Datasets:

Sina-Alinejad-2002

/

span_operation_prediction

like 0

(Apr 2, 2014 10:35 AM CDT) UPS drivers left work for 90 minutes to protest the firing of a colleague--and found themselves in hot water not long afterward, the company tells the New York Daily News. Twenty were fired Monday, while 230 were told they had their jobs only until replacements were trained. A rep for UPS says the Queens, NY, drivers knew the protest put their jobs at risk. The drivers were demonstrating following the dismissal of union activist Jairo Reyes, who'd worked for the company for 24 years, local union head Tim Sylvester tells the paper. They believed he hadn't been treated as innocent until proven guilty, the Queens Chronicle reports. UPS takes millions from the city and yet it's going to bankrupt 250 families just because our guys stood up for a fellow worker, Sylvester says. He's referring to a $43 million contract with government agencies as well as a government program that cuts parking ticket penalties for UPS. In 2006, UPS paid $20 million in parking fees; that figure fell to $1 million last year under the program, the Daily News notes. A public advocate has called on UPS to change its mind on the firings, and local politicians are hoping to launch talks. The company, for its part, has said that a collective bargaining agreement states that if any employee participates in an unauthorized work stoppage, they can be terminated.

(May 26, 2016 1:25 PM CDT) A buried shipwreck from the 1800s has been uncovered during construction in Boston's Seaport District, the AP reports. City archaeologist Joe Bagley tells WBZ-TV it's the first time a shipwreck has been found in that section of the city, a trendy waterfront area with office buildings, expensive condos, and upscale restaurants. He adds that it's the first shipwreck that I know of in Boston discovered in filled land. Bagley says it appears the vessel was carrying lime, which was used for masonry and construction. The vessel also appears to be partially burnt. The ship was uncovered last week during construction of a 17-story office building. New York-based construction company Skanska USA is meeting with city officials to discuss the discovery. Several archaeologists are inspecting the site.

(Oct 17, 2012 10:31 AM CDT) The wearer of this year's Victoria's Secret Fantasy Bra has been revealed--after a bit of an oops. The company had planned to unveil Alessandra Ambrosio as the lucky gal in its SoHo store tomorrow, but Ambrosio was accidentally seen wearing the bra--a bejeweled contraption worth $2.5 million--last week in an online Victoria's Secret video, the New York Post reports. The clip has since been cut, but apparently Victoria's Secret decided to just go with the flow, because Ambrosio tweeted yesterday that she will indeed wear the Fantasy Bra in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, airing Dec. 4. I just wanted to scream upon being named to the coveted spot, Ambrosio tells People. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. She describes the bra, which is crammed with amethysts, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds, as very romantic. The bra and matching belt include more than 5,200 precious gems, the New York Daily News reports.

(Dec 19, 2011 6:29 AM) By the time they're 23, almost a third of Americans will have been arrested: These days, it's a pretty common experience, says the author of a new study. The data marks a jump in arrests over the past 44 years; four decades ago, a study found that 22% of kids would be arrested by age 23--a shocking figure then, says a criminologist. Now that figure is 30.2%, partly thanks to arrests over domestic violence and drugs--both less likely to lead to arrest during the 1960s, USA Today reports. There's a lot more arresting going on now, the criminologist says. The latest study is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys of youths ages 8 to 23 from 1997 to 2008. Respondents were asked whether they'd been arrested or taken into custody over illegal or delinquent behavior, even if it didn't lead to criminal charges. Years ago, minor rule-breaking was often treated less formally than it is today, says another criminologist--and that troubles some experts, since such criminal records can follow you forever, says one.

(Sep 9, 2011 1:22 PM CDT) In tough times, it's probably no surprise that sales of lottery tickets are booming across the country, as noted by USA Today. But a recent Mega Millions winner wasn't so down-on-his-luck to begin with: Virginia's Brian McCarthy, the son of Marriott hotels president Robert J. McCarthy, took home the $107 million jackpot in July, report Gawker and the Daily Mail. The 25-year-old is headed to Ireland for a golf vacation. His dad's salary is in the $1.2 million range.

(Nov 30, 2017 2:54 PM) Maybe Sasquatch has a thing for German engineering? The Sinclair Broadcast Group reports a 1979 Porsche 924 was found at the bottom of a wooded cliff on Tuesday in Oregon--nearly 27 years after it was reported stolen from the parking lot of a Medford movie theater. The wrecked car--last seen by its owner on Jan. 20, 1991--was found in the woods near Crater Lake about 40 miles from Medford. It was hidden by heavy forest debris, and its position at the base of a cliff made it nearly impossible to see from the road above, according to a press release from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. A man was walking his dog in the area Tuesday when the dog wandered off the road, the AP reports. The man followed and came across the upside-down Porsche. Detectives checked it out Wednesday, debunking reports of human remains at the scene when nearby bones turned out to belong to a deer. Authorities are still trying to figure out how to remove the wrecked car, and Sgt. Julie Denney says detectives have yet to get in touch with its owner. It's always sad to see such pointless Porsche-struction like this, but at least this car was finally found, Jalopnik states.

(Feb 3, 2014 10:44 AM) Disturbing news on World Cancer Day: Cases are poised to surge in the coming years, jumping 50% by 2030, according to a UN report. That means 21.6 million cases per year, compared to a rate that was 14 million in 2012, AFP reports. By 2035, we're likely to see 24 million new cases a year. Deaths from cancer are set to climb to 13 million per year, versus 8.2 million in 2012. A key reason for the upswing: lung cancer that's inextricably linked to Big Tobacco sales efforts. Developing countries will face the greatest danger as wealthier people increasingly smoke, drink, and eat processed foods while getting less exercise. But while more than 60% of cases and 70% of deaths took place in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, the percentage of populations affected were higher in wealthier countries, including western countries and Japan and South Korea. Lung cancer was responsible for 19.4% of deaths, the highest of any cancer. While it's implausible to treat our way out of cancer, says a UN official, the report finds that about half of all cancers could be avoided by focusing on prevention and early treatment. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization finds that just one in 10 people needing palliative care are getting it; a third of those are people with cancer.

(Jul 23, 2020 1:42 PM CDT) A western Wisconsin man will share his millions in lottery winnings with a longtime friend because of a promise they made to each other nearly three decades ago, per the AP. Friends Tom Cook and Joseph Feeney shook hands in 1992 and promised that if either one of them ever won the Powerball jackpot, they would split the money. That promise came to fruition last month when Cook bought the winning ticket for a $22 million jackpot at Synergy Coop in Menomonie. When Cook called to give his friend the good news, Feeney couldn't quite believe it. He called me, and I said, 'Are you jerking my bobber?' said Feeney, an avid fisherman.

(Jan 31, 2020 8:13 AM) The Democratic field shrank again Friday morning, but casual followers of the campaign might struggle to place the name: John Delaney. The former Maryland congressman and current multi-millionaire businessman announced his departure online and said he did not want to hurt other moderate candidates in the race, reports the Washington Post. The move comes just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Delaney was barely registering in the polls--support in Iowa rounded to 0%, notes Politico--but it wasn't for lack of trying: He was the first Democrat to formally join the race, and he did so in July 2017, just six months after President Trump entered the White House. Delaney visited all of Iowa's 99 counties by August 2018, before bigger names even announced they were running, notes USA Today. lt has been a privilege to campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, but it is clear that God has a different purpose for me at this moment in time, Delaney tweeted. During his campaign, Delaney promised to put forth only bipartisan proposals during his first 100 days in office. Wouldn't it be amazing if a president looked at the American people at the inauguration and said, 'I represent every one of you, whether you voted for me or not and this is how I'm going to prove it,' he told ABC News last year.

(May 8, 2017 9:46 AM CDT) The sea giveth, and the sea taketh away--and, it turns out, giveth again. A beach on a remote Irish island whose sand washed away in 1984 storms has formed once again. After what the Guardian calls a freak tide in mid-April, sand, hundreds of tons of it, was returned to Dooagh village on Achill Island. The wind was coming from the north, Achill Tourism head Sean Molloy explains. It was steady and must have transported sand in from elsewhere. A local bar and restaurant owner tells the Telegraph that small amounts of sand would return each spring, but it was never enough to restore the rocky shore to its former glory, a beach that now stretches about 1,000 feet and can be seen here. It's not the first time the beach has performed a vanishing act. According to records, it previously washed away in the 1890s but was back by 1927, at which point a pier was built--and after which some luminaries, including novelist Graham Greene and a young Angela Lansbury, visited, reports the Irish Times. Ireland's beaches will be inspected next year, reports the Irish Post, and Molloy hopes the beach will still be there and gain blue-flag status. It could be a boon for Dooagh village, which one local explains has seen three hotels and the local shop close their doors in the beach's absence. (Closer to home, Miami Beach's sand comes from elsewhere, and that's a problem.)

(Feb 14, 2019 4:44 PM) It took him a few tries, but Roma actor Jorge Antonio Guerrero Martinez will be able to attend the Academy Awards. The Alfonso Cuaron film has been nominated for 10 Oscars, but Martinez, who lives in Mexico, said last month that he had thrice been denied a visa to the US. Now, with the help of Netflix, which distributed the film, he has finally obtained one, the Los Angeles Times reports. The streaming company worked with the US Embassy in Mexico to secure the non-immigrant visa. I'm really happy. Hopefully, and I say this with my whole heart, Yalitza wins the Oscar, says Martinez, who plays militant Fermin. Yalitza Aparicio, who plays his character's love interest, is nominated for best actress. The award show will be held Feb. 24. (Roma made out pretty well at the Golden Globes and very well at the Critics' Choice Awards.

(May 8, 2011 1:28 PM CDT) Officials say 34 people were injured when a train pulling into the Hoboken, NJ, station struck an abutment, shutting down service indefinitely. Mayor Dawn Zimmer says none of the injuries in today's 8:30am crash are considered life-threatening. The victims were taken to three area hospitals for treatment of their injuries, which mostly were cuts and bruises. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but city police say it appears that a mechanical failure is to blame.

(Sep 17, 2013 6:06 PM CDT) A sentencing today in Worcester, Mass., makes for rough reading: Prosecutors say 40-year-old Geoffrey Portway plotted to kidnap a child and then imprison, torture, kill, and cannibalize him in his homemade dungeon, reports the Boston Globe. The feds arrested Portway and a co-conspirator before anyone was abducted and seized a massive collection of violent child pornography from Portway's computer. He got 27 years in federal prison today. Portway's lawyer says his client deserved time for the pornography but insisted the kidnapping plot was just a fantasy--including the child-size cage, coffin, restraints, and implements of torture found in a sound-proof dungeon in his basement, reports the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. That is all I live for. I am serious, Portway wrote in one email of his plot. It's the only thing that gets me up in the morning. He's a UK native and will be deported once he serves his sentence.

