TASK DEFINITION: Given a document and an entity the task is to select the author's sentiment towards the entity. Sentiments can be Positive, Neutral and Negative. Select Positive if the article expresses a positive view towards the given entity or praises its quality or skills. Select Neutral if the document expresses no clear view towards the entity or has equal amounts of positive and negative statements or expressing some fact/quote by someone else. Select Negative if the article expresses a negative view towards like harsh remarks, criticizing entities action/decision etc. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Erie ? (Reuters) - A storm that has dumped more than 65 inches (165 cms) of snow this week on  Erie   Pennsylvania  is expected to slightly taper off on Wednesday after leaving drifts that buried cars  paralyzed the area and made the county declare an emergency.
But the respite for  Erie   a city of about 100 000 in northwest Pennsylvania on the shores of Lake Erie  is expected to be short-lived  with a fresh round of winter storms coming Thursday night predicted to bring as much as 10 inches more snow  forecasters said.
A general view of 1925 State Street after the record snowfall in  Erie   Pennsylvania  U.S.  December 26  2017 in this picture obtained from social media. Courtesy of Instagram @BLJEFFERYS /via REUTERS
The winter blast in  Erie  was caused by cold Arctic air moving over the lake  which had relatively mild water temperatures  forecasters said.
The storm broke a 59-year-old record for a two-day snowfall in Pennsylvania  topping the 44 inches that fell in 1958. Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper issued a temporary disaster emergency declaration that mobilized resources to help the area.
 Erie resident Brian Sheridan  on Wednesday posted a photo on social media showing the top of  his  mail box peeking out underneath a mound of snow. In a caption   he  wrote: “At this point  it just might be easier to put a hold on our mail until spring.”

SOLUTION: Neutral

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Rand Paul ? The Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan spending bill Friday morning  but not before the federal government shut down when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delayed the vote past midnight to complain about the budget deficit. It was the second government shutdown in less than three weeks.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Feb. 8 spoke on the Senate floor against a bipartisan budget deal and delayed a vote on the measure. (U.S. Senate)
Then  as an expected vote approached in the Senate   Paul  began to throw up roadblocks  demanding a vote on  his  amendment that would demonstrate how the two-year budget deal breaks past pledges to rein in federal spending.
GOP leaders refused to allow  him  to offer the amendment  arguing that if  Paul  got an amendment vote  many other senators might want one  too.  Paul   in turn  refused to allow the vote to go forward  making use of Senate rules that allow individual senators to slow down proceedings that require the consent of all.
“I can’t in all good honesty  in all good faith  just look the other way because my party is now complicit in the deficits ”  Paul  said on the Senate floor as evening pushed into night.
 Paul  objected after a visibly irritated McConnell tried to move to a vote. Then  Paul  launched into a lengthy floor speech deriding bipartisan complicity on deficit spending while the country goes “on and on and on  finding new wars to fight that make no sense.” The senator direly predicted a “day of reckoning ” possibly in the form of the collapse of the stock market.
As the hours ticked on   Paul  repeatedly refused to consent to allowing the vote to happen  as lawmakers and aides of both parties grew increasingly annoyed at  him . Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.)  leaving the floor after an unsuccessful attempt to curtail  Paul ’s standoff  called the gambit “grossly irresponsible” and said that leaders would not entertain  his  demand for a vote.
Senators of both parties were left fuming  with most of their ire directed toward  Paul .
“ He  has mastered the art of ticking off  his  colleagues ” said Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.).
“It’s a colossal waste of everybody’s time ” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). Of  Paul   Thune said  “He never gets a result.”
 Paul himself  made no apologies as  he  delivered one floor speech after another  casting  himself  as a lone defender of fiscal austerity  despite having voted in December for a tax bill that added at least $1 trillion to the debt.

SOLUTION: Positive

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Tiger Woods ? Sep 26  2017; Jersey City  NJ  USA; U.S. Team assistant captain Tiger Woods during The Presidents Cup golf tournament at Liberty National Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
JERSEY CITY  New Jersey (Reuters)  - Tiger Woods  said  he  was âoptimisticâ about  his  golfing future while at the same time publicly acknowledging what has been obvious for some time  that  he  might never return to competitive golf.
The American former world number one won the last of  his  14 major titles in 2008 and the 41-year-old has only played six competitive rounds in the past two years while trying to recover from multiple back surgeries.
âYeah  definitely. I donât know what my future holds for me â  he  said on Wednesday on the eve of the Presidents Cup when asked whether there was a scenario that would not allow  him  to compete again.
âI donât know what 100 percent (healthy) means after eight surgeries  but Iâll try and get as close as I can to that number â  Woods  added.
 Woods  was peppered with questions during a news conference with his three assistant Presidents Cup captains and the four International assistants  who often looked bored at the focus stayed on the second most prolific major champion of all time.
Sep 26  2017; Jersey City  NJ  USA;  U.S. Team assistant captain Tiger Woods  during The Presidents Cup golf tournament at Liberty National Golf Course. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
 Woods  seemed destined to become the most prolific major winner of all time when he won the 2008 U.S. Open  moving within four titles of the record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.

SOLUTION:
Neutral