The media's expectations of Auburn entering 2016 are far lower than they were a year ago.
Auburn was picked to finish 6th in the SEC West by the 331 media members to vote in the annual SEC Media Days poll, which was released Thursday in Hoover.
The Tigers received 890 total points in the poll, a sizeable distance behind Arkansas (1,047 points) and ahead of Mississippi State (518).
No members of the media picked Auburn, which was the media's pick to the conference heading into last season, to win the SEC West division or the conference as a whole this year. By comparison, 246 voters Alabama to repeat as division champs, with 223 picking the Crimson Tide to win the conference title again.
Tennessee was the media's pick to win the SEC East.
The media has correctly selected the SEC champion five times in 24 tries, with just three successful picks in the last 20 years.
Auburn was picked to win the SEC at last year's media days, which had the odd twist of Alabama receiving more aggregate points to win the West division but Auburn being the more popular pick to win the conference.


The final event on George W. Bush's schedule on the final day of the 2004 presidential election campaign was not a late-night gathering in a "battleground" state such as Florida or Ohio. Rather, it was a Monday evening "victory rally" on the campus of Southern Methodist University in his home state of Texas.
Texas? After months of focusing on the dozen or more targeted states that supposedly will decide this election, why did the Bush camp decide to finish things off in the one state that ought to be securely in the president's column?
Because, despite everything that has been said over the past few months, this campaign is not just about battleground states. There is also a national fight to win the popular vote, and Bush's election-eve trip to Texas was an acknowledgment of that fact.
The final event on George W. Bush’s schedule on the final day of the 2004 presidential election campaign was not a late-night gathering in a “battleground” state such as Florida or Ohio. Rather, it was a Monday evening “victory rally” on the campus of Southern Methodist University in his home state of Texas.
Texas? After months of focusing on the dozen or more targeted states that supposedly will decide this election, why did the Bush camp decide to finish things off in the one state that ought to be securely in the president’s column?
Because, despite everything that has been said over the past few months, this campaign is not just about battleground states. There is also a national fight to win the popular vote, and Bush’s election-eve trip to Texas was an acknowledgment of that fact.
To be sure, the fight for the popular vote was overshadowed during this year’s long campaign by the fight to reach the “magic” number of 270 electoral votes. That Electoral College fight plays out in the battleground states. And as the 2004 campaign raced to a close, it was far from settled. At least 20 states–from Hawaii to Maine–saw pre-election poll numbers that suggested either Bush or Democrat John Kerry could win their precious electoral votes. Never before in the modern history of American electoral politics have so many states been so undecided on the eve of an election.
The candidates could not possibly visit all of those states before the voting started, however, so they effectively ceded states to one another in the final days. Both campaigns narrowed the focus of their last-minute campaigning to a handful of states where polls suggest the two campaigns are effectively tied. Bush campaigned in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa and New Mexico, while Kerry awoke Monday in Florida and then flew north for a stop in Wisconsin, several stops in Ohio–including a huge rally in Cleveland where Bruce Springsteen sang and urged the crowd to “Vote for Change”–and a return to Wisconsin for a 1:00am Tuesday rally in the city of LaCrosse. Kerry spent the night in LaCrosse, where local television news programs reach audiences in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, before beginning a Tuesday morning journey home–via Ohio, again–to Boston.
Kerry can be reasonably assured of winning roughly 200 electoral votes from states where he led going into today’s election, while Bush is assured of at least that many electoral votes. This means that whichever campaign secures a clear majority of the roughly 135 electoral votes that are up for grabs in the so-called “super-battleground” states that have been the targets of so much late-in-the-day politicking will be well positioned to claim an Electoral College majority and the presidency.
On election eve, late polls from the “super-battleground states” suggested that Kerry might be the one staking that claim.
With so many undecided states at the close of campaigning, the Bush team was determined to cover all of its bases. And one of those bases involves securing the popular-vote win that could convey legitimacy in the chaotic aftermath of a close and contentious election.
The Bush camp got a huge break in 2000, when Al Gore and his backers failed to play up a clear popular-vote win by the Democrat in order to gain an advantage in the public relations fight that was every bit as significant as the confusing and inconsistent recounting of Florida ballots. When Democrats failed to press the case that Gore was the popular choice of the American people, they made it easier for Florida Republicans and a politicized US Supreme to hand the presidency to Bush.
As the campaign wound down, Bush campaign czar Karl Rove and his aides were fully conscious of the prospects for similar scenarios to play out this year.
For instance, let’s say that no clear winner emerges tonight, or that the states split in a manner that produces either an Electoral College tie or a very narrow lead for Kerry. There are no guarantees of such a result, but there is a prospect. And the Bush camp does not fret about prospects that might prevent the president from securing a second term. It plans.
Essential to such planning is the assembly of all the tools that could be required to win a post-election PR battle–including that popular-vote win.
Hence the trip to Texas, where polls showed Bush leading Kerry by a comfortable but not overwhelming margin. The Bush stop in Texas on election eve was designed to ramp up excitement about the president’s campaign in hopes of spurring a “home state pride” increase in turnout that could pad Bush’s popular-vote total not just in Texas but nationwide.
Make no mistake, the first goal of the Bush campaign is an Electoral College win.
But, failing that, they want a popular-vote win that they can use as part of a push to raise questions about the legitimacy of a Kerry victory in the Electoral College and, if that victory cannot be upset, about a Kerry presidency.
Is it really possible that Kerry could win the Electoral College even as Bush wins the popular vote?
Kerry leads in the District of Columbia and 14 states, including some that are rich in electoral votes, such as California (55), New York (31) and Illinois (21). Bush leads in 25 states that, for the most part, have small numbers of electoral votes, such as Wyoming (3), North Dakota (3), South Dakota (3), Idaho (4) and Mississippi (6). By far, Bush’s best state when it comes to electoral votes is Texas (34).
If polls are to be believed, however, Bush should win his “safe” states by significantly greater margins than Kerry piles up in his “safe” states. For instance, polls show Bush leading by 45 points in Utah, 36 points in Wyoming, 30 points in Oklahoma, 29 points in Nebraska, 26 points in Louisiana, 23 points in Kansas, 21 points in Montana and 21 points in Kentucky.
By contrast, the only place where Kerry leads by more than 20 points is the District of Columbia. Kerry’s lead in New York state is a solid 18 points, but the latest poll from California has him ahead by just 7 points.
Of course, New York and California produce a lot more raw votes than Wyoming and North Dakota. So, to secure a popular vote win, Bush needs a big “bump” from Texas. Yet, on the ground in Texas last week, some polls have suggested that Bush is likely to win the state by a relatively narrow 55-45 margin. That would translate to a margin as small as 600,000 votes, as compared with the 1.4 million vote margin Bush secured in Texas in 2000.
That 800,000-vote slippage could spell the difference between a popular-vote win and a popular-vote defeat for Bush. And the Bush team does not want to cede the popular vote.
So, when Bush went to Texas Monday night–to deliver a pointed anti-Kerry speech in which the president pumped up the crowd with “He’s from Massachusetts, I’m from Texas” rhetoric–he did not do so simply because he wanted to sleep in his own bed on the ranch at Crawford. Bush and Karl Rove were, even at the last minute of the campaign they have so skillfully manipulated, cooking up one last scheme for maintaining their grip on the White House.


A wildfire fanned by strong winds devoured hillsides around the wealthy Mediterranean resort city of Marbella in Spain on Friday. At least one person died, two sustained burns and more than 4,000 others were forced to evacuate their homes.
A dry winter followed by a scorching hot summer has left much of southern Spain tinder dry and susceptible to fires. About 1,500 square kilometers (580 square miles) of land in Spain has burned in nearly 12,000 wildfires so far this year.
Other European nations, including Greece, Portugal and Bosnia, also have faced blazes spawned by similar conditions.
In Spain, regional Interior Ministry official Jose Luis Ruiz Espejo said the latest fire started outside the mountainside town of Coin, northeast of Marbella, and that authorities suspect arson as the cause.
All the residents of the nearby town of Ojen were forced to evacuate as flames swept through their valley. Most spent much of the night sheltered in sports centers in Marbella.
Fernando Fernandez, mayor of the popular whitewashed hillside tourist destination town of Mijas, said many of its residents had been evacuated, but strong east winds had "fortunately for us, swept the fire westwards, toward Marbella."
Andalucia's regional government said a 78-year-old British man's charred body was found Friday "in a tool shed" near Ojen. Local police found the body while searching through the burnt embers of a house, the statement said.
Two 58-year-old people were in critical condition with burns covering more than 60 percent of their bodies, according to a regional government statement.
Jose Antonio Grinan, the regional president, said two people were being treated for burns and bruises.
Grinan said if the suspicion of arson is proven true, it would be "a criminal act."
Marbella, with its leisure craft port of Puerto Banus, is one of Europe's most luxurious seaside destinations. Its normally green hillsides are studded with mansions and palaces belonging to aristocrats, the rich and the famous.
High profile residents have included Scottish actor Sean Connery, the king of Saudi Arabia and descendants of wealthy European families such as the Bismarcks and Rothschilds.
The wildfires have challenged the capacities of several countries in Europe this summer.
Bosnia's government said Friday it was considering asking for international help after a blaze around the southern mountain of Prenj, which has burned continuously for three weeks, has left the area resembling a smoking volcano.
Ciaran Giles contributed to this report.