(Sep 2, 2015 10:12 AM CDT) A man convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 15-year-old Missouri girl from the Kansas City area more than a quarter-century ago was executed last night, becoming the state's sixth person to be put to death this year, the AP reports. The lethal injection for Roderick Nunley, 50, began a couple of minutes before 9pm and he was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later, per KBMC. Nunley--who St. Louis Radio reports requested a final meal of steak, shrimp, chicken strips, salad, and cheesecake, per a prison rep--had no one from his camp witness his death and made no final statement, though he met with his daughter and a spiritual adviser earlier in the day, the AP reports. The father of Ann Harrison, abducted in March 1989 by Nunley and Michael Taylor while waiting for her bus 20 yards from her front door, attended the execution, as did her uncle and two family friends, the AP notes. Taylor was executed last year. Some blame drawn-out appeals and an inefficient system for the executions' lengthy delay. Nunley's case offers a textbook example showing why society is so frustrated with a system that has become too cumbersome, Missouri's AG said in a statement after the execution, per the AP. A retired Kansas City detective who tells KCTV the stalling was a travesty also told the AP this week the delay in executing these two is just nuts because it didn't have anything to do with their guilt. It was legal mumbo-jumbo nonsense. After the execution, Ann's parents released a statement, per KCTV, that said, Will the execution of Roderick Nunley and Michael Taylor bring a sense of closure for us and our younger daughters? We don't know, though they conceded if this is the only form of closure we receive, then we will gladly take it. (A woman hopes the pope will ask for clemency for her son on death row in Texas.)

(Mar 24, 2016 2:20 AM CDT) Australian officials say two pieces of debris recently discovered in Mozambique are highly likely to have come from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the AP reports. Transport Minister Darren Chester said in a statement Thursday that an analysis of the parts by an international investigation team shows both pieces are consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft. The analysis has concluded the debris is almost certainly from MH370, he said. The dimensions, materials, and construction of both parts conform to those of a 777, and the paint and stenciling on both parts match those used by Malaysia Airlines, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a separate statement. The discovery of the two pieces bolsters authorities' assertion that the plane went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean. But whether the debris can provide any clues into exactly what happened to the aircraft and why is uncertain. One of the parts in Mozambique was discovered on a sandbank by American adventurer Blaine Gibson, who has been searching for Flight 370 over the last year. Soon after Gibson's find was publicized, a South African teenager realized a piece of debris he'd found on a beach during a family vacation in Mozambique might also be from the plane. Earlier this week, an archaeologist walking along South Africa's southern coast found a piece of debris with part of an aircraft engine manufacturer's logo, and authorities now plan to examine that part, too.

(Aug 7, 2018 4:36 PM CDT) A hungry 8-year-old ingested crystal meth, perhaps thinking it was cereal, and died as his father refused to seek help, police say. Curtis Collman III died June 21 in Crothersville, Ind., with 180 times the lethal dose of methamphetamine in his system, reports BuzzFeed. Court documents show Curtis had awoken his father earlier that morning asking for food. Curtis Collman III reportedly said there was no food and went back to sleep. When he awoke later, he found his son bouncing his face off the floor and scratching at himself, police say. Without working lights in the home, the boy might have ingested his father's meth, left on a plate in the kitchen, thinking it was cereal, says a detective with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. He adds the boy suffered for hours as his father prevented friends and family from calling 911, even threatening one person with a gun. A friend said 41-year-old Collman declared he wasn't going back to prison, ripped a phone out of her hand, aimed a gun at her, and threatened to kill all three of them, an affidavit reads, reports the Washington Post. Police say Collman's parents were also prevented from seeking help, though a 911 call was eventually placed from their home, reports USA Today. Four hours after Curtis' bizarre behavior was spotted, the boy was having seizures as his lips turned blue. He died later of acute methamphetamine intoxication at a hospital. Collman allegedly told police he panicked but believed his son had ingested bleach or Pine-Sol, per Fox 59. He's charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, intimidation by pointing a firearm at a person, meth possession, theft, and failure to register as a sex offender. His bond is set at $50,000.

(Apr 17, 2014 7:02 AM CDT) Yahoo's recently fired chief operating officer, Henrique de Castro, left the Internet company with a severance package of $58 million even though he lasted just 15 months on the job and wasn't deemed worthy of the $540,000 bonus he was eligible for in 2013. Yahoo previously disclosed de Castro would be getting a severance package, but didn't reveal the amount until a regulatory filing yesterday. The board believed at the time Mr. de Castro was hired that he had a unique set of highly valuable skills and experiences that would be key to returning the company to long-term growth and success, Yahoo's compensation committee said in its defense of de Castro's severance pay. He was hired as Marissa Meyer's second-in-command in October 2012 and was in charge of ad sales. The company's board said most of the severance stemmed from the costs of luring de Castro from his previous job at Google. De Castro's severance package wouldn't have been worth nearly as much if Yahoo's stock hadn't more than doubled during de Castro's brief tenure with the company. But those gains had little to do with the managerial acumen of de Castro, Mayer, or any other Yahoo executives; analysts trace almost all the increase in Yahoo's stock price to the company's 24% stake in China's Alibaba Group. Had Yahoo's stock price remained at roughly the same level as when de Castro joined the company, his severance package value would have been worth about $17 million.

(Jun 17, 2016 1:43 AM CDT) A tragedy in Houston--and a reminder that almost a third of children who die in hot cars do so after finding their own way in. Police in Houston say that 3-year-old Evan Trapolino died Thursday after apparently walking out of his house and climbing into a car parked in the front yard, possibly while looking for a toy, KHOU reports. After crawling into the back seat, he became trapped because of the car's child locks. The city's fire department says Evan's heart stopped before he was found at around 2pm, having been in the car for up to 45 minutes on a day when temperatures hit the 90s, the New York Daily News reports. Evan was the youngest of four children, and neighbors say they are devastated by the death of the little boy they remember as an energizer bunny who was always active. A complete freak accident. Little boy was out playing around. Nobody saw him or heard him go outside, neighbor Chris Johnson tells KHOU. Anything having to do with a kid, especially a 3-year-old, it hurts. Authorities say 30% of such deaths in the US involve a child climbing into an unlocked car and parents should always lock doors and make sure everybody is out of the vehicle before exiting. KTRK reports. (This teenager has invented a system that could help prevent hot car deaths.)

(Aug 18, 2010 9:42 AM CDT) So your blood-alcohol content is 3.5 times the limit and you haven't had a driver's license in 33 years--let's go for a drive! And so a tire falls off--let's keep going 11 miles without it! Western New Yorker Duane Bush is charged with doing just that, along with a bunch of pesky felonies, after another driver called cops after the rear right tire fell off his van and he continued on his merry way, reports the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The responding cops said Bush also had a hard time staying in the right lane.

(Apr 26, 2014 6:57 AM CDT) Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century may not be a quick read, but it's flying off the (digital) shelves. What makes a 685-page book on economic history, translated from French, Amazon's bestseller? Well, the reviews have been great; Paul Krugman calls it truly superb in the New York Review of Books. And it deals with an issue that speaks to Americans, writes Aimee Picchi at CBS News: income inequality. Piketty argues that the problem is tied to return on capital surpassing the economy's growth rate. In other words, as Jordan Weissmann writes at Slate, as economic growth slows in a country, the income generated by wealth balloons compared with income generated by work, and inequality skyrockets. Piketty, Weissmann notes, has been perhaps the most important thinker on inequality of the past decade or so. His work has been instrumental in documenting the oft-discussed wealthiest 1%. While the book has been a sales success, however, it hasn't generated many Amazon reviews, Picchi points out; that could mean the readers who are buying it aren't actually getting around to reading the giant thing. (Another weird recent bestseller: Mein Kampf.)

(May 19, 2020 12:43 AM CDT) Leave It to Beaver's Eddie Haskell is dead at 76. Ken Osmond, who played the troublemaking best friend to Wally Cleaver, also worked as an LAPD cop for 18 years. His family gave no details on his death, but his son released a statement Monday cited by the Hollywood Reporter: He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father. He had his family gathered around him when he passed. He was loved and will be very missed. Osmond was 14 when he got the Leave It to Beaver gig in 1957; he was only supposed to appear in a single episode, but went on to star in 96 of the original series' episodes. Toward the end of the run, he was also serving in the US Army Reserves, per NBC News. He later continued to portray Haskell in films and shows in the 1980s and 1990s, with his own two sons playing Haskell's sons at one point. The character was so well-known for his habit of acting polite to adults, but being a bully when they weren't around, that psychologists termed such a personality the Eddie Haskell syndrome. After the series' original run ended in 1963, Osmond found himself typecast: I would walk into a casting office and all they could see was Eddie. I couldn't get work to save my soul. He ended up working as a helicopter pilot and studio propmaker before landing at the LAPD in 1970. He was shot multiple times on the job and was placed on disability in 1980 before retiring in 1988. He also returned to playing Haskell from 1983 to 1989, starring in a TV movie and all 101 episodes of the rebooted show, as well as in the 1990s on the sitcoms Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Hi Honey, I'm Home, plus a Leave It to Beaver feature film.

(Jul 13, 2020 3:47 PM CDT) Stocks gave up an early gain and turned lower Monday in another day of roller-coaster trading. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% after being up more than 1.6% earlier. Technology companies, which led the market higher in the morning, led it lower in the afternoon. Investors were discouraged to see that California extended a shutdown of bars and indoor dining and ordered gyms, churches, and hair salons closed in most places as coronavirus cases keep rising. The S&P 500 fell 29.82 points to 3,155.22. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10.50 points, or less than 0.1%, to 26,085.80, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 226.60 points, or 2.1%, to 10,390.84.

(May 13, 2016 3:03 PM CDT) A woman and her seven adult children stepped forward Friday to claim a $429.6 million Powerball jackpot, the AP reports. Eight members of the Smith family announced that they had the sole winning ticket purchased in Trenton for last Saturday's drawing. They plan to tithe 10% of the money to their church. One of the daughters said the family matriarch spent $6 for two tickets for drawings held last Wednesday and Saturday. They have hired attorneys to help them with the money and will take a trip to the usual family spot, though they wouldn't say where that was. The trip to claiming the jackpot began last week at a 7-Eleven in Trenton when someone bought two $2 tickets, one each for drawings held last Wednesday and Saturday, and spent an extra $1 on each ticket to get the Power Play option that multiplies the winnings. The purchaser chose the lower lump sum option over the higher-valued annuity, making Saturday's sole winning ticket worth $284 million before taxes. They spent $6 to win $284 million. That's a pretty good investment, Carole Hedinger, the New Jersey Lottery's executive director, said earlier this week. The ticket is the largest single jackpot winning ticket sold in New Jersey and the sixth-largest in Powerball history.

