Datasets:

liselot321

/

newspaper_summaries

like 0

Hiker Gregg Hein of Clovis "entertained the idea" of possibly dying in the high Sierra of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as he lay severely injured for six days. But he said the thought only crossed his mind a few times. The 33-year-old experienced hiker, rock climber and rafting guide was determined to live -- and he did. From a wheelchair Tuesday at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Hein talked about breaking his leg on July 5, hiking down from 13,600-foot Mount Goddard, and his eventual rescue Thursday by a National Park Service helicopter. Hiking down the mountain, he dislodged a boulder that plowed into the back of his right calf, breaking bones in three spots. The impact forced bone to protrude about an inch and a half through the skin, Hein said. His foot was soon "dangling," Hein said. "I had to grab it so hopefully it wouldn't rip off." After sliding down several ice fields, he was without food for six days -- except for a few crickets and moths -- but he managed to drink a little melted ice and later, from a stream. Rescue crews starting combing the high Sierra on Wednesday, the day Hein's dad, Doug Hein, called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. Gregory Hein had been expected home two days earlier. "I can't commend them enough for the efforts and the energies that they put out to try and save one person's life," Gregg Hein said of the rescue teams from Fresno County and the Park Service -- about 80 people in all -- who helped look for him. Hein said Tuesday he has at least two more surgeries on his right leg to combat infection and repair bones, and that he could be in the hospital into next week. The eventual goal is to install a metal rod into his calf. Hein has family ties to Clovis Unified: His mother is Randy Hein, principal of Temperance-Kutner Elementary School, and his grandfather is Floyd "Doc" Buchanan, former longtime district superintendent. Hein's perilous trek began July 3. He parked his car at Florence Lake in Fresno County and within two days, had hiked alone more than 20 miles -- much of it cross-country -- to the summit of Mount Goddard. After summiting on July 5, he hoped to make it to Blayney Hot Springs that evening, but the goal was soon shattered with his leg. Hein wasn't due home until July 7, and he said he realized he had at least three days to survive before anyone would start looking for him. In an attempt to avoid potential rockfall, and knowing he had to get further down the mountain to find help, Hein left his backpack on the side of Mount Goddard. He grabbed only a few things from the pack: A poncho, pocket knife, cords, whistle and a bivvy sack -- a small, lightweight shelter. He didn't take more because he miscalculated, believing he was closer to Evolution Valley, where he hoped he'd see hikers. As he lay bleeding, Hein contemplated applying a makeshift

– Hiking alone has its disadvantages, and experienced climber, rafter, and trail runner Gregg Hein got up close and personal with most of them earlier this month. Two days into a solo hike in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks near Fresno, Calif., his footing set loose a boulder that caused the 33-year-old to fall 150 feet and broke his right leg in three places, leaving his foot "dangling" and his bone protruding out of his skin more than an inch. Knowing that a tourniquet would later lead to amputation, he took his chances and went without it; the bleeding eventually slowed. "I have to get these next moments right," Hein tells the AP. "What do I do to make sure I have the best chance for a positive outcome?" Part of that meant surviving for at least three days; he wasn't expected home for another two, so that's how long it would take for a search party to be dispatched. Hein abandoned his heavy pack on Mount Goddard, taking a poncho, pocket knife, whistle, and bivvy sack with him as he scooted to a glacier; there, he nursed his injury with ice for four days, surviving on melted ice, moths, and crickets. He then decided he'd have a better chance of being spotted elsewhere; held his leg together using hiking poles, a belt, and a cord; and crawled for about a mile. On day six—July 10—two helicopters flew above him several times. "It was kind of wrenching," he tells the Fresno Bee. Around 7:30pm, a "fortuitous" moment arrived: A crew was dropped off just 50 feet from him, and when he saw the searchers spot him, he rolled onto his back and "breathed a deep sigh of relief." Full recovery is expected to take months. Hein plans to get back in the wilderness—though next time not alone, he says. (Check out which insect this man survived on for months in the wild.)

Gregg Hein, 33, was hiking down from 13,600-foot Mount Goddard. He dislodged a boulder that plowed into the back of his right calf. The impact forced bone to protrude about an inch and a half through the skin. Rescue teams from Fresno County and the Park Service searched for him for six days. He has at least two more surgeries on his right leg to combat infection and repair bones, and could be in the hospital into next week, he says. to install a metal rod into his calf.

Story highlights Lego tower in Budapest confirmed as world's tallest by Guinness World Records Tower reaches 34 meters over city's St. Stephen's Basilica Local school children helped build the structure, which was topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention Imagine the size of the box this one came in -- a Lego tower stretching 36 meters into the sky above the Hungarian capital Budapest. The 34.76- meter (114 feet) tower, which was completed on Sunday, has been certified as the world's tallest toy brick structure by Guinness World Records. It beat the previous record holder, a 34.4-meter structure constructed last year with the help of U.S. students from a school in Delaware. A spokesman for Guinness World Records confirmed that the tower qualified as the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks." He said the record was officially registered to Lego Store Budapest on May 25. The Budapest tower, topped by a Rubik's cube -- a Hungarian invention -- was also built with the help of Hungarian primary school children, according to local news websites. The structure, built in front of the city's St. Stephen's Basilica, used hundreds of thousands of blocks. MORE: Budapest's escape games go global ||||| Hungarian enthusiasts set a new Guinness world record for the world's tallest Lego tower. Standing at 36 metres, the tower was constructed in front of Saint Stephen's basilica in Budapest. School children helped to build the structure, and the mayor of the city's fifth district put the final block in place. The previous record was 34.43 metres

– Lego lovers will be stoked by this news: Budapest, Hungary, is now home to a 114-foot-tall Lego tower to rival the city’s most picturesque architecture, CNN reports. The Guinness Book of World Records has put its official stamp on the project, declaring the multi-colored structure—which features a profile of Pac-Man and is topped by a Rubik’s cube (Hungary's contribution to pop culture)—the "tallest structure built with interlocking plastic bricks." The Lego Store Budapest will be listed as the record holder. And for a too-cute spin on the story, the Guardian reports that school kids helped snap together some of the hundreds of thousands of blocks needed to build the tower. Sadly, somewhere in Delaware a bunch of students may be weeping—they held the previous record of nearly 113 feet, CNN notes. (More quirky Lego news: Lego people will outnumber real people by 2019.)

Lego tower in Budapest confirmed as world's tallest by Guinness World Records. Tower reaches 34 meters over city's St. Stephen's Basilica. It beat the previous record holder, a 34.4-meter structure constructed last year with the help of U.S. students from a school in Delaware.

HONG KONG — A professor at the University of Hong Kong was charged with murder Wednesday after the body of his wife was found inside a suitcase at his office, the police said. The arrest of the professor, whose name was not released by the police, comes as Hong Kong is transfixed by the trial of another professor accused of killing his wife and daughter with a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball. In the latest case, security footage showed the suspect hauling a box apparently with his wife’s remains out of a student dormitory, where he lived as a faculty warden with his wife and children, the police said. The professor had filed a missing persons report more than a week ago, saying that his wife had gone missing the morning of Aug. 17 after a family dispute overnight. But the police grew suspicious when they did not find footage of his wife leaving their building. ||||| A member of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council was arrested on Tuesday over the alleged murder of his wife. Associate Professor Cheung Kie-chung of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was arrested after police found the decomposing body of his 52-year-old wife at his office. The body was inside a suitcase inside a wooden box. Cheung, 53, filed a missing person’s report last Monday evening. The police said Cheung filed the report claiming that he had a family dispute with his wife on August 17 before they slept. He told police he found his wife had gone missing after he awoke. Cheung is the warden of the university’s Wei Lun Hall, where he lives with his family including his son and daughter. Police said a family dispute over toilet hygiene initially took place between Cheung’s wife and his daughter on the evening of August 16. The daughter then left home. In the early hours of the next day, Cheung’s wife blamed him for not supporting her during the dispute, according to police. The wife then went missing and a missing persons report was filed. The daughter then posted missing person’s notice on the streets and online. Police conducted an investigation at the halls of residence. On Tuesday morning, Cheung sent an email to the hall’s students to apologise for any anxiety caused among them, explaining that the police were there to investigate a missing person case involving his family. The police reviewed security camera footage and discovered that Cheung’s wife did not leave the hall. CCTV cameras also showed Cheung moving a large wooden box measuring around 10 by 20 by 30 inches. The police made a surprise inspection at Cheung’s office at Haking Wong Building and found the wooden box, which was made with six wooden plates and assembled with screws and silicone glue. The police found a soft suitcase inside the wooden box. Blood was coming out of the suitcase and it had a strong smell. The body inside was clothed only with underwear and an electric cord was found around the victim’s neck. Police said it was believed choking could have been

– A professor at the University of Hong Kong emailed students Tuesday morning to calm them regarding a police presence at the residence hall in which he lived with his family and served as warden. "They are here to investigate a missing person case," wrote Cheung Kie-chung, who'd told police his wife vanished on Aug. 17 following an argument. "There is nothing to worry about among the students." Later that day, police say they found a wooden box at Cheung's office on the university's main campus. Inside was a malodorous, bloody suitcase holding a woman's body, an electrical wire around her neck, police superintendent Law Kwok-hoi says, per the New York Times. Police allege 53-year-old Cheung strangled his 52-year-old wife after a family dispute. The dispute allegedly involved the couple's daughter and bathroom cleanliness, per CNN, while the Hong Kong Free Press specifically refers to "toilet hygiene." After the daughter left their residence, Cheung's wife is believed to have confronted her husband for not supporting her in the dispute, police say. She wasn't seen exiting the building, though surveillance video did show Cheung taking out a wooden box measuring roughly 10 by 20 by 30 inches. A member of the department of engineering as well as the school's governing council, he was charged Wednesday with murder as university officials offered counseling to Wei Lun Hall residents, per the South China Morning Post. (Another Hong Kong professor is accused of killing his wife and daughter with a gas-filled yoga ball.)

A professor at the University of Hong Kong was charged with murder Wednesday. The body of his wife was found inside a suitcase at his office, the police said. The professor had filed a missing persons report more than a week ago. The arrest of the professor comes as Hong Kong is transfixed by the trial of another professor accused of killing his wife and daughter with a carbon monoxide-filled yoga ball. In the latest case, security footage showed the suspect hauling a box apparently with his wife’s remains out of a student dormitory.

Facebook raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. George Stahl has the latest on The News Hub. Photo: AFP/Getty Images. Facebook Inc.'s coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock. Late Monday, the social network raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share, in a sign of investor appetite for the offering. The Menlo Park, Calif., company's initial price range put Facebook's valuation at $77 billion to $96 billion, but that rises to $93 billion to $104 billion under the new price range as investor interest ramps up. Facebook's coming initial public offering has set off a frenzy of anticipation among Main Street and Wall Street investors desperate to get their hands on the stock. Shayndi Raice has details on The News Hub. Photo: Bloomberg. Those numbers have created high hopes for both individual and professional investors. The excitement has drawn in fledgling stock buyers such as 11-year-old Jade Supple of Rockville Centre, N.Y., whose father plans to bet money saved to put his daughter through college on Facebook shares, although he has doubts about the price. Enlarge Image Close Scott Lewis for The Wall Street Journal Money manager Chris Baggini Enlarge Image Close Supple Family Jade and Jim Supple Enlarge Image Close Sandy Huffaker for The Wall Street Journal Grossmont High investment-club adviser Todd Benrud In Berwyn, Pa., hedge-fund manager and mutual-fund manager Chris Baggini of Turner Investment Partners says he tracked Facebook closely and repeatedly called executives at Morgan Stanley or Goldman Sachs, which are helping to lead the IPO, to snag a spot in the social network's roadshow stop in Philadelphia last Wednesday. Across the nation in El Cajon, Calif., technology teacher and investment-club supervisor Todd Benrud is trying to get his club at Grossmont High School into Facebook stock. "They use Facebook every day," Mr. Benrud said. Some students think it is "guaranteed to make money." Sophisticated investors who can meet financial requirements have been able to trade limited shares of Facebook for some time on secondary markets. But the IPO will turn Facebook into a public company that anyone can own. Many small investors are eager to grab Facebook at its issue price, hoping the shares will surge in value as IPOs frequently do on the first day. But Internet IPOs have had mixed success. Daily deals website Groupon Inc. has lost about 35% of its value since its Nov. 4 debut, while stock at professional network LinkedIn Corp. has gained nearly 150% since it started trading May 19. Facebook still hasn't proven that its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a lofty valuation. Last month, the company disclosed that its first-quarter profit and revenue declined from the fourth quarter of 2011, which it attributed to seasonal trends in advertising.

– Looks like Facebook's IPO roadshow has done a pretty good job of drumming up investor interest. The company has raised its IPO price range up to $34 to $38 a share from $28 to $35 a share, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The new price range gives the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg—who turned 28 yesterday—a valuation of $104 billion. At the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1 billion with the IPO. The company plans to close the books on the IPO today, set the price range on Thursday, and start trading on Friday, sources tell Reuters. Small investors are jumping at the chance to get in on Silicon Valley's biggest-ever IPO, although many larger investors doubt whether its $3.7 billion in revenue and $1 billion in profits last year deserve such a high valuation, the Journal notes. "It's a cult stock," says the chief investment officer of investment-management firm Granite Investment Advisors.

Facebook raised the price range for its IPO to $34 to $38 a share, from $28 to $35 a share. The excitement has drawn in fledgling stock buyers such as 11-year-old Jade Supple of Rockville Centre, N.Y. Many small investors are eager to grab Facebook at its issue price, hoping the shares will surge in value. Internet IPOs have had mixed success. Daily deals website Groupon Inc. has lost about 35% of its value since its Nov. 4 debut.

Sunday started out as a normal day waiting tables for Claire Hudson. The 25-year-old was working a double shift for her job at local burger joint, Mac's Grub Shak, when something amazing happened. "It was actually a really slow day and then this couple came in," said Hudson of Spring Hill, Tennessee. "I didn’t even realize the tip until after they were gone." The unidentified diners had left a $36 tip on a bill that couldn't have been more than $30, Hudson told ABC News. "I would’ve liked to have caught them and said 'hey this is awesome!,' she said. "They did it anonymously and it was really sweet." In addition to the $36, the couple also left Hudson with a note explaining the heartfelt meaning behind the digits. "Today is my brother's b-day," it said, written behind the credit card receipt. "He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes." Claire Hudson "I was in tears when I read it," Hudson said. "I had to go in the back of the restaurant and compose myself before I went out to my other tables." About three hours after the experience, Hudson posted an image of her customer's note on Reddit. "When I woke up I was on the front page," she said. "It had over 1.5 million views on Imgur and 350K upvotes on Reddit." In light of her story going viral, Hudson and the restaurant owner hope to track down the kind patron that left the tip. "We want to see what his brother Wes liked on his hot dogs because we'd like to name a hot dog after him," she said. "I have a friend, he was my best friend, he died about three years ago. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year. It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that’s ever happened." ||||| The hit HLN Original Series series, Something's Killing Me with BD Wong, investigates puzzling and sometimes fatal medical cases, where life literally hangs in the balance. Each week physicians and scientists race against time to solve the mystery that will save their patient's life. Through six one-hour episodes, family members, medical experts and CNN correspondents, including CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, take viewers through the twists and turns of real, heart pounding stories. ||||| Good News Waitress shares the heartwarming way a customer honored his late brother March 10, 2015 at 4:24 PM ET Claire Hudson got the best tip of her life this week, but it wasn't about the money. At first, the 25-year-old waitress at Mac's Grub Shack in Spring Hill, Tennessee didn't even notice the note scrawled on the back of the receipt left by a "very sweet couple" who'd ordered beers, a burger and hot dogs. Courtesy of Claire Hudson "Today is my brother's b-day," read the note. "He would have been 36 today. Every

– A waitress in Tennessee was brought to tears this week when a customer left her a generous tip and a moving message. Claire Hudson, 25, was serving tables at Mac's Grub Shak in Spring Hill on Sunday when a "very sweet couple" sat down and ordered beers, a burger, and hot dogs, Today.com reports. It was only after they left that a cashier pointed out the $36 tip the man had left on his $28.12 bill, along with a note on the back. "I didn't know what to say," Hudson tells ABC News. "I was in tears when I read it." It read: "Today is my brother's b-day. He would have been 36 today. Every year I go eat his favorite meal (hot dogs) and tip the waitress his age. Happy B-day Wes." "It's the best tip I've ever gotten," Hudson says, "not because of the money, but because of the meaning." Hudson posted a photo of the bill on Reddit after she finished up her shift that night. "When I woke up I was on the front page," she says. "It had over 1.5 million views on Imgur and 350,000 upvotes on Reddit." Hudson and the owner of Mac's Grub Shak now want to honor the man that inspired the generous gratuity. They hope to track down the tipper to find out exactly what Wes liked on his hot dogs so the eatery can "name a hot dog after him." Hudson adds she may start a similar tradition herself. "My best friend, he died about three years ago. This experience has definitely given me the idea to do the same thing on his birthday every year," she says. "It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that's ever happened." (This waitress got a big tip just when she really needed it.)

Claire Hudson, 25, was working a double shift at Mac's Grub Shack in Spring Hill, Tennessee. A couple left a $36 tip on a bill that couldn't have been more than $30. "Today is my brother's b-day," it said, written behind the credit card receipt. "We want to see what his brother Wes liked on his hot dogs because we'd like to name a hot dog after him," she said. "It was deeply moving and just the coolest thing that’s ever happened"

In this undated photo released by Proyecto Vaquita, a porpoise is seen trapped in a fishing net at the Gulf of California. (C.Faesi/Proyecto Vaquita via AP) Surprise raids on Mexican smuggling boats, international treaties, and outright fishing bans have done little to stop the steady decline of the vaquita, the world’s smallest and possibly cutest porpoise. Now, in a last-ditch effort straight out of a Sea World-themed sci-fi movie, conservationists are turning to a new method of vaquita preservation: military dolphins. Technically, they’re the Seal Team 6 of dolphins, specially trained by the U.S. Navy to detect undersea mines and such. Navy officials hope they’ll be equally good at finding the last vestiges of the vaquita, which make their home in the warm waters between the Mexican mainland and the Baja California Peninsula and have been decimated by a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics. “Their specific task is to locate” vaquitas, Jim Fallin of U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific told the Associated Press. “They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched.” If the plan is approved, it would be the first step in a risky relocation project that may be the vaquita’s only chance to survive the next decade. Vaquita numbers have dwindled since a fishing boom around World War II for a species of sea bass called totoaba, according to The Post’s Darryl Fears. In China, where the totoaba bladder is both a delicacy and a traditional medicine, a pair of bladders can fetch $8,500. To catch totoaba, which are also endangered, fishermen drag mesh gill nets through the warm waters of the Pacific, snagging everything they come in contact with — including vaquita. Trapped in the nets, the porpoises drown when they can’t swim to the surface for air. “It became clear that vaquitas were dying in most, if not all, types of gill nets used in the northern Gulf,” wrote the Cetacean Specialist Group, which tracks the porpoises. [With 800 offspring, ‘very sexually active’ tortoise saves species from extinction] Mexico has long had laws to protect vaquita, and the government is pressuring fishermen to use nets that vaquita could swim out of if caught. But by the time all fishermen have the new nets, the vaquita may already be extinct. In September, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species urged Mexico, the United States and China to do a better job of sharing information on totoaba busts and seizures to catch more criminals and better protect the endangered porpoise, The Post reported. But the Gulf of California is full of impoverished fishermen who see totoaba bladders as a way to provide for their families. The economics don’t bode well for the vaquita. Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Manuel Gonzalez is shown with a bottlenose dolphin. Both are assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1. Officials have announced a plan to use Navy-trained dolphins to try to capture the few remaining vaquita porpoises in a final effort to prevent their extinction. (Lt. David Bennett/Navy via

– The world's smallest porpoise is also ever smaller in number, its population decimated in recent decades thanks to what the Washington Post describes as "a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics." The vaquita, or "little cow," has gotten tangled up in fish nets since World War II, when fishermen began to seriously hunt a species of sea bass called totoaba. The porpoise, known for sporting a little smirk, is a marine mammal that would drown in the nets where they couldn't swim to the surface for air, and the appetite for totoaba has not diminished as the fish's bladder is used in Chinese medicine and considered a delicacy there, fetching more than $4,000 for just one. The Mexican government has frantically decided to try to capture the remaining survivors, now around 60, to try to save the species. The US is joining in, too, offering up another marine mammal to help: the dolphin. The US Navy is training the so-called Seal Team 6 of dolphins, which already prowl around for underwater mines, to find the last surviving vaquita, which live between the Mexican mainland and Baja California Peninsula. "Their specific task is to locate," one expert says. "They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched." Unfortunately, the vaquita doesn't thrive in captivity, where they would need to remain to be safe from fishing nets. They also reproduce very slowly, with one calf every other year. Not everyone is on board with the plan, adds Live Science. "I don't like this idea at all," says a rep for World Wildlife Fund Mexico. "The risk of killing a vaquita while catching them is very high. With only 50 or 60 animals left, we can't play with that." (Dolphins appear to chat much like humans.)

The vaquita is the world's smallest and possibly cutest porpoise. It has been decimated by a cruel mixture of fishing nets and economics. Navy officials plan to use Navy-trained dolphins to try to capture the few remaining vaquitas. If the plan is approved, it would be the first step in a risky relocation project that may be the vquita’s only chance to survive the next decade. The porpoises live in the warm waters between the Mexican mainland and the Baja California Peninsula.

Niagara Regional Police have ruled out the “vast majority” of missing-persons cases they have reviewed across Canada related to their ongoing investigation into a female torso found in the Niagara River. NRP Insp. Jim McCaffery said investigators looked into around 50 cases that matched the description of the victim, but most have not led police any closer to identifying who the torso belonged to. “There are a couple we still need to clear, but we’re satisfied the vast majority of them do not meet the parameters,” McCaffery said during a press conference at NRP headquarters in St. Catharines Tuesday. “We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction. We have and will continue to follow up on investigative leads that have been forwarded to our tip line.” The NRP continues to ask the public to forward any tips they may have, and have engaged New York State Police, which is currently reviewing missing-persons cases as well. State Police Capt. Steven Nigrelli said they started by going through missing-persons cases in western New York, but have since expanded throughout the entire state and could go as far as other Great Lake and north-east states. He said it’s only natural State Police would be involved, as the investigation surrounds a torso — minus limbs and a head — found in a river traversing both countries. “There’s a good possibility this person may have entered the water from the United States,” said Nigrelli. He said based on ongoing testing of the torso, his department keeps “excluding people who could be possible victims.” “This is an arduous task and it’s ongoing at this time.” During the press conference, McCaffery provided further information about the torso recovered from the Niagara River near the Rainbow Bridge last Wednesday. Initial post-mortem results indicated the victim was a middle-aged, white female with a pierced navel. She had at least once caesarian section and her tubes were tied. On Tuesday, McCaffery narrowed the victim’s age to between 31 and 55. He said the piercing was “closed off,” and that she had two caesarian sections. Further testing continues at the Centre of Forensic Sciences and the Chief Coroner’s Office in Toronto. McCaffery said he is not prepared to get into the cause of death, or the condition of the torso when it was found. He maintained the matter is a homicide and that “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment.” He said police received between 15 to 20 tips from the public over the weekend, the vast majority from Niagara. “People are calling in suspicious items, suspicious behaviour on the part of people they have seen in the community. Mostly that’s what we’re getting … and we will follow each one of them up and continue to do that.” At this stage, what police really need is the public’s help, said McCaffery. “We ask that you contact the female family members that you’ve not heard from recently. Contact co-workers who have not shown up to work to check on their welfare.

– Canadian authorities found a woman's torso floating at the bottom of Niagara Falls last Wednesday, and they suspect it may be a missing American, the AP reports. Police have classified the case as a homicide investigation, and “we are prepared to say that it was a dismemberment," says a Canadian police spokesman. Investigators have pored over 50 or so Canadian missing-person case files, but believe none "fits the parameters" of the discovered body, Niagara's regional police inspector tells the Niagara Falls Review. “We have met with our American policing partners who continue to review missing-persons reports in their jurisdiction," he says. State police have a begun a search through missing person records in New York, but may expand the investigation to other states. “There’s a good possibility this person entered the water from the US,” says a state police spokesman. The body, missing limbs and a head, is that of a middle-aged white female with a pierced navel.

Niagara Regional Police have ruled out the “vast majority” of missing-persons cases they have reviewed across Canada related to their ongoing investigation into a female torso found in the Niagara River. NRP Insp. Jim McCaffery said investigators looked into around 50 cases that matched the description of the victim, but most have not led police any closer to identifying who the torso belonged to. The NRP continues to ask the public to forward any tips they may have, and have engaged New York State Police, which is currently reviewing missing-Persons cases as well.

Breaking News National National In a world first, Australian surgeons have successfully transplanted "dead" hearts into patients at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital. The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a "paradigm shift" that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation. It's predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30 per cent more heart transplant patients. Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still-beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients. Advertisement But the team at St Vincent's Hospital Heart Lung Transplant Unit announced on Friday they had transplanted three heart failure patients using donor hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes. Two of them have recovered well, while the third, who recently undertook the procedure, is still in intensive care. Cardiologist Prof Peter MacDonald said the donor hearts were housed in a portable console coined a "heart in a box". Here they were submerged in a ground breaking preservation solution jointly developed by the hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. The hearts were then connected to a sterile circuit where they were kept beating and warm. Cardiothoracic surgeon Assoc Prof Kumud Dhital, who performed the transplants with hearts donated after circulatory death (DCD), said he "kicked the air" when the first surgery was successful. It was possible thanks to new technology, he said. "The incredible development of the preservation solution with this technology of being able to preserve the heart, resuscitate it and to assess the function of the heart has made this possible," he told a press conference on Friday. The first patient to have the surgery done was Michelle Gribilas. The 57-year-old Sydney woman was suffering from congenital heart failure and had surgery about two months ago. "I was very sick before I had it," she said. "Now I'm a different person altogether. "I feel like I'm 40 years old. I'm very lucky." The second patient, Jan Damen, 43, also suffered from congenital heart failure and had surgery about a fortnight ago. The father of three is still recovering at the hospital. "I feel amazing," he said. "I have to say I never thought I'd feel so privileged to wear the St Vincent's pyjamas. "I'm just looking forward to getting back out into the real world." The former carpenter said he often thinks about his donor. "I do think about it, because without the donor I might not be here," he said. "I'm not religious or spiritual but it's a wild thing to get your head around." Prof MacDonald, the director of the Hospital's Heart Lung Transplant Unit, said the team had been working on this project for 20 years and intensively for the past four. "We've been researching to see how long the heart can sustain this period in which it has stopped beating," he said. "We then developed a technique for reactivating the heart in a so-called heart in a box machine. "To do that we removed blood from the donor to prime the machine and then we take the heart out, connect it

– For 20 years, the heart transplant unit at Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital has been working hard to figure out a way to transplant a dead heart into a live patient. Today doctors from the team announced their work had paid off: They have successfully completed three transplants using hearts that had stopped beating for 20 minutes—said to be the first such transplants in the world, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Two of the patients are already up and about, while the most recent recipient is still recovering in intensive care. Heart transplants typically rely on organs taken from brain-dead donors whose hearts are still beating; the Herald reports the new development could save 30% more lives. The surgeon who performed the operations says he "kicked the air" after he realized the first surgery had gone well. The secret to their success lies in cutting-edge technology and the preservation solution in which the nonbeating hearts are immersed. The heart is first placed in a special "heart in a box" machine that warms it up and keeps it beating for about four hours before the transplant operation. The preservation solution, which alone took 12 years to develop, minimizes damage to the organ after it has stopped beating and helps ensure it both survives the surgery and functions in the recipient's body, Sky News reports. Michelle Gribilas, a 57-year-old who had congestive heart failure, tells the Herald that she was "very sick" before having the operation two months ago, and "now I'm a different person altogether. I feel like I'm 40 years old." (This woman wants to live out her heart donor's bucket list.)

Surgeons have successfully transplanted "dead" hearts into patients at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital. The procedure, using hearts that had stopped beating, has been described as a "paradigm shift" that will herald a major increase in the pool of hearts available for transplantation. It's predicted the breakthrough will save the lives of 30 per cent more heart transplant patients. Until now, transplant units have relied solely on still-beating donor hearts from brain-dead patients. Two of the patients have recovered well, while the third, who recently undertook the procedure, is still in intensive care.

The Education Department drastically underestimated the cost of the government's income-driven repayment plans for student loans in its original estimates, the Government Accountability Office said in a highly critical report Wednesday. The GAO report finds that estimates of the cost to the government of income-driven repayment plans -- which eventually discharge a student's remaining debt after 20 years or more of payments -- has jumped from $28 billion to $53 billion for student loans issued from 2009 to 2016. And it found that nearly a third of student loan debt expected to be repaid via income-driven repayments ($108 billion) will be forgiven by the federal government through programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Observers of federal financial aid policy said those numbers -- and the apparent inability of the department to estimate the cost of student loan programs -- could provide new ammunition to Republican lawmakers looking to target expensive student aid programs to rein in costs, if not drastically downsize the department itself. The GAO investigated the costs of the income-driven repayment program at the request of Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. The Obama administration made enrolling student loan borrowers in income-driven repayment plans a major tool for assisting borrowers struggling with student loan debt. The original income-driven repayment program predated the administration, but the Obama Department of Education oversaw the addition of several new, more generous repayment programs. And it ramped up efforts to enroll student borrowers in those programs as total outstanding loan debt ballooned in recent years. On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump spoke favorably about income-driven repayment plans, saying in one speech that “students should not be asked to pay more on their loans than they can afford.” He proposed in a speech a repayment program that would be even more generous than the programs already available to student loan borrowers. Data released by the Department of Education this year indicated that those programs have seen steady increases in enrollment. Almost 4.6 million federal direct borrowers had enrolled in income-driven repayment plans by December 2015 -- up 48 percent from 2014 and 140 percent from 2013. As of June, 5.3 million borrowers had enrolled in one of those plans. But according to the GAO’s report, the cost of each successive loan cohort has been greater than the one that preceded it since 2012. And the fiscal 2017 cohort of student loans is expected to carry a cost five times that of the 2012 cohort. The higher-than-expected costs of income-driven repayment are a result of multiple flaws in the cost estimate methods used by the department, according to the report: The department assumed no existing student borrowers would switch to income-driven plans. Until 2015, the department assumed no borrowers of Graduate PLUS loans, which are uncapped, would switch to income-driven plans. The department’s estimates assumed no growth in enrollment, even as the Obama administration was seeking to enroll two million additional borrowers in the plans. The GAO concludes that the department has consistently underestimated the value of subsidies going to income-driven

– A new report out of the Government Accountability Office reveals that the federal government will forgive at least $108 billion in student loan debt in the coming years, a higher amount than official estimates out of the federal government's Education Department, the Washington Post reports. The GAO report, which Inside Higher Ed says is "highly critical," looked at the federal government's income-driven repayment plans, which cap borrowers' monthly payments based on their income and, in some cases, ultimately forgive the balance of the debt entirely. Currently, $355 billion is owed under income-driven repayment plans, and the GAO report found that $137 billion of that will never be repaid. Of that, $108 billion will be forgiven under the terms of the plans, and $29 billion will be written off due to disability or death. Those amounts only cover loans made through the current school year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Income-driven repayment plans were passed by Congress in the 1990s and 2000s, but the Obama administration beefed some of them up and increased efforts to enroll people in them; currently 5.3 million borrowers are enrolled. The GAO report could offer ammunition to congressional Republicans looking to trim such programs in an attempt to rein in costs. "Really what the GAO is saying is that the Obama administration’s expansion of this program has been done without good information about the effects," says one higher-ed finance expert.

The Government Accountability Office says the Education Department underestimated the cost of income-driven repayment plans for student loans. Estimates of the cost to the government of those plans jumped from $28 billion to $53 billion from 2009 to 2016. Observers of federal financial aid policy said those numbers could provide new ammunition to Republican lawmakers looking to target expensive student aid programs. The GAO investigated the costs of the income- driven repayment program at the request of Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputies have evicted a Fort Washington couple who spent years fighting the foreclosure of their million-dollar house. Keith and Janet Ritter did not make a single mortgage payment on the showcase home along the Potomac River after buying it at the end of 2006. Sheriff’s deputies showed up at the house Wednesday morning with an eviction order issued last week by the county Circuit Court. The order had been sought by Kondaur Capital Corp., a California firm that buys foreclosed properties and now owns the house. The Ritters could not be reached for comment. During the real estate boom, the Ritters earned six-figure incomes by flipping houses — buying and reselling rapidly. Most of their activity was in the Fort Washington area. The Ritters ran into financial trouble once the housing bubble burst. They had said previously that they did not make payments because they were scrambling to save other investment properties from foreclosure. The mortgage on the million-dollar house passed through several lenders, at least two of which tried to foreclose. The Ritters held them off with repeated bankruptcy filings in different states, temporarily halting the foreclosure process. They also benefited from a national moratorium on foreclosures following the robo-signing scandal and from Maryland’s unusually long foreclosure process, one of the most protracted in the nation. Attorneys for Kondaur successfully foreclosed on the house late last year and obtained an eviction order in December. In March, after an article about the couple appeared in The Washington Post, sheriff’s deputies pulled up to the house but had to leave because of another last-minute bankruptcy filing by Janet Ritter. Kondaur’s lawyers last week secured the court order that allowed the eviction to go forward. The Ritters had filled their home with art and furnishings. One witness to the eviction said it took the entire day to remove the couple’s belongings. By Friday afternoon, the front door sported a new lock and a real estate lock box. There were bits of debris strewn about outside — clothing hangers, paint cans, a dog crate filled with rocks and “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs. A cream-colored Mercedes with a flat tire was parked outside the garage, where it has been for several months. The driveway was also sprinkled with broken glass. One front window on the ground floor appeared to have been vandalized. Neighbors in the small development of custom-built, high-end homes were reluctant to talk to a reporter about the eviction. One man, who did not give his name, said, “This is reality.” ||||| The eviction from their million-dollar home could come at any moment. Keith and Janet Ritter have been bracing for it — and battling against it — almost from the moment they moved into the five-bedroom, 4,900-square-foot manse along the Potomac River in Fort Washington. In five years, they have never made a mortgage payment, a fact that amazes even the most seasoned veterans of the foreclosure crisis. The Ritters have kept the sheriff at bay by repeatedly filing for bankruptcy and by exploiting changes in Maryland’s

– After buying their million-dollar house in 2006, a Maryland couple never made a single mortgage payment; now they've been evicted after a long struggle, reports the Washington Post. Keith and Janet Ritter made a fortune, temporarily, buying and flipping homes during the housing bubble, and they bought their $1.3 million home with no money down, according to a previous article in the Post. Then they lost much of their wealth when the bubble burst and have been fighting eviction ever since. Though two mortgage lenders attempted to foreclose on the home, the couple managed to avoid such a fate for years thanks to multiple bankruptcy filings across several states. Maryland also has one of the country's longest foreclosure processes. California property buyer Kondaur Capital finally got an eviction order in December. Police attempted to evict the Ritters in March but were barred by another bankruptcy filing; this week's successful eviction follows a court order last week.

Keith and Janet Ritter did not make a single mortgage payment on the showcase home after buying it at the end of 2006. Sheriff’s deputies showed up at the house Wednesday morning with an eviction order issued last week by the county Circuit Court. The order had been sought by Kondaur Capital Corp., a California firm that buys foreclosed properties and now owns the house. During the real estate boom, the Ritters earned six-figure incomes by flipping houses — buying and reselling rapidly.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian cookbook author who falsely said she beat cancer through healthy eating has been fined by a court for misleading consumers by lying about her charitable donations. The judge had ruled in March that Belle Gibson's deceptive claims of donating the proceeds from the sales of "The Whole Pantry" and a related app constituted unconscionable conduct under Australian consumer law. Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer on Thursday ordered Gibson to pay a total of 410,000 Australian dollars ($320,000) for five contraventions of the law relating to false claims that the proceeds would go to various charities. Gibson did not attend court in Melbourne. She was advised of the fine Wednesday night and responded in an email: "Thank you for the update. Much appreciated." The book and app were withdrawn. ||||| Gibson, who built a wellness empire on the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle, has admitted deceiving her followers 'None of it’s true': wellness blogger Belle Gibson admits she never had cancer Disgraced wellness blogger Belle Gibson, who built an online community and sold a recipe book off the back of claims she cured terminal brain cancer through diet and lifestyle alone, has admitted she never had cancer. “None of it’s true,” Gibson told the Australian Women’s Weekly in an interview to be published on Thursday. “I don’t want forgiveness. I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘OK, she’s human.’” Gibson’s wellness empire, which included a mobile phone app called The Whole Pantry and a website and recipe book of the same name, began to fall apart in March when it was revealed she never made thousands of dollars in charity donations she promised off the back of money raised through her success. Pseudoscience and strawberries: ‘wellness’ gurus should carry a health warning | Hadley Freeman Read more Later that month, Gibson said she had been “wrongly” diagnosed with cancers she claimed to have in her blood, spleen, uterus and liver by a German magnetic therapist, but maintained her terminal brain cancer was real. She refused to show journalists medical records or any proof to back her claims that by shunning conventional medicine, her brain cancer had been kept in check. The Women’s Weekly interview is the first time Gibson has spoken to the media following questions being raised about her cancer claims. “During the interviews, whenever challenged, Belle cried easily and muddled her words,” the Women’s Weekly reports. “She says she is passionate about avoiding gluten, dairy and coffee, but doesn’t really understand how cancer works.” When questions began to be asked about Gibson’s story last month, she experienced a swift backlash on social media, with many people who followed her saying they felt betrayed. She began deleting her social media accounts and blogposts about her various illnesses. Many criticised Gibson for putting cancer sufferers in danger by suggesting dietary approaches alone could successfully treat them. Consumer Affairs Victoria is now investigating Gibson, while Penguin has ceased publishing

– In March, Belle Gibson was found guilty of breaching consumer law with her false claims on how she'd beaten her supposed brain cancer. On Thursday, Melbourne's Federal Court of Australia handed down the fine the Aussie blogger will pay as a consequence: around $320,000, the BBC reports. The 25-year-old had made a name for herself in her home country when she claimed she'd beaten her cancer through a regimen of healthy living and eating, which she monetized via an app and cookbook she created, both called The Whole Pantry. Per the AP, the fine was handed down due to Gibson's claims that proceeds from the app and cookbook would go to different charities. But the charities never got those funds, and that's when questions started to pop up about Gibson herself. It was in mid-2015 when Gibson finally admitted she'd never had brain cancer, or other cancers she'd also initially said she had (she later called those misdiagnoses). Gibson's "pitch" for people to throw money her way "overwhelmingly used groups likely to evoke sympathy because of their vulnerabilities—young girls, asylum seekers, sick children," federal judge Debra Mortimer said in March. The Guardian notes the court had spent months trying to figure out a penalty for Gibson, and Consumer Affairs Victoria, which brought the case against Gibson, said she could've faced a fine of up to $860,000. But Mortimer had previously said it was pointless to issue a fine that Gibson would be unable to pay. Gibson wasn't in court to hear Mortimer's decision, instead sending an email response to the AP that said, "Thank you for the update. Much appreciated."

Australian cookbook author falsely said she beat cancer through healthy eating. Belle Gibson's deceptive claims constituted unconscionable conduct. Gibson ordered to pay a total of 410,000 Australian dollars ($320,000) for five contraventions of the law. Gibson's wellness empire began to fall apart in March when it was revealed she never made thousands of dollars in charity donations she promised off the back of money raised through her success. cancer. 'I don't want forgiveness. I just think [speaking out] was the responsible thing to do. Above anything, I would like people to say, ‘OK, she’s human,'” Gibson says.

The Spy Who Loved Me In her 20s, Avril Haines held erotica readings at the Baltimore bookstore and restaurant she co-owned at the time. Ben Jacobs and Avi Zenilman report. The former host of “Erotica Night” at a Baltimore bookstore will be the first-ever female No. 2 official at the CIA. On Wednesday, Barack Obama nominated Avril Danica Haines to be the deputy director of the CIA, replacing Michael Morell, who twice served as acting director of the agency but took much of the blame for editing the highly controversial talking points around the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi. As a lawyer in the White House Counsel’s office, Haines oversaw the approval process for the CIA's covert actions, acting as a vital link between the CIA and the president. But 20 years ago, Haines opened and co-owned Adrian’s Book Café in the Baltimore waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point. She opened Adrian’s after dropping out of a graduate program in physics at Johns Hopkins University. The store featured regular “Erotica Nights.” including dinner and a series of readings by guests of published work or their own prose, according to a 1995 report in the Baltimore Sun; couples could attend for $30, while singles paid $17. "Erotica has become more prevalent because people are trying to have sex without having sex. Others are trying to find new fantasies to make their monogamous relationships more satisfying,” Haines, then in her 20s, told the Sun. “What the erotic offers is spontaneity, twists and turns. And it affects everyone." (She also told Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Corey that friends heckled “you just want a mass orgy in your bookstore, while she and her co-owner were initially worried only "dirty old men" would show up.) The event Corey attended at the bookstore featured a room lit with red candles where guests held chicken tostadas, waiting to eat as Haines read aloud the opening pages of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, by Anne Rice writing under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaire, which features passages such as: “He mounted her, parting her legs, giving the white inner flesh of her thighs a soft deep pinch, and, clasping her right breast in his hand, he thrust his sex into her. He was holding her up as he did this, to gather her mouth to him, and as he broke through her innocence, he opened her mouth with his tongue and pinched her breast sharply.” But her bookstore was hardly defined by erotica (which was shelved between self-help and parenting), stocking titles from a variety of smaller publishing houses and local authors, and offering a café. Haines was also well respected in the close-knit waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point, according to former neighbors. One of them, long-time neighborhood fixture Steve Bunker, who has since retired to Maine, raved about Haines to The Daily Beast, saying “She’s brilliant, has a genius IQ, is easy to work with, and reliable.” He recalled going to New Year’s Eve parties with her at the $22 million dollar townhouses then owned by her father, Dr. Thomas

– CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell has announced his retirement, making way for the first woman to take the job. Avril Haines, 43, is a White House lawyer who has worked in the State Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She hasn't worked in an intelligence post before, Bloomberg notes, but her work at the White House has been steeped in intelligence-related matters, the New York Times reports. President Obama had initially nominated her to the post of State Department legal adviser; she would have been the first woman in that job, too, the Times notes. Morell, for his part, was involved in the drafting of White House talking points on Benghazi. He's leaving to spend more time with his family, he says, though he will also join the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. "Whenever someone involved in the rough and tumble of Washington decides to move on, there is speculation ... about the 'real reason,'" Morell says. "But when I say that it is time for my family, nothing could be more real than that." (Odd aside about his successor: The Daily Beast reports that Haines co-owned a Baltimore bookstore in her 20s, and the store hosted regular "Erotica Nights," during which she would do readings.)

Avril Danica Haines will be the first-ever female No. 2 official at the CIA. As a lawyer in the White House Counsel's office, she oversaw the approval process for the CIA's covert actions. But 20 years ago, she opened and co-owned Adrian’s Book Café in the Baltimore waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point. The store featured regular “Erotica Nights” including dinner and a series of readings by guests of published work or their own prose.