restaurant to Gus Alexander. Under Gus’s leadership, Lula McCoy “The Fried Chicken Maker”, Ella Hamilton “The Pie Lady”, and Gladys Duncan “The Great Waitress” joined him to make Strawn’s Eat Shop a success. It was during this time that Strawn’s became known as a “Shreveport Tradition.” In 1988, Buddy and Nancy Gauthier bought the restaurant from Gus. Legend has it Buddy won the restaurant in a poker game from Gus, a rumor which Buddy has always denied. In 1992 The Gauthier’s expanded Strawn’s Eat Shop from seating 50 people to 150 people. In 2001 Strawn’s became a family tradition when Celeste, The Gauthier’s oldest daughter, opened Strawn’s Too at 1640 E. 70th St. in Shreveport, and in 2004 their youngest daughter, Heather, opened Strawn’s Also in Bossier City at 2335 Airline Dr. Wes, The Gauthier’s oldest son, moved back in 2009 to take over the original location at 125 Kings Hwy. "


Several competitors to AT&T and Verizon proposed the OMB approval for data collection in the FCC’s slow-moving inquiry into special access rates. The FCC circulated a proposed order on special access in mid-2012, but late that year, also asked for comments on the special access market. Those comments aren’t due until late this year.
“Countless industries and organizations and hundreds of millions of customers across the country depend on this critical broadband infrastructure to connect our cell phones, workplaces, banks, factories, data centers, universities, and hospitals to enable communications among customers, employees, suppliers, government, and each one of us,” a coalition spokeswoman said by email.
Asked for a response to the OMB approval, an AT&T spokeswoman pointed to a 2012 blog post by Bob Quinn, the company’s senior vice president of federal regulatory affairs.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, however, called special access “increasingly important in the digital economy.” The new data collection will help the FCC “better understand competition in this marketplace, and the impact on consumers as we pursue the commission’s statutory mandate to ensure special access services are provided at reasonable rates and on reasonable terms and conditions,” he said in a statement.


We’re teaming up with New York University and its pioneering deep learning team to start a research collaboration at our new auto tech office in New Jersey. NYU’s researchers will work with NVIDIA scientists and engineers to create groundbreaking autonomous driving technology. The collaboration between NVIDIA, a leader in deep learning infrastructure and tools, and NYU’s world-class deep-learning faculty will accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles.
The team will extend the current NVIDIA learning system to encompass all aspects of autonomous driving. A key aspect of the approach is eliminating the need for hand-programmed rules and procedures آ— such as finding lane markings, guardrails or other cars. This avoids the creation of a near infinite number of "if, then, else" statements, which is impractical to code when trying to account for the randomness that occurs on the road.


There's no doubt IU football has made improvements, but it's hard to make gains in college football's toughest division.
He likes using them for context, to better understand a task or obstacle. And he’s not oblivious to the numbers that make his job one of the toughest in Power Five college football.
Indiana resides in the old-money half of the most lopsided division-structured conference in college football. As Allen seeks to build the Hoosiers into a more consistently competitive program, one capable of regular bowl appearances and greater stature within the league, how can he hope to navigate the four-pillared obstacle of the Big Ten East?
“I think it puts pressure on everybody else to rise up,” Allen said. “We may never have all that they have. But I don’t care what anybody says, we still, when it’s time to play, we’ve got to beat those guys.
The Big Ten aimed for competitive balance when it first broke the league into divisions for football, in 2010.
It split its traditional powers between the “Legends” and “Leaders” divisions, and immediately ran into criticism.
Fans decried the splitting up of longtime rivals like Michigan and Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and Northwestern and Illinois. The conference had eschewed the geographic structure favored by peers in the SEC and Pac-12, and took flak for it.
So, when Rutgers and Maryland joined in 2014, the league reorganized again, emphasizing geography to pair up its rivals — and spawning the Big Ten East.
This season, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State and Michigan debuted at Nos. 5, 10, 11 and 14 in The Associated Press Top 25. In the coaches poll, those same schools fell Nos. 3, 9, 12 and 14.
They’re all in the East.
In 28 of the past 34 seasons, at least one of those four programs has at least shared the Big Ten title. The Big Ten East has won the past five conference championship games.
Michigan State is an outlier among the big four only in that it hasn’t enjoyed the historical success of Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State. But the Spartans have won a Big Ten championship game and advanced to the College Football Playoff under Mark Dantonio, and should be among the conference frontrunners this year.
Consistency reflected by that 28-of-34 number, and by an even deeper dive.
Of the 11 times the Big Ten title has been shared since 1984, at least two of those four teams were among the shared champions five times.
Wisconsin won the first two Big Ten championship games, after the conference added one in 2011. Since then, in the last five years, the game has gone to Michigan State, Ohio State or Penn State.
By comparison, over the same span, a team in what is now the SEC West — generally regarded as the better of that conference’s two divisions for the last decade — has won 18 of 34 conference titles.
It’s an imperfect comparison, because the SEC has decided its conference champion via title game since 1992. But even with Alabama’s recent dominance, and a run of eight-straight winners from the West from 2009-16, it’s still much more even.
That’s the mountain IU must climb.
According to a mix of conference media, recruiting analysts, college football experts and former players interviewed for this story, the best answer is patience, and investment.
Patience in giving a head coach time to settle, install a system, recruit talent and then develop it.
Investment in football facilities, coaching staff and infrastructure from the athletic administration, to close the gap between Indiana and the top of the conference.
Glass handed Wilson a seven-year contract when he hired the former Oklahoma offensive coordinator, and a six-year extension after IU’s Pinstripe Bowl appearance.
When he replaced Wilson with Allen a year later, in 2016, he penned Allen to a six-year contract that runs through 2022.
And Indiana’s TV revenue-related financial windfall has helped address both large and small concerns over investment.
>> Closed in both ends of Memorial Stadium, dedicating the space created to an academic center, new football offices and meeting rooms, a dramatically upscaled weight room, better dining facilities, better training and rehabilitation facilities, and broader options for athlete welfare.
>> Invested significantly more in assistants’ salaries, a priority mentioned by multiple sources interviewed for this story. According to annual NCAA financial reports, Indiana reported $2,789,060 in assistant coaches’ salaries paid for by the department in 2012. By 2017, that number had increased to $4,100,339 for the same nine positions.
>> Committed to a multimillion-dollar renovation of the football locker room and team facilities, spearheaded by a $2 million gift from former Hoosier Terry Tallen. That renovation is expected to be completed by the start of next season.
>> Laid an artificial turf field on the outdoor football practice area, for better year-round use.
>> Increased overall football spending to such a degree that, according to those same reports, the department invested almost $10 million more in football-specific operating expenses in 2017, compared to 2012.
It hasn’t closed the gap entirely, perhaps not even significantly. One of the undercurrent themes of this entire conversation is that nothing will close the gap all by itself, and the same TV revenue that has allowed Indiana to expand its commitment to football has allowed its peers to do the same.
But a program that used to house its weight room in the basement of Assembly Hall has still come a long way in a short time.
Infrastructure and vision can impact recruiting as much as history, even recent history. But experts in that field warned programs like Indiana still need to be creative in how they target players.
One of the most consistently frustrating themes of the last five to six seasons for Indiana fans has been the competitiveness of games against those aforementioned Big Ten East powers, and yet IU’s eventual fade at game’s end.
The most straightforward explanation for why Indiana hasn’t been able to close that last gap is depth.
Better programs recruit more top-line talent, thereby building higher-quality depth that allows them to rotate players more often, keeping their stars fresh deeper into games. In simpler terms, when Indiana falters in the fourth quarter against Ohio State, there’s a good chance its starters have played an extra quarter’s worth of snaps, compared to the Buckeyes.
How can IU trim the margins in recruiting?
It certainly starts with those two keys: 1.) patience, to allow a head coach time to recruit players to his system and develop them, and 2.) investment, to make the program a more appealing destination.
But it also requires Indiana to be clever — in which players they target, why, how they recruit them, and how they develop them once they’re signed.
Allen Trieu, another recruiting expert for 247Sports who focuses heavily on the Midwest, used Michigan State as an example.
The Spartans under Mark Dantonio have become one of the Big Ten’s most consistent programs in the past decade. But that consistency hasn’t always been built on elite-level recruiting success.
Five times since 2008, Michigan State has landed a class ranked in the 247Sports top 30, but only one of those classes was top-20, and none were top-15. In that same stretch, the Spartans have won nine or more games seven times, 11 or more games five times, won their division three times and played in both the Rose Bowl and the College Football Playoff.
Indiana has had some success recruiting under-the-radar players, and the kinds of multi-sport athletes Wiltfong said often thrive in college football.
Jason Spriggs was a tight end and defensive end in high school but became an All-American tackle in college. Tevin Coleman had offers from several Big Ten schools to play defensive back, before turning in a 2,000-yard season as a running back at IU. Chris Covington was a high school safety who actually played some quarterback in Bloomington before moving permanently to linebacker, where he was picked by Dallas in this year’s NFL draft.
The key for Indiana is finding those players consistently, landing them and then developing them.
That makes staffing investment paramount, to give Allen a dynamic group of assistants on the recruiting trail. Mike Hart flipped running back Stevie Scott from Rutgers last winter. Nick Sheridan staved off competition from Florida State for Michael Penix. Mark Hagen has helped Indiana lock up talented in-state prospects across several recruiting cycles.
And like Spriggs, Coleman and Cobbs, both Wiltfong and Trieu said there’s great value in targeting players with the flexibility to develop at multiple positions in college, because of their size and athleticism. If you are going to reach, reach for a player that gives you options down the road.
Early returns for Allen have been encouraging. Indiana finished the 2018 cycle with the No. 49 class in the country, and the No. 10 class in the Big Ten, improvements of 13 spots and three spots, respectively, over the previous year.
Perhaps tellingly, that class was also ahead of only Rutgers in the Big Ten East.
In the end, there’s only so much nipping and tucking to be done.
Indiana can be more intelligent with its resources, more clever with its recruitment, more innovative with its player development. But nothing can make 5-7 into 7-5 except execution and focus and a strong fourth quarter, something Allen knows too well.
It’s easy to disconnect Saturday afternoons from every other part of IU’s football program, but Indiana has to understand that it all fits together. Moreover, the only way to break the wheel of frustration the program has turned on for most of the past 20 years is to make that fitting seamless.
Allen was part of a staff that pushed back against similar circumstances at Ole Miss, fighting uphill against Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Johnny Manziel-led Texas A&M in the SEC West. Delany made it clear at Big Ten media days the conference has no plans to ease Allen’s task now with further realignment.
And it’s Allen — the “numbers guy” who doesn’t hide from the size of his challenge but instead uses it as motivation because really, what else should he do? — who Lewis sees as perhaps the biggest key to all of it working, if it has a chance of working at all.