(Oct 25, 2011 7:35 AM CDT) Nobody loves working pitching matchups like Tony La Russa, so it was a bit surprising when he let lefty Marc Rzepczynski in to pitch to Mike Napoli with the bases loaded last night. Napoli knocked a double off him, scoring what would be the two winning runs. But what happened next was even weirder--La Russa brought in Lance Lynn, had Lynn issue an intentional walk, and then immediately replaced him with Jason Motte, MLB.com reports. Was this some bizarre tactical error? No, La Russa explained afterward--it was a communication breakdown. When La Russa first called the bullpen, he'd told the coach to have Rzepcynski and Motte warm up, he explained. But thanks to the rowdy Rangers crowd, the bullpen coach only heard Rzepcynski's name, so when Napoli came up, there was no one ready to replace the lefthander. When La Russa realized that Motte wasn't throwing he called the bullpen again, but this time the coach thought he'd asked for Lynn--who was supposed to be unavailable after throwing 47 pitches in Game 3. La Russa didn't realize until Lynn jogged in to the game. I went, 'Oh, what are you doing here?' he says. (Click for 10 reasons why the Rangers will finish off the Cardinals in Game 6.)

(Dec 1, 2009 3:09 PM) President Obama plans to begin withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan in July 2011, senior administration officials say. Obama will sketch out the timetable tonight when he announces plans to send an additional 30,000 troops to the country over the next 6 months, report the New York Times and the Washington Post. Obama will try to make clear to Americans that the troop surge will be accompanied by a clear exit strategy. The administration's thinking is that by accelerating the arrival of US troops--a total of 100,000 will be on the ground in May--it will help the Afghan government and army get up to speed more quickly.

(Oct 6, 2016 12:37 PM CDT) As Florida and the rest of the East Coast are bracing for Hurricane Matthew, Haiti is starting to dig out from the storm's devastation. Officials from the island nation reported Thursday that at least 108 are dead so far, with that number expected to rise and catastrophic damage sustained, reports the Miami Herald. More than 28,000 homes have been damaged (with more expected to be reported), and the nation's Office of Civil Protection notes more than 21,000 people are still holed up in shelters. The situation is critical, President Jocelerme Privert said. Haiti's southern peninsula appears to have taken the brunt of the storm, with reports of scarce food supplies, destroyed banana crops, no phones or electricity, and a demoralized populace. Everybody's house is destroyed, the people can't eat and have to drink coconut water to sustain them, a local legislator says. The BBC reports that the southwestern town of Jeremie was pretty much wiped out and has been cut off from communications with the rest of the world, per a Port-au-Prince radio host. A pilot who flew overhead reported that only about 1% of the homes were left standing, a Connecticut-based Haitian NGO tells ABC News. Haiti is facing the largest humanitarian event witnessed since the earthquake six years ago, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Weather Channel says the storm, currently a Category 4 weather force, could remain at that level or even escalate to a rare Category 5 before it hits Florida's coast later Thursday. (CNN has posted 12 more photos that capture the destruction in Haiti.)

(Jun 10, 2009 7:08 PM CDT) Details about the twisted past of the elderly man who killed a guard at the US Holocaust Museum continues to surface. In a bizarre incident in 1981, James von Brunn, then 62, stormed into the Federal Reserve's headquarters in DC armed with two guns, a knife, and a fake bomb, and demanded to make a citizen's arrest of board members, reports CNN. Von Brunn, who said he was incensed at high interest rates, served 6 years in federal prison for the stunt, a sentence he blamed in part on a Jew judge. He has an extremely long history with neo-Nazis and white supremacists, said a researcher for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama. He's written extremely incendiary publications raging about Jews, blacks, and the like. Von Brunn, who remains in critical condition after today's shooting, had become a hard-core neo-Nazi by the 1970s, said the researcher. He associated with William Pierce, whose Turner Diaries inspired Timothy McVeigh.

(Jun 28, 2017 6:00 PM CDT) What has Lindsay Lohan been up to other than plotting her acting comeback? For $2.99 a month, you can find out. The erstwhile child star is launching a subscription lifestyle site promising a behind-the-scenes look at her exclusive world, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Lohan announced the move on Instagram, promising she will be posting a lot to her Preemium site. The site itself promises subscribers will learn all of Lohan's secrets and breaking news before anyone else, including access to personal diaries, video updates, exclusive personal photos, fashion and beauty tutorials, shopping guides, behind the scenes content, my favorite products and much more. Per THR, the Preemium site so far includes nine posts, mostly selfies or pictures of Lohan and one 30-second iPhone video of her posing for photos. The first post also includes some inside information from Lohan: I am in a period of renewal and that's why I deleted all my posts from Instagram. Now you can follow me here on Preemium. THR calls the whole thing a bit sad, while LAist notes that the site's name is presumably meant to conjure an air of exclusivity, but ... instead makes us picture the nervous setting of a NICU. Preemium, a new site, so far only offers the Lohan subscription but is promising to add four more stars fans can follow soon.

(Jun 22, 2018 1:00 PM CDT) Johnny Depp hasn't been doing well. That may be an understatement after reading Stephen Rodrick's profile in Rolling Stone, based on a bizarre series of all-night, sometimes offensive interviews in which Depp reveals how he spiraled into extreme depression after his marriage to Amber Heard ended, he sued TMG (the company run by his longtime business manager), and his finances spun out of control. It's estimated that Depp has made $650 million on films that netted $3.6 billion. Almost all of it is gone, Rodrick writes, adding Depp's reported overspending exacerbated the issue. Among the money TMG accuses Depp in its countersuit of laying out: $75 million for 14 homes, 45 luxury vehicles, $30,000 a month on wine, and $3 million to shoot the ashes of late pal Hunter S. Thompson out of a cannon (oddly, Depp boasts he spent even more than reported amounts on the last two). Depp doesn't dive too deeply into his relationship with Heard because of a non-disclosure agreement, but he says he was as low as I believe I could have gotten after they split and suggests he felt suicidal: The next step was, 'You're going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you're going to leave there with your eyes closed.' He tried to ease his pain by writing his memoir, a process that involved [pouring] myself a vodka in the morning and ... writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn't see the page anymore. Rodrick also touches on Depp's super-close relationship with his lawyer, Adam Waldman, whom Depp met less than two years ago and who has ties to Russian oligarch and Putin cronie Oleg Deripaska. The interview ends with Depp not able to open his own security gates to let Rodrick out; Rodrick has to clamber over the top. Thank you for listening, Depp tells him. More jaw-dropping tidbits here.

(Jun 9, 2012 1:13 PM CDT) Yet another advance is in the works for China's space program. China will try for its first manned space docking later in June, its space agency announced today, according to the New York Times. The Shenzhou 9 will dock with the Tiangong 1 space lab sometime in June, with a three-person crew that could include a female astronaut. The rocket and space craft were moved to a launch platform in the Gobi Desert today. Since its first manned space flight in 2003, China has been moving aggressively with its space program, late last year announcing an ambitious five-year plan, which included bringing back rocks from the moon.

(May 25, 2019 6:30 AM CDT) URGENT UPDATE! reads the most recent post on the Amanda Ellers Missing Facebook page--and that update is that she's no longer missing. The 35-year-old, who vanished 16 days ago while hiking on Maui's Kahakapao Trail, was found alive, with minor injuries, Friday in a deep ravine between two waterfalls, spotted by a helicopter search team commissioned by her family to find her. Hawaii News Now reports Eller appeared to be in remarkably good shape, with family members telling the outlet she hadn't broken anything and was very alert and very aware, though she was scratched up and suffering from bad sun exposure. I think she took a good fall, her father tells Maui 24/7, adding that the ravine she was found in was so deep that Eller's rescuers had to be airlifted out with her. Javier Cantellops, one of the rescuers, posted a jubilant (and NSFW) video on his Facebook page as they pushed through the brush to get to Eller. We have f---ing found her! he exclaimed, barely able to contain himself. We didn't give up. ... We're hiking to her right now. Cantellops posted a photo of himself and the other rescuers posing and smiling with Eller once they reached her. NBC News notes it's unclear what Eller's condition is, but her family is over the moon. Elated. Excited. Ecstatic, her mother says, per Hawaii News Now. I can't even put it into words.

(Jul 8, 2016 3:16 PM CDT) Stocks closed with big gains on Wall Street after a solid jobs report for June, putting the Standard & Poor's 500 index within a point of its record high close reached a bit more than a year ago, the AP reports. The rally was extraordinarily broad. Nearly all of the stocks in the S&P 500 index rose Friday. Materials and industrial companies rose the most. DuPont and Caterpillar each rose 3%. Gap jumped 5% after reporting strong sales for June. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 250 points, or 1.4%, to 18,146. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 32 points, or 1.5%, to 2,129. The Nasdaq composite rose 79 points, or 1.6%, to 4,956.

(Dec 30, 2009 6:19 AM) At least 23 are dead and 30 are wounded in the Iraqi city of Ramadi in twin bombings today that targeted the governor of Anbar province, the Daily Telegraph reports. A car bomb exploded near a security checkpoint by the governor's offices, and 30 minutes later a suicide bomber on foot struck nearby, wounding governor Qassim Mohammed. Many of those killed were policemen, AP reports. The deputy provincial commander was among the dead, and the provincial police commander was injured. The leadership in the province have requested support from US forces in response to the attacks near the provincial government center in Ramadi, an American military spokesman said.

(Jul 29, 2012 5:27 AM CDT) China's Ye Shiwen set the first world record in the Olympic pool, winning the women's 400-meter individual medley with a dominant finishing kick last night. The 16-year-old Ye trailed American teenager Elizabeth Beisel more than halfway through the grueling race, but pulled away in the freestyle leg to win gold in 4 minutes, 28.43 seconds. She beat the 4:29.45 mark set by Stephanie Rice at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Beisel settled for silver with 4:31.27, while China's Li Xuanxu took the bronze in 4:32.91. Ye was the second Chinese swimmer to win gold on the opening night of swimming competition at the London Olympics. Sun Yang won the men's 400 freestyle.

(Mar 8, 2017 3:11 PM) Energy companies pulled stocks mostly lower on Wall Street as the price of oil slumped, the AP reports. US benchmark crude dropped 5% Wednesday to its lowest price since November after the government reported a big buildup in fuel stockpiles. Oil companies posted the biggest declines in the market. Marathon Oil dropped 8.7% and Murphy Oil dropped 6.7%. Bond prices fell, pushing yields higher, after a survey showed that private employers added the most jobs in three years in February. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5 points, or 0.2%, to 2,362. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 69 points, or 0.3%, to 20,855. The Nasdaq composite rose 3 points, or 0.1%, to 5,837.