Seventy years ago, Vilnius, Lithuania, was known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania—a bustling town home to more than 100,000 Jews at its peak. But then it all vanished. In three years during the Holocaust, 95% of Lithuanian Jews were killed. But hidden within this tragedy is a story of hope and courage that archeologists are just now bringing to light. Jews from the Vilnius Ghetto were executed in a pit in the Ponary woods between 1941, when this photo was taken, and 1944. On June 8, a team led by Richard Freund, a Judaic studies professor at the University of Hartford, and Jon Seligman, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, discovered the existence of an escape tunnel at Ponar, just outside of Vilnius. The tunnel had been rumored in oral histories kept alive by escapees, their descendants, and other Lithuanian Jews from that era, including Freund’s great-grandfather, who came from Vilnius. On the last night of Passover, April 14, 1944, 80 Jews began their escape from the pit where they were being held prisoner through a 100-foot tunnel that had been painstakingly dug by hand. The pit where the tunnel began. Digging in the dark of night, chained to one another, the prisoners had secretly scratched at the earth for three months before their daring escape. Of the 80 prisoners who attempted the getaway, only 11 survived. But they told their stories, and the tunnel gained legendary status among the people of Vilnius. For decades, the exact location of the tunnel remained a mystery, and archaeologists couldn’t dig at the site for risk of disturbing more than the 100,000 remains buried at Ponar. However, advances in archeological technology allowed Freund and his team to study the site using noninvasive techniques, including ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). Upon turning on their equipment, they discovered the escape tunnel almost immediately. Richard Freund studies the ERT data that first revealed evidence of the tunnel. “When they ran the first test over the area leading outside of the pit where [the prisoners] started from, they immediately saw it on the imaging.” Freund said. “There was nothing but sand, and the tunnel lit up. That was a moment.” GPR works similar to traditional radar, but instead of sending radio waves through the air, it broadcasts them into the ground. The resulting charts illustrate what lies below without disturbing the site, and archaeologists can see the results immediately, said Dean Goodman, a geophysicist at GPR-Slice Software, a company that specializes in GPR software. “We’re able to collect a lot of data really quickly and almost see the results real time. As you’re collecting the antenna over ground, you actually get a 2D profile of the swath of ground you’re going over.” The other technique, ERT, is usually used by geologists working in the oil and gas industry, not archaeologists. ERT works by sending a current into the ground and measuring the electrical resistance of the various substrates, producing a map of what lies below. Richard Freund and his collaborators discuss which area of

– A 100-foot escape tunnel dug by Jewish prisoners using only their hands and spoons has been unearthed in Lithuania, a research team announced Wednesday. From 1941 to 1944, about 100,000 people (70,000 of them Jews from nearby Vilnius) were slaughtered by the Nazis, then dumped into burial pits in Lithuania's Ponar forest—systemic murder that started even before the gas chambers in what archaeologist Richard Freund tells the New York Times was "ground zero for the Holocaust." To cover up the massacre, the Nazis forced 80 Jews from the nearby Stutthof concentration camp to exhume the bodies, burn them, and hide the ashes, Ynetnews reports. These "corpse unit" members were kept in a deep pit during the night, and some spent those hours digging an escape tunnel. On the night of April 15, 1944, 40 of them made a break for it. Guards shot many on sight, but 11 escaped and survived the war to tell the story of the legendary tunnel. The research team led by Freund used a special geophysical process to locate the tunnel, combining radar and electrical resistivity tomography, which uses electricity to examine natural objects in the ground and soil disturbances that may have been caused by digging. These nonintrusive search methods allow scientists to explore sites that previously were off-limits, notes PBS, which will air a Nova documentary on the discovery in 2017. It also puts to bed the belief that stories told through the years about the tunnel were only a myth. "As an Israeli whose family originated in Lithuania, I was reduced to tears on the discovery of the escape tunnel," an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority tells Ynetnews. "[It] enables us to present not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the yearning for life." (Evidence of an escape tunnel was found under the Sobibor concentration camp.)

Archaeologists have discovered an escape tunnel at Ponar, just outside of Vilnius. The tunnel had been rumored in oral histories kept alive by escapees, their descendants, and other Lithuanian Jews from that era. Of the 80 prisoners who attempted the getaway, only 11 survived. For decades, the exact location of the tunnel remained a mystery, and archaeologists couldn’t dig at the site for risk of disturbing more than the 100,000 remains buried at Ponary. the tunnel was found using ground penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography.

Actor Alec Baldwin was rushed to a New York City hospital Wednesday night after his daughter called 911 concerned for the "30 Rock" star's health. A source familiar with the situation now tells Fox411 that Ireland was not with her father in New York at the time of the 911 call. Instead, she likely called from Los Angeles, seemingly refuting earlier reports that the 14-year-old found her father unresponsive. Medics rushed to the actor’s apartment before taking him to Lenox Hill hospital, NBC said. He was reportedly released after an hour of treatment at around 1 a.m. According to a report from the New York Post, the initial 911 call came in as a“possible alcohol or drug overdose.” Sources told the newspaper that while he never actually ingested sleeping pills, Baldwin threatened to take them during a heated argument. Matthew Hiltzik, a rep for Baldwin, tells Fox411 that the situation was a "misunderstanding on one person's part" and that actor is “completely fine and is at work today." Hiltzik added that Baldwin's quick release indicated that there were no serious health concerns. "If there was any real issue or concern, he would not have been released from the hospital so quickly," Hiltzik said. Baldwin is scheduled to host the Academy Awards with comedian Steve Martin next month. ||||| Alec Baldwin attacks photographer after release from hospital, pal blames Kim Basinger for circus Mauceri/Donnelly/INFphoto.com A visibly angry Alec Baldwin grabs at a photographer outside his Central Park apartment Thursday. Emmy-winning actor Alec Baldwin blew a gasket Thursday and attacked a photographer while police and a pack of reporters looked on with amazement. "This guy! This guy!" the actor yelled as he burst out of a lobby and grabbed New York Post photographer Tim Wiencis by the collar. Cops immediately pulled the actor off Wiencis and hustled him back inside. A witness said Baldwin was pacing around the lobby muttering: "They are the lowest scum of the Earth. They are the lowest scum of the Earth." Meanwhile, an incredulous Wiencis told cops, "He just assaulted me." No charges were filed. Baldwin's bizarre outburst capped a day that began at 12:55 a.m., when he was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital after his 14-year-old daughter, Ireland, dialed 911, sources said. "I'm tired of this," Baldwin said, his daughter told the dispatcher. "I'm going to take some pills. I'm going to end this." When cops arrived at Baldwin's pad on Central Park West, the actor told them he took an Ambien sleeping pill and had "no intention" of committing suicide, sources said. Baldwin, who is due to emcee the Oscars on March 7, told cops he and Ireland had been arguing over the phone and that his daughter was "put up" to dial 911 by her mom, actress Kim Basinger, sources said. Still, cops had Baldwin checked out and doctors released him after deciding he was no threat to himself, sources said. When the "30 Rock" star returned home, he found reporters on his doorstep. "This is another example of Kim's sickness," a buddy of Baldwin's told

– Alec Baldwin's ugly came out yesterday after his brief stint in a hospital when he grabbed a New York Post photographer. "This guy! This guy!" the actor yelled as he rushed from his apartment building lobby to grab lensman Tim Wiencis' collar before police pulled him off, reports the New York Daily News. Seconds earlier a witness reportedly overheard Baldwin muttering to himself: "They are the scum of the earth." Wiencis called his confrontation with Baldwin an "assault," but did not press charges. Earlier yesterday Baldwin left a Manhattan hospital after his teenage daughter called 911, disturbed that her father said during an argument over the phone that he was "going to take some pills; I'm going to end this." Sources tell Fox News Ireland Baldwin was not in New York at the time, despite previous reports that she found her father "unresponsive."

A source familiar with the situation now tells Fox411 that Ireland was not with her father in New York at the time of the 911 call. Instead, she likely called from Los Angeles, refuting earlier reports that the 14-year-old found her father unresponsive. Medics rushed to the actor’s apartment before taking him to Lenox Hill hospital, NBC said. He was reportedly released after an hour of treatment at around 1 a.m. The actor is scheduled to host the Academy Awards with comedian Steve Martin next month.

Aaron Bernstein / Reuters Rep. Diane Black must be watching some crazy violent porn, it seems. Does anyone know what kind of porn Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) is watching? Whatever it is, the 67-year-old Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, said it’s a “big part” of what is driving the spike in school shootings. During a meeting last week with local pastors, Black raised the issue of gun violence in schools and why it keeps happening. “Pornography,” she said. “It’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there,” she continued. “All of this is available without parental guidance. I think that is a big part of the root cause.” Here’s an audio of her remarks, which she made during a listening session with ministers at Safe Harbor of Clarksville, Tennessee. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| This crawl of online resources of the 115th US Congress was performed on behalf of The United States National Archives & Records ||||| A Republican congresswoman from Tennessee blamed pornography — as well as a host of other cultural issues — for school shootings, during a recent meeting. Diane Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, made the comments while speaking to a group of ministers during a “listening session” recently, according to HuffPost, which reported the story and included audio of the remarks. The comment about pornography came as Black wondered what was driving some children to such violent ends. “What makes them do that?” she said. “Because as a nurse, I go back to root causes.” She then listed a couple of these root causes, which included pornography, as well as “deterioration of the family” and violence in movies. “Pornography, it’s available, it’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store,” she said. “Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there. All of this is available without parental guidance. And I think that is a big part of the root cause.” Black also spoke briefly about mental illness being something “we’ve got to address.” HuffPost published only about 2 1/2 minutes of audio, so it is not clear whether Black gave specifics about the ways she believes pornography could lead to gun violence. Chris Hartline, a spokesman for Black, wrote that the congresswoman “believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence.” Black’s remarks were among the latest attempts to explain the United States’ high numbers of mass shootings. Liberals and other advocates of stricter gun control point to statistics that indicate that the prevalence of guns is the single most important variable when examining why the United States has more mass shootings than other countries. Many conservatives and the National Rifle Association point to

– Pornography is playing a "big part" in the spike in school shootings, according to a Republican congresswoman running for governor of Tennessee. While discussing school shootings during a meeting with pastors in Clarksville last week, Rep. Diane Black said porn is "available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store" and "without parental guidance," per HuffPost, which has the audio. "I think that is a big part of the root cause," she continued, also pointing to the "deterioration of the family" and violent movies. The 67-year-old briefly noted mental illness is also something "we've got to address," per the Washington Post. A rep later elaborated, saying Black "believes the breakdown of families and communities plays a significant role in instances of school violence." Meanwhile, Black has introduced a bill to crowdfund President Trump's wall along the border with Mexico, whose president vowed again Tuesday never to pay for it. "If someone wants to send in money to the federal government to help to build the wall, they can do so, but … what this does is actually dedicates a fund," Black tells NewsChannel5.

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) made the comments while speaking to a group of ministers. Black, who is running for governor of Tennessee, said it's a "big part" of what is driving the spike in school shootings. Black also spoke briefly about mental illness being something “we’ve got to address.“As a nurse, I go back to root causes,” she said, listing pornography, “deterioration of the family” and violence in movies.

Federal officials said Wednesday that the new Indiana law cutting Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood violates Medicaid rules — a determination that could cost the state millions and possibly even billions of dollars. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed state officials by letter that it was denying Indiana’s new Medicaid plan because states can’t pick and choose where recipients receive health-care services. What happens next is, at best, a guess. But almost certain is that it will add fuel to a legal and political battle likely to be watched closely across the nation. An HHS official would not comment on what happens if Indiana does not change its law, though one possible ramification would be withholding funding. Indiana relies on about $4million in federal Medicaid family planning funds and more than $4 billion in total Medicaid dollars. The state Family and Social Services Administration — caught between state and federal law — said it would seek guidance from Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. “For now, our lawyers advise us that we must continue to follow the law the Indiana General Assembly passed,” said FSSA spokesman Marcus Barlow. Zoeller spokesman Bryan Corbin said that the office is working with the FSSA to determine its options, “but we will continue to defend the statute.” Gov. Mitch Daniels, who signed the bill into law, declined to comment Wednesday. There also is the matter of the courts. The law, which took effect May 10, is being challenged in federal court by Planned Parenthood on various grounds. The next court date is scheduled for Monday. The law made Indiana the first state to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and ended roughly $1.3 million in annual payments to the health provider. Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which has been scraping together donations over the past few weeks in an effort to keep serving its 9,300 Medicaid patients, welcomed Wednesday’s letter. “It is incredibly gratifying to have the federal government confirm what we’ve been saying all along, that (House Enrolled Act) 1210 violates federal law,” said Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana. (Page 2 of 3) Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called the letter “a strong rebuke to Indiana” and said it “serves as a warning to other states that attempts to bar federal funding for Planned Parenthood violate Medicaid law.” State Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero, who helped lead the effort in the legislature to defund Planned Parenthood, was disappointed. “We believe we represented the public’s opinion on this, and we’ll see what happens,” he said. “It’s another example of the federal government trying to tell states what to do. I think states are very capable of deciding their own fate and running their own ship.” Anti-abortion activists challenged the Obama administration’s interpretation of federal Medicaid policy, saying they believe states do have authority to defund Planned Parenthood and called the letter a strong-arm tactic. “We’re not surprised by it,” said Indiana Right to Life Legislative Director Sue Swayze. “This is the most pro-abortion president we’ve ever had. It

– The White House has—as promised—moved to block an Indiana law that strips Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funds. State officials have been notified that the law, which cuts off funding to Planned Parenthood because some clinics perform abortion services, violates Medicaid rules because states aren't allowed to choose where recipients receive health care services, reports the New York Times. State officials say they plan to continue enforcing the law, which was signed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels last month. The federal government's move is "a strong rebuke to Indiana” that should serve as a warning to other states seeking to defund Planned Parenthood," the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America tells the Indianapolis Star. Medicaid officials have signaled that the state could lose $4 billion in federal funding if it refuses to comply with the administration's decision.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed state officials by letter that it was denying Indiana’s new Medicaid plan because states can’t pick and choose where recipients receive health-care services. Indiana relies on about $4million in federal Medicaid family planning funds and more than $4 billion in total Medicaid dollars. The law, which took effect May 10, is being challenged in federal court by Planned Parenthood on various grounds. The next court date is scheduled for Monday.

If the notion of any current country performer labeling himself an outlaw was ever laughable, it would never be more so when considering David Allan Coe. In reform school by the age of nine, and charged with such offenses as armed robbery and auto theft, Coe would be in and out of various correctional facilities for the next two decades and would serve three years at the Ohio State Penitentiary. Related Merle Haggard: 'Prison Is the Biggest Business in America' Country music's most famous ex-con speaks out on the number of Americans in prison and changes his stance on marijuana While he was behind bars, Coe penned several songs that would be released on his 1969 debut album, the dark and crudely recorded Penitentiary Blues, which resurfaced in 2005 getting its first CD release. Coe was encouraged to write the songs, which detail stark prison life in such songs as "Death Row," "Oh Warden" and "Cell #33," by the man in the cell next to him, soul singer Screamin' Jay Hawkins. After he was released in 1967, Coe released those tracks via Shelby Singleton's SSS International label, and began touring with B.B. King and the Staples Singers. A subsequent deal with Columbia Records yielded The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, a hardcore country effort co-produced by Billy Sherrill and Ron Bledsoe, which failed to chart. The next album from Coe, Once Upon a Rhyme, would give him the first of his three Top Ten hits. "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was a stone-country, semi-novelty song written by Steve Goodman ("City of New Orleans") and John Prine (who refused a writer's credit but was gifted a jukebox by Goodman for his contribution). In the second verse of the tune, Coe namechecks – and does some pretty spot-on imitations of – Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride and Merle Haggard. In the third verse, there's a little nod to Faron Young's "Hello Walls," penned by Willie Nelson, and Coe even namechecks himself. The fourth and final verse has Coe explaining, in a spoken intro, how Goodman wrote to him telling him he felt he had written "the perfect country and western song" with this one. Coe further explains that he wrote back to Goodman and protested that the song was missing key elements that would make it perfect: Mama, trains, trucks, prison and getting drunk. Goodman then rewrote the tune, resulting in one of the most iconic – and hilarious – verses in country music history. Recorded on August 20th, 1974, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," would debut on the Billboard country chart in July 1975, eventually peaking at Number Eight. Although he wrote much of his own material, ironically, Coe's only Number One hit came in 1978 as the writer of Johnny Paycheck's Number One smash, "Take This Job and Shove It." He would score another pair of Top Five hits as an artist with songs he didn't write: "The Ride" in 1983, and his biggest solo hit, "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile," which just missed the top spot, peaking at

– Well, this is about what you'd expect from the guy who wrote the song "Take This Job and Shove It": David Allan Coe owes the IRS more than $466,000 in back taxes. The country music singer-songwriter, 76, pleaded guilty to income tax evasion in federal court in Cincinnati yesterday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. He faces up to three years in prison—precisely the amount of time he spent in the Ohio State Penitentiary in his younger days, reports Rolling Stone. The US Attorney's Office says Coe arranged to get much of his payment in cash when he performed, which was partially "an effort to impede the ability of the IRS to collect on the taxes owed." He then spent that cash "on other debts and gambling," the office says in a press release. Perhaps the quirkiest detail in that release: Coe apparently refused payment in $50 bills, because he considered them bad luck and "would not gamble with them."

David Allan Coe served three years at the Ohio State Penitentiary. While he was behind bars, Coe penned several songs that would be released on his 1969 debut album. "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was a stone-country, semi-novelty song written by Steve Goodman and John Prine. He would score another pair of Top Five hits as an artist with songs he didn't write: "The Ride" and "Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile" His only Number One hit came in 1978 as the writer of Johnny Paycheck's Number One smash, "Take This Job and Shove It"

Flipboard is a beautiful iPad app that looks at the content your friends are sharing on Twitter and Facebook and reformats it into a digital, interactive magazine. The consumer reaction to the app since its launch last week has been nothing short of completely nuts. Click here for a quick walk-through → How nuts? Cofounder and CEO Mike McCue tells us that before launching Flipboard, he made his engineers hook up double the amount of servers they thought would be necessary. After the launch, Flipboard maxed out that server capacity in a shocking 20 minutes. Since then, Mike says "a significant percentage of the iPad population" has already downloaded the app. We sat with Mike for an extended interview, which we've published below. We covered what it was like during the app's crazy first days, why Mike raised so much money so early, and what it's like working with Apple and Kleiner Perkins. The most interesting thing we learned is how Flipboard plans to make money. Flipboard plans to actually show more of publishers' content, advertising against it, and then share revenues. Mike says it will increase publishers' digital revenues "by a factor of ten from what they're currently doing with banner ads." Here are some more highlights: Is Flipboard stealing content? Mike says, "There have been probably about 130 publishers that have reached out to us in the last 4 days or so, and unanimously the reaction has been very positive." Flipboard raised $10 million in its first round so it won't "be forced into a situation where we have to break the glass of the nearest business model just to survive." "We only have 19 people in the company now, I'll hire another 5 or 10 or something, but were going to keep things small." Flipboard's launch was as chaotic as it seemed from the outside. It took 20 minutes to max out Flipboard's servers. The company actually asked Apple NOT to feature Flipboard in the iTunes App Store. Contrary to reports, John Doerr hasn't checked-out at blue chip VC firm Kleiner Perkins, says Mike. "I can still call him up and he would instantly respond. I can ask him for a meeting with basically anyone in the world, and he'd deliver. It's just amazing." Here's the whole Q&A;: SAI: Where'd you get the idea for Flipboard?Mike McCue: I left Tellme, my last company a year ago. I sold the company to Microsoft and about a year ago I had completed the integration, I felt like it was a great time to move on. I did a bunch of traveling. I'd be on the plane a lot, and of course all the time I'd buy magazines on the newsstand and flip through them on the plane. And it occurred to me on one of these flights - "Why is it that the Internet looks so ugly and the magazines look so beautiful? Wouldn't it be great if you could take the power of the Internet and the beauty of these magazines and fuse them together somehow?" The tablet hadn't happened

– Flipboard may be the first true killer app for the iPad, a "social magazine" that weaves information from your Facebook and Twitter feeds together with personalized, aggregated news content into an attractive, intuitive presentation. The app's smooth, magazine-like appearance has drawn almost universal acclaim—check these reviews from PC World and CNET. In fact, Flipboard's biggest drawback so far may be that demand since its launch last week has periodically paralyzed its servers. A key feature of Flipboard is its ability to extract links embedded in Twitter by services like bit.ly and present that content upfront as part of your personal "magazine." The company intends to wed that kind of social media content with conventional publishing, CEO Mike McCue tells Business Insider, while serving ads alongside both. The resulting revenue will be split with publishers in an arrangement McCue says will allow publishers to "monetize their content by a factor of ten from what they’re currently doing with banner ads."

Flipboard looks at the content your friends are sharing on Twitter and Facebook and reformats it into a digital, interactive magazine. Flipboard raised $10 million in its first round so it won't "be forced into a situation where we have to break the glass of the nearest business model just to survive" Mike says it will increase publishers' digital revenues "by a factor of ten from what they're currently doing with banner ads" The company actually asked Apple NOT to feature Flipboard in the iTunes App Store.

Two NYPD sergeants were shot in the Bronx Friday. Cops and paramedics rushed to Noble Ave. near Bronx River Ave. about 3 p.m. after the shooting. The suspect, who had multiple guns, was shot dead by cops, sources said. Both sergeants were taken to Jacobi Medical Center in serious condition, according to preliminary reports. The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear. This is breaking story. Check back for updates. ||||| Story highlights Slain officer identified as Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year NYPD veteran He and other officers were pursuing a suspect in a reported home invasion (CNN) A New York City police sergeant was killed and another officer was wounded Friday afternoon in a shootout with a Bronx home invasion suspect, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said. The slain officer, Paul Tuozzolo, 41, was a 19-year veteran of the department, O'Neill said. Paul Tuozzolo. Emmanuel Kwo, a sergeant with nine years experience, was shot in the leg and hospitalized, O'Neill said. He was in stable condition. O'Neill said a woman called 911 about 2:45 p.m. to say an armed man had broken into an apartment. Inside were the man's estranged wife, their 3-year-old son, the 911 caller and a 13-year-old child, O'Neill said. As officers approached the residence they learned the suspect had fled in a red Jeep. Read More

– Two NYPD officers responding to a home invasion in the Bronx were shot Friday afternoon, and CNN reports one of them has died. The New York Daily News reports that the "heavily-armed gunman" was killed in the firefight. The second officer's injuries were said to be non-life-threatening.

Two NYPD sergeants were shot in the Bronx Friday. Slain officer identified as Paul Tuozzolo, a 19-year NYPD veteran. Emmanuel Kwo, a sergeant with nine years experience, was wounded in the leg.

Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com ||||| Edmunds.com, one of the top Web sites for car shopping and automotive information, is hoping to revolutionize how people buy cars and eliminate the No. 1 most frustrating part of the car shopping process. According to Seth Berkowitz, president and chief operating officer of Edmunds.com, 54% of car shoppers say they want more clarity on the exact price of a car rather than haggle with dealers. "The average American person cannot understand how it is that as an industry that we cannot deliver an actual car price to them," Berkowitz said today at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. "It ...

– Add Edmunds.com to the list of companies dreaming of emulating Amazon's success. With last year's quiet launch of a service called Price Promise, the car shopping website is trying to "be as close as possible to Amazon.com for the automotive experience," president Seth Berkowitz explained at an industry gathering yesterday. What that means, per the Detroit Free Press: Berkowitz says car shoppers' No. 1 gripe is the lack of a clear, exact car price; Price Promise cuts out the haggling that follows as a result by allowing dealers to email the exact price of a vehicle found on the site to shoppers who request it. Shoppers can then print out a certificate bearing the number; the dealer must sell the car for that price. Ergo, no haggling. Though the site hopes the feature will set it apart from the competition, TrueCar.com has offered a similar program since 2009, the Free Press notes; it claims 6,200 participating dealers, to Edmunds.com's 600. The service also doesn't factor in a buyer's credit history, which could change the monthly payments, points out the Wall Street Journal. Price Promise doesn't necessarily meaning getting the lowest price, either. Dealers say they sell cars to Price-Promise users for $300 to $500 more than traditional buyers. But according to Berkowitz, it's a worthwhile tradeoff for those looking to save time and avoid headaches.

Edmunds.com is one of the top Web sites for car shopping and automotive information. 54% of car shoppers say they want more clarity on the exact price of a car. "The average American person cannot understand how it is that we cannot deliver an actual car price"

Burlingame woman, 97, being evicted after 66 years The year Marie Hatch moved into the wood-shingled cottage in tony Burlingame that she calls home, Harry Truman was president and “Goodnight Irene” was a radio hit. Her landlord and friend, Vivian Kruse, told her she could live in the cottage until she died. Fast-forward 66 years. Kruse is dead, her daughter is dead, and her granddaughter is dead. They each passed down the lifetime guarantee of tenancy for Hatch — but when the final woman died, so did the verbal agreement, the current landlord says. That’s why he is evicting Hatch, who is now 97, fighting cancer and long both single and retired from her bakery job. She says she will probably wind up in the street if she has to leave. LATEST SFGATE VIDEOS Now Playing: Now Playing Forgotten Wine Country fire victims sfgate California National guard honors firefighter who died fighting Napa fires sfgate The 5 largest earthquakes in history sfgate San Francisco Crime Statistics 2017 sfgate Large bear spotted roaming the streets near Lake Tahoe sfgate Water dropped on Sausalito fire sfgate Fire burns off 101 in Sausalito sfgate Bear Fire burns in Santa Cruz Mountains sfgate Time-lapse video shows smoke over Bay Area sfgate Areas of Bangor burned down sfgate On Feb. 11, she was served with a 60-day notice to vacate the house or be tossed out by sheriff’s deputies. Tenant advocates say her plight is emblematic of a growing eviction and rent-hike horror overtaking non-homeowners in San Mateo County. “They’re trying to take away everything from me here,” Hatch said as she sat in her tidy living room, where fading photos of family gaze down on her collections of tiny ceramic bunnies and kitties. “Gee whiz, I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to leave. “I have a lot of tears, a lot of happiness, a lot of memories in this house. It is my home. Where can I go?” Roommates’ uncertainty Her misery has very close company — her sublet roommate and friend of 32 years, Georgia Rothrock. At 85, Rothrock also has few options. Between the two of them, they pay about $900 monthly rent, which chews up much of their Social Security checks. Neither of the women can afford a new, more expensive place to live or have relatives they can move in with. Landlord David Kantz tells his own version of the turn of events. He says he feels terrible that he is evicting Hatch, but the trust left behind by his wife — the third of the previous landlord women who are now deceased — expires in July, and he is duty-bound to sell the property on behalf of his two sons. Previous landlord slain He became the current landlord, he pointed out, when his wife was slain in 2006. The Kantzes were getting divorced when Pamela Kantz, 55, was killed by her boyfriend, Tony McClung, who is serving an 11-year prison term for voluntary manslaughter. “We have come to this unexpected confluence of events, and I am responsible to

– Attorneys for a 97-year-old woman being booted from her Northern California home filed suit Friday to enforce a long-ago promise by the landlord that the woman could live there until she died, the AP reports. The complaint states Marie Hatch moved into her Burlingame cottage more than 60 years ago at the request of her friend Vivian Kroeze, who owned the property and needed companionship after her husband died. Hatch was promised a lifetime tenancy, and the promise was honored by Kroeze's daughter and granddaughter after Vivian Kroeze died in 1980. But in 2006, the granddaughter was murdered by her boyfriend and her estranged husband, David Kantz, took over collecting rent. This month, Kantz's attorney told Hatch and her 85-year-old roommate to vacate within 60 days. Kantz previously told the San Francisco Chronicle that he felt terrible about evicting the women but had no choice given that the agreement is not in writing and he has to provide for his sons. The newspaper's story prompted calls and emails from hundreds of people offering help. One call came from a Joe Cotchett, a high-profile civil attorney whose firm is representing Hatch free of charge. "This is one of the most egregious acts of taking advantage of one of our community's most vulnerable citizens that I have seen in my legal career," one of Hatch's lawyers says. The complaint claims elder abuse as well as breach of contract.

Marie Hatch, 97, was told she could live in her Burlingame cottage until she died. She is now fighting cancer and long both single and retired from her bakery job. Hatch says she will probably wind up in the street if she has to leave. Tenant advocates say her plight is emblematic of a growing eviction and rent-hike horror in San Mateo County.. The trust left behind by his wife — the third of the previous landlord women who are now deceased — expires in July, the landlord says.

ATLANTA -- NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer, it was announced Wednesday. The policy subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem. That includes any attempt to sit or kneel, as dozens of players have done during the past two seasons to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Those teams also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction. "We want people to be respectful of the national anthem," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We want people to stand -- that's all personnel -- and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion. That's something we think we owe. [But] we were also very sensitive to give players choices." Goodell said the vote was "unanimous" among owners, although San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said he abstained. York said that all owners that voted in the process supported the change. The policy will be part of the NFL's game operations manual and thus not subject to collective bargaining. The NFL Players Association said in a statement that it will review the policy and "challenge any aspect" that is inconsistent with the CBA. Some important details remained unclear in the hours after the policy's approval, including the specific fine that teams would be subject to and also how the league will define respect for the flag. "To make a decision that strong, you would hope that the players have input on it," Cleveland Browns quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "But obviously not. So we have to deal with it as players, for good or a bad thing. "I think the main thing out of all of it is that each ballclub is having open communication with the players and ownership about the issues that are going on in the community and trying to change it." NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith reacted with displeasure in a series of tweets Wednesday. "History has taught us that both patriotism and protest are like water; if the force is strong enough it cannot be suppressed. Today, the CEO's of the NFL created a rule that people who hate autocracies should reject," Smith tweeted. "Management has chosen to quash the same freedom of speech that protects someone who wants to salute the flag in an effort to prevent someone who does not wish to do so. The sad irony of this rule is that anyone who wants to express their patriotism is subject to the whim of a person who calls himself an "Owner." I know that not all of the NFL CEO's are for this and I know that true American patriots are not cheering today." After spending months in discussions, and another three hours over two days at the league's spring meetings, owners said this found a compromise that will end sitting or kneeling with an

– The NFL changed its rule book Wednesday to stop players from kneeling during the national anthem. All 32 team owners approved a new rule designed to ban players from sitting or kneeling on the field in protest during the anthem, reports ESPN. However, the league said players could remain in the locker room and emerge once the anthem is over. Previously, all players had to be on the field during the anthem. The NFL will fine teams whose players disobey, but the teams themselves will decide on the penalties for individual players, reports CNN. "This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement. "It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic," he added. "This is not and was never the case." All of this began in 2016, when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem to protest police brutality.

NFL owners unanimously approve new national anthem policy. Players must stand if they are on field during performance, but can choose to stay in locker room. Teams will be subject to a fine if a player or any other team personnel does not show respect for the anthem. NFL Players Association says it will review the policy and "challenge any aspect" that is inconsistent with the CBA. "True American patriots are not cheering today," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith tweets."We want people to be respectful of the national anthem," commissioner Roger Goodell says.

Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday, as the House approved by a 219-203 vote a GOP-authored short-term funding measure designed to keep the government running through Nov. 18 and Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill. “We expect a vote fairly quickly,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday morning. In an after-midnight roll call, House Republican leaders persuaded conservatives early Friday morning to support a stop-gap measure nearly identical to one they had rejected just 30 hours earlier. By a narrow margin, 213 Republicans supported the plan, along with six Democrats; 179 Democrats opposed it, joined by 24 Republicans. The bill, which will keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 18, passed over staunch objections from House Democrats, who opposed a provision that would pair increased funding for disaster relief with a spending cut to a program that makes loans to car companies to encourage energy efficient car production. But House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) victory is likely to be short-lived. Reid said late Thursday that the measure could not pass his chamber, with a vote expected sometime Friday. A Senate defeat would leave Congress at a new standoff. “It fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and it will be rejected by the Senate,” Reid said of the House bill. Without a resolution, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund will run out of money early next week and the rest of the government would be forced to shutdown Oct. 1. House leaders contend that the Senate would be responsible for blocking desperately needed disaster dollars from flowing to FEMA if they reject their bill. “You saw the House act,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as he left the Capitol early Friday morning. “We are intending that the money gets to FEMA and to disaster victims as they need it.” “I think Harry Reid’s political ploy is not going to work,” Cantor continued, adding that blame for FEMA funding drying up if the Senate rejects the bill would fall on Senate Democrats. “I guess Harry Reid will have to bear the burden of denying disaster victims the money they need.” Friday’s House vote marked a reversal of fortunes for Boehner, who after losing the initial Wednesday vote on the House spending resolution found himself roaming the contours of a familiar dilemma — capitulate to fiscal hawks in his own party who want to spend less, or compromise with Democrats who want to spend more. Instead, Boehner found another route: He huddled all day and night Thursday with his rank-and-file, warning them he would give them one more chance to approve the bill or he would be forced to agree to drop the offsetting cut, as Democrats had demanded. In addition, after a 90-minute meeting with the House GOP Conference on Thursday afternoon, the leadership agreed to an additional, largely symbolic cut by striking $100 million from a loan program that funded the

– House Republicans got their ducks in a row late last night, passing a spending measure nearly identical to the one that went down in flames Wednesday. But that might not be enough to prevent a government shutdown, because the Senate is drawing a hard line against the bill, the Washington Post reports. Boehner won conservatives by slicing $100 million from the loan program that benefited Solyndra, and warning that if the bill didn’t pass, he’d be forced to compromise with Democrats. Like the failed bill, the new version also cuts some funding from an energy efficient car program. Democrats who back the program—which they say creates thousands of auto-related jobs—were outraged, and the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill because it didn’t provide enough funding for disaster relief efforts. “The House bill is not an honest effort at compromise,” Harry Reid told the New York Times. “They moved even further toward the Tea Party.” But if something doesn’t pass, FEMA will run out of money next week, and the government will shut down Oct. 1.

The House approved a short-term funding measure that will keep the government running through Nov. 18. Democrats in the Senate immediately vowed to reject the bill. Without a resolution, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund will run out of money early next week and the rest of the government would be forced to shutdown Oct. 1. “It fails to provide the relief that our fellow Americans need as they struggle to rebuild their lives in the wake of floods, wildfires and hurricanes,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Cassandra Vinograd The seaside French city of Cannes has banned burkinis, full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women, from its beaches. Cannes — home of an annual star-studded annual film festival — is located not far from Nice, where more than 80 people died in a July terror attack on the city's beachfront promenade. A Muslim woman wears a "burkini" on a beach in Sydney. TIM WIMBORNE / Reuters file Mayor David Lisnard cited that tragedy and subsequent attack on a northwest France church in an ordinance forbidding swimwear that doesn't respect "good morals and secularism." "Beachwear manifesting religious affiliation in an ostentatious way, while France and its religious sites are currently the target of terrorist attacks, could create the risk of disturbances to public order," the ruling says. A spokeswoman for his office confirmed that the ordinance — in effect through the month of August, peak tourist season on the French Riviera — applies to burkinis. Violators face a fine. French soldiers patrol the Promenade in Cannes on Aug. 5. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images Security has been stepped up across France in wake of the Nice attack, with soldiers prominently patrolling the beaches and promenades of the Riviera. The ordinance was issued on July 28 but only publicized on Friday. Lisnard told the Nice Matin newspaper that the ban was designed to "protect the population" in the context of France's ongoing state of emergency and terror threat. When asked if he thought the ordinance would send a negative message to the numerous Muslim tourists in Cannes, Lisnard replied: "Not at all." Religious groups vehemently disagreed, with France's Muslim Federation of the South calling it an "illegal" and "abusive" use of power with the unique purpose of stigmatization and exclusion. "The federation ... is absolutely scandalized," it said in a statement. France's approach to religious attire has long stoked controversy: The country in 2010 passed a law that bans the burqa, an Islamic veil that completely covers women's faces and bodies. ||||| Image copyright AP Image caption Women wearing burkinis will be invited to change into a more "respectful" costume The mayor of Cannes in southern France has banned full-body swimsuits known as "burkinis" from the beach, citing public order concerns. David Lisnard said they are a "symbol of Islamic extremism" and might spark scuffles, as France is the target of Islamist attacks. France is on high alert following a series of incidents including July's truck attack in nearby Nice. Anyone caught flouting the new rule could face a fine of €38 (£33). They will first be asked to change into another swimming costume or leave the beach. Nobody has been apprehended for wearing a burkini in Cannes since the edict came into force at the end of July. What do Muslim women think of the ban? This is not the first time that women's clothing has been restricted in France. In 2011 it became the first country in

– Many would consider a full-body swimsuit less offensive than a skimpy bikini. Not the mayor of Cannes, apparently. David Lisnard says "burkinis"—modest swimwear worn by some Muslim women—are a "symbol of Islamic extremism" and aren't allowed on the French city's beaches. Should a woman be spotted wearing one, she'll be asked to change into something else or leave, David Lisnard tells the BBC. Offenders of the city's new rule—in effect since July 28, reports NBC News—may also face a $42 fine. French law bans people from wearing the burka and niqab in public, but there's no nationwide ban on burkinis. "Access to beaches and for swimming is banned to any person wearing improper clothes that are not respectful of good morals and secularism," says Lisnard. "Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order." However, Lisnard says the Jewish kippah and Christian cross will still be allowed on beaches. A rep for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France calls the ban "illegal, discriminatory, and unconstitutional," while the League of Human Rights says it will take its opposition to court.

Cannes bans burkinis, full-body swimsuits worn by some Muslim women, from its beaches. Mayor David Lisnard cited that tragedy and subsequent attack on a northwest France church in an ordinance forbidding swimwear that doesn't respect "good morals and secularism" Anyone caught flouting the new rule could face a fine of €38 (£33) Religious groups vehemently disagreed, with France's Muslim Federation of the South calling it an "illegal" and "abusive" use of power.

Spanish police have arrested an American woman for issuing death threats against the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking at a science event on the island of Tenerife. The 37-year-old suspect was detained in the municipality of Arona, on the most populous of the Canary Islands, on Wednesday – the same day that Hawking delivered his first lecture at the Starmus International Festival. The woman, who has no prior record and had traveled to Tenerife by herself, could be facing a six-month prison sentence and immediate deportation for harassment and issuing serious threats against the famous scientist, legal sources told the Efe news agency. Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism The same sources said that one of the cosmologist’s children alerted authorities after detecting over 100 threatening messages on Twitter and in e-mails on Tuesday. The messages contained sentences such as “I am going to kill him.” In her statement to the police, the woman apparently said that she loves Hawking and would never harm him. Police investigators who searched her hotel room found a collection of esoteric items linked to religious extremism and contrary to Hawking’s theories denying the existence of God. They also found notes and documents detailing the scientist’s residence and workplace, and notebooks outlining precise plans on how to approach her target. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAÍS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. According to news agency Europa Press, the woman, who currently resides in Norway, has been following Hawking across the globe and may suffer from psychiatric problems. Hawking’s Wednesday address had attracted long lines of people at the science and arts festival. The astrophysicist arrived on stage flanked by two members of the Spanish National Police, an unusual sight that caused some alarm among members of the audience. Outside the venue, other officers checked visitors’ bags. That same day, the police arrested the alleged stalker at a hotel located very near the festival venue, the Pirámide de Arona, which contains one of the biggest auditoriums in Europe. The woman had apparently been issuing threats against Hawking for years, but the situation got out of hand in recent days, when the threats proliferated over e-mail an in the social media. “I am going to kill you.” read one of the messages. “I am right next to you and I can kill you,” said another. The e-mails included specific plans to end the scientist’s life, the police said. Sources close to Hawking told this newspaper that the scientist felt safe at all times, and played down the incident. English version by Susana Urra. ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption It is the first time threats have been made against the professor A US woman has been given a suspended four-month jail sentence in Spain for threatening to kill British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking. The 37-year-old has also been banned from

– An American woman was arrested Wednesday in Spain for sending dozens of death threats to Stephen Hawking then trailing him to an astronomy festival in the Canary Islands, Gizmodo reports. According to El Pais, the unnamed 37-year-old woman lives in Norway and has no previous criminal record. Authorities were tipped off by one of her children, who found more than 100 tweets and emails she had sent to Hawking, threatening to kill him. When Hawking gave his first lecture this week at the Starmus Festival, he was flanked by two police officers. The woman was arrested nearby. The woman was staying at a hotel near where Hawking was staying. Authorities found evidence of religious extremism, including items contradicting Hawking's claim that God doesn't exist, in her room. They also found details of Hawking's home and office and plans for how to approach him. The BBC reports the woman was also in possession of a map of Hawking's festival itinerary. After her arrest, the woman told police she loves Hawking and would never try to hurt him. Authorities believe the woman has psychological issues. She was given a four-month suspended prison sentence for harassment and threats. In addition, she is not to come within 1,600 feet of Hawking or communicate with him on social media for eight months. Sources say Hawking never felt he was in danger.

The 37-year-old suspect was detained in the municipality of Arona, on the most populous of the Canary Islands. The woman, who has no prior record and had traveled to Tenerife by herself, could be facing a six-month prison sentence and immediate deportation. One of the cosmologist’s children alerted authorities after detecting over 100 threatening messages on Twitter and in e-mails on Tuesday. The messages contained sentences such as “I am going to kill him.”

Transcript for Rep. Peter King Blasts Speaker Boehner on House Floor Majority leader -- -- very straightforward. Very direct last night I know that he was fighting to get the bill on the yet calendar it was a -- do whatever reason walked off the flaw. And said that the bill was being Paul. I don't enjoy saying -- I consider myself. A personal friend to John Boehner and John -- personally as a very helpful to me over the years so it pains me to say this but the fact is -- Dismissive attitude that was shown last night. Toward new York New Jersey Connecticut. -- of the leaders strain in the Republican Party and oh this is not the place to discuss politics. But that politics seeped over into a government -- decision that was made I can imagine. That type -- different that -- disregard that cavalier attitude being shown to any other part of the country when people we're talking about real. Life and death situation idea just -- -- speak or walk -- not even tell -- He tells an aide to majority -- who tells us that we -- -- majority leader that the item that means life and death. Was taken off the calendar and is gone for the session now they say it's a report cracked open January. While the fact is let's be real we're not in session next week. The following week recession for two days the following week is the inauguration recessions and two days then we have the state of the union. Committees haven't even organized yet and does anyone believe if they wouldn't vote is -- sixty to sixty point four billion dollars last night. That the Appropriations -- it's only gonna. I get religion and is on multiple amount when we know what their attitude is that somehow money going to new York and New Jersey Connecticut is corrupt money when money going to this -- -- -- honorable. And I would just say that. These people have no problem finding New York when it comes to raising money. It's only when it comes to allocating money that can't find the ability to do so I'm standing here in the house floor tonight they we have a moral obligation. As Republicans as Democrats as Americans. I spoke to governor Chris the F -- to Governor Cuomo we've been Constant Contact the Mayor Bloomberg we cannot believe that this. Cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region I have to go home this weekend and next week the week after and -- hundreds of thousands of people. Or out of -- homes who don't have shelter who donor of food. And there -- living with relatives friends living in trailers this is not United States of America. This should not be the Republican Party this should not be the Republican leadership and I'm -- you speak. Tell how Rodgers tell these people who somehow. It's become very sanctimonious. When it comes to -- new York and New

– Peter King is more than just unhappy that the House failed to vote on a Sandy relief bill last night: Now he's calling for New York and New Jersey residents to stop donating money to the GOP over the matter, CNN reports. "Anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee should have their head examined," King tells the network. Many other lawmakers are similarly distressed, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who issued a bipartisan joint statement calling out the House's "inaction and indifference." ABC News has video of King calling out John Boehner specifically on the House floor today, calling his decision to delay the vote a "cruel knife in the back." Rep. Frank LoBiondo gave a similarly epic floor speech, and he tells PolitickerNJ.com that he and Boehner got in a yelling confrontation over the issue yesterday. "This is absurd. I’ve never been this angry," he says. "This could have been a poster child for bipartisanship, instead, this is what we have." And in a press conference today, Christie further slammed Republicans and Boehner. Per CNN: "There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their speaker, John Boehner."