Employees from GasanMamo participated in the 10th edition of the President’s Solidarity Fun Run. The event was organised in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund and thousands of people took part as they gathered at four different locations, with runners departing from Rabat and walkers meeting at Paola, Santa Venera and University campus and ending the event in St George’s square, Valletta.
GasanMamo believes that such events are significant to support the community, but they are also helpful and influential within the working organisation, serving as a team building experience.
A spokesperson for the insurance firm said that undoubtedly GasanMamo will always continue to endorse such initiatives which are vital in order to strengthen the community.
Moreover, any form of solidarity expresses respect, acceptance and understanding and GasanMamo Insurance is proud that its employees contributed to this positive cause.


As Perth and Sydney prepare to battle for the W-League championship on Saturday, Jets players have already turned focus to their next commitments.
It has been just 10 days since Newcastle closed their season with a 4-1 rout of Western Sydney at No.2 Sportsground, leaving them three points off the top four.
The emergence of young talent was the shining light as injuries to key players came thick and fast. But the team has had little time to reflect, instead heading off in different directions for the so-called off-season.
Tara Andrews (New Lambton), Libby Copus-Brown (Wallsend), Gema Simon (South Wallsend) and Jenna Kingsley and Cassidy Davis (Warners Bay) will bolster the Herald Women’s Premier League, which starts on March 10.
Young guns Cortnee Vine, Teigan Collister and Clare Wheeler will play for Sydney University and Pana Petratos is expected to line up again for North West Sydney in the National Premier League NSW Women competition, also kicking off March 10.
They will go up against Tessa Tamplin, Renee Pountney and Paige Kingston-Hogg, who return to the Jets Academy, and goalkeeper Claire Coelho is likely to join them in a bid for more game time.
Arin Wright was the last of four United States imports to head home, leaving Monday to start preparing for the National Women’s Soccer League. Goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom, arguably the Jets’ best performer, left last week and compatriots Katie Stengel and Taylor Smith returned weeks ago after sustaining season-ending injuries.
Matildas player Emily van Egmond is contracted to Orlando Pride but, along with Simon, is eyeing national commitments in the Cup of Nations being held on home soil from February 28.
Matildas defender Larissa Crummer is back in Queensland recuperating at her family home after breaking her leg in round 13 but will be keen to get started on a lengthy rehabilitation process.
Defender Hannah Brewer has niggling toe and ankle complaints that may require surgery.
For the first time coach Craig Deans goes into the off-season on contract after signing a two-year deal coming into this campaign.
But, as far as his squad for the next instalment goes, he must play a waiting game and said not being able to re-sign players straight away was one of the challenges of the W-League.
“As far as planning goes, the players I want to keep already know I want them to come back. It’s just a matter of having something to lock them into,” Deans said.
“There’s no contract available for anyone to sign. Historically, in the past, other clubs have seen some young players do well and they come in with more money and it’s a bit of a battle to keep them. So, ideally, it would be good if we could lock some people in now and make sure we've got them.


Tesla's solar roof looks nice in renderings, but a new report claims they're not so good-looking in real life.
Tesla's production problems apparently don't stop with the Model 3. According to a Reuters report, production of the company's solar tiles have been delayed by assembly line problems.
Part of the issue is producing tiles that meet the aesthetic standards of company CEO, Elon Musk.
UPDATE: Aug. 13, 2018, 9:03 a.m. CEST A Tesla spokesperson told Mashable that there are no problems with the product's looks. "The claim of a former employee that Solar Roof is delayed due to aesthetics is false. We are ramping the production and installation of Solar Roof substantially," the spokesperson told us via email.
Announced in October 2016, Tesla's Solar Roof tiles are advertised as a beautiful, durable alternative to regular roof tiles that also happen to produce electricity to power your home. But the production at Tesla's Buffalo, New York plant that opened last year has been so slow that it forced Panasonic — Tesla's partner in this venture — to sell components it built for Tesla to other buyers. This is according to unnamed current and former Panasonic employees as well as a former Tesla employee.
Another former Tesla employee told Reuters that the aesthetic look of the tiles, which is not always up to par with Musk's standards, is the "big issue" here. According to Reuters' sources, only one out of four versions of the Solar Roof tile — the black-textured one — has been produced so far.
The black-textured Solar Roof tile (pictured) is the only one Tesla has produced so far, the report claims.
In a response to Reuters, Tesla said it's working to improve production output but declined to give any exact figures. "We are steadily ramping up Solar Roof production in Buffalo and are also continuing to iterate on the product design and production process. We plan to ramp production more toward the end of 2018," the company said in a statement.
Last week, Musk said there are "several hundred homes" with a Solar Roof installed, and that the project was "going well." But Tesla now clarified to Reuters that this number includes homes that are scheduled to have the roof installed as well.
Panasonic told Reuters it has been selling "some" of the solar panels produced in the Buffalo factory under its own brand, instead of selling them to Tesla.
The delayed production could become a problem for Tesla, as the company was given $750 million in state subsidies in order to build and equip the Buffalo factory. Under the terms of the agreement, Tesla must employ 1,460 people in Buffalo within two years of the factory's completion. It also needs to spend $5 billion in New York state over ten years. Right now, the state's regulators believe Tesla is meeting its obligations, and Tesla said the facility currently employs about 600 people and is "on track" to meet its commitments.


A Missouri Republican proposed expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income military veterans and their families Tuesday as a slimmed down alternative to a broader Medicaid expansion that has been opposed by many of his GOP colleagues.
The bill by Sen. Ryan Silvey would expand Medicaid coverage for veterans and their families making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $29,685 for a family of three.
"The other proposals that I have will cover not only veterans but everyone, but I felt it was important to try and solve this problem for this group," Silvey, R-Kansas City, said.
Missouri is one of 23 states that has not used a provision of President Barack Obama's health law to expand Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that provides health care to low-income individuals. Missouri's Republican legislative leaders have said there's little chance for any expansion this year.
As part of the federal Affordable Care Act, states that expand Medicaid coverage for families and individuals making up to 138 percent of federal poverty can receive more federal funding.
Currently, able-bodied adults without children do not qualify for Medicaid in Missouri. Parents making less than about 19 percent of federal poverty, or $3,612 for an adult with two children, do qualify.
Many working Missourians fall into what Silvey and others call a coverage gap, making too little to qualify for subsidies to pay for insurance through a government exchange, but too much to qualify for Medicaid. This includes working age adults under 65 making less than $11,670 for a single person.
Silvey said early estimates were at least 22,000 spouses of veterans would qualify for Medicaid under the proposal.
Dewey Riehn, Veterans of Foreign Wars legislative chairman, said expansion would benefit many veterans and their families. Veterans might already be covered through programs run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, he said, but "there is nothing for the family."
Riehn said he personally supported full expansion of Medicaid but that his group works specifically on behalf of veterans.
Even a bill aimed at assisting veterans may not have enough support to move forward in the Legislature.
"I think the opposition is more fundamental than who it goes to," said Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar. "My concerns would be the same."
Emery said he agreed the government should take care of those who served in the military but said he thought that should be done through specific veterans' programs.
Silvey said Missouri has already expanded Medicaid in other ways, by adding services such as dental care, and has considered whether to increase the amount of money and other assets that individuals can save and still qualify.
"If we're already OK with having the debate of increasing the asset limit, or adding back procedures that were recently cut ... we ought to be putting money into taking care of our veterans," Silvey said.


BEIRUT—Bashar Assad's regime would appear to be setting itself on a collision course: It let in outside observers for the first time Thursday to monitor his commitment to halting the crackdown on dissent, even as his security forces unleashed a fiercer onslaught this week, killing more than 200 in two days.
The advance team will work with the Syrians on defining locations to send the observers, according to the team's chief Assistant Secretary-General Sameer Seif el-Yazal. That suggests Damascus will have an advance idea of their movements -- and may have a say in directing them.
Associated Press Writer Edith Lederer contributed from the United Nations.


INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The City-County Council has approved a proposal that will further restrict the amount of hours drivers can park for free in downtown Indianapolis and Broad Ripple.
Councilors passed Proposal 448 by a vote of 21-3 on Monday.
Currently, you have to pay a parking meter from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and you can park for free on Sundays.
Under the new legislation, you will now have to pay a parking meter from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Parking will remain free on Sundays.
The city says it plans to use the increase in funds to address panhandling and homelessness in the downtown area. The money will also be used to allow the Department of Public Works to expand street sweeping efforts.
The new hours are expected to take effect as soon as the city can change the signs on the meters.