(May 31, 2014 5:31 AM CDT) The soap opera that is Donald Sterling's ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers seems to be winding down, but not without a few last-minute plot twists. To begin with, Steve Ballmer's $2 billion purchase of the team is now all but a done deal and expected to close next month, the LA Times reports. But that momentum didn't stop Sterling from suing the NBA for $1 billion in damages, alleging that the league illegally wrenched the team from him, reports the Wall Street Journal. Not so, says the league, because wife Shelly had every right to strike a deal with Ballmer on her own once her husband was deemed mentally unfit. The kicker there is that Shelly Sterling, as part of her to deal to sell the team, indemnified the league against any lawsuits from her husband. Which is to say, she would have to pay that $1 billion in damages herself if by some long shot he wins in court, reports AP. The league, for its part, is brushing of the lawsuit as entirely baseless. And the final footnote belongs to the Upshot blog of the New York Times, which crunches the numbers to reveal that Donald Sterling would make a return on his investment of 15,900% under the Ballmer deal. Sterling bought the club for $12.5 million in 1981.

(Nov 14, 2018 8:51 AM) A former University of Alaska Anchorage runner who lost both of his feet to frostbite in 2011 ran his first marathon and became an American citizen last week, the AP reports. Marko Cheseto, 35, finished 613th overall out of nearly 53,000 runners at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Two days later, he became a US citizen. Cheseto, who's from Kenya, went to Anchorage in 2008 on an athletic scholarship, quickly earning honors in track and cross-country. Grieving the death of another Anchorage runner from Kenya, Cheseto disappeared in the woods near campus in November 2011, his senior year of school. Temperatures dipped to the single digits, and it snowed more than a foot. On the third day he was missing, Cheseto stumbled back with his shoes frozen to his feet, resulting in amputations.

(Feb 24, 2015 11:40 AM) Rescuers working late into the night freed 19 manatees who were stuck in a storm drain in central Florida. A Satellite Beach Fire Department rep said early today that the 19 manatees are all alive and have been returned to the Indian River Lagoon System. A manatee-rescue team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, along with police and firefighters, were helping the marine mammals last night. Rescuers brought heavy earth-moving equipment to the Satellite Beach neighborhood, located on a barrier island along the Atlantic Ocean. It's been cold lately and these canals are all filled with manatees,'' Satellite Beach's fire chief told Florida Today. I wouldn't even begin to venture a guess as to how they got into the drainage pipes. They will go wherever there's warm water.

(Jan 24, 2008 5:21 PM) Microsoft topped estimates today, revealing a 79% jump in quarterly profits over the same period last year--and raising targets for the year. On Xbox 360 and Windows sales, the world's largest software maker boasted net income of $4.71 billion for the period ending December 31, up from the previous year's $2.63 billion. Sales rose 30% to $16.4 billion, Bloomberg reports. The video-game console's success was driven by Halo 3, 2007's best-selling game in the US. The Washington brand also scored by convincing computer-makers to install expensive versions of the new Vista OS. Microsoft's COO boasted of healthy demand for the company's products. Of 32 analysts, 23 rated Microsoft at buy, while seven suggested holding, and only two told investors to sell the stock.

(Oct 3, 2012 11:25 AM CDT) Authorities say a dog survived an 11-mile ride at speeds as high as 50mph after she was hit by a sedan and became wedged in the grille. East Providence Animal Control supervisor William Muggle says the poodle mix ran in front of the car in Taunton, Mass., on Sept. 20. The driver slammed on the brakes but didn't see the dog and continued driving. Muggle says that it wasn't until the driver reached East Providence, Rhode Island, that another motorist pointed out the dog. The driver went to the police station, where animal control officials freed the fluffy pooch. The dog suffered a concussion and possibly a minor bladder rupture, which has since healed, reports the Taunton Daily Gazette. Authorities are trying to find her owner.

(Sep 22, 2020 2:19 PM CDT) The Verge calls what we've all been going through in 2020 a psychic assault, and it's a state of mind that seems impossible to express via any existing emoji--until now. CNN Business reports that the Unicode Consortium has just given the green light to a minor release of more than 200 emoji in 2021. Included in this new set, as seen at emojipedia.org, are a face in the clouds (to signify confusion, a foggy feeling, or even just bliss); an exhaling face, to show relief, disappointment, or exhaustion; and a burning heart, which could stand for passionate lust or scorching a past relationship and walking away. And then there's the stand-in for 2020: the face with spiral eyes, an emoji that's swapped in swirl eyes for X ones, and which suggests dizziness, disorientation, or a general WTF is happening. The Verge describes the new emoji as an expression of the deeper incomprehensibility of the past six months, as social isolation curdles and a surreal pageant of personal and global tragedies unfolds. In short: In 2020, we all have spiral eyes. As for the other 200 or so new emoji coming out next year, there will now be a way to add a beard to any face emoji to represent how much we've all aged. The bulk of the emoji additions, meanwhile, are updates that allow for different-colored skin tones to be used for the existing couple with heart emoji and the kiss emoji, both of which currently have a default yellow skin tone.

(Jun 19, 2011 5:29 AM CDT) Mietek Pemper, the Jewish prisoner who created Schindler's List --a list of concentration camp workers essential to the Nazi war effort, which saved hundreds from extermination--has died at age 91, reports the New York Times. Pemper was secretary for the commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp, a brutal Nazi who personally executed hundreds; believing the position to be a death sentence, Pemper started plotting against him. When Pemper learned that the Jewish labor camps were to be closed and the prisoners sent to death camps, he convinced Oskar Schindler to change his factories from making enamelware to weapons parts, the only kind of factory that would remain open, filling endless paperwork with made-up statistics to convince Nazi authorities. Pemper's life, together with accountant Itzhak Stern, formed the basis of the book Schindler's Ark, and then the Steven Spielberg movie. After World War II, Pemper became a German citizen and lived most of his life in Augsburg. Though Schindler saved his parents and brother, he was never married and left no survivors.

(Dec 21, 2011 1:41 PM) Show of hands, how many people are still clocking in at 9 and out at 5 every day? Well, you might be in the minority soon. In its annual list of top trends, communications firm Euro RSCG Worldwide is predicting that Generation Y will upend the traditional workday, as the digital generation works anywhere, anytime. Time agrees, predicting that telecommuting and flexible schedules with strange hours could soon be the norm. For backup, Time cites this study, which shows that young professionals demand Internet access, and another showing that some 37% of them would take a pay cut in exchange for workplace flexibility. It also points out that technology is blurring the line between home and work--thanks to email, no one is ever out of touch or off the clock.

(Oct 14, 2014 2:13 AM CDT) Some 673 days after it was launched into space for a secret mission, the Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane is set to return to Earth today--and there's still no word on what it was doing up there. Some rumors say that the robotic mini-space shuttle was interfering with foreign satellites or functioning as a space-based bomber. Sources tell the Daily Beast that the spacecraft is designed to carry specialized payloads of sensors like ground-mapping radars--useful stuff for the military to have on a spacecraft with an orbit over countries including Iran, Afghanistan, and China. This is the third space mission for the Boeing-built craft, which is overseen by the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. Space.com notes that while all the plane's landings so far have been at an Air Force base in California, Boeing is retooling an old NASA shuttle hangar for the X-37B. The X-37 program has conducted testing at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility to demonstrate that landing the vehicle at the former shuttle runway is a technically feasible option, NASA says in a statement.

(Mar 1, 2014 9:29 AM) It took 25 years, but sea otters have finally recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. A federal study of Prince William Sound sea otters affected by crude oil spilled from the Valdez in 1989 has concluded that the marine mammals have returned to pre-spill numbers. One big problem was that sea otters feed on clams, and clams suffered, too, because oil from the spill remained in sediment for years. One of the lessons we can take from this is that the chronic effects of oil in the environment can persist for decades, says the federal scientist who authored the new report. After the supertanker leaked 10.8 million gallons of crude oil, responders recovered nearly 1,000 sea otter carcasses. The estimated number of immediate deaths attributed to the spill ranged from about 1,000 to 3,000. Many of those that survived initially suffered lingering problems from oil-soaked fur.

(Oct 5, 2010 8:51 AM CDT) As his Tennessee home burned to the ground last week, Gene Cranick didn't have to watch the tragedy unfold alone: He was flanked by his local firefighters. The firefighters initially refused to come to the scene as the fire raged--because Cranick had failed to pay a $75 annual service fee. As the fire, which began in some barrels, inched toward his home, Cranick claims he offered to pay them any amount to extinguish the blaze, to no avail. Hours later, his home, three dogs, and a cat were gone. They coulda been saved if they put water on it. But they didn't do it, Cranick told MSNBC. The Huffington Post notes that the firefighters didn't rest on their laurels the entire time--they eventually showed up ... to save the field of a neighbor who had paid the fee.

(Aug 27, 2014 1:17 PM CDT) You've got your high-tech methods of smuggling drugs into prison: via drones. You've got your imaginative methods: via a tossed football. And now you've allegedly got this: via grandpa. Police in Ohio arrested an 85-year-old man and charged him with trying to smuggle pot into the Warren Correction Institution while on a visit to see his grandson, reports the Dayton Daily News. Richard Heritz got stopped by guards acting on a tip and ended up behind bars himself before being released on bond. Heritz faces up to seven years on the felony after surrendering a package with 22 grams of marijuana, reports WHIO-TV. Would-be drug smugglers come in all shapes and sizes, a corrections official tells the Dayton newspaper.

(Jun 3, 2011 10:15 AM CDT) Good news in the fight against AIDS: The annual rate of new HIV infections dropped by almost a quarter between 2001 and 2009, AIDS-related deaths have fallen, and the world has seen unprecedented advances in prevention and treatment accessibility, the UN AIDS agency says. Still, the unevenly-spread advancements are highly fragile, and global targets haven't been reached. At the end of last year, more than 34 million were living with HIV; some 2.6 million were infected in 2009, the AP reports. And while, at the end of 2010, some 6.6 million sufferers in low- and middle-income countries were getting antiretroviral treatment, another 9 million who qualified for the treatment weren't receiving it. In the report, Bill Clinton wrote that more than 7,000 people, including 1,000 children, are newly infected with the virus every day and someone dies an AIDS-related death every 20 seconds. People in rich countries don't die from AIDS any more, but those in poor countries still do--and that's just not acceptable. Click through for more on the UN AIDS report, which notes that an estimated 20% of the 15.9 million people who inject drugs worldwide are living with HIV.