Rep. Peter King says he's a personal friend to John Boehner and John -- personally as a very helpful to me over the years. But the fact is -- Dismissive attitude that was shown last night. Toward new York New Jersey Connecticut -- of the leaders strain in the Republican Party. "This is not United States of America. This should not be the Republican party," King says. "We have a moral obligation" to help those who need it most, he adds. "These people have no problem finding New York when it comes to raising money," he says.

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Kate Middleton is the latest beauty to grace the cover of British Vogue, and she looks absolutely stunning doing so. In her first-ever magazine shoot, the Duchess of Cambridge is fittingly fronting “Vogue’s 100 Years,” which celebrates a century of covering all things fashion and celebrity. View photos WATCH: Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary to Kate Middleton and Prince William: A Look Back At Their Royal Marriage The royal beauty was photographed by Josh Olins in Norfolk, England, where she and her husband, Prince William, have a 10-bedroom country home, Anmer Hall. Her cover look is perfectly country chic, from the beautiful brown suede jacket paired and white button-down to her forest green wide-brimmed hat. View photos WATCH: Princess Charlotte and Prince George Are as Cute as Ever In New Royal Family Photo In a second photo revealed by the magazine, the 34-year-old mom-of-two is all smiles as she leans over a wooden fence in a simple red-and-back striped long-sleeve sweater, her hair falling naturally around her shoulders. View photos Vogue also revealed that two of the eight photographs from the upcoming June issue will be featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s #Vogue100: A Century of Style portrait series in London. The centenary issue hits stands May 5. Middleton will visit the National Portrait Gallery on Wednesday. NEWS: Kate Middleton, Prince William and Prince Harry Team Up in Mental Health PSA Middleton is well-known for having an incredible sense of fashion, so it’s only fitting that she’s helping honor Vogue’s major milestone. In fact, she showed off a series of gorgeous looks during her and Prince William’s royal trip to India and Bhutan earlier this month, including a beautiful orange gown on their last night in Bhutan. Get a good look at the dress in the video below. Related Articles ||||| Princess Kate Covers Vogue! See the Radiant Photos Josh Olins In what they describe as a "landmark" photoshoot, British Vogue has unveiled portraits of Princess Kate , for the magazine's centenary issue, and several of the photos will be displayed in the National Portrait Gallery starting this weekend.The shoot, by photographer Josh Olins and set in Norfolk's English countryside, features Kate in "casual clothes rather than adopting a more formal approach," the magazine said in a statement.Two of Olins' portraits will be on display at the gallery, in the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibit, beginning Sunday. Kate, 34, has been the patron of the gallery since 2012, soon after her wedding to Prince William "Josh has captured the Duchess exactly as she is – full of life, with a great sense of humor, thoughtful and intelligent, and in fact, very beautiful," Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said in a press release.British Vogue's editor-in-chief, Alexandra Shulman, said this project had been one of her "greatest ambitions for the

– Vanity Fair calls it "something of a royal coup": The 100th anniversary edition of the British version of Vogue is graced by none other than Kate Middleton on its cover, in what is the royal's fashion editorial debut. (Princess Diana covered the magazine four times.) British photographer Josh Olins took the seven photographs included in the issue in the Norfolk countryside in January; at Kate's request, the images are what Vanity Fair calls "country chic" rather than high glamour. Indeed, Yahoo describes the cover shot as "perfectly country chic, from the beautiful brown suede jacket paired and white button-down to her forest green wide-brimmed hat." In another image, she's clad in a $1,015 pair of Burberry trousers and a $50 red- and black-striped top. The Telegraph notes the shoot marked the first time that a professional make-up artist did Kate's makeup before she was photographed, and says Sally Branka "persuaded the Duchess to do without her usual black eyeliner and heavy blusher, with striking results." People reports British Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman called the images "a fitting tribute to a young woman whose interest in both photography and the countryside is well known." Indeed, four new photos of Princess Charlotte have been released in advance of her first birthday on Monday; the photographer: Kate, reports Us Weekly.

Kate Middleton is the latest beauty to grace the cover of British Vogue. The Duchess of Cambridge is fittingly fronting "Vogue's 100 Years" The royal beauty was photographed by Josh Olins in Norfolk, England. Two of the eight photographs will be featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s #Vogue100: A Century of Style portrait series in London. The centenary issue hits stands May 5, and Middleton will visit the gallery on Wednesday, the magazine said.

In an interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, Dylan Farrow detailed the alleged sexual abuse by her adoptive father, actor and director Woody Allen. At the age of 7, Dylan told her mother, actress Mia Farrow, that Allen had molested her. Allen has always denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime. Dylan Farrow has stood by her story for more than two decades. She first went public with her accusations in 2014 with an open letter in the New York Times. Below is Allen's full response to "CBS This Morning": "When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare. They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place. Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup. Dylan's older brother Moses has said that he witnessed their mother doing exactly that – relentlessly coaching Dylan, trying to drum into her that her father was a dangerous sexual predator. It seems to have worked – and, sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says. But even though the Farrow family is cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time's Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation, that doesn't make it any more true today than it was in the past. I never molested my daughter – as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago." ||||| A wave of celebrities has begun speaking out against Woody Allen, more than two decades after his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow alleged that he molested her, which Allen has long denied. In December, Farrow wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times asking why actors who spoke out against other Hollywood men in the #MeToo movement continued to support Allen. In the days since the piece was published, Mira Sorvino and Greta Gerwig expressed regret for working with Allen. Rebecca Hall and Timothée Chalamet said they would donate their salaries from working on Allen’s films to anti-sexual violence organizations. Not everyone who has worked with Allen has condemned him. Alec Baldwin, who has appeared in three of Allen’s films, said in a Jan. 16 tweet that the “renunciation” of Allen is “unfair and sad.” Allen has long denied Farrow’s allegation, and he has never been charged with a crime. The allegations were first made in 1992. In 2014, after Allen received a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes, Farrow detailed the allegations in an open letter in the New York Times. Allen again denied the allegations in an op-ed published in the Times in 2014. “Of course, I did not molest Dylan,” Allen wrote. “No one wants to discourage abuse victims from speaking out, but one must bear in mind that sometimes there are people who are falsely accused and that is also a terribly destructive thing.” In response to an inquiry

– One person vigorously reupping her claims in the wake of the #MeToo movement: Dylan Farrow, who continues to insist her father, Woody Allen, molested her when she was a child at the home of her mother, Mia Farrow. On Thursday, Farrow appeared on CBS This Morning and says she wishes there'd been a trial since "I was already traumatized" from the alleged assault on August 4, 1992. That's when Farrow says her "hero" led her to the attic of Mia Farrow's Connecticut residence and "touched my labia and my vulva with his finger." Dylan Farrow was 7 at the time. The now-32-year-old mom told interviewer Gayle King she felt it was necessary to finally come forward on TV, saying, "I want to show my face and tell my story. ... I want to speak out. Literally." And she has supporters in high places, including Mira Sorvino and Natalie Portman, per Time. Although Allen vowed in 2014 to never again comment on the allegations from his adopted daughter, he broke that vow Thursday. "I never molested my daughter," the director says in a statement to CBS News. He adds two investigations—one by a hospital's child abuse clinic and another by child welfare investigators in New York—previously "concluded that no molestation had ever taken place" and it was "likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup. ... Sadly, I'm sure Dylan truly believes what she says." Dylan Farrow refutes that, noting that "my mother has only encouraged me to tell the truth," adding she wonders why "this crazy story of me being brainwashed" is more believable than her own account. (One person who's backing Allen this week: Alec Baldwin.)

Dylan Farrow detailed the alleged sexual abuse by her adoptive father, actor and director Woody Allen. At the age of 7, Dylan told her mother, actress Mia Farrow, that Allen had molested her. Allen has always denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime. In an interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, Allen responded to Farrow's claims. "I never molested my daughter – as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago," he said.

(CNN) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday night advised pregnant women to postpone travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of Central America and South America due to the presence of the Zika virus. The CDC action was prompted by tests that found Zika, a mosquito-borne illness, in fetal and newborn tissue of Brazilian babies affected with microcephaly. The agency said additional studies are needed. The advisory lists Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. "Out of an abundance of caution, pregnant women (are) advised to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing," the CDC said. The CDC suggested pregnant women who must travel talk to health care providers beforehand and follow steps to prevent mosquito bites. Women trying to become pregnant should also consult, it said. Ecuador had previously counted four cases, but the infected people had returned from travel to affected areas, but the health ministry announced two new cases on Friday. And the infected had not left the country. The ministry suspects the patients contracted Zika locally. Microcephaly explained Microcephaly is a neurological disorder that results in babies being born with abnormally small heads, causing severe developmental issues and sometimes death. "We now have an accumulating number of cases in babies from miscarriage or who were born with microcephaly with evidence of Zika," said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the Vector-Born Disease division of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC. "That suggests a stronger and stronger relationship of Zika and microcephaly." Other travelers are now under a level two travel alert and are asked to practice enhanced precautions. That includes using EPA-registered repellents containing DEET, using permethrin-treated clothing and gear, and staying inside screened or air-conditioned rooms. Petersen said people often don't heed the warnings to protect themselves against mosquitoes while traveling. "Pregnant women need to take the best precautions possible when traveling where this [Zika] virus is spreading," Petersen said. The Zika virus is transmitted when Aedes mosquitoes bite an infected person, and then spread the obtained virus by biting others. There is no vaccine to prevent it and no medicine to treat a Zika virus infection. The Zika virus is part of the flavivirus family, which contains the deadly yellow fever virus, as well as West Nile, chikungunya, and dengue. There is no vaccine to prevent it and no medicine to treat a Zika virus infection. It's transmitted when a mosquito bites an infected person, and then spreads the obtained virus by biting others. In theory, the Zika virus could be spread through blood transfusion, but as yet there are no documented cases, the CDC said. There is one case of possible virus transmission via sexual contact. 'Pandemic in progress' Last November, Brazilian health officials advised Brazilian women not to become pregnant after they discovered a connection between the Zika virus and an alarming increase in microcephaly. In 2014, there were only 147 cases of the neurological impairment in the country. According

– The US has reached an unhappy milestone: the first case of brain damage in a baby linked to the "explosive pandemic of Zika virus infection." The baby was born recently in Oahu, Hawaii, and suffers from microcephaly, smaller-than-normal head and brain, the New York Times reports. The mother—who had lived in Brazil last year, a hotspot for the mosquito-borne illness—was likely infected early in her pregnancy before leaving for Hawaii. Meanwhile, the CDC on Friday advised pregnant women, along with those trying to become pregnant, to avoid traveling to areas known for Zika, including Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, CNN reports. Carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the Zika virus typically causes only mild symptoms, or none at all, reports the Times. Late last year, however, health officials in Brazil began to find a correlation between the disease and an increase in cases of microcephaly. More than 3,500 cases, including 46 infant deaths, in the nation may be linked to Zika, CNN reports. In the US, 14 imported cases of the virus were diagnosed in returning travelers between 2007 and 2014, plus a total of eight in 2015 and so far this year. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci notes that factors like urban crowding and international travel "can cause innumerable slumbering infectious agents to emerge unexpectedly."

Pregnant women advised to postpone travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico and parts of Central America and South America. The CDC action was prompted by tests that found Zika, a mosquito-borne illness, in fetal and newborn tissue of Brazilian babies affected with microcephaly. The advisory lists Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Other travelers are now under a level two travel alert and are asked to practice enhanced precautions.

People typically rush into marriage, not divorces. But a curious change in the GOP’s tax bill means that some couples — or individuals — might rush back to the courthouse. The GOP tax bill signed by Trump late last year fundamentally altered many aspects of the tax code, sending accountants scrambling, and stands as the biggest change to the tax system since 1986. Despite long-standing calls to address the federal debt, the tax cuts outlined in the bill came out to be pricey, projected to cost $1.5 trillion or more, with insufficient revenue gains to pay for it. One way the Republican bill writers tried to raise revenue to compensate for the cuts was through alimony. Under the new bill, alimony paid by one spouse to the other will not be tax deductible, and the spouse receiving the alimony no longer has to pay taxes on it. In the current system, it works the opposite way, with the payer deducting the full amount and the recipient paying taxes on the alimony at a rate of 15%. The new rule means the government will end up with more of a divorcing pair’s combined money. When news dropped that this might be included in the bill in November, things got crazy. “When everyone thought the deduction deadline was going to be Dec. 31, we had a rush of clients,” said Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. “All of a sudden we had clients who were going to be receiving alimony demanding we get them divorced immediately.” Ultimately the law won’t take effect until next year, giving divorcing couples a reprieve. But the law does set up 2018 to potentially be a wild year for divorces. “Under the new tax bill, things are going to change somewhat drastically and it’s difficult to predict how it’s going to affect parties,” Sheera Gefen, a divorce attorney in New York, told Yahoo Finance. It almost sounds like the plot of a Coen brothers movie. In some states, the alimony-seeking spouse may have significant incentive to delay the divorce settlement in order to get the tax benefit in 2019. Meanwhile, the alimony-paying spouse could try to rush it through so they could secure a deduction. What could go wrong? Divorces could get a lot messier Potentially, a lot. Attorneys like Gefen and Marzano-Lesnevich will likely have a much harder time keeping things civil and amicable in divorce disputes, because the alimony payer isn’t only going to have to pay, but will also lose a key deduction. “The payer spouse could potentially suffer a much higher financial burden and that’ll make settlement discussions more difficult, more difficult to swallow,” said Gefen. “I think it’s going to cause more fights — and tension between attorneys.” Perhaps the largest and most uncomfortable tension will stem from timing. One side could be dragging its feet in an attempt to delay, and the other will be trying to get a deal signed before New Year’s. “Depending on who you’re representing you might want to drag it out,” said Gefen. “I’m

– An alimony deduction to be erased in 2019 under the new tax plan has lawyers preparing for a wave of divorces this year—and eying complications for recipients beyond. Payers have long received a tax break on alimony, while recipients have paid income tax on payments. But after Dec. 31, 2018, alimony will no longer be deductible for the payer, and recipients won't need to pay income tax on it, reports Politico. While this will help recipients—primarily women—in one sense, they'll suffer in other ways. As lawyer Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich tells Yahoo, a man in the highest income-tax bracket who pays his wife $100,000 in alimony in 2018 ($85,000 for the woman after taxes) actually pays about $60,000 with the deduction. Without it, he might argue $60,000 is all he can afford to pay, leaving the wife with $25,000 less than before. Attorneys predict the change will complicate divorce negotiations and lead to more cases being heard in court. But some say women will be disproportionally injured by it. "The repeal reduces the bargaining power of vulnerable spouses, mostly women, in achieving financial stability after a divorce," a lawyer tells Politico. Others point out alimony recipients may have a harder time saving for retirement as contributions to retirement accounts often have to come from taxed income, per CNBC. Marzano-Lesnevich says her firm has already had "a rush of clients … demanding we get them divorced immediately" to avoid such complications in 2019. More couples are expected to follow suit this year. Politico reports removing the deduction is expected to raise $6.9 billion over the next decade and help offset the cost of tax cuts outlined in the GOP bill.

A change in the GOP tax bill means some couples may rush back to the courthouse. Under the new bill, alimony paid by one spouse to the other will not be tax deductible. The new rule means the government will end up with more of a divorcing pair’s combined money. In some states, the alimony-seeking spouse may have significant incentive to delay the divorce settlement in order to get the tax benefit in 2019. The law won’t take effect until next year, giving divorcing couples a reprieve.

Watch Queue Queue Watch Queue Queue Remove all Disconnect ||||| Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret Saturday after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van. Egyptians flee tear gas fired by security forces during an anti-President Mohammed Morsi protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing... (Associated Press) Egyptian protesters shout anti-Mohammed Morsi slogans before clashes in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of Egyptians marched across the country, chanting... (Associated Press) Egyptian riot police beat a man, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Protesters denouncing... (Associated Press) An Egyptian protester throws a tear gas canister back during clashes with riot police in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. Thousands of protesters denouncing Egypt's... (Associated Press) Egyptian riot police beat a man, illuminated by the green light of a protester's laser, after stripping him, and before dragging him into a police van, during clashes next to the presidential palace in... (Associated Press) The video of the beating, which took place late Friday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again on Saturday. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself _ and the police in general _ from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen who direct their efforts to protecting the security and stability of the nation and sacrifice their lives to protect civilians." Later in the day, however, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters. "The Central Security Forces then found him lying on the ground and tried to put him in an armored vehicle, though the way in which they did that was excessive," Ibrahim said. President Mohammed Morsi's office called Saber's beating "shocking", but stressed that violence and vandalism of government property is unacceptable. The abuse took place as thousands of protesters chanted against President Mohammed Morsi on Friday. The march was part of a wave of demonstrations that have rocked Egypt since

– Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret today after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester who had been stripped of his clothes, and then dragging the naked man along the muddy pavement before bundling him into a police van. The video of the beating, which took place late yesterday only blocks from the presidential palace where protests were raging in the streets, further inflamed popular anger with security forces just as several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched on the palace again today. The uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011 was fueled in part by anger over police brutality. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. In a statement, the Interior Ministry voiced its "regret" about the assault, and vowed to investigate. But it also sought to distance itself—and the police in general—from the abuse, saying it "was carried out by individuals that do not represent in any way the doctrine of all policemen." Later in the day, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim put the blame elsewhere entirely, saying initial results from the public prosecutor's investigation indicated that Saber was undressed by "rioters" during skirmishes between police and protesters. Click for more.

Egypt's Interior Ministry offered a rare expression of regret Saturday after riot police were caught on camera a day earlier beating a protester. In the footage aired live on Egyptian TV, at least seven black-clad riot police used sticks to beat 48-year-old Hamada Saber, who was sprawled out on the ground, shirtless and with his pants down around his ankles. The abuse took place as thousands of protesters chanted against President Mohammed Morsi on Friday. The march was part of a wave of demonstrations that have rocked Egypt since the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

In early June 2014, accountants at the Lumiere Place Casino in St. Louis noticed that several of their slot machines had—just for a couple of days—gone haywire. The government-approved software that powers such machines gives the house a fixed mathematical edge, so that casinos can be certain of how much they’ll earn over the long haul—say, 7.129 cents for every dollar played. But on June 2 and 3, a number of Lumiere’s machines had spit out far more money than they’d consumed, despite not awarding any major jackpots, an aberration known in industry parlance as a negative hold. Since code isn’t prone to sudden fits of madness, the only plausible explanation was that someone was cheating. Casino security pulled up the surveillance tapes and eventually spotted the culprit, a black-haired man in his thirties who wore a Polo zip-up and carried a square brown purse. Unlike most slots cheats, he didn’t appear to tinker with any of the machines he targeted, all of which were older models manufactured by Aristocrat Leisure of Australia. Instead he’d simply play, pushing the buttons on a game like Star Drifter or Pelican Pete while furtively holding his iPhone close to the screen. He’d walk away after a few minutes, then return a bit later to give the game a second chance. That's when he'd get lucky. The man would parlay a $20 to $60 investment into as much as $1,300 before cashing out and moving on to another machine, where he’d start the cycle anew. Over the course of two days, his winnings tallied just over $21,000. The only odd thing about his behavior during his streaks was the way he’d hover his finger above the Spin button for long stretches before finally jabbing it in haste; typical slots players don't pause between spins like that. On June 9, Lumiere Place shared its findings with the Missouri Gaming Commission, which in turn issued a statewide alert. Several casinos soon discovered that they had been cheated the same way, though often by different men than the one who’d bilked Lumiere Place. In each instance, the perpetrator held a cell phone close to an Aristocrat Mark VI model slot machine shortly before a run of good fortune. By examining rental-car records, Missouri authorities identified the Lumiere Place scammer as Murat Bliev, a 37-year-old Russian national. Bliev had flown back to Moscow on June 6, but the St. Petersburg–based organization he worked for, which employs dozens of operatives to manipulate slot machines around the world, quickly sent him back to the United States to join another cheating crew. The decision to redeploy Bliev to the US would prove to be a rare misstep for a venture that’s quietly making millions by cracking some of the gaming industry’s most treasured algorithms. From Russia With Cheats Russia has been a hotbed of slots-related malfeasance since 2009, when the country outlawed virtually all gambling. (Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, reportedly believed the move would reduce the power of Georgian organized crime.) The ban forced thousands of casinos to

– An iPhone and a few well-timed button pushes by a mysterious patron was all that was needed to make a Missouri casino's slot machine pay out lots of cash. But this wasn't just a random scammer who'd figured out how to play the machine: It was part of an elaborate Russian hacking scheme Brendan Koerner explores for Wired. That patron, Murat Bliev, was a member of a St. Petersburg cheat group, a willing participant in what Koerner describes as a "hotbed of slots-related malfeasance." This underground movement originated in 2009, when then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to make most gambling illegal to curb organized crime. All of the slot machines in Russian casinos had to go somewhere, and so many of them ended up with high bidders (including Bliev's organization), who then poked around in the machines' coding to figure out how to exploit them. How the racket-runners worked: They figured out the patterns behind the machines' pseudorandom number generators, or PRNGs, which, while difficult to crack, aren't impossible if someone can get into the machine's insides. But because the "temporal state" of each machine is different, additional surveillance steps were needed in combination with the PRNG intel—and a casino security expert figured out how the hackers pulled it off. The scheme involved cellphones with video, a tech team back in St. Petersburg, and vibrating "timing markers" sent to the players to indicate when to hit. While Bliev and others were eventually busted, the hacking still lives on via enhanced methods, as there's "no easy technical fix. "A finger that lingers too long above a spin button may be a guard's only clue," Koerner writes. More on the cheat at Wired. (How slot machines feed gambling addictions.)

Murat Bliev, a 37-year-old Russian national, bilked a St. Louis casino out of $21,000 over two days. Bliev worked for an organization that employs dozens of operatives to manipulate slot machines around the world. The group is quietly making millions by cracking some of the gaming industry’s most treasured algorithms. The decision to redeploy Bliev to the U.S. would prove to be a rare misstep for a venture that's quietly making Millions.

Hedonometer Hedonometer.org is an instrument that measures the happiness of large populations in real time. The hedonometer is based on people’s online expressions, capitalizing on data-rich social media, and measures how people present themselves to the outside world. ||||| The most commonly used words of 24 corpora across 10 diverse human languages exhibit a clear positive bias, a big data confirmation of the Pollyanna hypothesis. The study’s findings are based on 5 million individual human scores and pave the way for the development of powerful language-based tools for measuring emotion. Abstract Using human evaluation of 100,000 words spread across 24 corpora in 10 languages diverse in origin and culture, we present evidence of a deep imprint of human sociality in language, observing that (i) the words of natural human language possess a universal positivity bias, (ii) the estimated emotional content of words is consistent between languages under translation, and (iii) this positivity bias is strongly independent of frequency of word use. Alongside these general regularities, we describe interlanguage variations in the emotional spectrum of languages that allow us to rank corpora. We also show how our word evaluations can be used to construct physical-like instruments for both real-time and offline measurement of the emotional content of large-scale texts. ||||| Jakub Halun, Wikimedia Commons Human language is biased toward being happy, finds a new study that identifies 10 of the world’s most upbeat languages. The study, published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the Pollyanna Hypothesis, which holds that there is a universal human tendency to use positive words more frequently than negative ones. Nevertheless, the findings determined that some languages tend to skew happier than others. Lead author Peter Sheridan Dodds of the University of Vermont’s Computational Story Lab and his team found the top 100,000 of the most frequently used words across 10 languages. The researchers then asked native speakers of the various languages to rate whether the words were “happy” or “sad” on a 1–9 scale. For example, check out these English words and their rating: laughter: 8.5, food: 7.44, truck: 5.48, greed: 3.06 and terrorist 1.3. “The study’s findings are based on 5 million individual human scores and pave the way for the development of powerful language-based tools for measuring emotion,” Dodds and his team wrote. No. 10 on the list was Chinese. Websites and books among other sources were analyzed in the study. Chinese books scored the lowest for happiness among all included sources.

– If you're in a foul mood, it might be time to learn Spanish. Languages, and the people who use them, tend to favor using positive words over negatives, researchers find, and they've learned that that's particularly true in Spanish. Experts at the University of Vermont and the MITRE Corporation went through volumes of text from all kinds of sources: books, the news, music lyrics, movie subtitles, and more, including some 100 billion words used on Twitter, UVM reports. Investigating 10 languages, they picked out the 10,000 most common words, then had native speakers rank these words on a nine-point happiness scale; "laughter," for instance, was rated 8.5, while "greed" came in at 3.06. All 24 types of sources reviewed resulted in scores above the neutral 5, meaning they leaned "happy." In other words, "people use more positive words than negative ones," a researcher says. As far as individual languages go, here are the top five happiest ones, via Discovery: Spanish Portuguese English German French Chinese came in last of the 10 languages in the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Positive-language data has also resulted in an actual happiness meter, known as the hedonometer, UVM notes. It follows Twitter posts in English to determine when the happiest words are being used. Christmas, it shows, is a very happy day, while celebrity deaths correlate with low points. Meanwhile, Boulder, Colorado, is apparently the happiest city (at least among Twitter users), while Racine, Wisconsin, appears to be the most miserable. (If you need a lift, try changing the way you walk.)

University of Vermont study identifies 10 of the world’s most upbeat languages. Researchers asked native speakers of the various languages to rate whether the words were “happy” or “sad” on a 1–9 scale. No. 10 on the list was Chinese Websites and books among other sources were analyzed in the study. Chinese books scored the lowest for happiness among all included sources.

Finally: JAY-Z and Beyoncé have released their collaborative album, Everything Is Love. Stream it here and below via Tidal. The streaming service credits the two artists as “the Carters.” Bey and Jay also released a new music video for their track “APESHIT” and an additional single “SALUD!” that doesn’t appear on the project. Find those below. Ricky Saiz directed the visual, which is set in the Louvre and features the couple posing among the art. Jay disses the Grammys on “APESHIT,” rapping, “Tell the Grammys fuck that 0 for 8 shit.” (Jay was the most nominated artist at the 2018 ceremony, but was completely shut out.) He also confirms the rumor that he turned down a Super Bowl Halftime Show offer: “I said no to the Super Bowl/You need me, I don’t need you/Every night we in the end zone/Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.” Beyoncé calls out Spotify on the track “NICE.” She raps, “If I gave...two fucks about streaming numbers woulda put Lemonade up on Spotify. Fuck you,” referencing the fact that her 2016 album has never been available on the streaming platform. Jay refers to Meek Mill’s recent release from prison on “FRIENDS,” and on “HEARD ABOUT US,” Beyoncé sings the iconic line from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy”: “If you don’t know, now you know, nigga.” The couple sample Phoenix Express’ song “You Make My Life a Sunny Day” on “LOVEHAPPY.” “APESHIT” features Migos and Pharrell, while “BOSS” features Ty Dolla $ign and the couple’s daughter Blue Ivy. She also makes a brief cameo at the end of “SALUD!,” shouting out her twin siblings. Pharrell also helped produce “NICE,” while Cool & Dre contributed additional production to “SUMMER” “713,” “BLACK EFFECT,” and “SALUD!” (with Dre adding vocals to the latter). Nav is listed as a composer and co-producer on “FRIENDS,” while TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek is a producer on “LOVEHAPPY.” Rumors have long swirled about the creation of a collaborative Bey and Jay album. Last November, JAY also told The New York Times that a project with Bey started coming together as they worked on 4:44 and Lemonade. “We were using our art almost like a therapy session,” he said at the time. “And we started making music together.” He explained that, because Bey’s music was progressing more quickly, Lemonade ended up coming out “as opposed to the joint album that [they] were working on.” The couple are on the road for OTR II through the fall. Their most recent collaboration was on DJ Khaled’s “Top Off.” JAY also enlisted Bey for the Grammy-nominated “Family Feud” from 4:44. They last toured together in 2014. This article was originally published on June 16 at 5:43 p.m. EST. It was updated on June 17 9:19 p.m. EST. ||||| FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs on the 4:44 Tour at Barclays Center in New York. Jay-Z and Beyonce have released a joint album that touches on the rapper's disgust at this year's... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Nov. 26, 2017 file photo, Jay-Z performs

– Out of the blue, Beyonce and Jay-Z dropped a joint album that's being described as both unexpected and long-rumored, reports Pitchfork. But Everything Is Love is not all sunshine and rainbows from the duo now going by The Carters, particularly for the Grammys (where Jay-Z went 0-8 at the 2018 awards) and Spotify, which gets a couple of F-bombs from Bey. Jay-Z also confirms that he turned down the Super Bowl halftime show, rapping, well, "I said no to the Super Bowl / You need me, I don’t need you/ Every night we in the end zone / Tell the NFL we need stadiums too." The couple's daughter, Blue Ivy, also gives a shout-out to her 1-year-old twin siblings, notes the AP, and a music video released with the nine-track album features the couple hobnobbing in Paris' Louvre museum. Everything Is Love is available on Tidal.

JAY-Z and Beyoncé have released their collaborative album, Everything Is Love. The streaming service credits the two artists as “the Carters” Bey and Jay also released a new music video for their track “APESHIT” and an additional single “SALUD!” that doesn’t appear on the project. The couple sample Phoenix Express’ song “You Make My Life a Sunny Day” on “LOVEHAPPY.” “apESHit” features Migos and Pharrell, while “BOSS’ features Ty Dolla $ign and Blue Ivy.

We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter? Yes ||||| Norm Macdonald’s way of handling a controversy appears to be to create a new one. The comedian experienced swift fallout over his victim-blaming comments to the Hollywood Reporter while defending friends Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr, leading him to issue an apology. It wasn’t enough for the Tonight Show, which disinvited him from the program just an hour before his appearance on Tuesday. By Wednesday, however, the star of the new Netflix show Norm MacDonald Has a Show had stirred up even more drama on The Howard Stern Show. While discussing the controversy, he said, “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for victims of harassment. During the Sirius XM interview, the former Saturday Night Live personality, who is 58, said he “never defended” Barr, who lost her job over racist remarks, or Louis C.K., who was dropped by FX after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct. “I am completely behind the #MeToo movement,” MacDonald insisted. “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for the victims of harassment. “#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world, of course. And I meet all kinds of women with terrible stories of what’s happened to them. So, I wasn’t talking about the victims. They asked me about Roseanne.” For good measure, he repeated himself: “Down syndrome. That’s my new word.” Reactions to his latest controversial comments haven’t been kind. NORM STOP TALKING. Why put down people with Down Syndrome?🤦🏽‍♀️ "I am completely behind the #MeToo movement. You'd have to have Down Syndrome to not feel sorry for —#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world." https://t.co/oq4RSXgPLm — Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 12, 2018 Dear @normmacdonald Down Syndrome is not something that prevents someone from having emotion, feeling empathy, or understanding the importance of a movement like #MeToo. Your statement is just inaccurate and does not qualify as an apology https://t.co/aB2rKlXU8K — Shannon Scully (@ShannonMScully) September 12, 2018 Norm McDonald: “Let me explain how much of an idiot I have been by insulting people born with Down Syndrome and their families” — Exavier Pope (@exavierpope) September 12, 2018 Oh, Norm! Is this an act? Surely you are not serious about people with Down Syndrome. I am very sad for you if you haven't experienced their unconditional love? — Etienne McD (@smcdonn4499) September 12, 2018 “I’m sorry I said that thing about Down Syndrome. That was totally gay of me.” — Norm Macdonald tomorrow, probably — Ish (@Ish) September 12, 2018 However, some of his fans found it to be a very calculated comment. I LOVE HIM. If you think he accidentally included the Down Syndrome mention you've never listened to Norm. — Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) September 12, 2018 During his chat with the shock jock, Macdonald talked about Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon coming backstage personally to tell him that his

– Norm Macdonald attempted to explain his controversial #MeToo comments in an interview with Howard Stern Wednesday—and managed to make things worse. The comedian landed himself in a fresh controversy after insulting people with Down syndrome in an effort to express empathy for victims of sexual misconduct, Yahoo reports. "You'd have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry" for harassment victims, said Macdonald, who'd told the Hollywood Reporter he was glad #MeToo had "slowed down a bit" and that he felt bad for friends like Louis CK, who "lost everything in a day." He told Stern, however, that "#MeToo is what you want for your daughters. You want that to be the future world." "Down syndrome. That's my new word," Macdonald told Stern. His remarks were met with a fierce backlash on social media. Down syndrome "is not something that prevents someone from having emotion, feeling empathy, or understanding the importance of a movement like #MeToo," tweeted one critic. Macdonald, whose Tonight Show appearance was axed after his #MeToo remarks, has a new show coming to Netflix, called Norm Macdonald Has a Show. In his Stern interview, he called himself a "dumb guy" who got "confused" when interviewers were "asking me about a whole bunch of things at the same time," Rolling Stone reports. He apologized in a tweet for his remarks about Louis CK and Roseanne Barr, saying he would "never defend their actions."

Norm Macdonald said, “You’d have to have Down syndrome to not feel sorry” for victims of harassment. “#MeToo is what you want for your daughters and you want that to be the future world, of course. And I meet all kinds of women with terrible stories of what’s happened to them. So, I wasn’t talking about the victims. They asked me about Roseanne.” Reactions to his latest controversial comments haven't been kind.

Story highlights The ACLU blasts "for-profit incarceration," says the riot wasn't surprising The riot began with a fight among prisoners, a sheriff says Guard died due to what the coroner thinks was blunt force trauma The sheriff praises law enforcement efforts and the private firm that runs the prison Hundreds of inmates in Mississippi whose fight among themselves spiraled into a riot were back in their cells Monday afternoon, leaving authorities to mourn the death of one guard and express thanks that things didn't turn out worse. "When we first ... learned of the situation, I had a high degree of anxiety because there were so many guards who were unaccounted for," Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said, praising the efforts of law enforcement and those with the private company that runs the facility. "I know it when I see it when something is handled correctly." By Monday afternoon, all of the roughly 2,500 inmates at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez were secure in their cells on lockdown, which Mayfield said will continue indefinitely as the investigation continues. It was a far different scene about 24 hours before. Mayfield said that, about 2:40 p.m. Sunday, a fight broke out either among members of one gang or between members of rival factions in a prison yard and soon ballooned out of control. With a core group of about 300 inmates involved -- meaning most others were simply caught up in the chaos -- the disturbance quickly spread through the grounds. "It turned into a mob mentality, and ... it just expanded so quickly," the sheriff said. Sometime early in the riot, a guard was assaulted and ended up on the roof of a building, Mayfield said. That guard -- later identified as Catlin Carithers, 24 -- was brought out through the facility's gates within an hour, only to be later pronounced dead due to blunt head force trauma, according to the county coroner. Guard Catlin Carithers was killed during the riot that broke out Sunday at the Mississippi prison. The disturbance continued for hours more around the western Mississippi facility, which houses illegal immigrants from around the region who are serving time after convictions for both violent and nonviolent crimes. The Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America operates the facility and employs all those within. At one point, inmates pulled out some mattresses, rags and other materials into a prison yard and started a fire. Others used an array of weapons, such as mop and broom handles, in their fight. Meanwhile, the facility's employees at once tried to maintain order and take cover. Mayfield said earlier Monday that at least 24 or 25 hostages were being held at one point. County and state authorities were on site within an hour to maintain the perimeter and help the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) bring the situation under control, according to Mayfield, who noted that FBI agents were also there. No gunshots were ever fired, and Mayfield praised the "restraint" by law enforcement. Authorities did use "pepper balls," which the sheriff said are shot

– A 23-year-old guard has been killed and 16 workers injured in a riot by hundreds of inmates at a private Mississippi prison. Three inmates were also hospitalized, though one has since been returned to prison. The riot broke out at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez at around 2:40pm yesterday, according to the AP. Some two dozen employees were taken hostage, and local and state law enforcement agencies had to be called in to quell the violence. They quickly regained control of most of the prison, but one section held out until 2:45 this morning, CNN reports. "I just want people to understand that no one has gotten out and no one will," a local county sheriff assured the public during the standoff. "We have all our deputies out here and ready. The county can sleep well because we've got it secured." The Tennessee-based company running the facility did not reveal what triggered the violence. The prison houses some 2,500 prisoners—many of them illegal immigrants—for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

All of the roughly 2,500 inmates at the Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez are back in their cells. "It turned into a mob mentality, and ... it just expanded so quickly," the sheriff says. "I know it when I see it when something is handled correctly," Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield says. Guard Catlin Carithers, 24, was killed during the riot that broke out Sunday at the Mississippi prison, the coroner says. The sheriff praises the efforts of law enforcement and the private firm that runs the facility.

Congratulations to Rand Paul and his campaign--this was a big win. But it might not be quite as meaningful as it's being made out to be. There was a lot about it that was specific to Kentucky politics, and just because a Tea Partier won in Kentucky, doesn't necessarily mean the Tea Party will fare as well elsewhere this fall. Here are six things to consider: 1) Kentucky has a closed GOP primary. Conservatives were willing to support a Tea Party candidate--but we don't yet know if indies and Dems will be, here or elsewhere. 2) Kentucky's GOP is split into factions. Last night's results showed only that the Paul/Bunning wing was stronger than the McConnell/ Fletcher wing. 3) Paul's celebrity dad brought him money, volunteers, name recognition, and media attention, particularly on Fox News. What other Tea Party candidate can match that? 4) It was well known among Kentucky GOPers that Trey Grayson was a Bill Clinton supporter and volunteer, and a member of the Harvard College Democrats. 5) The Grayson family were notable Democratic fundraisers until they sensed the climate shifting in northern Kentucky, and the whole state shifting toward the GOP. They're not beloved. 6) Grayson's political maneuvering backfired disastrously. He was a Bunning protege, then stabbed his patron in the back by forming an exploratory committee before Bunning dropped out. Bunning then endorsed Paul. Nobody likes a man in a hurry. UPDATE: Bonus 7) Democratic turnout was much, MUCH higher than Republican turnout. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. ||||| Rand Paul appears to have clinched the GOP's nomination for Kentucky’s open Senate seat. Rand Paul tapped into 'anger' BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Rand Paul, the first-time candidate for elective office who has emerged as a symbol of the national tea party's clout in Republican politics, appears to have clinched the GOP's nomination for this state's open Senate seat — in a victory certain to jolt the political order in Kentucky and across the country. The 47-year-old Bowling Green ophthalmologist — who until last year was best known for being the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and whose staunch libertarian views have spawned a national grass-roots following — knocked out Trey Grayson, the Kentucky secretary of state, who had been the favorite of this state's political heavyweights, most notably Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Story Continued Below "I have a message, a message from the tea party, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our government back," declared Paul, with his parents and the rest of his family by his side, to roaring supporters at a posh country club here in his hometown. With his attention-grabbing views railing against Washington and its ballooning budget deficits, the fire-breathing Paul successfully connected with this state's furious Republican primary voters, something that the more subdued Grayson was unable to accomplish in the fight to replace retiring two-term GOP Sen. Jim Bunning. "The electorate is pissed," said

– Rand Paul's resounding Senate win in Kentucky's GOP primary represents a major upset for the Republican Party and a major victory for the Tea Party movement. Paul—who led opponent Trey Grayson by 59% to 35% with 89% of precincts reported—tapped into voter anger at Washington far more successfully than Grayson, notes Manu Raju at Politico, predicting the win will send shockwaves through the Republican Party nationwide. Much about Paul's win was specific to Kentucky, however, Joshua Green writes in the Atlantic, arguing that last night's result doesn't necessarily signal major Tea Party gains this fall. The Kentucky primary was closed, he notes, so there's no sign that Independents or Democrats will back a Tea Party candidate. Paul also had the support of a celebrity dad who brought name recognition, money, and volunteers, and faced an opponent whose family members were well-known Democratic fundraisers until recently.

Rand Paul appears to have clinched the GOP's nomination for Kentucky’s open Senate seat. Paul knocked out Trey Grayson, the Kentucky secretary of state, who had been the favorite of this state's political heavyweights. "We have come to take our government back," declared Paul, with his parents and the rest of his family by his side, to roaring supporters at a posh country club here in his hometown. "I have a message, a message from the tea party," he said.

One of the two shooters who launched a deadly attack on a San Bernardino social services center Wednesday was mistakenly identified in media reports as his brother, a veteran who shares the same name. In the hours after the mass shooting Wednesday in Southern California, several media outlets including The Daily Beast, incorrectly identified Syed Raheel Farook as one of two killers responsible for the shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 others injured. Farook is a veteran of the United States Navy with several “awards and decorations,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. He enlisted in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007. Navy records show he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. Syed Raheel Farook was an information system technician, third class, serving on the USS Enterprise; in the Surface Warfare Officer School Unit, in Great Lakes, Illinois; and at the Recruit Training Command, in Great Lakes, Illinois. He was an enlisted surface warfare specialist and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, records show. His brother, Syed Rizwan Farook, and sister-in-law were killed Wednesday in a shoot-out with police after the mass shooting in San Bernardino. ||||| SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — With a young wife, infant daughter and government job, Syed Farook appeared to have arrived at a sweet-spot in life. Friends knew the 28-year-old by his quick smile, his devotion to his Muslim religion and earnest talk about cars he would restore. The McIntyre family from Redlands, Calif., hold candles at a vigil at San Manuel Stadium Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in remembrance of the 14 people lost Wednesday in the San Bernardino mass shooting. From... (Associated Press) Rania Elbanna, 40, left, and Dr. Shaheen Zakaria, friends from Loma Linda, California, hold candles at a vigil at San Manuel Stadium Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in remembrance of the 14 people lost Wednesday... (Associated Press) A mourner holds a candle during a vigil at San Manuel Stadium, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif. for multiple victims of a shooting that took place at a holiday banquet on Wednesday. A... (Associated Press) People hold candles during a vigil for shooting victims on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, Calif. A husband and wife opened fire on a holiday banquet, killing multiple... (Associated Press) San Bernardino Police Lt. Mike Madden, who was one one of the first officers on scene, describes his experience during a news conference near the site of a mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 in San... (Associated Press) San Bernardino Police Lt. Mike Madden who was one one of the first officers on scene describes his experience during a press conference near the site of yesterday's mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3,... (Associated Press) California Gov. Jerry Brown reacts as he speaks near the site of Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., during a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. A husband and wife opened fire on a...

– Whatever San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizman Farook's problem was, it wasn't the result of his upbringing, if his brother is anything to go by. The brother, whose name is Syed Raheel Farook, was falsely identified as the gunman by some media outlets because the names are so similar, but he is, in fact, a decorated Navy veteran, BuzzFeed reports. The brother joined up in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007, and Navy records state that he received the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon during his service, which included time as an information systems technician on the USS Enterprise. A Navy spokesman tells the New York Daily News that Farook was a computer technician who also received an award for good conduct. Investigators are still trying to piece together a motive for the rampage the other Syed R. Farook allegedly carried out with wife Tashfeen Malik. A "veritable armory," including at least a dozen pipe bombs, was found at their home, and officials say they're probing possible links to Islamic extremists but haven't found firm evidence of radicalization, the Los Angeles Times reports. Associates, including colleagues who survived the massacre, say they simply don't understand how the man they knew could have done this. "This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife, and a family. What was he missing in his life?" a man who worshiped with him at a mosque in San Bernardino tells the AP.

In the hours after the mass shooting Wednesday in Southern California, several media outlets including The Daily Beast, incorrectly identified Syed Raheel Farook as one of two killers responsible for the shooting. Farook is a veteran of the United States Navy with several “awards and decorations,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. He enlisted in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007. His brother, Syed Rizwan Farook, and sister-in-law were killed Wednesday in a shoot-out with police.