Car crashes are unpleasant at the best of times. They can be a lot worse. And when you are behind the wheel, it’s easy to forget that your driving habits don’t just impact you, they impact your passengers.
It about more than just staying alert. Although you can’t control how anyone else drives on the road, you can take clear steps to make sure you and your offspring get from here to there safely. Here are a few basics.
A central locking system - meaning one where the driver can lock all doors from their seat, or which locks the car when it goes over 10 MPH – is a must for maximum safety, especially for very young children or those with special needs who do not recognize danger. Practice quickly reaching the lock.
Let the kids know they’ll get a reward if they behave over long journeys, and warn them of consequences of misbehavior. Usually, pulling over and telling them if they don’t cut it out they’ll have to walk home works pretty well. If one child is older than another, assign him or her the responsibility of watching the young ‘uns.
This means securely and properly fastening all harnesses and belts, even on short distances. Pay particular attention to any child in the back middle seat, who can easily become a missile in the event of a crash. And check they are fastened; don’t just trust that they got it right or even did it at all.
Put a sticker with “Kid on board” or similar on your rear bumper.
Hip they are not, but letting other drivers know of your precious cargo via a bumper sticker may get them off your back if they’re trying to turn you into a race car driver while you’re dodging flying ice cream.
Don’t talk on the phone if you have kids in the car.
Not even with ‘hands free’ sets. And if you text it’s ot only criminal, it is insane.
So the kids love playing with Fido. Or you wife loves him on her lap. Or he ‘gets restless’ when he can’t roam about. Dogs roaming the car DEFINITELY distract drivers and are real hazards that cause and complicate crashes. Get real. Don’t risk killing your kids because you want to be nice to the dog.Buy a harness for Fido and hook him up.
If you are stressed or the kids are playing up, book a cab. It costs a little more, but anyone who has tried to do anything while also keeping an eye on a squirming little Napoleon knows what a challenge it is. Treat yourself to a cab now and then, Mom and Dad.


May 9, 2016  North Korea's powerful are gathering for their first ruling party congress in decades. Kim Jong Un is working to consolidate his power at home — and regionally — with an expanded nuclear arsenal.
May 8, 2016  North Korea's leader was speaking at the country's highest-level political gathering since 1980. This comes after it has conducted a series of provocative weapons tests.


The President of Tynwald says the Island has ‘lost a great son’ following the death of Doctor Brian Stowell.
The 82-year-old died last week.
In a statement Steve Rodan said: “On behalf of Tynwald I wish to express our great sorrow at the passing of Dr Brian Stowell, and pass condolences to his family.
“Brian Stowell served as Yn Lhaihder (The Reader) on Tynwald Day from 2001-2012, a role which celebrates the Manx language and is central to reaffirming the Manx identity and centuries-old continuity of the formal proceedings on Tynwald Hill.
“As a scholar who made a lasting contribution to Manx culture and the revival of the Manx language, he was awarded the Tynwald Honour in 2010, the highest honour the Island can bestow.


Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the Bahamas will soon be able to compete globally because public and private executives have crafted the Bahamas Small & Medium-Sized Development Act (SME Act). The SME Act is likely to be legislated during the 2015 first quarter, and will stimulate economic growth while also mitigating the negative impact of future recessions on the Bahamian economy.
The SME Act will be enforced and supervised by a non-political organisation called the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDA). Market research was completed in early 2014 to obtain information on how SME owners would like business development activities to improve and progress in gthe Bahamas. In addition, SME owners made recommendations on how SMEDA should be structured to cater to the successful development of the SME sector in the Bahamas.
Public and private sector executives will be elected to SMEDA’s Board. Members of this Board will be mandated not to make decisions based on political, gender or cultural motives. SMEDA’s Board will have the authority to make recommendations that modify particulars of the SME Act ,based on economic conditions or at the request of stakeholders.
Presently, a strategic plan is being developed for how SMEDA would be structured, so that it can operate in an effective and efficient manner.
The SME Act, from a domestic perspective, should provide the foundation for improving economic conditions in the Bahamas.
The SME Act, from an international perspective, should attract foreign investors who want to partner with local entrepreneurs in fields such as e-commerce, manufacturing, agriculture and information technology.
These industries are tremendously underserved and underdeveloped. These types of investments would diversify the Bahamian economy which, to its peril, relies too heavily on tourism and financial services sectors.
The SME Act will revitalise the entrepreneurial spirit in all islands of the Bahamas. It will outline policies and initiatives that will assist in the development of SMEs - a major driving force in our nation.
The SME Act will increase the national economic value of SMEs in the Bahamas. In addition, its purpose is to synchronise and unify the efforts of the Government, financial lending institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), SMEs and other stakeholders as it relates to small business development in the Bahamas. Most importantly, the SME Act will identify how local and international investors, and entrepreneurs, can qualify for incentive and stimulus programmes when it comes to financing and developing innovative products and services.
The major reason why there is not an explicit master plan for SME development in the Bahamas is because of the absence of legislation to drive national strategies.
The SME Act will encourage Bahamians to become entrepreneurs because it will outline incentives /concessions that will be offered.
The hiring of a specific number of Bahamians.
The SME Act will encourage Family Island development by providing incentives/concessions to Bahamians who want to open small, complementary businesses (tour operators, movie theatres, agriculture, Laundromats etc.) that will increase the employment rate, improve infrastructure, encourage Bahamians to reside there permanently and entice more domestic and foreign tourists.
The SME Act will increase the Bahamas’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because it will eventually reduce the importation of foreign products and services, increase compensation to employees, increase business profits, increase government income and increase interest payments to Bahamians.
The SME Act will reduce the national debt and deficit because it will decrease Government spending, particularly on hiring civil servants, and increase Government license, fees and tax income because more businesses will be operating in the Bahamas.
Incentive programs will be developed to encourage the creation of innovative products or services that will tremendously improve economic development.
Business recovery programmes will not focus on unemployment hand-outs, but will assist business owners in maintaining current employment levels.
The Bahamas Development Bank, the Bahamas Agriculture and Industrial Corporation and the Bahamas Entrepreneurial Venture Fund will harmonise policies and procedures, and align operational structures to become more effective and efficient when catering to SMEs. All government agencies and department that cater to businesses will work in synergy with SMEDA.
Acquiring a Business License will be less tedious because all the relevant regulatory bodies would be under one roof.
New entrepreneurs that create innovative products or services will have easy access to financial funding and business support services.
Favourable technical and business management support will be given to entrepreneurial ventures that develop innovative products, delivery systems, operational structures and marketing strategies in film making, agro-processing, fashion design, e-commerce, information technology, Junkanoo, agriculture, art, e-learning, multi-media production, manufacturing, education, horticulture, software development, fly fishing, art and authentically Bahamian handicraft.
SMEs that operate in a socially responsible manner (are up-to date in NIB, Customs duty payments, VAT etc.) will find it less arduous to access financial funding and stimulus packages during economic downturns.
Medical, health and wellness, sports tourism, e-commerce, information and communication technology (ICT), apiculture (bees agriculture), green energy production, innovative manufacturing and agriculture (coconuts etc.) markets will be effectively and efficiently exploited in order to successfully grow and diversify the economy.
The Government and its partners (public–private partnership relationship) will focus on revitalising the cultural tourism, agriculture, fishing, fish farming and manufacturing industries. In addition, the hemp, sisal, sponging and forestry industries will be successfully revitalised.
Commercial banks, credit unions, and government financial funding programmes will focus on providing adequate capital to variable SMEs in introductory, growth and maturity stages of the business life cycle.
All financial lending institutions will engage in collaborative activities to develop various funding packages that address all the financial requirements of viable SMEs.
The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC), the Inter-American Development Bank, the College of the Bahamas (and other colleges), the International Labour Organisation, The Inter-American Institute For Cooperation on Agriculture will collaborate with SMEDA to oversee the enforcement of the SME Act.
Business, accounting, medical, technical, merchandising, manufacturing, construction, real estate, fishing, agriculture associations will lobby for industry-specific programmes and incentives that would increase competitive capabilities and offset the negative impacts of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
This definition will clearly indicate the difference between ‘small businesses’ and ‘medium-sized businesses’.
Stakeholders that cater to SMEs will be requested to honour this definition.
The present incentive legislation will be encompassed in the SME Act.
The SME Act will outline new incentives that would be received by SMEs for developing innovative products and services that contribute to the country’s economic development.
The SME Act will introduce stimulus programmes that will be available to selective SMEs to mitigate the negative impact of future recessions. SMEs must be ‘socially responsible’, maintain a specific employment level and show signs of vitality.
The SME Act will explicitly indicate which SMEs are eligible for incentives, concessions and stimulus packages.
Government lending agencies, commercial banks, credit unions and other financial lending institutions will collaborate and pool together resources to develop a National SME Financial Lending Scheme (NFS). This NFS will make it easy to access capital for various stages of the SMEs’ life cycle: (Introductory, Growth, Restructuring, Recovery).
The NFS will have clear policies, and loan packages will be categorised into specific programmes based on financial requirements.
The NFS will be properly overseen by SMEDA.
Management, marketing, human resources, computer, finance, accounting and entrepreneurship training will be provided at affordable prices.
Business Support Programmes (BSPs) will be available to all SMEs. SMEs will have access to accountants, lawyers, business, marketing, human resources, information technology and financial consultants who sign up and are approved by SMEDA to offer their services at affordable rates.
Business coaches and consultants will be assigned to SMEs on a need-by-need or contractual basis.
Technical training, BSPs and financial funding will be linked together so that SMEs will have a greater chance to operate viable businesses.
The major benefit of the SME Act will be that, through its aggressive financial and overall SME support policies, the Bahamian economy will become diversified and therefore more protected against future recessions.