(Jun 20, 2012 4:13 PM CDT) Police in northern Ohio are trying to identify a candy thief who has stolen hundreds of dollars in peanut butter cups from a gas station store. Employees reported that a young man usually comes in after midnight, snatches Reese's peanut butter cups, and exits the store before they can call police. The workers say the candy stolen over the past few months was worth $400 to $600. The latest theft happened early yesterday morning. A police report indicates the man stole peanut butter cups and went for a saltier snack, grabbing a bag of chips. He was dressed in black clothing, with a hooded sweatshirt over his head. A clerk says he tried to stop the thief, who spun him around and fled on foot.

(Aug 11, 2012 2:55 PM CDT) Allyson Felix won her third gold medal of the London Olympics, giving the United States a 20-meter lead after the second leg of the 4x400-meter relay and then watching teammate Sanya Richards-Ross bring home the victory today. The US runners finished in 3 minutes, 16.87 seconds for the country's fifth straight Olympic title in the event. Russia finished second in 3:20.23 and Jamaica was third in 3:20.95. In other Olympics news, the Jamaican relay team featuring Usain Bolt set a world record in the men's 4x100-meter relay by finishing in 36.84 seconds, the New York Times reports. The US team took second with 37.04 and Trinidad and Tobago took third at 38.12.

(Dec 3, 2020 7:10 PM) Even when he becomes president in January, Joe Biden won't have the authority to order Americans to wear masks. But he will make it a request on Day One, the Hill reports. Just 100 days to mask, not forever, Biden said Thursday. 100 days. Biden made the comments in a CNN interview. He said he will issue a mask mandate for places where the president has authority to do so, such as in federal buildings and in interstate transportation, including airplanes and buses. The president-elect has been an advocate of wearing a face mask to slow the spread of the coronavirus throughout the pandemic, and he's been mocked by President Trump for it. Biden said he thinks that if more people wear masks as the first round of vaccinations takes place, the combination will drive down the numbers considerably, per the BBC. And he and Vice President Kamala Harris will set an example by masking up, he said. Biden has asked Americans to get past the politics of masks and other pandemic restrictions. It's time to end the politicization of basic, responsible public health steps like mask wearing and social distancing, he said last month. A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start pulling the country together.

(Apr 3, 2020 3:05 AM CDT) President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spent Thursday clashing over the administration's coronavirus response, with Schumer criticizing the White House's tardiness and inadequacy and Trump firing back in more personal terms. Trump, who was impeached by the House in December, called the Democrat a bad senator in what USA Today calls a notably nasty letter and told him New York would have been better prepared if Schumer had spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax. The back-and-forth began early in the day, when Schumer wrote in a letter to Trump that the president should appoint a czar like a military or logistics expert to lead the effort to make and get the supplies where they're needed. The federal leadership void has left America with an ugly spectacle in which states and cities are literally fending for themselves, often in conflict and competition with each other, Schumer wrote, per Politico. Trump told Schumer, whose state has the most COVID-19 cases in the country, to stop complaining. It wouldn't matter if you got ten times what was needed, it would never be good enough, Trump tweeted. Schumer's office later told CNN the senator had spoken to Trump on Thursday afternoon, and that Trump told Schumer he had written a very nasty letter to Schumer but would try to stop it from going out. Schumer told MSNBC Thursday night that he was appalled by the president's letter. He said Trump should stop the pettiness--people are dying.

(Mar 27, 2014 7:39 AM CDT) The FDA's first attempt to limit antibiotic use in farm animals appears to be working: All but one of the 26 drug companies asked to curb the use of antibiotics in animals to promote growth have agreed to do so, though the plan is voluntary. The plan will see the drug companies remove claims of growth promotion from their products, which will effectively make it illegal for the drugs to be used on livestock without a valid medical reason. Only antibiotics used similarly by humans--think penicillin and tetracycline--will be affected, and the 25 companies in agreement with the plan make 99.6% of those drugs. I think that within three years we're going to see growth promotion gone when it comes to antibiotics, one expert tells the Wall Street Journal. It's a big step forward, especially considering fears that drug makers would not come onboard, the Los Angeles Times reports. The FDA is attempting to fight the overuse of antibiotics because it is blamed for the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. But an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council says more must be done, because farms also use antibiotics to prevent sickness in animals due to crowded and unsanitary conditions. The FDA is just limiting antibiotic use for growth promotion, but the same animals are given the same antibiotics because of the crowded conditions, he says. Current levels of antibiotic use are likely to continue, but just with a different justification and label. That won't do anything to protect human health.

(Aug 23, 2016 8:06 AM CDT) A Massachusetts teen accused of raping two unconscious teens at a house party in April has been sentenced by a Palmer judge to two years' probation, the New York Daily News reports. The case was ordered continued without a finding for two years, meaning if 18-year-old David Becker gets through his probation without flouting its conditions--including not contacting his victims and staying away from drugs and booze--he'll walk away with no recorded conviction and won't have to register as a sex offender, reports the Republican. We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn't be branded for life with a felony offense, says Becker's lawyer, Thomas Rooke, noting that a jail sentence would have destroyed Becker's life, including his reputation as a star athlete who performed community service. The mistake Becker was accused of, per court documents: heading upstairs with the two 18-year-old female victims to go to sleep after the April 2 party ended, only for the women to wake up (all three reportedly fell asleep on the same bed) to find Becker assaulting them with his finger. Per the police report, Becker said he hadn't had sexual contact with one of the young women, and that the other teen hadn't stopped him, so he figured it was OK, WWLP reports. One of the victims told cops that she had heard rumors of Becker--called David the Rapist by some of her friends, she said--assaulting other women, claims that Rooke tells the Republican have been debunked. Thanks to his probation, Rooke says Becker can now lead a productive life without being burdened with the stigma of sex offender status and head to college. (This former CU student was found guilty of sexual assault but was spared prison.)

(Jan 13, 2018 3:19 PM) Eliza Dushku says she was sexually assaulted by a stunt coordinator working on the Arnold Schwarzenegger film True Lies when she was only 12 years old, TMZ reports. I remember, so clearly 25 years later, how Joel Kramer made me feel special, how he methodically built my and my parents' trust, for months grooming me, she wrote Saturday on Facebook. She says the then-36-year-old stunt coordinator got her into his hotel room by telling her parents he was going to let her swim in the hotel pool. Dushku says Kramer--who would call her Jailbait on set--undressed, got on top of her on the bed, and rubbed his body on her until he ejaculated. Says says he then told her, I think we should be careful, meaning she shouldn't tell anyone. Dushku says she did tell a few people, but no one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I. She says after one friend she told confronted Kramer--who was in charge of rigging Dushku--she had her ribs broken in a stunt by no small coincidence. He was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser, Dushku writes. She says she's coming forward now because of others in Hollywood doing so and because Kramer continues to get work on projects like Westworld and Furious 7. True Lies costar Jamie Lee Curtis tells People she didn't know about the incident, which she calls very sad and disturbing. Kramer tells the Wrap that Duskhu's claims are absolute lies that could ruin my career. I never sexually assaulted her, he says. She's a sweet girl. Dushku says she hopes speaking out will help other victims and protect against future abuse.

(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.

(Jul 30, 2013 2:02 AM CDT) More than 250 inmates--including 25 classed as dangerous terrorists --were freed by a 100-strong group of Taliban militants in a raid on a prison in northwest Pakistan. Authorities say the attackers, armed with bombs and rocket-propelled grenades, destroyed the century-old prison's walls and killed six policemen, two civilians, and six Shia Muslim prisoners during the raid, the AP reports. Roads to the neighboring regions of North and South Waziristan have been blocked but only nine escapees have been recaptured and officials admit most of the prisoners have melted away in the population, the New York Times reports. A senior government official calls the mass escape a debacle of the highest order, noting that security forces had been warned of an attack and a conference on the prison's security had been held. July appears to be jailbreak month: More than 1,000 prisoners broke out of a prison in Benghazi, Libya, over the weekend, just days after 500 were freed in a raid on Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

(Sep 21, 2019 12:40 PM CDT) Boeing isn't the only one to blame. So concludes an impressively detailed New York Times article about two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes since last year--which, it turns out, were caused at least partly by pilot error. Look, we know as a fact that half of airline pilots graduated in the bottom of their class, says a former Airbus pilot. Standards are apparently lower in Indonesia, the home country of Lion Air, whose plane went down on October 29 and killed all 189 passengers on board. Deregulated and plagued by accidents, the country's corrupt airline industry has been hiring inexperienced and underpaid pilots for years. When confronted by Boeing technology that pushed down the plane's nose--in theory to help it handle better--the flight crew was baffled. True, Boeing hadn't told pilots about the flawed MCAS system or described it in flight manuals. But the company figured pilots would react wisely when a plane's nose-up-or-down balance, or trim, got out of whack, by turning off electrics and reverting to manual trim. But the Lion Air crew failed to do so, and pilots on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302--which went down on March 10, killing 157--lost control amid other blunders. Both planes also suffered from all-too-common mechanical errors. But the lack of rigorous pilot training plays a key role. In an emergency, it becomes a problem, an industry expert told Business Insider in March. If you have a complicated airplane and you basically put a student pilot in there, that's not a good thing. Read the full article here. (Or look at the FAA's role in approving the 737 Max.)

(Oct 20, 2019 5:42 AM CDT) The 2020 Group of Seven meeting to be hosted to the Trump National Doral resort is no more, with the president rescinding the announcement via tweet late Saturday after taking piles of criticism over the perception that he was enriching himself on the taxpayer dime, reports Politico. Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020, Trump tweeted, after saying that he thought I was doing something very good for our Country. Trump was even taking criticism from the right--including Republican lawmakers that Politico notes he'll need on his side as he faces an impeachment inquiry. I don't understand why at this moment they had to do that, says Ill. Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. I mean do it in DC, do it in Miami at a different resort. Whatever it is. The House had been preparing to vote on a resolution rejecting his practice of accepting foreign government emoluments without obtaining Congress' affirmative consent. The G7 will take place in mid-June, in the middle of the 2020 campaign and as the Democrats prepare to select a nominee.

(Dec 28, 2015 9:38 AM) If you were handed $1,100 a month, would you amount to anything? So asks the Los Angeles Times in a Sunday headline atop a piece about a unique experiment underway in Germany. Michael Bohmeyer, a 31-year-old Internet entrepreneur in Berlin, is behind Mein Grundeinkommen (My Basic Income), which, so far, is giving 26 people $1,100 each month to spend any way they choose. It's all about helping people feel secure and free, he says, and it's an idea that springs out of his own experience. In an August 2014 interview with Vice, he explained that he had that year made the choice to stop working and start living off the approximately $1,300 I get out of my company. I just wanted to put my feet up and do nothing. Instead, I found a crazy drive to do things. I had a million new business ideas, I take care of my daughter, and I work for ... local community radio. The money for Mein Grundeinkommen comes from crowdfunding (more than 31,000 donors so far), and when enough donations are collected, more people are selected via a random drawing from a pool of 66,000 applicants, according to the Times. Deutsche Welle reports things kicked off in July 2014, and the winners thus far have included students, the unemployed, and two children, ages 4 and 8. How are the winners using the cash?