FLINT, MI -- Police confirmed that the two injured in a double shooting Sunday, April 17, were mother and son. Few details were released in the incident, which occurred in the 1900 block of Greenbrook Lane between West Atherton and West Hemphill roads around 7:30 p.m. There, it was discovered that a woman and a 9-year-old boy - mother and son - were shot. They were taken to the hospital where they were listed in good condition. Police did not release any more information in the incident, citing an ongoing investigation. No arrests were announced. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Flint Police Department at 810-237-6800 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP (773-2587). ||||| UPDATE: A suspect has been charged for the killings FLINT, MI - A woman at the center of a bellwether Flint water crisis lawsuit was one of two women who were shot to death inside a townhouse earlier this week. Sasha Avonna Bell was one of the first of a growing number of people to file a lawsuit in connection to the Flint water crisis after she claimed that her child had been lead poisoned. Bell was found dead April 19 in the 2600 block of Ridgecrest Drive at the Ridgecrest Village Townhouses. Sacorya Renee Reed was also found shot to death in the home. An unharmed 1-year-old child was also found inside of the Ridgecrest home when Bell's body was discovered and was taken into custody by child protective services. Police declined to confirm if it was Bell's child discovered in the home. "Sasha was a lovely young woman who cared deeply for her family, and especially for her young child," said her attorney Corey M. Stern. "Her tragic and senseless death has created a void in the lives of so many people that loved her. Hopefully, her child will be lifted up by the love and support from everyone who cared deeply for Sasha." Bell's case was one of 64 lawsuits filed on behalf of 144 children by Stern's firm, New York-based Levy Konigsberg, and Flint-based Robinson Carter & Crawford. Flint neighborhood shaken after young women slain in house The lawsuit named six companies that had various responsibilities with respect to the treatment, monitoring, and safety of the Flint water prior to and during the Flint water crisis, according to her attorneys. The case also named three individual government, or former government, employees who played significant roles in the alleged misconduct that led to the alleged poisoning of thousands of children in Flint, her attorneys claim. The Bell case, however, played an important role in determining the future of the more than five dozen other lawsuits that were filed. Flint water crisis conspiracy theories swirl after two recent deaths Initially, Bell's case and the others were filed in Genesee Circuit Court. However, they were transferred to U.S. District Court on a motion from one of the defendants, engineering company Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam. However, Ann Arbor U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara ruled April 13 that Bell's case should return to the

– One of the first people to file a lawsuit alleging her child was poisoned by the water in Flint, Mich., was shot dead this week, reports Michigan Live. Sasha Avonna Bell was found dead in a townhouse in the city on Tuesday along with another female victim, Sacorya Renee Reed. A 1-year-old child found at the home was uninjured; it isn't clear if the child is Bell's. Police say one person is in custody, though no one has been charged. "Sasha was a lovely young woman who cared deeply for her family, and especially for her young child," says Bell's attorney, calling her death "tragic and senseless." He adds her case will continue in state court. It's among 64 lawsuits on behalf of 144 children against six companies that handled Flint's water. Days before the shooting, a mother and her 9-year-old son were also shot in Flint, per Michigan Live.

Sasha Avonna Bell was one of the first to file a lawsuit in connection to the Flint water crisis. Bell was found dead April 19 in the 2600 block of Ridgecrest Drive. Sacorya Renee Reed was also found shot to death in the home. An unharmed 1-year-old child was found inside of the home when Bell's body was discovered and was taken into custody by child protective services.. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Flint Police Department at 810-237-6800.

I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this ||||| By of the Wendy's is investigating the case of an employee who was captured eating soft serve ice cream straight from the machine in a viral photo Wednesday. A photo of the worker was posted on Reddit Wednesday morning with the title, "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this." Bob Bertini, a spokesman for Wendy's, responded late Wednesday that he just saw the photo. "If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action," Bertini wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel. A commenter on Reddit pointed out that the photo appears to have been taken behind the counter. The person said the photographer was a fellow employee. The Wendy's worker is the most recent fast food worker to gross out potential customers in a viral photo. The photos may be posted as a harmless joke (or, who knows, in an attempt to get someone fired maybe?), but viral photos have caused a lot of bad publicity and harm to the companies they target, so businesses tend to crack down hard on the culprit. The last fast food worker who pulled a similar viral stunt, a Taco Bell employee who licked a stack of taco shells, was fired. That's even though the shells were destined for the trash bin, according to company spokespeople. Get ahead of the curve on viral stories. Follow Gitte Laasby on Twitter or Facebook.

– If you thought gross fast-food-worker images started and ended with the Taco Bell licker, brace yourself for the latest photo, which seems to show a Wendy's employee dispensing ice cream directly into his mouth. The image was posted to Reddit yesterday, along with this quip: "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this." A number of Redditers pointed out the photo was apparently taken behind the counter, though (so, ostensibly, a fellow employee/friend is the likely shutterbug). The Journal Sentinel got in touch with a Wendy's rep late yesterday; he was not amused. "If true, this is totally inexcusable. We are investigating and will take action."

Wendy's is investigating the case of an employee who ate ice cream straight from the machine. A photo of the worker was posted on Reddit with the title, "I was going to buy a frosty from Wendys until I saw the employee do this" A commenter on Reddit pointed out that the photo appears to have been taken behind the counter.

A retired Minnesota carpenter, shown in a June investigation to be a former commander in a Nazi SS-led unit, ordered his men to attack a Polish village that was razed to the ground, according to testimony newly uncovered by The Associated Press. The account of the massacre that killed dozens of women and children contradicts statements by the man's family that he was never at the scene of the 1944 bloodshed. FILE - This file undated reproduction shows a page of Michael Karkoc's 1949 U.S. Army intelligence file that The Associated Press had declassified by the U.S. National Archives in Maryland through a Freedom... (Associated Press) FILE - This May 22, 1990 photo shows Michael Karkoc in Lauderdale, Minn. prior to a visit to Minnesota from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in early June of 1990. The Associated Press has uncovered... (Associated Press) FILE - In this June 14, 2013 file photo, people walk past the home in Minneapolis, where 94-year-old Michael Karkoc lives, Friday, June 14, 2013. The Associated Press has uncovered testimony that says... (Associated Press) This 1982 photo provided by the University of Minnesota shows Nadia and Michael Karkoc. The Associated Press has uncovered testimony that says Michael Karkoc, a Minnesota man who was a Nazi SS-led company... (Associated Press) FILE - This undated reproduction provided by the Polish National Archive in Krakow, southern Poland, is a SS administrative file probably dated 1944 showing a roster list for the Ukrainian Self Defense... (Associated Press) FILE - This June 19, 2013 file photo, a woman stands near a mass grave and a monument in the village of Chlaniow, Poland, that holds the bodies of Poles killed in a 1944 attack on the village by the Nazi... (Associated Press) In June, an AP investigation found that Michael Karkoc entered the U.S. in 1949 by failing to disclose to American authorities his role as a commander in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, which is accused of torching villages and killing civilians in Poland. The investigation found that Karkoc was in the area of the massacres, but did not uncover evidence linking him directly to atrocities. However, a newly unearthed investigative file originally from the Ukrainian intelligence agency's archive reveals that a private under Karkoc's command testified in 1968 that Karkoc ordered the assault on Chlaniow in retaliation for the slaying of an SS major. The major, slain by resistance fighters, led the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, in which Karkoc was a company commander. A German roster of the unit confirms that Pvt. Ivan Sharko, a Ukrainian, served under Karkoc's command at the time. An initial order was given by a separate officer, Sharko testified, before Karkoc told his unit to attack the village. "The command was given by one of the commanders to cordon off the village and prepare for battle," Sharko said, according to the Russian-language investigative file, which bears the stamp of Ukraine's Volyn regional prosecutors' office. "The commander of our company, Wolf, also gave the command to cordon off the village and check all the houses, and to find

– New evidence suggests that Michael Karkoc, the former Nazi SS commander found living in Minnesota, may have actually ordered the 1944 attack on Chlaniow, in which 44 Polish villagers, including women and children, were killed. Initially, Karkoc was simply said to have been near the scenes of that and other Ukrainian massacres, but now the AP has uncovered testimony from a private under Karkoc's command who said Karkoc ordered the attack as retaliation after an SS major was killed. In the wake of the revelation, a German federal prosecutor is recommending murder charges against the 94-year-old Karkoc. State prosecutors still need to make the final decision. "The command [to attack Chlaniow] was given by one of the commanders to cordon off the village and prepare for battle," said Ivan Sharko, confirmed by a German roster to have served under Karkoc. "The commander of our company, Wolf [Karkoc's pseudonym], also gave the command to cordon off the village and check all the houses, and to find and punish the partisans." He went on to describe the razing of the town, noting that he saw three "peaceful inhabitants who had been killed." Karkoc's family continues to deny his involvement. He continues to live in Minnesota as Germany and Poland investigate his case.

The account of the massacre that killed dozens of women and children contradicts statements by the man's family that he was never at the scene of the 1944 bloodshed. In June, an AP investigation found that Michael Karkoc entered the U.S. in 1949 by failing to disclose to American authorities his role as a commander in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, which is accused of torching villages and killing civilians in Poland. A newly unearthed investigative file originally from the Ukrainian intelligence agency's archive reveals that a private under Karksoc's command testified in 1968 that he ordered the assault on Chlaniow.

Twelve men and nine women, whose work is as diverse as studying the racial elements in perceptions of crime and translating contemporary Arab poetry, have been named the 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships, based on achievement and potential, come with a stipend of $625,000 over five years and are among the most prestigious prizes for artists, scholars and professionals. The awards are being announced on Wednesday by the foundation, which is based in Chicago. The oldest fellow this year is Pamela O. Long, 71, a historian of science and technology in Washington, whose work explores connections between the arts and science. The youngest is Danielle S. Bassett, 32, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, who analyzes neuron interactions in the brain as people perform various tasks. She seeks to determine how different parts of the brain communicate and how that communication changes with learning or in the aftermath of a brain injury or disease. When she received the call informing her of the no-strings-attached windfall, Ms. Bassett recalled being stunned into silence. ||||| Meet The 2014 Winners Of The MacArthur 'Genius Grants' One is becoming as well-known for her autobiographical work as she is for her test for what movies meet a gender-balance baseline. Another directed one of the best-reviewed and most surreal documentaries of the past decade and has a follow-up on this year's film-festival circuit. Another has been leading the fight for gay-marriage rights since 2004 in Massachusetts. Alongside cartoonist Alison Bechdel, The Act of Killing director Joshua Oppenheimer and attorney Mary Bonauto, other 2014 MacArthur Award winners are exploring the subtleties of race via psychology and poetry, using math to model the human brain or define the limits of prime numbers, or providing physical, home and job security to some of the country's most at-risk populations. MacArthur Foundation YouTube Learn more about them below: Danielle Bassett Bassett, a 32-year-old University of Pennsylvania assistant professor, has used mathematical theories on how social or computer networks work to analyze how neurons interact and help us in — or prevent us from — learning new tasks. Enlarge this image toggle caption Riccardo De Luca/ MacArthur Foundation Riccardo De Luca/ MacArthur Foundation Alison Bechdel Harriet Reisen's NPR review for Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic says "The pictures in Fun Home, in black and blue on white, are as matter-of-fact as the evidence the heroine sifts to get to the bottom of the mystery of how she became herself." Enlarge this image toggle caption John Tlumacki/AP John Tlumacki/AP Mary L. Bonauto "I was sitting in the church, and I just didn't realize I was gonna fall apart to see, OK, there are Dave and Rob, and they are finally getting married. I was sitting next to Rob's mother, and she kept handing me tissues. It was her son, and I was the one who was a total mess." Dave and Rob were Rob Compton and Dave Wilson, one of the first gay couples to be married in the United States, back in 2004. Bonauto

– A 71-year-old historian, a 32-year-old physicist, poets, musicians, lawyers: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has selected this year's crop of "geniuses"—recipients of a coveted fellowship that includes a $625,000 stipend over five years. Among the winners: Physicist Danielle Bassett, the youngest recipient at 32, studies communication within the brain, the New York Times reports. Told she'd won, "I said, ‘Are you absolutely sure you got the right person?'" Science historian Pamela Long of Washington, DC, is the oldest winner. The 71-year-old investigates the relationship between science and art. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel, 54, wrote and drew the 2006 memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. She also developed a simple test for gender equality in film, NPR reports: Do two women talk to each other about something other than men? Joshua Oppenheimer, 39, is known for the controversial documentary The Act of Killing, which investigates mass murder in Indonesia. Jennifer Eberhardt, 49, studies unconscious bias against African-Americans in the criminal justice system, including how facial features influence the odds of receiving the death penalty. Rick Lowe, 53, runs a program in which artists work for the community in Houston, undertaking, for instance, the renovation of homes. Composer Steve Coleman "draws equally from rigorous examination of music theory, esoteric natural science and myth, and Charlie Parker," writes Patrick Jarenwattananon at NPR. Mary Bonauto, 53, was a key lawyer in ending the Defense of Marriage Act.

12 men and nine women have been named the 2014 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships come with a stipend of $625,000 over five years and are among the most prestigious prizes for artists, scholars and professionals. The oldest fellow this year is Pamela O. Long, 71, a historian of science and technology in Washington. The youngest is Danielle S. Bassett, 32, a physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, who analyzes neuron interactions in the brain.

West Virginia reporter Dan Heyman attempted to ask Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price a question about the Republican health-care bill on May 9. He was arrested for "Willful Disruption of State Government Processes." (Valerie Woody/West Virginia Citizen Action Group) Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price defended police who arrested a reporter at West Virginia’s state capitol, saying they “did what they felt was appropriate.” When asked if he felt the reporter, Public News Service journalist Dan Heyman, had been too aggressive and whether it was appropriate to arrest him, Price said it was “not my decision to make,” according to the Associated Press. He gave the statements during a meeting on the opioid crisis in Concord, N.H., on Wednesday. “That gentleman was not in a press conference,” Price said, according to STAT. A day earlier, Price and Kellyanne Conway, special counsel to the president, had been walking through a hallway in the West Virginia state capitol when veteran reporter Heyman began following alongside him, holding up his phone to Price while attempting to ask him a question. Heyman repeatedly asked the secretary whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the Republican bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system, he said. “Do you think that’s right or not, secretary?” Heyman asked, according to a recording an audio recording Heyman provided to The Washington Post. “You refuse to answer? Tell me no comment.” A male voice is heard telling Heyman, “Do not get close to her. Back up.” Moments later, an officer in the capitol pulled Heyman aside, handcuffed him and arrested him. Heyman was jailed on the charge of willful disruption of state government processes and was released later on $5,000 bail. Authorities said while Secret Service agents were providing security in the capitol for Price and Conway, Heyman was “aggressively breaching” the agents to the point where they were “forced to remove him a couple of times from the area,” according to a criminal complaint. Heyman “was causing a disturbance by yelling questions at Ms. Conway and Secretary Price,” the complaint stated. Reporter Dan Heyman. (Courtesy of Public News Service) But Heyman said he was simply fulfilling his role as a journalist and feels that his arrest sets a “terrible example” for members of the press seeking answers to questions. “This is my job, this is what I’m supposed to do,” Heyman said in a news conference Tuesday after being released from jail. “I think it’s a question that deserves to be answered. I think it’s my job to ask questions and I think it’s my job to try to get answers.” Price and Conway were visiting Charleston, W.Va. Tuesday, to hear about efforts to fight opioid addiction in a state that has the nation’s highest drug overdose death rate. They met privately with state and local policymakers and members of several groups, including officials of an addiction treatment center and an addiction hotline, according to the Associated Press. Dan Heyman of @PNS_WV is in S. Central Regional Jail for "causing a disturbance by yelling

– Everyone's got lots of questions about the American Health Care Act that passed the House last week, and Health and Human Services chief Tom Price seems like he'd be a good person to ask. Reporter Dan Heyman of Public News Service found out that wasn't the case with his queries, which led to his arrest Tuesday at the West Virginia State Capitol, the Hill reports. "First time I've ever been arrested for asking a question. First time I've ever heard of someone getting arrested for asking a question," Heyman noted at a presser shortly after he posted $5,000 bail. The question (or questions, rather) he posed in the Capitol hallway to Price, there with Kellyanne Conway to discuss the state's efforts to combat opioid addiction, revolved around whether domestic violence is considered a pre-existing condition under the AHCA. "He didn't say anything, so I persisted," Heyman, described by the Washington Post as a 30-year news veteran whose work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, said at the presser. Per the criminal complaint, Heyman was "yelling questions" and "aggressively breaching" Secret Service agents, and he had to be removed from the area more than once, per WDTV. He was charged with willful disruption of state government processes. But Heyman says he wasn't told he couldn't be there, was wearing a press pass, and identified himself as a reporter. Heyman says he was just doing his job in questioning AHCA specifics, noting, "I think it is a question that deserves to be answered." (Price seems optimistic on the GOP's plans.)

Public News Service reporter Dan Heyman was arrested for "willful disruption of state government processes" Heyman asked Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price whether domestic violence would be considered a preexisting condition under the GOP health care bill. Heyman said he was simply fulfilling his role as a journalist and feels that his arrest sets a “terrible example” for members of the press seeking answers to questions. Price gave the statements during a meeting on the opioid crisis in Concord, N.H., on Wednesday.

LONDON — A long-debated move by Western nations to expand support for Syria ’s opposition gained momentum on Wednesday, with the United States poised to increase its nonlethal aid to rebel groups and pressure building to lift a European Union embargo on sending arms to Syria. In Washington, administration officials said President Obama had not yet signed off on a specific package of measures, but had agreed in principle to increase assistance to the military wing of the Syrian opposition that could include battlefield gear like body armor and night-vision goggles, but not arms. “Our assistance has been on an upward trajectory, and the president has directed his national security team to identify additional measures so that we can increase assistance,” a senior administration official said. In London, where the British foreign secretary, William Hague, hosted a meeting with the Syrian opposition on Wednesday, there were signs that Britain and France were prepared to let the European Union arms embargo expire by the end of May so that they could increase their assistance. “We certainly believe that it’s necessary to continue, if the situation continues to deteriorate, to increase the practical help we give to the Syrian opposition,” Mr. Hague told reporters. “We think that as things stand today, there is going to be a very strong case for further amendments to the embargo or the lifting of the embargo.” The Syria crisis was at the forefront of discussions here as foreign ministers gathered for a meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations. At a lunch meeting convened by Mr. Hague and attended by Secretary of State John Kerry, the Syrian opposition reiterated its request for antiaircraft and antitank weapons, according to Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the rebel delegation. Syrian opposition representatives also said they planned to establish a presence in areas that had been wrested from Syrian government control within the next four to six weeks. The goal would be to buttress the opposition’s efforts to present itself as a viable alternative to Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, but it raised the question of how opposition forces could defend the enclave against the Syrian government’s air force and Scud missiles. Among the opposition members who attended the meeting was Ghassan Hitto, a naturalized Syrian-born American citizen who was recently picked by the opposition coalition to serve as prime minister of an interim government. The question of how much, and what kind, of support to give the armed groups fighting the Syrian government has been hotly debated within the Obama administration. Mr. Obama rebuffed recommendations last year by David H. Petraeus, who was then the director of the C.I.A., and other key members of his national security team for the United States to funnel arms to carefully vetted members of the Syrian opposition. But as Mr. Assad has clung to power, partly because of weapons supplied by allies like Iran and Russia, the White House has moved incrementally toward more support. Another factor that has influenced the Obama administration’s calculations has been the growing popularity and prowess of Al Nusra

– The United States and several leading EU states appear poised to increase non-lethal aid to Syrian opposition groups, adding equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles, reports the Wall Street Journal. Arms, however, remain off the table, as President Obama fears they could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. The White House is also reviewing military options, such as bombing Syrian aircraft on the ground or adding Patriot anti-missile batteries to Turkey to defend against Syrian rockets. “It’s not going to turn the tide in the battle, but of course it helps,” one analyst tells the New York Times. Over in Europe, there are signs Britain and France are interested in stepping up their assistance to rebel groups by letting the EU arms embargo against Syria expire at the end of May. At a Group of Eight meeting in London yesterday, Syrian opposition groups once again called for increased military assistance, asking for antiaircraft and antitank guns. The news comes as Human Rights Watch declares more than 4,300 civilians have been killed in government airstrikes since July, Al Jazeera adds.

The United States is poised to increase its nonlethal aid to rebel groups. Pressure is building to lift a European Union embargo on sending arms to Syria. In London, there were signs that Britain and France were prepared to let the EU arms embargo expire by the end of May so that they could increase their assistance. The Syria crisis was at the forefront of discussions here as foreign ministers gathered for a meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations. The question of how much, and what kind, of support to give the armed groups fighting the Syrian government has been hotly debated.

Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia pictures as he celebrates as he crosses the line to win silver during the Men's Marathon on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Sambodromo on Aug. 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa raised his hands at the marathon finish line in Rio on Sunday, he wasn't just celebrating his silver medal in the grueling race. The long-distance runner crossed his wrists high above his head as a sign of protest against the killings and arrests that have been carried out by Ethiopia's government. Video The World Records of the 2016 Rio Olympics The gesture, he said, could get him killed. "If I go back to Ethiopia maybe they will kill me. If I am not killed maybe they will put me in prison," Lilesa said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "[If] they [do] not put me in prison they will block me at airport." "I have got a decision," he added. "Maybe I move to another country." According to Human Rights Watch, the Ethiopian government has killed an estimated 400 people, and injured thousands more since November 2015 for participating in protests in the Oromo region. The demonstrators protested plans by the capital, Addis Ababa, to expand its territory into adjacent Oromia lands, which would displace farmers. The Oromo people are the country's largest ethnic group. The government's proposal has since been retracted, but the protesters have remained jailed. Earlier in August, hundreds took the streets to demanded the release of those detained during the Oromo protests earlier this year. In a statement, Amnesty International said at least 67 people were killed in the Oromia region alone when security forces fired on protesters, and that another at least 30 were shot and killed in the northern city of Bahir Dar in early August. The rights group cited "credible sources" and said hundreds of people were detained. An opposition politician, Mulatu Gemechu of the Oromo Federalist Congress party, told The Associated Press that more than 70 people were killed across Oromia. "Many others were injured, and we have lost count of the number of those who were arrested," he said. The Obama administration's top official promoting democracy and human rights, Tom Malinowski, said in a column published by AllAfrica.com that the Ethiopian government's tactics in response to protests are "self-defeating." He said "security forces have continued to use excessive force to prevent Ethiopians from congregating peacefully, killing and injuring many people and arresting thousands. We believe thousands of Ethiopians remain in detention for alleged involvement in the protests - in most cases without having been brought before a court, provided access to legal counsel, or formally charged with a crime." Lilesa told The Sydney Morning Herald that the government had removed people from their land and then jailed or killed them for protesting. A video posted to YouTube in June showed protesters making the same gesture as Lilesa did on Sunday before some of them were gunned down. He said he wanted to express support for his family members who

– If they awarded Olympic medals for bravery, Feyisa Lilesa would have a gold to add to his marathon silver. The Ethiopian runner crossed his wrists above his head at the end of the men's marathon in Rio to show solidarity with protesters in his homeland, and he says the government will probably kill him if he ever goes home again, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lilesa says security forces have slaughtered hundreds of members of his Oromo tribe in a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests. He says some of his relatives are already in prison and he doesn't know what will happen to his wife and two children, who are still in Ethiopia, the New York Times reports. "If I go back to Ethiopia, maybe they will kill me. If I am not killed, maybe they will put me in prison," Lilesa tells the Sydney Morning Herald. He's not sure where he will go now, but he says the US and Kenya are possibilities. NBC New York reports that rights group say scores of protesters—many of them making the same gesture as Lilesa—have been gunned down at protests over the last few months. Lilesa's "career with the Ethiopian Athletics Federation ended tonight," tweeted OPride editor Mohammed Ademo. "But his courageous act of protest is one for the history books."

Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa raised his hands at the marathon finish line in Rio on Sunday. The long-distance runner crossed his wrists high above his head as a sign of protest against the killings and arrests that have been carried out by Ethiopia's government. According to Human Rights Watch, the Ethiopian government has killed an estimated 400 people, and injured thousands more since November 2015. The demonstrators protested plans by the capital, Addis Ababa, to expand its territory into adjacent Oromia lands, which would displace farmers.

'It's a weaning process... I think it's adorable': Alicia Silverstone defends controversial practice of pre-chewing baby son's food No regrets: Alicia Silverstone, pictured on Saturday, has fiercely defended the practice of re-feeding her son Alicia Silverstone has defiantly defended her practice of re-feeding her 11-month-old baby son. Speaking for the first time since sparking a firestorm of controversy by posting a video of herself chewing Bear Blu's food before passing it from her mouth to his , the star called the practice 'adorable', adding that it 'makes me laugh'. Ms Silverstone said she has no regrets about publicly portraying how she feeds Bear, her son with rock musician husband Chris Jarecki, even though many medical practitioners say it is unhygienic and can cause bacteria and viruses to be passed from mother to baby. The actress, 35, was asked about her actions at an audience Q&A with director Amy Heckerling following a screening of Clueless and her upcoming film Vamps at the Brooklyn Academy of Art and Music on Saturday night. Asked if chewing her food and then passing it open-mouth to her son was in the spirit of Cher Horowitz, the ditzy character she played in Clueless, Ms Silverstone launched into a lengthy defence of the practice. She said: 'People have been feeding their kids that way for thousands for years. It's a weaning process. Honestly, when I posted the video I was not thinking, so maybe I was like Cher! I think it's adorable and it makes me laugh every time he does it. 'He attacks my mouth and I think it's adorable. He also knows how to use his hands and he also eats regular food so when babies are weaning, he still breastfeeds. Some people think that's disgusting too which is insane. 'It's just a thing that has been going on for thousands of years and I didn't think I was inventing anything but in our culture… 'Every time my husband goes to the YMCA some guy comes over and says, "That's how we do it in the south!" Between him getting those great comments and me knowing in my gut it's natural and lovely, I really wasn't trying to tell anybody what to do. 'Adorable': The star sparked controversy two weeks ago when she posted a video of herself pre-chewing her son's food and feeding him mouth-to-mouth Nothing new: Ms Silverstone says re-feeding has been going on for thousands of years and didn't anticipate the media storm 'I wasn't saying this was anything somebody should do. I wasn't trying to be independent or cause such a ruckus. I'm very glad that I did it.' Ms Silverstone also indiscreetly implied she first met Richard Lewis, the 64-year-old actor and comedian who plays her older ex-lover in Vamps, when he was drunk and compared him to her grandfather. Mr Lewis has previously admitted to having a history of alcohol abuse. She said: 'The first time I ever met Richard Lewis - I didn't meet him, I saw him when I was about 17 years old in circumstances that he would

– Alicia Silverstone insists that feeding her baby mouth-to-mouth is "adorable," despite the fact that many who watched a video of her doing just that were grossed out. "People have been feeding their kids that way for thousands for years. It's a weaning process," she said when asked about the video at an event Saturday, according to the Daily Mail. "I think it's adorable and it makes me laugh every time he does it." Son Bear Blu, 11 months, "attacks my mouth and I think it's adorable," she continued. "Every time my husband goes to the YMCA some guy comes over and says, 'That's how we do it in the south!' Between him getting those great comments and me knowing in my gut it's natural and lovely, I really wasn't trying to tell anybody what to do." Despite the ick factor, pre-chewing food for babies can actually have benefits. (Click to read about other unusual celebrity baby trends ... like breast-feeding 3-year-olds.)

The actress, 35, sparked a firestorm of controversy by posting a video of herself chewing Bear Blu's food before passing it from her mouth to his. Many medical practitioners say it is unhygienic and can cause bacteria and viruses to be passed from mother to baby. Ms Silverstone said she has no regrets about publicly portraying how she feeds Bear, her son with rock musician husband Chris Jarecki. She said: 'People have been feeding their kids that way for thousands for years. It's a weaning process'

March 25, 2014 at 2:32 PM Linda McPherson and her husband, Gary “Mac” McPherson, were reading the newspaper Saturday morning in their Oso home, separated only by a living room end table, when the trees outside started whipping from side to side, said their daughter Kate McPherson. They then heard a tremendous noise. The couple never saw the mud. The impact shattered the house and shoved what remained about 150 feet, to the far southeast side of the slide, Kate McPherson said. Her father, 81, woke up covered in mud. He was able to grab a stick and start digging himself out. Passersby helped extricate him from the slurry and debris. They found Linda McPherson’s lifeless body nearby. Linda McPherson, 69, was a Darrington native, a former librarian and long-time school board member. Officials have still not released the names of 13 others whose deaths have been confirmed. They also say as many as 176 may be missing. Mac McPherson, who suffered abrasions and bruises, is convalescing with family in Everett. Kate McPherson said her parents had lived in the house along Highway 530 for 40 years. They bought the land from Linda’s parents, who lived next door in the home where she and her six brothers and sisters grew up. That house, now owned by the McPhersons’ nephew and his wife, was also destroyed. Kate McPherson said that although the hillside across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River had slid many times over the previous decades, no one ever imagined a collapse so massive that it could cross the river and extend all the way to Highway 530, about a mile away. “My dad was concerned that the hill had slid before, but truthfully, no one ever thought it would go that far,” she said. Even if the danger were known, she said, her mother likely wouldn’t have moved. “She loved the land. That was her home. She was never going to leave.” Coverage of today’s mudslide developments can be found here. ||||| Darrington, Washington (CNN) -- Brenda Neal was still at the firehouse at midnight, watching as rescuers caked with mud returned from the search for survivors of a massive landslide in rural Washington state. But they had no answers for her about her missing husband, Steven. There was despair on their faces, she said. Rescuers on Tuesday continued to battle debris and mud -- with the consistency of quicksand in some places -- in the search for survivors, but hopes dimmed as news broke that more bodies were found. "Unfortunately, we didn't find any signs of life," Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots told reporters during a briefing. The number of dead climbed to as high as 24 with the recovery Tuesday of two more bodies and another eight believed to have been located in the debris. Authorities did not immediately release the identities of the dead nor did they provide details about where the bodies were found. At least 176 people are unaccounted for. Officials have stressed those unaccounted for are not necessarily all victims

– Some 16 bodies have now been recovered from a huge mudslide in Washington state and rescuers believe they have spotted at least eight more bodies in the debris. The number listed as missing stood at 176 yesterday but officials believe names have been duplicated and the number has been falling and rising so much it is hard to get an accurate count, CNN reports. Snohomish County's emergency management director says rescuers still hope they will find survivors from Saturday's disaster. "I believe in miracles, and I believe people can survive these events. They've done it before and they can do it again," he told reporters. Hundreds of people, assisted by rescue dogs and technologies including sonar, have joined the search but officials warn that bad weather will make the search even more challenging as the week goes on. As more victims are found, more tragic stories are emerging. Gary McPherson, 81, was sitting with his wife, separated only by an end table, when the mudslide shattered their home, the Seattle Times reports. He managed to dig himself out of the mud but rescuers found the lifeless body of wife Linda nearby.

Linda McPherson, 69, was a former librarian and long-time school board member. She and her husband were reading the newspaper when the trees started whipping. The couple never saw the mud. The number of dead climbs to as high as 24 with the recovery of two more bodies. At least 176 people are unaccounted for, officials have stressed those unaccounting for are not necessarily all victims.. "Unfortunately, we didn't find any signs of life," Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots says.

Traditional light bulbs, thought to be well on their way to oblivion, may receive a reprieve thanks to a technological breakthrough. Incandescent lighting and its warm, familiar glow is well over a century old yet survives virtually unchanged in homes around the world. That is changing fast, however, as regulations aimed at improving energy efficiency are phasing out the old bulbs in favor of more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and newer light-emitting diode bulbs (LEDs). Incandescent bulbs, commercially developed by Thomas Edison (and still used by cartoonists as the symbol of inventive insight), work by heating a thin tungsten wire to temperatures of around 2,700 degrees Celsius. That hot wire emits what is known as black body radiation, a very broad spectrum of light that provides a warm look and a faithful rendering of all colors in a scene. But these bulbs have always suffered from one major problem: More than 95 percent of the energy that goes into them is wasted, most of it as heat. That’s why country after country has banned or is phasing out the inefficient technology. Now, researchers at MIT and Purdue University may have found a way to change all that. The new findings are reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology by three MIT professors — Marin Soljačić, professor of physics; John Joannopoulos, the Francis Wright Davis Professor of physics; and Gang Chen, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor in Power Engineering — as well as MIT principal research scientist Ivan Celanovic, postdoc Ognjen Ilic, and Purdue physics professor (and MIT alumnus) Peter Bermel PhD ’07. Light recycling The key is to create a two-stage process, the researchers report. The first stage involves a conventional heated metal filament, with all its attendant losses. But instead of allowing the waste heat to dissipate in the form of infrared radiation, secondary structures surrounding the filament capture this radiation and reflect it back to the filament to be re-absorbed and re-emitted as visible light. These structures, a form of photonic crystal, are made of Earth-abundant elements and can be made using conventional material-deposition technology. That second step makes a dramatic difference in how efficiently the system converts electricity into light. One quantity that characterizes a lighting source is the so-called luminous efficiency, which takes into account the response of the human eye. Whereas the luminous efficiency of conventional incandescent lights is between 2 and 3 percent, that of fluorescents (including CFLs) is between 7 and 15 percent, and that of most commercial LEDs between 5 and 20 percent, the new two-stage incandescents could reach efficiencies as high as 40 percent, the team says. The first proof-of-concept units made by the team do not yet reach that level, achieving about 6.6 percent efficiency. But even that preliminary result matches the efficiency of some of today’s CFLs and LEDs, they point out. And it is already a threefold improvement over the efficiency of today’s incandescents. The team refers to their approach as “light recycling,” says Ilic, since their material takes in the unwanted, useless wavelengths of energy and converts them into

– The old-school incandescent bulb has been getting a bad rap, but MIT researchers say they've figured out a way to make one that even Al Gore would embrace. In fact, their breakthrough could result in an incandescent bulb far more efficient than the more modern LEDs or compact fluorescents, reports the Telegraph. Traditional incandescent bulbs are notoriously inefficient—electricity passes through a filament to create light, but more than 95% of the energy is lost through heat. The MIT researchers got around that by encasing the filament in "photonic crystal" that bounces the escaping energy back to the filament, which then reabsorbs it and converts it to light, reports UPI. Think of it as "light recycling," they explain in a post at MIT. "It recycles the energy that would otherwise be wasted." Their working prototype raised the efficiency of the incandescent bulb to 6.6%, which is roughly triple that of an unmodified incandescent and on par with the lower end of LEDs (5% to 15%) and compact fluorescents (7% to 13%), reports Science. However, the researchers say their computer modeling suggests this procedure, which uses nanoengineered mirrors, could ultimately result in a whopping 40% efficiency. Another real-world selling point: The incandescent emits its usual warm, natural glow, one that's generally seen as superior to the more modern bulbs. "If the approach lives up to its promise, cutting-edge photonics could give Edison's glowing filaments a new lease on life," writes Robert Service at Science.

Researchers at MIT and Purdue University may have found a way to change all that. Key is to create a two-stage process, the researchers report. The first stage involves a conventional heated metal filament, with all its attendant losses. But instead of allowing the waste heat to dissipate in the form of infrared radiation, secondary structures surrounding the filament capture this radiation and reflect it back to the filament to be re-absorbed and re-emitted as visible light. That second step makes a dramatic difference in how efficiently the system converts electricity into light.

Dylann Roof is pictured in this undated booking photo provided by the Lexington County Sheriff’ Department. Roof, 21, is accused of killing nine people at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C. He was arrested June 18, and officials are investigating the attack as a hate crime. (Lexington County Sheriff’ Department via Reuters) Dylann Roof, the man accused of a shooting spree that left nine people dead at a historic black church in Charleston on Wednesday night, should not have been able to get a gun. Federal law prohibits people with pending felony charges from obtaining firearms. In February, Roof was arrested and later charged with felony possession of Suboxone, a narcotic prescription drug. He was released, and the case is pending. Because of his criminal record, Roof would not have been able to buy a gun from a store. Federally licensed gun dealers are required to run background checks on gun purchasers, and Roof’s pending charges should have turned up as a red flag. But Roof didn’t need to go to a dealership. According to his uncle, Roof received a .45-caliber pistol from his father in April for his birthday, Reuters reports. After a shooting at a Charleston, S.C., AME church that left nine people dead, the conversation turned to gun laws in the state—and around the country. (Pamela Kirkland/The Washington Post) South Carolina is one of 40 states that do not require background checks for private gun transactions, like the one that allegedly took place between Roof and his father. Gun control activists call this the “private sale” loophole. It’s illegal to give guns to felons or people with felony indictments — but that’s only if you know about their criminal records. In South Carolina, you don’t have to ask, so private citizens can more or less freely exchange guns. If prosecutors can show that the father knew about Roof’s indictment but gave him the gun anyway, Roof’s father could face up to 10 years in prison. In contrast, ten states and the District of Columbia have closed the private sale loophole by requiring background checks for nearly all gun transfers. Anyone trying to sell or give Roof a gun would have had to take him to a licensed dealership or a law enforcement office to complete the transaction. (Many of these states have exceptions for people giving guns to family members, though.) During his news conference addressing the shooting of nine people in a Charleston, S.C. church, President Obama issued a stern message on gun violence in America, saying, "it is in our power to do something about it." (AP) Other states deal with private transactions by requiring buyers to get a gun purchasing license, which involves passing a background check. Private sellers are supposed to check for this license before they sell a gun to someone. It’s unclear, of course, if the pistol Roof received for his birthday is the same semiautomatic handgun that police say was used in the Charleston church shooting. If Roof owned guns he acquired prior to his felony charge, he would have

– Authorities have charged Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roof, 21, with nine counts of murder after what investigators claim was his attempt to incite a race war. Roof, who is also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime, has already confessed to carrying out the murders for political purposes, investigators tell CNN. Roof is set to make his first court appearance during a bond hearing at 2pm ET today, but will likely appear via video link. Gov. Nikki Haley tells the Post and Courier the officials who spoke to Roof "looked pure evil in the eye," and "we will seek the death penalty. ... You will absolutely pay the price." Joey Meek, a friend of Roof's, says the suspect bought a .45-caliber Glock pistol using birthday money from his parents a few weeks ago and said he had a "plan," but never explained what it was. Meek—who played video games with Roof on the morning of the shooting, the AP reports—says the comments rattled him so much he took the gun from Roof's car and hid it for a day. "I think he wanted something big like Trayvon Martin," he tells ABC News. "He wanted to make something spark up the race war again." How Roof got the gun remains a bit murky: The Washington Post yesterday noted that a person who has pending felony charges against them (which Roof did) is barred from purchasing a gun; previous reports said Roof's dad bought it for him.

Dylann Roof, 21, is accused of killing nine people at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C. Federal law prohibits people with pending felony charges from obtaining firearms. Because of his criminal record, Roof would not have been able to buy a gun from a store. But Roof didn't need to go to a dealership. According to his uncle, Roof received a .45-caliber pistol from his father in April for his birthday. If prosecutors can show that the father knew about Roof's indictment but gave him the gun anyway, Roof's father could face up to 10 years in prison.

The encounter was captured on video with the shark ultimately being released at the end of the stunt. PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL — Just days after a similar stunt involving a dolphin caused outrage in Argentina, a Florida man was captured on video pulling a creature out of the water to pose for a selfie. In the Florida case, however, the sea creature used as a photo prop was a blacktip shark and not a rare dolphin. The man, who has not been identified, is seen on the video grabbing the shark by the tail and then pulling it up onto the beach. Once on the beach, the man held the creature down and posed for a few pictures before returning the shark to the water. WPTV reporter Ashleigh Walters, who posed the video to Facebook, said the shark was put back into the water after the photo shoot was over. The shark reportedly washed up on shore and was taken further out into the water, WTSP reported. See Also: Blacktip sharks have been a common sight in the waters off Palm Beach County in recent weeks. A swarm estimated to include more than 10,000 of the creatures is under study by researchers from Florida Atlantic University. Students at the school study the sharks’ annual migration patterns and have been surprised at the sheer numbers seen off Palm Beach recently. Blacktips are known to grow up to 6 feet in length and are responsible for many of the Sunshine State’s reported shark attacks. Rather skittish creatures, however, they are more likely to take off when humans are in the water, experts say. Florida once again led the country and the world in the number of confirmed, unprovoked shark attacks in 2015. There were 30 confirmed attacks in Florida and 98 worldwide. The worldwide number broke the record of 88 set back in 2000. There were no shark-related fatalities in Florida in 2015. While Florida does led the world in shark attacks, George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, says the odds are against beachgoers becoming victims. That, however, doesn’t mean commonsense shouldn’t be used in the water. “The sharks are swimming in and amongst us all the time,” he said. “They’re doing their thing.” To avoid attacks, Burgess recommends people always remember the fact that humans are not part of a shark’s ecosystem. “We’re invading their world,” he said. “We’ve got to have some boundaries. (The ocean) is not a backyard or the YMCA pool.” It remains unclear if the man broke any laws pulling the blacktip shark onto shore. While some sharks, including sandbar and great whites, are prohibited from harvest in Florida, blacktips do not enjoy similar protections. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, blacktips are harvestable and have no minimum size or limit. Since the shark appears to have been landed by a hook and line, FWC spokesman Gary Morse said it’s likely no laws were broken. As long as the man was properly licensed, pulling it out of the water isn’t a crime.

– A man was captured on video in Palm Beach, Florida, pulling a shark out of the water and holding it down so he could be photographed with it. WPTV reporter Ashleigh Walters posted video of the incident on Facebook, noting that passersby put the shark back into the water after the video ends. The Orlando Sentinel reports that it's not clear what type of shark this was, but adds that thousands of blacktip sharks are in the area because of a winter migration. "Let's pose while a creature who lives in water feels like it is drowning in our air... I am sorry, I feel this is cruel," reads one comment on the Facebook video. But others argued that the "catch and release" was perfectly legal, or noted that no one would be complaining if the shark was caught and killed by a fisherman. Patch notes that the shark does appear to have been captured originally by a "hook and line," so a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rep says it's unlikely any laws were broken. But, he notes, "removing a shark entirely from the water could cause damage to its internal organs." (A baby dolphin recently died after a similar incident.)

A Florida man was captured on video pulling a creature out of the water to pose for a selfie. The man, who has not been identified, is seen on the video grabbing the shark by the tail and then pulling it up onto the beach. Blacktip sharks have been a common sight in the waters off Palm Beach County in recent weeks. Florida once again led the country and the world in the number of confirmed, unprovoked shark attacks in 2015. The worldwide number broke the record of 88 set back in 2000.

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter NORTH MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The parents of an infant who died shortly after birth and was discovered tossed in a North Miami dumpster has been awarded $28 million after a funeral home was found negligent in the transfer of the child. Police said a homeless man found the dead child while he was rummaging through the trash behind a U-Gas station at 5235 N.W. 7th Avenue on Sept. 5, 2014. Later that day, the son of the funeral home owner, Jarren Hood, was arrested. He works for Carey Royal Ram’n Funeral Home and told police that someone broke into his van and stole the box carrying the child while he was delivering him to the crematorium. In 2015, Hood was found negligent for misconduct in the transportation of the baby and the funeral home was fined for breaking state law, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. Hood, however, was only charged with resisting arrest. At the civil trial, no one from the funeral home appeared. ||||| The seed for Wide00014 was: - Slash pages from every domain on the web: -- a ranking of all URLs that have more than one incoming inter-domain link (rank was determined by number of incoming links using Wide00012 inter domain links) -- up to a maximum of 100 most highly ranked URLs per domain - Top ranked pages (up to a max of 100) from every linked-to domain using the Wide00012 inter-domain navigational link graph ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.