There was much to be disappointed by in President Donald Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview over the weekend, from his curious belief that climate change might reverse itself to his contention that his mocking of alleged sexual assault victim Christine Blasey Ford is immaterial now that “we won” and Brett Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court. But there’s at least one thing he said that ought to disturb Americans right in their core beliefs. Asked about the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump vowed “severe punishment” if it turns out that Saudi Arabia ordered his death, but he expressed great reluctance to use the most powerful leverage available to him — the pending $110 billion arms sale to that country — on the grounds it would hurt U.S. manufacturers.
So there it is. The price of justice has been set. Do at least $110 billion worth of business with a favored industry within the United States and human rights are meaningless. Truth is meaningless. Once again, the Saudi royal family is demonstrating to the world that everyone has a price. The values that Americans claim to hold dear are actually negotiable when contracts and jobs are on the line. No wonder China and Russia and other regimes with questionable human rights records want to do business with the U.S. We are a paper tiger made from greenbacks. Lock us into enormously valuable contracts, and we’ll purr like kittens.
Might it be too early to judge the Trump administration morally bankrupt when the matter hasn’t been fully investigated? Perhaps. But President Trump doesn’t exactly have a sterling record for investigations, given the FBI’s recent whitewash of Professor Ford’s alleged teen encounter with Judge Kavanaugh, neither of whom federal gumshoes could be bothered to interview. What similar treatment is waiting for the case of the missing Washington Post columnist? Rounding up the usual suspects? Blaming MS-13? You don’t have to be a Democrat to be appalled by this administration’s tolerance of Saudi misconduct. Congressional Republicans are grumbling about the response, too — including Sen. Marco Rubio who was on TV Sunday saying neither Saudi money nor its occasional help reining in Iran should cause the U.S. to lose sight of its role as a defender of morality and human rights.
Indeed, congressional action may ultimately be the only way to be certain a serious punishment is meted out against the Saudis — much as it took Congress to force the administration to keep pressure on Russia and Vladimir Putin. Mr. Trump’s loyalties often seem to run toward making money and not toward defending this nation’s ideals. He’s only too willing to risk economic success in trade wars. He’ll take that gamble in the name of greater economic success. But standing up for free speech? That’s doesn’t seem to be in the Trump DNA. At least not like commiserating with autocrats about the hardships of dealing with reporters (“enemies of the people,” as the president likes to say).
The apparent death of Jamal Khashoggi matters. Not just because he was a harsh critic of the Saudi government but because there are many more Jamal Khashoggis out there writing and reporting on the terrible things other countries and other regimes are perpetrating against their citizens. If the U.S. and its allies are willing to look the other way in this case, even slightly, what is to keep all those other despots from doing the same? Earlier this month, we got the answer when the body of 30-year-old Viktoria Marinova was fished out of the Danube. The Bulgarian TV journalist had been beaten, raped and strangled after reporting on corruption in her country. She was the third European journalist to be murdered this year. Who will stand up for them and for the people they are helping inform if not the U.S.?


The severe fires throughout California over the past three months have exposed humans and animals to unhealthy air containing wildfire smoke and particulates. These particulates can build up in the respiratory system, causing a number of health problems including burning eyes, runny noses and illnesses such as bronchitis. They can also aggravate heart and lung diseases such as congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema and asthma. Because little information is available to horse owners and even equine veterinarians on the effects on horses of breathing air laden with particulates, UC Davis equine specialists are offering these suggestions to serve as a general guide.


The Cowboys traded for offensive lineman Parker Ehinger before the start of last season, giving up cornerback Charvarius Ward to the Chiefs to get him.
Ehinger, though, didn’t play in a game for the Cowboys.
Dallas announced Wednesday it has cut Ehinger along with defensive tackle Aziz Shittu.
Ehinger injured his knee in one of his first practices with the Cowboys, with Dallas placing him on injured reserve two days before the season opener.
Shittu, 24, spent part of last season on the Cowboys’ practice squad.
I agree Ward is coming into his own. But wasn’t it Nelson that picked it off?
Bears besides Larson we need another Lineman this is are man .Pace do your job please for us former Cowboy Fans he can help us. Cheaply.
I just went and looked at the video … it was Ward. #35. For what it’s worth. If Ehinger has anything left in his knee the Chiefs could sign him back … just a guess.
Ward would have been a camp casualty due to the numbers at cornerback.. We had to use a valuable assest in order to get some depth on the line considering we lost Travis Fredrick and our free agent guard Marcus Marin broke his toe..
Glad things worked out for Ward though.


Back in the mid-1990s, I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, then vice president at IBM, who was charged with building a new generation of supercomputers. But Dr. Wladawsky-Berger didn't go out and spend a huge budget on specialized hardware. Rather, the genius of his approach was to take sets of already-manufactured processors -- at the time, RISC processors from IBM's Unix family -- and lashed them together with a high-speed switch to create supercomputing power. A few years later, the follow-on generation of supercomputers was built in a similar fashion from x86 processors running Linux.
Welcome to innovation, 21st Century style. A couple of months ago, I posted some observations about innovation coming from low-cost and conveniently available parts -- part of the formula for success for our era: “Good enough” may be good enough when it comes to developing new products and services.
One powerful byproduct that has emerged from this paradigm is supercomputers. The latest and fastest behemoth, as a matter of fact, was built from PC chips from Advanced Micro Devices. The supercomputer, as described by The New York Times' Ashlee Vance, runs at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee "and can throw hundreds of thousands of processing engines at computing problems."
"The supercomputing world was long dominated by systems that required specialized chips, memory systems and networking technology. But about 10 years ago, researchers realized they could link thousands of cheaper machines running on mainstream chips and achieve pretty solid performance."
The idea that many small commodity processors could work together to provide supercomputing power is being seen in other forms, such as grids. For example, the SETI@home project employs individual users across the globe, who donate unused cycles to help sift through data in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
The Top500 list of the world's current top 500 supercomputers was just released, and just about all are built with commonly available commodity processors. In fact, 79% of the world's fastest supercomputers run on clusters of Intel EM64T processors.
Across all product categories, the high-end brands, typically offered as part of well-crafted and expensive interdependent architectures, will be displaced by more modular approaches offered by commoditizers. In the process, new markets will open as more companies or people have access to more affordable approaches. Or even supercomputers.


LOUIS VAN GAAL insists his self-belief has not wavered despite the mounting criticism he is facing at Manchester United.
But the Dutchman admits he is fighting a battle to manage the expectations at Old Trafford and says the club – and football itself - has changed from five or 10 years ago when they were the dominant force in the English game.
Despite spending £250m on new players in his 18 months in charge, Van Gaal insists he is still in a re-building process and that there were “positives” from the midweek defeat to Wolfsburg when United crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage.
That followed a run of four goal-less draws in six homes games when United were booed off by some supporters.
“People think it is ‘just’ the Europa League but I'm not thinking like that. I have already won the competition when it was the UEFA Cup in my first season at Ajax and I was very proud of that. For me, the Europa League is a big competition."
And he insists the team need to pick themselves up quickly because there is so much still to play for this season.
"They [the players] need to use their tools to lift them up and we have a lot to fight for, I think. So we are very close in the Premier League to the top. We can fight for the FA Cup and fight also for the Europa League, so I think we have enough to fight for."
Van Gaal’s hopes of a sparking an immediate improvement at Bournemouth have been hit by nine absentees.
Six of the players are defenders with Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian joining Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia on the side lines for the first-ever League meeting with the Cherries.
Ander Herrera and Wayne Rooney are also still missing while Bastian Schweinsteiger is suspended for three games.
The only positive news is that Morgan Schneiderlin is returning to fitness following his hip problem.
It means Van Gaal may have to play with three youngsters, Guillermo Varela, Paddy McNair and Campbell Borthwick-Jackson in the back line.
He added: "It is not so good. We have eight injured players because Darmian and also Smalling we can add to this list, and Schweinsteiger is also suspended, so it's nine players who are not able to play.
"Schneiderlin is coming back, that’s not a problem, but we have a list of eight players injured and Rojo has been operated on this week and it takes a long time. These injuries are very heavy – Shaw and Valencia have also been operated on and that’s our problem."
Van Gaal is hoping Herrera, Smalling and Darmian will be fit for the busy Christmas and New Year programme.


WASHINGTON -- Justin Upton isn't entirely sure what's wrong with him, but the outfielder feels like he's made enough strides to get back into the lineup for the Atlanta Braves. His manager wants to take a wait-and-see approach.
Upton left Atlanta's game Tuesday with dizziness and since then has felt several inner-ear symptoms. Thursday, however, Upton worked out before the game and felt much better. He would pinch-hit in the eighth inning.
"I swung, ran about eight sprints and got a good sweat going," he said. "I've dealt with inner-ear stuff before, and honestly, I hope it's that and it will blow over in the next couple of days."
The Braves played a series in Colorado last week, and Upton thinks the altitude could have had an effect on his balance.
"Who knows? But Denver can do some things to you," he said. "It's one of those things where if you're a little bit off, you feel it."
Manager Fredi Gonzalez hopes to get Upton, who is tied for sixth in the National League with 14 home runs, back into the lineup soon, but is fine with giving his outfielder another day of rest.
"He's feeling better, and that's a positive," Gonzalez said.
--LHP Mike Minor hasn't won since May 19, with two losses and three no-decisions on his ledger since then. He's facing a team in Washington that he's had difficulty with over his career. Minor is 1-2 in six career appearances against the Nationals, and last year was rocked for five runs and nine hits in his lone start against Washington.
--RHP Gavin Floyd suffered a fractured right olecranon -- a small bone at the end of the elbow -- during Thursday's win over Washington. After the first pitch of the seventh inning, Floyd called out the Atlanta trainer and then walked off the field after flexing his pitching elbow. Floyd missed nearly all of 2013 and the first month of 2014 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
--RHP Pedro Beato was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday due to a sore right elbow. Beato made two appearances in his brief stint in Atlanta since being called up from Triple-A Gwinett on Tuesday. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the injury was "nothing major."
--C Evan Gattis extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games with a fourth-inning single. Gattis holds the longest active hitting streak in the majors and hitting nearly .400 (29-for-74) during the run.
--RHP Juan Jaime was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett. He replaces RHP Pedro Beato, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday due to a sore right elbow.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's one pitch. What a shame. The guy comes all the way back from Tommy John. It's two different things -- one doesn't affect the other ... I feel for the young man." -- Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez on RHP Gavin Floyd, who suffered a fractured right olecranon -- a small bone at the end of the elbow -- during Thursday's win over Washington.
--RHP Gavin Floyd (elbow) fractured his elbow June 19. He will fly back to Atlanta and have his arm examined by team doctors to determine the extent of the injury and the amount of time he will miss.
--OF Justin Upton (dizziness) left the June 17 game, and did not play June 18. He is day-to-day. Upton hit in the cage and ran sprints June 19, saying he felt much better and that he hoped to return to the lineup June 20.
--RHP Pedro Beato (elbow) was placed on the 15-day disabled list June 19 after just two appearances since being recalled from Triple-A. The Braves said the injury was soreness and nothing they feared as major.