(Jan 7, 2013 12:33 PM) Think the whole debt-ceiling debate is silly? Paul Krugman does, too, and he's been pushing an admittedly silly way out of it. A legal loophole intended for making commemorative coins, he writes in the New York Times, could come in handy: Thanks to the rule, the US Treasury is legally allowed to mint coins of any denomination. And by minting a $1 trillion coin, then depositing it at the Fed, the Treasury could acquire enough cash to sidestep the debt ceiling--while doing no economic harm at all. Sure, it's a gimmick, but it makes as much sense as the debt ceiling, which lets Congress tell the president to spend money, then tell him that he can't raise the money he's supposed to spend. Over at Slate, Eric Posner offers another option: President Obama can just raise the debt ceiling himself. After all, as Krugman notes, Congress is giving Obama two different instructions. It's the president's responsibility to choose which one to follow. Then there's the argument that the 14th Amendment says that the debt of the United States will always be paid, an argument that the Huffington Post notes Nancy Pelosi likes. Obama should just go do it, she told Bob Schieffer yesterday.

(Sep 19, 2010 1:25 PM CDT) Scenic drives, long walks with leaves crunching under your feet, hot apple cider ... there's nothing quite like autumn, and the spectacular foliage that comes with it. The US boasts the best displays of fall foliage, writes Christine Sarkis on SmarterTravel, but the rest of the world is certainly not lacking. She offers up the 10 best spots--see five in the gallery, or for the complete list, click here. Itching to travel? Click here for more travel coverage.

(Jul 30, 2013 3:48 PM CDT) Eileen Brennan, who went from musical comedy on Broadway to wringing laughs out of memorable characters in such films as Private Benjamin and Clue, has died at age 80 of bladder cancer. Brennan got her first big role on the New York stage in Little Mary Sunshine, a musical comedy that won her the 1960 Obie award for best actress. But it was a series of sharp-tongued roles that won her fans on television and in movies, including gruff Army Capt. Doreen Lewis in 1980's Private Benjamin, aloof Mrs. Peacock in 1985's Clue, and mean orphanage superintendent Miss Bannister in 1988's The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking. I love meanies, and this goes back to Capt. Lewis in Private Benjamin, Brennan said in a 1988 interview. You know why? Because they have no sense of humor. People who are mean or unkind or rigid--think about it--cannot laugh at themselves. If we can't laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we're going to be mean. Private Benjamin brought her a supporting actress nomination for an Oscar. She also won an Emmy for repeating her Private Benjamin role in the television version, and was nominated six other times for guest roles on such shows as Newhart, thirtysomething, Taxi, and Will & Grace.

(Feb 11, 2015 2:59 AM) Nightmare on a cross-sea bridge nearly 3 miles long: Two people were killed and at least 65 were injured in a pileup involving about 100 vehicles in foggy weather on a bridge near South Korea's Incheon International Airport today, officials say. The damaged cars have now been removed from the 14,400-foot Yeongjong Bridge on the highway from the airport to the capital, Seoul, according to an official who says it's not clear how the pileup began; it was likely aggravated by thick fog and icy road conditions. In 2006, a 29-car pileup in foggy weather on another cross-sea bridge in South Korea left 11 people dead and more than 50 injured.

(Dec 18, 2008 9:04 AM) Writing the inaugural address of an epochal president known for his oratory would be a daunting job for anyone, but 27-year-old Jon Favreau had to ditch his roomies and videogames in Chicago to do it for Barack Obama, reports the Washington Post. If you start thinking about what's at stake, it can get paralyzing, says the youngest guy ever to land the top speechwriting gig at the White House, imagining 3 million people gathered on the Washington Mall to listen to his words. Favreau started writing John Kerry's speeches on a fluke, and, recommended to Obama, clicked with the new senator. After his famous race speech in Philadelphia, Obama told Favreau, So, I think that worked --a fair, if terse, summary of the pair's close working relationship. Working into the wee hours on speeches from Iowa to Grant Park, Favreau concedes, it was an unbelievable way to grow up.

(May 20, 2020 6:40 AM CDT) Two dams have failed in a Michigan county, leading the state's governor to declare a state of emergency and issue dire warnings to residents to evacuate affected areas. AccuWeather reports that the Edenville and Sanford dams in Midland County breached Tuesday night after heavy rains and flash flooding, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer held a livestreamed news conference to plead with people to seek higher ground, especially in areas near the Tittabawassee River, including the city of Midland. In the next 12 to 15 hours, downtown Midland could be under approximately 9 feet of water, Whitmer said at the presser, per Reuters. We are anticipating an historic high water level. The National Weather Service is calling the situation an extremely dangerous one, per the BBC. In a release, Whitmer implored residents to go stay with loved ones elsewhere in the state or head to a shelter. The AP notes the Edenville Dam, built in 1924, received an unsatisfactory rating in 2018 from the state; the Sanford Dam, built a year later, received a fair rating. Midland County official Mark Bone tells CNN about 10,000 people had been evacuated as of early Wednesday, leading to another dilemma: how to house locals in the county's shelters while adhering to social distancing guidelines brought by the coronavirus. He says masks are being made available to everyone coming in to the shelters. People are also having their temperatures taken, and emergency responders are wearing personal protective equipment. To go through this in the midst of a global pandemic is almost unthinkable, Whitmer said, adding that the state's National Guard has also been activated to respond to the emergency situation. But ... to the best of our ability we are going to navigate this together.

(Feb 9, 2011 10:06 AM) Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez met a new lady friend on New Year's Eve, and she just so happens to be a 17-year-old high school student. Not that there's anything wrong with that, writes AJ Daulerio on Deadspin: In both New York and New Jersey, where the romancing allegedly occurred, it's perfectly legal for a 24-year-old man to date a 17-year-old girl. The girl in question, whom Daulerio refers to only as EK, reached out to Deadspin with her story before changing her mind and deciding she didn't want the infamy that would come along with its publication--but that didn't stop Deadspin from running it. EK claims she met Sanchez while partying at a Manhattan nightclub on Dec. 31, and that she was upfront with him about her age. Sanchez texted her and she freaked out about it on Facebook (Deadspin has a screenshot; click to see), then he gave her tickets to the Bills-Jets game. Ultimately, they had a dinner date in New York and then they, in Daulerio's words, hooked up. EK says they went back to his place in Jersey after dinner, and as proof, she offers pictures of what she claims is Sanchez's room. After that, a few more 2am text messages followed, and, at least until recently, EK said she was still close with Sanchez, although she doesn't think he's necessarily good to women. (This is hardly the only recent juicy Jets story; click for more of the team's tabloid-worthy incidents.)

(Apr 5, 2017 1:21 AM CDT) The 23-year-old man who shot three teenage burglars dead last week acted in accordance with his rights as an Oklahoma citizen and will not face criminal charges, authorities announced this week. Zach Peters, 23, opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle when Jaykob Woodruff, 16, Jacob Redfearn, 17, and Maxwell Cook, 19, broke into his home, killing all three. District Attorney Brian Kuester says investigators have determined that Peters, who lived with his father but was the only one home at the time, was in fear for his life when he shot the intruders, who were dressed all in black and wearing masks, reports the Tulsa World. One intruder had a knife and another had brass knuckles, police say. Minutes after the shooting in Broken Arrow last Monday, Peters called 911 and asked for medical help for the intruders. Alleged getaway driver Elizabeth Marie Rodriguez, 21, told reporters last week that she doesn't blame Peters for the deaths. Rodriguez, who surrendered to authorities hours after her three accomplices were killed, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of first-degree murder, KJRH reports. Rodriguez, who was Cook's girlfriend, argues that she is only guilty of burglary, but authorities say she has been charged with murder because the teens were killed while she was committing a felony.

(Jun 11, 2014 6:41 AM CDT) The back story of the Bowe Bergdahl swap gets one detail richer today by way of a Wall Street Journal report on a classified assessment that found two of the five Guantanamo detainees that were to be released would likely end up back in a senior role with the Taliban. The news comes via unnamed US officials, who say the assessment--the work of spy agencies and completed while the swap was being debated--found that two others would likely take up active roles, while just one of the detainees would likely steer clear of the Taliban. The Journal sees the assessment as ammunition for lawmakers who have dubbed the swap unwise; one official counters that it's not a rigorous mathematical equation but simply a forecast of what could happen based on the men's former positions, connections, and experience at Gitmo. The two detainees named as likely to return to a senior leadership role are Mullah Mohammad Fazl, a onetime Taliban army chief of staff who we previously reported is wanted for allegedly killing thousands of Shiites near Kabul between 1998 and 2001; and Khairullah Khairkhwa, formerly an interior minister who was directly associated with Osama bin Laden. Abdul Haq Wasiq is the detainee branded by the assessment as unlikely to become an active Taliban member; the Journal reports that before his 2001 detention he had planned to hand intel to the US, and may harbor resentment over that detention in the face of such planned cooperation.

(Jul 27, 2016 2:53 PM CDT) Thirty-five years after it was founded in New York, the Zagat restaurant guide is ditching its 30-point rating scale to better compete with companies like Yelp and TripAdvisor, Bloomberg reports. A survey of Zagat customers found they wanted something simpler, so Google, which bought the company in 2011, launched a revamped Zagat app Tuesday. Instead of trying to split the different between a 26 dining experience and a 27 dining experience, users will now rate restaurants on a five-point scale from poor to perfection. According to Zagat, the new app will recommend restaurants to users based on their location and the time of day. Engadget calls the Zagat update simply a nice experience and good enough to make it your primary solution for discovering new places to eat. By keeping what always made it good--editorial reviews of restaurants created from the reviews of users--and adding the best aspects of Foursquare and Yelp, the new Zagat app is an improvement on those competitors, Engadget reports.

(Nov 5, 2009 3:15 PM) Stocks rallied, pushing the Dow above 10,000 in its best one-day point gain since July. A decline in weekly jobless claims and good news from Cisco led the way, reports the Wall Street Journal.