– Catheryne Lucero and Raul Manzano thought the body of their infant son, who died soon after his birth on Sept. 1, 2014, was being cremated. Instead, his remains ended up in a dumpster behind a gas station in North Miami, Fla., four days later. Now the couple have been awarded $28 million after a jury determined that the Carey Royal Ram'n Mortuary was negligent in its transport of the child's body, CBS Miami reports. A homeless man searching for food amid the trash found the baby in a cardboard box. A toe tag provided police with "a big clue," the Miami Herald reported at the time, as it suggested the boy had been dead for some time and perhaps came from a funeral home. The discovery was heavily covered by the media, and "the really bad part is the parents had been watching the reports ... and were thinking what a tragedy this is," Neal Hirschfeld, their lawyer in the civil trial, tells the Miami Herald. "They were so distraught." Shortly after the baby was found, Jarren Hood, son of the funeral home owner, told the police that he was supposed to take the body to the crematorium but went home instead; someone then stole the box from his van. A state panel in May found that Hood "committed negligence, incompetency, or misconduct" during the transport, and the funeral home, which is still in operation, was fined, per Hirschfeld. Hood was charged only with resisting arrest in the incident. (Another funeral home laid out the wrong body.)

The parents of an infant who died shortly after birth have been awarded $28 million. Police said a homeless man found the dead child while he was rummaging through the trash. The funeral home was found negligent in the transfer of the child. The son of the funeral home owner, Jarren Hood, was arrested.

Advertisement Over 100 scientists from 16 countries have conclusively concluded that insects began life around 480 million years ago, and gained the ability to fly 80 million years into the future. This is one of the biggest questions scientists were unable to answer, but that is no longer the case today. According to Director of CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection, David Yeates, the first insects were similar to the silverfish we know today. Furthermore, he went on to claim that dragonflies and mayflies were the first insects to develop wings. This happened approximately 400 million years in the past. "Our research shows that insects originated at the same time as the earliest land-based plants, about 480 million years ago," according to Yeates. "These first insects were probably similar to today's silverfish. "Then, about 400 million years ago, ancient ancestors of today's dragonflies and mayflies were the first to develop wings - giving them the ability to fly long before any other animal could do so." He also pointed out that during the time insects were developing wings to fly, land-based plants were also evolving. The plans developed the ability to grow taller, a move of adapting to the ever changing environment. Additionally, some dragonflies managed to develop wings that spanned 70cm. They also developed dangerous mandibles, which means these dragonflies of the past were not be trifled with. They were predators, and likely ate meat instead of other insects. The study also shows that insects are more capable of adapting to changing environments faster when compared to animals. When the biodiversity crisis led to a mass extinction of creatures on the land, dinosaurs and other mammals were affected in a huge way, but insects managed to survive and live as if nothing had happened. According to Professor Bernhard Misof from the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, Germany, the largest amount of species on earth are insects. This doesn't come as a surprise as several of these little creatures can survive almost anywhere. These creatures are also necessary where modern medicine is concerned. In addition, they are also important when it comes down to protecting plants, but some are also the cause of destroying of crops. "They are of immense ecological, economic and medical importance and affect our daily lives, from pollinating our crops to vectoring diseases," Professor Misof said. "We can only start to understand the enormous species richness and ecological importance of insects with a reliable reconstruction of how they are related." We are interested to see what else scientists can locate about these creatures, because they good very well live on long after we are gone. © 2016 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ||||| Creating a family tree that dates back more than 400 million years and details the evolution of the most diverse group of animals on the planet is no easy feat, but one ambitious group of scientists has done just that. The first-ever comprehensive evolutionary tree of insects was recently created by a group of researchers from around the world.

– Want human beings to feel a massive ego-boost? Then look elsewhere, because a ground-breaking study published by Science finds that insects ruled the Earth about 400 million years ago and grew wings long before any other animal, reports Heritage Daily. They cropped up as plants began diversifying, in fact, and in short order created most of the major insect groups still flying today, notes Wired. So which one came first? Insects resembling today's silverfish existed roughly 480 million years ago, an expert tells Tech Times: "Then, about 400 million years ago, ancient ancestors of today's dragonflies and mayflies were the first to develop wings," he says. More on the study: Lice came relatively recently, cropping up about 53 million years ago (when modern mammals and birds came around). So primates are actually older than those little guys. By the evolutionary clock, insects diversified quickly. Consider that plants colonized Earth over the past 450 million years; well, insects needed just 80 million years to take over the skies and form most of their major groups. Led by a group in China, the study solicited genetic data from more than 100 insect specialists around the world and crunched it all with a supercomputer. This leapfrogged the fairly slow pace at which experts were analyzing insect subsets on their own. The study created the first-ever thorough evolutionary tree for insects, notes LiveScience. For more on insects, read about parasites that suck on mosquitoes' blood.

Over 100 scientists from 16 countries have concluded that insects began life around 480 million years ago, and gained the ability to fly 80 million years into the future. According to Director of CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection, David Yeates, the first insects were similar to the silverfish we know today. Yeates also pointed out that during the time insects were developing wings to fly, land-based plants were also evolving. The study also shows that insects are more capable of adapting to changing environments faster when compared to animals.

President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement... (Associated Press) President Donald Trump, center, reaches out to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, left, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as they prepare to sign a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that is replacing the NAFTA trade deal, during a ceremony at a hotel before the start of the G20... (Associated Press) BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 summit (all times local): 9:50 a.m. President Donald Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal. Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Buenos Aires. The revamped deal, which Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has long raged against NAFTA. He says the new agreement "changes the trade landscape forever." Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement. That could prove to be a difficult task in the United States, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes. ___ 9:45 a.m. President Donald Trump says a new trade pact being signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada is a "model agreement that changes the trade landscape forever." Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to a rewrite of North American trade rules. Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico's outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto are signing the new pact Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Trump now faces what could prove a more formidable foe: The U.S. Congress, which must ratify the agreement. He says the parties have "taken a lot of barbs and a little abuse" during the renegotiation. He turned to Trudeau, saying "It's been a battle," but battles sometimes make "great friendships." ___ 9:10 a.m. The Mexican government has presented President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner with the Order of the Aztec Eagle. It's the highest honor America's southern neighbor gives to foreigners. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department says Kushner earned the honor for his work on renegotiating a new trade agreement being signed Friday by Mexico, the United States and Canada on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Argentina. It replaces the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. Kushner, who has been working on U.S.-Mexico issues, says relations have improved because the countries decided not to work across the table, but on the same side to craft "win-win" solutions to migration, drug trafficking and abuse, and other issues plaguing relations. Kushner says there's a "strong level of trust" between the U.S. and Mexico, despite news reports citing clashes between the neighbors. ___ 7:55 a.m.

– President Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal. Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's G20 summit in Buenos Aires. The three sat a table, pens at the ready, spurred to sign with a "let's go" by Trump that was echoed by Trudeau and Pena Nieto. The revamped deal, which Trump calls the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (aka NAFTA), which Trump has long raged against. He says the new agreement "changes the trade landscape forever," reports the AP. Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement. That could prove to be a difficult task in the US, especially now that Democrats will control the House of Representatives come January. Already Democrats and their allies in the labor movement are demanding changes. Trump spent more than a year pushing the leaders of Canada and Mexico into agreeing to this rewrite of North American trade rules. He noted to Trudeau that "it's been a battle," but battles sometimes make "great friendships."

President Donald Trump has joined the leaders of Mexico and Canada to sign a revised North American trade deal. Trump gathered with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on the sidelines of Friday's meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Buenos Aires. The revamped deal, which Trump calls the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Lawmakers in each country must now ratify the agreement, which could prove to be a difficult task in the United States.

9:00 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. To the co-chairs, Jeff and Ann; to all the members of Congress who are here, the distinguished guests who’ve traveled so far to be here this morning; to Randall for your wonderful stories and powerful prayer; to all who are here providing testimony, thank you so much for having me and Michelle here. We are blessed to be here. I want to begin by just saying a word to Mark Kelly, who’s here. We have been praying for Mark’s wife, Gabby Giffords, for many days now. But I want Gabby and Mark and their entire family to know that we are with them for the long haul, and God is with them for the long haul. (Applause.) And even as we pray for Gabby in the aftermath of a tragedy here at home, we're also mindful of the violence that we're now seeing in the Middle East, and we pray that the violence in Egypt will end and that the rights and aspirations of the Egyptian people will be realized and that a better day will dawn over Egypt and throughout the world. For almost 60 years, going back to President Eisenhower, this gathering has been attended by our President. It’s a tradition that I'm proud to uphold not only as a fellow believer but as an elected leader whose entry into public service was actually through the church. This may come as a surprise, for as some of you know, I did not come from a particularly religious family. My father, who I barely knew -- I only met once for a month in my entire life -- was said to be a non-believer throughout his life. My mother, whose parents were Baptist and Methodist, grew up with a certain skepticism about organized religion, and she usually only took me to church on Easter and Christmas -- sometimes. And yet my mother was also one of the most spiritual people that I ever knew. She was somebody who was instinctively guided by the Golden Rule and who nagged me constantly about the homespun values of her Kansas upbringing, values like honesty and hard work and kindness and fair play. And it’s because of her that I came to understand the equal worth of all men and all women, and the imperatives of an ethical life and the necessity to act on your beliefs. And it’s because of her example and guidance that despite the absence of a formal religious upbringing my earliest inspirations for a life of service ended up being the faith leaders of the civil rights movement. There was, of course, Martin Luther King and the Baptist leaders, the ways in which they helped those who had been subjugated to make a way out of no way, and transform a nation through the force of love. But there were also Catholic leaders like Father Theodore Heshburg, and Jewish leaders like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Muslim leaders and Hindu leaders. Their call to fix what was broken in our world, a

– Fox Nation is bashing President Obama for misquoting a Bible verse at yesterday's National Prayer Breakfast—and the lefty Media Matters is in turn accusing the site of biblical ignorance. "Somewhat ironically, while Fox Nation appears to be positioning themselves as the arbiters of authentic Christianity, they seem unfamiliar with the fact that there is more than one version of the Bible," writes Ben Dimiero. Obama said this: "Those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint." Fox Nation, citing the King James Version, says it should be: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Media Matters says Obama used the New International Version: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." The NIV verse isn't an exact match, but Obama didn't appear to be going for that, as per the full White House transcript: "... that we might remember, Kaye, the fact that those who wait on the Lord will soar on wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint."

President Obama: "We have been praying for Mark’s wife, Gabby Giffords, for many days now" President: "Even as we pray for Gabby in the aftermath of a tragedy here at home, we're also mindful of the violence that we're now seeing in the Middle East" "I did not come from a particularly religious family. My father, who I barely knew -- I only met once for a month in my entire life -- was said to be a non-believer throughout his life"

Jim Thome may have gone 21 years without a ring, but last night, he became just the eighth player in baseball history to hit 600 home runs. In an era clouded by steroid use and performance enhancing substances, Thome was one of the select few who made it through unscathed from any accusations, positive tests or court trials. If there was ever any doubt that Thome is a Hall of Famer, just look at the company he has joined by entering the 600 club: Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. It's unlikely that, in this new-found era of meticulous drug testing, there will be any additional outbursts of 600-home run sluggers in the next decade similar to what we've seen in recent years. It's simply too hard of a task to accomplish. It requires consistency, health, luck and flat-out skill, all of which are rare to find collectively in a baseball player. In no particular order, here are the 10 players who have the best chance of joining Thome in hitting 600 career home runs. ||||| Jim Thome's familiar swing was as unique as it was devastating to opposing pitchers. AP Every year before he leaves Peoria, Ill., for spring training, Jim Thome drives out of his way to cruise Jim Thome Drive, near Limestone High, his alma mater. Years ago he explained that the little side trip was his way of "keeping me humble, reminding me where I came from." His annual detour would seem to be perfectly unnecessary, for Thome does humility like a Trappist monk. This is a man who was embarrassed for once watching one of his home runs -- a World Series home run 16 years ago -- and said it would never happen again. Turning 41 this month and playing in his 21st season, Thome has so mastered humility that he has lasted all these years through the thorniest era in baseball history with nary a whiff of controversy or negativity. More than just "Gentleman Jim" -- he was once picked in a poll of players for SI as the nicest guy in the game -- Thome has been the rare delight: a superstar player with a commoner's modesty. On the heels of Derek Jeter reaching 3,000 hits, it was fitting that Thome joined him in the company of iconic milestones this year with home run number 600 Monday night. Like Jeter, Thome has navigated his way through The Steroid Era and The Testing Era with a princely reputation -- beloved by fans and respected by opponents. He is truly worthy of admiration, and even more for his manners than his prolific career. When he hit his 500th home run, for instance, he sent handwritten thank you notes to people throughout the White Sox offices. Upon home run No. 600, the fans in Detroit, an intradivisional rival of Thome's for all but 3 ½ of his 21 big league seasons, rose immediately in an ovation of sustained gratitude. There is an endearing throwback quality to Thome

– With two home runs last night against the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twin Jim Thome became the eighth ballplayer ever to hit 600 out of the park. Perhaps most remarkable about this feat is that he achieved it without steroids—unlike many of the other top sluggers of his era, writes Tom Verducci in Sports Illustrated. Indeed, “Gentleman Jim” has “so mastered humility that he has lasted all these years through the thorniest era in baseball history with nary a whiff of controversy or negativity.” Thome played during “the height of The Steroid Era,” from 1995 to 2003, Verducci notes. All of the top seven home run hitters from the period have been linked to steroids except Thome. Though he’s the eighth to join the 600 home run club, he’s the fifth to achieve that distinction steroid-free. “The strongest thing I put into my body is steak and eggs. I just eat. I'm not a supplement guy. Steroids are not even a thought,” he once told SI. On top of that, a players’ poll labeled Thome the “nicest guy in the game.” So who will be next to join the 600 home run club?

Jim Thome became just the eighth player in baseball history to hit 600 home runs. Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds are also in the 600 club. Thome has navigated his way through The Steroid Era and The Testing Era with a princely reputation. He is truly worthy of admiration, and even more for his manners than his prolific career.. In no particular order, here are the 10 players who have the best chance of joining Thome in hitting 600 career home runs in the next decade.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — After walking out of prison for the first time in three decades, former death row inmate Henry McCollum tried to climb into his father's car but put his head through the loop of the seatbelt that is supposed to cross his chest. A TV cameraman showed him how it works. In a June 10, 1987 photo, Leon Brown sits in the day room of his Death Row cell block in Raleigh, NC's Central Prison. Brown and his half brother Henry McCollum have spent more than three decades in prison... (Associated Press) James McCollum, facing camera, embraces his son Henry following the younger man's release from Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Henry McCollum spent more than 30 years on... (Associated Press) Henry McCollum is surrounded by guards as he sits in a courtroom, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 in Lumberton, N.C. On Tuesday, a judge overturned the convictions of Henry McCollum, 50, and Leon Brown, 46, in... (Associated Press) CORRECTS IDENTIFICATION TO HENRY, NOT JAMES - Henry McCollum is followed by reporters as he leaves court following his release from Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. McCollum... (Associated Press) In a 1987 photo, District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt sits in his office during an interview in Lumberton, N.C. Fifty-year-old Henry McCollum and 46-year-old Leon Brown have spent 30 years in prison for... (Associated Press) Geraldine Brown, sister of Leon Brown, celebrates outside a Robeson County courtroom where her brothers were declared innocent of the rape and murder of an 11 year old girl in 1983, Tuesday, Sept. 2,... (Associated Press) Leon Brown listens to evidence during a court hearing for him and his brother, death row inmate Henry McCollum Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 in Lumberton, N.C. On Tuesday, a judge overturned the convictions... (Associated Press) In an an Aug. 12, 2014 photo, Henry McCollum sits on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C. He and his half brother Leon Brown have spent more than three decades in prison for the rape and murder... (Associated Press) The safety gear isn't all that's changed since the 50-year-old McCollum and his younger half brother were sent away for a 1983 rape and killing that new DNA evidence shows they likely did not commit. McCollum has never accessed the Internet or owned a cellphone. And he looked ill at ease Wednesday in a tie and white dress shirt, the collar at least an inch too large, shedding the red jumpsuit he wore in his cell. His relief was obvious, though. "Right now I want to go home and take a hot bath," McCollum said. "I want to see how that tub feel. And eat. I want to eat. I want to go to sleep and wake up the next day and see all this is real." McCollum hugged his weeping parents at the gates of Central Prison in Raleigh, a day after a judge ordered his release, citing new DNA evidence in the 1983 slaying of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie. His half brother, 46-year-old Leon

– A day after a judge declared Leon Brown and Henry McCollum innocent and ordered their release after 30 years behind bars for a rape and murder they didn't commit, the half-brothers finally walked out of prisons in North Carolina yesterday. McCollum, 50 embraced his parents as soon as he was free. "I just thank God that I'm out of this place," he told reporters. "They took 30 years away from me for no reason, but I don't hate them. I don't hate them one bit," he added. McCollum, the state's longest-serving death row inmate, was so unfamiliar with the world outside prison that a cameraman had to help him get his seat belt on before he departed, the Los Angeles Times reports. DNA evidence cleared both men, who were teenagers at the time of the 1983 killing. Brown, 46, was freed from a different prison yesterday and the pair embraced surrounded by cheering family members when they were reunited at a sister's home in Fayetteville, reports the Charlotte Observer. Both men, who are mentally disabled, will face huge challenges readjusting to the outside world, but may be in line for payments of up to $750,000 each. "A long time ago, I wanted to find me a good wife, I wanted to raise a family, I wanted to have my own business and everything," McCollum said in an interview last week. "I never got a chance to realize those dreams. Now I believe that God is going to bless me to get back out there." On his first day of freedom, he said he wanted to take a long bath—and "to go to sleep and wake up the next day and see all this is real." But although he is now free, he believes other innocent men are still on North Carolina's death row. "It hurt me the most to see the state take somebody's life, when they are committing murder their own self," he tells the AP. "But they don't see it that way."

Henry McCollum tried to climb into his father's car but put his head through the loop of the seatbelt that is supposed to cross his chest. The safety gear isn't all that's changed since the 50-year-old and his younger half brother were sent away for a 1983 rape and killing that new DNA evidence shows they likely did not commit. "Right now I want to go home and take a hot bath," McCollom said. "I want to see how that tub feel. And eat"

Perhaps you heard that reality TV star Kim Kardashian is getting married this weekend? No doubt you also heard that Kim has been hitting the gym hard to look perfect on her fairytale wedding day. Kim's been kicking her famous butt into high gear and has been tweeting up a storm about her sessions with personal trainer Gunnar Peterson. All weekend Kim's been tweeting: "Had a great @Gunnar workout early this morning! I don't know what I would do without him!" "Such a great workout w @Gunnar! Gunnar has me on the grind!!!!" "I really put in extra work today at bootcamp! Feels so good to push yourself a little more than usual!" But what exactly has Kim been doing to get her booty as tight as possible for the big day? Kim's trainer Gunnar Peterson, who been working with the bride-to-be for the last three years, told Shape, that he's been working out with Kim three to five days per week, depending on her hectic schedule. Kim is in the gym all year long and not just for special occasions. But since she wants to look amazing when her wedding airs on TV for the entire world to see in October they've reved up her routines, making them just a little quicker paced. To learn Kim's entire wedding workout click over to Shape. WATCH: ||||| Kat Von D may no longer have her show, but she’s back with her man. Even as TLC announced the cancellation of LA Ink, Von D and Jesse James – who had called off their engagement last month – posted on Twitter separate photos of themselves locked in embraces. James went a step further and added the caption, “para siempre” – Spanish for “forever.” In an interview with PEOPLE, James made it official. The engagement is back on, and Von D is once again wearing her ring. RELATED: Kat Von D’s Show, LA Ink, Is Cancelled “Sometimes you are only given one chance in life,” he says. “It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her.”

– Oh, those crazy kids: After breaking their engagement less than a month ago, Jesse James and Kat Von D are back on. James broke the news by tweeting a romantic photo of himself and Von D with the caption "para siempre," or "forever." He later confirmed to People the engagement ring is back on Kat's finger. "Sometimes you are only given one chance in life," he says. "It was up to me to open my eyes and see it. That girl is my chance. I will never stop fighting and striving to hold on to her. Showing her how special she is, and how much I love her." (And in other wedding news...)

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian is getting married this weekend. Kim has been hitting the gym hard to look perfect on her fairytale wedding day. Kim's trainer Gunnar Peterson has been working with the bride-to-be for the last three years. Kim is in the gym all year long and not just for special occasions, but since her wedding airs in October they've reved up her routines.

Police say attacks by man with knife and iron bar do not appear to be terrorism A man wielding a knife and an iron bar has attacked seven people including two British tourists in Paris. Police arrested a suspect, whom they believed to be an Afghan national aged 31, after a group of pétanque players chased him and reportedly brought him to the ground. Officers said the attacks on Sunday evening did not appear to be terrorism-related. Four of the wounded were in a serious condition in hospital, one of them critical. Le Parisien newspaper said the attacker stabbed one of the British tourists in the chest and the other in the head. The Foreign Office said it was investigating the incident. The attacks occurred at about 10.45pm (21.45 BST) on Sunday near a cinema on the popular Canal de l’Ourcq at Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of the French capital. Police said the man attacked passersby at random. “At this stage, nothing leads us to believe these attacks are of a terrorist nature,” a police source said. The man was reportedly unknown to the police and was not on France’s Fiche-S list of potential terrorism suspects. One witness told BFMTV: “We saw people on the ground. We saw blood. There was a man who was running around with a knife of 40cm long. The whole thing happened quickly: it was all over in about seven minutes.” A security guard at one of two cinemas on either side of the canal said he saw a man who had assaulted people being chased by two men who tried to stop him. “He had an iron bar in his hand which he threw at the men chasing him, then he took out a knife,” the guard said. Another witness, Youssef Najah, 38, said he was walking along the canal near a bowling green when he saw a man running and holding a knife. “There were around 20 people chasing him. They started throwing pétanque balls at him,” he said. “Around four or five balls hit him in the head, but they weren’t able to stop him.” Najah said the attacker dived into an alleyway where he “tried to hide behind two British tourists. We said to them: ‘Watch out, he has a knife.’ But they didn’t react.” The pair were then attacked, he said. One of the men who caught the suspect said he had been having a drink in the MK2 cinema cafe when he saw the man strike. “I didn’t understand at first, then he headed for the swimming pool on the canal and there he began to hit people with the iron bar,” the witness, named only as Smaïn, told Le Parisien. “Afterwards he stabbed someone. There were three or four youngsters who were playing pétanque and they followed him with their boules. Then began targeting him with the boules to keep him away.” Smaïn said he, the boules players and four other people eventually surrounded the attacker. “I had a stick, another had an iron bar … one of us

– At least seven people were hurt in Paris late Sunday after a man went on a rampage with an iron bar and a large knife, though police say they do not believe terrorism was the motive. Witnesses say the man, believed to be a 31-year-old Afghan national, initially stabbed two men and a woman walking near a canal, the BBC reports. He was spotted and chased by a group of people who had been playing petanque, the lawn bowling game also known as boules. The group of around 20 people pelted the man with metal petanque balls, but they weren't able to stop him from attacking two British tourists in a nearby street, witnesses say. The man was eventually brought to the ground by the petanque players. He was unconscious and injured when he was taken into custody by police. Four of the people hurt in the attack were hospitalized with serious injuries, including the two British tourists, one of them with head injuries and the other with stab wounds in the chest, the Guardian reports. "At this stage, there is nothing to indicate that it could be a terrorist attack," according to a police source, who says the man attacked "strangers in the street." Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo thanked police for arresting the man and the petanque players who intervened.

Suspect believed to be Afghan national aged 31. Police say attacks on Sunday evening did not appear to be terrorism-related. Four of the wounded were in a serious condition in hospital, one of them critical. The attacks occurred at about 10.45pm (21.45 BST) on Sunday near a cinema on the popular Canal de l’Ourcq at Villette, in the 19th arrondissement of the French capital. The man was reportedly unknown to the police and was not on France's Fiche-S list of potential terrorism suspects.

The head of the Troy City Council agrees, saying she was "stunned, surprised, shocked and certainly shows the character of whoever did this." Mantello says Troy will ban future outings from the Rensselaer Police Department from the public course. The Troy Mayor's office directed inquiries to the Troy Police, who confirm there is an investigation. Rensselaer's Police Chief has confirmed an internal investigation is underway but calls it a personnel matter. "This is really bothersome for me," said Rick Fusco. "There is no room for a police officer to continue to be a police officer if in fact he did this, if he intentionally killed an animal...but we need witnesses to come forward." "Two bad seeds puts a negative light of the whole organization," said Mantello. "I have talked to park staff and we will ban that organization from future outings here at the golf course." Chief Fusco urges witnesses to call him directly at 462-7451. You don't have to leave a message with the dispatcher, but you can leave one on his voicemail. This case reminds NewsChannel 13 of a similar one earlier this year involving porcupines. Eleven were beaten to death, in a trail of killings stretching from Schoharie County to the hilltowns of Albany County. Sheriff Craig Apple says he knows who did it, but can't prosecute. That's because porcupines are not protected under the law since they're considered a nuisance animal. ||||| To woodchucks, golf courses like the one at Frear Park in upstate New York are paradise — the small mammals are drawn to open fields, where the animals can feast on grasses, crops and the occasional insect. To one woodchuck, the Frear Park paradise turned into a lethal nightmare on a Friday afternoon in late July. A pair of police officers playing in a golf tournament spied a wandering woodchuck. For reasons yet unknown — a local columnist speculated that the large amounts of alcohol common at such tournaments may have played a role, though there is no confirmation the officers were drinking — they allegedly gave chase in a golf cart. Other parkgoers say the men crushed the animal beneath their tires. The incident was widely condemned by local officials and nationally on social media. The city of Troy, where the park is located, has assigned two detectives to an ongoing investigation. The case of "woodchuck homicide," as the Albany Times-Union put it, occurred while the Rensselaer Police Department union was holding its annual golf tournament. Officer Tyler Sammon was driving the cart with a fellow officer, Matt Spath, riding shotgun, Rensselaer Police Chief Rick Fusco told ABC's News 10. Both men are on administrative leave with pay until the investigation concludes and could not be located for comment. "There is zero tolerance for this behavior," Troy City Council President Carmella Mantello said in a statement to the Troy Record. "The City Council, Mayor, Police Chief [John] Tedesco, and detectives are investigating this serious animal abuse incident and inappropriate actions." Killing woodchucks is not illegal in New York. The animals are one of the few

– Two police officers in upstate New York are being investigated over allegations that they used a golf cart to run down and run over a golf course groundhog, NBC reports. The incident took place during a union event for the Rensselaer City Police Department at the Frear Park golf course in Troy, according to the Times Union. Officer Tyler Sammon allegedly ran over the groundhog. Officer Mike Spath was the passenger. Both have been placed on paid leave. Before driving over the animal, Sammon chased it until it could no longer run, witnesses say. The pair also allegedly ran over tee boxes and drove through ropes. Rensselaer Police Chief Rick Fusco tells WNYT that he finds the whole thing "really bothersome," adding, "There is no room for a police officer to continue to be a police officer if in fact he did this, if he intentionally killed an animal." Groundhogs are not protected by state law, per the Chicago Tribune. However, the city of Troy prohibits killing them at the park. "They don't come after you, they stay on the edge of the woods. Once in a while they come out, they don't bother anybody," one Frear Park golfer tells WNYT, adding that the officers' alleged behavior is "crazy." If the allegations pan out, Fusco says he'll recommend that the two officers get the boot, telling the Times Union, "There is no room in any police agency for a person like this to be carrying a badge and a gun." Regardless of the outcome of the internal investigation, the Rensselaer police union will have to find a new place to hold its annual golf tournament. "We will ban this organization," a Troy City Council member tells WNYT.

A pair of Rensselaer, New York, police officers are accused of killing a woodchuck in a golf cart. The incident occurred at Frear Park, where the city of Troy has assigned two detectives to an ongoing investigation. Killing woodchucks is not illegal in New York; the animals are one of the few that are protected under the law. The head of the Troy City Council says she was "stunned, surprised, shocked and certainly shows the character of whoever did this"

Russian President Vladimir Putin says everyone is invited to the Sochi Winter Olympics — even President Barack Obama. “Everybody is invited,” Putin told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview aired Sunday on "This Week." With Putin granting temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Obama sending an official delegation with openly gay members to the Olympics despite Russia’s anti-gay laws, the posturing between both countries hasn’t exactly been friendly. “Between major countries, there certainly always are some common ground and points of tension,” Putin said, adding that Snowden can stay in Russia for as long as he wants. “With respect to athletes, I’d recommend and advise them not to think about the political differences. Politics should not interfere with sports and sports should impact politics.” Putin also vowed stringent security at the Olympics in the face of terrorism threats. And Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he believes Putin is taking all of the right precautions. But he’s still concerned about an up-close-and-personal attack, like an event similar to the Boston Marathon bombings. “The threats are real,” McCaul said. “All the briefings I’ve received from the intelligence community indicate that there are real concerns.” Read more about: Terrorism, Olympics, Vladimir Putin, Mike McCaul, Sochi ||||| MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered new assurances to gay athletes and fans attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics next month. Yet he defends Russia's anti-gay law by equating gays with pedophiles and says Russia needs to "cleanse" itself of homosexuality if it wants to increase its birth rate. In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 photo made available by Presidential Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a translation during an interview to Russian and... (Associated Press) In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 photo made available by Presidential Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin, listens during an interview to Russian and foreign media at... (Associated Press) In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 photo made available by Presidential Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a translation during an interview to Russian and... (Associated Press) In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2014 photo made available by Presidential Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a translation during an interview to Russian and... (Associated Press) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at his meeting with Olympic volunteers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Friday, Jan. 17, 2014. Putin says gays should feel welcome at the upcoming Winter... (Associated Press) Putin's comments in a TV interview broadcast Sunday still show the wide gulf between the perception of homosexuality in Russia versus the West. A Russian law passed last year banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" among minors has caused an international outcry. Putin refused to answer a question on whether he believes that people are born gay or become gay. The Russian law, however, suggests that information about homosexuality can influence a child's sexual orientation.

– Vladimir Putin is again taking time out of his Herculean schedule to sit down with foreign media in advance of next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, and used the opportunity to try to downplay Russia's anti-gay laws—sort of. "Everybody is invited to Sochi," he told ABC in an interview airing today. "I couldn't care less about their sexual orientation. We will welcome all athletes and all visitors to the Olympics. None of our guests will have any problems." Other highlights of his comments from interviews conducted Friday, courtesy of Politico, Reuters, the Guardian, and the AP: On calls to boycott the Sochi Olympics: "The Russian people have their own cultural code, their own tradition. We don't interfere, don't stick our noses in their life and we ask that our traditions and culture are treated with the same respect." On US states that criminalize homosexual acts: "We have no such thing, people can feel free and at ease, but please leave the children in peace." Reuters notes that he did not elaborate on that last part. And furthermore: "It seems to me that the law we adopted doesn't harm anybody. What's more, homosexual people can't feel inferior here, because there is no professional, career, or social discrimination against them. When they achieve great success, for example Elton John—he's an extraordinary person, a distinguished musician, and millions of our people sincerely love him, regardless of his sexual orientation." On what he'll be watching: "Everybody in our country likes figure skating, I do too. I like cross-country skiing, biathlon, Alpine skiing. This is what I know and what I like ." On Edward Snowden: "Mr. Snowden is subject to the treatment of provisional asylum here in Russia. He has a right to travel freely across the country, he has no special limitation, he can just buy a ticket and come here." As to Snowden being able to stay in Russia indefinitely, Putin said, "Yes, sure, definitely." Meanwhile, Politico takes a lengthy look inside the Sochi Olympics here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says everyone is invited to the Sochi Winter Olympics — even President Barack Obama. Putin also vowed stringent security at the Olympics in the face of terrorism threats. Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said he believes Putin is taking all of the right precautions. But he’s still concerned about an up-close-and-personal attack, like an event similar to the Boston Marathon bombings. Putin refused to answer a question on whether he believes that people are born gay or become gay.

WASHINGTON — The trail that led American officials to blame North Korea for the destructive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in November winds back to 2010, when the National Security Agency scrambled to break into the computer systems of a country considered one of the most impenetrable targets on earth. Spurred by growing concern about North Korea’s maturing capabilities, the American spy agency drilled into the Chinese networks that connect North Korea to the outside world, picked through connections in Malaysia favored by North Korean hackers and penetrated directly into the North with the help of South Korea and other American allies, according to former United States and foreign officials, computer experts later briefed on the operations and a newly disclosed N.S.A. document. A classified security agency program expanded into an ambitious effort, officials said, to place malware that could track the internal workings of many of the computers and networks used by the North’s hackers, a force that South Korea’s military recently said numbers roughly 6,000 people. Most are commanded by the country’s main intelligence service, called the Reconnaissance General Bureau, and Bureau 121, its secretive hacking unit, with a large outpost in China. The evidence gathered by the “early warning radar” of software painstakingly hidden to monitor North Korea’s activities proved critical in persuading President Obama to accuse the government of Kim Jong-un of ordering the Sony attack, according to the officials and experts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the classified N.S.A. operation. ||||| Clearly, hackers who sympathize with North Korea don't have a great sense of humor. Weeks after Sony briefly cancelled The Interview, Moneyhorse Games has frozen work on its Kim Jong-un parody shooter Glorious Leader. The studio says that hackers destroyed game data and locked the company out of its computers, making it tough to both continue work on the dictator-inspired side-scroller and maintain a crowdfunding drive for the title. The funding goals weren't likely to be met as-is, for that matter. This isn't the first time Moneyhorse has faced an attack, but it's serious enough that the company is "reevaluating" its willingness to go forward with a game that has dealt with multiple threats.

– The US was able to pin the Sony Pictures cyberattack on North Korea with confidence because the National Security Agency hacked its way into North Korean systems years earlier, according to the New York Times, which cites American and foreign officials as well as computer experts and a newly disclosed NSA document. The sources say that after gaining access to North Korean networks in 2010, the initial focus was on Pyongyang's weapons programs, but the US focus shifted to North Korea's "cyberarmy" after a massive hack in 2013 paralyzed South Korea's banking system. But although the NSA has reportedly placed malware in North Korean systems intended to serve as an early warning system for cyberattacks, the monitoring didn't give US agencies any advance warning of the Sony attack, officials tell NBC. The penetration did, however, make it easier to trace what one insider calls North Korea's "incredibly careful and patient" preparation for the attack. "Attributing where attacks come from is incredibly difficult and slow,” a cyberwarfare expert tells the Times. "The speed and certainty with which the United States made its determinations about North Korea told you that something was different here—that they had some kind of inside view." In what appears to be an unrelated attack, developer Moneyhorse Games halted work on its "Glorious Leader!" action game starring Kim Jong Un after unidentified hackers destroyed game data and locked the company out of its own computers, Engadget reports.

Spy agency drilled into Chinese networks that connect North Korea to the outside world. It picked through connections in Malaysia favored by North Korean hackers, officials say. The evidence gathered by the “early warning radar” of software proved critical in persuading President Obama to accuse the government of Kim Jong-un of ordering the Sony attack, officials and experts say.

Russia's state-owned Rosneft teamed up with U.S. company ExxonMobil on Tuesday to develop huge offshore oil fields in the Russian Arctic in return for access to resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Because Rosneft does not have its own technology for deep sea drilling, it was looking for partners to develop the offshore projects in the Arctic and other regions of Russia. A deal it was pursuing with Britain's BP earlier this year, however, fell through. Rosneft spokesman Rustam Kazharov told the Associated Press that the "strategic partnership" with Exxon was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He was unable to name the plots that Rosneft will work on in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas. ExxonMobil said in a statement that Tuesday's agreement includes $3.2 billion to be spent on exploring three sectors in the Kara Sea in the Arctic as well as a sector in the Black Sea. Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil's chief executive, attended the ceremony and said in the statement that the deal "takes our relationship to a new level and will create substantial value for both companies." ExxonMobil and Rosneft first struck a deal in January to develop a sector in the Russian part of the Black Sea. Putin lauded Exxon for its extensive experience in drilling in the Arctic region in Canada. Tuesday's signing ceremony was preceded by talks between Rosneft executives and ExxonMobil top brass, including President Neil Duffin. Putin hailed the deal as "a truly strategic partnership", the RIA Novosti news agency reported. The prime minister estimated the total investment in the project at a massive $500 billion, a figure he described as "scary." The deal is a blow for Britain's BP, with which Rosneft struck an accord in January to jointly develop the Arctic fields. That agreement fell through, however, after BP's Russian shareholders managed to block it. "The Exxon deal is offering us much more" than BP, Kazharov told the AP. BP's spokeswoman Sheila Williams would not comment on the deal but said BP is still "committed both to Russia and to the continuing success of TNK-BP," its Russian venture. ____ Meera Selva contributed to this report from London. ||||| An employee works near a gasoline tank truck outside the Rosneft Achinsk oil refinery plant, one of the biggest Siberian fuel suppliers, near the town of Achinsk, some 117 miles west of Krasnoyarsk, April 28, 2011. SOCHI, Russia/SAN FRANCISCO | SOCHI, Russia/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp and Rosneft signed an agreement to extract oil and gas from the Russian Arctic, in the most significant U.S.-Russian corporate deal since U.S. President Barack Obama began a push to improve ties. The pact, which includes an option for Rosneft to invest in Gulf of Mexico and Texan properties, ended any hope of Britain's BP reviving its deal with state-owned Rosneft to develop the same Arctic territory. That deal was blocked in May by the billionaire partners in another BP Russian venture. The pact gives Exxon, the biggest U.S. oil company, access to substantial reserves in Russia, the world's top oil producer.

– Exxon Mobil scored a major coup in the search for Arctic oil today, signing a deal with Russia to explore areas with state-owned Rosneft, reports Reuters. The deal gives Exxon access to spots controlled by Moscow in the Kara Sea, which has become a much sought-after region within the petroleum industry now that sea ice looks to be receding, notes the New York Times. As part of the deal, Exxon will give Rosneft a stake in some US operations in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas. Rosneft was seeking out an offshore partner because it doesn't have its own technology for deep sea drilling, and the agreement comes after a similar deal between Rosneft and BP fell through. The Wall Street Journal sees it as a "big win" for Exxon in the race to lock down potential fields. Vladimir Putin estimated that the total investment in the project could be a "scary" $500 billion, notes AP.

Russia's state-owned Rosneft teamed up with U.S. company ExxonMobil on Tuesday. Deal includes $3.2 billion to be spent on exploring three sectors in the Kara Sea in the Arctic as well as a sector in the Black Sea. Putin hails the deal as "a truly strategic partnership" Total investment in the project is estimated at a massive $500 billion, a figure Putin described as "scary" The deal is a blow for Britain's BP, with which RosneFT struck an accord in January to jointly develop Arctic fields.

DENVER (AP) — Scientists are working to pinpoint the source of a giant mass of methane hanging over the southwestern U.S., which a study found to be the country's largest concentration of the greenhouse gas. FILE - This undated handout image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Michigan, shows The Four Corners area, in red, left, is the major U.S. hot spot for methane emissions in this map showing how... (Associated Press) The report that revealed the methane hot spot over the Four Corners region — where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet — was released last year. Now, scientists from the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA are conducting a monthlong study to figure out exactly where it came from. The answer could help reduce methane emissions that contribute to global warming. Here are some key things to know: ___ HOT SPOT Last year's study by NASA and the University of Michigan was based on images from a European satellite captured between 2003 and 2009. They showed the methane hot spot as a red blip over the area, which is about half the size of Connecticut. The study found the concentration of methane detected there would trap more heat in the atmosphere than all the carbon dioxide produced each year in Sweden. Methane doesn't last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, but it's far more potent for capturing heat in the short term. ___ POSSIBLE SOURCES Methane occurs naturally and also is emitted by landfills and the agricultural and oil and natural gas industries. One possible source of the hot spot is methane released from the region's coal deposits. The releases can happen naturally, especially where coal seams reach the earth's surface. They also occur deliberately when energy companies extract methane — the primary component of natural gas — from coal beds. The region is home to the San Juan Basin, North America's most productive area coal bed methane extraction area. Methane also is released by coal mining and oil and gas drilling systems, and cattle produce large amounts of the gas. Scientists can pinpoint the kind of methane created by fossil fuels by looking for the presence of associated hydrocarbons. ___ HEALTH EFFECTS The methane emissions pose no direct safety or health risks for Four Corners residents, although the hot spot does factor into overall global warming. Also, methane emitted from traditional oil and gas operations usually is accompanied by hydrocarbon emissions that can create ozone, a pollutant that leads to smog and is linked to asthma and respiratory illness. ___ INVESTIGATING THE MYSTERY For the next month, scientists based in Durango will fly in planes with a variety of instruments that can sense methane in the San Juan Basin. Crews in vans will follow up on their leads on the ground. The European satellite that captured the hot spot is no longer in use, but Japan's GOSAT satellite plans to focus in on the Four Corners when it passes over the area. It's possible methane levels over the Four

– Last year, a puzzle emerged in the Four Corners area, where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah come together: The area, scientists found, has had a far higher concentration of methane than anywhere else in the US. Now, teams of federal, university, and other researchers are trying to figure out why, Phys.org reports. Last year's findings came from satellite data that didn't offer a clear picture of the reasons for the phenomenon. But "with all the ground-based and airborne resources that the different groups are bringing to the region, we have the unique chance to unequivocally solve the Four Corners mystery," an expert says. Researchers from NASA, NOAA, the University of Michigan, and elsewhere will turn to a collection of specialized instruments to conduct their investigation into the methane "hot spot," which, LiveScience reports, stuck around from 2003 until 2009 at the earliest. Flying the instruments over the area will allow experts to map out methane levels in detail, tracking down the sources by investigating at the level of the square meter. The investigation will take place over the course of the next month, the AP reports. Possible causes include gas extraction and coal mining, LiveScience notes. (Another odd source of methane: the Atlantic sea floor, which is "burping" the stuff up, a study says.)

Methane hot spot over the Four Corners region is where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet. Methane detected there would trap more heat in the atmosphere than all the carbon dioxide produced each year in Sweden. One possible source of the hot spot is methane released from the region's coal deposits. The region is home to the San Juan Basin, North America's most productive area coal bed methane extraction area. The methane emissions pose no direct safety or health risks for four Corners residents.

On the evening of August 11, 2007, several members of the Punta Santiago Scooter Club volunteered to serve as escorts for a 15-year-old girl celebrating her quinceañera. The yellow-shirted club members’ parked scooters partially blocked traffic on Highway 3, a two-lane road outside the eastern Puerto Rican town of Humacao. Miguel Cáceres Cruz, a 43-year-old member of the club and a father of three, was helping to direct traffic when a police car tried to pass. According to witnesses and police, the cops exchanged rude words with Cáceres, after which three officers got out of the car. In a shaky hand-held video, Cáceres can be seen backing away from the officers as they quickly approach him. He walks backward onto a sidewalk, where he backs into a wall. One of the officers, Javier Pagán Cruz, lunges toward Cáceres. The two tussle and Cáceres falls to the ground. The video briefly pans away, but when it comes back to the scene, Cáceres is beneath Pagán, holding on to the officer’s leg, possibly trying to keep him from pulling his gun out of the holster. As the two men struggle, shouts from a large crowd of onlookers can be heard. Then a gunshot rings out, startling the person with the camera and the officer standing next to Pagán. Another shot is fired, followed by three more. Cáceres lies face down on the sidewalk, motionless. Pagán, leaning against the wall, fires one more shot, into the back of Cáceres’ head. Warning: This video shows graphic violence. Following the shooting, Pagán limps back to the patrol car, having wounded himself in the leg with his first shot. He and the other officers leave the scene as Cáceres lies dying. Cáceres’ death received virtually no attention outside of Puerto Rico. But even seven years later, it remains fresh in the minds of many Puerto Ricans who see it as a particularly egregious example of the kinds of police abuses that are endemic to the American commonwealth. As the recent deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police have ignited a national protest movement in the continental United States, many Americans remain unaware that Puerto Ricans have been waging a similar campaign to rein in a police force that many perceive as out of control. Advocates and activists in Puerto Rico have been quick to seize on the parallels between the two movements. “The murder of Miguel Cáceres is to Puerto Rico what the choke-hold death of Eric Garner is to New York and the Michael Brown killing is to Ferguson, Missouri,” civil rights attorney Judith Berkan wrote in a recent brief in an ongoing civil suit between the Cáceres family and the Puerto Rico Police Department. Olga Orraca, a Puerto Rican gay rights activist who has spoken out against police brutality, says events like Ferguson and the Garner decision could help lead to reforms on the island. “What’s happening with police in other parts of the US has a domino effect,” she says. “The situation that is happening with people, especially black people in the

– Authorities say an argument between a cop and three of his colleagues apparently led the officer to shoot and kill all three of them Monday at police headquarters in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the AP reports. The officer, identified by Puerto Rican newspaper El Vocero as 50-year-old Guarionex Candelario Rivera, allegedly shot to death his boss, Lt. Luz Soto Segarra, 49, as well as Cmdr. Frank Roman Rodriguez, 49, and 42-year-old policewoman Rosario Hernandez de Hoyos, per the New York Daily News and the AP. The suspect was holding the three captive and cops were about to begin hostage negotiations when he killed his co-workers, a police spokeswoman tells the AP. "There are no words to describe this tragedy where three colleagues have lost their lives," Associate Superintendent Juan Rodriguez Davila said via a post on the Puerto Rico PD's Twitter page, per CNN. "Our condolences for the families." Puerto Rico's police department, said by the AP to be the second largest in a US jurisdiction, has already been the subject of much scrutiny: Earlier this year, Mother Jones called it "America's worst police force" for its "long record of corruption, shootings, and impunity," while Latin Correspondent labels the "beleaguered entity" as being rife with officers who aren't trained well and are paid little, and some of whom use the department to "establish and maintain their own criminal network." The suspect, who was arrested and is now in custody, was said to have worked in the department's anti-drug division, the AP notes. Authorities also had to evacuate the station to check out reports of an explosive device in the suspect's car, the news agency adds. (The Justice Department has been after this department for some time.)