Warminster, Pa. - THE horticultural world is having its own debate over immigration, with some environmentalists warning about the dangers of so-called exotic plants from other countries and continents "invading" American gardens. These botanical xenophobes say that a pristine natural state exists in our yards and that to disturb it is both sinful and calamitous. In their view, exotic plants will swallow your garden, your neighbors' gardens and your neighbors' neighbors' gardens until the ecosystem collapses under their rampant suffocating growth.
If anything suffocates us, though, it will be the environmentalists' narrowmindedness. Like all utopian visions, their dream beckons us into a perfect and rational natural world where nothing ever changes -- a world that never existed and never will.
Native plants are the survivalists of the botanical world, and in the appropriate settings -- wilderness areas, home and botanical gardens, public parks and sidewalks -- they bless us with their beauty and awe us with their tenacity. Our lives would be poor and grim without the strawberry, cranberry, columbine and trillium. They've always been here, in the same way that Native Americans have been; only their arrival and settlement are more ancient.
Like human survivalists, natives are also subject to exploitation by the horticultural equivalent of radical fundamentalists. The anti-exotics argue that gardens should be populated exclusively by native plants, as if the exotics were trying to enter the flower bed illegally. The consequences of such a stand could be dire. Should we eat no onions or garlic, apples or lemons; feast our eyes on no magnificent tulips or roses -- all exotics of Eurasian origin? Should Asians not enjoy their distinctive peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, sunflowers and corn -- all from the Americas?
Indeed, the world's most popular root crop, potatoes, started life as a staple of the Andean people and achieved its first international fame as a slave food. By the time it reached France, the "earth apple" was a delicacy likened to truffles; their flowers were featured in tiaras of court ladies. Exotic indeed.
Should we deprive ourselves of petunias, begonias, impatiens and hollyhocks -- not a one of them "native"? Must we, on pain of being cast out of the garden as horticultural pariahs, deny the elephant his peanuts? This wouldn't be merely ridiculous. It would compare with the denial of human immigration on grounds that certain ethnic groups breed in numbers "too prolific" for the existing elite to tolerate. Imagine, then, a horticultural ruling class. No "invasives" need apply: let the lily find another valley. Such prohibitions of exotic plant species demonstrate only an elitist snobbery that is as dangerous to a free society as it is to a free botany.
No one, and certainly no gardener, grows truly destructive invasive plants in his garden. The devastating kudzu in the South, star thistle in the West and purple loosestrife in the East were accidental introductions from Asia, most often mixed with the feed and bedding of livestock. Yet the pro-native, anti-exotic partisans also wish us to stop enjoying the charms of harmless and beautiful plants like Queen Anne's lace, yarrow and chicory. Aside from requiring a bit of weeding, exotics are safe as milk, unless one considers gardening a chore rather than a passionate hobby. If so, forget the forget-me-nots.
Let's welcome, as spring arrives tomorrow, as many huddled masses of flowers, herbs and vegetables as can fit in our unique melting pot of a nation, unrivaled in its tradition of lush diversity and freedom to grow rampantly.
Op-Ed Contributor George Ball, a former president of the American Horticultural Society, is the president of the seed and plant company W. Atlee Burpee & Company.


The sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, who has died aged 87 of a prolonged kidney ailment, was one of the greatest musicians of the Indian subcontinent. A man of few words, introverted, and never given to extravagant flourishes, he was completely absorbed in the music of the classical tradition that he inherited, and that he helped popularise in the west.
Born in the village of Shibpore in the Comilla district of what is now Bangladesh, he took up the instrument that his father, Allauddin Khan, had developed and improved from the rabab of Afghanistan. Smaller than the sitar, the sarod has an unfretted fingerboard made of metal. Of the 25 metal strings, 10 are played, the rest are sympathetic. The strings are plucked with a coconut shell, and both father and son exploited its capacity for glissando effects.
Allauddin had studied with the Rampur court musician Vazir Khan, a descendant of the legendary musician-composer Miyan Tansen, one of the "nine gems" of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Later, Allauddin was employed by the Maharaja of Maihar, and it was there that he started coaching Ali Akbar seriously, thus making him a part of the same musical lineage.
"Baba", as the father was known, was a stern master who often lost his temper, especially when his son failed to concentrate. Another of his pupils was the sitarist Ravi Shankar, who records in his autobiography that Baba was particularly hard on his son while he, Shankar, was always treated most sympathetically. However, once, when Baba was unusually harsh with him, Shankar decided to pack his bags and leave. It was Ali Akbar, two years younger, who pursued him and brought him back. After a meal prepared by Ali Akbar's mother, Madina Begum, Shankar was persuaded to stay. He later married Annapurna Devi, Ali Akbar's younger sister, another gifted musician.
As vocal music forms the basis of all Indian classical music, Ali Akbar was made to spend hours practising the sargams, sol-fa passages, and taans, musical figures. He was never allowed out of the room until his father was satisfied that he had got them right. Percussion and talas, time measures, he learned from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin. As Shankar wrote: "Ali Akbar told me he had been compelled to practise for 14 to 16 hours every day, and there were times when Baba tied him to a tree for hours and refused to let him eat if his progress was not satisfactory."
I now realise why Khan was so inhibited verbally. On the few occasions that I met him, he was always the listener, never the authoritative speaker. And when I interviewed him for a BBC TV Asian programme many years ago, it was difficult to get him to speak out. However, when it came to demonstrating a particular raga, it was a different matter.
He would put down his head, almost shut his eyes and concentrate on his instrument, and then produce the most enchanting and divine music. He had the rare genius to draw out the rasa, the colour and inner soul, of a raga, and his raga innovations often combined the characteristics of traditional melody archetypes. When he played he appeared to be oblivious of everything around him. He said that it was through his music that he communicated with the Almighty.
In his early 20s, Khan became music director of All-India Radio in Lucknow. Then, as a Mumbai-based composer, he scored many films, among them Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan (Storms, 1952), Sayajit Ray's Devi (The Goddess, 1960), the Merchant Ivory production - their first feature film - The Householder (1963) and Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993).
Khan recorded celebrated duets with Shankar, the violinist L Subramaniam, and the sitarist Vilayat Khan, as well as many western musicians. His long relationship with Yehudi Menuhin dated back to the Edinburgh Festival of the 1950s, and it was Menuhin who brought about Khan's debut at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955. The following year, Khan established a college in Kolkata and started teaching in the US, where he settled. His San Rafael college in California later opened a branch in Basel, Switzerland. In 1971, he and Shankar formed part of the star line-up for the concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, New York, organised by George Harrison.
Khan - often given the honorific of "master" as Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - was awarded the National Heritage fellowship of the US and the Padma Vibhushan of India. He is survived by his third wife, Mary; seven sons, of whom Aashish and Alam Khan are sarod players; and four daughters.


The federal government is continuing to study Silicon Valley giants for potential violations of antitrust law, according to President Trump, in his latest criticism of the embattled tech industry.
Asked by Axios to clarify which companies the Trump administration is considering, Trump said: “All three” — referring to Amazon.com, Facebook and Google.
Trump claimed in the interview that a previous administration had considered breaking up key players in the tech industry. But while the Federal Trade Commission had investigated Google during the Obama administration over how the company displayed its search results, the agency concluded there was no antitrust violation — and did not weigh a break up.
Some, such as Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), have called on the FTC to reopen its probe into Google.
In September, the Justice Department held a meeting with state attorneys general to discuss whether any conduct by the tech companies could have violated antitrust law. State officials have taken up the banner, opening the door to a multistate inquiry. But those discussions are still in their early stages.
And the Federal Trade Commission has held hearings this fall on the matter, though experts speaking at the conference are largely divided as to whether tech platforms pose an antitrust problem.
The European Union has proved more aggressive than U.S. regulators. In recent months, European antitrust officials have slapped Google with a $5 billion fine for marketing its own apps in an allegedly anticompetitive fashion, prompting Google to stop bundling its browser and search engine with the Google Play store in Europe. The E.U.'s competition regulator has also targeted Apple for alleged tax evasion and Facebook for providing “misleading” information about its deal to purchase WhatsApp.


May 24, 2016 Local products, Steal this recipe.
This boozy beet float is a spin on the classic root beer float, but with gin and Topo Chico. Photo from Juice Society.
Juice Society just opened a retail location at 1100 S. Lamar Blvd., and though you can’t buy their organic, cold-pressed juices in other stores, you can buy them online for delivery.
Mix together the gin and juice. In a tall float glass (or a chilled beer pint glass), add the ice cream and then pour the gin mixture over the scoops. Top off the float with your sparkling water of choice, such as Topo Chico. Add a cucumber garnish, if using.