(Jul 23, 2014 7:01 AM CDT) Two Ukrainian military fighter jets have been shot down in the east, the country's Defense Ministry is claiming. The Sukhoi-25 fighters were shot down today at 6:30am Eastern (1:30pm local time) over an area called Savur Mogila. Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksiy Dmitrashkovsky says the planes may have been carrying up to two crew members each. The government says the pilots of the planes ejected, though their location and condition are not currently known, reports the Los Angeles Times. CNN notes that the ministry also believes an air defense system shot the planes down. Ukraine is expected to hold a military briefing later today.

(Jan 28, 2020 2:04 AM) A massive boat dock fire in Alabama early Monday killed at least eight people, including minors, authorities have confirmed. Scottsboro Fire Chief Gene Necklaus says it will take days to confirm the identities of the victims and learn the cause of the fire, which destroyed dozens of boats, AL.com reports. The chief says the fire is one of the most devastating things he has ever seen. Necklaus says the number of dead could go up, because we don't know how many were on boats that sank. The blaze, which began just after midnight, destroyed the wooden dock and at least 35 boats. An aluminum roof that covered many boats melted, cutting off escape routes, the AP reports. Necklaus says some of the burning boats floated away from the dock before sinking. Authorities say some of the boats anchored at Dock B in Jackson County Park along the Tennessee River were houseboats that served as primary residences for the owners, the Jackson County Sentinel reports. Some of the seven survivors pulled from the water were treated for hypothermia. Marina resident Tommy Jones tells the AP that winds rapidly spread the blaze and he and several other men could only watch helplessly as flames engulfed a boat carrying a woman and her children. We didn't have time to do nothing, says Jones, who cut several boats free before swimming 200 yards to shore. His brother, Yancey Roper, drowned after swimming in a different direction.

(Jun 14, 2011 11:06 AM CDT) Bonnaroo has claimed a second victim: Christopher William Yoder, 24, died of hyperthermia early Sunday, the AP reports. Yoder had been airlifted from the music festival to a hospital, and officials are awaiting toxicology reports. The safety of our patrons is our No. 1 concern, and we are deeply saddened by this, said organizers in a statement. A 32-year-old woman was found dead at the festival last week; an autopsy is planned.

(May 3, 2013 5:15 AM CDT) A US military refueling tanker plane crashed today in Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation's emergencies ministry said. There was no immediate word on any casualties. A ministry statement said the plane crashed this afternoon near the village of Chaldovar, about 100 miles west of the Manas air base. Kyrgyzstan hosts a US base that is used for troops flying into and out of Afghanistan and for C-135 tanker planes that refuel warplanes in flight. It was not immediately clear if the plane was a C-135 or another model. The head of the region that includes Chaldovar told the AP by telephone that the plane broke into three pieces when it crashed into an uninhabited area. On Monday, a civilian cargo plane crashed at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Field, killing all seven crew members.

(Jan 29, 2008 11:20 AM) A poor showing in today's Florida primary could scuttle Rudy Giuliani's campaign, his chairman admitted yesterday. If he is second or first, he certainly has momentum. But if he finishes third, it's going to be hard to get momentum, Houston lawyer Pat Oxford told the Dallas Morning News. Giuliani is touting himself as an odds-defying guy, but he's far behind John McCain and Mitt Romney in polls. The candidate isn't throwing in the towel--yet. In the past, I've done the impossible, insisted Giuliani, who is hoping that 1 million-plus early Florida voters, who began casting ballots January 14, when he was leading in the polls, will give him the edge. Some 9 million voters are expected today.

(Oct 5, 2017 6:09 PM CDT) In the wake of Kazuo Ishiguro being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Guardian is re-running a 2014 piece the author wrote for the paper about how he wrote his most famous work, Remains of the Day, in just four weeks. It was 1987, and he'd quit his day job five years prior. His writing career was going well, but his first flurry of public success brought along with it quite a few distractions; in nearly a year, he'd written just the opening chapter of a new novel. Though conventional wisdom dictates novelists should only write for about four hours at a stretch before diminishing returns set in, he and his wife decided that for four weeks, he would do nothing but write from 9am to 10:30pm, six days a week, with three hours off per day for meals. No mail, no phone, no visitors, no cooking, no housework allowed. In this way, so we hoped, I'd not only complete more work quantitively, but reach a mental state in which my fictional world was more real to me than the actual one, he explains. He wrote freehand, and he didn't worry about details like the style, whether the plotline contradicted itself at times, or even whether the writing was any good. He just wanted to get the ideas flowing, and when the four weeks were over, the novel was basically done. (He notes that before embarking on the four-week period, he'd done much of the research required for the book, and after, he took more time to write it all up properly. ) The full piece is worth a read. Meanwhile, in the present day, Ishiguro weighed in on his Nobel win: He told the BBC the honor is flabbergastingly flattering, but also added he was initially unsure what he was hearing was real: I thought that in this age of false news, it was perhaps a mistake.

(Jul 22, 2010 9:24 AM CDT) A Greyhound bus carrying 35 people heading to Sacramento from Los Angeles crashed on a highway in California's Central Valley early this morning, killing six and injuring many others. The bus driver swerved to avoid another crash involving an overturned minivan, slammed into the concrete center divider, and then hit another vehicle and a tree at about 2am just outside downtown Fresno. Six people are said to have died, and early reports say there are multiple injuries. The bus departed Los Angeles late last night and stopped in Fresno, one of about eight scheduled stops, before continuing on its route to Sacramento. Northbound lanes of Highway 99, a major route through the San Joaquin Valley, have been closed since the crash.

(Mar 4, 2015 11:48 AM) The core four original members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting for a three-day 50th anniversary show in Chicago, and let's just say people really, really want to see it. The farewell show, appropriately titled Fare Thee Well, sold out, but tickets are being sold on the secondary market for as much as $116,000 each. Even the least-expensive tickets are around $1,350, Billboard reports, and CNN notes that some of those have an obstructed view. Soldier Field, where the July 3-5 event is being held, seats about 70,000; the original ticket prices ranged from $59.50 to $199.50 per day. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be taking over for the late Jerry Garcia.

(Apr 26, 2015 10:07 AM CDT) Two people are dead and Coast Guard crews are continuing their search this morning for at least five people missing in the water after a sudden and powerful storm capsized several sailboats participating in a regatta near Mobile Bay, Ala. The storm rolled through the area about 4pm yesterday and NPR reports that winds quickly went from 15 knots to 50. One body was found yesterday and another this morning. Apparently there were a number of vessels that became distressed, either capsized or what have you, Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier told Al.com. They were scattered anywhere from Dauphin Island Bridge all the way out into Mobile Bay and across to Fort Morgan. It was a wide area. More than 100 sailboats and as many as 200 people were participating in the Dauphin Island regatta in Mobile Bay. It's been a very tragic day, Michael Smith, with the Buccaneer yacht club, told WSFA-TV. We've had a lot of breakage, missing people, fatalities. Susan Kangal, who was on a boat, told WSFA it was the worst storm that she has seen. We were probably an inch from capsizing; everybody was ready to jump. I didn't have a life jacket on, she said. The boats were part of the 57th iteration of the race. Officials say about 40 people were rescued from the bay yesterday; one man was rescued from the water by the Coast Guard around 9pm, Petty officer Carlos Vega said.

(Mar 18, 2009 3:09 AM CDT) A swarm of spectators and paparazzi met octuplet mom Nadya Suleman as she arrived home from the hospital with two of her babies last night, the Los Angeles Times reports. Onlookers clung to her car to glimpse 7-week-old Noah Angel and Isaiah Angel. The boys were released from the Kaiser Permanente medical center earlier that evening. It is always rewarding whenever a premature infant goes home as a healthy baby, said a doctor from Kaiser Permanente, which determined Suleman would be able to provide the care the boys need. The babies' release had been held up while Suleman made necessary repairs to her new home, and arranged for help to care for the infants. The other two girls and four boys are still in the hospital and are progressing well, according to doctors.

(Nov 26, 2013 1:50 AM) A search for two missing federal detectives in western Mexico has turned up 42 bodies and counting--but still no trace of the missing men. Many of the bodies found in almost two dozen mass graves over the last few weeks were bound and gagged and some showed signs of torture, the AP reports. The graves are in a region near the border between Jalisco and Michoacan states, site of a turf war between the Knights Templar and the New Generation drug cartels. Federal investigators were led to the graves by local police officers who admitted turning over the federal officers and other people to New Generation gunmen. Some 22 police officers have been detained.

(Feb 15, 2018 3:25 PM) A surge in marquee technology companies pushed stocks higher again Thursday on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row, the AP reports. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 300 points. Big increases from Apple, Microsoft, and Cisco drove the tech sector higher, helping to erase more of the swift drop stocks had in early February. Industrial companies were also higher. Boeing, which nearly doubled last year, rose another 3.4%. Energy companies were the lone laggard among the 11 sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

(Nov 3, 2011 12:59 AM CDT) A Brooklyn man has been arrested for two sex assaults on teenagers at the Occupy Wall Street camp in Zuccotti Park. One of the victims, 18, reported to police she was raped in a tent in the camp; a 17-year-old protester said she was groped in her tent. Tony Iketubosin, 26, has been charged with third-degree sex abuse in that incident, and still faces charges in the rape, police told the Wall Street Journal. Iketubosin told police he has been living in the camp for more than a week.

(Nov 10, 2010 8:18 AM) A British teacher ruined her voice while struggling to make herself heard in a noisy classroom--and has been awarded $225,000 in compensation. Joyce Walters developed nodules on her vocal chords and had to give up teaching after working in an adult education center that placed her in a classroom next to a schoolchildren-filled playground, forcing her to raise her voice to be heard, she says. The 50-year-old can still only speak for short periods, despite months of speech therapy. Her lawyer says bosses at the education center failed to act on her repeated requests for help. Mrs. Walters was ignored and it has resulted in this terrible, life-altering injury, for which she is owed a big apology. he said. What makes this case so sad is that this could and should have been avoided. The payout, which the Guardian notes is thought to be one of the largest received by a teacher, was an out-of-court settlement.