Miguel Cáceres Cruz, a 43-year-old member of the Punta Santiago Scooter Club, was shot to death in 2007. He was directing traffic when a police car tried to pass and exchanged rude words with him. Many Puerto Ricans see his death as an example of police abuses that are endemic to the commonwealth. The recent deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of police have ignited a national protest movement in the continental U.S. Many Americans remain unaware that Puerto Rico has been waging a similar campaign to rein in a police force.

HANCOCK COUNTY -- Sheriff's officials are warning the public about a dangerous batch of Spice that surfaced last week, killing two of its users almost instantly and hospitalizing several others. Sheriff Ricky Adam called Spice the "most dangerous" drug he's ever seen because it kills quicker than any other drug. Officials held a press conference Monday afternoon to emphasize the dangers of Spice, described as a synthetic psychoactive compound of various chemicals and substances -- many of which are unknown, untested and crudely formulated in makeshift laboratories. "They aren't chemists," Adam said. "They're just other dopers looking to make a buck. They'll mix anything they can as long as it's cheap and they can make a profit." Spice is commonly referred to as synthetic marijuana. But officials said the term in inaccurate and people should not equate the two substances. Chief Deputy Don Bass even said he would welcome the legalization of marijuana if doing so would collapse the Spice market, but he said realistically it would likely have little effect on it. Unlike the average marijuana user, many Spice users are seasoned drug addicts who seek out the psychoactive effects, he said. "It's not harmless, and it's not weed," Adam said. The sheriff said evidence suggests the batch that killed 33-year-old Robert Redford and 59-year-old Ralph Waymire also led to the hospitalization of a woman on Saturday. On Monday, Bay St. Louis police responded to a disturbance on Highway 90 involving a 24-year-old man who told officers he had been on a daily Spice binge for about seven days, Chief Mike DeNardo said. The man was transported to Hancock Medical Center for treatment. Another Spice incident led to the hospitalization of Henry Farve earlier last week. Deputies discovered Farve inside his vehicle after it ran off the road and got stuck in a ditch in the Bayside community. When deputies approached Farve, they found him sitting in the driver's seat, awake and making growling noises, Adam said. He said evidence suggests the batch is localized in the Bayside community, but he fears the drug could begin spreading to teenagers. "Heaven forbid that a 16-year-old tries it one time, and it kills him," Adam said. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| A selection of the Spice legal stimulants is pictured in a shop in north London in 2009. (Leon Neal/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) For the small southern city of Anniston, 2011 seemed like

– "American Association of Poison Control Centers Issues Warning About Reemerging Synthetic Drugs." That's the title of a strongly worded press release issued yesterday about "Spice" following an upsurge in hospital visits and calls to state poison control centers due to the drug. Those centers received 1,008 reports of adverse reactions to Spice during the first 22 days of April, compared to 892 reports over the first three months of the year. That's a total of 1,900 calls; all of 2014 saw a total of 3,680. The synthetic substance resembles pot but isn't really anything like it: It's treated with chemicals—like pesticides and rat poison—can be 100 times more potent than marijuana, and can cause extreme anxiety, violent behavior, and delusions, the Washington Post reports. Mississippi, New York, and Alabama—which has seen 462 Spice-related hospital visits in the past month—have each issued alerts; Arizona, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas have also seen a spike in Spice cases, the New York Times reports. A law enforcement official tells Mississippi's Sun Herald he'd gladly see pot legalized in his state if it meant the Spice market would be wiped out as a result, though he thinks Spice users wouldn't give up the drug for pot. Another official tells the Herald Spice is the "most dangerous" drug he's ever seen because it can kill almost instantly, and a few of this year's cases have indeed ended in death. The Times notes it's unclear whether the bump in Spice-related medical cases is due to increased usage or the distribution of a more dangerous variation of it. The press release notes Spice's ill effects were first reported in the US in 2009.

Sheriff Ricky Adam calls Spice the "most dangerous" drug he's ever seen. Many Spice users are seasoned drug addicts who seek out the psychoactive effects. "It's not harmless, and it's not weed," Adam says. Chief Deputy Don Bass says he would welcome the legalization of marijuana if doing so would collapse the Spice market, but he said realistically it would likely have little effect on it.. On Monday, Bay St. Louis police responded to a disturbance on Highway 90 involving a 24-year-old man who told officers he had been on a daily Spice binge.

Delta Airlines has apologized to a woman who was required to check her breast pump against company policy. “Delta supports the rights of women to breast-feed,” Delta spokesperson Lindsay McDuff said in a statement, CNN reports. “Breast-feeding and breast pumps are permitted aboard any Delta flight and in Delta ground facilities. We have apologized to the customer for her experience.” Lauren Modeen, a nursing mother, says gate agents would not let her board with her carry-on suitcase that contained a breast pump, her purse and a cooler to carry breast milk. Many airlines, like Delta, limit passengers to one carry-on bag and a personal item, but allow medical devices to go aboard without counting against customers’ carry-on allowance. Modeen says she was told all passengers boarding with her needed to check their luggage but that others behind her brought their carry-on items aboard with no problem. A customer who witnessed Modeen’s conversation says the overhead bins were not crowded. [CNN] ||||| (CNN) Nursing mother Lauren Modeen has taken to Twitter to ask why Delta Air Lines forced her to check her breast pump. Modeen was boarding Delta Flight 2034 last week traveling from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It was her second flight of the day for a business trip that would keep her away from her baby for four days. The gate agents wouldn't allow Modeen to board the January 19 flight with her breast pump, which was packed in her standard carry-on suitcase, Modeen said. She also had her purse and a cooler with ice packs to transport her breast milk. Delta and other airlines allow one carry-on bag and one personal item, such as a purse, for free. Medical devices, strollers and certain other equipment are also allowed and don't count against a traveler's carry-on allowance, according to airline policy The gate agent first told her that she needed to consolidate her luggage, even after Modeen says she told the agent that the suitcase included a medical device. "She then said the computer just gave her a message stating that all passengers starting with me would need to check their bags," Modeen told CNN. "When I later entered the jet bridge, passengers lining up behind me had their suitcases." @DeltaAssist then several passengers after me brought on their bags. Meanwhile I cannot access my pump. — Lauren Modeen (@exilauren) January 20, 2015 Passenger Peggy Flanagan, who says she doesn't know Modeen, said she saw and heard much of the exchange as she was waiting in line to board the aircraft. "I saw a young woman who seemed really troubled, and the ticket agent continued to say, 'you can't take it on; you're going to have to check your bag,'" said Flanagan, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund of Minnesota. "She kept saying, 'I have a medical device I need to bring with me on the plane,' over and over, visibly upset," Flanagan told CNN. "The ticket agent and her supervisor, who she eventually called over, were not helpful and not supportive." I just watched

– When nursing mother Lauren Modeen tried to board a Delta flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis on a business trip last week, she was told she'd first have to consolidate her luggage—a purse, a cooler to carry breast milk, and a standard carry-on that included her pump. Modeen protested that her carry-on contained a medical device, which much like strollers Delta doesn't count against its carry-on allowance. "She then said the computer just gave her a message stating that all passengers starting with me would need to check their bags," Modeen tells CNN. "When I later entered the jet bridge, passengers lining up behind me had their suitcases." A passenger who witnessed the exchange says there were at least five open spots in the overhead bins. Delta, along with Southwest and American Airlines, explicitly states in its carry-on policy that it allows breast pumps to be taken on board, and it has since apologized to Modeen for her "experience," reports Time. Modeen has since talked with Delta CEO's executive assistant and created a Facebook page, Boobs on Board, to encourage airlines to post their breastfeeding and pumping policies inside all aircraft so that flight attendants, gate agents, and mothers will be aware of what is and isn't permitted. (In 2013, Delta was ranked the least respected brand in America.)

Delta Airlines has apologized to a woman who was required to check her breast pump against company policy. Lauren Modeen, a nursing mother, says gate agents would not let her board with her carry-on suitcase that contained a breast pump, her purse and a cooler to carry breast milk. Delta supports the rights of women to breast-feed, a spokesperson said in a statement. Many airlines, like Delta, limit passengers to one carry on bag and a personal item, but allow medical devices to go aboard without counting against customers’ carry- on allowance.

Remarkably, the muscle-derived 150 RNA profile performed very well in classifying brain tissue by age. Using data from the HGU133Plus2 microarray platform for old and young samples of ectodermal origin (I, e, brain, n = 120) [ 50 ] we confirmed that the 150 RNA ‘healthy ageing’ genes selected in muscle could also distinguish the age of human brain one sample at a time, with a classification success rate up to 91 % (Fig. 2 ). Four brain regions were evaluated (postcentral gyrus, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus and superior frontal gyrus; [GEO:GSE11882]) and while they were confirmed disease-free by histopathology in the original study [ 50 ], unlike our muscle cohorts, their true functional status remains unknown. The postcentral gyrus samples were classified with 86 % sensitivity and 89 % specificity. In this cohort, older hippocampal regions were often misclassified using the 150 genes (33 % sensitivity) as ‘young’. This higher misclassification rate may relate to the substantial neurogenesis known to take place in the adult hippocampus or delays in tissue processing. We evaluated whether the 150 genes could accurately classify the age of tissue of mesodermal origin (skin) using gene expression data in a total of 279 human skin samples, of which there were up to three technical replicates per clinical sample [ 9 ]. Notably, these data originated from a different technology platform (Illumina Human HT-12 V3, Array-express: E-TABM-1140), adding variability above that derived from a distinct tissue and potentially limiting the classification process. The two gene-chip technologies had 129 genes in common, and we observed excellent classification of human skin age [n = 131, area under the curve (AUC) = 0.85; Fig. 2 ]. The classification success was similar for all three replicates (71–78 raw classification success). Thus, the technical performance of the 150-gene healthy ageing classifier was excellent, providing accurate tissue classification despite inter-laboratory technical variation, different gene-chip platforms and antemortem issues. We were able, therefore, to conclude that we have identified a reliable multi-tissue RNA signature of healthy tissue ageing in humans, something that has not been previously demonstrated [ 8 , 9 ]. We checked that the 150 RNAs were not differentially expressed to any measurable extent in human muscle by exercise or a number of other common diseases that impact on skeletal muscle, using our previously published gene-chip data []. We later confirmed this lack of association with lifestyle disease using a sensitive gene-set approach. Use of fully independent training and validation data sets allows for genuine external validation to be demonstrated (see “”). Using the ‘Campbell’ muscle data set [GEO:GSE9419] [] as the samples of known identity, we demonstrated that additional young and old muscle samples selected from four additional muscle data sets (‘Trappe’ [GEO:GSE28422] [], ‘Hoffman’ [GEO:GSE38718] [], and ‘Kraus’ [GEO:GSE47969] and ‘Derby’ [GEO:GSE47881] []) could be classified with an average ~93 % accuracy (70–100 %) using only the 150 probe-sets selected at the start of the project. Substitution of the Campbell data set with the other muscle data sets worked equally as well. These data shared a common microarray platform (Affymetrix HGU133plus2) but,

– "Health" and "age" are two distinct concepts, and no matter how old you are chronologically, a simple blood test can help determine what King's College London researchers call your "biological age"—which may be able to predict your longevity, the BBC reports. A study published in the Genome Biology journal compared 54,000 gene markers in the RNA of healthy 65-year-olds and cut those down to 150 "gene signatures" that indicated "healthy" aging. "[This] healthy aging signature [is] common to all our tissues, and it appears to be prognostic for a number of things, including longevity and cognitive decline," James Timmons, the study's lead author, tells the BBC. Timmons' team applied the gene-signature test to a group of 70-year-old Swedish men they followed over two decades, and was able to determine who was aging "well" and who wasn't. "You could actually pick out people who had almost no chance of being dead, and you have people who had an almost 45% chance of being dead," Timmons says. This biological age could prove more useful than one's chronological age in helping the medical and insurance communities plan ahead, as well as determine who's a good candidate for organ donation (i.e., a chronologically "old" person could have a biologically "young" organ). "We use birth year, or chronological age, to judge everything from insurance premiums to whether you get a medical procedure or not," Timmons says in a press release. "Most people accept that all 60-year-olds are not the same, but there has been no reliable test for underlying 'biological age.'" The scientists believe combining this biological age with more conventional disease indicators will improve upon the current methodology of predicting and treating diseases such as Alzheimer's. What the study didn't show: a link between one's biological age and lifestyle, Wired UK notes. And, sadly, researchers haven't figured out how to modify biological ages to our advantage, the magazine adds. (This simple questionnaire determines your risk of dying in the next five years.)

The 150 RNA ‘healthy ageing’ genes selected in muscle could also distinguish the age of human brain one sample at a time, with a classification success rate up to 91%. Four brain regions were evaluated (postcentral gyrus, entorhinal cortex, hippocampus and superior frontal gyrus; [GEO:GSE11882]) and while they were confirmed disease-free by histopathology in the original study, their true functional status remains unknown. In this cohort, older hippocampal regions were often misclassified using the 150 genes as ‘young’.

Ray Rice has reached a crossroads in his attempt to resurrect his NFL career, one year after his domestic-violence incident in an Atlantic City casino. The former Ravens running back issued a statement to The Baltimore Sun on Friday in which he apologized for the incident and thanked fans and the Ravens, including owner Steve Bisciotti. Rice, 28, plans to leave Maryland and move back to his home state of New York, according to sources. He has been eligible to sign with any NFL team since former federal judge Barbara S. Jones reinstated Rice in November from an indefinite NFL suspension. Sources say Rice hasn't visited or worked out for an NFL team, but continues to train in hopes of landing another job in the NFL. “Dear Baltimore, This is not a farewell or goodbye,” Rice wrote. “The last seven years that my family and I have spent in Baltimore have by far been the best of our lives. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for the love and support you’ve shown my family and I throughout my football career. We’ll always be grateful for the love we’ve received from all of our fans and supporters, and for winning a Super Bowl. To all the kids who looked up to me, I’m truly sorry for letting you down, but I hope it’s helped you learn that one bad decision can turn your dream into a nightmare. “There is no excuse for domestic violence, and I apologize for the horrible mistake I made. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and I hope to make a positive difference in people’s lives by raising awareness of this issue. Thank you, Baltimore Ravens, for all you have done for my family and I. I’m very grateful to Steve Bisciotti, Ozzie Newsome, John Harbaugh, and everyone at 1 Winning Drive. I love you all very much, and I’ll always be proud to say I played for the Baltimore Ravens. Thank you, Ray Rice.” Rice has been stuck in limbo since the Ravens terminated his $35 million contract in September when a graphic video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancee, now-wife, the former Janay Palmer, in an elevator. Rice was arrested on Feb. 15, 2014 in Atlantic City, N.J., and later charged with felony aggravated assault following a grand jury indictment. Rice resolved the charges without jail time when he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program. Rice is optimistic yet realistic about his job prospects, according to sources, following a rocky year personally and professionally in which the image of him knocking out his then-fiancee ignited a national conversation about domestic violence. Several NFL personnel sources predicted Rice will ultimately get a second chance, with one NFC general manager characterizing him as a tough sell. Many opined that Rice’s outlook could improve as other players who found trouble off the field are given second chances. The Buffalo Bills signed offensive guard Richie Incognito this week after he was out of the league last season following his central

– Ray Rice is coming upon an awful anniversary this weekend—it was Feb. 15 of last year when the NFL star was arrested after knocking his then-fiancee unconscious. This morning, Rice issued a statement to the Baltimore Sun in which he apologizes to the city and to Baltimore Ravens fans, especially the young ones. "To all the kids who looked up to me, I'm truly sorry for letting you down, but I hope it's helped you learn that one bad decision can turn your dream into a nightmare," he writes. "There is no excuse for domestic violence, and I apologize for the horrible mistake I made. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." The Ravens have cut ties with Rice, and the Sun reports that he plans to move back to his native New York state and try to land a job with another NFL team. (His indefinite suspension was tossed out in court.) The New York Times thinks the public apology is a prelude to that happening.

Ray Rice plans to leave Maryland and move back to his home state of New York, according to sources. He has been eligible to sign with any NFL team since former federal judge Barbara S. Jones reinstated Rice in November. Sources say Rice hasn't visited or worked out for an NFL team, but continues to train in hopes of landing another job in the NFL. Rice has been stuck in limbo since the Ravens terminated his $35 million contract in September when a graphic video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancee, now-wife, the former Janay Palmer.

I never made it past the ninth grade. My circumstances were not unlike millions of other teens today, who live in tough working class neighborhoods surrounded by drugs, violence and crime, and who struggle to stay on the right path without positive influences. Most high school dropouts don't end up with successful careers in Hollywood. I was lucky. Compared with high school graduates, dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, in poor health, living in poverty or on public assistance. And this doesn't just affect an unlucky few. Every day, 7,000 students drop out of high school - more than 1.2 million a year. More than 40 million adults nationwide lack a high school diploma. These high school dropouts typically earn $200,000 less than high school graduates over their lifetime. For me, this crisis isn't just a national problem. It's entirely personal. I was fortunate to find out I could attend high school online. For almost a year, I've been taking classes and studying any chance I could get - on the set, traveling for work and at home. It has been both humbling and challenging, but I'm happy to report that I am officially a high school graduate, having received my diploma this summer. It shouldn't take luck for people to be able to access the education they need to help overcome life's obstacles. Investment in education is a no-brainer in promoting personal and career growth and supporting our economic recovery. Fortunately, other organizations agree. Through my charity, the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, I've partnered with organizations making a difference, like the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens. Their Graduate for Más program empowers teens to make a personal commitment to graduate high school while providing the tools, support and community that high school students need to stay on track - resources I wish I had access to as a teen. Through my work with Taco Bell, I was able to meet with teens in these communities across the country, who are overcoming extraordinary obstacles to graduating high school. I've heard their stories -- stories of family trouble, poverty and crime -- yet I also hear strength from our nation's young people. And the Taco Bell Foundation team heard it too. They recently shared with me that their Graduate for Más commitment has expanded even further by partnering with ed2go and Smart Horizons for their Career Online High School (COHS). Taco Bell is starting from the inside out - funding high school completion and career certificates for Taco Bell Team Members in their pilot program through the partnership. Like me, they will return to high school via online classes. I can only hope their experience will be as positive as mine. Across the country, there are teens AND adults who aren't getting the resources and support they need to succeed. We can't just throw them back in classrooms and expect them to survive. We need everyone -- families, leaders, and organizations -- to step up and take responsibility for their communities' educational futures. I was able to do it because I knew

– At 42, Mark Wahlberg is a new high school graduate, the actor revealed yesterday. He originally dropped out in the ninth grade, Wahlberg writes in the Huffington Post. "My circumstances were not unlike millions of other teens today, who live in tough working class neighborhoods surrounded by drugs, violence, and crime, and who struggle to stay on the right path without positive influences." But he "was lucky," and ended up successful. He finally got his diploma this summer after taking classes online for almost a year. "It has been both humbling and challenging," he writes, and he wants to raise awareness of the problems faced by high school dropouts in the US. "It shouldn't take luck for people to be able to access the education they need to help overcome life's obstacles," and that's why his charity is working to help teens graduate by providing them with resources and support. On a more personal note, Wahlberg tells People his four kids motivated him to go back to school. "I didn't want the kids saying, 'You didn't do it, so why do I need it?'" he explains.

Every day, 7,000 students drop out of high school - more than 1.2 million a year. More than 40 million adults nationwide lack a high school diploma. Mark Wahlberg: We can't just throw them back in classrooms and expect them to survive. We need everyone -- families, leaders, and organizations -- to step up and take responsibility for their communities' educational futures, he says.. Taco Bell is starting from the inside out - funding high school completion and career certificates for Taco Bell Team Members in their pilot program through the partnership.

Skip in Skip x Embed x Share The SNL character wasn't an official guest on Meyers' first 'Late Night' show, but he was there... in the form of a doll. BackStage host Carly Mallenbaum explains. The late-night lineup is in place. Amy Poehler and Vice President Joe Biden join Seth Meyers on his NBC "Late Night" premiere. (Photo: Peter Kramer, NBC) Story Highlights Meyers is the fourth host of 'Late Night' Previous hosts were Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman Meyers' first guests were Joe Biden and Amy Poehler And that's that. For now at least NBC's late-night lineup is set and in place. Jay Leno is gone. Jimmy Fallon has taken over The Tonight Show. And as of Monday's last-piece-of-the-puzzle launch, Seth Meyers is ensconced as host of Late Night – the fourth host in a line that includes Fallon, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman. MORE: Seth Meyers unveils new 'Late Night' RELATED: Great 'Late Night' moments from Fallon, Letterman That's an awfully wide range of personality types, stretching from the nice-guy breeziness that is Fallon to the blend of acid and goofy that is O'Brien to the exposed nerve that is Letterman, which is fairly good evidence of how adaptable the format is. It's also a low-wattage format, one that allows its host to develop without the intense media focus that follows the star of Tonight. Fallon and O'Brien both got off to rough starts, O'Brien legendarily so, and both did fine. To judge from Monday's low-key, pretty much fault-free debut, so will Meyers. (Photo: James White, NBC) Already, you can see him shifting the show to suit his talents. Fallon's strengths are games, sketches, impersonations and musical stunts, and that's what his version of Late Night stressed. Meyers seems intent on returning to the more traditional talk show virtues of monologues and interviews – which is what you might expect from a writer whose most famous performance was as the anchor on Saturday Night Live's faux newscast. Fittingly enough, he opened the show Monday night (12:37 a.m. ET/PT) sitting at the desk, writing to Fallon in a nod to his predecessor's trademark "thank you note" bit. He then moved into a funny monologue that was close to a Weekend Update clone, just delivered standing rather than sitting. Big build-ups are not Meyers' style. You get a lot of jokes per minute from Meyers, and on Monday at least, most of them worked. That kind of average will stand him in good stead. From there, it was on to a fake interview with his new band leader, Fred Armisen, about a show that doesn't exist – a twist on his Weekend Update interviews with fictional characters. But he then did something new: He dropped the jokes to tell an amusing, self-deprecating anecdote about himself, his wife, and the flat tire someone else had to change for him, while he held the family dog. As he explained, "It's very hard to feel macho when you're holding a tiny dog while another man changes your wife's tire." He delivered a few

– Seth Meyers debuted as the newest Late Night host last night, and critics seem to agree: He did a fine job. There was no huge "wow" moment, but neither did he embarrass himself, and the franchise appears to be in capable hands. Some of the things reviewers are talking about: It was very low-key. Meyers had, arguably, the least stressful launch of anyone who's ever taken over a late night show, as Tim Goodman points out in the Hollywood Reporter. And he kept things very down-tempo, with none of the razzle-dazzle that marked Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show debut, writes Meredith Blake in the Los Angeles Times. Most agree Meyers' transition into the slot was smooth. It had an old-fashioned feeling. None of the jokes or comedy bits were very original, writes Brian Lowry in Variety. But there was also a throwback tone that some reviewers appreciated: Meyers "constantly held up pictures—real pictures, printed out," writes Darren Franich for Entertainment Weekly. "I don’t think he said the words 'Twitter' or 'Facebook' once in the whole hour." It also felt familiar. Numerous reviewers note that "Late Night Meyers"—particularly during his monologue—was essentially identical to "SNL 'Weekend Update' Meyers." He's "still yelling like a fake newscaster, not talking like a real host," Franich writes. His monologue was "full of rapid-fire one-liners about the day's headlines," Blake writes, while Goodman found it "staccato and hit and miss." In the New York Daily News, David Hinckley agrees that the delivery was "stiff," but "the jokes themselves were pretty good." And in USA Today, Robert Bianco writes, "You get a lot of jokes per minute from Meyers, and on Monday at least, most of them worked." He chose good guests. Critics unanimously agree: Meyers has undeniable rapport with his first guest (and former "Weekend Update" co-host), Amy Poehler—and both she and Meyers were also great at riffing with bandleader and fellow SNL alum Fred Armisen. Meyers' chemistry with Poehler put him at ease, and when second guest Joe Biden came on, Poehler practically acted as "co-host," Lowry writes. Biden is "also no stranger to tossing off quips without nerves," Goodman writes, and he knows Poehler from his guest bit on Parks and Recreation—so the three of them had a fun, "freewheeling" talk, Franich writes. It "seemed to be an actual conversation," rather than a scripted one, Bianco writes. But what is up with those chairs? Lowry thinks Meyers intends to "slavishly replicate ... the late night template ... only with less comfortable chairs." And Goodman points them out too, noting that they appear to be "both ugly and uncomfortable," and Meyers should really get a couch for his guests instead. Blake thinks the show was just going for a "consciously understated" look. One highlight? A story. More than one critic cited a tangential story Meyers told about getting a flat tire with his wife on Valentine's Day and having to hold the couple's 7-pound Italian greyhound while another man fixed the flat ("It was very hard to feel macho when you're holding a tiny dog while another man changes your wife's tire"). "Something you never knew from 'Update:' Meyers is a great storyteller," Franich writes. The other bits? Just OK. One segment, "Venn Diagrams," looked to discover the common ground between two apparently unrelated things, like snow and toilet paper ("Things You Won't Find in Sochi"). Another, "Costas Vision," presented the Olympics as seen by the pinkeye-infected eyes of Bob Costas. Indeed, quite a few of the jokes centered on the now-over Olympics, which felt rather stale at times, most critics agree. What Meyers needs: To create his own unique thing, whatever that is. "Meyers will have to come up with something that suits him and works as an identifier—like Fallon did with his emphasis on music," Goodman writes. "Could it be that Meyers wants to find a different way," Franich wonders, "that he will be proudly analog in late night’s digital era?"

Seth Meyers is the fourth host of 'Late Night' Previous hosts were Jimmy Fallon, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman. Meyers seems intent on returning to the more traditional talk show virtues of monologues and interviews. He opened the show by writing to Fallon in a nod to his predecessor's trademark "thank you note" bit. He then moved into a funny monologue that was close to a Weekend Update clone, just delivered standing rather than sitting. It's also a low-wattage format, one that allows its host to develop without the intense media focus.

EXCLUSIVE: The House Homeland Security Committee “has initiated an investigation” into the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and whether he was an overlooked key player in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a letter from the committee chairman to Attorney General Eric Holder says. The three-page letter, obtained exclusively by Fox News, makes the case that a decade after the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the full story of 9/11 has not been told. “This congressional investigation will seek to determine: "1. To what extent Anwar al-Awlaki wittingly or unwittingly facilitated the plot of the 9/11 hijackers; and "2. to what extent al-Awlaki was an al Qaeda operative, offering support to acts of terrorism prior to 9/11.” The letter to Holder, sent by Republican Rep. Peter King of New York on May 26, confirms that investigators believe the American cleric's contacts with three of the five hijackers on Flight 77, which slammed into the Pentagon, were more than a series of coincidences, but rather evidence of a purposeful relationship. “Given the greater collection of intelligence and integration of pertinent data since the attacks of 9/11, I believe that al-Awlaki may have played greater roles in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as other terrorist plots, than those of which we have been previously aware," King writes. "Accordingly, I request the full assistance of the Department of Justice in carrying out this inquiry.” The hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi were the first two hijackers into the U.S. – arriving in January 2000 at Los Angeles International Airport. One question always puzzled investigators: Why would the self-described architect of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, send two of his most experienced operatives, who spoke virtually no English, to the ghetto of San Diego unless there was someone there to meet them. As part of the Fox News Specials Unit's ongoing investigation of the cleric, the executive director of the 9/11 commission Philip Zelikow confirmed that his investigators were highly suspicious of al-Awlaki and his relationship with the hijackers in San Diego. “We put the spotlight on Awlaki about as brightly as we could, and as brightly as any government agency could,” Zelikow said, adding that he was always surprised the media did not immediately pick up on their suspicions about al-Awlaki’s role when the final 9/11 report was issued in 2004. In “The American Terrorist,” which profiled the cleric’s life in Colorado, Southern California and Virginia before 9/11, Fox News confirmed through documents and interviews that al-Awlaki met on a regular basis with the two hijackers al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar in San Diego in 2000. It was in a small anteroom above al-Awlaki's mosque with a single entryway. One of al-Awlaki’s closest associates, a Yemeni, Mohdar Abdullah helped the hijackers find a place to live and find jobs in San Diego. By early 2001, al-Awlaki moved to a new mosque in Falls Church, Va., where hijacker al-Hazmi seemed to follow him. After they finished their flight training in Arizona, al-Hazmi and pilot Hani Hanjour attended services at al-Awlaki’s mosque. In Virginia, as seen

– The House homeland security panel has set its sights on another extremist over possible ties to the 9/11 attacks: the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a dual citizen of the US and Yemen, reports Fox News. “We need to do this in light of al-Awlaki’s growing stature,” committee chair Peter King tells Politico. “His emergence, even before the death of bin Laden, was probably the most feared al-Qaeda official in the world.” He has been linked to the would-be Christmas underwear bomber, the Times Square bomber, and the Fort Hod attacker. The probe hopes to determine “how active he was in the country before Sept. 11,” King says. He wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder in May seeking Justice Department assistance in the investigation; the department hasn’t yet responded but is working with the FBI to do so. Awlaki was in Colorado, Virginia, and California before the attacks, and had contacts with three of five of the hijackers of the flight that hit the Pentagon. Read the letter to Holder here.

Rep. Peter King of New York: "I believe that al-Awlaki may have played greater roles in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as other terrorist plots" The House Homeland Security Committee "has initiated an investigation” into the radical Muslim cleric. The letter confirms that investigators believe the American cleric's contacts with three of the five hijackers on Flight 77 were more than a series of coincidences, but rather evidence of a purposeful relationship. In “The American Terrorist,” which profiled the cleric’s life in Colorado, Southern California and Virginia before 9/ 11, Fox News confirmed through documents and interviews that he met on a regular basis with the two hijackers in San

Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill Thursday afternoon found Alexandria Duval not guilty of second degree murder in the death of her twin sister when their vehicle went over a cliff in East Maui in May 2016. Duval, 39, had pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder charge stemming from the crash May 29, 2016, outside of Hana that claimed the life of her twin, Anastasia. The vehicle veered off Piilani Highway near Mile Marker 47.5 and fell more than 100 feet to the rocks below. Alexandria Duval, the driver, survived; her sister, Anastasia, was thrown into the back seat and was killed. Prosecutors tried to make the case that the defendant pressed the accelerator and without braking drove them off the cliff. The defense argued that she lost control of the vehicle and did not intentionally cause the crash. Witnesses described the two women fighting in the SUV with some hair pulling prior to the crash. Duval requested a bench trial, which lasted four days this week. Final arguments were made Thursday and the verdict rendered at about 4 p.m. In reading his verdict, Cahill basically ruled that the cause of Anastasia Duval’s death was her continuing to fight her sister, which caused Alexandria to lose control of vehicle and go over the cliff. Duval left the courtroom without speaking to reporters. Her attorney, Birney Bervar, said: “She’s very relieved.” “It’s been an extremely emotional ordeal for her,” he said after the verdict was read. “You can’t imagine losing your twin sister in that kind of catastrophic, tragic accident, then being charged with causing the death of your sister, which she didn’t. She’s extremely relieved. “The judge made the correct verdict in this case.” ||||| FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018 file photo, Alexandria Duval listens to testimony during her murder trial in Wailuku, Hawaii. Duval, who was accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff... (Associated Press) HONOLULU (AP) — A woman accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff and killing her identical twin sister was acquitted of murder Thursday. Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill found Alexandria Duval not guilty after a trial that started Monday. Duval opted to have a judge instead of a jury decide the case. Authorities described the 2016 crash as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel. The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV plunged 200 feet over a cliff. The crash was a tragic accident, Alexandria Duval's defense attorney, Birney Bervar said in his opening statement. Authorities said Alexandria was behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer when witnesses saw the sisters arguing on the perilously narrow, twisting route along a scenic stretch of coastline. A witness cleaning a family gravesite on the highway shoulder told police that he heard a woman screaming in the vehicle and that the passenger was pulling the driver's hair and the steering wheel. Anastasia Duval was in the passenger seat and was killed, and her sister Alexandria Duval was arrested. A judge later

– A woman accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff and killing her identical twin sister was acquitted of murder Thursday. Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill found Alexandria Duval not guilty after a trial that started Monday, the AP reports. The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV plunged 200 feet over a cliff. The crash was a tragic accident, Alexandria Duval's defense attorney, Birney Bervar, said in his opening statement. Authorities said Alexandria was behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer when witnesses saw the sisters arguing on the perilously narrow, twisting route along a scenic stretch of coastline. A witness cleaning a family gravesite on the highway shoulder told police that he heard a woman screaming in the vehicle and that the passenger was pulling the driver's hair and the steering wheel. Anastasia Duval was in the passenger seat and was killed; her sister was arrested. A judge later ordered Alexandria Duval released after finding no probable cause for a murder charge. She traveled to New York state and was arrested months later in Albany after a grand jury indicted her. Duval didn't testify. "I'm disappointed," Maui County Prosecuting Attorney JD Kim said after the verdict. "The facts clearly show it was at least reckless behavior." "You can't imagine losing your twin sister in that kind of catastrophic, tragic accident, then being charged with causing the death of your sister, which she didn't," Bervar told the Maui News. "She's extremely relieved." The sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow near Utica, NY, operated popular yoga studios in Florida before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in 2015 from Utah.

Second Circuit Judge Peter Cahill Thursday afternoon found Alexandria Duval not guilty of second degree murder in the death of her twin sister. Prosecutors tried to make the case that the defendant pressed the accelerator and without braking drove them off the cliff. The defense argued that she lost control of the vehicle and did not intentionally cause the crash. Authorities described the 2016 crash as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel. The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV plunged 200 feet over a cliff.

Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Trump Apologizes for 2005 Comments About Women 1:29 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog While the audio of Donald Trump making lewd remarks about women sparked a storm of criticism, a number of celebrities and fellow politicians leaped to his defense overnight. "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson said that evangelical leaders who have come out against Trump, "need to lighten up … and give him some time." In a Friday night interview with WABC Radio Host Rita Cosby, the reality TV show star enthusiastically defended Trump, adding "he's a sinner, that's a start" and calling for people "not condemn anybody." He also took the tack other Trump's defenders had adopted: Diverting attacks to Democrats — and Bill and Hillary Clinton in particular. "That's about the most ungodly bunch I've ever seen," Robertson said of Trump's opponents. Faith and Freedom Coalition President Ralph Reed and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins also continued to back the presidential candidate, BuzzFeed News reported. "Voters of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defend religious freedom, create jobs, and oppose the Iran nuclear deal," Reed told the media outlet in an email. "Ten-year-old tapes of private conversation with a television talk show host rank very low on their hierarchy of concerns." Conservative commentator Pastor Mark Burns turned to scripture and urged forgiveness, saying in part that Trump had "repented and God has forgiven him...so should you." "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY, ALL things are new" 2 Cor 5:17https://t.co/qgdUAGsDrt — Pastor Mark Burns (@pastormarkburns) October 8, 2016 Yes @realDonaldTrump repented and God has forgiven him...so should you. God is Love...! https://t.co/NftgfbITJr — Pastor Mark Burns (@pastormarkburns) October 8, 2016 Republican businessman Paul Nehlen, who lost to House Speaker Paul Ryan in the Wisconsin primary, also defended Trump before diverting attention to claims that Bill Clinton raped a woman and that Hillary Clinton bullied women. Related: Bill Clinton Defends Against GOP's 'Personal Attacks' "Trump loves women. Clintons rape and batter them," he tweeted, also retweeting an allegation by Juanita Broderick that Bill Clinton had raped her. The Clintons have hit back against what they call the "relentless personal attacks." Nehlen also took aim at Ryan and Republican chairman Reince Priebus. Trump loves women. Clintons rape and batter them. — Paul Nehlen (@pnehlen) October 8, 2016 Let no crisis go to waste, huh @PRyan and @Reince? You're with her October surprise, her unvetted refugees, her rapist husband. Not w women. — Paul Nehlen (@pnehlen) October 8, 2016 Ryan and Preibus had been quick to condemn and distance themselves from the presidential nominee. Some Republicans, including Utah's Rep. Jason Chaffetz and former Gov. Jon Huntsman, have gone so far as to withdraw their endorsements. Some of Trump's most ardent supporters did not defend the candidate's comments but instead turned their attention to attacking the Clintons. Play Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed Newly-Surfaced Trump Audio: 'I Did Try to (Expletive) Her, She Was Married' 2:31

– Donald Trump has a message for those calling on him to drop out of the race after his videotape scandal: There is "zero chance I'll quit," he tells the Wall Street Journal. He expresses a similar sentiment to the Washington Post: “I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life,” he says. "No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.” His remarks come as more than three dozen GOP lawmakers, including John McCain, ditched Trump, and as running mate Mike Pence delivered what the New York Times calls "an unheard-of rebuke" by refusing to appear on Trump's behalf at a GOP gathering in Wisconsin. Pence pronounced himself "offended" by the lewd remarks Trump made about women in a newly surfaced "hot mic" tape from 2005. Trump's wife, Melania, is both criticizing him and standing by him. "The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me," she says in a statement, per USA Today. "This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world." Support Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame, meanwhile, says people "need to lighten up," reports NBC News, which rounds up similar sentiments from others. “I never, ever give up,” Trump tells the Journal. "The support I’m getting is unbelievable, because Hillary Clinton is a horribly flawed candidate.”

"Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson said that evangelical leaders who have come out against Trump, "need to lighten up … and give him some time" "That's about the most ungodly bunch I've ever seen," Robertson said of Trump's opponents. Conservative commentator Pastor Mark Burns turned to scripture and urged forgiveness, saying in part that Trump had "repented and God has forgiven him...so should you" Republican businessman Paul Nehlen also defended Trump before diverting attention to claims that Bill Clinton raped a woman and that Hillary Clinton bullied women.

How To Tell If Watching The Eclipse Damaged Your Eyes Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images Less than an hour after the Great American Eclipse completed its coast-to-coast show on Monday, people's fascination with the sun and the moon quickly turned to concern about their eyes. We're hoping all you Shots readers heeded our words of caution and wore eclipse glasses or enjoyed the show indirectly. But if you did steal unprotected glances skyward, and especially if your eyes felt funny or hurt a little afterward, you might be wondering how you'll know if you've done any long-term damage. To answer that question, we once again turned to Ralph Chou, a professor emeritus of optometry and vision science at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada, and a leading authority on the damage the sun's rays can do to the eye's retina. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Interview Highlights How would somebody know if they've done any damage? It takes at least 12 hours before we can tell if anything has happened. The thing is, if people just saw the sun briefly without a protective filter — just a fraction of a second — the chances they've hurt themselves are very low. If they looked at the display of a camera or a smartphone but didn't look through the optics at the sun, they're in no danger. While it may look bright, it isn't all that bright by comparison. They were not getting direct optical radiation from the sun in that case. It's just a duplicate of whatever the sensors see, and there's no danger in that. If, for some reason, they forgot to use their filters entirely — well, [permanent damage is] always a possibility, but I would hope that after all the publicity, that that didn't happen. What might someone's symptoms be if they didn't use any filters and looked at the sun? It wouldn't be until 12 hours later that they would even notice their vision was changing. It might not be until [the next] morning when they wake up and realize that they can't see that well. [The symptoms would be] blurred vision, where the very center of the vision might have a spot, or multiple spots, that were missing in their vision — that were very, very blurred. Around it, there might be some clear spots. It really depends on exactly what happened, and what kind of injury there is at the back of the eye. [As Chou told us earlier, this kind of vision loss can get better over several months to a year. But about half the time, it's permanent.] What should someone do if they're worried there could be damage? Should they stay indoors or wear sunglasses? Seeing an optometrist is faster than getting to see an ophthalmologist. If there is damage, the optometrist would refer the individual to the ophthalmologist for further assessment and management in any case. The damage, if any, would not be mitigated by staying indoors or wearing sunglasses, but these

– Despite many warnings about the possibility of permanent eye damage—and, in one case, the advice of a presidential aide—a lot of people ended up looking at the sun during Monday's eclipse without the recommended solar filter. Jacob Chung, chief of ophthalmology at New Jersey's Englewood Hospital, tells USA Today that people who looked at the sun for a few seconds are probably fine, but 10 seconds could cause damage, and 20 seconds is "definitely too long." He says people with damaged eyes won't feel pain, but they may begin to experience blurry vision within a day or two. Experts recommend that people worried about eye damage print off an Amsler grid and use it to check for vision problems. University of Waterloo optometry professor Ralph Chou tells NPR that symptoms won't be apparent for at least 12 hours. After that, he says, people might experience "blurred vision, where the very center of the vision might have a spot, or multiple spots, that were missing in their vision—that were very, very blurred. Around it, there might be some clear spots." He says people worried about damage should see an optometrist, and that while wearing sunglasses won't mitigate the damage, it will make vision more comfortable during recovery. BuzzFeed has rounded up tweets from people complaining about sore eyes after the eclipse. "My eyes melted," claims one person.

Ralph Chou is a professor emeritus of optometry and vision science at the University of Waterloo. Chou: It takes at least 12 hours before we can tell if anything has happened. The symptoms would be blurred vision, where the very center of the vision might have a spot, or multiple spots, that were missing in their vision — that were very, very blurred. If there is damage, the optometrist would refer the individual to an ophthalmologist for further assessment and management in any case.