President Donald Trump disclosed reimbursement payment last year of more than $100,000 to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in financial documents released Wednesday.
The disclosure, released Wednesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, did not elaborate on what the money was for, beyond expenses. However, the payment was made for work Cohen did in 2016, the same year the attorney paid adult film star $130,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier.
The documents show Trump paid Cohen between $100,001 and $250,000. Daniels, who was born Stephanie Clifford, was paid $130,000 by Cohen after she signed a nondisclosure agreement barring her from talking about her alleged affair with the future president.
She has since sued to break the agreement, claiming that it is invalid because it was never signed by Trump.
Former New York Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News earlier this month that the president reimbursed Cohen for the payment, but he insisted that the funds did not come from the campaign. Critics have questioned whether the payment could be considered an illegal in-kind campaign contribution.
The president acknowledged for the first time last month that Cohen represented him “with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal” after weeks of telling reporters that he had no knowledge of the payment to the adult film actress.
Cohen filed notice last month that he would not answer questions in Daniels' case seeking to end the nondisclosure agreement, exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.


CORPUEL-Belma Teich. Beloved wife of Jules; mother of Michael, Noel, Peter and Jeffrey, Kathy, Carol and Georgeann; sister of Elsie Seckel and the late Victor Teich; sister-in-law of Edythe Teich; brother-in-law of the late Robert Seckel; grandmother of Stacy, Adena, Josh, Alison, Jessica, Rebecca and great grandmother of Aaron, passed from our lives and we will dearly miss her. Belma was Director of Camp Wayne since 1952. Although she will not be with us physically, she will always be in our hearts. We have all gained strength, determination and love from her. A memorial service will be held at Boulevard-Riverside Chapel in Hewlett, LI on Monday, November 30 at 9:30 AM. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Association for the Help of Retarded Children.


A truly spectacular estate, 'The Lodge' sits on over 13 acres of manicured lawn and offers privacy, luxury, and was custom built to the highest standards! The home's grand entrance leads to a 3,000sf main level gathering area, with warm finishes and many conveniences. Host any function here. Food prep area w/commercial size fridge/freezer, has plenty of storage and work space, and can be open to expansive bar/great room/dining space or hidden w/retractable panels. Upstairs is a spacious living area including a master retreat w/fireplace, his and hers walk-in closets, serene bath with tiled walk-in shower, 2 additional BRs + 1 non-conforming BR, theater room, and covered balcony overlooking your gazebo and one-acre pond! Office space with a separate entrance allows you to get to work immediately (3 offices, including 1 executive office). The patio w/stone fireplace offers entertaining or relaxation space in a gorgeous setting. Nearly 4,000sf heated garage. Contact agent to learn more!


Barrhead Travel aims to support its customers’ communities in a new phase of an integrated CSR strategy.
A breakfast club for children in Barrhead, the Renfrewshire town where the agency group opened its first branch in 1975, has been opened in collaboration with The Greggs Foundation.
Greggs’ charity aims improve the lives of children and communities.
They teamed up to open an early bird club at St Mark’s primary school in the town to allow pupils to gather before the school day to enjoy a healthy meal and activities such as sports, art, technology and music.
Barrhead Travel has agreed a two-year sponsorship and has other initiatives in the pipeline with the school.
Managing director Jacqueline Dobson said: “We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the community in such a meaningful way. Barrhead is the town in which our company found its roots and so it is an area very close to our hearts.
The agency chain last month signed up with 7,000 retailers across the UK who are campaigning to make shopping easier for people with autism.


A masked man with a gun robbed the Quickeez convenience store on North Main Street in Carver Saturday night, police said.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday, a man wearing a mask, a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans walked into the store and pointed a gun at the clerk, police said. Carver, Plympton and Middleboro police along with a dog from the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department searched the area after the crime was reported but no one matching the description of the robber was found.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call police at 508-866-2000.


Star Wars: The Last Jedi is probably the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back, but that doesn't mean it's without its faults. From the over the top barrage of humor to some certain things that made fans laugh or cry at the wrong time, we've collected some of the biggest gripes with Rian Johnson's first foray into the Star Wars universe. While they're not horrible offenses, they've for some reason or another left a bad taste in the mouths of fans, much like the weird green milk Luke Skywalker ingested on Ahch-To from that weird alien sea cow. Brace yourselves, there are SPOILERS AHEAD, so if you haven't seen The Last Jedi, you might want to stop reading.
One of the worst things about The Last Jedi are the Canto Bight scenes. They seem out of place, almost like George Lucas directed them and had the scenes patched into the movie without telling anybody. From a weird drunken space leprechaun feeding BB-8 gold coins to some of the lamest inhabitants of any alien planet in the Star Wars universe. It is definitely the bathroom break portion of the movie with the only saving grace being the introduction of Benicio del Toro's DJ character into the fold. Elsewhere, the Fathiers have weird almost human-like faces to prove how sad they are while some poor orphan kids clean up after them. Never mind BB-8 shooting gold coins out of himself like a bizarre machine gun. The whole scene that leads to Canto Bight turning into the nightmare of the movie is undoubtedly the parking violation. Rose and Finn get arrested for a Parking ticket? This can't be real and it truly looks like George Lucas wrote that into the script because it reeks of his style. Those fans griping that Lucas isn't represented in The Last Jedi, look no further than 2 main characters getting arrested for a parking violation at a casino. It's just plain lazy and not even humorous, except to maybe George Lucas.
Captain Phasma was promised to be a bigger character in The Last Jedi and she clearly was not. She's barely in the movie and when she is on the screen for a substantial amount of time, she apparently dies and we get to see her eye. There's no big reveal and she doesn't even seem as tough as she does in The Force Awakens, which basically means that she's another throwaway character who does all of the press and promotion for the movie, but is barely on the screen.
Another gripe about The Last Jedi is the lack of background on Supreme Leader Snoke. J.J. Abrams built the leader of the First Order to be this huge deal and Andy Serkis was telling anybody that would listen that the villainous alien is more powerful than Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. While Snoke looks amazing and Serkis' portrayal of the character is commanding, the dude gets cut in half by Kylo Ren, really easily too. So here's this big bad villain that everybody has been wondering about for 2 years and now nothing. Just cut in half with no mention of anything else.
Ok, so this might be a bit controversial, but Leia using the Force to get back to the ship after floating in space was a bit over the top. Sure, Carrie Fisher did a spectacular job, but the whole Mary Poppins (sans umbrella), gliding through space was a bit comical from a purely visual standpoint. Otherwise, it's really cool to finally see her tapping into her Force abilities, but it could've been executed a little better. George Lucas has reportedly told Rian Johnson that he can redo the scene in 20 years and re-release it into theaters along with some other touchups.
Speaking of controversy, some fans believe that the absence of Jar Jar Binks actually made The Last Jedi worse. No kidding, fans have taken to social media and bemoaned the fact that Jar Jar didn't return and save the movie from what, we just don't know. This is a real complaint about the movie and it isn't immediately understood, so we'll just let that simmer for a while and come back to it a little later.


LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – An expectant father was killed after trying to break up an argument between his neighbors.
Ricardo Vaca, 20, was at home Saturday night when he heard his neighbor, Amparo Moreno, screaming from a block away, WBBH reports.
Vaca rushed to help the woman who was involved in an altercation with her husband, Placido Moreno-Torres.
Moreno-Torres then allegedly shot his wife and Vaca in the driveway of his home and fled the scene.
Amparo and Vaca both died from their injuries.
Witnesses identified Moreno-Torres as the shooter.
He was arrested and is facing two counts of homicide and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
According to News Press, Vaca just got married on May 29.
He and his new wife were expecting a baby.
Moreno was a mother of three.


Toronto, Canada – LONDON (Reuters) - Tiger Woods's former coach Butch Harmon believes the world number one must risk the humiliation and embarrassment of a full and frank news conference over his infidelities before he can get on with his life.
"But where the hell is he? We could find Osama bin Laden easier than we can find Tiger Woods. How long can you spend on a yacht in the middle of the ocean."
Harmon, who now coaches world number two Phil Mickelson and does occasional commentary work for the UK television channel Sky Sports, said the 14-times major champion would have to put up with verbal asides from the crowds when he returns to golf.
"The difficult part, in my opinion, is going to be the heckling from the galleries," he said. "He is going to get it.
"If he plays in the Ryder Cup (in Wales in October) which I happen to think he will, that is going to be very interesting."
Harmon, who believes Woods is likely to return for one of the four PGA Tour events in Florida in March, said the 34-year-old American was strong enough to turn the other cheek to the crowds.
"He is the strongest person mentally that's ever played our game," said Harmon. "If there is anyone who can block out this extra stuff that is going on around him, he is probably the guy.
"If he wants to rekindle the image of who he is, this would be the best way to do it, to do the press conference because then he looks human.
"He is going to look ridiculous really, with the questions that are going to be asked. But the average person would appreciate that side of him because they've never seen that," added Harmon.


iTunes is getting more features! But hey, some bloat is good bloat.
Apple is adding still more features to the already overbloated iTunes because, you know, it needs more bloat.
The latest update to the music music/video/movies/app manager and player – classically dubbed version 11.0.3 – includes a redesigned Mini Player, album art in Song View, support for multi-disc albums, and some search and performance enhancements. It isn't the major update we hope to see Cupertino make to this once-great platform, but, hey, at least it's not getting any worse.
Here's a look at the newest features, to help you decide whether you want to download yet another Apple iTunes update.
Album art in songs view.
You can now see all of your pretty album art on the left when in the Songs viewing mode. It's a nice design element, but if album art isn't available for a lot of your music – which is the case for me – it's not very useful.
The new Mini Player consuming as little space as possible. Apple introduced the Mini Player in 2011, so it should look pretty familiar.
Mini Player with full album art.
What is new: the Mini Player can expand to be album art.
Mini Player with list of songs.
You can see what songs are in said album or playlist.
And you can search through your entire iTunes library via the Mini Player.
Album art with song view.
And just as a refresher, in case you haven't seen the new iTunes 11, it lets you view songs listed over full album art.
The full-blown desktop player also has a little list button at the top that lets you see the upcoming songs, and clear them on a song by song basis.
"In the Store" option under song view.
As for iTunes Store functionality, you can click an "In the Store" button while in song view. From there, you can buy other albums and songs by the same artist. The Store will also give you recommendations based on that artist.
The iTunes Store will also keep track of your browsing history, letting you quickly go back to songs, movies or TV shows that you've previewed. It doesn't track everything that you've glanced out, only the stuff where you've listened to or watched a sample.
You can get the latest iTunes update in the App Store or from the Apple Downloads site.


