Sharon Runner (May 17, 1954 – July 14, 2016) was an American politician. She was a Republican California State Senator. She represented the 21st Senate District at the time of her death, and lastly represented the 17th Senate District from 2011 to 2012.
She was also a member of the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2008, representing the 36th district. She was the wife of California State Board of Equalization Member George Runner. From 2004 to 2008, then-Senator George Runner and then-Assemblywoman Sharon Runner were the first husband and wife in California history to serve at the same time in the California State Legislature.
Runner died at her home in Lancaster, California on July 14, 2016 from complications of respiratory failure, aged 62.
Helena Benitez
Helena Zoila Tirona Benitez (June 27, 1914 – July 14, 2016) was a Filipino academic and administrator of the Philippine Women's University. She served in the Senate of the Philippines from 1967 until Congress was closed when martial law was declared in 1972, and at the Batasang Pambansa from 1978 until it was abolished in 1986.
Benitez also founded the Bayanihan Dance Company.
Benitez died on July 14, 2016 in Manila, aged 102.
Péter Esterházy
Péter Esterházy (14 April 1950 – 14 July 2016) was a Hungarian writer. He was born in Budapest. He was one of the most widely known contemporary Hungarian and Central European writers. He has been called a "leading figure of 20th century Hungarian literature" and his books are thought to be significant contributions to postwar literature.
Esterházy died of pancreatic cancer in Budapest on 14 July 2016, aged 66.
Rappahannock River
The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States. It is about in length. It crosses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River. The river drains an area of which is about 6% of Virginia. Much of the watershed is rural and forested. But it has experienced increased development in recent decades because it is so close to the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
It was an important river in American history. The Rappahannock was the site of early settlements in the Virginia Colony. Later, it was at the center of Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was a significant obstacle to north-south movements via land. As a result it functioned as the war's eastern-theatre boundary, between the "North" (the Union) and the "South" (the Confederate States of America).
The name of the river comes from an Algonquian word, "lappihanne" (also recorded as "toppehannock"), meaning "river of quick, rising water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows," the name used by the local native population, the Rappahannock tribe.
Although there had been a few small hamlets along the lower Rappahannock during early colonial times, the settlement of the Rappahannock River valley began in earnest during the first years of the 18th century, at the urging of Governor Alexander Spotswood. The James River had been surveyed up to its fall line, the point where, geologically, continental bedrock of the Piedmont meets the sedimentary rocks and alluvial soils of the coastal plain. Spotswood encouraged settlement in a river valley other than that of the James. In 1714, he began seeking immigrants from the Rhineland-Palatinate and Switzerland to homestead on lands he controlled near where the Rappahannock and the Rapidan came together. Known as the Germanna settlement(s), these villages were founded in order to exploit the iron ore deposits of the region.
The Battle of Rappahannock River was fought on the river during the War of 1812. Seventeen British boats filled with hundreds of marines and sailors captured four American privateers.
During the American Civil War, the river, with few convenient fords and fewer bridges, provided a barrier and defensive line. Behind this line troops had little fear of attack from the river-side. It was an especially difficult barrier for Union troops to overcome in their attempts to thrust into southern Virginia. Control of the river changed hands many times during the course of the war. Significant battles fought along the river include the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Rappahannock Station. The defensive line at the river was finally bypassed by Ulysses S. Grant in the Wilderness (or Overland) Campaign of 1864, ending in the ultimate Union victory.
In some 18th- and 19th-century documents, including some Civil War records, the Rappahannock River was referred to as "Hedgeman's River" A 1736-1737 survey labeled the Rappahannock above the mouth of the Rapidan as "Cannon", and further upstream it was identified as "Hedgeman's River," named after Nathaniel Hedgeman, an early settler of the region.
The Rappahannock River rises at Chester Gap, a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains a few miles southeast of Front Royal, Virginia. It flows southeastward before it is joined by the Rapidan River, its largest tributary, from the right. Then the Rappahannock passes through the city of Fredericksburg. Southeast of Fredericksburg, it begins to slow and widen into a brackish tidal estuary approximately long. It passes two small, but historic, river towns, Port Royal and Port Conway, which sit opposite each other. The former is on the south bank, the latter on the north. Then it flows past Tappahannock on its southern bank, a point where the river is well over a mile wide. The last settlements of any size before reaching the Chesapeake Bay are Irvington, Urbanna, Stingray Point, and White Stone Beach. The broad river enters the Chesapeake Bay approximately south of the mouth of the Potomac River and approximately east of the state capital, Richmond. At the point where the river enters the bay, between Windmill Point, on the north, and Stingray Point, on the south, it is more than wide. This area, the estuary south of the Northern Neck peninsula, is a productive oyster and crab fishery.
Above Fredericksburg, the Rappahannock provides fine opportunities for recreational canoeing and kayaking. Most of the rapids are Class I and Class II in difficulty, but, near Remington, there are some rapids that are considered to be Class III. The rivers watershed is protected in various places by parcels of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Dronne
The Dronne () is a river in southwestern France, right tributary of the Isle river. It flows through the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
Its name appears, in an old form, in two "communes" of the Dordogne departmentː Saint-Méard-de-Drône and Saint-Pardoux-de-Drône. Its modern name appears in three "communes"ː Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, Saint-Méard-de-Drône, Saint-Pardoux-de-Drône.
The Dronne river has a length of , and a drainage basin with an area of approximately .
The Dronne starts in the Massif Central, in the "commune" of Bussière-Galant, Creuse department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It starts in the "Parc naturel régional Périgord Limousin" at an altitude of about .
It flows to the southwest and, finally, the river flows into at Coutras, in the Gironde department, at an altitude of about .
The Dronne flows through 5 departments and 52 "communes", all in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region; the main "communes" areː
The main tributaries of the Charente river are:
Michael J. Elliott
Michael J. Elliott, OBE (1951 – 14 July 2016) was a British journalist and executive. He was the president and chief executive officer of the anti-poverty advocacy organization ONE. He was awarded an OBE in 2003 for services to journalism.
Elliott previously held senior executive positions at "Time" magazine, "Newsweek", and "The Economist."
Elliott died on 14 July 2016 in Washington, D.C. from bladder cancer, aged 65.
Gary S. Paxton