Talk about bad timing. Just days after American voters sent President Obama a blunt and angry message about their desire to see him do more to fix the economy, Mr. Obama was preparing to head overseas on Friday morning on a 10-day foreign trip to Asia. The president will go to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan on a mission that will involve issues of global security, international trade and economics, improving cultural ties, preventing terrorism and some personal diplomacy. He will dine with foreign leaders, give a speech about Muslim outreach and attend summits on global finance. But in the days since the midterm elections, Mr. Obama and his senior aides have found a much more simple way to describe the purpose of the trip. It’s about American jobs, they say. “The primary purpose is to take a bunch of U.S. companies and open up markets so that we can sell in Asia, in some of the fastest-growing markets in the world, and we can create jobs here in the United States of America,” Mr. Obama told his cabinet Thursday, with the cameras rolling. “My hope is, is that we’ve got some specific announcements that show the connection between what we’re doing overseas and what happens here at home when it comes to job growth and economic growth.” Mr. Obama reinforced that message Friday morning as he hailed what he called an “encouraging” jobs report that showed private businesses added 159,000 jobs to their payrolls last month. But he called that “not good enough” and promised to use his Asia trip to boost it. “On the trip that I’m about to take, I’m going to be talking about opening up additional markets in places like India, so that American businesses can sell more products abroad in order to create more jobs here at home,” Mr. Obama said. And just a day earlier, at a news conference with reporters, Mr. Obama made a similar point in answer to a question about how he might hit the “reset button” in regards to his relationship with business. The president mentioned the trip to Asia as an example of how his administration is doing that. “The whole focus is on how are we going to open up markets so that American businesses can prosper, and we can sell more goods and create more jobs here in the United States,” Mr. Obama said. “And a whole bunch of corporate executives are going to be joining us so that I can help them open up those markets and allow them to sell their products.” The simplified focus on jobs as a primary purpose of the Asia trip is no accident. More than 60 percent of the voters on Tuesday told exit pollsters that the economy was their number one issue. They said repeatedly that their anger was the result of a feeling that Washington had not focused on improving the faltering economy. Broadly speaking, that’s something that Mr. Obama and his aides already knew. But the election sent a strong message that the voters are holding Democrats

– Faced with a barrage of outrage—based on a discredited report—over the cost of his 10-day trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan, Barack Obama has rebranded it as a jobs mission. “The primary purpose is to take a bunch of US companies and open up markets so that we can sell in Asia … and create jobs here,” Obama told his Cabinet yesterday, reports the New York Times. He repeated that message today, while lauding an encouraging new jobs report. Conservatives have attempted to make hay over the trip’s price tag, after the Press Trust of India reported that Obama would bring an entourage of 3,000 and spend $200 million a day. But the White House has said those figures have “no basis in reality,” and a host of fact-checkers, including FactCheck.org and Snopes.com agreed. The Wall Street Journal called the report “demonstrably incorrect.” Not that that stopped Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann and Sean Hannity from repeating the figures, New York Magazine observes.

President Obama is heading to Asia on a 10-day foreign trip. In the days since the midterm elections, Mr. Obama and his senior aides have found a much more simple way to describe the purpose of the trip. It’s about American jobs, they say. The president will go to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan on a mission that will involve issues of global security, international trade and economics, improving cultural ties, preventing terrorism and some personal diplomacy. He will dine with foreign leaders, give a speech about Muslim outreach and attend summits on global finance.

The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| A photo of people with their hands up at Howard University. (Photo: @The_Blackness48 via Twitter) A photo of black students with their hands raised is becoming a symbol of solidarity after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was shot by a police officer Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. The photo was taken after Howard University students heard that alumna, Mya White, was shot in the head while protesting in Ferguson, reports WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. "Powerful picture we took today at Howard University, " tweeted Megan Sims, or @The_Blackness48, a senior at the historically black college in Washington, D.C. As of Thursday morning, the photo had been retweeted about 6,400 times. Witnesses said Brown had raised his arms before he was shot, but police have not confirmed this detail and said there was a scuffle. People in the St. Louis suburb have used the symbol of raised arms and the chant "Hands up, don't shoot" in protests over several days. Sims said about 100 Howard students gathered to take the photo. "The issue is bigger than Michael Brown. .... I feel like it's become apparent in this country that black men, for the most part, are being targeted by police officers," Sims said. CLOSE Al Sharpton called for transparency in the Michael Brown police shooting case. He said he knows people are angry but urged them to throw their arms up instead of turning to violence. Talking to crowds Tuesday in Ferguson, the Rev. Al Sharpton mentioned "hands up." "When their hands are up, you don't shoot," Sharpton said. "If you're angry, throw your arms up. If you want justice, throw your arms up." Follow @JolieLeeDC on Twitter. More related stories Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/Vp0wJo ||||| Howard University students pose with their hands raised in Cramton Auditorium in Washington on Aug. 13, 2014. Howard University students pose with their hands raised in Cramton Auditorium in Washington on Aug. 13, 2014. Howard University An image of Howard University students standing up in protest against the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. went viral on Wednesday. More than 300 students gathered in Cramton Auditorium on Howard University’s campus in Washington D.C. to stand together, hands raised, in a pose inspired by the presumed stance of the unarmed teen killed by a police officer last weekend. The incident has led to violent protests in the St. Louis suburb, and inspired a national conversation about race and policing. The shooting also hit close to home in the Howard University community—a recent alum and St. Louis native, Mya White , was allegedly shot in the head on Tuesday during protests in the St. Louis town. The wounds were non-fatal and White is recovering, but the incident has resonated across the

– One of the most viewed images related to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., is actually from Washington, DC. It's out of Howard University, to be exact, and it shows scores of students from the school making a "hands up" gesture in solidarity with Brown, reports Time. (Protesters have adopted the gesture, saying the unarmed 18-year-old had his own hands up when he was shot to death by police.) After Howard senior Megan Sims tweeted the photo, it quickly went viral, reports USA Today.

A photo of black students with their hands raised is becoming a symbol of solidarity after Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen, was shot by a police officer Saturday in Ferguson, Mo. The photo was taken after Howard University students heard that Mya White was shot in the head while protesting in Ferguson. "The issue is bigger than Michael Brown. .... I feel like it's become apparent in this country that black men, for the most part, are being targeted by police officers," a senior at the historically black college said.

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is losing her New Hampshire staff. As many as five staffers formally left Bachmann's campaign this week, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said Friday. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal workings of the campaign. Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart disputed reports of a staff shakeup, saying: "We have a great team in New Hampshire. We haven't been notified that anyone's left the campaign." Still, Stewart said that she hadn't been able to reach the top New Hampshire staff to confirm they were still on board. She said she had reached some junior staffers who didn't say they were leaving. Campaign finance reports show that Bachmann, who has fallen in polls and struggled to raise money, had five paid staff in New Hampshire as recently as late September. The Republican presidential contender has largely ignored the first-in-the-nation primary state in recent months. She has been focused on Iowa and South Carolina, where her social conservative message has more appeal. Bachmann has visited New Hampshire twice since launching her presidential campaign in June, and Stewart acknowledged a greater focus on Iowa, where Bachmann was born and where she won the GOP's presidential straw poll in August. According to Bachmann aides, her Iowa staff consists of 11 paid members, including her national political director who relocated to Iowa this fall. The staff is among the larger teams in the leadoff caucus state. ___ Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report. ||||| Rep. Michele Bachmann said she was surprised to hear that her entire New Hampshire campaign staff had quit en masse today, even though they “had not been paid for a month,” one of the departing staffers told ABC News. Hours after initial reports of the mass exodus, Bachmann told Iowa Radio this afternoon that she was unaware that her staff had quit and said the reports were not true. “That is a shocking story to me,” the Minnesota congresswoman said. “I don’t know where that came from. We have called staff in New Hampshire to find out where that came from and the staff have said that isn’t true, so I don’t know if this is just a bad story that’s being fed by a different candidate or campaign. I have no idea where this came from, but we’ve made calls and it’s certainly not true.” But a staffer confirmed to ABC News that they had indeed quit. All of the paid staff has already been offered jobs at competing campaigns, the staffer said. One staffer, Southern New Hampshire Field Director Caroline Gigler, has already accepted a new job with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign, according to a report in the National Journal. As first reported by ABC affiliate WMUR, the outgoing staff include: Gigler, Nicole Yurek, Tom Lukacz, Director of Operations Matt LeDuc and longtime Bachmann friend radio-host Jeff Chidester. The departures are the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the campaign and do not bode well for a candidate who spent more

– All five of Michele Bachmann’s paid staffers in New Hampshire have quit, complaining that she hadn’t given enough attention to the state, reports ABC affiiliate WMUR. Bachmann visited New Hampshire for a debate last week, but before that hadn’t set foot in the Granite State since June. After the news emerged, Bachmann denied it on Iowa Radio: “That is a shocking story to me. I don’t know where that came from," she said. "We have called staff in New Hampshire to find out where that came from and the staff have said that isn’t true, so I don’t know if this is just a bad story that’s being fed by a different candidate or campaign. I have no idea where this came from, but we’ve made calls and it’s certainly not true.” ABC, however, is sticking by its story: "A staffer confirmed to ABC News that they had indeed quit." And the Associated Press is now backing up the ABC account: "Bachmann is losing her New Hampshire staff. As many as five staffers formally left Bachmann's campaign this week, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said." Bachmann has been losing senior aides ever since she won the Iowa straw poll.

As many as five staffers formally left Bachmann's campaign this week, two people with direct knowledge of the situation said Friday. Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart disputed reports of a staff shakeup, saying: "We have a great team in New Hampshire. We haven't been notified that anyone's left the campaign" Bachmann has largely ignored the first-in-the-nation primary state in recent months. She has been focused on Iowa and South Carolina, where her social conservative message has more appeal. The departures are the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the campaign.

Jon Huntsman is putting the best face on his failure to win the key endorsement of the New Hampshire Union Leader, which gave the nod Sunday morning to a rival in the state's Republican presidential primary, Newt Gingrich. "It once again proves how fluid and unpredictable New Hampshire is," Huntsman said in an interview from New Hampshire on "Fox News Sunday." "A month ago, for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture the Union Leader endorsement would be unthinkable." Huntsman is now around fourth place in New Hampshire polls but a distant seventh or eighth nationally. The former Utah governor and U.S. ambassador to China stopped short of predicting a win in New Hampshire but spoke instead of beating "market expectations" there. "I like our position. I like where we stand in the poll," Huntsman said. "I believe we're going to beat market expectations." ||||| The Union Leader, New Hampshire's most influential paper, picks Newt Gingrich as its candidate of choice in an editorial today (no link yet but text provided by POLITICO's Ginger Gibson) across the top of the front page. Key points in the endorsement, made by publisher Joe McQuaid: America is at a crucial crossroads. It is not going to be enough to merely replace Barack Obama next year. Continue Reading We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing. ... Readers of the Union Leader and Sunday News know that we don’t back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent- minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job. We don’t have to agree with them on every issue. We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear. Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate. But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running. It's the most significant and impactful endorsement in the GOP race so far and solidifies Gingrich's standing as the alternative to Romney as the race heads into the final pre-Iowa caucuses stretch. The endorsement, of course, has no bearing on Gingrich in Iowa, and given the competition between the two states, its not likely to be a boost there. Close observers of the Union Leader had assumed Gingrich was the likely choice when the paper's edit-heads said yesterday there would be an endorsement within the next 24 hours. It was never going to be Jon Huntsman, who despite working the state for months, has been the subject of criticism by the editorial page. Mitt Romney, however, who is ahead in the polls in a state where he has invested years of campaigning, had worked hard to court Union Leader officials. Reid Epstein took a memorable picture of Romney sitting next to McQuaid at a recent UL-sponsored Manchester event,

– Newt Gingrich's turn as the GOP's latest presidential pet gathered some big momentum today: The former House speaker has picked up the endorsement of New Hampshire's main newspaper, the Union Leader, which announced its pick with a banner headline in today's edition. While Gingrich "is by no means the perfect candidate," the paper opined, he is "the best candidate who is actually running," and has "the experience, the leadership qualities, and the vision to lead this country in these trying times." The nod from the conservative and influential editorial page could prove vital in the nation's first primary, notes the AP: The Union Leader's blessing helped give middle-of-the-pack candidate John McCain a win in the Granite State four years ago. Over at Politico, Maggie Haberman notes that the endorsement is a serious blow for Mitt Romney, who had "assiduously courted the paper." Meanwhile, Jon Huntsman, who has gone all-in on New Hampshire, sought to minimize the snub, saying it emphasized "how fluid and unpredictable New Hampshire is."

Huntsman: "It once again proves how fluid and unpredictable New Hampshire is" Huntsman is now around fourth place in New Hampshire polls but a distant seventh or eighth nationally. The endorsement has no bearing on Gingrich in Iowa, and given the competition between the two states, its not likely to be a boost there. It's the most significant and impactful endorsement in the GOP race so far and solidifies Gingrich's standing as the alternative to Romney as the race heads into the final pre-Iowa caucuses stretch.

Palo Alto pastor resigns after nasty tweets about city: 'An elitist sh-- den of hate' Walkway passing a row of palm trees and a manicured green lawn outside the Cantor Arts Center on a sunny day on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. Walkway passing a row of palm trees and a manicured green lawn outside the Cantor Arts Center on a sunny day on the campus of Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Debra Jones 61, consulting Where do you live now? Sacramento How long did you live in the Bay Area? 36 years How long has it been since you left? 26 years What made you leave the Bay Area? I initially left for a career opportunity, but I also had two young kids and couldn't afford to buy a house in the city. Are you better off now than when you were living in the Bay Area? Yes! I have 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a pool and a huge lot! I could NEVER afford that in the Bay Area! Plus, my children got excellent educations. Do you have plans of ever moving back to the Bay Area? I do not have "plans," I have dreams. San Francisco is my home. It's where I was born and raised. I am a graduate of SFUSD, SF State and UC Berkeley. I bleed blue and gold. I rep the Warriors, Raiders, even though my heart belongs to the Pittsburgh Steelers. But I ache for another 49er championship. I miss Muni, BART, flaming hot days in September, foggy damp mornings, the fog horn, the siren on Tuesdays at noon. As I age, my income level will not allow me to age in the place that shaped and molded who I am and my world view. What do you miss the most about the Bay Area? Walking out of my front door in the morning and stumbling into an adventure. Crab season. The Embarcadero. Muni. The Castro. Noe Valley. Hunter's Point. The Ingleside. Twin Peaks on a clear day. Union Square. North Beach. I want to come home so bad, it hurts. less Debra Jones 61, consulting Where do you live now? Sacramento How long did you live in the Bay Area? 36 years How long has it been since you left? 26 years What made you leave the Bay Area? I initially left for a career ... more Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special To The Chronicle Tiare Where do you live now? Washington What made you leave the Bay Area? I was living in Marin, working and going to school full-time. With the cost of living only going up, I found it almost impossible to save money. Living paycheck to paycheck was not fun anymore. Are you better off now than when you were living in the Bay Area? Besides being away from everything I am familiar with and my friends/family, moving away has been good for me and my wallet! Do you have plans of ever moving back to the Bay Area? In the future I hope to

– A California pastor has resigned in the wake of controversy that followed his use of some foul language while bashing his city on social media. In Twitter posts that wound up on the desks of Palo Alto city council members, Rev. Gregory Stevens, associate pastor at First Baptist Church, reportedly called the city an "elitist s--- den of hate." Per SFGate, Stevens also called the city's social justice a "f------ joke" before turning his ire on Palo Alto's elderly community. According to the Palo Alto Daily Post, the tweets, which were deleted but not before they were placed in a publicly viewable document, became an issue during a hearing that was set to determine if the church could lease space to outside groups. The city's vice mayor, Eric Filseth, reportedly called Stevens' tweets vile as the council questioned head pastor Rev. Rick Mixon. In a statement regarding his resignation that was sent to news outlets, Stevens called his tweets "unprofessional" and "hurtful." However, he appeared unrepentant as he took the opportunity to again criticize Palo Alto, only this time without the foul language. "I believe Palo Alto is a ghetto of wealth, power, and elitist liberalism by proxy, meaning that many community members claim to want to fight for social justice issues, but that desire doesn’t translate into action,” he wrote. Stevens said he chose to resign in order to minimize the scope of the controversy.

Debra Jones, 61, left the Bay Area because she couldn't afford to buy a house in the city. "I want to come home so bad, it hurts," she says. "As I age, my income level will not allow me to age in the place that shaped and molded who I am and my world view," says Tiare. "San Francisco is my home. It's where I was born and raised. I am a graduate of SFUSD, SF State and UC Berkeley. I bleed blue and gold"

Gautreaux had his pre-approved financing document saved on an application on his phone. The salesman who was helping them asked to borrow his phone so he could show the information to his manager. He returned the phone a few minutes later and directed the couple to meet the dealership's finance manager, who asked for their financing document and a pay stub. That's when Tim Gautreaux sensed something was amiss. When he tried to pull up a screenshot of his pay stub from the photos app on his phone, he saw that a year-old photo of his wife had been called up. Later, he learned that photos of his wife getting in and out of their bathtub — from what he described as a "private moment" — had been sent to an email address that appeared to be linked to a swingers' website and a Garland couple, the lawsuit says. The emails had been deleted from Gautreaux's phone by the time he got it back, but they were saved on a different app that backs up his emails. "This private moment that was intended to remind us of our happiness together was ripped away and replaced with fear and uncertainty," Gautreaux said in a written statement Thursday. ||||| Toyota of North America and its Grapevine dealership are being sued. One of their salesmen is accused of sending a customer’s nude photo to a swingers website. Rick Bowmer AP archives

– Tim and Claire Gautreaux, a Texas pastor and his wife, got far more than they bargained for when they went to a Grapevine Toyota dealership in January 2015 to buy a new car. According to a lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages that the couple filed against Texas Toyota of Grapevine and Toyota Motor North America, Tim Gautreaux, 29, handed over his phone to the salesman because he had his application for pre-approved financing saved on an app. The salesman gave the phone to his manager, 44-year-old Matthew Luke Thomas—and Thomas allegedly stole nude photos of Claire Gautreaux, 27, off the phone, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The phone was out of sight for just five minutes, per CBS DFW. When Tim Gautreaux got his phone back, he opened it to see a year-old photograph of Claire "in a compromising stage of undress," per the lawsuit. He then opened an app that saves deleted emails, and saw that an email with financial info had been sent to Thomas—but two other emails, which included photos of his wife getting in and out of the bath, had been sent to a swingers' website. "These actions have caused the Gautreauxs to suffer humiliation and mental anguish, particularly because they do not know who has seen these photographs or may see them in the future," said one of their lawyers, Gloria Allred, per the Dallas News. Thomas also has been criminally charged with misdemeanor computer security breach. (A crazy sex tape blackmail scandal started at a Texas church.)

Tim Gautreaux had his pre-approved financing document saved on an application on his phone. The salesman who was helping them asked to borrow his phone so he could show the information to his manager. Later, he learned that photos of his wife getting in and out of their bathtub had been sent to an email address that appeared to be linked to a swingers' website.

Pope Francis joined the—now truly #blessed—Instagram community on Saturday, posting his first photo on the popular app. “Pray for me,” the caption says, repeated in eight other languages. The photo, posted with the handle @franciscus, shows Francis kneeling with his head bowed in prayer. “I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God,” Francis posted on Saturday on Twitter, where he has more than 8.89 million followers. “Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark,” Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom posted on Instagram on Saturday. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Systrom met with Pope Francis at the Vatican last month to discuss the unifying power of images, giving him a curated book of Instagram photos during the visit. Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com. ||||| Pope Francis hit one million Instagram followers within 12 hours of launching his account. Pope Francis' new account was christened on Saturday with a photo of him kneeling in prayer. The accompanying message said "pray for me" in 9 languages. It was not a selfie. His new account broke a record for getting one million followers -- the previous record was 24 hours held by David Beckham. The Pope's Instagram handle is "Franciscus." While the account will be separate from the official Vatican account, it will be maintained by members of the Vatican -- his Twitter account is also maintained by other people. News of the Pope's plans to join Instagram broke Thursday and came just weeks after his meeting with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. During their meeting in late February, the two discussed "the power of images to unite people across different cultures and languages." They also talked about the possibility that the Pope would join the image-based social media platform, according to a spokesperson from Instagram. Related: Apple CEO Time Cook met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Systrom was on hand when the Pope's first Instagram photo went live. Pray for me Rezad por mí Pregate per me صلوا من أجلي Priez pour moi Módlcie się za mnie Rezem por mim Betet für mich Orate pro me A photo posted by Pope Francis (@franciscus) on Mar 19, 2016 at 4:24am PDT The CEO also commemorated the moment with a photo -- of him shaking hands with the Pope. Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark. A photo posted by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Mar 19, 2016 at 4:33am PDT He included this message: "Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark."

– Pope Francis officially joined the Instagram generation on Saturday, and he's already bringing a unique voice to the social media platform—in that his first post wasn't a cat video, photo of food, or selfie. Instead, His Holiness—or @franciscus, as he's now known on Instagram—posted a picture of himself praying along with the phrase "pray for me" in nine languages. CNN reports the Pope had 100,000 Instagram followers within an hour of launching his account. His first post had more than 65,000 likes and nearly 12,000 comments in the first three hours. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, who met with the Pope last month, called the Pope's first Instagram post "an incredible moment" and said his "messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark," according to Time. A Vatican spokesperson says the Pope joining Instagram is a "particularly smart move" because it's quickly becoming more popular in Catholic-heavy countries like Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. Pope Francis has embraced social media during his three years in the position. He actually announced his first Instagram post on Twitter, were he has nearly 9 million followers. "I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God," the Pope tweeted. But for anyone worried the Pope will soon be too distracted by filter options to get any work done, CNN points out someone else does his social media for him.

Pope Francis posted his first photo on Instagram on Saturday. The photo, posted with the handle @franciscus, shows Francis kneeling with his head bowed in prayer. “I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God,” Francis posted on Twitter, where he has more than 8.89 million followers. News of the Pope's plans to join Instagram broke Thursday and came just weeks after his meeting with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom.

EMBED >More News Videos Shane McMahon and his pilot share their tale after landing in the water. I'd like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk County Marine Bureau & Babylon Coast Guard. — Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 19, 2017 A small helicopter carrying the son of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon made an emergency landing in the waters off of Gilgo Beach Wednesday morning.The FAA says the Robinson R-44 helicopter with two aboard landed on its pontoon skids about a half mile off the coast just before 10:30 a.m. Neither Shane McMahon nor pilot Mario Regtien was injured."We heard some noise, and it became very clear to me that I could no longer continue flying the helicopter," Regtien said. "So I decided to do an auto-rotation landing in the water."The FAA said Regtien sent out a mayday call just before landing in the water. A commercial flight headed into JFK Airport heard the call and radioed to the FAA.Emergency responders, including two lifeguards, picked up the two and ferried them safety to shore. Both were wearing life jackets. NYPD Aviation and SCUBA units also responded and assisted in the rescue."It's very unsettling when all the sudden you have something happen," McMahon said. "You hear a bang, and then you start saying, 'We're going to do an emergency landing in the water.' So yes, it was very unnerving. But again, Mario was super calm, which made me super calm. And we landed perfectly."McMahon had chartered the flight from New York City to Westhampton to visit his family, and they had taken off from the West Side Heliport. The trouble began just south of Republic Airport, while they were cruising at 1,400 feet."It went as good as it could go," Regtien said. "Landed softly, and I checked to see if he was OK. Everyone was fine, and we waited for the Coast Guard at that point. I left my shoes in the helicopter in case we had to swim."McMahon thanked all those involved."First of all, I'd like to thank the pilot, Mario," he said. "He did an amazing job. He was cool under pressure. I couldn't have been in better hands. He explained everything as it was happening. I'd also like to thank the Coast Guard, who was there instantaneously, Suffolk County Marine, a bureau that was there, the lifeguards that came to the beach. Just thankful that everything worked out well and that we're here."He also posted this message on social media:The helicopter is registered to "Awesome Flight LLC" of White Plains. ||||| NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Shane McMahon, the son of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Vince McMahon, was one of two people rescued Wednesday when their small helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in the water about half a mile off Gilgo Beach in Babylon. The Robinson R44II-type helicopter, which is registered to a company in White Plains, was en route to Westhampton when it went down around 10:30 a.m. after taking off from Westchester County Airport. The chopper issued

– Shane McMahon was rescued from the waters off a New York beach Wednesday morning after the helicopter he was riding in performed a diving elbow drop into the ocean. WABC reports the son of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon was taking the helicopter to visit his family when something went wrong. Pilot Mario Regtien guided the Robinson R-44 helicopter into a controlled crash off Gilgo Beach. Neither man was injured. McMahon calls the crash "very unnerving" but credited Regtien for how he handled the situation. "Mario was super calm, which made me super calm. And we landed perfectly," he says. According to CBS New York, nearby lifeguards saw the helicopter crash and paddled kayaks out to help McMahon and Regtien ahead of the Coast Guard's arrival.

The FAA says the Robinson R-44 helicopter with two aboard landed on its pontoon skids about a half mile off the coast just before 10:30 a.m. Shane McMahon had chartered the flight from New York City to Westhampton to visit his family. The trouble began just south of Republic Airport, while they were cruising at 1,400 feet. The chopper issued a mayday call just before landing in the water; a commercial flight headed into JFK heard the call and radioed to the FAA.

FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West. As the show... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West. As the show... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West, who closed the show with a pro-Trump message. Saturday's show opened with Matt Damon playing Brett Kavanaugh in a parody of Thursday's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on sexual assault claims. As the show ended, West took the stage wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and made an unscripted pro-Trump speech after the credits rolled. Videos of the speech circulated on social media. Trump tweeted Sunday that he didn't watch the show — it's "no longer funny" and "is just a political ad for the Dems." He added: "Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told 'no'), was great. He's leading the charge!" ||||| Rapper Kanye West got boos and jeers from the audience at “Saturday Night Live” after he went on a pro-President Trump rant during the closing credits of the season premiere. West, wearing a red “Make American Great Again” hat and with the show’s cast standing behind him, launched into the screed off camera, but it was caught on video by comedian Chris Rock. “I wanna cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you’re feeling inside right now,” he sang as he paced the stage. He continued: “The blacks want always Democrats you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare. Does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan.” Then he turned to his support of Trump. “There’s so many times I talk to like a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.” A smattering of applause was quickly drowned out by boos in the audience. Rock could be heard on the video saying, “Oh, my God.” West

– Kanye West's Saturday Night Live performance drew both praise and criticism after the vocally pro-Trump rapper appeared onstage in a "Make America Great Again" hat over the weekend. However, he reportedly made another statement regarding the president during his appearance, one that was cut from the show's final broadcast. Per the New York Post, West was booed by the audience as he ranted during closing credits that Democrats want to keep black Americans on welfare. He then addressed his well-known support of President Trump. "I talk to like a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’" West said. "Well, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.” Per the Hollywood Reporter, West also briefly suggested a 2020 run could be in his future. In the audience was former SNL cast member Chris Rock, who recorded West's statement on video and cringed audibly from behind the camera as West spoke. Among West's supporters was none other than the president himself, who tweeted Sunday that he doesn't watch the show ("a political ad for the Dems") but that he heard about West's hat. "Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told 'no'), was great," Trump wrote, per the AP. "He's leading the charge!" Among the topics tackled earlier in the Adam Driver-hosted premiere were the Kavanaugh testimony and show writer Pete Davidson's engagement to singer Ariana Grande.

Rapper Kanye West got boos and jeers from the audience at “Saturday Night Live” after he went on a pro-President Trump rant during the closing credits of the season premiere. Trump tweeted Sunday that he didn't watch the show — it's "no longer funny" and "is just a political ad for the Dems" He added: "Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told 'no'), was great. He's leading the charge!"

Trending Look but don’t touch! American tourist snaps Italian statue’s finger off Aug. 6, 2013 at 6:31 PM ET Violating the first rule of visiting a museum — look but don’t touch the art — an American tourist in Italy has generated shock and outrage by snapping the finger off a 600-year-old statue at a museum in Florence. According to the Italian newspaper, Corriere Fiorentino, the snap heard around the art world took place when an unnamed 55-year-old Missouri man visiting the city’s Museo dell'Opera del Duomo held his hand up against the outstretched palm of a statue of the Virgin Mary by the 15th-century sculptor Giovanni d'Ambrogio. Whether he was comparing hand spans or giving the statue a high five is unclear but the end result was that the pinky finger of the statue’s right hand was broken off. Despite apologizing for his action, the tourist could be liable for a large fine, according to The (UK) Independent. MAURIZIO DEGL' INNOCENTI / EPA Even a financial penalty, however, is unlikely to assuage local Florentines, experienced art lovers and other travelers who would argue that anyone with the means to travel should also possess the understanding that art in museums is meant to be seen and not touched. “In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, ‘Do not touch the works’,” museum director Timothy Verdun told reporters. That basic premise notwithstanding, that globalization only reinforces the need for continuing education, says Sevil Sonmez, a tourism professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “If this was a first-time traveler, he’s probably not very experienced, maybe a little naïve,” said Sonmez. “If there’s no one around to give pointers on what to do and what to avoid, these things are likely to happen.” In fact, in the case of the Virgin’s dismembered digit, it’s happened before. As reported by Firenze Today, the pinky was actually a plaster replacement for the long-missing marble original. Nor is this first priceless piece of art damaged by accident. In 2006, a visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, tripped and sent three Quing Dynasty vases crashing to the ground. Four years later, a woman visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York fell into a Picasso painting called “The Actor” and left it with a six-inch gash. The artworks above, it’s worth noting, were eventually repaired and put back on display, which suggests there may be hope that future visitors to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo will be able to view the Virgin with all 10 of her fingers. In the meantime, the incident in Florence should serve as a timely reminder of the “look but don’t touch” rule. That also means no high fives, no “pull my finger” photo ops and definitely no fist bumps. As for the still-anonymous yet now-infamous finger-snapper, Sonmez, for one, takes the long view. “It’s part of the process of traveling and gaining experience,” she said. “The best way to learn is to make mistakes — and he

– A clumsy tourist from Missouri is in for plenty of finger-wagging from the art world after accidentally snapping a digit off a 600-year-old statue in a museum in Florence, Italy. The 55-year-old was holding his hand against the statue's palm when a finger snapped off, NBC reports. The man apologized but may still be hit with a heavy fine for damaging the work by medieval sculptor Giovanni d'Ambrogio. The museum's director—an American himself—blasted the tourist's behavior, saying "in a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, 'Do not touch the works,'" the Independent reports. But this is nothing new for the statue: The little finger snapped off by the tourist was itself a plaster replacement for the original marble finger, which was broken off many years ago.

An American tourist in Italy has generated shock and outrage by snapping the finger off a 600-year-old statue at a museum in Florence. Despite apologizing for his action, the tourist could be liable for a large fine. In 2006, a visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, tripped and sent three Quing Dynasty vases crashing to the ground. Four years later, a woman visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York fell into a Picasso painting and left it with a six-inch gash.

http://timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_prison-5.jpg Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes. WILKES-BARRE — Two people died Monday evening inside the Luzerne County Correctional Facility — an inmate and a prison guard — according to Luzerne County Manager David Pedri. The two died after a brief altercation that took place at about 6:25 p.m., Pedri said at a news conference late Monday night. Pedri identified the inmate as Timothy Gilliam, 27. Pedri said he believed Gilliam had been incarcerated for failing to register under Megan’s Law, for sex offenders. Pedri said the name of the prison guard was not being released at the request of his family. “This guard went to work today believing that he would be coming home,” Pedri said. “And, sadly that didn’t happen.” He called the incident a “sad and tragic.” “We will do everything in our power to ensure an incident like this never happens again,” he said. According to Pedri, who declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, the matter was under investigation by the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police. When asked about Mark Rockovich, the new correctional division head, Pedri said Monday was his first day on the job. Luzerne County Councilman Tim McGinley, who was on site shortly after the incident occurred, said any suspect death would be of concern to the county, noting that the county spends $30 million on the facility annually. Michele Rohrbaugh, whose son Michael is an inmate on the fifth floor of the facility, came for a visit at about 7 p.m. and was told by prison staff that there would be no visit because the prison was on lockdown. Rohrbaugh stood outside of the prison for over three hours, hoping to hear her son was safe. After the press conference, she made her way from council chambers visibly relieved. “It wasn’t him,” she said. “It wasn’t my son.” Rohrbaugh said she recently had heard that gang activity at the prison was on the rise. She also said she was concerned with her son’s safety. Some prison guards have been complaining for months about security and safety concerns at the main prison, located on Water Street. Prison officials have been wrestling with an increase in inmate assaults and fighting — problems that have been blamed on a rise in inmates who are addicted to drugs, battling mental health issues and involved in gangs. The main prison has been at or over its 505-inmate capacity in recent years. In April, county officials investigated the hospitalization of a prison inmate for a serious cut above his right ear down into his neck. Prison officials said they suspected the man was assaulted by another inmate, but the inmate continues to maintain he cut himself when he fell off the top metal bunk bed in his cell, officials said as recently as last week. One guard, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Monday night that he and many of his colleagues blame Pedri and prison deputy Warden James Larson for not taking their safety concerns seriously. Larson has

– A correctional officer and an inmate are dead following an altercation at a Pennsylvania prison. It happened Monday night at Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre, which is currently on lockdown, the AP reports. Luzerne County Manager David Pedri tells the Times Leader that the dead inmate is 27-year-old Tracy Gilliam, who he believes was in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. Pedri says the guard's family has asked for his name not to be released. "This guard went to work today believing that he would be coming home," he says. "And sadly, that didn't happen." Pedri says authorities will do all they can to make sure a "sad and tragic" incident like this doesn't happen again. State police and the county DA are investigating.

An inmate and a prison guard died Monday evening inside the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. The two died after a brief altercation that took place at about 6:25 p.m., county manager David Pedri said. Pedri identified the inmate as Timothy Gilliam, 27. Gilliam had been incarcerated for failing to register under Megan’s Law, for sex offenders. The name of the prison guard was not being released at the request of his family, he said. The matter was under investigation by the Luzersne County District Attorney’S Office and Pennsylvania State Police.

4 years ago (CNN) - Anthony Weiner, the embattled New York City mayoral candidate who admitted this week to sending raunchy chats to a young woman last summer, estimated Thursday he had online relationships with three different women after his 2011 resignation from Congress. But speaking at a news conference, the Democrat said he couldn't say for sure how many more women might come forward. "There are a few. I don't have a specific number for you," Weiner said. "There are people I've had exchanges with that are completely appropriate, and that there are no pictures or illicit texts or anything. Now if those people want to say they don't like the exchanges we had either, I don't know where to put them." READ MORE: Weiner's poll numbers tumble Weiner stepped down from his House seat in 2011 after admitting to sending lewd photos and messages to multiple women online. He pointed out Thursday that when he left the House of Representatives, he admitted to exchanging messages with six women. He then provided a rough total of how many women he's engaged with sexually online. "It's not dozens and dozens," he said. "It's six to ten, I suppose, but I can't tell you absolutely what people are going to consider inappropriate or not." READ MORE: Pelosi blasts Weiner: Do your therapy in private Pressed to provide a guess as to how many of those relationships occurred after his resignation, Weiner said, "I don't believe I had any more than three." Weiner has resisted calls from his rivals to withdraw from the race for New York City mayor, saying the decision of whether he's trustworthy enough for the job should be up to voters. Sources: Huma Abedin considered leaving Weiner last fall Weiner resists calls to withdraw as woman who received messages is identified Why Anthony Weiner's problem is ours, too ||||| In light of new revelations that Anthony Weiner continued to engage in lewd online behavior after he resigned from Congress two years ago, Weiner now trails Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. In this first poll conducted entirely after the latest scandalous details emerged, Quinn now outdistances Weiner by 9 percentage points. Among registered Democrats in New York City, including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, if the Democratic primary were held today, here is how the contest would stand: 25% Christine Quinn 16% Anthony Weiner 14% Bill de Blasio 14% Bill Thompson 7% John Liu 2% Erick Salgado 1% Sal Albanese 2% Other 19% Undecided Click Here for Complete July 25, 2013 NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll NYC Release and Tables POLL MUST BE SOURCED: NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll* “For many Democrats the latest revelations about Anthony Weiner are more of the same, only more so,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Weiner has lost his lead and his negatives are at an all-time high.” There has been a 14 percentage point swing in the contest between Quinn and

– Have New Yorkers had enough? In a Marist poll last month, Anthony Weiner claimed frontrunner status in the race for New York City mayor by 5 points over Christine Quinn. This week's revelations have caused a 14-point swing: She's now in front with 25% to his 16%, reports Marist. Two others are tied for third, just 2 points back of Weiner. And another comeback looks daunting: Most respondents (55%) now have an unfavorable opinion of Weiner. On top of that, Weiner admits that the woman who came forward this week isn't the only recipient of his lewd texts since he resigned from Congress in 2011, reports CNN. He seems to have lost track, however: "I don't believe I had any more than three," he said, when pressed for an answer during a news conference. And the overall number, pre- and post-resignation? "It's not dozens and dozens. It's six to 10, I suppose, but I can't tell you absolutely what people are going to consider inappropriate or not."

Weiner estimated he had online relationships with three different women after his 2011 resignation from Congress. Weiner stepped down from his House seat in 2011 after admitting to sending lewd photos and messages to multiple women online. In light of new revelations that Anthony Weiner continued to engage in lewd online behavior after he resigned from Congress two years ago, Weiner now trails Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. In this first poll conducted entirely after the latest scandalous details emerged, Quinn now outdistances Weiner by 9 percentage points.

When Google Inc. launched its Google+ social-networking site three weeks ago, executives handed out sailor hats to the hundreds of employees working on the project, symbolizing their year-long journey to that point. So far, the sailing has been mostly smooth. On Wednesday, Web-traffic watcher comScore Inc. estimated Google+ has had 20 million unique visitors since its launch, including five million visitors from the U.S. A Google spokeswoman declined comment. Google's rapid growth spurt on Google+ suggests that people are hungry for more social network options, WSJ's Jen Valentino-DeVries reports. ComScore, whose estimates are based on a "global measurement panel" of two million Internet users, similar to the approach Nielsen uses to measure television ratings,doesn't have data on the number of minutes people spent on Google+. Still, the growth of Google+ has impressed observers because access to it is by invitation only, meaning people can join only if a current member invites them. And the company hasn't yet marketed the service to the more than one billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail and other services. Journal Community Google+ lets people share comments, articles, photos and videos with various "circles" of friends or contacts, or they can share content publicly with any userwho wants to view their posts. Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google+ in its other services, such as its YouTube video site. "I've never seen anything grow this quickly," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore. The only other site that has accumulated as many new visitors in a short period of time is Twitter in 2009, he said, "but that happened over several months." The new data follow comments by Google CEO Larry Page last week that Google+ had more than 10 million users.Mr. Page said Google+'s traction was evidence that there are "more opportunities for Google today than ever before." Of course, Google has a long way to go to reach the scale of Facebook Inc., which has more than 750 million users, and Twitter Inc., which has more than 200 million registered accounts. With Google+, Google is aiming to match rivals like Facebook, which used personal information posted by its members to create a multibillion-dollar advertising business that lets marketers target specific demographic groups or people with certain interests. Google also hopes the service can become a home for brands and celebrities. The data Google obtains about people's interests could also help it change the way its Web-search engine works. Sites in its search results could potentially be ranked based on what users and their friends like or find useful, Google engineers have said. View Full Image Reuters A screen shot of the Google Plus social network is shown in this publicity photo. In addition to adding numerous features over time, Google will eventually allow software developers to create "social" games and other applications that would run on top of Google+, similar to Facebook's successful "platform" for applications, people familiar with the matter have said. Google+ also has unique technology, such as a "hangouts" feature, that lets people do "video chats"

– Google’s new social networking site, Google+, has gotten an impressive 20 million unique visitors in its first 3 weeks online; of those, 5 million are from the US. And that’s with access still limited only to those who have been invited by other members—and without any advertising yet through Google’s search engine or Gmail, the Wall Street Journal notes. “I've never seen anything grow this quickly,” says an analyst at comScore. The company hasn't confirmed the visitor numbers but said last week it had more than 10 million users. Meanwhile, privacy advocates who slammed Google’s earlier social system, Buzz, are more comfortable with the new service. Google+ makes it “easier to share with one group of your friends while retaining some measure of privacy with respect to your family, coworkers, or other groups of friends," notes one watchdog. Still, he warns, “Google+ won't be as good for protecting your privacy against Google.” So now that Google+ is off to a promising start, what next? PC World looks at the possibilities, which include reaching out to businesses and gamers.

Google's rapid growth spurt on Google+ suggests people are hungry for more social network options, WSJ's Jen Valentino-DeVries reports. On Wednesday, Web-traffic watcher comScore Inc. estimated Google+ has had 20 million unique visitors since its launch, including five million visitors from the U.S. With Google+, Google is aiming to match rivals like Facebook, which used personal information posted by its members to create a multibillion-dollar advertising business. Google plans to incorporate features of Google+ in its other services, such as its YouTube video site.

Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| A drone filming a Russian medieval festival met a fitting demise when a reenactor in a full knight’s costume brought it with the end of a spear. Luckily, the drone’s footage remained in tact, giving us an incredible view of not only the spearing but also of one of the stranger gatherings ever caught on camera. The violent drone destruction occurs at the beginning of the Youtube video, but, at the end of the festival, there is plenty of of old-time partying, rugby-like games, and, of course, Russians pretending to wage medieval war against one another. Clearly though, these reenactors are doing something right, because the throw that brought down the drone was not easy. Hovering about 20 feet over the heads of the party-goers, the drone catches sight briefly of a man jutting through the crowd, only to be felled by the hurtling missile. The drone didn’t stand a chance, but the good news is maybe some of the more elaborate anti-drone technology developed in recent months may not be necessary after all. Who needs to blast disabling radio waves across the sky, fire nets, or to train eagles to capture drones, when an old-fashioned man with a spear will do the trick just fine? The video definitely makes clear that drones may be the future, but spears are timeless. ||||| What’s the greatest weakness of a drone? Partial marks if you said an eagle, a radio frequency jammer, or another drone. But no, the real answer is “Russian historical re-enactors armed with a spear”, as this video from Russia’s Rusborg gathering earlier this month reveals. Unlike the high-tech method of drones armed with nets designed to down other drones, hitting a small quadcopter with a spear isn’t the safest way to take down an annoying interloper. Not only do you risk spearing someone if you miss, but the drone itself probably won’t come out of it in the best shape: the drone’s operators, UAV photographers from Lipetsk, say it’s now heading off to Moscow for repairs. In addition to that, there’ are not many circumstances when wandering around with a spear is a good idea. Still, can’t hurt to try.

– We now know what would happen if a drone traveled back in time to the Middle Ages. A talented knight—more precisely, a talented medieval reenactor—at Russia's Rusborg festival managed to down a drone with a throw of his spear. The drone was recording the event from about 20 feet in the air when the man emerged from a crowd, took aim, and let fly, sending the drone careening to the ground, per Inverse. Its operators, photographers from Lipetsk, say the drone had to be sent to Moscow for repairs, reports the Guardian. Luckily its footage of sword fights and half-naked rugby games was unharmed.

A drone filming a Russian medieval festival met a fitting demise when a reenactor in a full knight's costume brought it down with the end of a spear. The drone's footage remained in tact, giving us an incredible view of not only the spearing but also of one of the stranger gatherings ever caught on camera. Unlike high-tech method of drones armed with nets designed to down other drones, hitting a small quadcopter with a spear isn’t the safest way to take down an annoying interloper.

