terrorist attacks, invasions, and Rickrolling. If you, like most, can't remember anything else that happened, the Frisky has a treat for you: Newsweek's condensed version of the past decade in 7 short minutes. Spoiler alert: Barack Obama becomes the first black president.