Campbell's has a new line of soups designed around Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and predictably, people are already crying foul of an LGBT component of the campaign.
The ad features a married gay couple feeding soup to their son. "Cooper, I am your father," one dad says, zooming the noodles to his son's face on a spoon/spaceship. "No, no, no, I am your father," his husband jokes, and delivers another spoonful. At the end, a voiceover announces that Campbell's soups are for "real, real life." The actors are a real-life married couple, and have previously starred in an ad for Sabra hummus.
The ad is part of a series of commercials around the #RealRealLife hashtag. "We wanted to show actual families, which means families of different configurations, cultures, races and life choices," Yin Woon Rani, Campbell's VP of marketing activation, said in a statement. "The American family is changing faster than at any time in recent history and it is now a true mosaic of shapes and sizes, all bonded through love, and love of good food."
But the usual Internet suspects are not happy with this. YouTube commenters are calling out Campbell's for being "political" by featuring a different type of family. They're quoting the Bible, calling the commercial sinful, and saying that representing a smaller part of their customer base isn't "normal" or "real life." And I'm not cherry-picking here; those comments have the most upvotes.
And it just gets worse from there. One Million Moms, the group known for protesting basically any positive representation of the LGBT community, is calling for customers to complain to Campbell's for "glorifying this unnatural marriage." If Campbell's doesn't change its tune, One Million Moms is threatening a boycott.
But anti-gay groups should have seen this coming. Campbell's has a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, and was named one of the best places for LGBT employees to work.


Tiger Woods’ wife Elin called one of his alleged mistresses, Jaimee Grubbs, according to a new report.
Grubbs told co-workers at Stone Rose Lounge in West Hollywood, Calif., that a woman who didn’t identify herself called and said, did not identify herself but said, “You know who this is because you’re f—ing my husband,” according to TMZ.com.
The call occurred on the day of Woods’ bizarre car crash that reportedly happened after a fierce argument between the world’s No. 1 golfer and his wife.
A voicemail obtained by Us Weekly allegedly from Woods to Grubbs indicated that Woods was worried Elin was onto him.


With parents complaining about a glut of tests in public schools and the Florida Department of Education investigating how much time students spend on exams, senators appear ready to refocus how the state assesses learning gains.
After members of the Senate Education PreK-12 Committee spent about an hour Wednesday hearing from and grilling Education Commissioner Pam Stewart about tests, the panel’s chairman said legislation addressing the issue was likely during the Legislature’s spring session.
“I’ve got a message very clearly from our members that they’re interested in doing something,” said Chairman John Legg, R-Lutz.
But as for the details of the would-be bill, Legg conceded that “I don’t know what it looks like yet.” Issues that might be addressed range from which grades of students should be tested, to how many tests should be administered, to whether “assessments” required by the state necessarily have to be tests at all.
Even lawmakers who spearheaded the state’s accountability movement, which led to many of the testing requirements now on the books, are beginning to rethink things.
Gaetz, a former Okaloosa County schools superintendent, referred to statements by an organization founded by former Gov. Jeb Bush — the father of Florida’s school accountability system — that Florida needs “fewer tests” and “better tests” as it moves forward.
“Given the things that we don’t know, and the time that’s overtaken us, are we headed in the direction of fewer tests and better tests, and if so, when will we get there?” he asked.
“In order to have fewer tests, it will take legislative change,” Stewart responded.
According to the Department of Education, the number of hours students will spend on the state’s main tests in many grades in 2014-15 is actually lower than the number of hours students faced seven years ago. But testing time this school year will be longer than in 2013-14, by more than two hours in several cases.
And that doesn’t include other assessments required by the state that are administrated by districts. Stewart has asked districts for information on those tests and plans to report her findings to lawmakers before the legislative session begins in March.
Meanwhile, some legislators are saying they should look at themselves when trying to determine who is responsible for the number of tests Florida students take.
And……..this took 14 years to figure out? What a despicable waste! Are the tests valid? Were my 2012 and 2014 graduates ANY better prepared for post high school than their 20th century peers after an entire school career of FCAT? And if so, where’s the data that shows HOW and by HOW MUCH? Ludicrous to question the commisioner? That’s the tip of the iceburg, Senator!
Supposedly designed to afford them a promise and chance at better.


Who Is Performing at Aretha Franklin's Funeral?
In life and in death, Aretha Franklin knows how to attract a crowd.
In addition to the droves of celebrities, musicians, and civil rights leaders expected to show up to pay their respects at her funeral on Friday (August 31), a lengthy list of stars are also set to perform. Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill, Ronald Isley and Fantasia are among the 19 acts slated to take the stage. Ariana Grande, who delivered an emotional rendition of Franklin's "Natural Woman" on The Tonight Show earlier this month, was also added as a performer on Wednesday (August 29). Former President Bill Clinton, Cformer U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Clive Davis, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, and Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are among those scheduled to speak.
Franklin died Aug. 16 at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Her funeral will take place Friday at 10 a.m. ET at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit. The Associated Press will livestream the invite-only service, with other news outlets expected to pick up the coverage. It will conclude a week of events in Franklin's beloved city of Detroit, following a public, two-day viewing at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and a tribute concert featuring Johnny Gill, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight, and more on Thursday night.
See the full list of funeral performers below.


I READ “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Bush” with some interest. I was left wondering what the qualifications are in this day and age to obtain a Nobel Prize. Joseph E. Stiglitz asserts that F.D.R. and his various social reallocation programs were the cause of great prosperity and that somehow President Bush has done more damage to the economy than Herbert Hoover. Both assertions are false.
The implementation of Social Security has been the greatest Ponzi scheme ever foisted on the people of the Western world. Such a scheme is illegal if put in place by private business, yet the government created a “system” that depends on ever increasing populations of working citizens to sustain it. This, of course, is impossible—the carrying capacity of the planet is finite and will eventually be reached. It is for this reason that private systems such as Mr. Ponzi’s are illegal.
MAUREEN ORTH WAS DEAD ON in her depiction of the dreary state of affairs that is the Washington social scene [“When Washington Was Fun,” December]. Previous administrations conveyed a level of class and taste that seems lost on more recent residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There was a trickle-down effect from those glamorous events that gave a sense of vibrancy and joie de vivre to Washington. For a regular, non-connected resident of the city such as myself, there seemed to be an energy in the air that has since gone missing. The Clintons were much more gregarious, often being spotted around town having dinner. There was a sense of connection between them and the rest of us. The current regime treats Washington like a leper colony, venturing forth only to attend politically friendly events before retreating back to the White House. Their disdain for socializing has cast a pall over this city like a wet blanket. We can only hope that the next administration does something to lift it. —WALTER FORD, Washington, D.C.


Conor McGregor revealed in Episode Three of 'The Notorious' how he was asked to audition for the role of the villain in the new James Bond film 'Spectre'.
The 30 minute episode concentrated on the build-up and aftermath of McGregor's victory over Dustin Poirier at UFC178 in Las Vegas last year but he did discuss a possible movie role as well.
Whether he was approached by someone connected with the film franchise inspired by Ian Fleming is unclear.
"They want me to audition for the villain for James Bond. The last villain for James Bond won an Oscar. Your man that used to be in No County for Old Men [Javier Bardem]. He was unbelievable," he said.
"I’m not that person. D’ya know what I mean? I’m just doing it having a laugh. Don’t start putting in those serious things.
"But I’ll see how I feel. They were telling me this last week.
"It’s the wrong time to say it to me when I’m cutting weight. Maybe after the fight when I’m feeling better. We’ll mess about and see what happens.
"At the end of the day, it’s a seven figure thing. I’ll give it a shot. For seven figures it’s worth a go, isn’t it?."


If you are traveling by plane and want to take your bicycle along, you'll need to check the requirements for the different airlines. Most airlines allow you to ship your bicycle as baggage for an additional fee. As long as you pack your bicycle properly, taking it on an airline should not be a problem.
Contact the airline to find out the rules and regulations for taking your bicycle on the plane. Ask whether you need a certain type of box or hard case to ship your bike. Find out whether you can count your bicycle as one piece of your luggage as well as the additional amount required for checking a bicycle as a piece of luggage.
Measure your bicycle to determine what size box or hard case you need. You may have to disassemble your bike by taking off the handlebars, pedals, seat and wheels to fit it in the case or box.
Pack the bike in the box or case. Add padding around the bike if packing in a cardboard box to prevent any of the parts from poking through the box and possibly getting lost during transport.
Use a Transportation Security Administration-approved lock to lock your case -- if you use a hard case to ship your bike.
Take your bike to the airline counter and check it in. When you reach your destination, retrieve your bicycle from the oversize-baggage area at the airport.
Church, Loletrazina. "How to Take a Bike on the Airlines." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/bike-airlines-63013.html. Accessed 25 April 2019.


Split Pic joins the top free iOS apps list this week at No. 10, according to research from AppData. The app lets users split photos into multiples and then blend these shots together to create seemingly impossible images.
To support Mediabistro’s Media App Summit which took place earlier this month, we have been spotlighting the top free apps every week–helping our readers discover, enjoy and analyze successful content.