It is getting hard to count how many times Miley Cyrus has stripped down for photo shoots — but the 22-year-old’s latest spread is her most provocative yet. Cyrus covers this month’s issue of Candy magazine, the first magazine “completely dedicated to celebrating tranvestism, transexuality, crossdressing and androgyny in all their glory.” In a series of photos taken by renowned celebrity photographer (and alleged sex predator) Terry Richardson, Cyrus playfully fellates a nightstick while donning a policeman’s cap, stretches out her tongue to lick her armpit hair and bends at the waist to reach for a sex toy. “Miley has what it takes,” the caption on each shot reads. Check out the complete unblurred photo shoot here (Warning: Photos are extremely NSFW). This isn’t the first time Cyrus has gotten naked for Richardson; the controversial photographer shot a younger Cyrus in his New York studio in 2013. The pair also worked together on Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” music video. Richardson, who’s worked with countless celebrities on sexy photo shoots, has become something of an outcast in the photography world in recent years. Last year, a model named Emma Appleton accused the photographer of soliciting sex from her in exchange for securing her a Vogue photo shoot. In December 2013, Richardson’s ex-girlfriend, Audrey Gelman, said that both she and Lena Dunham, who had been photographed by Richardson, “have regrets.” Last year, Vogue told Us Weekly it had “no plans to work with” its controversial former contributor in the future. ||||| “Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman.” That’s how Amy Schumer described her nude photo by Annie Leibovitz for the new Pirelli Calendar, seizing the words from the tweets and thinkpieces by her critics and cheerleaders, all of whom will reliably bicker over the headline-making photo shoot from the star, who has turned the unapologetic, self-deprecating embracing of her body image into a zeitgeist-seizing art form. In the photo, Schumer is nude with nothing but a pair of underwear and some heels on, her arms opting to conceal her nipples instead of the rolls on her stomach as she slouches, and holding a coffee cup as the flash of a bulb startles her face startles into a candid, quite beautiful pose. The Trainwreck and Inside Amy Schumer star is a model for photographer Annie Leibovitz’s “quite different” 43rd edition of the Pirelli Calendar, typically known for classic pin-up poses from the world’s most glamorous and flawless sex symbols—Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford—but which this year features some of the world’s most distinguished women, all noted for things other than, but also including, their looks. “The goal was to be very straightforward,” Leibovitz said in a press conference unveiling the images. “I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense.” In addition to Schumer, other models for the calendar include names not classically associated with the phrase “pin-up”—Selma director Ava DuVernay; Yao Chen, the first Chinese goodwill ambassador for United Nations High Commission for Refugees; tennis phenom Serena Williams—and therefore reappropriates the

– Amy Schumer, posing in her undies with tummy folds? Serena Williams, similarly dressed while showing off her buff physique? The Pirelli Calendar—which usually shows skinny models and actresses in soft-core poses—is breaking from tradition this year by using photos of successful women across various fields, the Daily Beast reports. "The goal was to be very straightforward," says photographer Annie Leibovitz, who snapped the shots for the 43rd edition. "I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense." Only Schumer and Williams (who were each criticized by body-shamers in recent months) are posing in the near-buff, notes Slate. Schumer tweeted about it this way: Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you @annieleibovitz — Amy Schumer, November 30, 2015 Among others posing for Leibovitz are Ava DuVernay, director of Selma; Yao Chen, a Chinese goodwill ambassador to the UN; Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm producer; Natalia Vodianova, ex-supermodel; Shirin Neshat, Iranian artist; and Yoko Ono. Seems Leibovitz chose her models: "Pirelli has always given free rein to the photographer," she tells the Guardian. "I think the company has wanted to shift for a few years and my mandate was that they wanted to see some change." So will the calendar revert to sexy poses next year? It's unclear, but Neshat tells the New York Times that "it would be a huge disappointment" if Pirelli chose to "abandon the idea of the women who define modern life, and go back to sexy girls who are too young to have accomplished anything." (Miley Cyrus recently did a nude photo shoot, too.)

Miley Cyrus has stripped down for a new photo shoot. The singer was photographed by Terry Richardson. Richardson has been accused of soliciting sex from model Emma Appleton in exchange for a Vogue shoot. Amy Schumer is also a model for the 43rd edition of the Pirelli Calendar. The calendar is known for its classic pin-up poses, but this year features some of the world’s most distinguished women, all noted for things other than, but also including, their looks.

Foreign policy may offer U.S. President Barack Obama his best chance to strike a unifying chord in a State of the Union address that would otherwise be dominated by divisive domestic and economic issues. Specifically, the president should emphasize America’s embrace of human and democratic rights, values that transcend parties and administrations. He would echo Jimmy Carter’s clarion call for human rights, Ronald Reagan’s statements on the oppression of Soviet Jews, Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright’s communities of democracy, and George W. Bush’s commitment to freedom as he began his second term. State of the Union speeches aren’t the venue for nuance. But the president could acknowledge, with mentions of the Middle East and the troubled Arab Spring, that U.S. values are central to its foreign policy, even though furthering this ideal is never easy, and success may not be near. Even Senator John McCain, in a grouchy mood, would applaud. The so-called pivot to Asia and the troubled Middle East have been the dominant themes of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. In his speech, the president would do well to pay tribute to Europe, a signal that even as the U.S. faces new challenges it won’t ignore old allies and alliances. A call for a trans-Atlantic free-trade zone would be compelling, even if there are doubts whether Europe’s tenuous financial condition makes that a realistic goal now. A commitment to more aggressive promotion of global trade pacts captures America’s can-do essence, offers a positive economic message and appeals to more than a few Republicans. The president is certain to pay tribute to the military, as he should after a national election that largely avoided mention of the tens of thousands of men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Obama should offer a new GI Bill of Rights for veterans returning to a still recovering economy. (Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. This is one of 11 suggestions Bloomberg View columnists made for the foreign policy section of Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Read more here. ) To contact the writer of this column: Al Hunt in Washington at ahunt1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this column: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net. ||||| If President Obama wants immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, he may not want to mention it at all in tonight’s State of the Union speech, a new Washington Post poll suggests. Seven in 10 people in the survey said they would support a path to citizenship, including 60 percent of Republicans. But when the same question was asked of a separate sample of respondents, this time with Obama’s name attached to it, support dropped to 59 percent overall and just 39 percent among Republicans. On other hot-button issues like banning the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons or ending the war in Afghanistan, however, lending Obama’s name to the proposal made each viewed more favorably — and therefore if he were to put his political weight

– President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address tonight, and every pundit out there has an opinion on how he should approach it. A sampling of the day's top unsolicited advice: "It may be tempting to list a series of measures Obama wants Congress to pass," but Obama should avoid a laundry list, warns historian Julian Zelizer at CNN. "The president should think big," perhaps using the speech, as FDR did in 1941, to "offer a vision" for America, or to take a bold gamble, as Abraham Lincoln did by supporting emancipation in 1862. Or he can simply be honest about today's challenges, as Gerald Ford was when he said the state of the union "is not good." Obama should invoke Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan by emphasizing "America's embrace of human and democratic rights, values that transcend parties and administrations," suggests Albert Hunt at Bloomberg. "Even Senator John McCain, in a grouchy mood, would applaud." "President Obama is apparently planning to give us yet another salvo in that left-right war," laments David Brooks in the New York Times. "But it would be great if Obama gave an imaginative speech that reframed things as present versus future." Somewhere along the line, America went from a forward-looking nation to a consumption-minded one. Smart investments in tomorrow could change that. Meanwhile, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has a more scientific look at what Obama should and shouldn't say, noting that in polls some policy ideas, like a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, became less popular when Obama's name was attached to them. Others, like banning assault weapons or ending the war in Afghanistan, got a boost from the association.

Albert Hunt: Obama should emphasize U.S. embrace of human and democratic rights. Hunt: He should echo Jimmy Carter's clarion call for human rights, Ronald Reagan's statements on the oppression of Soviet Jews. He says Obama should also pay tribute to Europe, a signal that the United States won't ignore old allies and alliances. Hunt, Berley: A new GI Bill of Rights for veterans returning to a still recovering economy would be a good idea for Obama to offer in his speech tonight.

This article is over 1 month old Venezuelan president also claimed ‘ultra-right locos’ within Brazil’s incoming government were plotting to invade his country Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused the White House of playing a direct role in an attempt to assassinate him and claimed “ultra-right locos” within Brazil’s incoming government were plotting to invade his country. Venezuela: is a US-backed 'military option' to oust Maduro gaining favour? Read more At a press conference in the presidential Miraflores palace in Caracas, Maduro said he had “no doubt” that the US government had ordered and authorized the botched strike against him last August with explosive-laden drones and continued to plot against him. He offered no evidence to support the allegations. Maduro claimed the US hoped to install a rightwing dictatorship in Venezuela and accused the US media of waging an “incessant” media campaign against his government in order to justify a foreign military intervention in Venezuela. The US national security adviser, John Bolton, had personally hatched a plan “to fill Venezuela with violence”, Maduro alleged, urging Donald Trump to abandon the supposed conspiracy and turn away from “conflict and confrontation”. In November Bolton described Venezuela as part of a Latin American “troika of tyranny” that had “finally met its match”. Last year Trump told reporters there were “many options” to resolve the Venezuelan crisis including a military one. In December the US defense secretary, James Mattis, called Maduro “an irresponsible despot” who would ultimately “have to go”. Maduro vowed to resist what he called the “neo-fascist madness” of his foreign foes and called on the international community to denounce the alleged plot against him. “Our message to the world is: it’s time to defend Venezuela!” he said. “Venezuela will not be a victim of a neo-fascist aggression.” “We will not retreat, we will not be brought to our knees, we will not give up. We will fight and we will guarantee Venezuela peace … whatever the price,” Maduro added. “We don’t want violence, or international conflicts, or war, or coups. No, no, no, no. The people want progress, prosperity and coexistence.” Bolton praises Bolsonaro while declaring ‘troika of tyranny’ in Latin America Read more Venezuela’s president also lashed out at Brazil’s incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, who he claimed was obsessed with the idea of invading Venezuela. “[This guy] has the face of a madman,” Maduro said of Mourão. “Saying a Brazilian military force is going to enter Venezuela is crazy talk.” “Nobody in Brazil wants the incoming government of Jair Bolsonaro to get involved in a military adventure against the Venezuelan people,” he said. Bolsonaro, who takes power on 1 January, has made no secret of his loathing of Maduro and last year vowed to “do whatever is possible to see that government be deposed”. But in a recent interview with the Brazilian magazine Piauí, Mourão struck a more moderate tone: “It’s the Venezuelans who have to solve the Venezuelans’ problems,” he said. ||||| An announcement that Iran may deploy new-generation warships to Venezuelan waters could alter

– The Trump administration was directly involved in an attempt to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—at least, that’s what Maduro claims (and not for the first time), the Guardian reports. "I have no doubt that the White House authorized the drone against Nicolás Maduro," he said, speaking in the third person during a Wednesday press conference, according to the Miami Herald, which notes that officials in the US often speak of the need for peaceful regime change in the South American country, "even as the threat of military intervention hangs in the air." The embattled Maduro says US National Security Adviser John Bolton is behind a range of plots to destabilize Venezuela. These include the aforementioned botched drone attack against Maduro in August and conspiring with "ultra-right locos" in Brazil to invade Venezuela.

Venezuelan president says he has ‘no doubt’ the US government ordered the botched strike against him last August with explosive-laden drones. Maduro claims the US hoped to install a rightwing dictatorship in Venezuela. He also lashed out at Brazil’s incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, who he claimed was obsessed with the idea of invading Venezuela. “Saying a Brazilian military force is going to enter Venezuela is crazy talk,” Maduro said of Mourão.

The wonder, or perhaps the horror, of social media is that it allows people to remotely participate in a catastrophe in a personal but safe way. Photos are one thing, but hearing the real terror and fear from those who are there fully experiencing it in real time is another thing entirely. In another earthquake video shared on Twitter, a man holds a phone to record his reaction along with that of a woman in the room. He says no way, no way, no way and the woman babbles, I think she's praying, as the furniture topples and the room rocks. It's a terribly intimate moment I'm almost embarrassed to watch. But it strikes a chord. I've been there. And I will be there again, most likely. ||||| The U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeMap said light to moderate shaking — categorized as intensity 4 and 5, and depicted on a map as aqua and green — was felt in parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, but probably was not heavy enough to cause any significant damage. Shaking was also felt in Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Glendale. ||||| The wonder, or perhaps the horror, of social media is that it allows people to remotely participate in a catastrophe in a personal but safe way. Photos are one thing, but hearing the real terror and fear from those who are there fully experiencing it in real time is another thing entirely. In another earthquake video shared on Twitter, a man holds a phone to record his reaction along with that of a woman in the room. He says no way, no way, no way and the woman babbles, I think she's praying, as the furniture topples and the room rocks. It's a terribly intimate moment I'm almost embarrassed to watch. But it strikes a chord. I've been there. And I will be there again, most likely. ||||| Hurricanes in Florida, Texas and the Caribbean; record-high temperatures in San Francisco; and wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. And last night, a 3.6-magnitude earthquake a few miles away from Westwood, Calif., a neighborhood in Los Angeles near Bel Air, Calabasas, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. “Earthquakes like this happen several times a year, so it’s not uncommon at all,” said John Bellini, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center. You wouldn’t know it from the reactions on social media. After the earthquake struck at 11:20 p.m. local time, tremors erupted across Los Angeles Twitter. ||||| We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter? Yes

– Residents of Los Angeles should be feeling more than empathy in the wake of Mexico City's 7.1 magnitude earthquake that left more than 200 dead Tuesday. They should also be experiencing fear, writes Mariel Garza at the Los Angeles Times. "Though of course my heart goes out to the people whose lives and homes were just ripped apart, and of course they will be in our collective prayers, what keeps me riveted to my Twitter feed and the videos therein is the sense that I’m glimpsing my own future," writes the LA resident. Experts say the city of 4 million is overdue for a big earthquake. But "it's easy to forget when the ground is still," Garza writes. "This was a sobering and graphic reminder." Garza was especially moved by videos showing whole buildings crumbling to dust or families huddled together as their house shakes. He says he'll be glued to coverage of the ongoing rescues and cleanup, searching for "clues and lessons" in the hope that "when it's LA's turn, I will be ready." But despite experts' predictions, not many Angelenos appear to be living in fear, even after LA was shaken by a 3.6 magnitude tremor and 2.0 magnitude aftershock on Monday, per the Times. The New York Times rounds up reactions of the relatively small tremor from celebrities, including musician Cray, who tweeted a photo that appeared to show a water bottle had fallen off a counter during the quake. "WE WILL REBUILD," she joked. (Click to read Garza's full column.)

The U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeMap said light to moderate shaking was felt in parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley. Shaking was also felt in Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Glendale. In another earthquake video shared on Twitter, a man holds a phone to record his reaction along with that of a woman in the room. It's a terribly intimate moment I'm almost embarrassed to watch. But it strikes a chord. And I will be there again, most likely.

The full moon known as this year's Harvest Moon will rise tonight (Sept.16) and will be shaded by a subtle type of lunar eclipse for some skywatchers in Africa, Asia and Australia. The Harvest Moon (as with all full moons) officially turns full when it reaches the spot in the sky opposite to (180 degrees from) the sun. In 2016, the Harvest Moon's moment will occur tonight at 3:05 p.m. EDT (12:05 p.m. PDT). A minor penumbral lunar eclipse will accompany the full moon tonight, and will be visible from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Western Pacific. The Slooh Community Observatory will offer a live webcast of the eclipse at Slooh.com beginning at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT). You can also watch the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. [Harvest Moon Lunar Eclipse Guide: When & How to See It] The Harvest Moon is the one that comes the closest to the autumnal equinox, so this year it falls in September, although occasionally this title can be bestowed upon the October full moon. That will happen 12 times from 1970 to 2020, occurring next in 2017. The 2016 version of the Harvest Moon comes six days prior to the autumnal equinox, although it can occur as early as Sept. 8 (as it did in 2014) or as late as Oct. 7 (as happened in 1987). Many think that the Harvest Moon remains in the night sky longer than any of the other full moons seen during the year, but that is not so. What sets the Harvest Moon apart from other full moons is that it occurs at the climax of the harvest season, so farmers can work late into the night by the moon's light. This moon rises at about the time the sun sets, and — more importantly — at this time of year, instead of rising its normal average of 50 minutes later each day, the moon seems to rise at somewhat the same time each night. This NASA chart prepared by eclipse expert Fred Espenak shows the regions on Earth where the penumbral lunar eclipse of Sept. 16, 2016 will be visible. The primary visibility areas include Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Western Pacific. Credit: NASA/Fred Espenak In actuality, from midnorthern latitudes (+40 degrees), the rising of the moon over a three-night span centered on full phase (Sept. 15, 16 and 17) comes, on average, 38 minutes later each night. The night-to-night difference is greatest for the more southerly locations (Miami, located at latitude +25.8 degrees, sees moonrise come an average of 45 minutes later). Meanwhile, the difference is less at more northerly locations (at Edmonton, Canada, located at latitude 53.5 degrees N, the average difference is only 28 minutes). [Harvest Moon 2016: When and How to See September's Full Moon] The reason for this seasonal circumstance is that the moon appears to move along the ecliptic, and at this time of year, when rising, the ecliptic makes its smallest angle with respect to the horizon for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. In

– Skywatchers can witness a rare sight Friday night, though people in North America will have to settle for doing so via the Internet. The part everyone can see: It will be a full moon, and because this one falls closed to the fall equinox, it's called a harvest moon (the better for farmers of yore to harvest their crops, as legend has it). What's more, it coincides with a small lunar eclipse, though that part will be visible only in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, reports Space.com. Still, it will be the last harvest moon eclipse until 2024, reports National Geographic. During the show, only the upper part of the moon will be slightly shaded in what's known as a penumbral eclipse. Not in the viewing area? Watch it here.

The Harvest Moon turns full when it reaches the spot in the sky opposite to (180 degrees from) the sun. The 2016 version of the Harvest Moon comes six days prior to the autumnal equinox. The Slooh Community Observatory will offer a live webcast of the eclipse at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT) The moon rises at about the time the sun sets, and at this time of year, the moon seems to rise at somewhat the same time each night.

CLOSE Dominika Egorova, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is left with an uncertain future after her dancing career suddenly ends. Then she finds herself in a world of violence when she becomes a dangerous spy. USA TODAY Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence, center left) goes to Sparrow School in the spy thriller 'Red Sparrow.' (Photo: Murray Close) Jennifer Lawrence's Red Sparrow spy is no James Bond. Or Jason Bourne. Or Jack Bauer. Or even, for the older folks, Emma Peel. But that's all good. In the new thriller based on Jason Matthews' novel, the actress stars as a Russian rookie secret agent who's more liable to use sex as a weapon than, say, a switchblade in her stiletto — though the film is still plenty violent. Red Sparrow (★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters nationwide Friday) veers from its genre by focusing on methodical spycraft and juggling emotions; unlike Charlize Theron in last year's Atomic Blonde, Lawrence is seducing people instead of kicking them in the face. Previously: Jennifer Lawrence on nudity, saying 'no' to selfies and 'Red Sparrow' More: Harvey Weinstein sorry he used Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence in his defense Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is a star ballerina in the Bolshoi whose career gets shelved after a horrific injury. To make ends meet and take care of her ailing mother (Joely Richardson), Dominika is recruited by her Uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts), a major figure in the Russian intelligence service. After a successful first assignment to woo an influential business leader, Vanya sends his niece to Sparrow School, a secretive place run by a stoic matron (Charlotte Rampling) that teaches young men and women to use their sexual wiles for espionage purposes. While she's getting trained, CIA operative Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) tries to find a way back to Moscow after a botched mission involving his contact with a Russian mole. When Nate meets Dominika, they fall for each other and he sees a path to make her a double agent. She's out mostly for survival, though, and the audience is left wondering about her — and many of the characters' — true allegiances. Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) and Nate (Joel Edgerton) fall for each other but the relationship gets complicated in 'Red Sparrow.' (Photo: Murray Close) With the exception of her Russian accent, which seems more like an underwhelming audition for a Boris and Natasha cartoon, Lawrence fits the role like a new pair of pointe shoes. The chemistry with Edgerton isn't great but Dominika by herself is a fascinating study, a woman who first uses her body to create exquisite art, later has it used by men, and then takes it back in a big way. At nearly 2½ hours, Red Sparrow is overlong for what it needs to be, yet still doesn't spend enough time in Sparrow School, the most interesting aspect of the entire movie. At first, Dominika is taken off guard by weaponizing her sexuality, but in one nude scene opposite a male student in class, she becomes the dominant figure playing mind games and suddenly finds a physical

– After a career-ending injury, Russian ballerina Dominika becomes a seductive spy in Red Sparrow, a Francis Lawrence-directed film based on Jason Matthews' novel. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, it's a bloody affair that might not be worth its 2.5-hour run time, based on what critics are saying. It had a 52% positive rating among critics, and a slightly higher one from audiences: Peter Howell doesn't recommend it. At the Toronto Star, he calls Red Sparrow "the anti-007" in which "the sex is rape by any name, the tech is ancient floppy disks and the fighting is artless and bloody." Additional drawbacks are an "overly plotted screenplay," and Lawrence's "dodgy" Russian accent, "which approaches parody," Howell writes. Overall, it's "a brutal, muddled and dispiriting watch." Manohla Dargis disagrees, applauding Lawrence's ability to "slip into a role as if sliding into another skin." She delivers "a serviceable accent," but it's "her absolute ease and certainty that carry you through Red Sparrow," a "preposterously entertaining" film, Dargis writes at the New York Times, pointing out how rare it is to see a female character be the victim and perpetrator of "startling" violence. "With Cold War tensions rising again in real life, Red Sparrow feels of this time in a cool way, but only Lawrence's spy is memorable in this so-so operation," writes Brian Truitt at USA Today. "There's so much good stuff"—Dominika is "a fascinating study" and Lawrence "fits the role like a new pair of pointe shoes"—"but it never jells in a satisfying way." The film is also too long and a "hard watch due to its brutality," Truitt writes. Lawrence "gives her all," but it's not enough for Mark Kennedy, either. "What really drives Dominika is never very clear" and she ends up "like a reflection of the film itself, getting flatter and more boring by the minute," he writes at the AP. He also criticizes the "muddled" story and "cartoon violence," perhaps best exhibited in a scene involving the peeling of skin. "That might be more fun than sitting though Red Sparrow," he writes.

'Red Sparrow' veers from its genre by focusing on methodical spycraft and juggling emotions. Unlike Charlize Theron in last year's Atomic Blonde, Jennifer Lawrence is seducing people instead of kicking them in the face. With the exception of her Russian accent, Lawrence fits the role like a new pair of pointe shoes. At nearly 2½ hours, Red Sparrow is overlong for what it needs to be, yet still doesn't spend enough time in Sparrow School, the most interesting aspect of the entire movie.

Kerry Biggs needed help managing her chronic pain. Years of taking prescription medications to alleviate the pain caused by her fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments had left the mother of two "feeling foggy." Desperate to find an alternative, Biggs tried kratom. Derived from the leaves of the kratom tree, a close relative of the coffee plant, it has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia for its medicinal properties. In small doses, kratom acts as a minor stimulant similar to caffeine. In larger doses its works as a painkiller and can act as an antidepressant for some people. "It gave me a new lease on life," said Biggs, who was able to wean herself off prescription painkillers by using kratom. "It dampened down my pain without all the side effects that come with taking prescription drugs." That new lease on life came to an abrupt end last year, because Biggs lives in Wisconsin. In 2014, Wisconsin became the fourth state to ban kratom. Kratom was never mentioned by state legislators either before or after the vote that made it illegal. Instead, two of the chemicals in it were included on a list of synthetic opioids lawmakers classified as Schedule 1 drugs, despite the fact kratom is neither synthetic nor an opioid. No one in Madison has been able to explain how or why the chemicals ended up on the list, but their inclusion means kratom is now in the same category as heroin and cocaine. At a meeting of the Wisconsin Controlled Substances Board last week, board member Alan Bloom said he was surprised to see the kratom on the list of schedule substances. "They stick out like a sore thumb," said Bloom, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Bloom was blunt in his assessment of the scheduling of kratom. "There's no scientific basis for it," he told his colleagues. But state lawmakers aren't required to rely on science in their decisions. In 2012, legislators in Indiana made kratom illegal by declaring it to be a synthetic drug. Tennessee and Vermont followed Indiana's example, treating a tree's leaves like something created in a lab. "Most people in this country have never heard of kratom, and there's a lot of bad information out there about it," said Susan Ash, executive director of the American Kratom Association. Ash has used kratom since 2011 to manage the symptoms of advanced Lyme disease. She founded AKA last year to advocate for people who use kratom and combat misinformation and efforts to ban it. "There are some companies out there who aren't interested in helping people and they are promoting kratom as a 'legal high.' That's led to some hysterical stories in the media," Ash said. "Usually it's a story by a local TV news crew. They usually claim it's a dangerous new synthetic drug, even though it's not synthetic and it's been used for hundreds of years in Asia. They never talk to people who use for health reasons." ||||| Question What is kratom, and is it a helpful

– There's a little green leaf that relieves pain and helps people kick heroin, but is also addictive—so should it be legal? That's what lawmakers are trying to decide about kratom, a tree-like plant from Southeast Asia, the New York Times reports. The FDA has banned kratom imports while four states (Wyoming, Vermont, Tennessee, and Indiana) have made it illegal, but more kratom bars are emerging that serve the leaf in drink form, and powdered versions are available online and everywhere from convenience stores to gas stations. "It's a mind-altering substance, so people like me who are addicts and alcoholics, they think just because it's legal, it's fine," says Florida resident Dariya Pankova, who took kratom for heroin withdrawal. "It's a huge epidemic down here, and it’s causing a lot of relapses.” Long taken as a stimulant in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, kratom contains something called mitragynine that seems to cause "opiod-like effects," per Medscape. But kratom also has been linked to respiratory depression, seizures, and possibly suicide; makers of the herbal-liquid "feel good" supplement Vivazen recently removed kratom from its ingredients, Bevnet reports. Yet advocates like the American Kratom Association say the leaf helps wean people off dangerous drugs, and Reason argues that states' arguments against kratom (that it's an opioid or synthetic drug) are incorrect. "It all boils down to the interpretation of the law," says a drug official in Alabama, where one county banned all kratom products last month, ABC 3340 reports. "My district attorney interprets it [as] illegal because it hits the opiate receptor of the brain." (One country may give heroin addicts what they want: heroin.)

Wisconsin is the fourth state in the U.S. to ban kratom. The leaves of the kratom tree have been used for centuries in Southeast Asia. In small doses, kratom acts as a minor stimulant similar to caffeine. In larger doses its works as a painkiller and can act as an antidepressant for some people. "There's a lot of bad information out there about it," says Susan Ash, executive director of the American K mitra Association. "Some companies out there who aren't interested in helping people," she says.

Story highlights Boko Haram overruns a Nigerian village in pickup trucks, shooting at men The insurgents douse houses with gasoline and set them on fire They round up women, girls and boys and kidnap them News takes days to get out, since telecommunications towers had been destroyed Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said. Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday, shooting down men before herding women and children together. "They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks. Local officials learned of the attack from residents who fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where the officials had moved a year ago to escape Boko Haram attacks. The militants stormed the village from two directions, overwhelming local vigilantes who had repelled Boko Haram attacks over the course of the year, said Gumsuri resident Umar Ari, who trekked for four days to Maiduguri. ‎"They destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and boys," Ari said.‎ Resident Modu Kalli said the militants fired heavy machine guns on the village and poured canisters of gasoline on houses before setting them on fire. "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me," Kalli said. Hundreds of residents of Gumsuri continue to arrive in Maiduguri, which has been struggling to accommodate thousands of residents fleeing towns and villages overrun by Boko Haram. Cameroon: At least 116 Boko Haram fighters killed Meanwhile, the Cameroon military says that it killed at least 116 Boko Haram fighters during a fight in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, near the border with northeastern Nigeria. The incident began when the militant group tried to attack the Cameroonian town of Amchide, military spokesman Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck said. One Cameroonian soldier was killed, and another was missing after the attack, according to a statement released by Badjeck. Boko Haram destroyed two trucks and stole a third, Badjeck said. Badjeck said the military believes its artillery also inflicted unspecified damage to Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border during the fight. "Our defense forces rigorously fought back this barbaric attack, and forced the enemy to retreat," Cameroonian government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said. "This terrorist group has only one objective: to spread fear and uncertainty amongst our population. But I can assure you that they will be defeated," Bakary said. Two months ago, the nearby area of Limani, Cameroon, was the site of a deadly clash between Boko Haram and Cameroonian forces. Eight Cameroonian soldiers and 107 Boko Haram fighters were killed during an attack by the militants that month, Cameroon

– Boko Haram's latest raid in Nigeria has killed 32 people, and the militants have reportedly taken as many as 185 women and children hostage, CNN reports. News of the Sunday attack in Gumsuri, in the country's northeast, is coming out days later because of communication issues—the mobile network has "largely collapsed," Al Jazeera reports, and many roads are impassable. Telecommunications towers were taken out in past attacks. This time around, residents who fled to Borno State's capital, Maiduguri, told local officials what had happened. "They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," says one official. "They destroyed almost half the village," adds a resident. Another, describing the machine guns they fired and the gasoline they used to set houses on fire, says, "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me." Hundreds of residents are fleeing to Maiduguri, which has been nearly overrun with thousands of others who have fled other villages after attacks. Nigeria has also sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram. Meanwhile, neighboring Cameroon says its troops repelled Boko Haram fighters who attacked an army base, killing 116 of the insurgents in its far north.

Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, north of Chibok. They shot down men before herding women and children together. News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Cameroon: At least 116 Boko Haram fighters were killed in a fight near the border with Nigeria. "This terrorist group has only one objective: to spread fear and uncertainty," a Cameroonian official says. in Nigeria.. "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me," a resident says.

On October 11, 2015, President Obama was asked by Steve Kroft of CBS News about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while she was the Secretary of State. It was an awkward question for Obama. The F.B.I., led by James Comey, whom Obama chose to run the agency, was in the middle of an investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information. His Administration has been unusually aggressive in prosecuting government officials who leak classified material. But the Clinton e-mail investigation had also turned into a highly partisan issue, with Republican Presidential candidates making wild and unsubstantiated claims about her conduct. Still, Obama could have remained silent. There is a long-standing tradition by which Presidents do not comment about ongoing F.B.I. investigations, especially when a former member of their own Administration is under scrutiny. Obama seemed to want to follow that protocol and swat the question away. “Well, I'm not going to comment on—” he said before he was cut off. “You think it's not that big a deal?” Kroft asked. If Obama had intended to stick to the standard “no comment” that tradition dictated, he changed his mind. “I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America's national security was endangered,” the President said, asserting a firm conclusion about the matter eight months before the investigation was completed. The following April, after it was revealed that classified information did pass through Clinton’s unsecured e-mail server, Obama was asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News if the President stood by his October comment. “Can you still say flatly that she did not jeopardize America’s secrets?” Wallace asked. Obama again hesitated. “I’ve got to be careful because, as you know, there have been investigations, there are hearings, Congress is looking at this. And I haven’t been sorting through each and every aspect of this,” he said. But once again the President added a seemingly exculpatory comment about the target of an ongoing investigation. “She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy,” Obama said, of Clinton. The second comment was less specific than the first, but, as Benjamin Wittes, the editor-in-chief of the Lawfare blog and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general in the Bush Administration, note in a careful analysis of the e-mail investigation, “Both of these statements gave the appearance to many observers that the President had prejudged legally relevant aspects of the investigation.” Obama’s Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, who oversees the F.B.I, allowed herself to be similarly compromised. On June 27th, President Bill Clinton boarded Lynch’s plane while it was on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and the two spoke for about thirty minutes. Clinton and Lynch, who both insisted that the e-mail investigation was not discussed, quickly admitted that the meeting was a mistake. “People have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business,” Lynch said in an interview with Jonathan Capehart, in Aspen, Colorado, on July 1st. “My meeting on the

– The issue of newly discovered emails related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private server dominated headlines Sunday, though it remains unclear whether the emails themselves contain anything new or damaging because the FBI has yet to begin searching them. (They were found on the computer of Anthony Weiner, husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, during a separate investigation of him.) Some of the latest developments: The Justice Department and the FBI is seeking a warrant to conduct a full search of the Abedin emails, but the issue is tricky because the computer belongs to Weiner, not Abedin, explains CNN. The subpoena under which it was seized relates only to the allegations that he was sexting with an underage girl. When the search begins, it will take weeks because the laptop has a total of about 650,000 emails. It's not clear how many of those were sent to or from Clinton's private server, but that figure is probably in the "thousands," reports the Wall Street Journal. Some may be duplicates that already have been seen by the FBI. Meanwhile, talks also are under way with Abedin's lawyers to gain access to the emails, reports USA Today. Abedin has told people she has no idea how her emails ended up on her husband's computer, reports the Washington Post. Her lawyers didn't search it when they were turning over her emails to the State Department, because she was reportedly unaware they were on it. A separate Post story says FBI agents had known for weeks about the emails on Weiner's computer but delayed telling FBI chief James Comey for reasons that are unclear. The chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration thinks the FBI's Comey has run afoul of the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to sway an election. Richard Painter filed a formal complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, and he explains his case in the New York Times. If Clinton wins the election, she'll be grateful to Comey for this move, argues Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker. Need to catch up? The Times has a Q&A here.

President Obama was asked about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while she was the Secretary of State. There is a long-standing tradition by which Presidents do not comment about ongoing F.B.I. investigations, especially when a former member of their own Administration is under scrutiny. Obama seemed to want to follow that protocol and swat the question away. “Well, I'm not going to comment on—” he said before he was cut off. The following April, after it was revealed that classified information did pass through Clinton”s unsecured e-mail server, Obama stood by his comment.

This image provided Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, by RR Auction of Boston shows the last page of an April 1934 letter from Depression-era gangsters Bonnie and Clyde to a former member of their gang they felt... (Associated Press) This image provided Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, by RR Auction of Boston shows the last page of an April 1934 letter from Depression-era gangsters Bonnie and Clyde to a former member of their gang they felt had betrayed them. The letter, written in Bonnie Parker's neat cursive and signed by Clyde Barrow,... (Associated Press) BOSTON (AP) — Bonnie and Clyde made it quite clear how they felt about a former member of their gang in a letter they sent to him as he sat in the Dallas County Jail. He was a coward, they wrote, and they should have killed him when they had the chance. The four-page letter to Raymond Hamilton was written in April 1934 in Bonnie Parker's neat cursive and signed by Clyde Barrow. It could fetch more than $40,000 when it's sold next month by Boston-based RR Auction, said the auction house's executive vice president, Robert Livingston. Based on the language, experts think Barrow, who had poor writing skills, likely dictated the letter to Parker, Livingston said Wednesday. The couple was livid with Hamilton, in part because of a disagreement over how to split $4,000 stolen from a Texas bank just two months earlier. "I should have killed you then I would have saved myself much bother and money looking for you," reads the letter, which is full of 1930s gangster jargon. The letter also says Hamilton is "yellow," pointing out that he was captured without resistance and based on the way he acted during a narrow escape from a police road block in Missouri. "The next impression was when we got the road 'blocked' on us in the Ozarks and you were too 'yellow' to fight. You cowered in the floorboard, afraid of being shot," the letter reads. It also contains a prescient line about Bonnie and Clyde's own demise only a month later, when they were killed in a law enforcement ambush in Louisiana. "I know that some day they will get me but it won't be without resistance," the letter reads. It ends: "I hope this will serve the purpose of letting you know that you can never expect the least of sympathy or assistance from me. So long." There is still intense interest in Bonnie and Clyde, who were almost glorified in their day before the public turned against them after they were linked to the murder of two police officers, Livingston said. Two pistols recovered from the bodies of the infamous outlaw couple were sold by RR in 2012 for more than $500,000. It's unclear if Hamilton ever saw the letter, Livingston said. It was intercepted by Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmid, who shared it with newspapers several months later. It remained in his family's possession until they decided to auction it. "Every line in this letter is remarkable," Livingston said. "It's one of a kind."

– The cursive is Bonnie's; the signature, Clyde's. A four-page letter written by the duo in April 1934 is hitting the auction block in September, and it's a fiery one. It's addressed to one Raymond Hamilton, a one-time member of their gang who, at the time the letter was written, was behind bars in the Dallas County Jail. That he was there was a reflection of just how "yellow" he was, per the letter, as he didn't try to flee as he was captured. The Dallas Morning News reports the trio had a falling out over Hamilton's girlfriend (the "prostitute sweetheart" the letter refers to); the AP cites a disagreement over how to divvy up $4,000 they had taken from a Texas bank earlier that year. This after Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker famously rescued Hamilton and four others from a Texas prison farm in January 1934, per a New York Daily News article written that year. Hamilton was serving sentences totaling 262 years at the time. The lines are biting. "I should have killed you then I would have saved myself much bother and money looking for you," reads the letter, which Boston-based RR Auction says was likely dictated by Barrow to Parker, who had superior writing skills. It closes by telling Hamilton, "I hope this will serve the purpose of letting you know that you can never expect the least of sympathy or assistance from me. So long." But he may not have ever seen it. Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmid intercepted it and later publicized it; his family is now auctioning it off. The Morning News notes Barrow and Parker were killed the month after they wrote the letter. Hamilton's fate was no better: Death by electric chair in 1935. Read more from the letter, including a prescient line, here.

The four-page letter was written in April 1934 in Bonnie Parker's neat cursive and signed by Clyde Barrow. It could fetch more than $40,000 when it's sold next month by Boston-based RR Auction. The couple was livid with Hamilton, in part because of a disagreement over how to split $4,000 stolen from a Texas bank just two months earlier. "I should have killed you then I would have saved myself much bother and money looking for you," reads the letter, which is full of 1930s gangster jargon.

Former White House press secretary James Brady, who was left paralyzed in the Reagan assassination attempt, looks at his wife, Sarah Brady, during a 2011 news conference on Capitol Hill. (Evan Vucci/AP) Federal prosecutors said they will not charge John W. Hinckley Jr. with murder in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary in a 1981 assassination attempt, even though a medical examiner concluded that James S. Brady’s death in August was caused by the old wounds. The decision, announced Friday by the U.S. attorney for the District, comes four months after a medical examiner decided that Brady’s death at the age of 73 was a direct result of a bullet fired 34 years ago outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest. In a statement, prosecutors said their decision was based on “a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady’s death.” Hinckley, now 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, Brady and two others and has spent the past three decades at St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington. Hinckley’s attorney, Barry Wm. Levine, said “any idea that this was a prosecutable case was ridiculous. There were so many legal obstacles to prosecuting this case, just countless.” He said that had authorities filed new charges, he believes the case “would be barred as a matter of law.” The March 30, 1981, assassination attempt came just 69 days into Reagan’s presidency. Reagan was severely wounded. Brady was struck first, above the left eye, and the bullet shattered in his head. He remained incapacitated for the remainder of his life, paralyzed in the left arm and leg. At the time of his death, he was suffering from aspiration pneumonia, and prosecutors said the cause of death was listed by a medical examiner in Virginia, where Brady died Aug. 4, as a “gunshot wound [to the] head and consequences thereof.” John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U.S. District Court on Nov. 18, 2003, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP) A representative of Brady’s family said in a statement that they respect the decision by the U.S. attorney. “We deeply appreciate the extraordinary outpouring of love and support” since Brady’s death, the statement said. “We miss him greatly.” Brady and his wife, Sarah, became leading advocates of gun control after the shooting, fighting for years for passage of legislation requiring background checks on handgun purchases. The medical examiner’s ruling presented law enforcement authorities with a difficult decision on whether to file new charges against Hinckley, who previously had gone to trial on 13 criminal charges, two of them related to Brady: assault with intent to kill while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon. Hinckley told authorities that he hoped that killing Reagan would impress the actress Jodie Foster. While some prosecutors said in August that the medical examiner offered authorities a new chance to revisit the criminal case, others questioned whether it would be legal or even a matter of good public policy. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., the

– Would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. will not be charged with murder in last year's death of James Brady, the Washington Post reports. The notion had become a real possibility when a coroner ruled that Brady's death at age 73 was a homicide—the result of the bullets that struck him in the head back in 1981. Federal prosecutors decided they would have little chance of conviction considering that Hinckley was found to be not guilty by reason of insanity of all charges at the time, reports NBC News. "The decision was made following a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady's death, including recently finalized autopsy findings," says a statement from the US Attorney's Office in Washington. The Brady family issued a statement saying it respected the decision. Hinckley remains institutionalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, though he gets to spend a lot of time on the outside.

John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, Brady and two others. A medical examiner concluded that James S. Brady’s death in August was caused by the old wounds. Brady was struck first, above the left eye, and the bullet shattered in his head. He remained incapacitated for the remainder of his life, paralyzed in the left arm and leg. The March 30, 1981, assassination attempt came just 69 days into Reagan's presidency.

The Virginia State Board of Elections has postponed plans for a name-drawing on Wednesday to decide the winner of a deadlocked House of Delegates race — and possibly which party controls the chamber — after one of the candidates announced plans for a court challenge over whether the election was really a tie. The rare spectacle of filling a legislative seat by drawing one of two candidates' names out of a pitcher has drawn widespread interest, in no small part because a Democratic victory would mean that the House, where Republicans had a 16-seat majority before the Nov. 7 elections, would be split 50-50 when the legislature convenes Jan. 10. Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds said Tuesday that she would file a motion in Newport News Circuit Court on Wednesday, asking judges to reconsider their decision to count a disputed ballot as a vote for Republican incumbent David Yancey and declare the race a tie. Simonds's lawyers said they could not file the motion Tuesday because the court was closed. They also said they had written to the Board of Elections asking it to postpone the name-drawing until the court decides whether to act in response to the motion. [Settling a tied Virginia House race by drawing a name? Not that weird by history’s standards.] Hours later, the Board of Elections announced that it had canceled plans for the 11 a.m. drawing. "Drawing names is an action of last resort," the board said in written statement. "Any substantive concerns regarding the election or recount should be resolved before a random drawing is conducted." The board, which must give 24 hours' notice before calling an emergency meeting, will not hold a drawing Wednesday even if the court rules that day. "We want to act in a transparent manner as there is no need for any more surprises with this election," the board said. On Election Day, Yancey appeared to beat Simonds in the 94th legislative district race by 10 votes. But a Dec. 19 recount left Simonds ahead by a single vote. This image provided by the City of Newport News via The Virginian-Pilot shows a copy of the ballot at the center of the recount dispute. (AP/AP) The next day, a three-judge panel decided that a ballot that was declared ineligible during the recount should count for Yancey, tying the race at 11,608 votes apiece. The ballot in question contained a mark for Simonds as well as a mark for Yancey, and an extra mark by Simonds's name that the court ruled was an effort to strike out the mark in her favor. Republicans said the unknown voter had selected every other Republican on the ballot and intended to vote for Yancey. The panel of judges agreed. If Simonds wins the seat, the House chamber will be split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, forcing the parties into a rare power-sharing arrangement. If Yancey wins, the Republicans will retain their majority by the slimmest possible margin. In her motion, Simonds asserts that the panel made a "clear legal error . . . [that] ran

– Shelly Simonds wants to stop her name from being written on a slip of paper and put inside an old film canister on Wednesday morning, and she's partially succeeded. The Democrat plans to ask a Virginia court to name her the winner of the 94th District Race on Wednesday; she had been declared the winner following a recount last Tuesday, with the 11,608-to-11,607 vote ending 17 years of Republican control in the Virginia House. But judges last Wednesday evened the count to 11,608 for both, and the race is now set to be determined by lot, with the aforementioned film canister and one containing the name of Republican rival/incumbent David Yancey put in a 180-year-old turquoise pitcher, reports the Washington Post. The Newport News Circuit Court is closed Tuesday for the holiday, so she'll file documents Wednesday arguing that election officials sidestepped proper procedure when they handed Yancey an additional vote. The AP reports election officials on Tuesday night decided to postpone the drawing as a result of her planned filing; they didn't specify a new date or time. When more than one candidate's bubble is filled in on a ballot, that ballot is supposed to be declared an "over vote" and discarded. But the 11,608th vote handed to Yancey came from a ballot in which both candidates' bubbles were filled in; Simonds' bubble had a slash mark through it. Her filing also calls out Yancey's decision to take issue with the ballot the day after the recount, which facilitated his "opportunistic end run" around recount law, she alleges, per the Virginia Pilot.

The Virginia State Board of Elections has postponed plans for a name-drawing on Wednesday to decide the winner of a deadlocked House of Delegates race. Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds said Tuesday that she would file a motion in Newport News Circuit Court on Wednesday. She wants judges to reconsider their decision to count a disputed ballot as a vote for Republican incumbent David Yancey and declare the race a tie. If Simonds wins the seat, the House chamber will be split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, forcing a rare power-sharing arrangement.