(Aug 10, 2018 7:48 AM CDT) FYI, Twitter is not the place to seek out an assassin. Federal authorities say a tweet soliciting the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was flagged as a domestic terrorism threat days after it was posted July 2, leading to the Thursday arrest of a Massachusetts man in New York, reports BuzzFeed. I am broke but I will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills an ice agent, 33-year-old Cambridge resident Brandon Ziobrowski allegedly wrote to his 448 Twitter followers before the tweet was removed and his account suspended. Seriously who else can pledge get in on this let's make it work, Ziobrowski continued, according to an indictment. The tweet was only the culmination of what authorities call increasingly threatening and violent messages by Ziobrowski. Charged with use of interstate and foreign commerce to transmit a threat to injure, he also allegedly threatened to kill Arizona Sen. John McCain and claimed guns should only be legal for shooting the police. In another tweet to an official ICE account, he allegedly said, Thank you ICE for putting your lives on the line and hopefully dying. There's a difference between public debate and intentionally putting others in fear of their lives, US Attorney Andrew Lelling tells CNN. If convicted, Ziobrowski faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

(Sep 6, 2009 12:49 PM CDT) One of Michael Jackson's jewel-encrusted gloves sold for $49,000 in an Australian auction, Reuters reports. The glove, which was the first to go up for sale since Jackson died in June, sold for nearly twice what the Bonhams and Goodman auction house expected. There was a huge amount of interest in the week leading up to the sale. We were still pretty surprised by the price, said a Bonhams auctioneer. The glove had been worn by Jackson at a 1996 concert in Sydney, where the artist threw it out to the crowd when he finished his performance. It was caught by Bill Hibble, a Jackson fan who has since passed away. His mother put the glove up for auction.

(May 5, 2016 12:05 AM CDT) Alberta declared a state of emergency Wednesday as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires that have already torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Canada's main oil sands city of Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee. Whole neighborhoods have burned, but an Alberta Emergency Management Agency spokesman says flames are being kept from the downtown area thanks to the herculean' efforts of firefighters, the AP reports. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley flew up to survey the situation, while officials in the evacuation center had to bolt to the south of the city as flames edged closer. There were haunting images of scorched trucks, charred homes, and telephone poles, burned out from the bottom up, hanging in the wires like wooden crosses. The blaze effectively cut Fort McMurray in two late Tuesday, forcing about 10,000 north to the safety of oil sands work camps. The other 70,000 or so were sent streaming south in a bumper-to-bumper line of cars and trucks. One resident tells the AP that evacuating almost felt like an apocalypse. We had to literally drive through smoke and fire, vehicles littered all over the sides of the road, and we had to drive as fast as we could and breathe as little as we could because the smoke was so intense and we could feel the heat from inside the vehicle, she says. The Edmonton Journal reports that on Wednesday night, winds expanded the fire and the evacuation zone, forcing hundreds of people to flee the blaze for a second time.

(Jun 5, 2014 2:00 AM CDT) Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong joined a candlelight vigil in a downtown park last night to commemorate the 25th anniversary of China's bloody military suppression of protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Participants held candles to remember the victims at the vigil, which turned Victoria Park's six soccer fields into an ocean of flickering light. More than 180,000 people joined the gathering, according to organizers. Police say the turnout was closer to 100,000, but it was still likely one of the largest turnouts for the annual event in recent years. Democracy activists laid a wreath at a makeshift memorial as they read out the names of those who died in the crackdown that killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of unarmed protesters and onlookers. The protests remain a taboo--and heavily censored--topic in mainland China, and Beijing has never given a full accounting of what happened. But in Hong Kong, which retains Western-style civil liberties unseen on the mainland, the memory of the Tiananmen protests reinforces the widening differences with China. When the whole of China is being silenced, I think the people of Hong Kong, now, with the freedom that we have, have the responsibility to light up the candle for them, a protest organizer says. Click for more.

(Apr 14, 2014 11:43 AM CDT) A Russian fighter jet made multiple, close-range passes near an American warship in the Black Sea for more than 90 minutes Saturday amid escalating tensions in the region, a US military official said today. In the first public account of the incident, the official said the Russian Fencer flew within 1,000 yards of the USS Donald Cook, a Navy destroyer, at about 500 feet above sea level. Ship commanders considered the actions provocative and in violation of international agreements, prompting the ship to issue several radio queries and warnings. The fighter appeared to be unarmed and never was in danger of coming in contact with the ship, said the official, and the passes, which occurred in the early evening there, ended without incident. The USS Donald Cook has been conducting routine operations in international waters east of Romania. The ship, which carries helicopters, was deployed to the Black Sea on Thursday, in the wake of the Russian military takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region and ongoing unrest there. The official also said that a Russian Navy ship, a frigate, has been shadowing the US warship, remaining within visual distance but not close enough to be unsafe. Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov today called for the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping troops in the east of the country, where pro-Russian insurgents have occupied buildings in nearly 10 cities, and EU foreign ministers are meeting today to consider additional sanctions against Russian officials.

(Dec 28, 2017 6:00 PM) Cops in Toronto are pleading with the public to help them solve a hefty Christmas Day heist. The Daily Meal reports on the theft of an extremely large quantity of veal, as it's worded in a police release. The meat (and the 48-foot refrigerated trailer it was being stored in), which was worth about $30,000, was lifted from a North York commercial address sometime between 3pm Monday and 5am the next day. A police spokeswoman says the trailer was apparently hooked onto a getaway vehicle and driven off the lot, per the Toronto Star. The trailer, which belongs to meat distributor White Valley, has a blue W and the company's name on its side, as well as the Ontario plate K5885K. Anyone with information is urged to call 416-808-3100 or use other contact info cited in the release.

(Nov 12, 2008 3:30 PM) Stocks plunged again today as another wave of poor earning reports soured investor sentiment, the Wall Street Journal reports. Henry Paulson's announcement of yet another new direction for the federal bailout failed to inspire confidence as the Dow closed down 411.30 points at 8,283. The Nasdaq lost 81.69 points to close at 1,499, while the S&P 500 lost 46.65 points to settle at 852. Recent bad news from Best Buy, Macy's, Starbucks, and Circuit City all demonstrate the troubles of operating a consumer-dependent business in the current climate. But some of the stock market's recent declines may be driven by another factor, notes one market researcher: forced stock sales by hedge funds compelled to raise cash to fill redemption requests by clients.

(Dec 12, 2013 9:06 AM) Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel are separating after more than a decade of marriage, Menzel's rep confirms to Us. The 42-year-olds first met in 1995 while both were starring in the original Broadway production of Rent, and later co-starred in the film version of the musical. They married in January 2003 and have a 4-year-old son together. No word on the cause for the split, but Us notes they were plagued by cheating rumors over the summer, and People points out that in April, Menzel said that they sometimes had a long-distance marriage, which can be hard but we work at it.

(Sep 3, 2009 3:42 PM CDT) Let's face it: Cats own the Internet. But it's getting a little much, and that's why the Urlesque blog is organizing 9.9.09--A Day Without Cats on the Internet. The master plan calls for cats not to be mentioned, emailed, viewed, nor blogged about. Urlesque is even polling readers about their other furry friend fetishes so it can run exclusive coverage of another animal. Why only one day? Well let's be honest, that's probably only as long as we'll last... ...before a hilarious video comes crashing into our inbox. But for one day, we will abstain... for you... for the cats. Linda Holmes, writing on NPR's Monkey See blog, agrees. We love a LOLcat, we love a keyboard cat, but on Sept. 9 the blog will not discuss cats, cat videos, adorable cats, or talented cats of any kind. But that's days away, so Holmes has ample time to watch (and rewatch) her favorite vid, at left.

(Oct 12, 2011 4:36 PM CDT) A new Public Policy Polling survey reflects the Herman Cain surge: While it does not take into account last night's debate, in which Cain was front and center, it shows him comfortably atop the latest national poll. Cain has 30%, followed by Mitt Romney (22), Newt Gingrich (15), Rick Perry (14), Michele Bachmann (5), and Ron Paul (5). The big caveat: Cain's support looks to be squishy, with only 30% of his backers saying they are solidly committed. Romney and Gingrich have similar percentages. Perry's slip to fourth behind Gingrich might look like another dose of bad news for him, but the Daily Intel blog at New York says not so fast. Consider that he has the highest percentage (48) of supporters who say they will definitely vote for him. The proportion of Republicans who don't want to vote for Romney seems very large and undeterred by the lack of credible alternatives, writes Jonathan Chait. Perry has money and at least the possibility of improving as a debater. If Republicans aren't flocking to Romney now, it's a sign they want to give every chance for somebody else to emerge. Full post here.

(Nov 7, 2010 11:12 AM) Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopalian whose election to bishop reverberated through the religious world, will take early retirement in 2013, reports the Boston Globe. The last seven years have taken their toll on me, my family, and you, Robinson told an annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, adding, this decision comes after much prayer and discernment about what God wants for us. Death threats, and the now-worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop, have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood with me every minute of the last seven years. Robinson added that he would not be a lame-duck bishop over the next two years, and pledged to be fully engaged.

(Jun 18, 2008 9:20 AM CDT) Lil Wayne has become the first artist to sell more than a million albums in a week since 50 Cent in 2005, Billboard reports. Tha Carter III, the rapper's sixth album, exploded out of record stores last week, selling close to half a million its first day. The milestone sales are way ahead of the 238,000 Wayne's last release notched up in its best week.

(Oct 26, 2010 6:06 PM CDT) Hong Kong is now the trash capital of the world, producing more waste per capita than any other place, reports Time. The 7 million residents produce 6.45 million tons per year for the honor. The city's waste-heavy ways include a dependence on take-out food, along with all those plastic containers and paper bags used to package it, writes Krista Mahr. The city recycles about half its waste but is forced to ship the remainder to three main landfills, which already take up huge amounts of precious land. Incineration, banned 13 years ago, is being discussed as a viable option, though residents are afraid of the effect on the already-polluted city's air quality.

(Dec 12, 2009 9:53 AM) The Senate may be dealing with weighty issues like health care reform, but its majority leader's biggest concern is his own political skin, writes Dana Milbank. Harry Reid's selfish focus on re-election is getting in the way of his larger duties, and it's time Democrats woke up to this reality. Yes, the good citizens of Nevada deserve attention, but in a nation of 300 million, the Senate majority leader needs to think bigger. Exhibit A: Reid forced a vote on a public option knowing it would fail, simply to energize his Democratic base back home. He didn't care that the move forced moderates like Blanche Lincoln to cast a procedural vote in favor of the public option that could prove ruinous to their own careers--and to the party's majority, writes Milbank in the Washington Post. Democrats need a leader who isn't in constant danger of being voted out. Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin top the list.

(Jun 30, 2012 6:10 AM CDT) Four students who were caught on camera bullying 68-year-old bus monitor Karen Klein until she cried have each been suspended from school for a year and ordered to do 50 hours of community service working with the elderly, reports CNN. Following individual meetings this week with school and district administrators, each family waived their right to a hearing and agreed to one-year suspensions from school and regular bus transportation, said the school district in a statement. Don't think the suspension is like a holiday for the four middle-school boys: They still have to attend a local re-engagement center, where they will be given school work, attend anti-bullying sessions, and participate in other activities. They will be able to apply for re-admission to their school after 30 weeks of suspension, reports the local Greece Post. As for Klein, her daughter says she likely won't go back to work now that the Indiegogo.com fundraising campaign for her has topped $670,000.